Topic: Looking for a new DAP (Read 4041 times)

Elysian · « **on:** December 23, 2013, 07:54:23 PM »

Thanks to CEE TEE, I've finally decided to pick up a UERM at the next meet and finally retire my Atrios IEMs

I've been using my trusty Cowon D2 for over 5 years but I think it's time to move onto something new. I love the D2's battery life and form factor, but there are a number of things about it I don't love: poor audio quality (it just sounds fuzzy and indistinct overall, not very natural/analog sounding compared to a quality DAC), slow transfer speeds, unreliable FLAC reading, and poor file indexing (sometimes you'll add a file and part of the file index will self-destruct, messing up a large chunk of filenames; the latest firmware has improved this).

I've been researching the Fiio X3, iBasso DX50, Rockbox, and other solutions, and I was wondering if any of the DAP experts here could recommend a player that fulfills the following:

* FLAC cuesheet support (I've gotten really tired of splitting files whenever porting them onto a DAP)
* Universal Storage Media support (plug it into a PC and the drive pops up in Windows Explorer; no iTunes or 3rd party software nonsense)
* Good sound quality; neutral with good, natural-sounding low-end reproduction preferred
* Good battery life (but I'm guessing this isn't possible? The Cowon D2/D2+ has a 30-40hr battery life, but it seems the X3 and DX50 are 8-10hr at best, maybe due to the DAC?)
* Reliable software; the Cowon drove me nuts with file indexing errors and crashes
* Good form factor; I spend a lot of time at the gym and air travel, so a velcroed brick won't work

If it'll make a big difference, I'm also open to combining the player with something like a UHA760, UHA-6S.MKII, Pico Power, etc. I liked the form factor of the Apex Glacier (at least as an image, never saw one in person) but I heard the Glacier has hiss with IEMs so that's a no-go.

Hoping to tap into the collective expertise here

Trying to keep this adventure around the $500 mark, but I can go above if the difference is considerable. Will be using this exclusively with the UERM.

MuppetFace · « **Reply #1 on:** December 23, 2013, 08:37:50 PM »

I absolutely adore my ZX1 Walkman. The newest F series models are pretty close for a lot less money. I think Marv was planning on getting one.

Also A&K released a lower z-out AK100. It's form factor is IMO the best since the classic iPod, and now it'll sound better with a wider variety of IEMs.

Stay away from the iBasso DX50. Far away.

Elysian · « **Reply #2 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:17:16 PM »

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll start researching the ZX1 and AK100! A&K scared me off from the prices but a lower-end AK100 could work well since I used to really like iRiver products.

MuppetFace · « **Reply #3 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:23:21 PM »

Quote from: Elysian on December 23, 2013, 09:17:16 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll start researching the ZX1 and AK100! A&K scared me off from the prices but a lower-end AK100 could work well since I used to really like iRiver products.

Make sure it's the MKII version of the AK100. Also I think it's the F880 that is more-or-less similar to the ZX1 sonically, just without some of the boutique add-ons.

zerodeefex · « **Reply #4 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:29:26 PM »

F887 and ZX-1 (if it uses the same software) doesn't support cuesheets yet in the native player. You can download a third party program like Andless, though, since it's Android. Note that most 3rd party players will only support 16/44 and not high resolution FLAC.

I've had the AK100 output resistor bypassed, the AK120, the F807 and now the F887. I will most likely get a ZX-1 as well, but I'd say the AK players have a GREAT form factor (except for the touch screen). The Sony software is much better, though.

The only worrisome item is that the Sony players don't support TRIM (and thus no garbage collection) and only will get it when they get an update to Android 4.3 (which may never happen). I ran a test on my F807 with a huge amount of writes on the flash memory and my random iops started slowing down like crazy. In the real world, this is only really a problem if you use the device as basically an Android device heavily for a year or two. If you use them strictly as a music player, you should be fine. I had to root my F807 once there was a root method and run fstrim().

That being said, for straight music players, the Sony devices are awesome.

Elysian · « **Reply #5 on:** December 23, 2013, 09:35:23 PM »

Been quickly flipping through reviews of the AK100 and it looks like it's the strongest contender for me right now, but didn't read anything about an MKI vs. MK II version. I like the Wolfson implementations I've heard in the past, too. I can probably swing an AK100 + UERM for myself. My old iRiver h120 still works perfectly and I'm assuming they've put the same 'built to last' quality into the AK devices. NW-ZX1 looks great but pricey.

