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Best DAP for my needs?

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Peter

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
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Seems to me more like a paid advertisement.

What makes you say that? You have clearly stated you do not like Astell & Kern, is this your bias? or, is there something here I am missing?
 

Pkc

New Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2021
Messages
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I went back and forth between the A&K kann alpha, Hiby R8, Fiio M15 and Shanling m8 for my headphones to use with tidal mqa. Was able to listen to the A&K, Shanling and Fiio unfortunately not the Hiby. The Hiby has the best online reviews by reviewers but once you dive into head fi or any customer reviews you find it has many quality control issues. The A&K had plenty of power for my 300 ohm Verite closed, Utopia(not power hungry) or hd800s, the sound signature didn’t mesh well with the hd800s it was way to bright and almost metallic. Although was very rhythmic and nice bass punch with the Verite closed. With the Utopia’s you get a very V shaped sound from the A&K with sometimes harsh highs. I own older A&K’s and they typically have a much better sound signature then this but this is a lower end model and unfortunately one of two that can power headphones and not just iems. Even with swapping headphones the A&K I was only able to listen for about an hour before I felt a headache coming on. The Fiio was the exact opposite, very smooth in sound signature. With the VC the bass impact was a little less but much cleaner and defined, much better and more natural mids, fuller sounding mids. Highs were clean separated nicely and detailed without the harsh edge. The m15 was probably the best of the daps I heard with the hd800s, it gave decent sub bass and bass for the hd800’s without causes bleed into the mids. The mids sounded natural and a little warmer almost analog or a little tube like. Mids were detailed but a touch warm, the highs with detailed but again a touch less harsh. Not rolled by any means but not overly bright or harsh. Definitely a very enjoyable listen, closest sound signature to what I’ve heard my hd800s through I say was my WooAudio wa2. Not quite as smooth but in the same family. The Utopia also sounded best with the m15 the detailed warm sound signature definitely worked well, my only complaint with the m15 was you lose a bit of the excitement edge on certain songs. It’s not as fast paced rhythmically everything has that almost tube amp speed and slightly softer edge. Definitely much more pleasing sound then the alpha, which was fine for a short fun listen but became headache inducing after an hour. The Shanling was warmer sounding then the m15 but had a bass line that created more of a faster paced rhythm then the m15. Only thing I didn’t like was the mids were recessed a bit on the Shanling, more V shaped like the A&K but had smoother highs. If you like a V shaped sound the Shanling is definitely better then the A&K, it’s like it’s more refined older brother. Didn’t love it with the VC, they are know for natural vocals and with the Shanling they became too recessed so instant no for me. My favorite headphone right now lost its lovely signature sound. The hd800s sounded very good very natural, gave vocals warmth, bumped up lower mids and upper lows to give hd800s some decent hitting drums. Highs were still very bright but not harsh, occasional sibilance. The Utopia’s pair fairly well also, my only complaint here was the upper bass bleed into the lower mids a bit too much compared to the m15. After listening, it took me a while to finally buy the m15, which I should hopefully have soon. All listening was done with me signing into my Tidal account on these daps so I could listen to the same play list. Master and regular hifi level was selected for all songs. The A&K and Fiio had about a 1 second static pause when songs changed to mqa from regular hifi but no pause going back down to hifi from mqa and no pause from mqa to mqa. Not sure why this happened on these two players. I personally am an A&K fan, I have the older ak380 which is equivalent to today’s 1000 or 2000, unfortunately this series from A&K doesn’t include powerful enough amps. The old ak380 I was able to clip an additional amp to it which doubled its thickness but gave me equivalent power to the kann series with the true A&K natural sound signature. A&K’s don’t usually have V shaped sound but more detailed natural neutral sound, although usually have AKM dacs. Too bad they stopped making that add on amp or don’t make a upper end dap with a powerful amp. Just like Sony daps great sound signature but amps are only meant for iems.
 

