glennacSurprisingly yes. Phone audio has never been decent until LG released the v10 with a quad dac. A lot of people on head-fi also prefer dedicated players so they can keep their phone as a phone and keep audio separate.
glennacYes. They're generally much better in most regards to phones in terms of flexibility. First, simply being separate is nice, my phone's (pixel XL) storage is 128 GB, fixed and for everything, which isn't nearly enough.
Stacking sucks and is cumbersome, not being plugged into my phone is a good one for mobility, burn in purposes is another, they tend to be designed more specifically for sensitive IEMs, they get firmware updates specifically for audio issues, etc. The Android ones can do anything a phone can as well, basically....
Now this one? 1 GB of RAM in this day and age (also no 2.5mm balanced)? Bummer, otherwise it'd be really good at this price.
glennacof course I carry a DAP, much better sound than my phone.
The Hidizs AP200 is an excellent sounding player, the UI is getting there too. Wifi range is terrible though.
SciHoboThanks guys! I guess for some this is part of their EDC. I'm running around a hospital all day so can't justify carrying anything BUT my phone and a Bluetooth headphone to listen to podcasts and YouTube during lunch. Maybe if I was a runner or a gym person it might be worth it. Thanks!
SciHoboI wouldn't go as far as to say android DAPs are similar to phones in what they do. Interface, feature and hardware wise, they're pretty limited compared to phones. And considering they're always based on old, insecure versions of android, I wouldn't trust them with my google account settings.
That being said, they serve the purpose of audio extremely well and make portable audio a much cheaper venture, so YMMV. :)