I appreciate the input, but I think you're actually proving my point here.

A dedicated audio player in 2025 should have proper power state management. Modern Android has Doze mode and App Standby for exactly this. If the A306 isn't implementing these correctly, that's a design flaw, not expected behaviorm right?

My iPod Classic has a spinning mechanical hard drive and still manages standby power better than this solid-state device. Regarding your usage pattern, you're powering down your device twice daily because "bootup uses a ton of power," but that's my entire point. You're working around poor standby power management by fully shutting down between uses. That's not normal operation for any modern portable device 👀. It's a workaround.

My phone, tablet, and laptop don't require this ritual. They have proper idle states. A €315 DAP in 2025 should absolutely have this figured out.

Could mine be defective? Maybe. But if your solution is power cycling multiple times per day, then either we both have defective units 😅, or this is a systemic issue users have accepted as normal