Will the addition of a UHA-6S.MKII for amping make a significant improvement for UERMs, or does the AK100 amp the UERM to a satisfactory level on its own? Or is a Pico Slim or Pico Power a better alternative? I briefly heard a Pico Power + UERM but I liked the mini3 more. The Pico Power came off as sounding too lifeless to me, while the mini3 has a charming warmth.

Also, are there many AK100 MKIIs on the used market, or will I have to buy new?

I didn't know you could add Andless to a Sony Android player. That's really cool. 16/44 is fine for me, as I don't listen to much hi-res audio. I'll be using them strictly for music listening so hopefully the lack of TRIM won't be problematic. I tend to be pretty infrequent about updating my library on DAPs.

Hmm, the F887 looks to be about $500ish while the AK100 is $700ish so similar ballpark. NW-ZX1 for $783 on PriceJapan so it's about $800 about EMS and bank transfer. For SQ, which one has the edge?

Neat thing about the NW-ZX1 is that it's 128GB so I can save $50, as the AK100 will require two Sandisk 32GB microSDs.

MuppetFace · « **Reply #6 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:20:15 PM »

Here's the deal w/ the AK100 MKI versus MKII.

When the AK100 was first released, it had a really high output impedance that made it unsuitable for a lot of the IEMs out there. Some IEMs are really sensitive to that and will sound off. Some third-party mods came out from people like Red Wine Audio that basically corrected this, but Astell & Kern claimed the mods were misguided and that their player was flawless, that it was actually making it worse, blah blah blah. Cut to a year or so later, and now A&K has basically released their own modded version of the AK100 in the MKII.

You can buy a new MKII from ALO Audio I believe. I'm not sure you'll find many on the used market, but you could probably find a MKI for much less and then send it in to be modded. Which is basically going to achieve the same thing in the end.

Hope that helps.

zerodeefex · « **Reply #7 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:29:06 PM »

If you can live with the dinky capacity of the F887, I'm really loving it. I use it with my Leckerton UHA760 > UERM and it's a great combo. I don't miss my AK120 anymore other than the capacity (192GB on the AK120 was nice with 2 64GB microSD cards).

The transfer speed on the iriver players is freaking abysmal. Literally hours to fill all the storage. The Sony players move files back and forth relatively quickly.

MuppetFace · « **Reply #8 on:** December 23, 2013, 10:33:40 PM »

Yeah, I pretty much opted for the ZX1 over the AK120. Besides, A&K is coming out with something else soon...

I still like my little AK100 however. Final Audio has partnered with A&K for distribution, and they're tuning their IEMs specifically for the players. The AKR02 will be released soon, which is a newer version of the exceptional FI-BA-SS under the A&K name.

gelocks · « **Reply #9 on:** December 24, 2013, 03:06:53 AM »

Well, I normally used my trusty Cowon C2 due to the same things, EXCELLENT battery life and Ok sound (and it read all of my files with no problems, mix of FLAC, MP3s and WAVs). It's been like 2 months since I've acquired the FiiO X3. Very good player, good sound quality, UI sucks and for some reason database library it's not created properly (I THINK it's due to enormouse amount of files I have in the 64gb microSD card though the Cowon doesn't have any problems...) but it's Ok. It usually gives me 14 hours of play time or so.

Tomorrow (or the 26th) I should get my AK100 MK2.
Player looks excellent, it seems firmware updates have taken this player above Fiio and iBasso offerings so... I'll see how it goes.

Author Topic: Looking for a new DAP (Read 4041 times)

Elysian

Looking for a new DAP

MuppetFace

Re: Looking for a new DAP

Elysian

Re: Looking for a new DAP

MuppetFace

Re: Looking for a new DAP

zerodeefex

Re: Looking for a new DAP

Elysian

Re: Looking for a new DAP

MuppetFace

Re: Looking for a new DAP

zerodeefex

Re: Looking for a new DAP

MuppetFace

Re: Looking for a new DAP

gelocks

Re: Looking for a new DAP

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Author Topic: Looking for a new DAP (Read 4041 times)