I currently have a MacBook / DragonflyRed source. My headphones are the Shure 1540. I am happy with this combination especially for Classical music. I’d like a more portable source to use with the 1540s without lowering the sound quality and of course if it improves it that’s great. So what DAPs should I consider in the $500-$800 range?
2 Likes
As nice a unit as the DragonFly Red is, almost any DAP in that price range is likely to yield a fairly noticeable improvement in sound. And there are a good number that will be AS good, or slightly better, even if you stayed under $500.
What features do you need (or want) on the DAP? A few features to consider here are:
- USB DAC
- Bluetooth (Source) and/or Bluetooth DAC
- Bluetooth CODECs (SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC)
- On-Device Streaming (usually means something Android-based)
- Amount of Storage (can be internal or on cards; if needing lots then dual card slots are good)
- How much does battery life matter?
- EQ Support
- MQA Support
- DLNA (or other Network streaming protocol) Support
- Balanced or Single-Ended
- How sensitive to size/weight are you?
- Firmware/Software stability
- UX Performance
- Power Output (the 1540s should be well covered by almost all DACs at this level)
- True Line-Out (if you ever want to feed an external amplifier)
Personally I’ve liked the features, sound and overall performance of the last generation FiiO players (X5iii and X7ii), but not been so hot on their firmware. I’ve not tried the new “M” series stuff - but I’ve heard good things about them so far.
I am a fan of Sony’s DAPs … the ZX300 (best battery life you’ll find) is the first I’d personally consider. The WM1A is better still, but will be used to come in under $800. It’s quite large, but does everything I can think of except on-device streaming.
And the A&K SR15 has proven to be excellent, feature rich, stable, tiny, responsive, has on-device streaming, sounds excellent and is my favorite player under $1,100 (the WM1A out performs it sonically, but its twice the size and weight and has fewer features).
Lots of other options, but I don’t want to suggest things I’ve not heard and used (though if Cayin’s N8 is anything to go by, I’d probably be looking at their stuff as well as the above).
4 Likes
How portable? Do you mean mobile, or for active use? I have an A&K Kann, which will go on sale from time to time for around $800. Great unit, but a tad heavy for exercise, etc.
2 Likes
I just recently picked up the A&K SR15 and I am really liking it’s size, build, feature set and quality. I also own the Pioneer XDP-300R which is a 3-year old Android-based player as well. It’s a bit more sterile and analytical sounding than the A&K.
I’ve own several budget DAPs in the under $300 price range as well. There is a step up in both sound quality and UI performance when you move up in price, but many newer DAPs are very fully featured starting at $150 now.
5 Likes
Thanks Torq
My needs are basic
Excellent sound quality
Support for SD Card
1 Like
Oops forgot
Decent battery life
Not going to use with exercise. Just want something I can carry around the house and leave my MacBook as my library repository
“Excellent sound quality” and “decent battery life” are rather subjective!
Most of the non-Sony players come in somewhere around 6-12 hours of playback, depending on what’s being driven, what’s being played, whether you’re using WiFi/Bluetooth and their general capacity.
Some of the Sony stuff will get you 24-30 hours playback.
And if you really mean “SD” card, and not “microSD” then your options shrink rapidly … and from memory will all be more than $800.
1 Like
Sorry meant micro SD card. I think from what you have said I am leaning toward the Sony ZX300. I do want a clean and stable UI. I also like that it can be used as a DAC. Is that just a DAC or is it a DAC/AMP like the DFR?
Actually Drop has the 16gb version ZX300a for $469. Tempting. However I think I’d rather have the extra storage. I need around 256gb to hold my Classical library.
By excellent sound I mean equal to or better than DFR. From what you have written the Sony ZX300 or the FiiO players will satisfy that requirement. Thanks again.
1 Like
The ZX300A occasionally shows up on JoyBuy for $380ish.
I know @HeartOfSky recently received one from there for about that price.
2 Likes
The Sony’s is very good. The A&K SR15’s is a little better.
