I still use DAPs, with an increasingly specific set of requirements.
If I am going to use a phone (i.e. the situation doesn’t warrant/allow carrying a DAP and suitable IEMs or headphones), then it’s either going to be fully wireless Bluetooth, via a $9 dongle (one stuffed in every IEM and headphone case I might use on the go) or in rare cases the Lotoo PAW S1.
And the chances are I’m using lossy content from Apple Music in that case, as the 3rd party streaming options are all too fond of deciding they need an internet connection to validate my offline content right at the moment I don’t have one.
None of the Android-phone-as-a-DAP solutions are even on the table for me. Most of them are stuck with Android’s rather lacking forced ASRC (resampling to some multiple of 48kHz, using a low-power optimized filter rather than a quality-optimized one).
While you can get around this with some phones using UAPP (USB Audio Player Pro), it will sometimes tell you it’s working bit-perfectly when it isn’t (an acknowledged issue by the developer - it’s doing the best it can given the abstractions and limits of Android). And I do not like the UX there at all.
This is notwithstanding other issues I have with Android-phones-as-DAPs which usually includes piss-poor AAC support, lowest-spec-without-fucking-around-and-then-not-very-reliable LDAC support, and comparatively atrocious battery life.
So for proper, focused, listening for please/critical listening … i.e. when I’m not just using having music “on in the background”, I still use a DAP. And as I said, my requirements have become more focused over time.
As much as I love various aspects of the Cayin N8, it’s inability to stream natively has become a MAJOR inconvenience. Exacerbated by the fact that you cannot use it as an external DAC/amp from an iPhone unless you use Bluetooth (as the N8 requires power on USB in USB DAC mode, and draws more than an iOS device will allow). And if I’m going to use Bluetooth at all, I’m not carrying a big, heavy, DAP around!
So now, requirements must include:
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Support for at least 1.5TB of on-board storage (so 512GB internal, and a slot that can run 1TB cards, or multiple card slots).
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Proper meta-data driven UX that can address both internal and card storage seamlessly.
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Native streaming support (this usually means an Android “core” OS) for TIDAL and Qobuz.
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100% bypass of Android’s audio subsystem in ALL situations (some DAPs bypass it for their “default” music players, but not for third-party streaming clients).
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100% silent background with all of my IEMs.
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Enough power to drive reasonably sensitive full-size cans directly.
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10 hours of battery life with IEMs and lossless content.
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Fast charge capability.
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WiFi connectivity that doesn’t shit the bed if you’re more than 20 feet from your AP.
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Proper balanced output.
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USB DAC/amp support.
There are lots of other nice-to-have features (e.g. Roon end-point support, no-power mode for USB DAC/amp operation from an iPhone, proper MFI support, longer battery life, multiple output modes, decent integrated EQ) and so on.
Right now, only the A&K SP2000 fully meets the requirements that I’m aware of, as well as hitting some of the optional stuff.