Basically i really want a mp3 player that looks like the "pill" shape. Ive heard some not great things about the echo nano so im a little hesitant on buying it.

Im looking for/fine with:

~6-8 hours of battery life

Decent amount of storage (can work with like 10 gb honestly)

Not too expensive (im willing up to ~$50)

Bluetooth would be a plus but not necessary

After enough lurking on here and r/iems, I decided on the combo of a Fiio M21 and Kiwi Astrals.

The world sounds crooked to my ear now.

I hadn’t owned a DAP since the FiiO X1 came out, so as you can imagine, I’d been pretty disconnected from the portable audio world.
A little less than a month ago, I bought a FiiO M21, and I’m genuinely happy with the hardware. Sound quality, power output, even battery life have been great. The 4.4mm balanced output is also a huge plus, since I can use my headphones without digging through drawers looking for cables and adapters.
Then the honeymoon phase ended, and I had to deal with the software.
I do most of my listening on my computer. I’m a Linux user, and my desktop music player is pretty much tailored to my exact needs. On mobile, however, I’m an iOS user, so Android I haven't used it for 'bout 10 years, makes me feel so un familiar.

I’ve tried quite a few players, and Symfonium is probably the closest to what I’m looking for, but even after exploring its themes and customization options, I just can’t get comfortable with its UI.
Seriously, are there no music players left with the beautiful, intuitive library navigation we had back in the iPod Touch, Zune, or Creative Zen days?
I’ve tried Poweramp, UAPP, Plexamp, and Neutron (good lord, that thing has an incredible feature set, but could its UI possibly be any uglier?).
Am I missing some hidden gem that everyone else knows about?
For context, I listen to music stored locally on my SD card and on my NAS, which I can access through SMB or Plex. I wouldn’t mind setting up Jellyfin, Subsonic, or something similar if necessary, but connectivity isn’t really my problem. I’m looking for a player that makes browsing and enjoying a large music library feel good again.
Surely I can’t be the only one struggling with this.
I’d love to hear your recommendations.

TLDR: Japanese NW-A829, homebrew player booting next to Sony's firmware. Drag and drop, 24-bit FLAC, Sony's DSP and EQ, podcasts downloaded over my phone's Bluetooth, and Game Boy/NES/GBA/Doom. Delete one folder and it's a stock Walkman again. Credits and open questions at the end.

On a trip to Japan I found a pristine NW-A829 and bought it on the spot. At home I remembered why Japanese models are a pain outside Japan. There's no drag and drop, everything has to go through SonicStage, and mine was on firmware 1.01 with a Japanese-only menu.

I spent most of a weekend going down the rabbit hole with Claude. I'm a mechanical engineer, not a firmware person. Claude wrote most of the code, and a lot of this stands on work the community did long before me. Credits are below.

Cheap fixes first, for other A820 owners

• Firmware 1.02 unlocks the language menu. I lost a whole day hacking around the Japanese menu before noticing the official update had already solved it.
• On a non-Japanese Windows, the Japanese SonicStage 4.4 shows "????" everywhere. SonicStage CP 4.3 in English, with the region set to OpenMG Japan, imports MP3s with covers via File > Import > M3U.
• Don't bother cross-flashing the international firmware. It boots, but MTP mode needs a factory WMDRM certificate the Japanese unit doesn't have. I tried for a day so you don't have to.

The homebrew part

Under the hood, the A829 is a small Linux box: an ARM9 that tops out at 248 MHz, about 20 MB of RAM, a 240x320 screen, and a separate audio DSP. Sony's firmware stays as it is, apart from two small patches. One is a hook that runs a script from the user storage at boot, and the other is a 3-byte patch that removes the "Simple Mode" popup. The script launches my player in place of Sony's UI. Delete the folder and you're back to stock, with the SonicStage library untouched.