threni

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Oct 18, 2019
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I went back and forth between the A&K kann alpha, Hiby R8, Fiio M15 and Shanling m8 for my headphones to use with tidal mqa. Was able to listen to the A&K, Shanling and Fiio unfortunately not the Hiby. The Hiby has the best online reviews by reviewers but once you dive into head fi or any customer reviews you find it has many quality control issues. The A&K had plenty of power for my 300 ohm Verite closed, Utopia(not power hungry) or hd800s, the sound signature didn’t mesh well with the hd800s it was way to bright and almost metallic. Although was very rhythmic and nice bass punch with the Verite closed. With the Utopia’s you get a very V shaped sound from the A&K with sometimes harsh highs. I own older A&K’s and they typically have a much better sound signature then this but this is a lower end model and unfortunately one of two that can power headphones and not just iems. Even with swapping headphones the A&K I was only able to listen for about an hour before I felt a headache coming on. The Fiio was the exact opposite, very smooth in sound signature. With the VC the bass impact was a little less but much cleaner and defined, much better and more natural mids, fuller sounding mids. Highs were clean separated nicely and detailed without the harsh edge. The m15 was probably the best of the daps I heard with the hd800s, it gave decent sub bass and bass for the hd800’s without causes bleed into the mids. The mids sounded natural and a little warmer almost analog or a little tube like. Mids were detailed but a touch warm, the highs with detailed but again a touch less harsh. Not rolled by any means but not overly bright or harsh. Definitely a very enjoyable listen, closest sound signature to what I’ve heard my hd800s through I say was my WooAudio wa2. Not quite as smooth but in the same family. The Utopia also sounded best with the m15 the detailed warm sound signature definitely worked well, my only complaint with the m15 was you lose a bit of the excitement edge on certain songs. It’s not as fast paced rhythmically everything has that almost tube amp speed and slightly softer edge. Definitely much more pleasing sound then the alpha, which was fine for a short fun listen but became headache inducing after an hour. The Shanling was warmer sounding then the m15 but had a bass line that created more of a faster paced rhythm then the m15. Only thing I didn’t like was the mids were recessed a bit on the Shanling, more V shaped like the A&K but had smoother highs. If you like a V shaped sound the Shanling is definitely better then the A&K, it’s like it’s more refined older brother. Didn’t love it with the VC, they are know for natural vocals and with the Shanling they became too recessed so instant no for me. My favorite headphone right now lost its lovely signature sound. The hd800s sounded very good very natural, gave vocals warmth, bumped up lower mids and upper lows to give hd800s some decent hitting drums. Highs were still very bright but not harsh, occasional sibilance. The Utopia’s pair fairly well also, my only complaint here was the upper bass bleed into the lower mids a bit too much compared to the m15. After listening, it took me a while to finally buy the m15, which I should hopefully have soon. All listening was done with me signing into my Tidal account on these daps so I could listen to the same play list. Master and regular hifi level was selected for all songs. The A&K and Fiio had about a 1 second static pause when songs changed to mqa from regular hifi but no pause going back down to hifi from mqa and no pause from mqa to mqa. Not sure why this happened on these two players. I personally am an A&K fan, I have the older ak380 which is equivalent to today’s 1000 or 2000, unfortunately this series from A&K doesn’t include powerful enough amps. The old ak380 I was able to clip an additional amp to it which doubled its thickness but gave me equivalent power to the kann series with the true A&K natural sound signature. A&K’s don’t usually have V shaped sound but more detailed natural neutral sound, although usually have AKM dacs. Too bad they stopped making that add on amp or don’t make a upper end dap with a powerful amp. Just like Sony daps great sound signature but amps are only meant for iems.


