What dap ?

Freddyflybuttons

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I'm looking into getting a dap in around the £500 price range to play my files and to stream Radio Paradise.
It seems that the main contenders are the Fiio m11s at about £500, the Fiio m11 plus at £600, the Sony NW-a306 at £500 or the HiBy R6 iii, also at around £500.
I prefer a warm sound to anything too analytical.
Any thoughts ?
 
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Warszawa

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Sony all day, but you'll need to find out if that model has the dreaded "EU volume cap" which makes them unuseable with many headphones. I imported from Japan.
 
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Freddyflybuttons

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Sony all day, but you'll need to find out if that model has the dreaded "EU volume cap" which makes them unuseable with many headphones. I imported from Japan.
How do you find that out? I don't imagine that dealers will advertise the fact..
Is there no way to overrule it like there used to be with sansa clips etc?
I'm not expecting you to know all this @Warszawa, just wondering what the deal is if buying from amazon or somewhere similar.
And anyway, why the Sony? It's cheaper which is great but what makes you say that its the one to go for?
 

Warszawa

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It’s my experience that the Sony DAPs have the better software implementation, battery life, and a slightly smoother sound than most. That’s quite a generalisation though and I’m not familiar with the model you’re interested in.

I would imagine they have the silly volume limit across the range. I have the WM1AM2. It cost about the same to import from Japan
 
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Freddyflybuttons

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It’s my experience that the Sony DAPs have the better software implementation, battery life, and a slightly smoother sound than most. That’s quite a generalisation though and I’m not familiar with the model you’re interested in.

I would imagine they have the silly volume limit across the range. I have the WM1AM2. It cost about the same to import from Japan
OK, thanks for that. I am coming from an original ipod so have no idea at all about daps. A smoother sound sounds good to me, volume limiting doesn't...
 

Headcoat

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Sony all day, but you'll need to find out if that model has the dreaded "EU volume cap" which makes them unuseable with many headphones. I imported from Japan.
Can the volume cap not just be turned off in the settings?
 

Freddyflybuttons

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You can around the volume cap:

To my addled brain that all looks fairly complicated, but it's so good to know that it is already possible on at least some Sony daps, so I guess there may soon be other simpler (for me) ways to do it. Many thanks for posting!
 
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griffo104

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I really don't get DAPs.

I just used my old smart phone, stripped everything off except Tidal, downloaded loads of albums through that, transferred music files on to it, it has a huge 256gb capacity, put USB Audio Pro on and use the Cyrus Soundkey to drive the phones.

My old phone cost nothing and still gets updates for the software on it as it's Android based, £7 for USB Audio Pro and I got the Soundkey for £50. Battery life is as good as a DAP.
 
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Freddyflybuttons

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I really don't get DAPs.

I just used my old smart phone, stripped everything off except Tidal, downloaded loads of albums through that, transferred music files on to it, it has a huge 256gb capacity, put USB Audio Pro on and use the Cyrus Soundkey to drive the phones.

My old phone cost nothing and still gets updates for the software on it as it's Android based, £7 for USB Audio Pro and I got the Soundkey for £50. Battery life is as good as a DAP.
Interesting. I don't have an old phone (my battery swelled up and burst!) and had not heard of USB audio or soundkey until just now. I want to stream and play my files (I've got just under 1tb and ideally want to be able to store them all on a device) and have no idea if there is any phone that might be up to that... If there was, would it sound as good as a dap, and I assume you'd still need a dac/amp?
 

stokiebloke

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I really don't get DAPs.

I just used my old smart phone, stripped everything off except Tidal, downloaded loads of albums through that, transferred music files on to it, it has a huge 256gb capacity, put USB Audio Pro on and use the Cyrus Soundkey to drive the phones.

My old phone cost nothing and still gets updates for the software on it as it's Android based, £7 for USB Audio Pro and I got the Soundkey for £50. Battery life is as good as a DAP.
Might DAPs have a better internal amplifier for wired dynamic headphones, especially ones with a balanced output?
 

griffo104

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Interesting. I don't have an old phone (my battery swelled up and burst!) and had not heard of USB audio or soundkey until just now. I want to stream and play my files (I've got just under 1tb and ideally want to be able to store them all on a device) and have no idea if there is any phone that might be up to that... If there was, would it sound as good as a dap, and I assume you'd still need a dac/amp?

