[Redcarmoose]

JOHN H. DARKO =

 

[stuck limo]

JOHN H. DARKO =

I don't think that's a very fair statement regarding him. He's obviously very passionate and knowledgeable, if a little excitable. He reaches correct conclusions in this, however, they may be a little broad reaching and over-generalizing. But I don't think he has any bad intentions in this article.

 

[fluteloop]

The stand alone dap had circuitry designed specifically and with surrounding circuitry in mind. The layout of components and space to utilise film capacitors where needed is a big part of the overall isolation from crosstalk etc. to the discerning listemer with exotic gear this design approach cannot be replaced. For everyone else, the phone can suffice but it's up to the user to decide what level they want to play at and what quality they desire.

 

[GearMe]

The stand alone dap had circuitry designed specifically and with surrounding circuitry in mind. The layout of components and space to utilise film capacitors where needed is a big part of the overall isolation from crosstalk etc. to the discerning listemer with exotic gear this design approach cannot be replaced. For everyone else, the phone can suffice but it's up to the user to decide what level they want to play at and what quality they desire.

Having owned my fair share of exotic gear accompanied by the 'discerning' listening skills that come with spending that type of money on gear , this user's decided that the biggest impact (by far) to my listening experience is in the transducers (not the electronics after they get to a certain point). But, as you say, to each his own!

 

[fluteloop]

Having owned my fair share of exotic gear accompanied by the 'discerning' listening skills that come with spending that type of money on gear , this user's decided that the biggest impact (by far) to my listening experience is in the transducers (not the electronics after they get to a certain point). But, as you say, to each his own!

well i'm talking about the certain point you acknowledged. I just like it when companies apply a logical and appropriate circuit design to minimise the interference associated with crumby choices at the design stage. meaning you can't polish a turd

 

[521994]

I used to have daps and there was a time that daps used to be tools. Nowadays and with portable Dacs like the dragonfly red or cobalt I came to the conclusion that the iPhone + dragonfly cobalt set up works perfectly fine for me considering that the future of mobile music will be streaming. The DAP from a tool became a toy and therefore the end is coming. I am sure there will be a market for daps but will be really small. I hope mobile makers will put an effort to improve the SQ. Alternatively I will not be surprised if we see a Fiio, iBasso, A&K etc. mobile phone.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I used to have daps and there was a time that daps used to be tools. Nowadays and with portable Dacs like the dragonfly red or cobalt I came to the conclusion that the iPhone + dragonfly cobalt set up works perfectly fine for me considering that the future of mobile music will be streaming. The DAP from a tool became a toy and therefore the end is coming. I am sure there will be a market for daps but will be really small. I hope mobile makers will put an effort to improve the SQ. Alternatively I will not be surprised if we see a Fiio, iBasso, A&K etc. mobile phone.

It seems DAPs are becoming even more powerful and integrated in Head-Fi. Just a day ago FiiO released the M15 an insanely powerful DAP. We can now foresee the future filled with small devices that blur the line between portable and desktop. It seems people are interested to take desktop level audio around with them. This also coincides with the trend of IEMs gaining ground over full-size headphones in the past two years. New and exciting DAPs are coming out from every direction.

The greatest ones have two way Bluetooth and have 30 plus hour batteries.....all the while offering new features like MQA playback, native DSD processing and even smoother firmware. In fact this would be considered morning as the masses wake-up to portable audio.

Here are just a couple new DAPs which came from Sony and FiiO in the last few months?

There are huge lists of companies coming out with DAPs....too many to keep track of?


https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-sony-40th-anniversary-walkman-thread.909629/





https://hifigo.com/products/fiio-m15-flagship-dap-android-base-loseless-portable-music-player


https://headfonics.com/2019/05/fiio-m11-review/


https://www.fiio.com/m11pro

 

[521994]

It seems DAPs are becoming even more powerful and integrated in Head-Fi. Just a day ago FiiO released the M15 an insanely powerful DAP. We can now foresee the future filled with small devices that blur the line between portable and desktop. It seems people are interested to take desktop level audio around with them. This also coincides with the trend of IEMs gaining ground over full-size headphones in the past two years. New and exciting DAPs are coming out from every direction.

