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Best Portable Player

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andywylde

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That's using the phone as a remote.

Would you ever use your apple phone or ipod touch as src? Then airplay it to the dap, to use tbr dap amp/dac, but apple product as src? Not sure if that's of use to you, I can't use apple as my src so if it's not of use to you I get it. If I could, I think I'd use it to use apples amazing soc that's truly just a marvel, for the best user experience possible and any dap that supports lossless airplay, and just use that as a dumby bluetooth device like a q5s or es100.
Adn by the way I use my Ipad to send airplay lossless to my Marantz 8805 which uses the AK4490s and it is truly impressive for my non-headphone stereo. I can't really tell the difference between that and native sources and the Airplay interface is far superior to the Marantz for the most part. I am sure stacking a better DAC on the ipad would provide impressive results. Its actually superior to a lot of players already but I think the analog amp is lacking.
 

Dana reed

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I didn’t realize the R3 could be an AirPlay endpoint. I thought it was meant to stream out as a client to other endpoints, like airports and appletv.
This might actually be a good alternative since airplay supports lossless 44/16. Mainly would have to see if that could work on the go (I.e. can the R3 act as a hotspot so I don’t have to have them connected to the same WiFi network, in a situation where I have no WiFi
 

Nango

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I would definitely love to wait for amir to test the M11 or the Shanling but I probably won't be that patient. I don't know anywhere to listen to the M11 or M11 pro, so i will probably end up buying one or the other on specs unless I find something that is definitely better.

Definitely, we need way more DAP testing on the site @amirm.
 
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Deleted member 12179

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I own an ipod classic from 2008, still works, perfectly. I swapped battery for a bigger one, put the max ssd capacity for my model. Works well for what it is. It is very cheap, and if anything breaks, there are plenty of spare parts available. For any of these othere DAPS, try to get a rubber case for 1$ in 2030... good luck.

I am tempted to swap it for a more modern DAP, but they all seem to have some issues: or too expensive for what they are, no spare parts, they need an sd card, that's an extra cost. And the worst; android needs a ton of battery, these new daps last three times less than my ipod classic of 12 years old. Not to mention, for music listening, the apple interface it's cleaner, more elegant, to the point, easier, etc...

Still, apart from that, most people praise now the Hiby R5. I might give it a go.
 

Count Arthur

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I'm looking for a DAP and would be interested in seeing some test results and listening impressions.

I'm currently using an Audioquest Dragonfly Black with my phone, playing uncompressed WAV files bit-perfect via USB Audio Player PRO: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudioplayerpro&hl=en_GB, but I don't like the fact that it is a dongle hanging off a short USB cable.

It's nowhere near as good as my home set up, an RME ADI-DAC together with JRiver Media player: https://jriver.com/ and all my music stored on a PC as uncompressed WAV files, but it's not bad and certainly acceptable to me for non critical, on the go, listening.

I did try a Sony NW-A45: https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0798LBBJW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, physically it's a neat little unit, but sonically it was very dissappointing, the sound was totally flat and lifeless with absolutely no oomph. I tried messing with some settings, but to no avail, nothing really improved matters. It also didn't go very loud, which didn't help things - definitely one to avoid.
 

tential

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I'm looking for a DAP and would be interested in seeing some test results and listening impressions.

I'm currently using an Audioquest Dragonfly Black with my phone, playing uncompressed WAV files bit-perfect via USB Audio Player PRO: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudioplayerpro&hl=en_GB, but I don't like the fact that it is a dongle hanging off a short USB cable.

It's nowhere near as good as my home set up, an RME ADI-DAC together with JRiver Media player: https://jriver.com/ and all my music stored on a PC as uncompressed WAV files, but it's not bad and certainly acceptable to me for non critical, on the go, listening.

I did try a Sony NW-A45: https://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0798LBBJW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, physically it's a neat little unit, but sonically it was very dissappointing, the sound was totally flat and lifeless with absolutely no oomph. I tried messing with some settings, but to no avail, nothing really improved matters. It also didn't go very loud, which didn't help things - definitely one to avoid.
No surprise you don't like the sony dap. It's more for the type of person in headfi who believes every new dap release is amazing and that sony is God's gift to earth.
No dap is close the quality range of your rme adi dac. They all test in the bottom spectrum. You can try the hiby r5, r6 pro, m11, and Shanling (I want to say m6?) but I won't for a second day the performance will be as good as what your desktop is. It's really whether these daps have audible differences to the human ear.
The dap market is sad when it comes to raw performance measured. It's just a ton of marketing.

I've added another crystal oscillator. Want to pay me $?300+ more? I guarantee you it's liquid gold. The rjj I sold you last time that's amazing? That's trash compared to this!

Repeat that every release.
 