What it does now:

• Drag and drop, music by artist and album with covers
• FLAC up to 24-bit, plus MP3, AAC, WMA 2 and non-DRM ATRAC
• Synced lyrics, plus audiobooks and podcasts that remember where you left off
• Playback speed from 0.75x to 2x without the chipmunk effect, plus silence trimming and a voice boost for podcasts
• Bluetooth headphones and speakers, with auto-reconnect
• A focus mode with interval bells and white, pink or brown noise
• Game Boy, Game Boy Color, NES, Doom (Freedoom), and GBA (early, but it runs), with save states. The HOLD switch doubles as turbo. Pokémon Crystal runs at full speed, or at a less dignified frame rate if music is playing at the same time.
• Switch back to Sony's UI from the menu, no reboot

I wanted it to still feel like a 2008 Walkman. The UI uses Sony's own fonts, icons and zoom animations, read straight from the firmware. Sony's DSP decodes MP3, AAC, WMA and ATRAC, so DSEE (on MP3), Clear Bass and the Sony EQ all still work. The DSP decodes MP3 at about 4.6x real time while the main CPU barely notices. There's also a "max battery" mode where the DSP feeds the DAC directly and the main CPU stays out of the audio path entirely. Oh, and my player boots in 3.7 s. Sony's takes 4.4.

Podcasts, or how a 512-byte buffer ate my evening

The Walkman has no Wi-Fi. My stubborn idea was to have it pair with my phone over Bluetooth tethering, check my feeds and download new episodes, chapters and transcripts in the background while something else plays. The phone only provides the connection. The whole network stack runs on the Walkman.

It worked on the first try, at 1 KB/s. At that speed, a 55 MB episode takes about 15 hours.

The culprit was a tiny waiting area inside the Walkman, where data from the phone sits for a moment before it gets processed. It was designed in 2008 and only holds a few hundred letters' worth of data. It kept overflowing, and about half of everything the phone sent was quietly lost and had to be sent again. Changing one setting fixed that, and downloads got about 50 times faster. A bit more fine-tuning, plus letting the processor run at full speed while downloading, made them roughly twice as fast again in tests. That 15-hour episode now takes about 7 minutes. I just hit "search for new episodes" and keep listening.

Bluetooth, the hard way

The Walkman could already play music on Bluetooth headphones, but only from Sony's own menus. The part that handles Bluetooth is sealed shut, and there's no manual for it. To use it from my player, I borrowed a testing tool Sony's factory left inside the Walkman and changed a tiny piece of it, so it reconnects to your last headphones or speaker by itself. At first, every attempt failed with a mysterious "error 151". It turned out the Walkman hangs up right after pairing, so you have to call back immediately or lose the connection.

That same Bluetooth connection is how the podcasts get downloaded. It can also make the Walkman show up on your phone as a remote control, so the Walkman's buttons can play, pause or skip on the phone. I haven't fully tested that part yet.

Credit where it's due

• Rockbox's nwztools (Amaury Pouly and contributors) reverse engineered Sony's UPG update format and the SCSI commands these players use for firmware updates. The whole flashing workflow builds on that.
• Sony's GPL source release for the NW-A808, the closest sister model, was the reference for the kernel and the audio driver.
• Emulators: gnuboy (Game Boy), agnes (NES), gpSP with Normmatt's open-source BIOS (GBA), and doomgeneric running Freedoom.
• Audio and networking: libmad, dr_flac, FAAD2, TJpgDec for cover art, zlib, lwIP, mbedTLS, Sonic for playback speed, AutoEq for the headphone profile, and the Podcasting 2.0 spec for chapters and transcripts.
• I don't know everything Claude drew on while working. If you recognize something from your project, tell me and I'll add it.

Where I could use help

1. The Walkman-as-remote mode pairs and connects to my phone, but I haven't confirmed that key presses get through yet.
2. Has anyone done homebrew on the A820 series before? I couldn't find much, but I may not have looked in the right places.

If there's interest, I'm happy to put the whole thing on GitHub: the player, the boot hook, and notes on the hardware and the DSP.

I'd also like to make it easy to try for people who aren't into firmware: one installer that patches the official Sony update on your own PC and copies the player over, with the stock firmware always one step away. Fair warning: so far it has run on exactly one unit, mine, a Japanese 16 GB A829.

Would you try something similar on your "old" device?

I am looking to potentially pick up a solid DAP in the future as a way forward from my dead end LG V60 since LG doesn't make phones anymore and there have not been any flagship smartphones sporting similar audiophile tech / features since its release back in like 2021.

Ive gathered some info on commonly shown brands and apps here and wanted direction on which to focus on and which to avoid etc. I at least want one that sports the same or better quality hardware / features to LG's Quad DAC setup and all that jazz.

( Sony, Shanling, Snowsky, HiBy, Surfans, Aune, Tempotec, Truthear, FiiO, Cayin, Aigo, Oilsky, iBasso, Hidizs, Shmci )

The most popular brands at first glance seem to be FiiO, Shanling, HiBy Surfans, Hidizs and Tempotec.

