Hi,
I'm looking for my first ever DAP for around $50-60.
I see only two decent DAPs:
Fiio M3K
JWD JWM 115
thanks
If u can get a Ziku HD X9, that is an okay set. 20+ hours battery life, okay sound, no frills, built like a tank.
It has a bit of hiss with highly sensitive multi driver type IEMs. I got it mainly for the battery life, bought it at $38 USD previously.
There's a successor called the Ziku HD X10, not as good battery life but haven't tried it.
Shanling Q1 at $90ish USD during sales is my current daily DAP. Small, 20+ hours battery, good sound quality, can power demanding stuff, rather neutral and transparent. 2 way bluetooth and has WIFI support. Shanling also releases patches and updates regularly, so I like their support.
I think a cheaper option than DAPs, is actually to use a USB C dongle DAC/AMP such as the tempotec sonata HD Pro with a smartphone. About $30ish USD. It is very transparent, good sound quality, no hiss, very low output impedance. Only thing is it can't power very high impedance stuff or planar IEMs, but for most IEMs it is very good, almost as good sound as my desktop setup.
One other issue is these dongle types may drain battery life from the smartphone (the tempotec sonata HD Pro isn't as bad as some other more power demanding dongles), and if u do have a lot of lossless files, there may be limited battery life on the phone, so a DAP is superior in these respects, though u need to bring a second device around.
