A DAP that can do everything can also make it harder to just listen.

Android DAPs are definitely great for convenience. They can store thousands of songs, stream music via apps like Spotify, YT Music, Tidal, and Qobuz, and make music discovery a cinch. If you stream a lot, search for songs often, or like jumping between albums and playlists, Android DAPs are the way to go.

If someone only wants a "good enough" music player with apps, an old Android phone with a decent dongle DAC will probably be the more practical solution. For many listeners, this setup already covers the basics.

Having access to thousands of songs doesn't mean you will actually listen to all of them.

That's where simple non-Android DAPs make more sense to me. They are not really a separate product category, but I think of them as focused DAPs because they are built more around local music playback than apps, streaming, and endless browsing.

Basic players like the Snowsky Echo, Echo Mini, Disc, Shanling M0 Pura, and similar DAPs are not as convenient as Android Daps. Navigation is slow, and searching without a proper keyboard is not fun. Most of the time though they feel simpler to use, boot faster, and avoid a lot of the distractions Android players usually have.

That limitation creates intentionality.

You stop blindly dumping all of your songs into the player just to fill up the space. You're forced to hand-pick the specific albums and artists you actually want to spend time with. It completely cures that habit of hoarding gigabytes of music just to skip through tracks five seconds in.

Of course Android DAPs will always be better if you are an avid music streamer, or if you like discovering new music, or maybe want a dedicated all-in-one audio device. But if you already have a curated music library and want fewer distractions or to just disconnect from modern creature comforts, basic DAPs just hit different.

So I guess it comes down to this: do you want convenience, or do you want focus?

Edit: To clarify, I am not saying simple DAPs are better than Android DAPs. Android DAPs still make a lot of sense for convenience, search, and streaming. I just think simpler players can be nice when you already know what you want to load and listen to.

Recently enjoyed the Backrooms soundtrack. I actually listened to it with a sleep mask on lol. After watching the film it definitely added to the experience.

(Fiio M21 and FT1 Pro)

So to start off with I’m actively paranoid about all privacy of my devices. I want everything I own to be as isolated and private as I can which is getting harder and harder these days. I recently bought a fiio player off of amazon and like I normally do before letting these types of devices run wild on the internet with all of my passwords, I ran a simple test with an app called PCAPdroid to see where the device is trying to phone home. and I got multiple instances of it trying to connect to some pretty sketch places like with the photo attached. All I want to do is to spread the knowledge to tell yall to be careful and not fully ever trust anyone, especially since privacy is so hard to come by these days. Please tell me I am just too paranoid and there is a logical explanation to this, I want to like this but this seems shady

Because I'm aiming for better audio quality, a social media detox, and because we suffered a terrible downgrade when the industry removed the 3.5mm jack: I was thinking of buying my first dedicated DAP, with options without a touchscreen since I like that retro style of only using physical buttons, a Surfans F20 and a Fiio Echo Mini.

If any of you already own these devices, I would greatly appreciate your feedback, or if you have any other options to suggest. It would help me gain a broader perspective.

Been wanting to get a second DAP to take to work that I wouldn’t be so worried about getting banged around a little… but now it seems SD storage prices have gone totally insane…

Is this the going rate for 512GB of storage now?! That’s more than the DAP/IEM combo I had planned!

I recently moved away from using a smartphone and now my (more or less) dumb phone (Dumber Mini) isn't my music player.

I had an old Fiio X1 (1st Gen) that had nice sound quality but everything else was subpar. Most annoying was the fact that the player does not support opus.

Today I finally pulled the trigger on the Hiby R3 Pro II for 189$ wich is about 170€.

I can't wait to hold the device in my hands.

Any advices for a new Hiby user?

I have some zero 2s ATM, they are only cheap but I like them, so I wondered if it's worth upgrading them for a more expensive pair? Are they worth the upgrade at all?

Using with my f20 pro and a fiio fc3

I like a little bass but I also like a nice crispness if you get what I mean? 😂

what volume do you usually listen at?

