Thank you Ian, I always value your opinion and expertise! I was thinking the same thing either the A&K SP1000 or 2000. The question is how do those units sound? They have the right features, do they have the right sound? Thanks again for leaving me such a detailed response appreciate you @Torq ! I will check the forum for info on those units!
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As good as Iāve heard from any solid-state DAP.
My SP1000M comments are here (which is fundamentally the same as the SP1000, just smaller and without the materials options) and SP2000 are here.
I do have a love for the N8ās tube output, but itās definitely colored vs. the A&K units. And the A&Kās are the quietest (i.e. lack of noise/hiss) units with fussy/sensitive IEMs Iāve ever heard.
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Just ordered an SE200 from headphones.com. Should have it mid week. Upgrading from an AK Kann, which by all rights is still a great player.
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I would probably love the N8 too as I prefer a bit of color when listening for enjoyment. The lack of streaming seems like the hard part with that unit though.
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Awesome let me know what you think of it.
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I didnāt think much about it not being capable of native streaming when I bought it. That hadnāt been a big, prior, use case for me. That was nearly two years ago, though. And itās been a progressively bigger issue ever since.
I thought I might sell it, and replace it with the Cayin C9 (to pair with the SP2000 when I wanted some extra power or tube-flavor), but the C9 turned out to have deal-killing charging issues for my (trans)portable use cases. So for now, at least, it stays (itās largely immune to the āHE-1 effectā).
Thereās still no single DAP I think is perfect, however.
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For me a Dap must be able to use various Streaming apps both on and offline.
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Good point @prfallon69. Iām loving my A&K SR25 because when my magazine needs a review of a new album I can download it from Qobuz or Tidal and listen to it offline. Very fast operation, doesnāt take more than 5 minutes and battery doesnāt suffer from the operation (1/2% used).
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The best adjective I can find is āsmoothā. By that I mean has no aggressive peaks on the tree side and has a warmer tint. Definition and instrument separation is good.
Well the Cayiin N6ii with itās interchangeable modules is my favourite and I use it everyday. I also own the Pioneer XDP-300r and still use this also itās a fab Dap too but the Cayiin N6ii is better. But itās also twice the price.
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The possibility to mod the Pioneer following @antdroid detailed instructions makes of this old DAP something that still has something to tell. The Cayin interchangeable modules are superior to the iBasso ones and make of that player one of the best investment in portable audio.
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I have owned an A&K SE200 for several months. I cannot say enough good about this product. I have an electrical engineering degree and was involved in the audio industry for several years.
The SE200 is built well physically, has an excellent screen and UI, is very responsive, and most importantly, sounds fantastic. While it was pricey, it was worth every penny.
I find that I listen through the AKM DAC almost exclusively. The ESS DAC usually sounds muddier to me.
I bought a 1TB microSD card and put it in, and it integrates flawlessly.
Without hesitation, I would buy this product again. Joel
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Interesting - for me, my DAPs are just the opposite: completely āoff the gridā and just my own music collection at hand. Even my Walkman and the re-used iPhone are on flight mode.
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I just got the Hiby R6 2020. Love it.
(My old R6 is for sale.) I also use C9 with it most often.
I am glad someone is using that, but of course there are risks associated with using a custom firmware.
I currently use the Lotoo PAW 6000 now which does not have streaming apps. It does let me use it as a USB DAC or a BT DAC so if I need streaming, I can hook it up to my phone or PC using usb or bluetooth at least.
If it werent for the sound quality of the Lotoo besting others Iāve tried, Iād probably get something with android/streaming again.
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Streaming has changed my DAP usage for sure. If itās not bit perfect, I have moved on; or I only use it for locally stored music (I do love the Sony native Music app with local FLAC).
The Android-audio SRC issue (16b/48kHz for everything) has narrowed the list of acceptable DAPs for me when I want 3rd-party-app streaming supportā¦ Using an iOS device with a great USB DAC is better in my opinion (and the new Luxury & Precision W2 dongle has proven that).
But UAPP and some DAP manufacturers have figured it out, and Iām happy with FiiO M11 Pro and Sony ZX507 with the latest firmware and UAPP app, where I get bit-perfect* playback from TIDAL and Qobuz.
*The Sony S-Master DAC either plays at 16bits or 32bits, so even with natively-stored 24bit FLAC, the S-Master will zero-pad to 32bit
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Just received my AK SE200 a few days ago from headphones.com. Service was great. So far so good on the DAP. Loaded up a few hundred GB on the miniSD card. Had some trouble with adding Open APK services like Deezer, Qobuz, and Spotify. Using an imac to download so that could be an issue. Deezer is actually preloded, but per the Deezer support team, the SE200 is NOT supported. Ended up renewing my Tidal subscription. Works flawlessly on the SE200 and Kann DAPs.
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