albtraum92
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hey, i sended my shanling m0 pro to amir for testing. stay tuned for the Review. I hope the actual sound quality is as good as on paper.
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Is there an Android-free DAP out there?
- Thread starter Nutul
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Count Arthur
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I've never actually seen measurements of the Hidizs AP80 pro, but Hisizs seem to be able to make decent dongles so I assumed they probably wouldn't screw it up that much.
I look forward to the Shanling review.
Looks like you're right:
Review: Hidizs AP80 Pro DAP – Tiny Balanced Portable Affordable Goodness!
Check out Trav's review of the Hidizs AP80 Pro - a DAP that is mega-featured, marvelous and a minuscule monolith.
www.headphonesty.com
Just puts the devices to good use, they're on/being used anyways (as well as my pc). Music streaming is just a side benefit. I can't see having a dedicated streamer box that would do nothing else....
OP
Nutul
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Looking for a DAP, not a portable all-in-one. Just my FLACs for the on-the-go listening; hence an Android-free player is the choice for me.
Long battery life and good audio performance is "all" I am looking for; just not too expensive, as I won't be using it every single day.
I would love to have a small form factor android-free DAP. I love the small size of something like the Shanling M1S, or the Hiby RS2 which use proprietary operating systems, but my problem is that all the non-android DAPs are "song limited", like the M1S has a 20,000 song limit, as do various other Hiby, Sony, etc. I have almost 50,000 songs and want to be able to put my entire collection on the DAP, can only do that at this point with android based ones. If anyone knows of something small and able to handle large database (regardless of price) I'd love to know!
albtraum92
New Member
wow, interesting. I didnt know that about the song limit. but seems to be true. I dont need more songs. 20000 titels are over 40 days of music. i can live with that.I would love to have a small form factor android-free DAP. I love the small size of something like the Shanling M1S, or the Hiby RS2 which use proprietary operating systems, but my problem is that all the non-android DAPs are "song limited", like the M1S has a 20,000 song limit, as do various other Hiby, Sony, etc. I have almost 50,000 songs and want to be able to put my entire collection on the DAP, can only do that at this point with android based ones. If anyone knows of something small and able to handle large database (regardless of price) I'd love to know!
6 years ago I got a Sony NW-ZX300 - great DAP, fantastic audio quality and I loved it. Runs Sony's proprietary OS. Screen's a bit small but usable once you get used to it. Good battery life and beautifully made. I have a 1TB micro SD card installed. 3 years later Sony brought out the NW-ZX507, which promised better audio and a lot of additional features, so I bought the 507. Big disappointment. Slightly bigger screen (but reflective, unlike the matte screen on the 300). The 507 has the Android OS. There's no Mass Storage mode, so as I'm a Mac user I have to either remove the SD card to transfer media or use Android File Transfer (clunky) or ActiveSync (very slow). Battery life is about 25% lower on the 507, and apps drain it even faster; I've disabled everything that can be disabled. A further battery issue is that even when powered off it still uses some power (not a defect, the user manual actually states this. Is the 507 audio better that the 300? Well the hardware has been upgraded, but there's very little discernible difference. So, another three years have passed, and I've largely switched back to the NW-ZX300 - but after 6 years use I think the battery is degrading (not surprising) and I started to look for a new non-Android DAP with performance as good as my NW-ZX300 (without much success). Then I decided to replace the battery in my NW-ZX300 (I have the full Sony service manual) but while searching online I came across a new (sealed and boxed) NW-ZX300 for sale and bought it.
I think it's disappointing that so many manufacturers are moving away from having a high-quality DAP for those of us who want to listen to great audio but aren't interested in streaming and all the other stuff that just overcomplicates things.
Have you paired it with another DAC? For example, I was wondering how it would be with the Mojo.
Sorry, haven't ever used an external DAC, so can't comment. Most of my listening is while I'm on-the-go. I get good direct-source audio on the NW-ZX300 with wired 1-More quad-drivers, especially with the Sony DSXX "upscaling" mode on, and surprisingly good results from Bose's new QuietComfort Ultra wireless buds, especially in their "immersive" mode. I have tried wired balanced over-ears phones a long time ago, and that worked OK, but not really enough power in the DAP.
I think most small portable DAPs (even high-end) have limited native data storage (typically up to 64MB), plus a microSD card slot for memory expansion. I have 1TB microSD cards in both of my Sony DAPs (NW-ZX300 and NW-ZX507), but usable storage may be limited depending on the card capacity and the DAP itself. A song limit is sometimes based on the average song filesize, or the actual number of songs (or even the number of songs in a folder). For my DAPs Sony indicates that a 64GB NW-ZX300 can hold 15,000 kbps MP3 files (at average 4 mins per song). I only use the SD card memory, and I have about 16,000 songs, using about 100GB. They also state "This product is confirmed to operate normally with up to a total of 20,000 tracks stored in the main memory and on the microSD card". So I suspect that the limitation on number of tracks is associated with a limitation on the capacity of the DAP database, which is where the "directory" of tracks is held, rather than the capacity of the file storage. I guess I'll find out whether it's a real limit when I've added another 4,000 songs. For anyone using hi-res audio files and lengthy classical works, I suspect that these DAPs will probably accept up to 2TB microSD. Also for info, and to support thr database theory, the SD card slot in the MMI multimedia unit on my Audi will only display and play the first 10,000 songs on my 1TB MicroSD cards.
Hasn't been mentioned but quite a few people turn old iPods into modern devices tearing them apart (easy back then) and converting HDs to flash based storage. My old iPod Video (5th Gen) was still cranking out tunes with a new battery and 200GB until my daughter lost it a few months ago.
Was leaning towards iPod but not a fan of itunes. Thanks for this. I think you have ended my hunt! Have you paired it with a DAC?
There are solutions around that if you Google a bit even for Windows access. Never used it with a DAC as it only has analog out though maybe possible with a 30pin cable adapter. The Burson DAC that was in the iPod Video tested to be pretty transparent back in the day and I only used the iPod for casual listening.
AudioSceptic
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I've done the same, more as an exercise as anything else because I have an iPhone with 512 GB storage. An iPod 5th gen with iFlash adapter <https://www.iflash.xyz/> and 2x 256 GB µSD cards. Amazing value, and Apple did a great job with the SQ ~20 years ago. The iPod mini makes an even more compact player.
Hiby r3
ZolaIII
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Old R3 Pro with CS43131 but he won't find one. Basically anything which isn't Android based and works with up to date Hiby Music (for 10x PEQ's).
There are also new R3 which are also non android based, just use different chips but not that it matters.
ZolaIII
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It matters a lot from battery on time to proper performance (which is hard to get from DAP). Hiby software ones you can also control from Hiby Music app from smartphone (over BT and for control only). And firstly you try app on mob to see if it fits you as that's what you will get on the DAP.
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