Gabs

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Hi,

Sorry I did not take the time to read the thread.
I used to use my smartphone but tired to share the battery with audio.
So I bought several DAP, and I cannot recommend enough the Colorfly brand.
 
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No surprise you don't like the sony dap. It's more for the type of person in headfi who believes every new dap release is amazing and that sony is God's gift to earth.
No dap is close the quality range of your rme adi dac. They all test in the bottom spectrum. You can try the hiby r5, r6 pro, m11, and Shanling (I want to say m6?) but I won't for a second day the performance will be as good as what your desktop is. It's really whether these daps have audible differences to the human ear.
The dap market is sad when it comes to raw performance measured. It's just a ton of marketing.

I've added another crystal oscillator. Want to pay me $?300+ more? I guarantee you it's liquid gold. The rjj I sold you last time that's amazing? That's trash compared to this!

Repeat that every release.

Ok, thanks for this information, but still, how is the sound quality? are these daps better than old ipod classic? are sony as good of those others or not really? obviously a portable dap will sound worse than a desktop setup, even at the same price; a khadas tone board with a jds atom amp and a laptop will sound better, but hey, they need a laptop, it is not portable, and still costs a few hundred euros in you consider the laptop, no?
 

Count Arthur

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No dap is close the quality range of your rme adi dac.

I wasn't expecting the Sony to equal the RME, but something that could at least equal the Audioquest Dragonfly Black, which I find perfectly acceptable and a huge step up over my phone's built in audio.

I'm quite happy with the sound of the Dragonfly, but find the dongle hanging off a short USB cable inconvenient. I wanted something neater, without the extra cable and thought the Sony might fit the bill, however, the Sony player fell well short in terms of sound quality and was actually closer to the bland, underpowered output of the phone's own audio jack than it was to the Dragonfly.
 

tential

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I wasn't expecting the Sony to equal the RME, but something that could at least equal the Audioquest Dragonfly Black, which I find perfectly acceptable and a huge step up over my phone's built in audio.

I'm quite happy with the sound of the Dragonfly, but find the dongle hanging off a short USB cable inconvenient. I wanted something neater, without the extra cable and thought the Sony might fit the bill, however, the Sony player fell well short in terms of sound quality and was actually closer to the bland, underpowered output of the phone's own audio jack than it was to the Dragonfly.
As it should, the Sony has a weak amp and tgere is nothing special about it to indicate it would be better than a smartphone.

I think if you want audio quest dragonfly level I think the hiby dap can do that. The r6 pro is tested. The audio quest black benched here isn't really a stellar performer of any sort. So if that's the level of performance you want, I think the r6 pro, m11 fiio, hiby r5 are in that ballpark. Ibasso has a nice tested sinad and good power output tested if you want to spend $800. Keep in mind the soc(phone processor) is bottom of the line so android experience won't be the best.

Sony doesn't sell anything "good" unless you pay an extreme premium ($600-1000+) and then also buy their amp since they always have very little power in the dap, and the dap doesn't ever come with a good processor, even though Sony of course has access to snapdragon processors in abundance. They're one of the worst dap companies. Dap market is niche though and dap buyers are willing to pay insane prices and eat up any and all marketing, so that's why it works for Sony.
 

Count Arthur

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The audio quest black benched here isn't really a stellar performer of any sort.

Which is why, given that the Dragonfly is hardly the ultimate in audio quality, I was surprised how poor the Sony was in comparison; it had plenty of favourable reviews on Amazon. Also, I've had some Sony stuff in the past, some cassette Walkmans and a very early music player with a tiny HDD in it and I found those OK - maybe I'm remembering through rose tinted earphones. :)
 
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Deleted member 12179

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Thanks both for the explanations. Nice to know the sony's not that good really, saves me quite some money. Thing is, those current DAPS with android... battery doesn't last much. My current ipod I put a much larger battery, I used the other day for a 6 hours trip, the battery is 95% full... Sometimes I need 12hours of power due to long trips... Sounds bad to be honest, as soon as you connect a decent IEMs, you notice it. IT is just 130g, best UI ever, good control, nothing but music, ton of cases, accesories, spare parts....

Anyhow, I think the Hiby R5 would be the one to get if I was gonna upgrade, considering the Sony results... Still, over 300$ for such a bad user interface, no accessories, no spare parts if something breaks...
 

tential

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Thanks both for the explanations. Nice to know the sony's not that good really, saves me quite some money. Thing is, those current DAPS with android... battery doesn't last much. My current ipod I put a much larger battery, I used the other day for a 6 hours trip, the battery is 95% full... Sometimes I need 12hours of power due to long trips... Sounds bad to be honest, as soon as you connect a decent IEMs, you notice it. IT is just 130g, best UI ever, good control, nothing but music, ton of cases, accesories, spare parts....

