Ok. Now we know what you need. I agree, don't use your phone.

I have an older Tascam portable that is great, and it has RCA outputs that I like.

I have a newer Zoom H4N Pro and I like everything about it better EXCEPT that the output is a 1/8" headphone jack. Boy, do I hate those. The contacts can break and they can get noisy such that if you jostle the cable when it's connected to a PA, it sounds like thunder. I'm OK with 1/4" outputs, either two mono or one TRS. They do not suffer the same problem.

Five tips you might consider:

1) I do not use MP3s. I use WAV files. My devices have far more room than I need, so why not use the best quality?

2) I add 20 seconds of silence to the end of each song. If I'm performing to a recording, I want to be able to acknowledge the audience before scrambling to turn off the player.

3) Make sure your player has Folders. You can put all the songs for a set or an evening in the same folder.

4) If you are playing with a recording and want to start playing together with it at the beginning, unless you have a click, then I add a brief bit of hiss before the song, one or two beats out depending on tempo. I hear it, but the audience does not, or doesn't recognize it for what it is.

5) Assume any sound person at the open mic is woefully unprepared so bring any adapter cables they could possibly need. They may have a snake, but if they don't, you are either looking at telling some sound person how to operate your player (don't do that) or you need a very long cable to reach back to their mixer so you have the player next to you.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.