I really want to get one since 11/11 has good d eals on them, but I’m not sure if I need one.
For those of you who have one, what DAP do you use? Do you think it’s worth it?
I’m not going to buy one for purported claims of better sound quality or whatever; it would mainly be a convenience thing / separating out my phone from vs my music (like a dedicated iPod).
I think it can be worth it depending on the use case. DAPs are a no-go if you’re only streaming music. Also harder to recommend DAPs these days though vs 5-10 years ago cause mid-range DAPs have gotten more expensive and there’s limited options for entry level. The main draws for me are the dedicated buttons and being separated from my phone (no dongle = less USB port wear while in the pocket).
Right now I’m using a Sony A306 as my daily driver with IEMs, has a great battery life so it won’t be racking up too many charge cycles like my other DAPs. I still use a Fiio X5iii (dual SD slots) at home for headphones so the low output power of the A306 doesn’t bother me.
I have an old Shanling M2S that I used to daily cause it could also act as a bluetooth DAC/amp for my phone but I sidelined it in favour of the A306. Has the average DAP batt life of around 10 hours so it racked up charge cycles really quickly.