[RichardSumilang]

Hello everyone, I’ve been searching for a solid DAP to just work at this point with bluetooth and lossless support. I’ve started my adventure with the release of the A&K SR25 MK2. I was excited for its clean and straight to the point interface with the ability to stream music. It’s locked down Android interface didn’t get carried away from the thing that mattered which was listening to music. Unfortunately it came with a lot of bluetooth issues such as connecting to my car, didn’t find my living room receiver, and range was terrible when connected to my Bluetooth speakers. Not to mention the Bluetooth sinc in it was a joke with frequent dropouts. I went through 3 SR25 MK2s thinking that my first one was defective. The second one had the same issues plus an overheating battery that got as hot as an iron. The third shared the same Bluetooth issues and I decided at $700 the device should have this nailed down.

In love with the A&K interface, I decided to throw some more money at the problem. I figured their near flagship couldn’t be as bad. So I got the SP2000T. Most of the Bluetooth issues are the exact same except that range was better for the bluetooth speakers it did connect to. I decided maybe this device was worth keeping since it has tube + op amp (even though my ears couldn’t tell the difference if my life depended on it). I eased off the Bluetooth support since I discovered roon and grew quite fond of it. At this point I decided to get serious with the device and fill up my 1tb memory card with music since it is an dap. I’ll spare you the details of how troublesome it was to do that with the device for many reasons but it took almost a full week. Anyways, now here I am with this device and it seems to have a lot of memory problems reading in the card. I see it scanning all the data and with the screen flickering. I decided to let it do its thing overnight and seen the battery drop from 100% to 50% in the morning and it still flickers as its not done reading in the data. I suppose each screen flicker is just the system crashing and restarting the scan? It’s been a very disappointing experince with A&K though their support staff is trying to be helpful at least.

Anyways, here I am. I started with an entry DAP and currently high end. Since I have this money out in DAP land I started looking at other DAP brands now and I’m wondering if the Sony NW-WM1Z is still an amazing DAP and worth the money even though its 6 years old? I know it won’t have all the modern bells and whistles of USB-C, WiFi, roon, and stuff but at this point I just want something that will sound beautifully and be a pleasure to use with no fuss. Maybe it’s old system would have refined OS updates over the years and bugs fixed unlike new toys? Does anyone suggest any other modern DAPs that are comparable to A&Ks but aren’t bug ridden? How many of you still rocking the Sony signature series? Any rumors of a new Sony signature series coming out soon? Thanks!

 

[mt877]

It appears Sony has something planned for later this year (?). Visit the Walkman Blog for details.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Maybe I am missing something but doesn't use of Bluetooth completely lose the benefit of high grade equipment? Why not just stream from your phone?

 

[jisukim]

In the time that you had the sr25 MKII, did it still have the Wi-Fi bug from the first one where you would hear static every time the Wi-Fi was on?

 

[RichardSumilang]

It appears Sony has something planned for later this year (?). Visit the Walkman Blog for details.

interesting. thank you!

Maybe I am missing something but doesn't use of Bluetooth completely lose the benefit of high grade equipment? Why not just stream from your phone?

bluetooth doesn't completely lose the benefit if ldac is supported. though its not completely lossless, it's good enough for time beings. i occasionally travel off the grid where reception is limited and it would be nice to play music to bluetooth devices via the music player and keep my phone reserved only for communication needs. its also nice to pass around the media player along a campsite for anyone to control the music instead of passing around your phone as I feel its more of an emergency device and doesn't have comparable storage capabilities.

In the time that you had the sr25 MKII, did it still have the Wi-Fi bug from the first one where you would hear static every time the Wi-Fi was on?

I ran the latest firmware on all 3 of them. I didn't notice noise with them but I generally ran it with sennheiser 800 s or audeze lcd-x. I didn't try something like the shure se846 which might've made it more obvious? It could've been with the bigger cans but hard for me to say for sure if it was or it was just the music I was listening to. I've been more focused on the software issues.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Not to belabor the point; but you can get LDAC on much much cheaper units. Keep in mind that the DAP has little to do with audio quality in your scenario, its the RECEIVING unit. So buying a super fancy DAP just for that feature is severe overkill. Hey its your money.

Have you fiddled with LDAC by the way? You are unlikely to get good connections at the highest bit rate which push bluetooth to the limit. Using my HiBy R5 I am lucky if my Sony headphones can even handle the middle LDAC setting.

I think my point is out there and I won't bug you any more.

 

[RichardSumilang]

Not to belabor the point; but you can get LDAC on much much cheaper units. Keep in mind that the DAP has little to do with audio quality in your scenario, its the RECEIVING unit. So buying a super fancy DAP just for that feature is severe overkill. Hey its your money.

