A pouch (&c.) for the Pioneer XDP-30R

My cheap XDP-30R came with no case, no clip, nothing but the player itself. It’s kind of old and junky (as one redditor accurately described it: “Volume wheel, one click, volume goes up +30 or -40” 🤣), but it’s my DAP for the moment, and I don’t have any desire to kill it prematurely, so ...

5127 Phone Holster

CLC Custom Leathercraft 5127 Large Cell Phone Holster , Black, $11.90. It’s the perfect size horizontally and in thickness, and the pocket is deep enough, and the Velcro flap flexible enough, the player can be inserted with the Youkamoo 2.5mm Balanced Headphone Cable without conflicting or putting any pressure on the 2.5mm end or the cable coming out of it.

There’s a belt clip and a ring on the back for hanging it off a lanyard if that’s how you want to roll. It’s a bit on the clunky side, since it wasn’t meant for this application, but it protects the player and keeps your hands free to do other things. Obviously, you can’t access the controls with the player in the holster, but that’s not how I’m using the device (find album, press play, drop in the holster and enjoy linear music the way the artist ordered it - it’s like I’m a 90s teen again, with my Walkman...)

I also picked up:

• SAMSUNG PRO Endurance 64GB MicroSDXC Memory Card with Adapter – Class 10, U1, V10 (‎MB-MJ64KA/AM) ($10) for the Pioneer (and whatever replaces it). It came formatted exFAT and worked out of the box with the player. I loaded it up with some Tori Amos, Tool, and Pink Floyd FLAC files. Powering the HE400se I feel like I’m missing some low end, but the detail is amazing. I’ll try the setup with the HD58x Jubilee cans next.

• Anker SD Card Reader ($11) to easily manipulate the contents of the Samsung card (etc) on my USB-C only MacBook Air M2. Works very well. Very fast.

• CableCreation Short Micro USB to USB C Cable ($8). I picked this up mostly to carry in my Tech Pouch, so I can top off Micro USB devices (like the EBL AA batteries I use in mice, like the Pebble I carry in the pouch) from my USB-C only SuperTank Pro battery pack, but, it’s also a convenient way to mount the Pioneer player on my MacBook Air.

Also, I broke down and turned on Bass Enhancer, usually at level 2 or 3, to get good sound out of the HE400se headphones (which were really anemic in this setup before).