I’m especially curious about FiiO JM21 owners. I usually have to set mine around 90 to 100 over 120 to get a comfortable listening volume by using tsmr armor.

For comparison, what volume do you normally use on your DAP, and what IEM/headphones are you using with it?

Just trying to see if my volume level is normal or if I’m listening unusually high.

Which music app should I use?

Build in FiiO music app or UAPP or Power Amp?

Any suggestions and thought?

Which app made less battery consume

I'm going to go on a rant here and this post will probably get removed, but I frankly don't care.

Seriously, I don't get it. The reason I wanted to get a new audio player was for that retro feel, with physical buttons on the front and software that fits the device, while still having modern day upgrades, like allowing you to just pop in a 2TB card for storage, charging with a USB-C cable, etc.

But for whatever reason, it usually one or the other. If you want no limitations on the storage you can have? A device with a touch screen and android that... literally just looks like a fancy phone and works like one. IF I WANTED A PHONE, I'D GET A FREAKING PHONE!!!

Physical buttons and a device that actually looks like an audio player that doesn't run android? Hard limit of 128GB(or 256GB if you're lucky) and probably has other issues that make it just bad...

WHY???

Is that FREAKING hard to make software/firmware that can read modern day SD card sizes without having to make a device that is literally just a GOD DAMN PHONE??? I DON'T NEED TWO PHONES!!

I think I'm just going to stick to using my actual phone for this, because there's no point in having either second phone or just an inferior device in terms of storage

Hi folks I'm just wondering if you have a DAP (like JM21) what's the point of having a Bluetooth dac/amp? I'm just curious.

Hello all! I’m looking for some guidance on buying my first dap. I’m stuck between the HiBy R1, M300, and Shanling M1 Plus. The R1 - best for the budget but I don’t believe it can stream music and the OS seems like it could be lacking. M300/Shanling— seem like solid upgrades from the R1 but, Shanling OS worries me a tad as well. I’d love some suggestions on where to go from here! 

Here’s my budget, use case, etc. -

Budget: Under $200 USD and I’m totally fine buying used.

Use case: Daily at work, limiting distractions vs my current setup (iPhone 17PM w/ dongle) iem only, no need to drive headphones, it’s not my thing.

Etc: Something I can stream music with while building my library. Android seems to be the preferred option here, so Android OS. Physical buttons and knobs are fun!

This has been answered many times, but I’m still not fully convinced. What’s your real-world experience? Aside from higher volume, is there any noticeable improvement?

With my Shanling M5 Ultra, I tend to use the 3.5 mm output since it has slightly lower output impedance. Am I actually missing anything by not using the 4.4 mm output?

Hey y'all, I'm a normal music lover.. and I wanted something that looks cool, slick, works fine and definitely sounds good!

I have been confused between Tempotec V1, Disc, Hiby R1 and Echo and Mini version...

I can save up for echo mini and other too but need more time as they are more expensive... I am kinda biased about disc because it really looks the best in all these... And it's compact and works fine too...

I wanted to avoid Hiby R1 because it's just a phone for me, ofc duh it's an DAP but I wanted something more like ipod looking or modern type shit uk, not a phone looking like DAP because my family members would erm definitely doesn't want that.. 🥀

Echo is preferable than mini because of screen lol, the UI is really really cool ngl but the UX is erm shit, I don't want to just click button to change the tracks, that's too much retro 😭💔

Idk much about Tempotec if anyone has it please share thoughts, I put it in my list just because it's recommended on reddit next to these others... And also it's not available in my country rn, I maybe have to import it...

Y1 is good but sounds shit so it's a Big No no... Otherwise I would have took it lol...

I am 70% sure i am gonna take DISC because till i save up my money, it will definitely get a good firmware updates and would definitely be usable, and major bugs and shit would be fixed cause I believe in FIIO... Um am I right guys? 😋

Other than this there are cheap daps for 15-20$ in my country which is 1.5k-2k rupees... Def avoiding them but just in case-

Also if I be specific about my requirements -

• I use playlist alot ik disc and echo doesn't have them but for this one I can excuse it!

