[sparkyhx]

Hmm, warm sound signature - bass is more prominent, highs are more subdued. V shape, consumer tuned. I've heard the 25s referenced a few ways, but never warm. The Momentums / HD1 are the very definition of "warm". Which frequencies and instruments are you hearing better separation from with the Momentums? It's a subdued sound vs an aggressive sound. Were you feeding the 25s proper power? Speaking of which, what are your power requirements from a portable dap?

I listen to mainly rock and blues. So the main instruments being bass, guitar and drums.

I started off listening to black rebel motorcycle whole music is very complex grungy and layered, I just found the hd25s were swamped, there were 4 clear layers of guitars going on and I couldn't pick them out. One thing I found on dire Straits romeo and juliet, they coped really well and it really was 50/50, so I tried buddy guy - done got old and again they were great much more intimate.

Back with BRMC again and it was all muddled single mass in the centre of my head, whereas the momentum were wider than my head and more space between everything.

Maybe it's amplification cos the 25s are quite ohmy.
Everything played thru my Sony a15. Until I got the cyrus amp I spent the last 20 years without a headphone socket. Even now I only have 3.5mm Jack's and that's why ALL my headphones are 'portable'. I don't listen via headphones at home, unless sat at my computerand then that's cos I use the unlike mic on Skype for work.

 

[CoryGillmore]

I just bought a Pioneer XDP-300R used from the forums here. You can snag one yourself off accessories4less for $300 as a factory refurb with a 1 year warranty. It's an Android DAP, meaning it's battery will suffer, but it checks all the other boxes. It touts 16 hours of hi-res playback. Which is really all I need. Hell the 8 hours of my Activo CT10 gets me all I need in a work day but it's cutting it too close. Plus the CT10 doesn't offer Tidal offline downloading of MQA tracks, or any tracks...

 

[marka250]

High there, been out of the 'portable' arena for a while.
Apart from full house Sonos multiroom system with Play 5's and main room with Sonos connect with Mission cyrus ampage and PMC floor standers running from a synology NAS as backup. All music where possible is FLAC .

Portable wise I have a sony NWZ-A15 (all FLAC where possible) , Sennheiser MM450 bluetooth portables, Bose QC25 wired, Sennheiser HD25-I-II (wired) and Sennheiser Momentum 2 (wired). I also travel with a Ultimate Ears speaker (bluetooth). I also use headphones as a 'skype' device. I cannot live with any in ear stuff at all.

As a I Travel a lot the main listening is done via the Sony player and the Bose QC25 (wired) and the Ultimate ears Bluetooth speaker.
- Soundwise I prefer the Momentums, but they are not as travel friendly as the Bose
- the Sennheiser MM450 are nearly perfect for what I want on the go, but the battery life is an issue
- love the HD25-i-ii, their sound isnt as good as the momentums or the bose and they are not great portable. However they feel like they would survive a nuclear strike and if they didnt you could always rebuild them yourself.

So - whilst not high end uber geek - quality is obviously important to me.

Which brings me back to the Sony NWZ-A15 - I put a massive amount of research at the time and struggled with finding the holy trinity of good battery life, capacity/expandability, and Bluetooth.

I've been out of the game for 3 years so don't really know whats around anymore - I'm after replacing/upping my sony, but appear to be still struggling to find a player that hits all three orf the trinity and sounds good as well.

Cowon Plenu D - no bluetooth, A&K jr - crap battery life, ibasso no Bluetooth etc etc

without spending the next few weeks investigating and p*ssing my wife off, can anyone shortcut some recommendations outside the Sony arena - (I already know they have devices that suit)
Requirements
- Bluetooth
- 128gb minimum (or expandable to 128gb)
- battery life >15-20hrs minimum
oh and Max £300 - cos I cannot wear in ear earphones - I don't see a huge point of having the final say in portable players sound quality only to compromise on virtually everything else cos of external noise/noise cancelling processing/Bluetooth 'loss'

Hiby R3 could be exactly what you are looking for. For battery saving, make the screen slightly dimmer, and don't operate too much, you'll get a full day out of it at least.

 

[sparkyhx]

Hiby R3 could be exactly what you are looking for. For battery saving, make the screen slightly dimmer, and don't operate too much, you'll get a full day out of it at least.

Checked the Hiby out and I like it on paper, but cant get a real life battery figure apart from 6-8hrs of a pre production version, which is probably higher with a full blown production.

Are the battery life issues with all but the Sony purely down to running Android/Linux, or is there some other thing going on.

 

[marka250]

Checked the Hiby out and I like it on paper, but cant get a real life battery figure apart from 6-8hrs of a pre production version, which is probably higher with a full blown production.

Are the battery life issues with all but the Sony purely down to running Android/Linux, or is there some other thing going on.

