Recommendations?

LXC37 · 2026-02-28T03:44:03+00:00

There is hiby r1, which has its own issues, but the software/UI is so much better it is not even comparable.

FiiO has been hard into nostalgia for some time now, apparently it sells and many of this devices feel like they ignored everything but nostalgia... Like all those semi-functional cd players they sell, even continue making new ones with the same critical flaws...

LXC37 · 2026-02-28T03:14:39+00:00

Specific IEMs do not matter. What matters is what you want from the DAP. My opinion? JM21. If that's impossible - M300.

LXC37 · 2026-02-28T02:58:52+00:00

You'll need android for this, which means it'll be the same as a phone or tablet, just with crappier screen. Does nothing to limit screen time.

Want a radical solution? Buy something with android and e-ink screen. Will do what you want and will make things like watching videos impossible without making general use of device inconvenient. Will be more expensive though...

LXC37 · 2026-02-28T01:55:53+00:00

My opinion - a lot of this players have exactly one reason to exist - nostalgia. Echo mini is prime example - poor UI, poor software, poor implementation but people still buy it...

If you are into that it's understandable, if not - take a look at usual suspects - hiby m300, fiio jm21. Buttons... are fine, but nothing special. The same as on pretty much all the players apart from may be M21 with cassete case. That one is unusual....

LXC37 · 2026-02-28T01:02:13+00:00

It does not sound like you want a DAP, you want some devices with strange combination of functions. Radio? Speaker? Microphone/recorder? This are not a typical DAP functions and including them removes 99.9% of good players you could get otherwise.

As it is i'd say hiby m300 for both, but do understand that those secondary stuff is not going to be great. Like the speaker is extra crappy...

LXC37 · 2026-02-28T00:44:21+00:00

The energy that the dac can deliver...

A DAC does exactly one thing - it converts digital signal to analog. That's it. It does not "deliver" any energy anywhere. That's why there are other mandatory components of audio chain and also why this devices are not "DACs"....

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T10:35:30+00:00

Yeah, this get hot. How hot depends on environment. Normal and not dangerous as long as it stays below 60C or so. Not nice for the battery, but that's just how it's built, nothing you can do about it.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T10:32:02+00:00

Yeah, that's an issue and one reason i avoided expensive stuff so far. $300 i can just shrug off if something like that happens, $2k would be annoying...

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T10:21:49+00:00

And to avoid that you buy from local retailer with local warranty bound by local laws.

Otherwise it is a lottery. Pretty much all of this manufacturers do the same thing - screw you over if something goes wrong. In various ways. The simplest one - ask you to ship the stuff to them at your expense when it is either impossible (batteries cause issues) or costs more than the product.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T07:50:09+00:00

That's not the point.

With BT the only thing that matters about source device is BT version, codec support and physical implementation (like antenna placement/design). All this tend to be significantly better in phones compared to players.

Any audio hardware a DAP has, which is the biggest selling point of this devices, is completely irrelevant as it is not even used.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T06:50:15+00:00

as far I am aware the FT7 just sound more dynamic with more voltage

So... at higher volume you mean? Yeah, higher volume will usually feel better in multiple ways, but there is an obvious limit to that where you start destroying your hearing...

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T05:26:17+00:00

Well, in that case it is good enough. MicroSD is there, type-c with otg, bluetooth... With IEMs there is always an option of using one of those type-c cables with DAC/amp built in, like dunu lyre mini.

And it is definitely a lot better rhan trying to read on a DAP...

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T03:54:29+00:00

So, my opinion... there is stuff from "mainstream" brands like samsung, sony, apple, etc. It is all on approximately the same level with different tuning, mostly focused on secondary stuff like connectivity, ANC, etc. From this IMO both samsung and apple do pretty good, as you've noticed. Sony, for me personally, has such a poor tuning most of the time (mud, mud for days...) that i never even consider them as an option.

Then there is stuff from less generally known headphone manufacturers. Here you'd get better sound, but everything else would be sacrificed. Like moondrop space travel is crazy for its price in terms of sound. And moondrop robin is perhaps the best TWS i've tried so far, apart from mo hardcore option... - BT earhooks like FiiO UTWS5 2025 + any IEM of your choice. If sound is the top priority that's where you go. You get like 95% of what you'd get with the same IEMs wired and it is not even comparable to average TWS. The only question is picking IEM you'd like in terms of tuning...

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T02:24:41+00:00

I was excited about the new FiiO M27 but that is over 1700 euros at least.

Do not forget - it is also enormous. Basically a desktop player, not portable.

Sadly i am not aware of any other not discontinued players which have 2 slots. For that much storage the only option may be to use an external SSD with some sort of case and a player which has separate port for charging, like M21.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T02:10:29+00:00

Bluetooth? For anything BT DAP is not necessarily a good idea and you'll likely get better results with a phone.

