[Tinnitus Man]

Ok, so I have a budget of up for £600/$600 for a DAP to replace my AK Jr.

I was looking at the HiBy R6, which looks as though it's great, but I'm concerned that crowdfunding products sometimes don't deliver on the high promises (initial reviews are great, but of course they're prototype models).

I was also looking at the AR M2 and M20, which also have good reviews, but based on Android 4.x and are reaching end-of-life.

I could get an AK70 II, but I find the AK UI a little underwhelming.

Whenever Hawaiibadboy posts photos, he fills me with envy and my wallet quakes in fear.

I have a set of Thinksound ON2s and normally listen to music at work.

 

[kendosperling]

What is the reason to replace AK Jr.? Sound, UI, Storage?

 

[Tinnitus Man]

UI mainly. The sound is pretty good, but navigating the UI is slow and laborious.

 

[1TrickPony]

Having plentiful choices ain't a bad thing. Had purchased 4 daps last year and only 1 had to go back. AK Jr. was a keeper though.

Figure out the type of sound you want and work from there. I don't buy the DAP hype as of late, yet I can name a couple of good ones that have been released in the last two years.

You might wanna go some reading up in the meantime...

 

[kendosperling]

I think sony zx300 had one of the best ui's i have tried. But its on the upper end of your budget. But waiting for the hiby R6 to go retail may be wise.

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

Opus #1s

 

[taffy2207]

Why is it so difficult to choose a mid-level DAP? Because the market is oversaturated.

I'm going through the same thing (looking to upgrade) and I'm spending ages researching, in the end it'll be worth it.

Decide your priorities in a DAP and work from there. Do your research and read what owners have said about them (after having them a while and going through FW updates). It may take a while (remember the phrase 'Fools rush in') but if you can, demo the gear, there's absolutely no substitute for trying out the gear yourself.

Anything else is just an educated punt.

 

[easily_amused]

The HiBy R6 will deliver - you can already buy it in China, I was going to go have a listen to it and the N6ii last week but decided to go with the zx300A instead - spur of the moment kind of thing, but I couldn’t resist the battery life for travel.

Might pick up one of those two later potentially though for streaming Tidal ... just need to work out what I’m doing with my phone as a V30 is another option - having streaming on a phone really is much more convenient as I will want to stream while travelling too, often is no wifi around.

 

[capt_wacky]

This may be a dumb question, but are there DAPs that are also decent at video? It’s so rarely mentioned in reviews that I assume it’s not something most people want out of a DAP. I’m guessing your typical smartphone will outperform your average DAP in terms of screen quality and performance, and to add those to a DAP would raise the price or perhaps come at the cost of some audio quality. I think it would be nice to have a media player that does both audio and video well, and I suppose that would come in the form of an audio-focused phone like the V30 or V20.

 

[Tinnitus Man]

Depends on the DAP of course. If you have a good screen and the RAM/CPU to drive decent video performance, then there's no reason why videos can't be enjoyed.

However, DAPs that are designed to be DAPs often concentrate processing power on the music first, and anything else is secondary. As much as I'd prefer to have a snappy UI on my DAP, at the end of the day, it's just there for music (at least for me). Anything else, I use my iPhone.

 

[capt_wacky]

Depends on the DAP of course. If you have a good screen and the RAM/CPU to drive decent video performance, then there's no reason why videos can't be enjoyed.

However, DAPs that are designed to be DAPs often concentrate processing power on the music first, and anything else is secondary. As much as I'd prefer to have a snappy UI on my DAP, at the end of the day, it's just there for music (at least for me). Anything else, I use my iPhone.

Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for the response. To that end, the HiBy R6 looks pretty snappy.

 

[AllenWalker]

It depends on whether you use streaming services or not. I will suggest that you wait a little longer for Hiby R6 to be shipped globally and more people will be able to do reviews by then. If available at local stores, then go and try the R6.

 

[gazzington]

Zx300 has great sound,ui and battery life.