DAP Recommendation Up To $1k For Sound Quality & Reliability

[ryder78]

I have never tried a DAP and have been using a phone and DAC dongle all this while. I intend to do this seriously in the future and wish to know the DAP options up to a budget of $1k which will have better sound quality than a phone+DAC dongle setup. The DAP will need to be reliable as well and not stop functioning in say 1-2 years when the warranty period is over.

I was just wondering, a DAP will have better sound quality or performance than a similarly priced phone+DAC dongle isn't it? If it doesn't, that will defeat the purpose of the DAP consideration for me.

FWIW I have listed the popular brands of DAP that I know so some brands will be missing.

 

[mathi8vadhanan]

Both my AK's AK100 and AK120 II are still in use, coming up on 10 years now.
Volume wheel is fidgety on both, lazy to put some deoxit on it. AK100 still has rock solid standby time, AK120 II on the other hand battery has degraded quite a bit (still get around 4 hrs playback time). They are definitely on the quality side.

From your list I would pick the iBasso. Easy access to the battery is such an underrated feature for longevity.

 

[dunring]

If you get a Tanchjim Space with it's 115 SINAD score, you won't be able to tell the difference with a DAP. I've had some high end ones like Astrall & Kern and it's just one more device to keep charged and syncing a music library to. I have a Topping G5 and that's the top tier for portable performance if you don't mind lugging a 10oz brick around. It's really for a laptop case or packed with headphones for a hotel room, but 120 SINAD will trade blows with any desktop setup for quality. I use a 5,000ma phone and a dongle, or Sennheiser Momentum 3 or 4 ear buds are really the way to travel.

 

[ryder78]

Thanks for all responses, appreciated. I only listen to IEMs at home and don't listen on the go but prefer the DAC to be as small and discrete as possible, so it's only dongle for me instead of something like a Chord Mojo2 or larger. I currently have the FIIO KA13 and Cayin RU7. Haven't managed to listen to the RU7 yet as I just received it.

 

[ryder78]

Both my AK's AK100 and AK120 II are still in use, coming up on 10 years now.
Volume wheel is fidgety on both, lazy to put some deoxit on it. AK100 still has rock solid standby time, AK120 II on the other hand battery has degraded quite a bit (still get around 4 hrs playback time). They are definitely on the quality side.

From your list I would pick the iBasso. Easy access to the battery is such an underrated feature for longevity.

AKs are premium DAPs, good to know they have withstood the test of time. If I intend to pick up a DAP, will look at the iBasso. Thanks.

 

[mathi8vadhanan]

If you get a Tanchjim Space with it's 115 SINAD score, you won't be able to tell the difference with a DAP. I've had some high end ones like Astrall & Kern and it's just one more device to keep charged and syncing a music library to. I have a Topping G5 and that's the top tier for portable performance if you don't mind lugging a 10oz brick around. It's really for a laptop case or packed with headphones for a hotel room, but 120 SINAD will trade blows with any desktop setup for quality. I use a 5,000ma phone and a dongle, or Sennheiser Momentum 3 or 4 ear buds are really the way to travel.

This. Sold all my recent DAPs WM1AM2, R6 ProII, R3 II et al. Yeah it's another device to remember to charge and bring along. Yet they're way behind modern mobiles and always feels like a compromise.
I would also look at the DC-Elite, getting a lot of good reviews. I have the DC04 Pro and its more than enough for me for on the go usage with IEMs.

 

[ryder78]

This. Sold all my recent DAPs WM1AM2, R6 ProII, R3 II et al. Yeah it's another device to remember to charge and bring along. Yet they're way behind modern mobiles and always feels like a compromise.
I would also look at the DC-Elite, getting a lot of good reviews. I have the DC04 Pro and its more than enough for me for on the go usage with IEMs.

