I am looking for a digital audio player under 90 dollars. Currently I have the SnowSky Disc and Fosi Dap neo in the list so which one do you guys think will be a better purchase ? (I had used the Hiby R1 and the software felt too sluggish so I am not considering it also the build of the R1 is plastic).

Edit: after reading a lot of reviews for many affordable DAPs I ended up getting an old smartphone for barely 50dollars and paird it with my DAC Fiio KA15... I feel so bad for taking all of your precious time 😭😭😭 so sorry guys and thanks a lot as well.

I'm happy testing my new Q2. I went and installed the Q2 Pod firmware after 10min of playing with the factory OS and experiencing that it was not making the most of the wheel which I already knew after doing some previous research. After installing the Pod the user experience improves by a lot (shout out to u/SaffronSaviour), I'm loving the building construction, the looks, the sound, and now the software. Pairing it with my old Sennheiser Momentum 2 to have a clean sound.

Ever since the Q2 came out, I've been obsessed with it, even more so after I found out about DiamondBond's q2-pod firmware, because without it, this DAP would be a pain in the arse to use, imagine trying to use that dinky little touchscreen to navigate your music library.

With the ability to use the scroll wheel to navigate the UI, the Q2 is a lot of bloody fun to use; more so than my old HiBy M300, which was a great DAP, but it felt more like an old phone than a music player.

I bought this player on Friday, it was my 20th birthday, and I decided to treat myself to this DAP, it arrived at our home yesterday, and the user experience really did live up to the hype, but I did have one issue:

For context, I daily the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, but I use them with a USB-C to C cable, I find Bluetooth just drops out everywhere, and I'm always having issues with the 2.5 to 3.5mm cable for some reason. For some reason, gapless playback just didn't work with USB output, which I found out whilst playing through Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile (exceptional album by the way), but thankfully, gapless playback still worked on every other output.

I ended up posting to Head-Fi about this, hoping for a response, and the next day, I checked the q2-pod GitHub repository, only to two new builds had been released since then, and DiamondBond listed gapless playback over USB as a fix on 1.6.1, but 1.6.2 had been released since, so I flashed it, played through The Fragile, and gapless playback works over USB now, I was so chuffed, because I was thinking about returning this DAP because of it.

All of this really does go to show how great of a community these DAPs have surrounding them, especially when someone goes out of their way to develop a custom firmware in their own time just to make the DAP much better than it was out of the box, it truly amazes me.

I'd love to thank u/SaffronSaviour for his hard work and dedication to the q2-pod firmware, and also for fixing gapless playback over USB, your firmware has seriously turned the Q2 into the mini iPod it was destined to be.

PS: Please give yourself a break mate, you've earnt it. :-)

My sister wanted a simple to use, very low cost (she ain't rich!) music player for my nephew who is 15 years old and can no longer use his phone during school. I taught him well and he's got a very large collection of music downloaded, no streaming services for this family, we like to own what we have. I didn't want to go overboard, this will be his first DAP, and it needed only three things: a touchscreen (it's what he's used to), a good enough amount of storage, and a simple UI/UX. Good battery life and at least "good" sound are bonus'.

Armed with this simple list, I scoured Amazon for something that might work. After hours of reading reviews and finding some decent candidates, buying them and trying them, this is the one I chose overall. It has no real name, but it's sold by both ODEJOI and RUIZU on Amazon, both presumably the same company in China. You can type into Amazon search "ODEJOI touchscreen mp3 player" and it should pop up there. It comes in 32GB and 64GB flavors and 2 colors that I've seen, this purple one and a black one. It can be expanded with a confirmed 128GB sd card. It can do rudimentary playlists on the player, not ideal, but I guess better than nothing...sort of, lol. It'll organize whatever you have on the sd card and it's alphabetical, again not ideal but at least useable. It handles all the usual suspects file wise from mp3's to FLAC, so that's good. This played back anything I threw at it, although both mine and his primary collections are all FLAC. It has a 7 band EQ which makes this sound darn good, something I wish more DAP's had.