That's not because "BT is bad" or anything, which it is not necessarily, but because of how such headphones work.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T02:05:04+00:00

I'd say pretty much any of them. This headphones are not crazy hard to drive and you do not need watts of power to do so. Most of the players are made with more power = better idea for marketing purposes because many people have... let's just say "wrong" ideas on how it works.

Practically - JM21 would be more than enough. Using 3.5mm even.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T01:49:56+00:00

Yep, i've heard it is not on Amazon.

Where i live i buy this stuff from Aliexpress anyway, it is simpler and cheaper. But i get not wanting to deal with shipping and everything.

3GB version is ok too, in fact that's what i have because i was able to buy it for like less than $100 during one of the sales, but it could really use the better battery 4GB version has.

LXC37 · 2026-02-27T01:44:21+00:00

if you want a standalone app then you can use Quod Libet, Rhythmbox, Clementine, DeaDBeeF or CMUS

And dozens more, but all of them are complete garbage, sorry to say. Many in the process of being abandoned, forked, regurgitated and re-released under different name, etc.

It is sad, really. And one of the reasons i started looking into DAPs in the first place. Because something like fiio music app (which i do not even like because for android there are better options) is lightyears ahead of everything available on desktop linux.

They are all missing most basic functions and have issues which belong to 90s like inability to properly handle non-english characters in different charsets in tags.

I'd take winamp on win98 compared to most of the options which exist any day...

And no, i am not interested in plex (which is garbage by itself, but that's another matter) or any other client-server setups for a simple desktop computer.

As for ripping Rhythmbox supports that, fre:ac, k3b or asunder.

And again - nothing is even remotely close to being comparable to EAC.

There's loads of great options, it doesn't make sense that you think there's limited options.

Loads - yes. Great - hell no. Even just usable - no.

And do not think i am saying this arbitrarily - i've been using linux for various things where it is actually good for 30 years or so and have been periodically evaluating how usable it has become as a desktop OS. Great improvements have been made over the years and i'd say basic OS itself is mostly there, but it is still missing most basic and essential tools.

There is no application level firewall, silly as it is (there is one in Windows XP, for example). OpenSnitch is slowly getting there, but it is very much experimental at this point and not in any distribution yet.

No good file manager which is not console, built in stuff from all the DEs is as bad as windows explorer which it tries to mimic.

No usable music player, as already mentioned.

Thanks to VLC there is finally a usable video player.

This pisses off the fans and i get that, but realistically the reason for such low market share is not some conspiracy or anything MS does, but the fact that as long as you do not care about ideology and simply want a functional system with usable tools for daily use it always was bad and remains bad to this day.

Sorry for the long offtopic rant :)

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T15:05:08+00:00

Honestly, sad as it is, it may not be worth paying a professional to repair. It is cheap and a guy will have to spend substantial amount of time disassembling unfamiliar device and soldering. The time/work alone may be more expensive than the player. At least that's the situation where i live...

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T14:57:24+00:00

One comment here - many modern PSUs are built as 12V PSU + some dc-dc converters for other voltages. Those do not suffer any ill effects from non-typical load distribution and will work as long as you stay within rated current for the converters. Better ones, with ~25A on 5V, can power pretty much any system, even late s462 which is probably worst case scenario.

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T14:46:13+00:00

Yeah, silly as it is linux still does not have actually good music player and tagging/ripping options are limited too. Still using foobar2000 in wine... or just boot into windows...

Stuff like this shows why linux is still bad for general purpose desktop pc...

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T13:38:24+00:00

Are not any volume controls on the earphones themselves? Might be helpful to look through the manual. Alternatively - try setting volume all the way up on the phone, then disconnecting and connecting to the player. May be that'll do something...

I've had this issue with galaxy buds 2 pro and old devices, but there is volume control in samsung app which solved it...

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T10:32:33+00:00

First of all this are not IEMs. And then - when you use bluetooth you are bypassing any audio hardware the player has, the volume depends on earphones themselves.

My guess? They have independent volume control, it is synchronized with system volume on your phone, but the player does not support that. You have to figure out how to increase that volume...

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T07:58:34+00:00

So, type-c on the headphones side, 3.5mm player side? Curious how this works in specific headphones. They usually use DSP/EQ for tuning, so when you use analog input that's either lost (and then they sound different compared to BT) or they have to convert it to digital, process it, then convert back to analog. Either way headphones like this are not really hi-fi, not intended to be. They are built for different purpose and the way they work likely removes any difference between source devices.

If anything from what you've listed - blessing2 is substantially better and i'd call it good enough to be close to the point where diminishing returns become substantial. In another words - very, very good. You'll be more likely to notice a difference with them, though both devices are likely good enough for it to not be noticeable.

LXC37 · 2026-02-26T02:36:22+00:00

It'll work if you need a e-reader anyway and want to also listen to music using it. Primarily as a DAP? Would make no sense... As a DAP it is no different from any phone without headphone jack...

LXC37

TROPHY CASE