Would an audiophile DAP sell?

If iMods sell at that price (or more), a DAP that sounds as good would sell considering it doesn't require any special mods or an external amp. Depends on which company makes it and the customer support they offer. It's hard to top Vinnie.

hardwired, i think i am just gonna follow you around, you know look at your avatar and stuff

Assuming that for $600 I could buy a portable system that would sonically rival a good CDP and amp, yes, I would be willing to spend that much to take my music collection with me and have very high quality playback.

I know in the HeadRoom forum some folks are trying to get Tyll and the gang to make one, or at least think about it, so there is some interest.

QUADDY!!! Eyes over here.

NO, DAP for Audiophiles will not sell. The big guns do not see profit in building DAPs for the audio junkie. Why would they want to do that?, there's already big money selling DAPs to the masses (which didn't even know portable amp exists)

I only hope that one day someone like Dr. Xin or Mr. Ray or Tyll or Vinnie would venture far enuff to offer us their own brand of DAPs that can be trully called Audiophile DAP

There's a big difference between modding a current player into an audiophile DAP and manufacturing an audiophile DAP.

True. It would be cheaper to build it in from the beginning instead of grafting it onto a finished product. Would probably work better, too. If Apple simply left off the lineout garbage after their DAC chip and ran the DAC output to the dock and headphone jack, I would pay the same price for it as a regular DAP. Better SQ, cheaper for them to produce, bigger profit margin.

The real issue is would record companies approve of good SQ in a portable player and would Apple do it in spite of their disapproval.

They would sell, but only to people like us.

I wish someone would make one. I'd pay big bucks for it too.

Super clean signals
line and optical out, but also providing a top notch internal DAC/AMP.
Replaceable battery
LED screen (no color, or fancy GUI to get the best out of the battery)
-It would only display the generic stuff.
HDD AND expandable memory lots (flash cards are getting bigger and bigger)

And obviously audiophile grade components.



...oh man that would be sweet!


People like Ray, Vinnie, Tyll, Xin, should do a collab!

No, it wouldn't make sense as a mass market offering to be sold at the Best Buys of the world. But I'd be surprised if a someone doesn't take a crack at it as a niche market item at some point. There's a lot of esoteric high end products out there being sold for exorbitant prices. There are a shocking number of CD players that cost over $10k. Why couldn't someone do something similar with the DAP? Perhaps an established hifi company, like say Krell, will decide to try their hand in the space. We're already seeing home audiophile products with hard drives. And it seems there are a ton of Asian manufacturers churning out DAPs of all varieties, from knock-offs to polished products, all vying for a piece of the pie. At some point, I could see one of them trying to take the high end angle, if only to differentiate themselves.

Would it succeed? Who knows. 'Portable' and 'audiophile' have never gone well together in the past. But I think an "audiophile iPod" has some potential appeal that an audiophile portable CD player never had. If developed and marketed appropriately, who knows?

I dont think it would sell very well at that price, to the average consumer.

We all of course would jump for joy.

x2
Add an AD8397 powered headphone circuit and you'll have my ideal player.