Apple iPod classic 160 GB (7th Generation)

Brilliant for sheer storage size but it fills up quickly if you like videos, or have a lot of music at high bitrates or lossless. It's an iPod so the interface is easy.
 
Sound great for trains and other mobile use, worth pairing up with decent in ears to get some isolation and reduce the sound levels for sustained listening.
 
For stereo/hifi or in-house use buy a dock or cable that plugs into the bottom. The internal DAC is pretty good but is a compromise that is quite reasonable in such a small device. It gives pretty decent stereo rather than hifi - this becomes more apparent when you've heard an iPod through a digital dock and DAC, like the NS-D1 or the Wadia. For lossless and high bitrate music, this gives very good quality sound from a portable convenient device.
 
Note the limitation to 48kHz although it seems to play 24 bit files. And it won't play WMA or FLAC as most people know already.

It's all that

i love the massive storage and the easy to use interface.

[size=medium]First off: I’m coming from a Creative Zen Vision M 60 GB which very unfortunately died on me.[/size]
[size=medium]I was very satisfied with this gismo. Sadly they don’t make them anymore, otherwise I would have bought a new one.[/size]
[size=medium]Considering all things I find important, only the IPod Classic would do.[/size]
[size=medium]This fine machine ticks most of the boxes: large capacity, excellent sound quality, no touch screen, storing of pictures and movies. The things I miss, compared to the Zen, are a customizable equaliser (so I can match different headphones better), a built-in mike, a programmable function knob and a radio. The thing I hated most was the necessity of ITunes. Fortunately, some genius made a plug-in for Winamp, my favourite player, and the IPod now synchronises perfectly without ITunes.[/size]
[size=medium]You see, I had to part with some nice features when I chose the IPod classic, but rather surprisingly, I gained sound quality. When I decided on the Zen a few years back, one very important reason was the SQ. Or I didn’t audition very well at that time, or this new IPod just has better sound than his predecessors.[/size]
 
[size=medium]Conclusion:[/size]
[size=medium]It took some getting used to, but this is a very fine machine. Most other IPods wouldn’t do because of the touch screen. I often operate the player in the dark (like in bed) and I have to feel the knobs to control it.[/size]
[size=medium]I hardly miss a radio (there are other ways);[/size]
[size=medium]I sometimes miss a built-in mike, but I know I can get a tack for that;[/size]
[size=medium]I found a so-so setting for the eq. that gets me by with one of my cans (on the other ones I don’t use eq)[/size]
[size=medium]I gained capacity (160 against 60 GB)[/size]
[size=medium]This Pod has a much faster response time when starting up[/size]
[size=medium]The sound quality is marvellous for a portable player[/size]
[size=medium]It’s not cheap, but the Zen did cost me about the same a few years ago.[/size]
 
[size=medium]For home use, I bought an Onkyo media transport (like a dock) which surpasses the built-in DAC and lets me use the DAC of my Yamaha receiver. This showes the Ipod DAC is very good.[/size]