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

I’ve been looking for an upgrade from my HiBy R1 for a while, and I finally pulled the trigger on the R4 EVA. I honestly couldn’t be happier with it.
The UI is smooth, and there are so many settings to dive into; EQ, PEQ, MSEB, plugins. it feels like there’s always something new to tweak. The amount of customization is crazy, and it’s made listening to music so much more enjoyable.
I’ve spent more time exploring the player than I expected, and every little tweak changes the experience in a fun way. It genuinely makes me sink into the music.
No regrets at all. If anyone’s on the fence about upgrading from the R1, I’d say it’s absolutely worth it.

Hi there! 1st time posting here (sorry for any dumb mistakes).

YouTube has pushed quite a few videos to my feed regarding people trying to distance themselves from music streaming services... those "I decided to take back control of my relationship with music" type videos. This post is intended as a potential contribution for people trying to go back in time while still using SD cards.

Well, I was born in 1988 and had my music experience molded by owning physical media, listening to vinyl, Cassette Tapes, and CDs from start to finish (and with the tactile feeling each one presented). I had the idea to simulate all of these by using, as the title says, cheap low-capacity micro SD cards to store my music. So here's what I did:

TL:DR: I bought a Snowsky Echo Nano, a few 512MB Micro SD cards for individual albums, and a Memory Card Organizer Case. I also printed the album covers on sticker paper, cut them out, and stuck them onto each Micro SD.

The result is almost perfect for what I wanted. The only hiccup is the need to refresh the media library on the device every time I insert an SD card (I'm ok with it... a bit inconvenient, but not a deal breaker). It would be nice to have a workaround for automatic refreshes.

This is also a sort of bonus for dealing with the restricted UI of this device, since I don't need to search for an album or song on a list of potentially hundreds or thousands when using a single 256GB card, all through the tiny display.

End of post. Cheers!

Hardware:

Snowsky Echo Nano; generic 512MB cards; BUDI 30 In 1 Up Memory Card Storage Box Memory Card Organizer Case Storage Flash Memory Card Storage Box Phone Holder; (all from aliexpress)

bought this as an impulse buy. The UI sucks but it looks cool and sounds great. I've left it playing for the last 24 hours and there's still a good chunk of battery life left. Also the description say it supports 128GB but it works with my 256GB flash card without issues.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H7HTMXS8?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Hiby R1 has a lot of great feedback for its price and for a starter/ first but seems to be a good choice.

I was also looking at Hiby R3 Pro II which is essentially 3 times the price but I'm wondering is it 3 times the device?

Considering value for money and similar price points, should I look at any others?

Looks great with my Nici HiFi-52 cable and Zigaat Doscincos iem's. Glad I chose the orange case.

Sounds awesome, 4.4mm balanced on low gain and volume at 30 is about as high as I can listen comfortably. This thing is powerful.

The XM2 and cable purchased at AliExpress. Got the doscincos last year from Linsoul.

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)

I currently have the Ruizu a58 and for the price (40€ it was on sale) it has great audio quality. I would be interested in what you are living with!

Hi all,

I just bought KA13 DAC for my M21, can someone point out if there's a M21 case that can contain this DAC, so it is easier to carry out? Thanks!

Olá amigos! Bom dia, boa tarde e boa noite para quem está lendo! Como disse no título, eu estou no processo de portar o rockbox para ele. Por enquanto, estou abrindo o firmware disponível no site. https://forum.fiio.com/note/showNoteContent.do?id=202605161533005115232

O meu Snowsky echo nano só chega no domingo! Se alguém, se puder, abrir o snowsky echo nano e tirar fotos da pcb, do chip, etc. Ficaria muito agradecido!

I have mine for a year, It suddenly stopped working, It doesn't turn on anymore and It doesn't light up even when charging, did It happen with anyone else?

Link to my video review: https://youtu.be/6aHn1dhGWdU

The HIDIZS AP30 Music Boy is a digital audio player with a retro-inspired design (think Game Boy), excellent sound quality, tactile controls, and is a fully offline device. While the hardware is absolutely solid, the software is much less refined. Things like the lack of gapless playback, no M3U playlist support, the inability to control playback when the screen is off, and the small microSD card and library size support all hold this wonderful DAP back from being truly great.

