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DAPs and Portable Music Players

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Similar to the CIEM post, I would like to know how many of you have a portable music player (besides your phone). If you don't currently, what is the reason?
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Nhan
37
Aug 26, 2016
I use my old Galaxy Note (SGH-I717) running Candy ROM (Android 5.1) with an Audioquest Dragonfly Red and a 64GB SD card running USB Audio Player Pro as a DAP. 8+ hours battery life, track skipping via long-press on volume keys, Play/Pause via long press on Power key.
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tanchiro58
2
Aug 11, 2016
I do owe Onkyo DP-X1, Fiio X5, A&K100mk2and iPod 5.5G RWA.
geemoneybe
118
Aug 23, 2016
tanchiro58How is the Onkyo DP-X1? I have the AK100ii and can tell already that the battery life is going to be an issue sooner than I thought... Or perhaps I just want another DAP. Also super-curious about MQA.
WildChinoise
241
Jul 16, 2016
I have FiiO x5 II. Very long battery life. Powerful enough for any portable headphone. Two SDXC slots for massive storage capacity. And it sounds great. Also have the Colorfly C3, used when mowing the lawn. Loaded with high energy, upbeat tracks to keep me going on my chores.
wohengvanow
64
Jul 15, 2016
The only DAP i purchased was a ZuneHD which i bought specifically because it had SPDIF/optical line out to run an external DAC, hated the whole synching process. USB OTG came out and gave the option to run any portable external DAC Amp out of a smart phone (behaves like mass storage device) with apps like USB Audio player pro, etc. Smart NAS's like Synology or Qnap came out making possible 10TB of lossless quality music and video storage, organization, transcoding on the fly (to keep mobile data in check), and access from anywhere with their phone apps and/or browser interface. Now wifi/LTE in portable music device would be a requirement and it's all in a phone. At the end of the day, i'm not walking around with HD800's on my head and regular entry level/ mid-fi IEMs plugged into my newer smartphone suffices; i don't even bother with external portable amps/dacs anymore for portable. Pocket real estate is a resource not to be wasted.
pauliunas
84
Jul 15, 2016
I got a Colorfly C3 from Massdrop, as it was a pretty great bang for the buck. I was considering something like FiiO Q1 before, but since I don't manage my music with tags, playlists and that stuff, and instead just put it in a neatly organized folder structure, I don't really need the ability to connect to a computer. So I picked the cheaper option, Colorfly C3. Very satisfied with the product, but disappointed by Massdrop service. Shipping to Lithuania was awfully slow, I don't understand why they insisted to ship to the US and then back to Europe, and they didn't even bother to attach a customs declaration to the parcel. So I had to jump through hoops to get it through customs. I've had much better experiences buying from eBay.
mark2410
25
Jul 15, 2016
i have one, errr, more than one. i use separate because phones sound crap, have crap battery life and because phones dont have hardware controls. i want to control volume and track from inside my pocket for which touch screens are utterly useless and battery draining.
mark2410
25
Aug 11, 2016
specificaly i know the 5G ones do, i think some earlier ones may have also but for capacity reasons it really is the 5G and the so called 5.5G ones. its the one just before they started calling that line the Ipod Classic
doug-jensen
13
Aug 11, 2016
Sorry ...
ajjjas
29
Jul 15, 2016
I've got an iBasso DX90 which I've been reasonably impressed by, but I rarely use it anymore once I got a Moto X PE, which seems to drive most of my cans pretty well (outside of the real power monsters). I usually use my Shure se846s on the go, and I don't hear any hiss or noise from either the phone or the player.
GUTB
238
Jul 15, 2016
I don't have one, and for me it's because I'm not confident I would enjoy the sound quality compared my desktop system. My desktop system includes upwards of $4,000 worth of equipment. Could a little tiny IC running off of batteries really be competitive with 80lbs of serious sound gear?
I used to use my Galaxy Note 3 with USB Audio Player Pro and an E17K for out of the house needs, but it quickly became annoying. Since I use my smartphone often for other tasks, also using it for music and especially strapping it with a dac/amp is just a pain. Battery drain was also too much to be useful as I listen to music all day at work and in the car. Eventually I got myself the Fiio X3ii after a little dabbling with the Fiio X1. Having a dedicated DAP really is better overall. The line out outputs much better sound when using it in the car and at work, I can drop it in the K5 dock and have a nice little setup. The physical buttons are also better for sightless operation in the car for instance or even at work vs a touchscreen. The sound quality is also an improvement and the low power sleep mode of the X3ii is really nice (this feature and the dedicated line out is what made me get this over the X1 and I don't regret it one bit).
At home I primarily use foobar on my desktop, but I do listen to music when I go to bed too. For that, I have a Fiio M3 paired with a Grado SR80e (bowl pads) and I couldn't be happier. The M3 supports high res files with good battery life for a cheap price and combined with the power off timer feature, I barely ever have to charge it. It is also small enough and cheap but durable enough that I don't have to worry about it falling off my bed to my tiled floor and the sound quality with the Grado is just amazing and helps me sleep much better.
TimeKeeper
0
Jul 4, 2016
No reason too, honestly. Just carry around a portable DAC.
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