• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Value of DAPs?

Fishie

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
15
Likes
10
Location
Hong Kong
Hi, I am new to the forum so pardon me if I made any mistakes in this thread.

Looking at the reviews and measurements on various DAPs on the forum, almost all of them does not measure well and have crappy SINAD. Is it worthless to purchase any of those, as they can be easily beaten by the cheap dongles? Moreover, can the dongles provide that much power compared to some of the DAPs?

Also I would really like to see more measurements of the DAPs, especially the expensive Astell&Kern and Sony ones.
 

maverickronin

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jul 19, 2018
Messages
2,527
Likes
3,308
Location
Midwest, USA
It depends what you need or want. If you don't mind a dongle or "thumb drive" DAC/amp hanging off of your phone and/or not having physical buttons then a phone is just fine.

If you want better usability and/or to escape from your electronic ball and chain then a dedicated DAP can be a better choice.

Either way, your usability preferences - not measured performance, is the deciding factor.

Alleged "DAPs" that are just Android tablets are the worst of both worlds. :facepalm:
 

Erispedia

Member
Joined
May 5, 2020
Messages
30
Likes
25
Similar to looking at your analog wristwatch instead of the timeserver synced clock on your smartphone. Pros and cons on each side, the worth depends on your own use case.
 
Top Bottom