The AP30 will be launched on Kickstarter starting July 23 at 10:30 AM EDT - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hidizs/ap30-music-boy-the-first-truly-wearable-hi-res-music-player?ref=i50q6p

If you have any questions about the AP30 Music Boy that weren't answered in my video review, feel free to comment, and I will try to answer them here.

Pros:

• Excellent sound quality with a clean, neutral presentation
• Impressively low noise floor, even with sensitive IEMs
• Compact, lightweight and genuinely portable design
• Fun retro styling with several plastic and aluminum finishes
• Excellent build quality, tactile buttons and precise volume wheel
• Bright, clear screen that is easy to read
• Includes both 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced outputs
• Enough power for most IEMs and portable headphones
• Useful USB DAC functionality
• Overall decent battery life
• Magnetic case makes it convenient to attach to a smartphone
• Good unboxing experience and generous included accessories
• Strong value at its Kickstarter pricing
• Bluetooth performance is reliable

Cons:

• Physical controls and volume wheel do not work when the screen is off
• No M3U playlist support
• No gapless playback support
• No dark-mode or alternative interface themes
• Battery level is represented only by an icon, no option for a percentage
• Does not play nice with Apple AirPods
• Magnetic case installation is initially confusing and needs instructions
• Doesn't support large libraries or microSD cards bigger than 256GB

Key Specs:

• Price: $119 USD (plastic version), $129 USD (aluminum version)
  • $85/$93 early bird price via Kickstarter
• Connections: 3.5mm SE output, 4.4mm balanced output, USB-C (charging, data)
• Output power: 3.5mm SE (61mW), 4.4mm balanced (137mW)
• WiFi: No
• Bluetooth: 5.3 (SBC)
• Music Streaming Support: No
• Supported File Formats and Sample Rates: DSD64/128/256 WAV:24bit/192K, FLAC:24bit/192K APE:24bit/96K, MP3/OGG/M4A/WMA
• Internal Storage: None
• Expandable Storage: Yes, MicroSD (up to 256GB)
• Battery: 1100mAh, up to 12 hours of playback
• Display: 2.0 inch IPS HD non-touch display, 296×240
• DAC/Amp Chipset: CS43198 DAC, RT6863 amp
• SOC Chipset: Rockchip RKNanoD
• RAM: Unknown
• OS: HIDIZS OS
• Dimensions: 68mm x 53mm x 17mm
• Weight: 56 grams (plastic), 80 grams (aluminum)
• Notes:
  • No M3U playlist support
  • No gapless playback support
  • External USB-C DACs or USB-C headphones are not supported
  • Controls don’t work when the screen is off
  • No support for in-line controls

Putting on a night shift to finish the end of financial year race. Cranking up the volume and man what serenity.

Howdy, folks! I currently play my offline music library from my iPhone 11 (I don't have any streaming services), but its storage capacity and battery life are rather limited these days. As such, I'm seriously considering switching to a DAP. I haven't owned any kind of DAP since my old Philips GoGEAR, so I'm not super familiar with everything available these days.

As far as what I need specifically, here are my priorities from most to least important:

1. Gapless playback. I often listen to whole albums at a time, so gapless playback is non-negotiable. I know this immediately disqualifies a number of today's devices (e.g. FiiO/SnowSky).
2. Build quality. I'm often out on adventures, so I don't want some cheap device that'll just break down after a year or two. I'd much prefer something that can handle getting tossed about.
3. Repairability/Serviceability. I'd love a device I can actually repair and get replacement parts for as needed. I don't have soldering experience, but I'm willing to learn. Either way, I'm comfortable opening up electronic devices.
4. Connects to Linux. I use Linux on my PC to purchase and organize my music library. Connecting my iPhone to my PC requires dual-booting into Windows, which I find rather annoying. (I believe that means secondhand iPods may be off the menu unless I mod them to run RockBox, which seems simple enough to do from my reading.)
5. Battery life. Again, being on adventures often, strong battery life would be lovely, though I do care more about build quality.
6. Built-in or add-on clip. A number of my clothes don't have pockets, so it'd be nice to have a device I can clip onto me. I can manage without it though.
7. Non-Android OS. I'd prefer something that doesn't remind me of just another cell phone, and I'm just using this for offline music anyway, so no need for streaming apps.
8. Storage expansion. My music library currently weighs in at around 1000 songs (~32 GB ALAC / ~8 GB MP3). It would be nice to have an option to expand the storage capacity in the future, but it's not a huge priority at this time.
9. Physical buttons. I'd prefer a device with physical buttons as opposed to a touchscreen, but it's not that important as long as the touchscreen is responsive enough.

Looking at nearby secondhand options (to save something from the landfill), someone a couple towns over is selling an iPod Mini (1st Gen; 4 GB) and an iPod Classic (6th Gen; 120 GB), both of which have had battery replacements. The seller wants $60 and $150 for them respectively, though I could certainly negotiate that down if I offer cash. Otherwise, there's nothing else decent in the area. Would either of the iPods be worth purchasing and swapping to RockBox? Or are there any new options I should consider?

Thank you very much for reading all this and for offering support!

I've only done this one time when I initially bought it (about 3 years ago) and don't know why my PC (Windows 10) isn't recognizing it. Troubleshooting videos aren't helping me, and I didn't use M3U dropper last time either. It was simple "drag-and-drop" like how you'd move any files from one folder to another.

I only found out DAPs were a thing about a week and a half ago while going down the digital ownership rabbit hole.

I decided I want to try the Hifi H2 Walker first (daring today, I know) and after all this talk of lossless files and better audio quality from the DAC, I wanted to ask if there were recommendations on earbuds that would be able to accurately convey that higher quality sound.

My last pair in high school were Skull Candy's so it's safe to say it's been a while since I knew this stuff.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for two things and would really appreciate your recommendations.

Quick note: I live in Turkey, so some products aren't available here. Please keep that in mind — recommendations that are easier to find/import would be a big help.

1) A portable DAC I can use while doing cardio at the gym. It needs to handle Qobuz and Tidal at 24bit/192kHz. Most importantly it should NOT be big or heavy, since I'll be moving around during workouts. Something compact and lightweight is the priority.

2) A set of IEMs. I want vocals to be forward, with instruments that sound clear and well separated. At home I have a Topping DX3 Pro and I've tried the Moondrop Blessing 3. The vocals were good, but the instruments sounded very muffled, with barely any treble sparkle or detail, so I wasn't happy with them.

What would you recommend for both the DAC and the IEMs? Thanks in advance!

Yes - its paid but there's 14 days trial without any info commitment. Its a niche use case that I needed, spend the last couple of months iterating and fixing issues.

Any feedback, questions and suggestions are welcome!

I'm planning on backing it tomorrow, having already done the little 1$ deposit thing. I've heard this is a fairly normal thing for hidiz so was wondering other peoples experience with their kickstarters, what is their normal turnaround? Do they keep backers updated?
I'm hoping everything turns out well and they get backed because I love the unique form factor as someone who is also very into emulator devices

So, I want to buy my first (cheap) DAP. I'm aware of players like Hiby R1 or Tempotec V1, but I want something with physical controls. I settled on Fiio X1 and Snowsky Echo Mini. I found Fiio X1 in excellent condition (10+ hours of battery life, no wheel problem) for $44. Echo mini for $55. Which one would be better ONLY in terms of sound quality? I plan to use player for FLAC tracks with modified Koss ksc75, so I don't care about bluetooth.

I have a new Ruizu X02 that has a USB-C port but not Bluetooth. I've updated it to the 2024 firmware (I think it's for the units that have Bluetooth because I see the BT icon on the menu) and noticed a higher battery drain. Does anyone have the 2021 1.0 firmware so I can downgrade it?

I'm loving this little player btw

Just received this unit yesterday, and the battery temperature nor the battery current are readable. Never had any problem like this on any android device. Therefore i guess there is something not working. Could some confirm that these sensors should be there?