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Merkurio

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
301
Likes
512
I went back and forth between the A&K kann alpha, Hiby R8, Fiio M15 and Shanling m8 for my headphones to use with tidal mqa. Was able to listen to the A&K, Shanling and Fiio unfortunately not the Hiby. The Hiby has the best online reviews by reviewers but once you dive into head fi or any customer reviews you find it has many quality control issues. The A&K had plenty of power for my 300 ohm Verite closed, Utopia(not power hungry) or hd800s, the sound signature didn’t mesh well with the hd800s it was way to bright and almost metallic. Although was very rhythmic and nice bass punch with the Verite closed. With the Utopia’s you get a very V shaped sound from the A&K with sometimes harsh highs. I own older A&K’s and they typically have a much better sound signature then this but this is a lower end model and unfortunately one of two that can power headphones and not just iems. Even with swapping headphones the A&K I was only able to listen for about an hour before I felt a headache coming on. The Fiio was the exact opposite, very smooth in sound signature. With the VC the bass impact was a little less but much cleaner and defined, much better and more natural mids, fuller sounding mids. Highs were clean separated nicely and detailed without the harsh edge. The m15 was probably the best of the daps I heard with the hd800s, it gave decent sub bass and bass for the hd800’s without causes bleed into the mids. The mids sounded natural and a little warmer almost analog or a little tube like. Mids were detailed but a touch warm, the highs with detailed but again a touch less harsh. Not rolled by any means but not overly bright or harsh. Definitely a very enjoyable listen, closest sound signature to what I’ve heard my hd800s through I say was my WooAudio wa2. Not quite as smooth but in the same family. The Utopia also sounded best with the m15 the detailed warm sound signature definitely worked well, my only complaint with the m15 was you lose a bit of the excitement edge on certain songs. It’s not as fast paced rhythmically everything has that almost tube amp speed and slightly softer edge. Definitely much more pleasing sound then the alpha, which was fine for a short fun listen but became headache inducing after an hour. The Shanling was warmer sounding then the m15 but had a bass line that created more of a faster paced rhythm then the m15. Only thing I didn’t like was the mids were recessed a bit on the Shanling, more V shaped like the A&K but had smoother highs. If you like a V shaped sound the Shanling is definitely better then the A&K, it’s like it’s more refined older brother. Didn’t love it with the VC, they are know for natural vocals and with the Shanling they became too recessed so instant no for me. My favorite headphone right now lost its lovely signature sound. The hd800s sounded very good very natural, gave vocals warmth, bumped up lower mids and upper lows to give hd800s some decent hitting drums. Highs were still very bright but not harsh, occasional sibilance. The Utopia’s pair fairly well also, my only complaint here was the upper bass bleed into the lower mids a bit too much compared to the m15. After listening, it took me a while to finally buy the m15, which I should hopefully have soon. All listening was done with me signing into my Tidal account on these daps so I could listen to the same play list. Master and regular hifi level was selected for all songs. The A&K and Fiio had about a 1 second static pause when songs changed to mqa from regular hifi but no pause going back down to hifi from mqa and no pause from mqa to mqa. Not sure why this happened on these two players. I personally am an A&K fan, I have the older ak380 which is equivalent to today’s 1000 or 2000, unfortunately this series from A&K doesn’t include powerful enough amps. The old ak380 I was able to clip an additional amp to it which doubled its thickness but gave me equivalent power to the kann series with the true A&K natural sound signature. A&K’s don’t usually have V shaped sound but more detailed natural neutral sound, although usually have AKM dacs. Too bad they stopped making that add on amp or don’t make a upper end dap with a powerful amp. Just like Sony daps great sound signature but amps are only meant for iems.

Use paragraphs, for god's sake.
 

Pkc

New Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2021
Messages
2
Likes
5
The Shanling m8 was the warmer sounding m15, definite spike in upper bass/lower mids. For myself it messed with male vocals too much. No problem powering my headphones or iems. Same dac as the m15 I believe just went for a warmer sound signature but still detailed and nice smooth highs. Was a bit bigger and heavier then the m15 and the volume knob on the side made it hard to pocket without changing the volume by accident.
 
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