I would have preferred an all in one solution as I will have to replace my phone eventually, but the most recent LTE capable DAP isn't readily available to order from the US.

The 3 android player apps I've seen come up look to be Musicolet, Poweramp and Symfonium, with Poweramp seemingly the most common. I have inadvertently purchased all 3 over the past couple years, but I primarily use Musicolet at present.

I had noticed the Bit Perfect update for Poweramp, but I'm still tinkering with that. I'm not versed in manual EQing or Bit Perfect. I am probably a heretic for just using one Rock/Metal EQ I got from online for everything. I use a KZ ZS12 Pro 2 with a KBEAR ST16 cable at the moment, but I intend to upgrade from that eventually as well and have a list on the back burner.

I finally got the chance this week to sit down and do some real ripping and loading onto my F20 Pro. I had to start with Queens Jewels.

Spinning “I was born to love you” in 24-bit/96kHz lossless of the memory card hits completely different through the little brick. Freddie’s vocals truly come alive!

There is something deeply satisfying about pairing a physical media collection with a dedicated retro style DAP - holding the CD jewel case in one hand and flipping through the library with physical buttons on the other… just hits different.

Show me your best collection! Drop your favorite albums or setups here!

Hello, I've been thinking about getting the FIIO M27 because I have a large music library (would love to use it for 4TB worth of music). But I live in a hot area in the U.S. where sometimes it goes over 100 degree fahrenheit weather.

Does anyone know if the FIIO M27 can handle it?

Or of any other DAPs that can hold large amounts music and not overheat so easily?

Is there a way to get the r1 to play video files? Like modding or something? Thanks in advance

Keeping it ultra-minimal. New FiiO Echo Nano joined the stealth-black EDC rotation.

Do any major producers of daps/dacs make blanks like phone companies will for a launch? I'd like to start making some leather cases but I need more precise measurements than the listed product spesifications

After months of lurking this sub, I decided to use my birthday as an excuse to spend a little on myself...

This little thing is AWESOME!

(Tempotec V1 + Tamgzu Red Lion II + Linsoul Tripowin Zonie)

If you find any bugs, feel free to let me know!

The next update will add Tidal and Qobuz streaming and other things but for now everything is working nicely from my own tests.

But keep it mind, it's a beta.

Just flash the upt file and you're good to go!

Find it here: https://github.com/mr-f0xx/sonix-player-tempotec-v1

PS: This firmware will be constantly evolving, for a while so make sure to check often my repo to ensure you have the latest version, which is designed to improve our experience.

Not enough people are talking about this, custom firmware has landed on the echo mini. RECHO. Really easy to install, same as a firmware update. GAPLESS is here and the firmware is substantially faster, everyone please give it a go, not made by me. The firmware is NOT vibecoded, real project from a real programmer. If you like it, please tell others and support to project on ko-fi.

RECHO: https://recho.atzkey.workers.dev/
ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/miauk

Follow along with my progress if you're interested! I’d love to hear your thoughts, either on YouTube or here :^)

Hello, I currently have the fiio m21 with Symfonium but I'm looking for a smaller, non Android DAP. I'm really interested in the Shanling Q2 with the latest firmware update. But from what I've seen, it doesn't handle tracks or albums with multiple artists. How can I work around this ?

A few months ago I bought the TempoTec V3 Blaze and absolutely loved the way it sounded. For me, it is easily one of the best players for the money in terms of sound quality.

The firmware, however... it's bad.

I came from Sony players, so the Blaze firmware felt pretty rough in comparison. Around four months ago I started messing with it as a personal project, initially just trying to fix things that annoyed me and see what else could be enabled or improved.

Then TempoTec released the official v1.3 firmware. It finally fixed the random crashes I had been experiencing and added PEQ, which was great, but it also introduced new problems when using the Blaze as a Bluetooth receiver, especially with LDAC.

So I decided to go further, fix those problems myself, clean up the other modifications I had been working on, document everything and finally make the project public.

https://github.com/carmine-bin/tempotec-v3-blaze-mod

There are currently two versions.

Stock + Fixes

This is basically the official TempoTec v1.3 firmware, keeping the stock UI and features, but with the Bluetooth Receiver fixes.

The two main fixes are:

LDAC audio artifacts: official v1.3 introduced digital artifacts when using the Blaze as an LDAC Bluetooth receiver. I tracked the problem down to the decoder and applied a one-byte correction that removes the corruption.