The greatest ones have two way Bluetooth and have 30 plus hour batteries.....all the while offering new features like MQA playback, native DSD processing and even smoother firmware. In fact this would be considered morning as the masses wake-up to portable audio.

Here are just a couple new DAPs which came from Sony and FiiO in the last few months?

There are huge lists of companies coming out with DAPs....too many to keep track of?


https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-sony-40th-anniversary-walkman-thread.909629/





https://hifigo.com/products/fiio-m15-flagship-dap-android-base-loseless-portable-music-player


https://headfonics.com/2019/05/fiio-m11-review/


https://www.fiio.com/m11pro

You are right and thanks for getting the info together. My only point is since these amazingly sounding devices are so well integrated with android wouldn’t be amazing if these were also mobile phones? I mean instead of a mobile phone with good SQ to have a dap which is also a mobile phone

 

[Redcarmoose]

 

[Redcarmoose]

You are right and thanks for getting the info together. My only point is since these amazingly sounding devices are so well integrated with android wouldn’t be amazing if these were also mobile phones? I mean instead of a mobile phone with good SQ to have a dap which is also a mobile phone

Maybe the phone will become an afterthought? We will maybe get to the point of it working with android and some small circuitry?


Right now though the quest “hot-description” tends to be “pure music”.


Or dream device? Lol

 

[Sonywalkmanuser]

Yes there are smartphones and usb-c dongles that can sound as good as if not better than some of the mid-tier DAPs. But let's discuss why dedicated DAP still has the best sound:

Some of the Best Dedicated DAP have balanced output and custom dedicated (well optimized) music application or custom operating system that has direct hardware driver level access to DAP's hardware, bypass Android's horrible 48KHz limitation or Apple's IOS "audio" sub-system. Some of the DAPs also comes with better equalizer and well tuned DSP processing. Some of the DAPs also have dual clock oscillators for 44.1Khz and 48Khz, while most smartphone only works on 48Khz timing, relying on software resampling/no so accurate timing recalculation for 44.1KHz audio.

Well Designed DAP is also highly resistant to EMI/RFI interference from 4G/5G modems and Wifi. Good DAP manufacturer pay special attention to internal shielding of the audio circuity. This kind of shielding require additional space & cost which smartphones and usb-c dongles usually do not have. usb-c dongles also face power supply limitation bond by the smartphone's implemented usb-c power output limits.

Yes there are apps like UAPP that allows for hardware level driver access to USB-C dongles or Smartphone DAC chipsets, but the actual compatibility is a mixed bag.

End of the day, the proof is in the pudding, listen to a smartphone with audiophile dac / usb dongle and compare to a well designed dedicated DAP and make your own choice/trade-offs on what's best for you.

 

[equalspeace]

Of course not. This is a silly question.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Of course not. This is a silly question.

https://darko.audio/2018/03/the-dap-days-are-over-part-1-xiaomi-audioquest/

Only stated due to thread originally about a reviewer who placed his DAP away with no use for a year. While there are great alternatives to a 2015 DAP, modern DAPs are amazing and without parallels.

 

[Pewterlocks]

For me,it all comes down to cost. It seems that the Dap prices are getting to the point where the average person, such as I can no longer afford one, whereas the cost of a decent sounding cell such as a LG V30 can be aquired at a low cost point.
I just blew my audio budget for 2020 by purchasing a Cayin N5ii s for $700 CAD. I do love the sound quality of it, but I wonder if I would of been better off getting a new cell with good sound as some cell manufacturers are now actually using better audio hardware.
Food for thought

 

[baskingshark]

DAPs are useful over smartphones for 2 purposes on the go:
1) Not enough memory on smartphone, especially if you have lots of lossless files that take up big memory space.
2) Preserve battery life of smartphone, especially if you like to connect battery draining stuff like USB DAC/AMP dongles to it for listening purposes.

I travel a lot and I personally don't mind carrying 2 devices (DAP and smartphone) for the above reasons, though as per all other subjective audio opinion, YMMV.