Personal Audio Player

[Ciaran]

It looks like my fine hi-fi is going to be in boxes for some time, as it has been since September. I thought maybe quality Personal Audio Player might dull the pain a little. Does anyone have experience of them?
There seem to be nice ones at all the prices from Astell & Kern, my instinct is to go for one of the pricier ones of those. But there are alternatives...
Being able to use Tidal or Qobuz would be good. And gapless play!
I have a nice pair of AKG 241 headphones I bought in 1980 and still sound great that I would use with it, so being able to drive proper headphones is another consideation.
Any thoughts?

[Fran]

Those astell and kern are just beautiful players..... I had a go of a few of them in Munich the last few years and I found them really user friendly, and of course they sounded great (albeit a short time and in a less than optimal environment). iPods are still popular too.... but no tidal etc with those. I've lost touch with other options.

[Fran]

There's a thing called a fiio X5 that seems to have a following as well....

[Ciaran]

Thanks for that Fran! I'd been looking at FiiO too. The FiiO M11 Pro seems to be their current top of the line. There are also well-reviewed players by Sony and HiBy. The A & K players seem very solidly built and focus resolutely on sound, rather than incorporating games and video. But the SA700 which I quite fancy is about €1200 compared to €600ish for a good example of one of the others. And I hate to buy purely on reviews: I've had bad experiences with that!

[Maciej]

Hi,

Perhaps this will be interested for you.
It's not me who sells this, or from anyone who I know.

https://www.adverts.ie/headphones-earph ... n/20231918

Acoustic Research M20 is another option worth to mention, and at good price, if the quality of sound, ability to drive headphones is your priority, and secondary importance is functionality of outdated version of Android.

https://www.son-video.com/article/balad ... /m20-32-go

I have good experience dealing with this shop.
You can check their refurbished section for portable audio players.
There is one A&K AK100 mk2 for half price.

https://www.son-video.com/reconditionne ... chage=grid

I own Onkyo DP-X1 DAP and use it with HiFiman HE400i, modified, balanced Koss Porta Pro when going out, and some in ear phones.
It's good device, which I mainly use for offline Deezer / Tidal.

I can recommend this DAP, but I am sure the choice is endless and there are many, many more better than this one.

Good luck
Maciej

[Ciaran]

Hi Maciej,

Thank you very much for those helpful suggestions! I'm quite tempted by that reconditioned A & K, (I need to research the others!) but I have another line of inquiry underway and I'll see how that goes first!

[Fran]

That fiio X5 is a steal. Might look at that myself.

[cybot]

That fiio X5 is a steal. Might look at that myself.

I have the X5 III which I got a few years back. The newer versions have touch screen plus ability to download music streaming sites. I'm sure you know all that already :)

Two things I have to mention :

1.The main criteria of a DAP for me is its ability to perform as good if not better than a CDP through a hi fi set up, NOT for portable use.

2. If I was only interested in headphone listening then the ubiquitous iPod Touch can't be beaten unless, of course, you're also interested in music streaming. I'm not sure if it can allow that.

The Fiio satisfies the #1 criteria above. I couldn't believe it when I heard it on my system. As a portable device it's a bit chunky and just ok on headphones especially in comparison to an iPod Touch which I also have, albeit, in an ancient version.

Hope that helps.....

[Maciej]

Hi,

My personal opinion is that it's impossible for best DAP player to compete against similarly priced stand alone CD player, not mention top tier CD players.
I will still consider CD format as superior to digital, sorry :)

DAP's are great as portable players, and with addition of headphone amplifier they can drive wide variety of headphones, but for me this where is ends.

My Onkyo DAP which I can probably call equal to FiiO X5, do not stand absolute chance linked through the same RCA cables do the amp. Lacks proper dynamics, details are obscured, soundstage is narrower, and all way, way worst.
I do not have proper streaming device at the moment, and sometimes I am tempted to listen music that I have downloaded on DAP (so I can compare against same CD) or streaming from Tidal or Deezer, and the quality is not great.

Regards
Maciej

[Maciej]

That fiio X5 is a steal. Might look at that myself.

May Bank Holiday treat is what you deserve Fran!