[cjs001]

Still, I'm just curious... anyone know why some DAP costs 6 or 7 hundred even upwards of thousands of dollars? What's the reasoning? Are the bits and bobs in them truly so complex? Or is it just the lower commercial demand of the chips that made the price go up? Seems like an exorbitant amount to pay for a device of very niche role. I mean I've seen computers and top of the line smartphones cheaper than what some of these devices are selling for.
 
Even from an audio enthusiast standpoint, wouldn't it make more sense to spend that money on a good quality desktop set up?

 

[xuan87]

  Still, I'm just curious... anyone know why some DAP costs 6 or 7 hundred even upwards of thousands of dollars? What's the reasoning? Are the bits and bobs in them truly so complex? Or is it just the lower commercial demand of the chips that made the price go up? Seems like an exorbitant amount to pay for a device of very niche role. I mean I've seen computers and top of the line smartphones cheaper than what some of these devices are selling for.
 
Even from an audio enthusiast standpoint, wouldn't it make more sense to spend that money on a good quality desktop set up?

 
Problem is, you can't bring the quality desktop setup out of your house.
 
That said, I agree with you that I won't be paying that much for a DAP.

 

[cjs001]

   
Problem is, you can't bring the quality desktop setup out of your house.
 
That said, I agree with you that I won't be paying that much for a DAP.

Unless you're one of those individual who spend most of their free time away from home then yes, it might make sense, but even then a portable DAP is already kind of a compromise in itself anyway. Might as well just go for something cheap and easily replaced.

 

[waynes world]

  Problem is, you can't bring the quality desktop setup out of your house.
 
That said, I agree with you that I won't be paying that much for a DAP.

 
It's rather incremental improvements, that's for sure. But if you get hooked and start getting iem's or headphones that are more revealing, then you start noticing it when the source (ie source files, or source player) isn't up to the job. Or so they say! The trick is not to get hooked to that degree lol

 

[cjs001]

   
It's rather incremental improvements, that's for sure. But if you get hooked and start getting iem's or headphones that are more revealing, then you start noticing it when the source (ie source files, or source player) isn't up to the job. Or so they say! The trick is not to get hooked to that degree lol

Heh, I suppose I should be thankful to be born with easily satisfied ears and that they were never spoiled by high-end gears. For me, as long as instruments sound like what I know they sound like live and not get muddied from busy tracks it's a keeper. Anything else you can always EQ. 
 
Hopefully in 5-10 years time these pricier systems will eventually trickle down in price to us bottom feeders 

 

 

[EmpJ]

Need to find a nice middle ground. The X5, DX50, Hidizs AP100, etc I would consider to be a decent package on the
run without being too bulky and expensive. 
 
At between $2-$400 I don't think that's expensive. Same price as mainstream players anyway. 

 

[waynes world]

  Need to find a nice middle ground. The X5, DX50, Hidizs AP100, etc I would consider to be a decent package on the
run without being too bulky and expensive. 
 
At between $2-$400 I don't think that's expensive. Same price as mainstream players anyway. 

 
Fwiw, the Ihifi DAPs seem to be great quality for the $. I'm really loving the SQ out of the Ihifi 770 which goes for around $179. And the forthcoming Ihifi 800 looks very intriguing (don't know that the price is yet, but I love the size, weight and form factor):
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/679572/ihifi-760-770-pg-13-800-pg-25-from-makers-of-the-812v2-960/375#post_11127199
 
Edit: and the Fidue A71's are great as well (hint hint!)

 

[cjs001]

  Need to find a nice middle ground. The X5, DX50, Hidizs AP100, etc I would consider to be a decent package on the
run without being too bulky and expensive. 
 
At between $2-$400 I don't think that's expensive. Same price as mainstream players anyway.  

Yeah personally anything $200+ is way too much IMO. I guess I'm biased as I've never tried anything in that price range. I've been looking at the range of X1 to the IHiFI 770. Even then I'm fairly hesitant in getting them as you never know what magic box will come out from the woods and blow them all away, making current generation DAP obsolete. At least for pricier headphone, we're more or less secure in the knowledge that whatever happens headphones are more or less here to stay for a long, long while yet. Over the past few decades we've switched from Cassette players to CD walkman then MP3 and now Lossless...
 
It's great to have good quality music, balanced output, wide band EQ, touch screens, great storage capacity and long battery life, but I think I can do without say carbon fiber or duralumin chassis (unless it means a difference between 150g+ or 50g weight) or high quality leather cases. But I suppose people who do get players in those price range are also into the status symbol of owning one on top of whatever else they might be looking for.

 

[waynes world]

  Yeah personally anything $200+ is way too much IMO. I guess I'm biased as I've never tried anything in that price range. I've been looking at the range of X1 to the IHiFI 770. Even then I'm fairly hesitant in getting them as you never know what magic box will come out from the woods and blow them all away, making current generation DAP obsolete. At least for pricier headphone, we're more or less secure in the knowledge that whatever happens headphones are more or less here to stay for a long, long while yet. Over the past few decades we've switched from Cassette players to CD walkman then MP3 and now Lossless...
 
It's great to have good quality music, balanced output, wide band EQ, touch screens, great storage capacity and long battery life, but I think I can do without say carbon fiber or duralumin chassis (unless it means a difference between 150g+ or 50g weight) or high quality leather cases. But I suppose people who do get players in those price range are also into the status symbol of owning one on top of whatever else they might be looking for.

