With my portable gear collection growing, I decided I needed something more than just a wristwatch showcase to store everything in. In particular, I found myself looking for a box in which to keep my DAP, portable amp, and bluetooth receiver and not have them knock around in a drawer where they can get damaged by accident. After some research, I decided to get the D-2020 from ddHiFi.

Disclaimer: ddHiFi provided me with a minor discount in return for posting my impressions or a review.

Apology: I'm not much of a photographer, so please excuse the amateurish pictures taken for the purposes of this review.

But let's get to it.

The case arrives in a sturdy cardboard box and is additionally wrapped in some plastic film for protection. Upon unwrapping, we are greeted with the following sight:



The case is additionally wrapped in a bit of paper band, similar to the wooden boxes that ddHiFi's adapters come in, but unlike in the case of those boxes, here the paper band can be removed quite easily. It isn't tight at all and doesn't have to be cut.

The second thing that greets us is the rather sharp and unpleasant chemical smell. It will probably take a couple of weeks of airing to get the stink of Satan's butthole from this thing. If you're sensitive to sharp smells, be aware of this!

Once the paper band is removed we can take a better look at the case. It's pretty big! See comparison vs the size of a TKL keyboard.



At first glance, the workmanship looks really good. No frayed threads anywhere, no unravelling or broken stitching, no rips or tears.

The outside is made of a somewhat rough fabric with a tiny, hexagonal pattern that immediately reminded me of those funny pictures that required you stare at them for a while in just the right way to find another picture hidden inside them. (I could never see those, no matter how many hours I stared at them, so if there are any pictures hidden here, I can't tell you about them). You can tell the top side from the bottom by the little leather applique bearing ddHiFi's logo.

The leather band circling the space between the metal zippers is there probably to add some rigidity to the whole thing, but it is rather soft itself, so I don't think it does that much. On the sides, you will find metal hoops to attach the included lanyard or shoulder strap (also included). It also bears stressing that the whole case isn't rigid enough, in my opinion, though it is advertised as a carry case and not a protective case, so there's that. The top and bottom have a sheet of cardboard inside them, in addition to a layer of foam or some other cushioning material on the inside.

Once we open the zipper and lift the top cover, the following sight is presented to us:



Here, you will find a small warranty card, as well as a foam insert intended to help the case maintain its shape while in transport and act as a holder for the lanyard, the shoulder strap, and a baggie of desiccant. Take all that stuff out and we can finally see what the whole thing looks like inside.



Yay, more accessories! As you can see in the picture above, the case comes equipped with a pair of additional flappy straps™ that you attach to the strips of velcro running along the longer sides of the case. These are used to create partition the big compartment into smaller ones. Both flappy straps™ have a bit of padding to afford protection to your valuable equipment, but I wish the actual flaps were the same width as the strap to better protect the screen of your DAP. Though I suppose you can always put the DAP under the elastic band facing down for protection.

And on the subject of elastic bands, you will have noticed in the above picture the three straps on the bottom of the big compartment. They are sewn to the bottom in various places to allow you to put things under them. If we assume that the length of each strap is 3, then the top strap's sewing divides it 1:2, the middle one's 1.5:1.5, and the bottom one's 2:1. This gives you more options in how to arrange the space.

One thing I would have wished for here is more straps of different lengths (including straps that allow bending) and the ability to attach them to the shorter sides of the case for even greater flexibility in arranging the space inside.

The top flap has two net pockets secured at the top by a length of elastic. The net itself is rather stretchy, too, so both pockets can hold bigger items than they look, though I would suggest being careful with that as after closing, whatever is in those pockets will press on top of what's in the big compartment, which in bad cases can cause damage, e.g. scratch a DAP screen! We wouldn't want that.

Turning the case over and opening the other zipper we will see the following:



More elastic bands of various sizes, more pockets (both made of net and fabric) also of various sizes. Here, you can place some cables, bags with eartips, adapters, memory cards and USB sticks, dongles, and other small objects associated with this hobby... or some completely unrelated things, the carry case isn't picky and it won't tell on you or shame you.

The partition between the top and bottom sections is about the same thickness as the top and bottom and padded, as you can hopefully see in the picture. Below is an example of what it looks like with some items in place:



And once you attach the lanyard or the shoulder strap, it looks like this:



(You won't catch me wearing it on the shoulder strap outdoors!)

Would I recommend it to others? If you need a carrying case of this sort, definitely, even if only to keep your portable equipment safe while at home. It's big enough and adaptable enough thanks to its modularity to allow some flexibility of application. However, I don't think it offers enough protection to what's inside should you drop it: it's not rigid enough and there's not enough padding. Though, as I said above, it's purpose is to allow you to carry things around, not protect them from a jackhammer.