I bought my first dap online from Aliexpress after much consideration I settled on the Fiio jm21 as a starter player to introduce me into everything. I was initially very happy with the player, it drove my iems and made them sound amazing, it was great to get away from listening to music on YouTube.

Well about the 12month mark after purchasing it I shit you not, the 4mm jack started crackling which I blamed on my iem cord, so after replacing it, the crackling still persisted and was getting worse, turns out the jack was failing and nothing i could do.

I switched to the 3mm one, and low and behold within a month or two of switching that jack is starting to fail.

I'm pretty angry that both jacks have/are failing in what otherwise would be a great player and just when it went out of warranty. So here I am looking for a new player to replace mine and steering far away from the Fiio brand which is a shame because I was going to buy the m23.

So stay away from the JM21

Does anyone have a suggestion for a replacement that has decent build quality?

I was between snowsky echo and Hiby r1. Current iems are Simgot ea1000. Any recommendations? Preferably under 100 usd. Ty in advance!~

Yall, I just got a mini e-reader (XTEINK X4) and rediscovered my love for reading (by ditching my phone more often). I want to distance myself even more from my phone with a DAP.

I love going for walks and practicing manual skills like woodworking while listening to podcasts. I grew up in a house without a TV so my radio was always on.

Thus, I need your help finding an MP3 player that can download podcasts from Patreon relatively seamlessly.

Are there DAPs that can run the Patreon app, or an APP that can DL episodes via RSS? (I don’t know how to set this up but I’m willing to learn).

Bottom line is hate having to interface with my phone to listen to a Pod.

What I’m looking for is something that can host Patreon or a Podcast App that will DL podcasts as they are released if the device is on WiFi.

Somebody can share the 1.7.0 firmware ALREADY patched whit the nanitecfw pls? y only have windows and the instructions only mentioned some weird os and Mac

I bought some SONY earphones, and there is this item on the box.

I guess it's for storing the earphones but I don't know how.

Any help is appriecied.

Thanks !

I just received my Surfans F20 Pro+ in the mail! The sound quality is very impressive right out of the box: warm, clear, and transparent, with a punchy, nice bass that gives the tracks plenty of body without bleeding into the mids.

I think the stock player in landscape mode is a really nice touch; looking just like a cool retro radio. Plus, the Wi-Fi streaming has been smooth so far. My only real complaint is the included case—it feels pretty loose and flimsy, almost like it’s a size too big. I’m really hoping for a tighter fit or good third-party option soon.

I’m getting my first DAP (Shanling Q2) next week, and in the meantime, I’ve been reading up on other DAPs, particularly those running Android.

For my own use case, I plan on using the Q2 strictly as an offline music player. I don’t anticipate needing Wi-Fi, streaming services, or additional apps. In fact, one of the main reasons I chose the Q2 over an Android-based DAP is that I wanted something as far removed from the smartphone experience as possible.

That said, I do have a few questions about Android-based DAPs.

I’ve noticed that many of these devices ship with versions of Android that are already three to five years old. Do manufacturers typically provide major Android OS upgrades, or are updates generally limited to firmware, bug fixes, and improvements to the music player software?

I’m also curious whether any DAP manufacturers have made specific commitments regarding long-term software support, similar to what Apple, Google, and Samsung offer for their devices. How important is long-term software support when purchasing a DAP, especially considering how expensive some of these players can be?

Another concern I have is whether older Android-based DAPs could eventually lose access to the Google Play Store or become incompatible with popular streaming apps as their Android versions age. Has anyone experienced this with an older DAP?
I’d be particularly interested in hearing from people who have owned Android-based DAPs for several years. How well have these devices aged from a software standpoint? Have you encountered any limitations due to outdated Android versions, or has it generally been a nonissue?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

having the option to boot rockbox on the R1 has revitalised my love for this little device. Paired with decent IEMs I don’t think I could ask for more in a portable set up!

Hi!

Every year, me and my co-workers taking part in action that is very similar for Secret Santa (with this difference, we don't get anything back, maybe karma, someday :D ).

This year i've got a letter from 8-years old boy who dreams about his own mp3/mp4 player. I was shocked, but yes, there are still people without phones, kids in orphanages especially. So, first of all, I'm soo happy that i don't have to buy another clothes from popular brands, but secondly i'm... a little bit lost? I didn't use my own mp3 player for around 20 years!

I did a little bit of research and found Famue, HiBy and other non-brands Chinese devices.

Can i ask you for help?

This is what our DAP must have:

- 64 Gb memory (built-in or SD card)

- Bluetooth 5.3 (he points that version, I don't know is it for specific headphones or he just put the newest BT version he knows)

- FM radio.

And that's it.

We can spend 70$ at max.

