Advice for choosing a DAP.
Jan 11, 2020 at 8:21 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 13

Kriger

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Hello everybody! I have been saving money for a DAP but I can't really choose one, there are too many of them and I need your experience and wisdom. My budget is ~200 dollars and so far the DAPs that catched my eye are the Cowon Plenue J and D, Fiio M7 and Sony Walkman NW-A45.

What I'm looking for is a decent DAP able to create playlists easily, I don't care about bluetooth and wi-fi, but maybe, just maybe would be a plus if the DAP has airdrop, so I use my music from my Tidal account. I know there are AMP/DAC combos so I can still use my iPhone's playlist, but then again I lean towards a DAP.

I'm open for any advice and suggestions!
 
Jan 12, 2020 at 12:32 AM Post #2 of 13
Hi @Kriger,

Subjectively & personally, since you don't need fancy features like bluetooth & wifi, I suggest just getting the Cowon Plenue D which is already on your list which I use myself the most compared to other DAPs I own, the only other DAP I use almost as much is Plenue D2 but sonically, they are the same.
For DAPs, I only care for sound quality as I believe this is the most important too as if I needed BT & wifi, I just get another phone...

The only thing about Plenue D, or two things in your case, is with this DAP, it is a little messy to create playlsts & there is no alpha auto or manual sort.
The other is being a no frills DAP, it doesn't support streaming either but then I would suggest using Fiio BTR 3 or BTR 5 for that if you really need streaming.
Otherwise, Fiio M9 which is also on your list is a nice compromise, I have demo this extensively, not as great sound quality as Plenue D but has streaming capability.

In the end, up to you.

Feel free to ask more when necessary.

Hope you have a great day !
 
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Jan 12, 2020 at 7:21 AM Post #3 of 13
Hello everybody! I have been saving money for a DAP but I can't really choose one, there are too many of them and I need your experience and wisdom. My budget is ~200 dollars and so far the DAPs that catched my eye are the Cowon Plenue J and D, Fiio M7 and Sony Walkman NW-A45.

What I'm looking for is a decent DAP able to create playlists easily, I don't care about bluetooth and wi-fi, but maybe, just maybe would be a plus if the DAP has airdrop, so I use my music from my Tidal account. I know there are AMP/DAC combos so I can still use my iPhone's playlist, but then again I lean towards a DAP.

I'm open for any advice and suggestions!
Sony nwa 45 is fantastic bro, im using it for like 1.5 years right now before i change to fiio m11, u can easily make the playlist from a pc with sony music app, and also u can use it as dac too, im using it as a dac with my samsung s8 to play spotify, sometimes im stacking the sony with fiio a3 to get bass boost, sony nwa 45 its my first dap, before that im only using my samsung to play music, and its a huge upgrade that mindblown me and im very happy at the first time i bought that sony nwa 45, the sound is all rounder for me, and it has a warm sounding in my opinion, but you still got the details, definitely buy that bro
 
Jan 12, 2020 at 11:28 AM Post #4 of 13
Hi @Kriger,

Subjectively & personally, since you don't need fancy features like bluetooth & wifi, I suggest just getting the Cowon Plenue D which is already on your list which I use myself the most compared to other DAPs I own, the only other DAP I use almost as much is Plenue D2 but sonically, they are the same.
For DAPs, I only care for sound quality as I believe this is the most important too as if I needed BT & wifi, I just get another phone...

The only thing about Plenue D, or two things in your case, is with this DAP, it is a little messy to create playlsts & there is no alpha auto or manual sort.
The other is being a no frills DAP, it doesn't support streaming either but then I would suggest using Fiio BTR 3 or BTR 5 for that if you really need streaming.
Otherwise, Fiio M9 which is also on your list is a nice compromise, I have demo this extensively, not as great sound quality as Plenue D but has streaming capability.

In the end, up to you.

Feel free to ask more when necessary.

Hope you have a great day !

You are convincing me on buying the Plenue D, but what about the Plenue J? In amazon both of those DAPs have the same price of $160, the only noticable difference I can see is the size and the storage the Plenue J comes with 64 GB of internal storage and the Plenue D 32 GB.
 
