Some of us just enjoy spending money into this hobby. I have over a 15 dongle dacs and 4 DAPS (3 Android), not to mention 48 IEM's, 15 headphones and 2 additional android phones. Do I need all of this, hell no but I got caught up in to this hobby chasing for the perfect sound, which I come to realize I will never find. But I enjoy the chase. :-)

Let me tell you, the constant connection issues with the USB dongle was the main reason I had to buy a DAP instead. It was so annoying when it happen in the middle of the song if touch the cable by accident while holding the phone. And whenever I would unlock my phone the music would stop for a millisecond or you could hear pops and cracks through the the IEM (maybe interference of the cellular connection or data being transfer, I´m not sure), not to mention the battery of my phone dying more often and the wearing of the USB port and the possibility of damaging the port while jamming all the damn cables on my jacket. Minors things like these I describe will accumulate making the dongle experience not worth it, at least for me. I only use my DAC if I wanna listen music through my computer or my car stereo. Maybe a more expensive DAC with a better cable, pair with a better phone than mine would not have these issues, but now with my DAP (Hiby M300) I just plug my headphones and I can be sitting, doing groceries, at the park, etc and enjoying. My two cents, cheers!

I think the biggest reason to buy a digital audio player is micro SD card support since Flagship smartphones no longer have them and there is something to be said for having your music on your local device rather than stream it

I do recommend dongles to most people for its usability and value, but having owned Cayin RU7 and N7, I can say N7 is much better on sound quality than RU7. I still think RU7 is a great value and my favorite dongle, but it's not exactly on a comparable level to the DAP. Any Android DAP with a SD665 is fine. Runs Spotify and other streaming apps smoothly, and it's not a bad experience at all.

SUNDAY bought Fiio M15 S. Its very large. Too bad not displayed otherwise I would wait for new M23. In process of transferring 950 Gb of files from PC. Replaces Fiio M11 as noted below. A higher end Hiby might have been a reasonable choice, but I like to buy in store. Some choices ae left here in NYC. I don't stream; unit is good to connect to a DAC/heaphone amp, or my full size component stereo. I had 46k tracks on Fiiio M11, unusual as it had 2 micro SD slots. Two 428Gb cards in there for years. Could have doubled to larger 1TB cards to hold all future files, but sadly old Fiio M11 case has no bottom. Small bathroom, gripping in my had while standing over the toilet. It slipped in, it is not fully functional after drying.

Having at least ONE for Having stand-alone music to conserve phone battery is extremely versatile. Aside from that i prefer portable DACs for long term listening sessions

Absolutely! The key feature of such a phone is streaming on the go. Too bad LG stopped making and perfecting their smartphones! They could easily own very large portion of a DAC and portable DAC/AMP market!

LG V60 all the way. Cheaper than most DAPS or even DACS. Better processing power. QUAD DAC. 3.5mm port. USB C. Faster charging. larger screen and it's a phone too.

Got an lg g8 for around $30. Really miss the headphone jack and micro sd cards. Use it as a second phone/dap for flac movies games emulators etc. Soundwise I'd say it's about on par with an apple dongle but has a warmer sound to it. Don't have much dacs or amps so idk how good a dac/amp can get but the q5k is definitely still better sounding.

Man wtf was that sound @11:32. That shi got me startled listening to this with earphones on at 1 AM

For me it's because I run an iPhone, and it can't play flac or do eq.

Do you let your DAC dongle hang in the air, or do you attach it/hold it together with your phone? I let my Cayin RU7 dongle hang, and the USB cable broke after less than two weeks. It's kind of useless as a portable solution.

Why the hell would you want a camera on your DAP? its for playing or streaming your music end of, you might want to put a DAC on it if you want.

Audio is subjective. Try and buy what fits your budget, and needs.

Makes video about daps being worth it or not… never actually used one 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ lmao this video is useless for anyone looking for actual information to make a decision.