I'm sorry to say this Hugo, but only one company, as far as I can tell, has DAP done (as close to) right as possible: Slim Devices with their SlimServer (now Squeeze Center). A very close second to the empeg. I've never used a Karma, but I definitely didn't get along with the UI/navigation on the Chiba and Cali.

I'm glad to see the new touch-screen interface for the iPod improve things a bit, but the classic interface (every iPod except the touch and iPhone) has a UI that completely stinks, is totally unintuitive and has abysmal sorting and grouping performance based on tags. I'm guessing they didn't let you completely overhaul that.

I'm convinced that the only reason we don't see more complaints is because most people just play individual tracks and pre-defined playlists. Or likely, play the whole thing on shuffle. To someone with a properly tagged music collection and the expectation of being able to change music on the fly without interrupting what's now playing, it's a nightmare.

Don't even get me started on the scroll wheel. It's the interface equivalent of that animated spinning ballerina silhouette.