Dethonray DTR1 - New Small Simplistic Single Ended DAP With No WIFI or Bluetooth. Curious what the experts here think!

[PeterM23]

There is a new $530 DAP, the "Dethonray DTR1", that some folks say sounds as good as DAPs costing 2X more. Here is a Link to the Website.

http://www.dethonray.com/?page_id=8088

Note that Specs there are not 100% correct/updated. i.e. SNR is now 117dB. (Per the thread at Head-fi)

- The DAP has separate batteries and charging curcuits for Digital vs Analog. According to the Mfr this eliminates some noise.
- Its also a very simplistic player. It has No WIFI. No Bluetooth, and No Balanced Output. Just a good old single ended output.
- It is just a DAP. It cannot be used as a DAC/AMP. It cannot be used as a transport for another DAC/AMP. Somehow I like that idea!

- I have not heard this yet, and wonder what the experts here think? Would love to see a test/review of this DAP here.

 

[restorer-john]

I think that product is about 15 years too late and probably 5 times the price it should be.

Like a Pono, but without a funny name, Neil Young, or an oddball shape. An Ipod, but without everything that makes it good.

Do they actually exist or is it just a thought-bubble rendering? Dethonray- death on arrival more like it.

 

[BillG]

- It is just a DAP. It cannot be used as a DAC/AMP. It cannot be used as a transport for another DAC/AMP.

It's got a DAC and a line out, meaning it can full well can feed an amplifier via analog...

 

[Blumlein 88]

I think they'll sell more of these.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...ust-released-the-first-new-one-in-four-years/

Newly released ipod. It actually is in an iphone case, but without all the phone bits. $199.

 

[maxxevv]

At that price ?

Buy a LG G7 or V40 and be done. At least those are proven to perform well.

And you have a full-fledged smartphone on the device(s) as well.

 

[solderdude]

hmmm.. Says: the chipset supports up to 32Bit/768K yet it only supports 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192 kHz why mention 32Bit/768K ?

I agree with @restorer-john it is too little, too late, too expensive. There is much competition in this price range.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I can see a niche for such players. Maybe it is like my Kindle. I can use a Kindle app to read books on my laptop or desktop or smartphone. But the dedicated Kindle device has some advantages. One of which is it essentially does the one thing. So I'm not interrupted to do something else.

 

[JohnYang1997]

xduoo x3ii may be better than this.

 

[PeterM23]

Definately a bit "old school". I do like having a tool that does one thing well sometimes! And can understand those that stream music would see this as a useless brick! The designer supposedly has worked for a few Audio Equipment Manufacturers (Hinted Sony and others). He is going after a piece of the High End DAP market. One way to start is to just make a device that has great sound. If succcessful, we may see designs with more wireless features and a bigger screen, like all the rest now have.

That "new" Apple Ipod is supposed to play movies, and allow phone calls over wifi. Apple will sell a million of any thing it produces! But Apple is also not going for highest sound quality. Probably because most buyers are happy with good quality sound, not the "best".

Several of the newer DAPs trying to do WIFI and Bluetooth are having problems with EMI noise. This one has a lot of shielding, and no antennas to receive EMI...

It's only been out a month or so. Not many user reviews. But at least 5 folks on head-fi that bought it, report it has great sound.

Anyway, I'd like to see some more reviews before spending $530. In the mean time my cheap android phone with a Topping NX4 DSD connected does sound pretty darned good with IEMs and up to around 300ohm headphones.

 

[pwjazz]

Apple is also not going for highest sound quality

In my experience, many Apple devices sound great and measure well. Some dedicated DAPs have more powerful amplifiers, but if you don't need that I find it hard to for the sound quality on Apple products. I just don't like the lack of removable storage and the high price charged for built in storage.

 

[BillG]

One might be surprised as to how well even budget phones' audio subsystems measure these days:

https://www.gsmarena.com

 

[JJB70]

I recently returned to using a DAP, although my smartphone has an audibly transparent DAC and a good headphone output within its limits I found the volume to be a bit weak as a result of hearing protection regulations on such devices. At one time it was simple to find internet links to tell you how to by-pass the volume limit on EU spec phones but they seem to have clamped down on that. Also I found the battery life of my phone was falling off a cliff. So I bought a Shanling M3s, to be honest I wouldn't rate its DAC as any better than the Xpreia XZ Premium in terms of audible performance at any rate, and within its limits I find the headphone output of the Sony phone is just as good in audible terms but the M3s has more grunt and can drive my various headphones to higher volumes while staying well within the output limit of the device and if I did want more grunt it has a balanced output too. I paid £170 in a clearance offer and for the price it is very nicely made and in my view the sound quality is well past the point of diminishing returns and I can't see the point of going any higher. So I can see why a separate DAC can still make sense, but I don't think you have to spend much to get tip top performance from a DAC.