What DAP do you all use?

[wyratt]

I'm looking at getting a DAP. I finally had to upgrade my phone past having a headphone jack, and I like the idea of having a small, streamlined player with good battery and limited connectivity.

Right now I'm pretty sure I'm going to get one without android, but I strongly considered options on both sides. For me, the simplicity and increased battery life without android was a key factor, and I'm partly getting this to use my phone less. Android's advantages are podcasts, streaming and more media and customization options.

My budget is <$300, ideally <$150 used. Here are some options I'm considering:

Hiby R3 Pro/Saber
This is currently my top choice. It fulfills my requirements of small, versatile and high quality. It also doesn't have android, but does have bluetooth and even wifi and tidal. It has a good dac, acceptable screen and very good battery. The major downsides are somewhat slow software and T9 keyboard (why).

Hiby R3 III
It sounds like this was more of a downgrade from the R3 pro. Worse screen and touch sensitivity, worse battery, just slight upgrades to some hardware and the finally figured out the qwerty keyboard.

Hiby R4
Android, too big, heating and battery issues

Shanling M3X
This was a top comtender for a while, its the right size, good battery, good specs. I love the volume knob, the clicky scroll wheel on the original iPod was mt favorite. But Android 8 and some software quirks rule it out.

Shanling M1
Is just a little too small and basic for what I want

ibasso DX 180
Looks really nice but at this point I've decided I dont want android

Some others out there like the Cowon Plenue D3 seem like maybe they could be good, but they're hard to find.

Are there any that I missed? What do you use?

 

[WILLJS]

I can’t help you with android players past the fiio m6 (only android in name, you can’t use the internet etc past streaming music on tidal and spotify), my Hiby R5s is still in the mail hopefully to arrive in a couple of days. as for local only daps, I can recommend the astellnkern AK jr, which you can pick up at around $300 AUD most of the time. and the fiio x1, a good player for cheap if you can find one.

have fun entering the DAP world, it’s quite a sinkhole for cash though…

 

[wyratt]

I can’t help you with android players past the fiio m6 (only android in name, you can’t use the internet etc past streaming music on tidal and spotify), my Hiby R5s is still in the mail hopefully to arrive in a couple of days. as for local only daps, I can recommend the astellnkern AK jr, which you can pick up at around $300 AUD most of the time. and the fiio x1, a good player for cheap if you can find one.

have fun entering the DAP world, it’s quite a sinkhole for cash though…

Thanks for your recommendations! The AK JR looks very nice, I'll have to see if I can find one for sale in my price range. It does seem like some of these older DAPs can be hard to find for sale at a reasonable price because so few are for sale period. I like the Fiio X1 too - I love the classic iPod styling with the scroll wheel. You've given me even more to think about haha

 

[WILLJS]

Thanks for your recommendations! The AK JR looks very nice, I'll have to see if I can find one for sale in my price range. It does seem like some of these older DAPs can be hard to find for sale at a reasonable price because so few are for sale period. I like the Fiio X1 too - I love the classic iPod styling with the scroll wheel. You've given me even more to think about haha

You’re most welcome! I could confuse you even more by saying that one of my favourite DAPs was the old Iriver H340/340 running rockbox

 

[earmonger]

I am SO dubious about the overpriced DAPs out now. Not that long ago, there were DAPS under $100 that did a perfectly adequate job unless you had high-impedance IEMS or headphones.

Get something used. I own AKjr and AK70 -- once $600, not any more -- and they both do the job, with a little more power from the AK70 jack. Before that I had Sansa Fuze and Sansa Clip Plus -- so small and cheap and sensible -- and again, if you don't have power-hungry IEMS they are fine. The Fuze had a rubber coating that gets icky-sticky, but a case (try Ebay) solves that. The Clip Plus (Not any later Clips which were garbage) is a world better than Apple Nano.

I just do not think that the new DAPs with all their marketing nonsense are worth so much more. Maybe the Sony AW series is more modern -- but my (unsubstantiated) opinion is that any DAP over $200 is overpriced.

 

[wyratt]

I am SO dubious about the overpriced DAPs out now. Not that long ago, there were DAPS under $100 that did a perfectly adequate job unless you had high-impedance IEMS or headphones.