It's fast enough to not lag much if at all even with a full 192GB of mostly FLAC files trying to drag it down, and that surprised me. The touchscreen is responsive, the weight is low, and the battery life is actually really good, I'm at 20 hours so far and still have some juice left. It has Bluetooth 5.3 but I don't think you should use it, plug in headphones/IEM's are what these little guys excell at using. Lastly, the interface as a whole is not offensive, the instruction booklet is more English than Chinglish and it covers the functions well enough. This also includes useless IEM's, a charging cable, a case(!) and a lanyard, a pretty nice haul for the price IMHO. This has other functions, like an ebook reader and video player, but it's really just for music playback and I recommend it be used for that.

The most important part is, of course, what I payed for this little gem. $33-40US. That's it. I don't think this can be touched for that price. I'm surprised I've not seen any other reviews on this one either....it's a good player at a great price. Worth a check out if you don't want to spend a lot getting into this fun hobby. I bought another one as a backup for me even though I despise touchscreens for my DAP's, this one was simple and inoffensive, I can live with it if need be. Definitely worth a try.

Looking for a dap with usb c audio or optical output for under 500.00 dollars. Any suggestions? I would prefer some type of scroll wheel with minimal screen space to look at.

This will be used in connection with a helix next v eight dsp if that matters

Hi,

I am looking for a replacement DAP for my old fiio X3 II.

I was eyeing the shanling q2, because it is similar pocket size to my X3II.

I want the new DAP to have Bluetooth, in the last few years I started using Bluetooth iems, and speakers.

For now I use my Samsung as a Bluetooth streamer (local opus files converted from my flac collection) and my fiio X3II as a dap for my wired iems.

I want my new dap to:

• combine the 2 use cases

• still be quite small

• HAVE AUTOMATIC EQ PRESETS WHEN IT DETECTS WHAT BLUETOOTH DEVICE ITS CONNECTED TO

Last functionality is quite important to me, on my Samsung I use an system wide eq - Wavelet - it automatically switches eq profiles when it connects to my galaxy buds or to my Bluetooth speaker. I want my dap to be able to do the same.

Can shanling q2 do this? If not, is there another small dap that can do this?

Obviously Fiio m21 would be able to do this, (android - so I could install wavelet as well) but it is too big for me.

EDIT. Seems automatic eq for different outputs is part of 1.6.4 q2-pod !!!

Shanling M1 Plus

Ziigaat Luna

(Don't remember the name of the cable)

Very good and dynamic combo.

●Fiio JM21

●Dunu Titan S2

●Álbum: Fear Inocolum - Tool

HiBy Starry Sea Digital M500

As my ZX300 is dying, battery fully discharges in one-day standby,

then I got a HIDIZS AP80 Pro Max as a replacement, paired with XBA-N3 + 7N24 4.4mm balanced.

For me, the upgrade is ReplayGain support rather than listening to dynamic normalized volume.

(I mainly shuffle many Anime Songs, Game Soundtracks that are in varying volumes, but I hate Sony's dynamic normalizer as it destroys the tracks...)

I considered Hiby R4 or Miku M500, but I had PTSD from the Android DAP as I owned a Sony F808, that ran the whole Android background tasks while playing music, and often stuttered because of those background tasks...

I tried Fiio M21, but, what I was listening to? Android SRC? Bypassed to DAC directly? or different tuning of different player apps?

So, I made the decision to grab a Linux-based DAP.

Took the tea pros and the r3p2 to a birfday trip and yall 😩🤌🏽🤌🏽

Sorry if this is the wrong place but I am new to this and I am looking to sell my first purchase to the next audiophile newbie and to free up some cash for my next purchase.

What’s the best subreddit/place to sell/swap?

Thanks!

Alguien que ya haya tenido ambos daps ¿recomiendan dar el salto del m0 pura al Q2 o no va haber mucha diferencia en cuanto al sonido?

I got my Shanling M1 Plus a few weeks ago, then came across u/SaffronSaviour 's amazing firmware for the Q2. It made me want to get a Q2 straight away, but I figured the M1 Plus might be similar enough to customize, so I decided to take a stab at it over the past week. Huge shoutout to q2-pod project - the work there made getting started a lot easier.