Anyhow, I think the Hiby R5 would be the one to get if I was gonna upgrade, considering the Sony results... Still, over 300$ for such a bad user interface, no accessories, no spare parts if something breaks...
What about Android ui is bad? You can even boot into a music app only mode on some devices. You have choice of what music app to use so curious why the ui is bad?

It's bad for me because the only app that does what I need is mediamonkey and I hate how the interface looks like it's from 2010, and you can't customize anything, including the color of the interface.
 
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I didn't say android UI is bad. I wrote Hiby R5 UI is bad. And what I mean is that the UI interface for music is disgustingly ugly, and that is just by the appearance. If I use it, probably it will be even worse than it seems and I will want to puke, after been using apple ipod UI since 2007.
 

Dana reed

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I didn't say android UI is bad. I wrote Hiby R5 UI is bad. And what I mean is that the UI interface for music is disgustingly ugly, and that is just by the appearance. If I use it, probably it will be even worse than it seems and I will want to puke, after been using apple ipod UI since 2007.
Haven’t used the R5, but the R3 UI is decent after you get used to it. I also have two iPod classics which I love, but for some headphones it doesn’t have enough oomph. So I stack the R3 with a Mojo and I can run most any headphone I have, except the HE6SE
 

tential

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I didn't say android UI is bad. I wrote Hiby R5 UI is bad. And what I mean is that the UI interface for music is disgustingly ugly, and that is just by the appearance. If I use it, probably it will be even worse than it seems and I will want to puke, after been using apple ipod UI since 2007.
Then don't use the default music app?
You've got tons of options. Music bee, uapp, rocket player, etc.
So many options.
 
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Haven’t used the R5, but the R3 UI is decent after you get used to it. I also have two iPod classics which I love, but for some headphones it doesn’t have enough oomph. So I stack the R3 with a Mojo and I can run most any headphone I have, except the HE6SE

Yes, that's the ipod problem, and also sound quality... not the best those dac's from 200X, unfortunately. I personally only use ipods on the go, with IEM's, I do not need them to be able to drive a high impedance headset., will not ever use it at a desk, again, for my particular use.
 
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Then don't use the default music app?
You've got tons of options. Music bee, uapp, rocket player, etc.
So many options.

Yes, but then again, I presume those apps can't take advantage of the hardware being independent companies apps? just asking, I need information about it to be able to make a decent purchase decision eventually. But unfortunately, the short battery life it's the weak point of these devices, for the use I would like to make of it; sometimes I have a 13 hour length trip, my ipod could do that easily on the default battery, I have now a battery that lasts over two times that on my ipod... If only ipod classics had a good sounding DAC... or if the dac on the ipods could be upgraded... ;-(
 

Dana reed

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Yes, that's the ipod problem, and also sound quality... not the best those dac's from 200X, unfortunately. I personally only use ipods on the go, with IEM's, I do not need them to be able to drive a high impedance headset., will not ever use it at a desk, again, for my particular use.
Yes, for my general daily use, with Grados, the iPod classic is indistinguishable from the hiby/mojo. It’s only if I want to use my T1s, LCD2s or HE560s on the road, I bring along the hiby/mojo, rather than a dx7s or Jotunheim, which stay at their respective desks.
 

tential

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Yes, but then again, I presume those apps can't take advantage of the hardware being independent companies apps? just asking, I need information about it to be able to make a decent purchase decision eventually. But unfortunately, the short battery life it's the weak point of these devices, for the use I would like to make of it; sometimes I have a 13 hour length trip, my ipod could do that easily on the default battery, I have now a battery that lasts over two times that on my ipod... If only ipod classics had a good sounding DAC... or if the dac on the ipods could be upgraded... ;-(
They can.
As you're asking, the whole reason hiby first got into daps was because of this. They were the first to rewrite the android audio portion of the os to bypass the traditional resampling android does (I don't know why). Shanling, and cayin are partners of theirs that use this. Fiio did it themselves too I believe same with Ibasso.

However I wanted amir to test this and have been unable to get him to do so.

If you look at the original hiby r6 Kickstarter they explain this.

As long as the app you're using isn't designed to use its own audio stack (rocket player for example) it will work.

Uapp is just always designed to use your underlying hardware, same with a couple other apps that I don't remember because they don't do what I want.

Im sure you're aware you could use a battery backup at the expense of having to carry an additional item. I always carry one with me so my phone or Bluetooth player doesn't die.

Edit: I get very annoyed when I see people use tidal without uapp. I don't get it. You're using a high quality file, then putting it through the android stack. I don't even know if it makes use of dacs since there's a reason why people use uapp for tidal. Uapp uses your dac no matter what for tidal.
It's weird to run a resample (just what android does) and then use tidal. Defeats the purpose to me, but I'm sure most people just never read the android os audio documentation or saw online that this is what Android does to audio.
 
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