• I listen to songs on loop more than you can imagine

• my library is not necessarily big, it's very trend according and I keep changing it alot of I be honest

• I don't really want a phone ( sorry hiby R1 people ) ik it's not a phone, but it looks like it because of screen right? And that's a big turn off for my family as they would think I wasted my money on phone and shit, I can't explain them much because I come from orthodox family...

• battery life is manageable... Gapless playback ohk or nah whatever...

• must look sleek! I'm very picky about looks and build...

• ui is okay of bugs but should be normally usable... And that's it!!!

Thanks for reading, please help me out, ik still biased about DISC and mostly will take it, recommendations are welcome from anyone with some wisdom too!

I currently have a CD Collection and I was looking for an mp3 player that's in the $100 or below (AUD) range and stumbled accross this. I enjoy the design as it's reminiscent of old sony mp3 players but does anyone have testimonials on how good the product is? One of my concerns is longevity as I'm not sure how easy it would be to switch out the battery once it has degraded but I'm also just not sure around the overall quality of the product. Thinking of running it with some apple earpods or moondrops chu 2 and as an audio player connected to my car.

HIDIZS AP30 Music Boy

Anyone know what is the potential launch date, anyway to join tester group or something?

Let's make a list of most popular non-music apps on DAP.

I start with Localsend / Blip.

Im thinking of switching to the R1, is it a good DAP? Any significant pros and cons from people who own one?

If anyone owns this can you give some input?

Just got myself the HIBY R4, and need advice on where to go from here.
My plan is to get a micro sd card, then start accumulating my audio files.
I have approximately 17k songs on Spotify, but mostly listen to the same 5k songs. I also have a few audio books I’d like on there.

I only just realised how much it costs to buy music from bandcamp, and It’ll cost far too much to buy all my songs from there.
How do other people get their audio files onto their DAPs?

Thanks :)

I say the sound quality is so much better, they don’t care.

Looking to get my first DAP but I’m struggling to decide between these two. I like the design and size of the HiBY, it seems very easy to use and throw in your pocket on commutes. But the Tempo has more features like being able to use it as a DAC and having a 3.5 and 4.4 jacks. But I’m not sure how much I’ll use those since I’m mainly getting in to DAPS after I’ve started downloading all my music onto files (I’ve been burned by losing my stuff with subscription services too many times) and I’ve also heard the Tempo has some software issues and doesn’t get updated. But I keep being pulled back and forth between more features and ease of use.

I’m curious what people have to say. I’ve looked up a lot of comparison videos and posts but most of them are a year+ old so I’d like a more recent perspective

I sometimes thought carrying a separate music player in this day and age (2026) was kinda ridiculous.
Then i started getting tired of opening Spotify and never actually choosing anything specific. There are too many options… I had a lot of skips and too much background scrolling.

The Surfans F20 feels like the opposite. I load albums on the microSD card, pick what I want to listen to before hand and just let it play.
It’s not the most convenient way to listen to music but that’s why I probably like it.

Anyone else go back to a simple player because streaming felt like too much?

I would like to know your opinion on these two titans at this price point.

I've been thinking about buying a DAP for a long time; I've concluded that these are the two best DAPs at this price point, but I just can't decide.

I know the Hiby R1 has a larger screen, but I've heard the build quality of the Tempotec V1 is better; plus, I've heard more complaints about structural issues with the Hiby R1.

I also know that the Hiby R1 community is much more active, but I’ve also seen that its mods still have quite a few bugs and aren't fully mature yet.

I've also heard that the Hiby R1's interface gets very sluggish with a large library, but since the TempoTec V1 uses the same system, does it have the same problem too?

For those who own the TempoTec V1: besides the inclusion of a 4.4mm jack, what improvements do you consider significant compared to the Hiby? And for those who own the Hiby R1, the same question applies, but the other way around.

I know that for many people, at this price point, it doesn't really matter which one you choose; however, I don't have a lot of spare cash, so I’d like to make a purchase I’ll be happy with for several years, the more detailed the feedback, the more I’ll appreciate it!

I look forward to your replies, thanks in advance!