DAP Recommendations

[DaQi]

Recently had my Ponoplayer stolen as part of a car break-in on a business trip. While it wasn't my ideal player, I carry my Ponoplayer for music listening while travelling and now find myself in the position of having to replace it. I am looking for suggestions from the collective wisdom and experience out there. A new player needs to meet as many of the the following criteria as possible:

• Portable - obviously. Some sort of reasonable size or form factor to live in a briefcase. Also should be reasonably rugged or have a case as it will live in my briefcase.
• Able to play flac, alac and DSD files. I have a mix of these in my collection so it needs to be able to play them. 
• ~$400-600 price range
• Expandable storage (preferably the more the better through SD, microSD or even internal SSD card)
• Easy simple operation (easy to load music onto the player with standard apps (i.e. JRiver), fast load time on start-up, this is a DAP not a smart phone so really just need music playing capabilities) 
• Reasonably good sound. I mostly use it with Bose Quiet Comfort 20 earbuds on a plane. I did like the sound quality of the Ponoplayer as it was step up from my iPod classic I had before that. 

 

Thanks for any and all suggestions. Would be helpful if you provide pros/cons against my criteria when you suggest. 

[miguelito]

Try one of the Fiio's.

[#Yoda#]

I'm sorry for your loss. Being aware of the weak points of the PonoPlayer like display, slow upload to internal memory sometimes or battery, I don't think you'll get a new player today in this price range that comes even close to the PonoPlayer in terms of sound quality. I would try to get another one as replacement on Ebay or invest a lot more money for an A&K A&futura SE 100. 

[DaQi]

17 hours ago, #Yoda# said:

I'm sorry for your loss. Being aware of the weak points of the PonoPlayer like display, slow upload to internal memory sometimes or battery, I don't think you'll get a new player today in this price range that comes even close to the PonoPlayer in terms of sound quality. I would try to get another one as replacement on Ebay or invest a lot more money for an A&K A&futura SE 100. 

You nailed the problems with the Pono. That load time to the internal memory drove me nuts and the solution to never power it down was a nightmare as well as the battery was not great. The display never bothered me much as I mostly put on a playlist and put it back in its case. I have been toying with the idea of buying another Pono on Ebay but was hoping the world had evolved since the Pono came out. Thanks!

[Allan F]

Not a recommendation but a selection under $500: Best PAD's under $500

[new_media]

I lost a Pono in a car break-in about a month ago. I ended up just buying another Pono on eBay because I couldn't find anything else in that price range with balanced output.

 

I thought pretty hard about the Sony NWZX300/S Walkman, but decided against it at twice the price.

 

I wonder what the thieves think of the Pono. I imagine it's probably at a pawn shop or on Craig's list or something.

 

 

[DaQi]

10 minutes ago, Allan F said:

Not a recommendation but a selection under $500: Best PAD's under $500

Wow, there are a lot out there and most of these I have never heard of. Thanks!

[DaQi]

2 minutes ago, new_media said:

I lost a Pono in a car break-in about a month ago. I ended up just buying another Pono on eBay because I couldn't find anything else in that price range with balanced output.

 

I thought pretty hard about the Sony NWZX300/S Walkman, but decided against it at twice the price.

 

I wonder what the thieves think of the Pono. I imagine it's probably at a pawn shop or on Craig's list or something.

 

 

I wonder too especially since it was an LE version as well. I have to wonder what the thieves will do with a lot of what was in the briefcase since the laptop was encrypted and password protected, the iPad was likewise locked down and the Ponoplayer is an LE version. The police have all the serial numbers and details so they are traceable. 

I'll take a look at the Sony but have been burned in the past with proprietary Sony formats so a bit hesitant with them. 

[new_media]

1 minute ago, DaQi said:

I wonder too especially since it was an LE version as well. I have to wonder what the thieves will do with a lot of what was in the briefcase since the laptop was encrypted and password protected, the iPad was likewise locked down and the Ponoplayer is an LE version. The police have all the serial numbers and details so they are traceable. 

I'll take a look at the Sony but have been burned in the past with proprietary Sony formats so a bit hesitant with them. 

 

Yeah, I filed a police report, but I haven't heard anything so far.

 

Luckily, I had my iPad with me when they grabbed my bag, but I also lost a DragonFly Red and a bunch of Apple cables/adapters/chargers. Those things are not cheap to replace!

[DaQi]

1 minute ago, new_media said:

 

Yeah, I filed a police report, but I haven't heard anything so far.

 

Luckily, I had my iPad with me when they grabbed my bag, but I also lost a DragonFly Red and a bunch of Apple cables/adapters/chargers. Those things are not cheap to replace!

I am not hopeful for anything turning up and have replaced most stuff. Yes, the cables and do-dads that litter a briefcase these days do add up. 

[DaQi]

I ended up getting a Fiios FX7 Mk II. Hate the interface, hate android and I don't think it sounds as good as the Pono. But, it can hold a lot more music thanks to two microSD card slots and doesn't take as long to boot. I haven't been travelling as much as I was so haven't been using it as much as I was the Pono. 

[mrvco]

I've been using an LG V40... a rather good DAP w/ (smart phone) benefits.

[Miska]

Mobile phone + battery powered DAC like iFi xDSD...

 

Allows both local playback and streaming services and the DAC goes well with a laptop.

 

I personally use such DACs with my laptop since I anyway have a laptop with me. For airplane listening and movies I use iPad Pro.

[asdf1000]

On 3/29/2019 at 6:42 PM, Miska said:

Mobile phone + battery powered DAC like iFi xDSD...

 

Do you have the xDSD Jusis? Can you do your typical measurements and share?

 

HiFi News measurements were very good:

 

https://www.hifinews.com/content/ifi-audio-pro-idsd-headphone-ampdac-lab-report-0

[bagwell359]

On 3/28/2019 at 7:31 PM, mrvco said:

I've been using an LG V40... a rather good DAP w/ (smart phone) benefits.

I have a v40 too.  Great for streaming TIDAL to my desktop DAC.  But it doesn't have enough oomph to drive many planars (even in high capacitance mode).  The tuneboosters parametric EQ helps, but the bass just doesn't have enough current behind it.  Then there is the big issue.  The chip is bright - similar to poor solid state or bad digital (IE odd order harmonics) and the EQ can't fix that.

 

My ancient FiiO X3 while not having near the detail of the v40, is far more satisfying and relaxing musically.  Battery life as a DAP is well short of the X3 too if that matters.

[stuck limo]

On 3/28/2019 at 6:31 PM, mrvco said:

I've been using an LG V40... a rather good DAP w/ (smart phone) benefits.

 

This is what I'd recommend, if you're using something like Bose. It's an amazing experience for music. Other than that, probably a Fiio M11 / M11 Pro if you'd like an "exquisite" experience. 

[EdmontonCanuck]

6 hours ago, stuck limo said:

 

This is what I'd recommend, if you're using something like Bose. It's an amazing experience for music. Other than that, probably a Fiio M11 / M11 Pro if you'd like an "exquisite" experience. 

 

Awm c'mon Jared....what about the Wave? 

 

(all in jest....not trying to start a flame war 😃)