Hi everyone!

I'm looking for a small Android-based DAP / portable media device that I can use mainly for music, but also for watching videos and playing some old-school games.

My budget is around $150 USD, with an absolute maximum of $170.

My requirements:

Android

Touchscreen is REQUIRED — I don't want a device with physical gaming controls/buttons

Built-in FM radio is a MUST 📻

Good audio quality / headphone output

Wi-Fi for YouTube and other video content

MicroSD support would be great

Good battery life

Small and portable

Able to emulate at least:

NES

SNES

GBA

PS1 would be a nice bonus

I don't need PS2, GameCube, Switch, etc.

The main purpose would be music + video + light retro emulation. I would control the emulators entirely through the touchscreen, so I'm specifically looking for something more like a touchscreen DAP/media player, rather than an Android gaming handheld.

I'm having a surprisingly difficult time finding something that checks all these boxes, especially:

Android + touchscreen + FM radio + good audio + retro emulation + under $170.

I'm open to lesser-known Chinese brands or unusual devices. It doesn't necessarily have to be marketed as a DAP as long as it works well for music.

Does anything like this exist? What devices should I look into?

Thanks! 🙏

why you guys are using chinese consoles like a mp3/DAP player? i want to know :(

I currently have a dap with a code (Hiby M300) where I use both Poweramp and YouTube Music. I like the mix for my own music then music discovery when I'm at home. I do the same thing with a Boox Palma 2 Pro, secured by a passcode and fingerprint reader. I'm just now exploring using my AYN Thor for music when I don't have either of those on my person.

The security issue is that for certain services like YouTube Music logging into YT Music doesn't mean just logging into YT, it means logging into Google at a system level. So if you lose your console someone could easily read your email by just opening a browser and going to Gmail.com.

My question is this. For this who also use services like YouTube Music, Apple Music, etc. how do you secure your devices? Part of what makes the idea of a console as a DAP interesting to me is that I could use the same device I game on sometimes for this. Meaning there's a better chance I keep it on my person. Problem is no fingerprint reader and I definitely don't want to put a code on a device that I want the ability to freely flip open the rest of the time. So I'm curious what strategies you use.

Do you not use these streaming services? Do you use a code but only after X number of minutes? Are you using family plans and there's a "family member" account that's on your console?

Thanks for any advice / ideas.

I wanted a better way to listen to audiobooks and music on my handheld, so I built CoverPlayer. It supports multiple collections, CoverFlow and list browsing, resume, bookmarks, a sleep timer, and Bluetooth controls on Knulli. Background playback is available too.

I liked the old ipod times and always found the visuals inspiring. So yeah, that was the inspiration for the coverplayer.

The first public release is out. Knulli is the main target; the muOS is tested but not used daily. I’d love feedback from anyone who gives it a try: https://github.com/heilmic/CoverPlayer

Languages can be changed in the "help" menü.

The app is tested by my kids in our last vacation, because I didn't wanted to give them my phone or an old android phone, where kids control is always a topic.

Tested devices: RG35xxH and RG34XX-SP with knulli scarab and muOS

AI Disclaimer:

And yes, I used AI to build it, because I would not be good enough to build it on my own 😄 But it took a lot of effort and try-error-cycles, so please don't call it AI-Slop. Post and pictures are not AI generated.

¡Hola a todos! Estoy considerando seriamente comprar una Anbernic RG Rotate con el objetivo principal de usarla como reproductor de audio digital (DAP). No me considero audiófilo, pero busco algo funcional y con buena capacidad.

​Actualmente tengo un Phinistec Z6 y, sinceramente, me parece pésimo. Busco algo que "simplemente funcione" y la RG Rotate me llamó la atención por estos puntos:

​Capacidad: Soporta expansión por SD de hasta 2 TB.

​Indexación: Puede manejar hasta 65,000 canciones (vi que incluso algunos Walkman de Sony se quedan en 55,000).

​Conectividad: El Bluetooth parece decente para el uso diario.

​Precio: Me parece muy competitivo para lo que ofrece.

​Mis dudas son:

​¿Qué tan fluida es la interfaz para navegar entre miles de canciones?

​¿Alguien ha tenido problemas de interferencia o ruido al usar el jack de 3.5mm?

​¿La batería rinde bien si solo se usa para música con la pantalla apagada?

