[Milozzy]

Hi guys, long time lurker in needs of advice here.
I have finally decided to replace my not-so-awesome Creative X-Fi3 and I am looking for a new DAP.

As the title says, given my budget, I am considering the Sony NW-A35 and the Fiio X1 2nd generation.

After a lot of reading, seems like both have pros and cons:
- the Sony A35 seems just the perfect DAP for me: good looking, great and clear sound, nice and easy to use interface.... But I read that the built in amp is not powerful enough and it could be hard to drive higher end headphones
-the Fiio sounds great, quite good looking (even if the screen is not awesome and I really like to stare at my album art... don't ask ) and no problem with high impedance headphones... But seems like it has a really buggy, laggy, crazy interface and software and painful updates. I know, sound quality comes first, but coming from the damn X-Fi3 I really know how annoying could be to deal with a laggy player when you just want to relax and hit the play button.

Here where I live (Italy), X1-II is 80€ cheaper than the Sony A-35.

All in all, if it wasn't for the amp concern, I would prefer the Sony I think.

My most demanding Headphones are the ATH-m50x, that I don't plan to carry with me while traveling, but I would like to use with the DAP if I feel like.

Now it's your turn. Don't leave me alone What do you recommends?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[serman005]

You laid out the pros and cons. Personally, I would prefer the SONY and if I do someday get a headphone that is harder to drive that is not working with the SONY, I will just buy an amp for it. They don't have to be that expensive. That would be my plan, anyway.

 

[007shark76]

The Sony has a great user interface, long battery life, bluetooth. It doesn't have enough power, though, for any of my over-ear headphones though. It still can get loud with many of my portable over-ears but just is lacking dynamics. It works great though with in-ear buds and with bluetooth headphones and speakers. I use my Sony NW-A25 with outdoor activities: yard work, walking, etc.
I prefer my Fiio X5 II in most situations for sound quality. It can easily power all my portable over-ear headphones with authority. I use it for travel, office, etc.
I would recommend the Fiio X3 II for the best price/performance ratio. Most bugs worked out because of its length of time in the market.
It comes down to personal preference. The new Sony is nice looking and would probably work great for what you already have. For me though, I would rather have the A25 for my use cases of not wanting a touchscreen on my music player when I might have dirty sweaty hands.

 

[Dwenson]

I prefer Sony over Fiio since I expect you're are planning to use this as portble player. Battery life is very critical and Sony last at least 3.5 times the Fiio. Sony also comes with FM receiver which is cool if you get bored of your playlist. I also don't think you would carry those hihgh impedance headphones with you all the time.

The good thing with Sony too is you can get a bluetooth headphone with LDAC support then you can play it loud and keeping your music's high quality.

I recommend you get the16GB A35 instead then buy microSD separately since the microSD's $/GB is less compare to Sony's storage upgrade cost.

 

[Milozzy]

Thank you all!!!

I went with the Sony and I'm very, very happy with it!

Now I will save for a pair of BT headphones with LDAC