It’ll work as a DAC/Amp (which is true of every DAP I know off that offers USB or Bluetooth DAC support).
The ZX300 and SR15 will both meet that requirement easily, so will the FiiO X5iii and X7ii (I’m not sure if these are now end-of-line) - can’t comment on the “M” series.
2 Likes
Thanks again. Very helpfull.
1 Like
The M series will be fully replacing the X series of DAPs from FiiO so they are end-of-line. I know MAP pricing was recently lifted in the US on the X7II and the X3-III. Amazon banned the X5-III from being sold on Amazon so I imagine the pricing has been lifted there as well.
3 Likes
Just did some research on the Sony ZX300. Seems it and most Sony DAPs have difficulty displaying Album Artwork unless it’s a Baseline JPG instead of Progressive JPG. I believe most if not all my Artwork as well as it seems most people are Progressive.
Can anyone confirm this issue?
Is this an issue with other DAPs?
1 Like
The WM1A and Z used to require album art to be in baseline encoding. This affected about 2-3% of my library. I wrote a little script to fix it for those files.
I am not sure if this requirement was changed in firmware 3.0.
Every DAP I’ve used or owned has had some kind of issue with some portion of my library when it comes to album art.
1 Like
Well good to know Sony may have addressed this.
I would appreciate some advice on purchasing a dap, but with much more limited requirements than this forum is used to. For me the priorities are: (1) of course sound quality, and I like a warmer, less analytical, sound; (2) must be able to drive my headphones (my most expensive is the Ananda, and I currently plan to upgrade to the Aeolus and Grado RS 2e); and (3) I need to be able to stream music (currently using Amazon music HD). The unusual part is that I don’t need many features and, in fact, the simpler to operate, the better for me. I only use headphones and I always use them in the wired mode so unless I need Bluetooth for streaming or some of the reason I’m not aware of, it’s not absolutely necessary. I would spend up to, say, $600, although since my needs are a bit simpler perhaps I wouldn’t need to spend that much until I upgrade later.
Thanks all for any advice.
3 Likes
The Cayin N3 Pro full fills most of your requirements, power wise it won’t have a lot of headroom when it comes to hard to drive HP’s…if you can up the budget to the the N6ii then you’ll be covered.
3 Likes
I think that if you want to stream music (Amazon HD, Tidal etc) on a Cayin DAP, you need to do it on your phone and then link the Cayin to your phone using Bluetooth.
That’s not necessarily a negative, depending on how much you stream when not carrying your phone. I suppose Cayin would argue it allowed them to focus on components for good sound quality rather than worrying about making the OS work for streaming. And they do seem to consistently get rave reviews for their DAPs’ sound.
You should be able to do this direct via WiFi they’re Android 8.1 so GTG?
I’m looking into buying a Cayin DAP myself and I have to say I find the streaming options to be a little confusing.
I found this statement from the Cayin rep on Head-Fi that says the N3Pro needs to connect to your phone using BT, but are you saying that if you stream on your PC/laptop, it should be able to connect via WiFi? Or alternatively, it does look like the N6ii can stream using it’s own player because it uses an Android OS.
N3Pro supports multiple bluetooth codec, including UAT, LDAC and AAC in receiving mode, you can “stream” your mobile phone content to N3Pro through bluetooth, with that N3Pro will function as a portable wireless DAC/Amp. This is the only way to play Tidal or Qobuz content on N3Pro right now. We have selected this strategy to support streaming function for N3Pro, and we didn’t intent to develop a client of Tidal or Qobuz specially for N3Pro Operation System, this is beyond our reach. If you haven’t try streaming content from your mobile phone to DAP via UAT or LDAC, maybe you can wait till you have the opportunity to try this out with N3Pro, or when there are more user impressions that shared their experience on these applications.
We are sorry that N3Pro have disappointed some of the users regarding streaming support in this forum. If you need a DAP that can run streaming app directly, N3Pro is probably not your priority choice, there are plenty of Android based DAP for you to choose from, including our N6ii, or R5 and R6Pro from good friend HiBy Music.