Have you fiddled with LDAC by the way? You are unlikely to get good connections at the highest bit rate which push bluetooth to the limit. Using my HiBy R5 I am lucky if my Sony headphones can even handle the middle LDAC setting.

I think my point is out there and I won't bug you any more.

I understand the bluetooth limitations. I just want it to simply work. However I'm currently having much larger issues of the A&K system home screen crashing when I load in an SD card. I've been back and forth with support on this and can't play any of my music because the interface is crashing when trying to read my files. I've done all the due diligences they've asked of me like only loading supported files on the card and it still crashes. So I can't even play music with wired headphones as it stands.

I currently have a 1tb card installed. Originally I had put 950gb of music on it and the issues were worst. I through out 450gb of my library and while it crashes less, it still crashes and cant load my music through the interface. I kind've refuse to go down to 100gb or less and start debugging all my music to find the culprit so thats why I'm looking for a more refined/stable device.

Thanks for your input.

 

[originalsnuffy]

OK, if the issue is more than Bluetooth than I might be able to help out. Troubleshooting problem files is really hard.

The problem is usually something like having one song with a title that has characters that are not acceptable to the player or are too long for the unit. Or a FLAC file or what have you has errors. Something like that.

Finding the problem or problems is really hard and comes down to trial and error. Many people that I know reformat the memory card, then add about 10% of their music and see how it goes. If good, add another 10% and check it out. And so on. Keep track of what is in each batch of music so you can figure out what the problem file or files might be. Annoying? You bet. You may want to ask people on the boards for your unit what kinds of files or names have been problematic in the past. If you are the person who ripped the files it is straightforward to re-rerip. If the files came from friends or what have you it gets a bit harder.

The title of this thread really should be something like "good DAP unit for Bluetooth Streaming" or "help troubleshoot my music files".

 

[wmischke]

If you just want LDAC then grab a Hidizs AP80 Pro or Sony NW-A55. In fact, the latter may be exactly what you're looking for.

 

[Lappy27]

If you just want LDAC then grab a Hidizs AP80 Pro or Sony NW-A55. In fact, the latter may be exactly what you're looking for.

If you are still looking for ultra high performance and don’t mind the size and weight, I can’t recommand enough the iBasso DX-300MAX. It have BT 5.0 with LDAC.

Best sound from my Focal Utopia of all the setups I tried them. But as an other mmber pointed out, It’s not necessary to pay tons of money if the amplification is in the receiving device from BT. The 300MAX have really fantastic dacs (dual AKM 4499) but it’s his extraordinary amplification that make it so special IMO.

Dis you ever considered a subscription to a streaming plateform like Tidal, Amazon music or Quobuz? Tidal Masters with MQA sounds fantastic on the 300MAX.

 

[RichardSumilang]

OK, if the issue is more than Bluetooth than I might be able to help out. Troubleshooting problem files is really hard.

The problem is usually something like having one song with a title that has characters that are not acceptable to the player or are too long for the unit. Or a FLAC file or what have you has errors. Something like that.

Finding the problem or problems is really hard and comes down to trial and error. Many people that I know reformat the memory card, then add about 10% of their music and see how it goes. If good, add another 10% and check it out. And so on. Keep track of what is in each batch of music so you can figure out what the problem file or files might be. Annoying? You bet. You may want to ask people on the boards for your unit what kinds of files or names have been problematic in the past. If you are the person who ripped the files it is straightforward to re-rerip. If the files came from friends or what have you it gets a bit harder.

The title of this thread really should be something like "good DAP unit for Bluetooth Streaming" or "help troubleshoot my music files".

Just the thought of having a single corrupt file on a DAP bring it all down is so infuriating. I think an mp3 player from the 90s is probably more solid.

 

[originalsnuffy]

Just the thought of having a single corrupt file on a DAP bring it all down is so infuriating. I think an mp3 player from the 90s is probably more solid.

I had a problem like that once with a corrupt email in Outlook causing all kinds of problems. But I have not had a problem like that with my music in a while. Maybe try running your music through a renaming app to see if its a naming problem?

I would check out the forums for your particular unit to see if anybody has other ideas.

 

[goodvibes]

Hiby R6 2020 is at a similar price, VG sounding and featureful. iBasso dx240 also seems solid but a bit more.

 

[kumar402]

Check out below, it may be helpful
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hi-res-daps-comparison-chart-2021.958619/unread

 

[RichardSumilang]

Check out below, it may be helpful
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hi-res-daps-comparison-chart-2021.958619/unread

That was super helpful, ty!