Jan 12, 2020 at 11:31 AM Post #5 of 13
Sony nwa 45 is fantastic bro, im using it for like 1.5 years right now before i change to fiio m11, u can easily make the playlist from a pc with sony music app, and also u can use it as dac too, im using it as a dac with my samsung s8 to play spotify, sometimes im stacking the sony with fiio a3 to get bass boost, sony nwa 45 its my first dap, before that im only using my samsung to play music, and its a huge upgrade that mindblown me and im very happy at the first time i bought that sony nwa 45, the sound is all rounder for me, and it has a warm sounding in my opinion, but you still got the details, definitely buy that bro

I was even thinking about using it as a DAC with the PS4, I contacted Sony and asked them if that was possible because you know, maybe the Sony's products are compatible between all of them, but their answer was "we have not tried that, but you can".
 
Jan 12, 2020 at 12:50 PM Post #6 of 13
I was even thinking about using it as a DAC with the PS4, I contacted Sony and asked them if that was possible because you know, maybe the Sony's products are compatible between all of them, but their answer was "we have not tried that, but you can".
i never try that on my ps4 dude, i never think of that, are u going to use the dac function for playing games? i think its a bad idea dude, because it has noticable delay between the audio and the video, i use the dac mode on my pc and my samsung only for spotify and my music library, i tried to watch youtube with the dac mode and it has a noticable delay
 
Jan 12, 2020 at 3:11 PM Post #7 of 13
i never try that on my ps4 dude, i never think of that, are u going to use the dac function for playing games? i think its a bad idea dude, because it has noticable delay between the audio and the video, i use the dac mode on my pc and my samsung only for spotify and my music library, i tried to watch youtube with the dac mode and it has a noticable delay

I assumed that would happen, so instead I'm thinking of using a DAC like the FiiO K5 pro, so in that way I can directly connect the audio from the PS4 with an optical cable. I better go with a DAP just for music.
 
Jan 12, 2020 at 11:58 PM Post #10 of 13
I have the all time famous ATH-M50x and the IEM Mee audio M6 Pro second generation.
Those don't need a lot of power, and you probably don't need a balanced option. I would post a new thread in the portable source gear section. There are a lot of really good Chinese and Korean daps that purely focus on sound quality. How important is the user interface experience to you? If you're wanting a more well known manufacturer, I'd probably look into Fiio. I don't know how far in depth you want to go, but if you narrow your choices, I'd read through the daps dedicated thread in this forum. Keep in mind, there is literally no such thing as a perfect dap. They all come with their bugaboos and misbehaviors.
 
Jan 13, 2020 at 12:11 AM Post #11 of 13
Those don't need a lot of power, and you probably don't need a balanced option. I would post a new thread in the portable source gear section. There are a lot of really good Chinese and Korean daps that purely focus on sound quality. How important is the user interface experience to you? If you're wanting a more well known manufacturer, I'd probably look into Fiio. I don't know how far in depth you want to go, but if you narrow your choices, I'd read through the daps dedicated thread in this forum. Keep in mind, there is literally no such thing as a perfect dap. They all come with their bugaboos and misbehaviors.
Thanks! I will look into those threads. For me I preffer a touch screen interface, I know that daps interface are not as fluids as smartphones so I don’t care if it’s a bit laggy, but I want to be able to create playlists. For now I’m convinced to buy the FiiO M7 or Plenue J.
 
Jan 13, 2020 at 12:24 AM Post #12 of 13
Thanks! I will look into those threads. For me I preffer a touch screen interface, I know that daps interface are not as fluids as smartphones so I don’t care if it’s a bit laggy, but I want to be able to create playlists. For now I’m convinced to buy the FiiO M7 or Plenue J.
I'd recommend reading through each daps dedicated threads for sure. If you have any questions, you're likely to get a quick response there.
 
Jan 13, 2020 at 11:40 PM Post #13 of 13
You are convincing me on buying the Plenue D, but what about the Plenue J? In amazon both of those DAPs have the same price of $160, the only noticable difference I can see is the size and the storage the Plenue J comes with 64 GB of internal storage and the Plenue D 32 GB.


Hi Kriger,

I have no experience with the PJ so can't say but I do have several years experience with the PD so I can say it is still among the best DAPs for Sound Quality I have ever & still use.
Plus the 100 hours battery life is really hard to beat.
Personally & subjectively, I hardly ever use internal storage on DAPs but then I don't subscribe to High Res formats where size may be an issue as from experience, HR formats are not an indicator for Sound Quality where recording quality is.
After all, SD cards exist for a reason.

Hope this answers your question.

Hope you have a great day !
 

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