DAP discussion thread

Bumping this. I'm back on the market for a DAP (for IEMs only), but this time affordable, smallish and with good battery life (15+ hr). <$300.

Seems like the Cowon Planue D and various Sony Walkmans are the only game in town matching that criteria. Any suggestions?

 

Ugh.

 

Am I the only one that likes the Sony dsp settings??

 

Feels better knowing there's no DSP being applied for me, so I prefer having DSP off buttons, even if they don't really do a thing (Looking at the ZX2 and the manual disable-ing required). Just a psychological thing.

 

Looks like I'm going to have to compromise somewhere - size, battery or SQ to stay under 300.

Seems like the AK Jr probably has the best SQ in that price range. But 8 hour battery and lousy OS. What to do...

 

Not sure where you're located, but the ZX100 goes for fairly cheap now.

 

I do like the my AK jr and I use it almost every day, but I'm only listening to full albums so the sluggish and undesponsive touchscreen doesn't bother me much. If you change tracks/volume often it can be too stressful and may not worth it.

 

That's the best statement... Compromise. At this point, we have no choice but to compromise when selecting audio gear, hell most things, and even more so with portable audio (DAPS). I own several daps, not one of them is 100% of what I want. I think if I were able to mold them into 1 super dap I might have my perfect dap... Might being the key word.

I was just thinking about my daps, which range from the Fiio X3 OG ($99) up to the Sony 1z. Although I haven't used my X3 in many months, I did just plug it in to charge it. As a matter of fact, I would have grabbed it tonight instead of my Cowon S because of the hardware bass controls (buttons). It's the only dap I own that has that feature. I still love that dap, even if it doesn't sound the best and has an absolutely nightmarish UI.

 

Is it very warm sounding?

 

@Stuff Jones I'd say avoid Jr. I used it for a week. It crashed few times before the 7th day. SQ wise, it is better than A17. Wolfson DAC sound. Warmish yet impactful. Not the most detailed, given slightly organic Wolfson sound.

Personally I'd use stable A17 than Jr. Plus Sonys battery life is almost eternal.

Edit: Jr is not very warm.

Edit 2: Jr OI is 2 ohm. A17 OI is 3.5 ohm. Per spec paper.

 

I'll take Sony daps all day over AK. I had the ak70 for a quick minute, probably my worst dap purchase ever. Thank God for Amazon.

 

Yeah and you're talking about $1,000 +. I just want something passable for when I'm not at my computer, which is where I do most of my listening. The strange part of this hobby is you can do as much agonizing over passable as exceptional.

 

I liked the DX50 a lot. It was cheap, lasted pretty long, and sounded quite nice, with expandable memory and replaceable battery. They never really made anything like it ever again.

 

Anyone try the hifiman super/mega mini?

 

I hear VERY good things from the X5 III, a bit above 300. Otherwise the Aune M2 sounds great, but crappy battery and simplistic UI.

What didn't you like in the AK70?

 

I have a question for the owners of the Sony ZX2. Can you stream music from you local network to this player?
It seems that you can, but I would like to have confirmation about it from someone who uses it this way.

 

It really did nothing special for me. Not one thing that I could praise. Just about every dap I own there is one thing special, something that makes it stand out. It was just an OK dap.

 

Yes, by using BubbleUPnP app on zx2 for example, and minimserver on pc server. I'm sure there are other app which support this as well, but these are the one that I happen to use occasionally.