Which DAP can you recommend me with a value close to $1500 USD?

[Andrew76]

There are several alternatives that I have thought about: Ibasso DX340, Fiio M15s, Astell & Kern SP3000M, and the recent Shanling 8MT, which one can you advise me?

 

[Jimbob54]

You can get more power and better performance from a phone with a good dongle . What would you want any of these DAPs for that phone and dongle won't provide ?

What headphones / iem would you be using and what would be the source for your music ?

 

[DVDdoug]

Why do you want to spend that much?

Are there particular features that you want?

Most smart phones & tablets already have "basic sound quality" that's better than human hearing. Or if you are using a digital output the hardware doesn't matter (for sound quality) as long as the digital audio stream doesn't get somehow corrupted.

A phone or tablet is usually more "flexible" because you can install the player app of your choice!

 

[Madlop26]

I bought the ONKYO DPX1A around 8 years ago, $650?, it has 2 micro SD slots were i could put all my music collection, later i got the Fiio M7 (smaller 1 micro SD slot) , also Fio BTR5, Topping G5 and also multiple good performing dongles for my iPhone. Can I tell a difference between then with IEMs? absolutely not. The only one clear difference is; the Topping G5 has enough power to make my H800s mobile.

 

[Andrew76]

You can get more power and better performance from a phone with a good dongle . What would you want any of these DAPs for that phone and dongle won't provide ?

What headphones / iem would you be using and what would be the source for your music ?

Sennheiser HD 650 and sennheiser ie 300.

 

[Andrew76]

You can get more power and better performance from a phone with a good dongle . What would you want any of these DAPs for that phone and dongle won't provide ?

What headphones / iem would you be using and what would be the source for your music ?

I have the Ka3 from Fiio, it's good but I want to enjoy without more cables, I also work from the cell phone and the battery is essential

 

[Bamish]

Check out Hiby and Shanling DAP's aswell. Hiby is good value and provide updates fairly regularly. Love having my DAP, can go out for a walk and leave the blasted phone at home.

 

[Jimbob54]

You don't see many proper measurements of DAPs but in the past one thing is apparent . The expensive ones tend to fare no better or even worse than the sensibly priced ones. I fell for it once too .

Absent of measurements id get a hiby/hidizs/shanling or similar brand that has the size , connections and features you want . Balanced out wouldn't hurt to get the voltage up for the headphones. Id aim to spend a fair bit less than half your budget . One that has the ability to do parametric eq would pay great dividends

 

[Bamish]

Hiby have added PEQ, even now on my 5 year old R5.

 

[Andrew76]

You don't see many proper measurements of DAPs but in the past one thing is apparent . The expensive ones tend to fare no better or even worse than the sensibly priced ones. I fell for it once too .

Absent of measurements id get a hiby/hidizs/shanling or similar brand that has the size , connections and features you want . Balanced out wouldn't hurt to get the voltage up for the headphones. Id aim to spend a fair bit less than half your budget . One that has the ability to do parametric eq would pay great dividends

Thank you bro, and what options do you recommend?

 

[Jimbob54]

Thank you bro, and what options do you recommend?

No idea but I know A&K are renowned for being all style no substance .

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Love having my DAP, can go out for a walk and leave the blasted phone at home.

The phone-player does not have to be your regular voice phone. The voice function is ancillary.

A budget of $200 is plenty (including DAC). Dedicated DAP's make zero sense to me primarily from a cost standpoint.

 

[Curupira]

The phone-player does not have to be your regular voice phone. The voice function is ancillary.

Pardon my french but, phones + dongles are dangly (cumbersome). Also, a DAP can be a player and a desktop dac/amp solution at the same time when plugged with USB or using lossless bluetooth.

In today's market I see little reason from going for anything over a FiiO JM21 or a Hiby M300 unless you have really hard to drive headphones, which should disqualify the mobility/DAP aspect to begin with.

Both of the above were market disruptors for their quality and features in a low price, making the more bulky and higher end DAPs pretty unappealing to everyone but the most stubborn audiophiles.

On regards to tangible performance, both should clear the Redbook CD standard. I don't have measurements for the Hiby (although I more or less trust the brand), but FiiO has started to post their own AP results on their new products:

Guangzhou Feiao Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.-JM21_parameters

JM21 has a 13mm, 156g ultra-thin body, and is the world's first portable HiFi player with Xiaolong 680.

www.fiio.com

 

[ears-of-steel]

Pardon my french but, phones + dongles are dangly (cumbersome).

I own a smallish, affordable DAP, a Hiby R3 Saber for anything out and about. Drives all my IEMs, including my Etys effortlessly way beyond levels I usually enjoy and sounds pretty good to my ears, even compared to my other, more expensive, 'dangly' gear. Regarding higher end, more expensive (heavier and larger) DAPs; wherever I move around there's always some noise, be it from transportation, traffic, people, wind, you name it and just for that reason I couldn't care less about the last couple dB of potential sonic advantages of such a thing, at least not somewhere out there. YMMV.

 

[krabapple]

A DAP with a TB or two of storage might be handy, if I wanted to carry my collection + player around all the time.

Or, I can just use a phone + streaming.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Pardon my french but, phones + dongles are dangly (cumbersome).

The FiiO JM21 appears smartphone size to me? (one inch shorter than an average smartphone). And these (PEQ) dongles below are not "dangly" in the least (imo).

You could even have a QX5K in one pocket and play via BT from the phone in the other pocket. I don't see the big difference, but whatever floats your boat.

 

[Curupira]

wherever I move around there's always some noise, be it from transportation, traffic, people, wind, you name it and just for that reason I couldn't care less about the last couple dB of potential sonic advantages of such a thing, at least not somewhere out there. YMMV.

IME seeking fidelity and/or enjoyment while using passive iems and headphones while commuting is a fool's errand. The external ambient WILL drown out the finer details in music and kill most of the bass, specially if you're on a bus, in the metro or, god forbid, in an airplane. For those I just use ANC iems and would use a Sony XM5/Apple Air Max had I the the disposable income (I work at home, can't justify getting those for a trip to the supermarket).

The FiiO JM21 appears smartphone size to me? (one inch shorter than an average smartphone). And these (PEQ) dongles below are not "dangly" in the least (imo).

You could even have a QX5K in one pocket and play via BT from the phone in the other pocket. I don't see the big difference, but whatever floats your boat.

Yeah, I see the appeal from the smaller ones. I would still get the JM21 if I didn't have an older smartphone though, it's too neat and cute to pass.

 

[jazbrokr]

Love my iBasso DX340. Used with my Noble Onyx IEM. Not quite as good as my Laiv Harmony DAC into any of my three high end headphone amps, but absolutely close and good enough.

 

[Seyley]

So, the Hi-Fi industries sales pitch is a 'complete con' ? Okie Dokie....Glad that Samsung Ultra can take my 1TB of music via the storage slot and I can plug my headphones into the socket.

 

[Jimbob54]

So, the Hi-Fi industries sales pitch is a 'complete con' ? Okie Dokie....Glad that Samsung Ultra can take my 1TB of music via the storage slot and I can plug my headphones into the socket.

To whom or what post are you replying?