I got the SR25 on black friday, and I really really wanted to like this player, but I have to say I think it just isn’t for me. I think the problem is that my ideal use case for a DAP is as an out-and-about little player I can turn on and off quickly and control from inside my pocket, and the SR25 just doesn’t do that for me.
From a audio perspective it’s great, I love how it sounds, but my two biggest problems are that even though A&K have hidden most of the android bits away (thank you A&K I absolutely love that and it’s one of the main reasons I was willing to try the SR25 even though it is an android DAP), it still takes forever to cold start, and the control buttons are just too small and too close together for me to easily press them.
I think maybe if I was using it all day, turn it on when I get ready to leave for work, use it as a dac/amp from my work computer, and listen to it on the way home, and was only dealing with cold starts very infrequently I’d feel differently, but I’m not. It currently gets used infrequently, sometimes when I’m sitting on the couch and want to listen to music, sometimes when I’m commuting around town, but never for long stretches, and then it goes idle just long enough to turn off.
For contrast for me, I got the Fiio BTR5 around the same time, and while the sound isn’t as good, it fits my use cases much better. Turns on really quickly, larger buttons are easier to control from my pocket, and sounds good enough.
I definitely understand why someone would love the SR25, and like I said if I had a different use pattern I think I might love it, but it unfortunately just doesn’t fit in with how I currently listen to music.