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  1. #1
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    Default Which SD card - Micro, Ultra Micro, Class 10, class 4????

    Here we go, sticking my foot into the tech world again.....

    I just purchased a second hand Shanling M3S DAP (Mp3 player but of more formats than MP3). It has no onboard storage, but takes the files from an SD card, which is described as a "standard external TF card" That is the only information that anyone who sells these players, and the instruction manual itself, gives. That's pretty pathetic, given that confusion about these cards apparently reigns: there are dedicated forums with questions about the differences between the cards, but I can't reverse engineer the answers to suit the M3s.

    Near as I can tell there are Micro SD cards, Ultra Micro SD cards, Class 4 and Class 10 cards. The player doesn't come with a card, so I need to purchase one before I can play anything.....

    I have a feeling that the class is about the speed of data transfer ....can anyone confirm that please?

    THIS is the card that I am thinking of purchasing, but of course the card seller won't know which devices it will fit, so I'm buggered going that way too! It is saying most of the right things like Class 10 down the bottom (the current owner has confirmed the class on his card) and there's "TF" mentioned.

    How does one determine which card to purchase?
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  3. #2
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    Perhaps get the seller to send you an image of the card they used with a ruler (or coin) next to it as a scale.
    Plan B would perhaps ask the seller to include a suitable card at cost price.

    I am sure you will get this worked out.

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    Default Which SD card - Micro, Ultra Micro, Class 10, class 4????

    There’s actually only three form factors for SD cards - SD, mini SD and micro SD. Class10/4 relates more to the speed of the cards.

    At any rate I did a bit of googling and the Shanling M3s like most modern kit uses a micro SD.

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    This review says it uses a Micro SD
    https://www.headfonia.com/review-shanling-m3s/

    Normally you can't go wrong buying a micro SD because for a few cents you can usually get adapters that allow you to use these in larger SD slots.

  6. #5
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    Thanks chaps. The seller is private and doesn't sell cards - he's "just some guy". In the interim I did finally get an email back from someone else that said the only difference between the Ultra Micro and the Micro is the speed (and perhaps reliability). It would seem that "Ultra" = Class 10.
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    Brett

    It's an MP3 player, not a DSLR camera with 4k video capability.
    The data transfer speed will be irrelevant, unless you plan on buying a card made 10+ years ago
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

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    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    It's an MP3 player, not a DSLR camera with 4k video capability.
    The data transfer speed will be irrelevant, unless you plan on buying a card made 10+ years ago
    Yes, I came to that conclusion too. He may have just happened to have a Class 10 card on hand (he buys DAPs constantly as an "enthusiast" he says).

    The email from an Audio place said:
    the only difference between an Ultra Micro and a Micro card is that the Ultra card is faster. This won't affect the sound quality though the Ultra card will allow you to access your music more quickly, be prone to less crashes and extend your player's battery life just slightly.


    You sure can pay a wide variety of prices for these cards. I need a card that is >160Gb to take my FLAC files, so that generally means 256Gb for which you pay a range of ~$20 to ~$170 for a Samsung. There is a SanDisk 200Gb for $99.

    It's no wonder I get confused: there are 7 different types on offer in this eBay search:
    https://www.ebay.com.au/b/256GB-Mobi...91/bn_57301598
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    I ignore the class rating on cards and just go off the speed rating generally. 45mb/s cards should do the job and don’t break the bank.

  10. #9
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    The M3S DAP arrived today. I purchased an interim 32Gb card from Big W (EMTEC brand). It came with a USB card reader. It doesn't matter whether I use that card reader, my gazillion in one reader, or whether I plug it into a PC or a Mac - nothing recognises it. Put it in the DAP and it doesn't see it either.

    How can I possibly format the card if no system can see it? Maybe it doesn't need formatting, but it sure doesn't work right now.

    The packaging it came in was ridiculous - way too tight a fit in the clear Polyproylene shell, and very difficult to dislodge. I guess there is some chance that it might have buggered the card on the way out? I was pretty careful.
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    I've come across that "no format" situation previously.

    Can you see the card/drive in disk management? It may simply have shipped unformatted, and you'll need to initialise the drive, and format it in disk management. On the chance this tool isn't familiar to you, in Windows 10, right click the start button, and choose RUN. In the box type CONTROL and hit ENTER. In the Control Panel, click on Administrative Tools, then Computer Management in the window that appears. When the Computer Management opens, click Disk Management under Storage.

    Further thoughts and ideas on SD cards follow:

    Quote Originally Posted by FenceFurniture View Post
    I have a feeling that the class is about the speed of data transfer ....can anyone confirm that please?
    That is correct. Really really technically speaking, the class determines the WRITE speed, but you would be most interested in the READ speed. They will be very closely linked. It would also be true in my mind to say you're playing MP3 files, and if so, you are really talking about very small data read speeds and you could pretty much be sure any reputable branded card should do the job - my typical data allowance for MP3 equates to around 1Mb per MINUTE. The Class numbers came about because of a need to identify speeds on the cards, and the class number represents 1Mb/sec speed, so a Class 10 card is capable of a minimum of 10Mb/sec speed. Here's a good article that ought put this in perspective for you: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-di...en-SDHC-and-SD. You should note that the highest Class number is 10, even though now, cards are commonly capable of performing at many times this speed (I use Sandisk Extreme Pro, which can do 95Mb/sec, but it's still technically listed as a Class 10 card). The real speeds (at least from reputable manufacturers - Lexar, Sandisk, Transcend, Kingston) are usually written on the card.