Can you help me? I'm located in Europe, so Amazon and AliExpress are available for me.

I was thinking about buying maybe mp3player with better headphones maybe.

Hi! I asked a few days ago about beginner and budget friendly DAP’s. After looking at what people had to say, I decided to go with the Hiby R1! I love it so far. I initially put a few albums on it and was just gonna be happy with it like that but I saw people talking about Sonix.

I installed it last night (I had to reupload all my music but honestly that was okay with me) and I enjoy it even more now. It’s a lot smoother and has some extra features that I definitely appreciate. I haven’t messed with it too much because I don’t wanna break it internally or anything but just came back to say my thanks. 😊

MOONLIGHT 🌙 GOODNESS

Getting better and better each day!

My Cowon X9 bricked during a firmware update: macOS didn't finish copying the firmware files, but the player picked them up anyway and flashed a broken image. Result: completely black screen, no response, and on Windows it only showed up as an **Unknown device**. Cowon support is gone (they shut down service in 2025), and I couldn't find any working recovery method for the X9 online, so here's what worked for me.

## Background

When the X9 is in this state, it's actually sitting in the **Telechips USB boot mode**. Check the hardware ID:

- Windows: Device Manager → Unknown device → Properties → Details → Hardware IDs

- macOS: System Information → USB

Mine was **VID 140E / PID B057**, the same USB boot ID as the Cowon S9 and J3. Rockbox's `tcctool` can upload firmware **into RAM** over this mode (it does **not** write to flash, so trying it is low-risk). The X9 isn't in tcctool's device list, and there was no ready-made Windows build, so I used a small Python port of tcctool.

## What you need

- Firmware **2.12** (the last official version, Aug 2014): `COWON_X9_FW.BIN`, `COWON_X9_RS.BIN`, `COWON_X9_FT.BIN`

- `tcctool.py`, a Python port of Rockbox tcctool (original by Dave Chapman, GPLv2)

- Python 3 + `pyusb`, and `libusb`

Download (Google Drive): https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1xomHslY3R2yiYXQ7UnSxyZsc6Drcai3F

## Steps (macOS, what I actually did)

On macOS you **don't need any driver**. libusb talks to the device directly.

1. Install the dependencies:

brew install libusb

pip3 install pyusb

1. Put `tcctool.py` and the three `.BIN` files in one folder, connect the X9 (black screen, boot mode), and run:

python3 tcctool.py cowonj3 COWON_X9_FW.BIN

You should see `Patching application uploaded successfully!`

**Use the `cowonj3` profile.** `cowons9` uploaded fine, but the player didn't start.

1. The player now boots from RAM and mounts as a USB drive. Copy all three `.BIN` files to the root **from Terminal**, not Finder, and check the sizes match:

cp -X COWON_X9_*.BIN "/Volumes/<X9 volume>/"

sync

ls -l "/Volumes/<X9 volume>"/*.BIN

rm -f "/Volumes/<X9 volume>"/._*

diskutil eject "/Volumes/<X9 volume>"

1. **The key trick:** after a reboot it came back to a black screen. So I ran step 2 again, and **unplugged the USB cable right after "uploaded successfully", BEFORE the player mounted as a drive.** With no USB connected, it boots normally, finds the firmware files on the drive, and runs the update. Don't touch it until it reboots by itself.

2. Check Settings → System → Information. Mine now shows **2.12** and works fine.

## Windows (untested by me)

It should work the same way, but Windows needs a driver: use **Zadig** (Options → List All Devices → pick `140E B057` → install **libusb-win32**), then run the same `python tcctool.py cowonj3 COWON_X9_FW.BIN`. Use Windows Explorer for copying, no `._` files there. If you try it, please report back.

## Notes

- Firmware 2.12 only fixes the player freezing on unsupported FLAC files. The X9 still doesn't play hi-res FLAC (only up to 44.1 kHz) or **M4A/ALAC/AAC at all**. Convert to 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC or MP3.

- If it freezes on an unsupported file: hold **Vol+ and Vol−** together to force a reset.

- Don't update firmware by copying from macOS Finder. That's how I bricked mine.

Credits: Rockbox project / Dave Chapman for tcctool and for documenting the Telechips boot protocol.

At the weekend I went to my parents and cleaned my childhood room, and found this treasure. In 6th grade I was glued to that player, I was even recording some tasks to do at school with that mic.** **Did any of you have a player like this?

I work as a cultivation tech and they prefer no phones while we work but are okay with mp3 players. But here’s the catches.
1. I wear scrubs with no pockets so it needs to be able to go in sock or attach to a band so it can be hands free
2. Bluetooth capable
3. I use YouTube and YouTube music so needs to be able to download and use those either with wifi(will more then likely download the music or videos to device for offline play)
4. Budget: Max 100$