Are you going to be able to store 1tb on the Fiio?

My way, which is what I was recommended when I was looking for a DAP myself, does rely on you having an old phone you can use. You do need a dac/amp but I already had several options as I'm primarily a headphone user so as well as the Soundkey I have a Chord Mojo and a Sabaj Da3 and all these can be used although the Soundkey is controlled by the volume of the device.

It is a tough one, I spent ages looking last year and nearly went for a Cayin but to get the level I wanted it was getting well over £1k and essentially these are just mobile phone tech usually with outdated versions of the Android OS.

I only use mine for portable use so I never have the need for more than 100 or so albums, which I will refresh as when I need to.

They are nice devices but it's hard to spend that much money when you may have something sat there gathering dust which you can use instead.
 
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griffo104

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Might DAPs have a better internal amplifier for wired dynamic headphones, especially ones with a balanced output?
I only really use it with sensitive IEMs so balanced isn't really needed. I do have a Sabaj Da3 which has both single ended and balanced outputs and it does make a difference if I use my HD600 but my setup is for when I'm out and about so I always use IEMs.

Some DAPs do have good amps in them but most really drag on the battery life, the Cayin I looked at could run in Class A or AB but running it Class A hit the battery.

The other option I have is a Chord Mojo which although sounding very good, and goes so well with the IE300 is actually a bit too heavy and cumbersome for portable use on the move, ok if you're in a hotel, but not when you travelling.
 
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stokiebloke

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I only really use it with sensitive IEMs so balanced isn't really needed. I do have a Sabaj Da3 which has both single ended and balanced outputs and it does make a difference if I use my HD600 but my setup is for when I'm out and about so I always use IEMs.

Some DAPs do have good amps in them but most really drag on the battery life, the Cayin I looked at could run in Class A or AB but running it Class A hit the battery.

The other option I have is a Chord Mojo which although sounding very good, and goes so well with the IE300 is actually a bit too heavy and cumbersome for portable use on the move, ok if you're in a hotel, but not when you travelling.

I only really use it with sensitive IEMs so balanced isn't really needed. I do have a Sabaj Da3 which has both single ended and balanced outputs and it does make a difference if I use my HD600 but my setup is for when I'm out and about so I always use IEMs.

Some DAPs do have good amps in them but most really drag on the battery life, the Cayin I looked at could run in Class A or AB but running it Class A hit the battery.

The other option I have is a Chord Mojo which although sounding very good, and goes so well with the IE300 is actually a bit too heavy and cumbersome for portable use on the move, ok if you're in a hotel, but not when you travelling.
Looks like you have all the bases covered. I'm happy enough with MP3 files on my phone through IEMs when travelling. I have a dap with hd660s for around the house and garden, and a desk top set up with hd600 for laid back, late night listening. Agreed that battery life can be an issue with the dap.
 

Headcoat

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I only really use it with sensitive IEMs so balanced isn't really needed. I do have a Sabaj Da3 which has both single ended and balanced outputs and it does make a difference if I use my HD600 but my setup is for when I'm out and about so I always use IEMs.

Some DAPs do have good amps in them but most really drag on the battery life, the Cayin I looked at could run in Class A or AB but running it Class A hit the battery.

The other option I have is a Chord Mojo which although sounding very good, and goes so well with the IE300 is actually a bit too heavy and cumbersome for portable use on the move, ok if you're in a hotel, but not when you travelling.
Chord Mojo and man bags are made for each other 😂

I'll second what you say, after much deliberation I went with the Smartphone + DAC/Amp. Makes a lot of sense.

When the phone no longer gets security updates them simply replace phone and not DAC/Amp (or have to replace a DAP that no longer gets Android updates).

Not to mention Android tends to run so much smoother on smartphones than DAP's.

If the upgrade bugs bites it's only the DAC/Amp that needs replacing.
 

Freddyflybuttons

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To update this thread, I've just got an only just second hand fiio m11 plus ess at a very good price.
Not had a chance to play with it other than to put in a memory card and listen to a couple of tracks so far..
 

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