Is the DAP dead?????

[Johnciaccio]

I bought the HUAWEI MediaPad M3 because it has a Ak 4376 DAC and audio tuned by H K . It is up their with LG phones for audio quality. Sometimes I prefer it as AK DACS tend to have a fuller sound the ESS DACs.

Samsung and Huawei both have used AKG products and tuning. To say that smart phone manufacturers will not partner up in the future with well known names in audio is absurd. Beats got it's start in laptops. A&k has a audio system on a chip now for this purpose. Why reinvent the wheel when it is easy to borrow another's experience and name to sell more products.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I bought the HUAWEI MediaPad M3 because it has a Ak 4376 DAC and audio tuned by H K . It is up their with LG phones for audio quality. Sometimes I prefer it as AK DACS tend to have a fuller sound the ESS DACs.

Samsung and Huawei both have used AKG products and tuning. To say that smart phone manufacturers will not partner up in the future with well known names in audio is absurd. Beats got it's start in laptops. A&k has a audio system on a chip now for this purpose. Why reinvent the wheel when it is easy to borrow another's experience and name to sell more products.

Exactly. I figured this was a rather obvious thing, but apparently not for everyone. I can see a day when we see a smartphone with Sound by Astell and Kern or by FiiO. Not far fetched at all.

 

[Neweymatt]

Dear friends, let’s address the elephant in the room. This is not going to be a comparison because simply there is no comparison to be made in terms of sound quality. The FiiO M11 walks rounds and all over the dragonfly. I honestly couldn’t find one element of sound quality where the dragonfly won the battle.


Thanks all for reading

Apologies for jumping on this several-months-old thread, but mate, thanks for sharing this experience.

I've been on the fence the last few weeks whether to get some kind of DAC to pair up with my iPhone XS, or go further down the rabbit hole and get a DAP. Had a listen to an SR15 a couple of months back at an audio shop in Sydney and was blown away by the sound. Guess I'm lucky A&K released the SR25 in the meantime

 

[521994]

@Neweymatt I am pretty sure you will enjoy it. Couple of things after owning a dap for few months now. Memory space is not an issue any more and never thought that traffic jam can be so enjoyable...

 

[vodanhkhack]

Focus the question :" Is the DAP dead?????"

Answer : No! At least for now!

Additional question:" Are the latest highend DAPs more expensive?"

Answer: Yes! At least for now!

 

[vodanhkhack]

Additional question 2: "Is the headphone jack on smartphone dead???"

Answer: " Yes! Almost"


Additional question 3: " Is the wired IEM dead ???"

Answer: "No!
The market for premium IEM is growing! No such smart function like microphone on those highend IEMs! "

 

[TheUnknow]

https://twister6.com/2020/01/07/hiby-r3-pro/3/

In terms of the sound, R5 is a little bit warmer with a fuller body, while R3 Pro is a little more neutral and more transparent in a relative comparison.

https://www.headfonia.com/hiby-r3-pro-review/4/

The R5 gives you a leaner and more neutral presentation. The R3 Pro is warmer in comparison with a fuller sound.

Someone is wrong ... but who ????

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I agree but all i was saying as an ex DAP owner is that is hard to beat solutions like iphone and dragonfly cobalt considering that with hi res streaming services there is no need to carry any of my audio files. I see the future as streaming only from a good sounding mobile or in my case iphone and cobalt. In that sense the DAP is a nice toy but not the essential tool it used to be.

I am a newbie to the audiophile world. I come at it from a completely different perspective. I do not want a DAP. I don't want to purchase music anymore. 15 years ago, I gave away my entire LP and CD collection. I have zero interest in doing that again. I'm done chasing it. With Tidal Hifi at $10/month (Best Buy promotion), I get nearly all the content ever created for a few thousand dollars for the rest of my life with outstanding quality. That's a compelling value proposition especially given its ability to discover new music easily.

I will live with the sound quality of the best technology that pairs with my iPhone. I don't care about draining my battery. That's what power banks are for. I only need to store play lists for offline listening as I can get internet access nearly everywhere including on an airplane. I have 16 new playlists across all the genres I listen to just for today and they are synched up on my iPhone. I don't need more storage than that as it will refresh again tomorrow. Storage and processing power are increasing over time and will likely get cheaper, not more expensive. There will always be DAP players like there will always be turntables, but they will be a smaller and smaller niche over time.

Right now, I am loving everything I am learning about. The technology has advanced to the point that a person can get amazing sound for a really cheap price. I decided to play the value curve as I work my way up the learning curve of hifi audio. Now, I am trying to learn where the boundaries of the technology can take us in this direction.

Process this one. I bought my sons an HD6XX for $220 and a FIIO BTR5 DAC for $109. They already have iPhones and I have Spotify Family for $15/month. That solution delivers spectacular sound is greater than 90 percentile of music qualify anyone will get in their lives. Most business executives will spend that much money on Bose noise cancelling headphones.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Okay. I acquired a Chord Poly to go with my Mojo this week from another head fier. I am currently getting the Tidal Stream over LTE and connected Wifi to the poly and streaming to it with Airplay. I use the native ios Tidal app and I can play downloaded music or stream to it. It works and sounds great.

I have a/b tested the Chord Mojo/Poly against my BTR5 and the Mojo/Poly is far superior. The Chord Mojo/Poly combo cost me about $800. What is the best sounding DAP you can buy for that much money that allows Tidal streaming? I want to compare the sound quality of both options at that price point.

I can also set up the Chord Mojo/Poly as a streamer on my home network and in that configuation it should sound better since the iPhone is taken out of the signal path. I wanted to compare apples to apples use cases with the Mojo/Poly as a full DAP replacement.

 

[Setmagic]

DAP will live forever.
We see revolution of portable headphones and DAPs last years. Station DAC/AMP is not nesesery even for home use or best quality expirience. 90% new models of hi-end headphones can be easily drive from compact devices.

Everyday carry headphones can be bluetooth earbuds with microphone it is good for sports or listen in public but not for hi quality expirience.

 

[Tristy]

Okay. I acquired a Chord Poly to go with my Mojo this week from another head fier. I am currently getting the Tidal Stream over LTE and connected Wifi to the poly and streaming to it with Airplay. I use the native ios Tidal app and I can play downloaded music or stream to it. It works and sounds great.

I have a/b tested the Chord Mojo/Poly against my BTR5 and the Mojo/Poly is far superior. The Chord Mojo/Poly combo cost me about $800. What is the best sounding DAP you can buy for that much money that allows Tidal streaming? I want to compare the sound quality of both options at that price point.

I can also set up the Chord Mojo/Poly as a streamer on my home network and in that configuation it should sound better since the iPhone is taken out of the signal path. I wanted to compare apples to apples use cases with the Mojo/Poly as a full DAP replacement.

Ibasso DX220 maybe?