west0ne
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2016
- Posts
- 424
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- 72
Couldn't they switch processors? The Hiby R6 uses a Snapdragon processor that supports Android 6, although admittedly, that player isn't available yet on the retail market. (And even Android 6 is an outdated OS.)
Is there a reason why the DAP market is so far behind the curve compared to phones and tablets? The Samsung Galaxy S9 ships with Android 8. As mentioned, my Samsung Galaxy Tab A (which cost considerably less than the X5) came with Android 7. Conversely, a Headphonia review of the R6 says Android 6 "is one of the most advanced versions we’ve seen in Android DAP market yet." Android 6 came out in 2015, and was superseded by Android 7 in 2016. Android 5 isn't even supported for security updates anymore, but FIIO is using it as the OS in their flagship DAP because of their choice of processor? What am I missing?
Fiio have mentioned in the past that they don't buy in the sort of volume required to get a deal with Qualcomm on the Snapdragon processors. If the processor/memory pushed prices too high they would probably price themselves out of the market.
There is no reason why Android 5 can't be the base for a decent DAP, the problem really comes when you start to take advantage of the other features that come with Android such as the ability to install apps, many of which will be slow on the hardware as they have been coded for more capable devices.
Other DAPs use Android at their core but have locked down the OS in such a way that they only perform as a DAP with the stock player and no third party app support.
I'm sure at some point we will find that streaming apps and the like will stop supporting older releases of Android leaving us in a position where we can only use the X5iii as a DAP with the stock player.