 
Everyone's different, but for me, I really prefer buttons so that I don't have to look at the gizmo - from here on in, buttons all the way baby!
 
That's one reason the Kogan/Ritmix is pretty great.. it has the buttons and it sounds rather amazing for the price (and it plays lossless files - wow!). The "dream dap" for me though would be small and light (ie probably no more than the size/weight/form of the upcoming Ihifi 800), with buttons, and with amazing SQ, and also be able to do streaming (ie spotify), all for a respectable price! Easy, right? Lol. The Fiio X7 will probably be a bit larger/heavier than I would prefer for my "dream DAP" vision, but it's close. Unfortunately is will most likely cost about $700 which definitely moves it into "dream" material. Oh well, dream on!

 

[cjs001]

   
Everyone's different, but for me, I really prefer buttons so that I don't have to look at the gizmo - from here on in, buttons all the way baby!
 
That's one reason the Kogan/Ritmix is pretty great.. it has the buttons and it sounds rather amazing for the price (and it plays lossless files - wow!). The "dream dap" for me though would be small and light (ie probably no more than the size/weight/form of the upcoming Ihifi 800), with buttons, and with amazing SQ, and also be able to do streaming (ie spotify), all for a respectable price! Easy, right? Lol. The Fiio X7 will probably be a bit larger/heavier than I would prefer for my "dream DAP" vision, but it's close. Unfortunately is will most likely cost about $700 which definitely moves it into "dream" material. Oh well, dream on!

I prefer dedicated buttons too - few well thought out buttons beats a crappy touch screen any day, and analogue controls or dedicated buttons for volume control and track selection is a must IMO for any worthwhile portable DAPs, as well as a play/pause toggle but they each have their pro's and cons.
 
A good responsive touch screen improves the devices' versatility especially if it can be modded and if it supports wifi and streaming those generally help making it a lot more intuitive and sometimes faster to operate and navigate. A Multi-touch screen will be awesome for any EQ systems. Flipside, you have higher battery drain and have to look at said device to use, not to mention it will be bigger simply to accommodate any practical sized touchscreen and takes up a good amount of signal processing.
 
Buttons can be a bit of a bane if the UI is not set up to take advantage of the layout, but hey... buttons! *click!click!click!click!click!click!click!* Once you're used to it you can probably navigate just as fast as a touchscreen if not faster.
 
I think anything heavier than 160g is pushing it for portability especially if people intend to use it with Amps and still carry their headphones, mobile phones, wallet, widgets and keys around, but hey... maybe you want that sexy bulge in your pocket to show! Everyone's different. 

 

 

[Onix]

  Yeah personally anything $200+ is way too much IMO. I guess I'm biased as I've never tried anything in that price range. I've been looking at the range of X1 to the IHiFI 770. Even then I'm fairly hesitant in getting them as you never know what magic box will come out from the woods and blow them all away, making current generation DAP obsolete. At least for pricier headphone, we're more or less secure in the knowledge that whatever happens headphones are more or less here to stay for a long, long while yet. Over the past few decades we've switched from Cassette players to CD walkman then MP3 and now Lossless...
 
It's great to have good quality music, balanced output, wide band EQ, touch screens, great storage capacity and long battery life, but I think I can do without say carbon fiber or duralumin chassis (unless it means a difference between 150g+ or 50g weight) or high quality leather cases. But I suppose people who do get players in those price range are also into the status symbol of owning one on top of whatever else they might be looking for.

I guess the status thing is relative and restricted to places like this forum. Most people would ask you what the hell is that player you use and then be amazed that the thing costs more than 200 dollars. And then they would tell you that for the same ammount of money you can gen an iPhone which does a bunch of things and also can be used to play Angry Birds and wonder how you could be so uncool. Same thing with headphones. "You know, those (Sennheiser Momentum) look nice, but you can get also some Beats. There's nothing better". This audiophilia thing is a niche market, probably more in some places than others, like here in Mexico. But it is not for the masses. And that's fine by me. I am just on the road to something better in my life and I guess it will include nice and expensive audio stuff again, at least for my personal use. And I could always brag that it costs me three times more than it does to most of the other members of the forum. But outside here, I will be always the guy with the weird cans and weird little player thing that does nothing but music. And I love it, because that confirms something about me: That I am unique in many ways.

 

[cjs001]

  "You know, those (Sennheiser Momentum) look nice, but you can get also some Beats. There's nothing better"

Lol. I thought Momentum cost just about as much of not less than Beats. And sexier looking too. I don't think getting a DAP is "uncool" or doesn't perform better than a utility based device like a phone, just that the market price seems unreasonably high at the top end for a portable DAP is all, but I suppose niche market allows for crazy prices.

 

[Onix]

  Lol. I thought Momentum cost just about as much of not less than Beats. And sexier looking too. I don't think getting a DAP is "uncool" or doesn't perform better than a utility based device like a phone, just that the market price seems unreasonably high at the top end for a portable DAP is all, but I suppose niche market allows for crazy prices.

Here it does. There are not many people here that I know that are into this thing. Maybe seven. But there are more for sure. I am thinking about opening a sort of Mexican head-fi eventually. But anyway, I was writing about the general view of the public here. They don't know what they are missing.

 

[maguire]

Anyone bought Ruizu player? Just want to know how it compares with the kogan.

 

[peter123]

Anyone bought Ruizu player? Just want to know how it compares with the kogan.

Yes I did, unfortunately the Kogan is not available for me.

I'd guess you would have to wait a little while before any of the guys receive their Ruizu's.