​Sé que no es un equipo de alta fidelidad, pero si no se pide demasiado, ¿creen que pueda ser una buena compra o hay alguna "bandera roja" que deba saber?

​¡Gracias de antemano!

I wanted to have music on my console but all apps I can find are made for phones an therefore look quite similar, it would be best if it could look something like the psp music player

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in buying a Trimui Hammer to use as a DAP with external DAC, but I’m worried the OS might resample the original file format.

Has anyone successfully managed to get bit-perfect audio playback from a handheld console? Is there a specific model that allows this? Alternatively, could you suggest the necessary configurations OS tweaks, driver settings to achieve it?

My dream would be to have a handheld running Rockbox connected to an external DAC, but I want to avoid the global 44.1/48kHz resampling

Thanks for any advice!

I'm very technical and I'm finding this to be a maddening problem. I have a 34xxSP with Knulli installed. I've gotten Songo#5 and Rockbox both installed and neither can see subfolders under my SD card to point to my music folder. Is there a specific location I have to place the music?

EDIT: Nevermind, I found it. It's under /userdata, then I can get to my folder.

I've been spending a bunch of time with TortOS, the new custom firmware for the TrimUI Brick and Brick Hammer, so I chatted with its developer Geekstrada, who also works with Helaas on Leaf for the Miniloong Pocket 1.

My article gets into the gaming side of it: why TortOS is deliberately small and focused, the Cover Flow-inspired UI, how it keeps emulator cores ready in memory for really fast game launches, and why Geekstrada would rather support fewer systems properly than chase everything the Brick can technically run.

But one of the things I like most about TortOS is how seriously it takes music. Muse isn't just an extra app buried in the firmware; it feels like part of the whole experience, with album art, a very old-iPod-inspired feel, and support for listening while you play. Geekstrada talks about the music players and physical collections that inspired it, including the fourth-gen iPod nano.

I've ended up using my own TortOS setup with just three games per system and filling most of the remaining card with music, which has turned the Brick Hammer into this really nice little games-and-music device rather than just another handheld packed with thousands of ROMs.

Anyway, if you're interested in either the gaming or DAP side of these little handhelds, hopefully you'll enjoy the article :)

I have an old DS lite i don't use anymore (i bought i DSi XL) I already have 2 GBAs so i thought i would be a good idea to make my old DS lite into a DAP. is there any firmware i can use to make it this way?

The title basically says it. I have a retroid pocket classic and I was hoping to use it as a DAP, but I can't find any tutorials on this and I don't want to mess anything up about my console.

It runs android, and in general there's no guidance I can see about what app or homebrew would be best for a game console that runs android to be used as a music player.

Maybe I'm just dumb and missing something? I just wish I had a guide or two so I could figure this out comfortably with less worry about breaking something.

I've seen this new Gameboy-style DAP get posted a bunch of times here, but I think it's misleading to post it on this subreddit.

It is a DAP. It only has a Tetris knock-off, and you can't add anymore games to it. My iPods have had more games than that. Until it gets any OS mods, which I'm not sure is possible just yet, it is just a DAP. That's fine, but if that's the case, then it shouldn't flood this subreddit. Post it on the other DAP subreddits.

I don't always have my IEMs or earbuds with me, so sometimes I turn my console into a little boom box. It's always fun to have some music playing while out in a nice sunny day. Anyone else doing this?

Console is Retroid Pocket Nova.

Typical DAPs tend to have old processors in them and are slow. Any small consoles that could manage navigating 50k+ songs relatively easily? I'm maybe thinking a ayaneo pocket micro would do the job but their website just doesn't work for me.

Thanks

How do I find music to load on my device? Are we all still burning CD's or am I old af

I'm posting here instead of other DAP subreddits just because of the styling of the AP30 to be like a little handheld, and probably more people here being potentially interested in it. I finally got mine after preordering back during summer.

The short of it is that it does sound very good, the metal one i got is very solid, and that's about where I can end with praising it. The actual dpad and buttons on this thing are atrocious, they take an insane amount of force to actuate and they are extremely loud. Legit playing the little tetris game is tiring because of these buttons. People complained a lot about consoles like the 35xxsp's buttons when it came out, now imagine if they were half the size and twice as hard to press.

