It's a Creative Zen Stone that I got as a Christmas gift in 2008. I just found it in a drawer, and it's still holding charge. The last thing I put on it was The Life And Times Of Scrooge by Tuomas Holopainen, in 2015 -- I don't know why, at that time I definitely had a smartphone.
It has a headphone jack, which immediately makes it better than every smartphone produced in the last several years, and it can easily drive my 80-ohm Beyerdynamic. The audio quality is as good as one can expect. The only drawback is that it only holds 1GB... my old CD rips had to be compressed to hell and back.
Let me reiterate that this has been sitting untouched for a decade and was immediately ready for action. No login, no annoying software updates, expired subscription, or remote bricking by the manufacturer. Eat my shorts, Spotify Car Thing.
P.s. A Lifetime Of Adventure is a banger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWwSVOo5K_k
Should really tell y'all something, huh? It's way more niche than you think for people to give the first shit about 3.5mm, and those of us who do are satisfied with a cheap aftermarket adapter with a passive DAC so good I have to turn my volume down to half if I don't wanna go deaf
I legitimately do not understand the aversion headphone makers have to replacing the 3.5mm with USB-C, at least as an option (IEMs actually do offer this now, it's reeeeally nice)
That is a horrid idea from so many perspectives and I hope it never sees the light of the heavens. I would elaborate, but my reply would surely contain an excess of profanities and I fear the moderators' wrath.
Awww, I wish the mods would sanction that expletive filled rant. It'll be both dull and passionate. Not seeing a downside.
Maybe I'll put it in another community. Audiophile Circlejerk if it exists.
But my main points boil down to: