I've had mine for a couple of weeks now and it truly is a wonderful dap 💯. It looks and feels like a significantly more expensive product in your hands and the sound quality is gorgeous 🥰. The replaceable battery feature automatically puts this dap way above most other DAPs right now in my opinion. Nice review dude 💯.
Props for the removable battery - makes it a much better overall buy. Don't know why they'd have a 2 different internal storage options though seems a bit redundant with the size/price of SD cards.
To be honest, my largest card is still only 64GB so that extra storage is a bonus for me. I think the extra 1GB of RAM is pretty substantial for performance too.
I've had mine for about three weeks and I'm loving it, although still trying to find a balance of IEMs and tips to bring out the best of its rich, powerful sound (it has a wonderful heft to the sound, a real advance over my Shanling M6). The only problem I'm having is with the Mango player, which lumps over a thousand of my ripped CDs into a file called "Unknown", when I've had absolutely no problem with them elsewhere. As a result, I really can't use it, but am using UAPP, which I have on my phone and my Shanling with no problem. It took a bit of tweaking,but I'm there and so in love with it.
@@PrimeAudioReviews Yes, but mine took a bit of tweaking, as I said. At one point it decided my "Mahler" folder on my memory card didn't exist. It was there, but empty, but I could find the individual albums through "Albums". I uninstalled then re-installed it, and once it scanned it came up with all artists from A to J, then some of S, then some of W, V and X. It took another four goes and letting it run through "Determining audio properties" for five hours without interrupting it to get it to finally behave. I did wonder if there was something I'd done in the 180 that was making everything so haywire, but now that UAPP is all working...I'll just enjoy.
Hi, I enjoyed your review. I like this DAP and I was thinking about buying one for outdoor use, to power my Hifiman Edition XS headphones (in my house I pair it with the amp/DAC Topping DX3 Pro+). You paired it with your Sennheiser HD650; can I pair it with my Hifiman edition XS, that is unbalanced? The rated power of Edition XS is around 200mw. I can't find the answer. Help!!!
Since the volume knob is sticking out, is it prone to accidental volume change or button click if you brush against it? I'd prefer it to be sunk into the body.
@@PrimeAudioReviews The wheel has a wide range of volume increments so if the knob moves a bit it shouldn't change the loudness too much. I cut the protruding knobs off the protective plastic case with an X-acto blade so they are now not a problem.
@PrimeAudioReviews the fiio m23 have bypass battery meaning you can use a external power supply. Fiio m15s have micro SD card slot and a sim card slot for internet connection. That is what I'm talking about.
@@topandrun126the dx 180 has a micro sd card slot . The fiio m15s does not have sim card suport . It simply has micro sd tray resembling sim tray. Both players are wi fi capable.
The dx180 has a micro sd card slot. The fiio m15s does not have sim suport. Its micro sd tray resembles sim tray. Both players are wifi capable.@@topandrun126
CS43131 is very resolving but also super smooth. It kind of sits near AKM in tonality but similar to ESS in soundstage. Overall, it's probably closer to AKM or Burr-Brown but it still has its own distinct character (and in this case x4!)
these DAPs won't change an earphone's sound in the slightest. I got various daps to power various IEMs and none made a difference. I Got a Fiio BTR5 and that's doing the same job, same sound, much more convinient and MUCH MUCH cheaper
That's great if that's what floats your boat. I also love my Shanling UP4 for the same reasons but this easily outclasses it for sound *plus* I can listen to LOSSLESS music from the SD Card. I also like to keep my music experience separate from my phone.
I've had mine for a couple of weeks now and it truly is a wonderful dap 💯. It looks and feels like a significantly more expensive product in your hands and the sound quality is gorgeous 🥰. The replaceable battery feature automatically puts this dap way above most other DAPs right now in my opinion. Nice review dude 💯.
Yeah, it's great value.
Props for the removable battery - makes it a much better overall buy. Don't know why they'd have a 2 different internal storage options though seems a bit redundant with the size/price of SD cards.
To be honest, my largest card is still only 64GB so that extra storage is a bonus for me. I think the extra 1GB of RAM is pretty substantial for performance too.
Great review are you able to offer a comparison between this one and the fiio M23?
I haven't had a FiiO DAP since the M6 unfortunately!
I've had mine for about three weeks and I'm loving it, although still trying to find a balance of IEMs and tips to bring out the best of its rich, powerful sound (it has a wonderful heft to the sound, a real advance over my Shanling M6). The only problem I'm having is with the Mango player, which lumps over a thousand of my ripped CDs into a file called "Unknown", when I've had absolutely no problem with them elsewhere. As a result, I really can't use it, but am using UAPP, which I have on my phone and my Shanling with no problem. It took a bit of tweaking,but I'm there and so in love with it.
I'm currently using UAPP too, just because it's a bit easier to navigate.
@@PrimeAudioReviews Yes, but mine took a bit of tweaking, as I said. At one point it decided my "Mahler" folder on my memory card didn't exist. It was there, but empty, but I could find the individual albums through "Albums". I uninstalled then re-installed it, and once it scanned it came up with all artists from A to J, then some of S, then some of W, V and X. It took another four goes and letting it run through "Determining audio properties" for five hours without interrupting it to get it to finally behave. I did wonder if there was something I'd done in the 180 that was making everything so haywire, but now that UAPP is all working...I'll just enjoy.
Hi, I enjoyed your review. I like this DAP and I was thinking about buying one for outdoor use, to power my Hifiman Edition XS headphones (in my house I pair it with the amp/DAC Topping DX3 Pro+). You paired it with your Sennheiser HD650; can I pair it with my Hifiman edition XS, that is unbalanced? The rated power of Edition XS is around 200mw. I can't find the answer. Help!!!
Yes, absolutely.
@@PrimeAudioReviews Thank you very much for answering my question.
Since the volume knob is sticking out, is it prone to accidental volume change or button click if you brush against it? I'd prefer it to be sunk into the body.
It's only happened once or twice for me so far. The buttons were a bigger issue, which is why I disabled them while the screen is off.
@@PrimeAudioReviews The wheel has a wide range of volume increments so if the knob moves a bit it shouldn't change the loudness too much.
I cut the protruding knobs off the protective plastic case with an X-acto blade so they are now not a problem.
Sim card micro sd slot bypass battery external power is key features for me in any portable DAP I'm buying moving forward.
umm, I have no idea what you're talking about.
@PrimeAudioReviews the fiio m23 have bypass battery meaning you can use a external power supply. Fiio m15s have micro SD card slot and a sim card slot for internet connection. That is what I'm talking about.
@@topandrun126 Yeah, but sadly DX180m don't have sim card slot
@@topandrun126the dx 180 has a micro sd card slot . The fiio m15s does not have sim card suport . It simply has micro sd tray resembling sim tray. Both players are wi fi capable.
The dx180 has a micro sd card slot. The fiio m15s does not have sim suport. Its micro sd tray resembles sim tray. Both players are wifi capable.@@topandrun126
How does its DAC compared to ESS and AKM Dacs?
CS43131 is very resolving but also super smooth. It kind of sits near AKM in tonality but similar to ESS in soundstage. Overall, it's probably closer to AKM or Burr-Brown but it still has its own distinct character (and in this case x4!)
When plugging a 90$ iem in this will it really sound better than when plugged to a smartphone?
It should do but depends on the quality of the iem too
Although I play flac files on my iPhone, the sound on my two audio high res. players (sym, 2.5mm connection) is much better.
A bit too big than my preference but the replaceable battery option is nice.
first
Comment for da algorithm
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Geez, what a lagfest! UI animations are a disaster. So surprised you described this 5 year old SoC as "pretty powerful".
665 was in the Redmi Note 8 and Sony Xperia 10 ii. You don't need a super computer to play music files!
Having a more powerful CPU in a dap really isn't needed, it's designed to do one thing only and that's to play music 🎶 that's how it should be 💯.
David, thank you for a wonderful Digital Audio Player review! 👌
Reverend Dr. Thomas,
✝️ The Vegan Vicar 🌱
Thanks for watching!
I think daps should have an extra p for portable, digital audio portable player, dapp. It looks so big and heavy, so clumsy to bring outside
I barely notice it in my pocket - it's smaller (but thicker) than my phone!
@@PrimeAudioReviews It might be prone to snapping off, in time.
these DAPs won't change an earphone's sound in the slightest. I got various daps to power various IEMs and none made a difference. I Got a Fiio BTR5 and that's doing the same job, same sound, much more convinient and MUCH MUCH cheaper
That's great if that's what floats your boat. I also love my Shanling UP4 for the same reasons but this easily outclasses it for sound *plus* I can listen to LOSSLESS music from the SD Card. I also like to keep my music experience separate from my phone.
Does the BTR5 have the capability to play thousands of music files?
@@TheVeganVicar If you have the files in your phone, of course.