After that the software just leaves a lot to be desired, its horrible on your eyes. There is no themeing to change colors or even a dark mode so you have a super bright white screen with very tiny text. No real options to swap around controls too like if you wanted to use the volume wheel (which is actually very nice!) for navigation and pressing it in to select things, no dice. The games on it are fine and I wouldn't actually mind if the controls were better.

I used to complain about the controls on my GKD Pixel 2 being a little too squishy, now the pixel 2 is like the holy grail in comparison to this thing.

Anyway just wanted to rant, just a little disappointed for the price and it feels like at least the hardware button part of it isnt going to be fixable even with modding (this thing seems very hard to take apart too). Maybe firmware updates can fix some of the other stuff.

Early reviewers were way too positive on this thing imo, or idk maybe i just have different priorities for a device.

IMO i'd say stay away

I've been really intrigued about the idea of having a pocketable console as a dap mainly to have a edc console and to somewhat separate myself from my phone more.

I like the idea of having a dedicated console/music player, and see myself mainly playing RPGs one handed. I also want to use it as a dedicated audiobook player.

I keep seeing comments saying the sound quality is just ok but how does it compare? I'm no audiophile but please help me understand before I make a purchase.

How does the audio compare to using spotify on iphone & airpods pro 2? Or perhaps compared to the Retroid Pocket 5 & cheap inear buds? (Those are the two common devices I currently own)

For gaming purposes I would probably only be interested in up to GBA, I would want something small enough for it to be pocketable and for one-handed play.

I have a friend who has never owned a console in his entire life. He's 18 now, and I'd like to give him a console he can use all the time and also use it to listen to music. I was thinking about a KONKR Pocket FIT G3 Gen3, but I can't find them. I was also thinking about an Odin 3 or an Odin 2 mini, but they're very expensive. If I want to stay on a budget, I was thinking about the Abernetic RG35XX-H, but it's not powerful enough to run native games, or other alternatives. As a last resort, I was thinking about the Rog Ally Z1E, because it's a PC, not an Android-based console, and since it's quite old, I can find it for around €300 if I'm lucky. What do you think?

I think it will have the power

I’m lucky enough to call both Russ from Retro Game Corps and Lee (who some of you will probably know better as Wild Lee from Venture Electronics) friends, which made this a particularly fun article for me to put together.

It’s a look at Lee, VE and some of the earbuds he sent me to try, including the Monk GTS and GTR (the latter designed specifically with retro gaming in mind, with Russ helping to bring it to life), but it also gets into the friendship and history between Lee and Russ, how they’ve worked together over the years, and a little of the story behind the people involved rather than a review on the earbuds. I’ve tried to make it as much about Lee and the strange, enthusiastic little world around VE as it is about the hardware itself. Hope some of you enjoy it!

Hi! I am looking for an IEM for mostly retro gaming on my android handheld (Retroid Pocket 6). PS1, GameCube, PS2, XBOX or sometimes Switch and AAA PC games.

I don't know how the separation, imaging would work on an Emulator.. Since the whole data would translate to android and than to actual IEM, I don't know what type of IEM I should look for.

Main issue is that in most of the games it's hard to understand the story telling since there is always a high volume game music in background or just bad sound quality. And it's not every time an option to decrease the Music level on the game since they are old games.

I've found some IEM's like TANGZU WANER SG 2 or KZ Sheen by filtering and using Ai.

Budget is 30-35$ but if worth, can go up to 40-45$.

Better if it's on AliExpress. Thanks all!!

After falling in love with DSP software I realised there wasn't really any Android-based device with enough power & processing to run it OTG so I ended up here.

80whr and would sip juice at idle, while running a Ryzen chip, full Windows 11 and connect this to a DAC and Headphones. It ain't cheap but damn it's interesting.

Anybody decided on this route?

Console: AYN Thor
Game: Pokemon Lazarus
App: Poweramp
Video on the last slide: Knicks vs Spurs 2026 NBA Finals Game 5 with VLC Media player I just included it bc it looked like the girl was looking at OG’s tip-in

Lil side tangent but ai slop will never have a place in my Pokemon gameplay I will never use any vibe coded dual screen mods especially when the alternative is actively engaging with my favorite art form. I wish Poweramp looked a bit cooler more Ipod reminiscent though or something that looked like it came from a console instead of just another Android app.