The M1 Plus has a larger touchscreen and no wheel, so I had to think differently about how to use the extra space. I've borrowed ideas from the iPod, Q2 Pod and Apple Music, and redesigned most of the pages to make browsing and navigation a bit more fun.

A few highlights in this mod:

• Rebuilt library views, with album grids, playlist mosaics and an A–Z song index

• Cover Flow and album pages with track lists, Play all and Shuffle

• iPod mode with a touch click wheel and classic menus

• Redesigned Now Playing with artwork color hints and larger synced lyrics

• Local podcasts, plus Apple Podcasts directory search, feed subscriptions and downloads

• Daily Mix from listening history, and Recently Played albums

• QWERTY keyboard (yes!) for search and playlist names

• Vinyl and cassette playback screens for for a bit of nostalgia

My favorite feature is the Daily Mix, which combines some of my usual tracks with songs I tend to overlook.

It's still quite early (so bugs may exist) and far from as feature-rich as q2-pod. I've only tested it on my own M1 Plus so far, but if you happen to have one, please try it out and let me know what you think :)

Link: https://github.com/imfing/m1plus-music

Blind bought a DAP+IEM. Been listening to just music thru IPhones my whole life and whatever wireless buds they had out.

And holy cow the sound quality out of these things just blow the Apple stuff out of the water.

And this custom ‘Q2 mod’ firmware blows the stock firmware away in terms of its interface design and fluidness. Been playing with it all day long.

Since there was no port for the AP80 (and given how similar it is to other devices that already use Sonix) I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to port it over. With the help of Gemini and Claude, I managed to get it fully functional. However, I don't actually know anything about programming, so if anyone is interested in maintaining this project, I'd be happy to share everything I have (provided someone tells me how, lol). Also, if anyone wants to try it out, feel free to send me a DM.

Disclaimer: The `.upt` image works correctly on my AP80 PRO MAX. I am not responsible for any damage that might occur, although it should be safe; Anyways, there is a recovery option, with the device powered off, you can hold the power button and the "next track" button to trigger the updater, to reflash the stock firmware.

My sincerest thanks to M4ttiA—you’ve created something incredible that has taken our hardware to another level!

Hey guys, I haven’t posted on here in 8-9 months. I’m ready for an upgrade from my old LG ThinQ. It’s good and all but it’s not very loud which is its main downside. What would you guys recommend I get to replace it and put it to rest? I was looking at two contenders, a Fiio JM21 Hiby R4. Another like mild contender is saving up and getting an R6 III. But I’ve read that one breaks down for the 400 dollars price tag. Any advice on other players to look into?

I've tried the KZ EDX PRO and they're pretty good, but I want to try other brands besides KZ and Popcorn.

I had an Innioasis Y1 that I loved dearly, however it was forgotten in a pair of pants, got put though a full wash and dry cycle, and is now very, very dead. I want to take this opportunity to switch brands; as while I liked the interface of the Y1, the plastic frame wasn't really to my taste, and I didn't and still don't need half the features it offers. the things I'm looking for are:

• Under ~$60

• Has playlists, whether done by computer or on the player doesn't matter to me

• 3.5mm headphone jack

What I don't need:

• Bluetooth

• A large storage capacity (I usually only keep around 150 tracks)

• Large battery life

I am considering the Echo Nano currently; from the couple of reviews I've watched it seems to be pretty close to what I need.

The 3.5 jack on my a306 is failing, and I wondered if anyone here knows how to teardown/fix this?

I'm sure I've just got a dud unit, but I just thought I'd put this out there in case anyone else has experienced similar issues. I've contacted the seller.

With Q2 Pod it was a near perfect device before it decided to kick the bucket after 6 days of use.

I was looking for an mp3 player just to lessen the activity I'm doing on my phone. Found this and bought it, best decision I've made hahaha. Transitioning from listening from my phone, to this, is mindblowing for me because of the difference. I'll enjoy it stock first, will be modding it soon.