Good to know. I was looking at the iBasso DC Elite earlier but picked the Cayin RU7 instead to complement the FIIO KA13 which I have been using for a month. I'm not sure if I want to add another dongle to my collection in the near future but the DC Elite will be my next pick if I intend to do so.

My next purchase will be my endgame IEM, the Thieaudio Prestige LTD before the end of this year.

 

[Bengkia369]

My recommendation would be Ibasso DX180 or DX260. Both are very good sounding plus user can replace the battery by just removing 2 screws.

 

[lionsgate]

I'll recommend Sony. The Sony ZX707 and the WM1AM2, offers 40 hours of playback.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

Used Wm1z or Wm1a.

 

[proedros]

Used Wm1z or Wm1a.

and if you are patient/lucky , you can find a Nayparm mod wm1a for around 1000$

bargain.

 

[originalsnuffy]

If iBasso offers easy battery replacement as stated above that is a great feature. I sent a Hiby and a Cayin to China for battery repairs and it was difficult and expensive. Never have owned a Luxury and Precision, A&K, Sony, or iBasso but my impression of all of them is pretty good.

I don't trust Shanling, Cayin, or FiiO when it comes to firmware updates. These units are often orphaned rather quickly.

Shanling still can't get gapless to work on its android units which I think is silly. My first Shanling was the M2 and it simply stopped working. Others from Shanling were fine.

Never had a FiiO fail per se; but their firmware upgrades are haphazard at best. They are no longer a preferred brand for me due to that. They dropped support for the Q3-MQA dongle about a year ago but won't admit to that. If you care about DSD and have an iphone 15 stay away from that model.

My first Cayin N5II had a few firmware updates and then flatlined. The USB input / output never did work fully properly. They abandoned ship on this unit when they could not get screens for more production.

HiBy has been good with firmware updates.

The best support on Head-Fi that I have seen has been HiBy,(Joe) iBasso (Paul, the owner), and Cayin (Andy). Their reps seem to understand the game.

Personally I think dongles are the way to go. The Cayin RU7 has been rock solid, so at least so far no firmware updates have been needed. Neutron player with an iphone 15 Pro Max with 1TB has been great. I think it is better to use the smart phone as a transport than rely on Android on a smart phone. Phones tend to have better firmware support and Neutron and UAPP (android only) are good solutions. You need those for Shanlings as Shanling as noted above can't figure out gapless on Android (weird).

 

[peterinvan]

Good to know. I was looking at the iBasso DC Elite earlier but picked the Cayin RU7 instead to complement the FIIO KA13 which I have been using for a month. I'm not sure if I want to add another dongle to my collection in the near future but the DC Elite will be my next pick if I intend to do so.

My next purchase will be my endgame IEM, the Thieaudio Prestige LTD before the end of this year.

I have a nice DAP as well as three dongles. I have different use cases for all devices:

The M11Pro (with Tidal downloads) is my preferred device when out for a walk, because it has my preferred sound profile (AKM), and I can also advance tracks with my hand in my jacket pocket rather than looking at a phone screen. The M11Pro with the B&W P8 is my preferred pair for when I need noise cancelling using aptxHD. It also serves as my bedside pair.

The RU6 dongle is plugged into my iPad Pro so I can enjoy headphones when watching a movie, or just listening to Tidal.

I carry my FiiO KA3 and 7Hz Timeless in a pouch. If I need to listen out for a call, I will use this iPhone/dongle pair outside.

I have now dedicated a mini iPad as my living room server. It feeds my stereo through an apple Lightning dongle. It sounds fine, but I might experiment to see if this use case deserves a better dongle.

On my Win11 based desktop I am happy with the FiiO K7 DAC/amp.

So… have a look at your use cases

EDIT: Surprise … the FiiO KA3 is vastly better than the Apple dongle with my iPad mini server. The soundstage opened up and the sound quality is an order of magnitude better. Will be looking out for a bargain on Prime Day

 

[peterinvan]

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[MD Rohit]

Used wm1a or wm1z