    According to this article: https://headfonics.com/2015/01/the-m...hanling-audio/ your player uses a Micro SD card. Probably nowadays one of the most common sizes you can get. I also note this same article mentions that the size caps out at 64Gb.

    You should, of course, confirm all this in the manual before ordering any media (I know, you want to play with the new toy on arrival, I would too).

    Be VERY VERY careful ordering anything like SD card or the like from E-Bay... the tales of pure woe this has caused would make enough tears to fill an ocean. Yes, I know the price is cheap, and it's very tempting, but the fake cards aren't worth the plastic they're housed in - I'm not saying this seller is moving fake items, but they abound and are plentiful.

    That seller's 64Gb card is AUD$43.31.

    I usually buy my SD and Compact Flash from B&H in the US, so here's their page: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...rch=yes&sts=ps for their Sandisk 64Gb media of all classes and types. The same card there is USD$19.99 and they will ship to Australia direct for USD$12.26 for a total US price of USD$32.25 or converted to AUD of approximately AUD$42.66 (a few pennies cheaper).

    Difference is, you're dealing with one of the most reputable photo and video dealers in the USA, and you can be absolutely sure you're getting the genuine item.

    You might also consider, if you have digital camera that can take Micro SD (or normal SD, because you can get a converter), of buying the Extreme Pro version - I use these for shooting all the time, and they are fast!

    Quote Originally Posted by FenceFurniture View Post
    How does one determine which card to purchase?
    I hope the above has helped!

  12. #11
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    Thanks very much MM, I'll read the rest of it when I get past this next hurdle.
    Quote Originally Posted by Midnight Man View Post
    I've come across that "no format" situation previously.

    Can you see the card/drive in disk management? Yes, it says FAT32, Healthy (Primary Partition)
    It may simply have shipped unformatted, and you'll need to initialise the drive, and format it in disk management. On the chance this tool isn't familiar to you, in Windows 10, right click the start button, and choose RUN. In the box type CONTROL and hit ENTER. In the Control Panel, click on Administrative Tools, then Computer Management in the window that appears. When the Computer Management opens, click Disk Management under Storage.
    I think there must be more instructions after that. Nothing jumped off the screen, so I went to the standby "right click", which brought up a Format option.

    However, given it says FAT32 already, it would seem to be formatted, wouldn't it?
    NTFS, FAT32 or exFAT?


    EDIT: I have reformatted in FAT32 and it seems to have fixed the issue.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  13. #12
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    I don't think my PC likes this little card...not at all. Last evening when I was trying to look at it, the "This PC" window went to not responding. Right now with the card sitting in the card reader my C Drive window is "Not responding".

    I will now remove the card (try to eject it first......OUCH it didn't like that. The C window just closed and a dialogue box came up to say
    F:\
    The remote procedure call failed and did not execute.

    So bugger it, I'm just going to re-format it in FAT32 with a volume name of MicroSD32 and see what happens.
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  14. #13
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    Ok, so far so good, and I can at least copy files to it now. There must have been some little fault in the factory formatting - dunno.

    I'll just let the Classical files copy across and then see if it will play anything.

    MM, yes this particular card will just be MP3, but I am going to get a much bigger card to copy across the FLAC files (I have the music in both formats), so I will check out the USA link you kindly provided. My camera is about 15 years old, and takes a Compact Flash Card. They do wear out so I may order a new one of those - mind you the original gave me about 12 years of service before I had to reformat it.

    YES, I HAVE TUNES!

    Thanks to all.

    It will not surprise me to find that this EMTEC card fails at some point.
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Midnight Man View Post
    You might also consider, if you have digital camera that can take Micro SD (or normal SD, because you can get a converter), of buying the Extreme Pro version - I use these for shooting all the time, and they are fast!

    I hope the above has helped!Yes, it did - very much!
    So I take it that Extreme Pro just means faster speed?
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  16. #15
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    Sorry about all these questions...a bit hard to keep up with them. This is with a view to a larger card for the FLAC files

    This 200Gb offering from Scorptec in Melbourne is actually cheaper than at B&H. Normal price is $109, which is still nearly cheaper than B&H (USD73.99) or at least not worthwhile waiting for.

    That's pretty remarkable given that the same thing in 256Gb at Scorptec is...wait for it....$229...so an extra $120 for an extra 56Gb? ¿Que?

    So going back to the B&H site for 256Gb, and it is USD99 (which seem like the correct step up from the 200Gb at USD73.99

    However, if anyone is confused as to why I'm confused....
    the Scorptec 256Gb card says max read speed up to 100mb/sec, and with Video speeds of C10, A1, U1 (and these are all printed on the card itself).
    However, the B&H 256Gb card says max read of 95, and there is no mention of A1 or U1 and neither are they printed on the card.

    SO, are those two cards the same thing or not, and how do you differentiate if they are? And if they are different can I presume that they will both work in my DAP?

    The pricing anomalies don't make it any easier to work it out either....

    (just listening to some wonderful Mozart atm....must be keeping me calm )
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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