Obscure Chinese DAPs

Nov 29, 2024 at 5:42 AM Post #8,236 of 8,271
What sor

What sort of files are you using with it? If it's MP3, anything will do, the amp stage is more important then the chip, we are very good at MP3, it's still the most commonly used format. If it's flac at higher resolutions or DSD, you need processing power, just the blunt fact.
lossless 192. like anybody hear differences between 192 and 384 khz in blind test
 
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Nov 29, 2024 at 6:23 AM Post #8,237 of 8,271
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lossless 192. like anybody hear differences between 192 and 384 khz in blind test
Too many variables. Almost never is the source file at 384, it's usually 16-44 or 24-96,so you are upsampling, how good is your upsampling engine? And the problems multiply from there. Give me the same piece of music recorded with the same microphones direct to 192 and direct to 384, I will tell you which is which. You could, too. This absolutely never happens. Never. So the snide arguments about not being able to hear differences in files are nonstarters, completely irrelevant to actual conditions.
 
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Nov 29, 2024 at 7:09 AM Post #8,238 of 8,271
Time ago I offered $500 to who can determine the higher rate, blind test to be organized by third party, nobody applied.
 
Dec 2, 2024 at 2:35 PM Post #8,241 of 8,271
Was looking for a cheap mp3 player.
Came upon this one

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EIGZpfK

28€ on black Friday

Claims to be a hires player

Sold from many stores on Ali but no clear hint about which is the OEM made it

Maybe yophoon?

Any ideas on it?
User experience?
What you want is a Ruizu A58, good gear, well built, will last a decade or more, and it's in your price range. The one you showed may even be a cheapened and rebranded a58. Looks almost identical. The Ruizu will play everything up to dsd256. It's good at flac. Brilliant at MP3 if you still use it. Really does a good job presenting MP3. Ruizu is an OEM.
 
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Dec 3, 2024 at 12:56 PM Post #8,242 of 8,271
What you want is a Ruizu A58, good gear, well built, will last a decade or more, and it's in your price range. The one you showed may even be a cheapened and rebranded a58. Looks almost identical. The Ruizu will play everything up to dsd256. It's good at flac. Brilliant at MP3 if you still use it. Really does a good job presenting MP3. Ruizu is an OEM.
Was between the 2 actually. Gone to 1st option since it was some € cheaper . i love the look of both . hope it doesn't sound completely horrible or die in the 1st month or something :-)
 
Jan 2, 2025 at 12:07 PM Post #8,243 of 8,271
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EyTrotw

Could someone help me please. I recently purchased this "Rod Rain PCM1794 DAC" from Aliexpress and can't figure out which power supply should I use with usb-c port. There is no info how many Volts it takes to work its full potential. When I connect it to any Smartphone charger it takes automatically 5V, but manufacturer claims that it can also take 15V by default. I don't want to risk of burning internal components while overpowering it with higher Voltage power supply 😕 not sure about Aliexpress Chinese translation, so don't I don't dare to take risks.
 

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Jan 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM Post #8,244 of 8,271
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EyTrotw

Could someone help me please. I recently purchased this "Rod Rain PCM1794 DAC" from Aliexpress and can't figure out which power supply should I use with usb-c port. There is no info how many Volts it takes to work its full potential. When I connect it to any Smartphone charger it takes automatically 5V, but manufacturer claims that it can also take 15V by default. I don't want to risk of burning internal components while overpowering it with higher Voltage power supply 😕 not sure about Aliexpress Chinese translation, so don't I don't dare to take risks.
Usually by the nature of such devices, the opamp can take a range of power, so check with the manufacturer, but if they say it can take 15 volts maybe, but what's the amperage? It seems very strange. Volts don't mean anything without knowing amperage, then we know how many watts we are using. What's the maximum rated power output? You can work back from there to get maximum voltage and amperage for input.
 
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Jan 2, 2025 at 3:36 PM Post #8,245 of 8,271
Usually by the nature of such devices, the opamp can take a range of power, so check with the manufacturer, but if they say it can take 15 volts maybe, but what's the amperage? It seems very strange. Volts don't mean anything without knowing amperage, then we know how many watts we are using. What's the maximum rated power output? You can work back from there to get maximum voltage and amperage for input.
Sadly the seller on Aliexpress provided no info about any power supply specs. There is also no info on metal casing of the device. It takes by default 5V when I insert any of my smartphone 30W/65W charger.
 
Jan 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM Post #8,246 of 8,271
First post on Head-Fi, and I'm more than happy to talk about my HiFi Walker H2.