Get something used. I own AKjr and AK70 -- once $600, not any more -- and they both do the job, with a little more power from the AK70 jack. Before that I had Sansa Fuze and Sansa Clip Plus -- so small and cheap and sensible -- and again, if you don't have power-hungry IEMS they are fine. The Fuze had a rubber coating that gets icky-sticky, but a case (try Ebay) solves that. The Clip Plus (Not any later Clips which were garbage) is a world better than Apple Nano.

I just do not think that the new DAPs with all their marketing nonsense are worth so much more. Maybe the Sony AW series is more modern -- but my (unsubstantiated) opinion is that any DAP over $200 is overpriced.

I arrived at the same conclusion. I don't need another phone, I just want a simple device that plays music and doesn't waste battery power on anything else. I almost bought an old iPod but it doesn't take SD cards and some modern features like bluetooth are useful to me. And since I'm getting a specialized DAP I do want it to have a decent DAC and amp, since that's its main function.

 

[earmonger]

There are used AK Jr on Ebay around $175.

The Sansas I mentioned didn't have Bluetooth. (But with MicroSD card slots, FM radio and dinky voice recorders they outclassed iPods back in the day...)

The LG V30 phone was supposed to have exceptional sound -- yes, it's a phone, but you could simply use it as a very cheap DAP.

And as a side note...once you are using Bluetooth rather than wired, you are getting slightly decreased sound quality. But I use my five-year-old Samsung phone and AKG IEMs and that's just fine for being out and about.

 

[wyratt]

There are used AK Jr on Ebay around $175.

The Sansas I mentioned didn't have Bluetooth. (But with MicroSD card slots, FM radio and dinky voice recorders they outclassed iPods back in the day...)

The LG V30 phone was supposed to have exceptional sound -- yes, it's a phone, but you could simply use it as a very cheap DAP.

And as a side note...once you are using Bluetooth rather than wired, you are getting slightly decreased sound quality. But I use my five-year-old Samsung phone and AKG IEMs and that's just fine for being out and about.

I've seen reviews of the AK JR saying it has extremely laggy and buggy software, which is unfortunate because it looks nice otherwise.

I thought hard about an LG V30 but I think I just don't want android at this point. I could install Lineage or another custom ROM, but I could also just get a dedicated device and not worry about it. They're also pretty old by now so battery life is a concern, I would probably have to replace the battery, which just doesn't seem worth the effort or cost.

And yea bluetooth is lower quality than wired but like you said it's about the convenience. When I'm listening to music I dont always care about the highest sound quality. Sometimes I'm just listening in the car or on a cheap speaker, and bluetooth is useful for that.

 

[earmonger]

Maybe you were looking at early AK Jr reviews with beta software?

I'm no big fan of A&K in general since they abandoned Tidal support on my AK70 -- and later on even more expensive models. I also think their latter-day designs are ugly. But I don't have software problems with AK Jr.

Mine is running software 1.03, which seems to be the last update. It takes 10-15 seconds to load and then runs smoothly. It does take a while to re-scan its entire library after you add anything -- about a minute for my current 57GB. But since you're anti-Android, you may have that problem with other firmware too.

I'm not necessarily saying it is the absolute best choice of all players available now -- it's an old model, and I'm not up with the latest -- but software has not been a problem for me. I do like that it connects to my Mac as a regular USB drive instead of having to use Android File Transfer.

 

[Znatnyy MenyalshchiK]

only chord mojo 1))))

 

[mungster]

P6PRO TI99

 

[smallcaps]

I rotate a few but I also have a spare Samsung S23 as a second everything device that complements my other tech EDC (iPhone, iPad Pro, Macbook Pro). I mainly use it as a DAP, Audio Book player, Comics, Manga and eBook reader, as well as a battery-operated 5G modem with which I tether my Macbook and iPad to. I'll take the comprehensive versatility of a decent Android phone with a good audio dongle over a limited-utility DAP with potentially better sound quality but not much other utility these days...

 

[Death_Block]

I thought about getting another dap, but since how you always have a phone with you, my uses suited getting a portable. Better sound (normally) for price and size.

 

[mungster]

I thought about getting another dap, but since how you always have a phone with you, my uses suited getting a portable. Better sound (normally) for price and size.

yep.

 

[CheekerBreeker]

I use an old phone with headphone jack as my youtube watching and music listening device. It isnt the fanciest but gets the job done