Whenever the operating system is complicated, it consumes power more. More functionality, less power.
I think the R3 is now fully production, on paper it is 11 hours now, and they seem to have understated the battery life as far as I know about it. You probably will get 12-13 out of it, and if you don't use a lot of DSD files or loud volume, I assume it's going to be very good.

 

[buke9]

The R3 will do a work day for me which is 8 to 9 hours with no problem. I use it with AirPlay most of the time and stream from my iPhone.

 

[marka250]

The R3 will do a work day for me which is 8 to 9 hours with no problem. I use it with AirPlay most of the time and stream from my iPhone.

Exactly what i'm trying to say. They are not going to be as good as the Cowon Plenue D, but the battery life is not going to be a complaint for most users.

 

[buke9]

Exactly what i'm trying to say. They are not going to be as good as the Cowon Plenue D, but the battery life is not going to be a complaint for most users.

Haven’t heard the Cowon so don’t know but the Hyby is pretty good sounding and have no complaints on the battery life.

 

[sparkyhx]

a full work day with commute is 10-11hrs on a good day, 12-13ish normal - so most of these devices just do not cut it.

I have come across the Fiio M7 which roles in at 20 hrs, its basic which is what I want, I have no need for balanced output, WiFi, Tidal Apps etc. It would appear there is a gap in the market between the lower end with lower fidelity and high end with great sound, all singing and dancing, but appalling battery.

I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting a device that sounds great, but does not have all the singing and dancing that destroys the battery life. Anyway its looking like the Sony or the Fiio M7 unless the Hiby has a better battery than the pre-prod review versions would indicate.

 

[sparkyhx]

Haven’t heard the Cowon so don’t know but the Hyby is pretty good sounding and have no complaints on the battery life.

what are the actual max's in your experience from the Hiby.

The R3 will do a work day for me which is 8 to 9 hours with no problem. I use it with AirPlay most of the time and stream from my iPhone.

so is that using 'wifi'? I would be doing no wifi, no bluetooth, virtually no interactions due to playing ALL on shuffle. so would I get a lot more?

 

[CoryGillmore]

Seems to me that the Sony NW45 checks all your boxes

 

[buke9]

what are the actual max's in your experience from the Hiby.



so is that using 'wifi'? I would be doing no wifi, no bluetooth, virtually no interactions due to playing ALL on shuffle. so would I get a lot more?

Don’t know the max as I’ve never tested it for that but using AirPlay from my phone and to aux in on a radio in a piece of heavy equipment and after 9 hours had 38% battery life left and the volume was at or near max. I don’t know if reading from the sd card would draw a lot more power or not though.

 

[DaYooper]

geez dude be easy on the new guy!
I love the AK 320 I have, and I know it does not meet your criteria.
But a more recent model, the KANN does meet all those criteria, I believe.

Some people cant get over the size of the KAAN (big battery and big Memory/cards/expandability, Bluetooth, etc

But it looks like solid product to me.

I do have the KANN (on sale right now for $200 off) and I love that thing. The size is a non issue, the battery lasts almost forever and the storage is something else, 899gb total on my unit right now. 16k songs on there with 265gb free, all flac and some dsd. and oh yeah, the sq is really really good.

 

[DaYooper]

Some models that meet your criteria:

Fiio M7 (20 hr. battery, Bluetooth, expandable up to 512gb) -- https://www.fiio.com/m7
Pioneer XDP-30R (15 hr. battery, Bluetooth, expandable up to 528gb) -- https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/High-Resolution+Audio/XDP-30R-B
Pioneer XDP-02U (15 hr. battery, Bluetooth, expandable up to 528gb) -- https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/Digital+Audio+Players/XDP-02U-L

I don't have any experience with these two Pioneer units. But..I did have a XDP-300r, twin to the dp-x1 Onkyo. The 30r looks just like a twin to the 300r. That dap was nice for the twin sabre dacs and dual slots but that was their only plus. The ui was awful android and they didn't have enough power.

 

[sparkyhx]

Thanks peeps - I've ended up getting the Fiio M7 purely for the battery life. The others don't appear to achieve the advertised life in the real world and would leave me re-charging pretty much every day to be on the safe side, whereas the Fiio would probably do 2 days except in exceptional circumstances.

I not really given it a go yet, but on initial impression with my Sennheiser HD25-I ii and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on Flac which is incredibly textured, layered and complex, is that the definition and soundstage are better, and the bass guitars sound more 'real' than the Sony. I'll give it a few days and see how things work out, I am looking forward to trying it with the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-ear wired, which already have a a better soundstage and more real bass guitar.

It would appear that as I get older, convenience is becoming more important, roll on elasticated waiste trousers and velcro fastening shoes