I'm currently in the process of transitioning from smart phone to flip phone and ditching streaming services in favour of curating my own media libraries. As part of this, I just bought myself a Christmas present consisting of a HiFi Walker H2 as opposed to a cheap $40 mp3-only player (e.g. SanDisk or Majority) and I have to say I'm very happy I did so. I'm very impressed with the build quality, with a size, weight, and interface (buttons!) that seem perfect for me. Coincidentally, having a player that's designed specifically to output good audio pairs nicely with my desire to treat my ears well.

Currently pairing the H2 (version 1.8) with Sennheiser PXC 550-II headphones and KZ KSN Pro X IEMs, and honestly, I think this is the kind of audio set up that I've been missing since I gave up on my 120gb iPod Classic over a decade ago. It's all still relatively affordable (that said, $400 combined is still a high price for some), and more importantly I feel like I'm getting back a sense of specificity with the technology that I'm choosing to use.

My next step is to try out Rockbox to replace the current firmware (V1.8 I believe). I could live with the current interface, but still find some of the controls a little clunky or inconvenient. Specifically, I'm a little disappointed that the only way to use the media control buttons is to have the player unlocked with screen on, and not the biggest fan of how playback modes (random/repeat all/repeat one etc) are both configured and managed. In the end I'll be happy to live with those for the price.

There is a single issue that I think could just be a quality issue - is anyone aware of reports on the scroll wheel "skipping" for the H2 or the similar clones/rebrands of the Eros Q/K, i.e. Surfans F20, AGPTek H2? Specifically, I usually need to get 2 "clicks" from the scroll wheel for the in-software cursor to index by 1 position, but every so often it works 1:1 for a few clicks before going back to the 2:1 behaviour. I'm trying to figure out if this is a quality issue I should bother trying to chase down, but at this price point I think I'm willing to accept that the scroll wheel is sloppy.
 
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Jan 6, 2025 at 11:18 PM Post #8,248 of 8,271
First post on Head-Fi, and I'm more than happy to talk about my HiFi Walker H2.

I'm currently in the process of transitioning from smart phone to flip phone and ditching streaming services in favour of curating my own media libraries. As part of this, I just bought myself a Christmas present consisting of a HiFi Walker H2 as opposed to a cheap $40 mp3-only player (e.g. SanDisk or Majority) and I have to say I'm very happy I did so. I'm very impressed with the build quality, with a size, weight, and interface (buttons!) that seem perfect for me. Coincidentally, having a player that's designed specifically to output good audio pairs nicely with my desire to treat my ears well.

Currently pairing the H2 (version 1.8) with Sennheiser PXC 550-II headphones and KZ KSN Pro X IEMs, and honestly, I think this is the kind of audio set up that I've been missing since I gave up on my 120gb iPod Classic over a decade ago. It's all still relatively affordable (that said, $400 combined is still a high price for some), and more importantly I feel like I'm getting back a sense of specificity with the technology that I'm choosing to use.

My next step is to try out Rockbox to replace the current firmware (V1.8 I believe). I could live with the current interface, but still find some of the controls a little clunky or inconvenient. Specifically, I'm a little disappointed that the only way to use the media control buttons is to have the player unlocked with screen on, and not the biggest fan of how playback modes (random/repeat all/repeat one etc) are both configured and managed. In the end I'll be happy to live with those for the price.

There is a single issue that I think could just be a quality issue - is anyone aware of reports on the scroll wheel "skipping" for the H2 or the similar clones/rebrands of the Eros Q/K, i.e. Surfans F20, AGPTek H2? Specifically, I usually need to get 2 "clicks" from the scroll wheel for the in-software cursor to index by 1 position, but every so often it works 1:1 for a few clicks before going back to the 2:1 behaviour. I'm trying to figure out if this is a quality issue I should bother trying to chase down, but at this price point I think I'm willing to accept that the scroll wheel is sloppy.
Sorry at that price point that is most of those iPod copy dials work. Maybe with Rockbox it might get better, but I have not used Rockbox in at least 15 plus years
 
Jan 14, 2025 at 6:34 AM Post #8,250 of 8,271
IMO in a world overflowing with modern DAPs, there’s something magical about the iPod Classic 5.5 Gen. Its Wolfson DAC delivers a warmth and musicality that’s hard to find even in today’s high-end players. Pair it with a quality amp/DAC combo, and it becomes a serious contender to use it as a modern DAP.
Is it perfect? No. But sometimes, less is more and this classic proves it.
Even the unboxing is the best compared to what we have today, just look and tell me if I am wrong:
 

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