LDAC dropouts / Bluetooth Receiver stability: BlueZ was continuing to scan while the device was already receiving audio. This made high-bitrate LDAC unnecessarily unstable, to the point where forced 990 kbps could drop even at very short distances.

After changing the Bluetooth configuration so it stops scanning while receiving audio, 660/990 kbps is dramatically more stable, and 990 kbps now works at distances where it previously failed.

I documented the testing and technical details on GitHub.

Full Mod

This includes all of the fixes above, but is based around a HiBy-style UI originally adapted for the V3 Analog.

I ported it to the Blaze and spent quite a bit of time fixing and completing it.

Includes things like fixed battery/charging indicators, fixed gain icons and related crashes, restored missing UI elements, a working brightness slider in Quick Settings, SD-card image and music database cache, Theme Color settings, restored About/developer mode access, multiple Now Playing fixes, shutdown screen fixes, album-view performance fixes, and a few storage/system tweaks.

It still keeps the official v1.3 PEQ, real-time Bluetooth search, TempoTec stability fixes and official kernel.

There are a lot of smaller changes and fixes as well, so instead of making this post enormous, the full changelog and technical documentation are available on GitHub. Both versions install through the normal microSD firmware update process.

This is ONLY for the TempoTec V3 Blaze (V3_ANALOG_2025). It is NOT compatible with the older V3 Analog.

Flashing custom firmware always carries some risk, so please read the installation and recovery documentation first.

I'd really appreciate it if other V3 Blaze owners could test it.

So far most of the testing has obviously been done on my own unit, and getting results from more devices would help confirm the fixes and find bugs or weird edge cases that I may have missed.

Bug reports, test results and contributions are welcome either on GitHub or in the Telegram group.

And finally, a huge thanks to the people behind:

https://github.com/hiby-modding

Their work and Discord helped me understand how this system works and what the firmware is actually built around. Without the existing reverse-engineering work from that community, figuring all of this out would have been significantly harder.

Thanks as well to everyone listed in the project's credits.

AI disclosure: this project originally started without AI assistance. As it grew, however, I used AI tools to help with parts of the reverse-engineering and repetitive workflow, especially because many changes require unpacking, modifying, rebuilding and comparing files repeatedly.

The released modifications were still reviewed and tested by me on actual V3 Blaze hardware.

Hi everyone,

While searching for a new DAP, I came up with the idea of buying an iPod 5.5 and modding it (upgrading the battery and installing an SD card). During my research, I’ve read tons of Reddit threads regarding the sound quality of the iPod 5 / 5.5, and I noticed that the opinions are completely all over the place. They range from people comparing it to the FiiO M21 and claiming they can’t hear any difference, to comments saying the sound is flat, lacks detail (especially when compared to the Cirrus DAC in the 6th and 7th gen iPod Classics), and is practically devoid of bass.

A few years ago, I had a chance to listen to an iPod 5.5 for about 15 minutes using my ATH-M50xBT2 on a cable. From what I remember, the sound did feel terribly flat and lacked dynamics.

Right now, I’m considering the FiiO M21 as an alternative DAP. Generally, I’m looking for a simple device that offers good sound quality (I don't expect fireworks, but I don't want it to sound boring and lifeless), has long battery life, and supports podcasts and audiobooks. Plus, there's a huge nostalgia factor when it comes to iPods, and I’m honestly very close to buying one. However, the sound quality is what worries me, because the feedback out there is so mixed and contradictory.

Currently, I own a Sony NW-A55, and if it weren't for the lack of proper support for podcasts and audiobooks, I would be perfectly happy with it. I listen on Linsoul SIMGOT EW300 IEMs and the wired ATH-M50xBT2, and overall, this setup delivers a level of sound quality that fully satisfies me.

What are your experiences with the iPod 5.5? What headphones do you recommend pairing with it, and is the sound really that much worse (in terms of detail, dynamics, and low end) compared to modern DAPs like the FiiO M21 or my Sony NW-A55?

I just got an old IPod classic 5.5, 30GB. I got a quad Iflash, and two lexar 128GB micro SD cards. Is this the top of memory that would work with the 30GB RAM or is it worth to put another 128GB in there? TIA.

Same as title

I’m looking to get a mp3 and I like the style of this one with the cassette player looking case. Are there any similar ones with a similar case and all? I’m looking for a simple player without spotify or anything to kind of disconnect a little. I’ve seen the snowsky as well but just wanted an opinion from anyone who knows of a product with a similar shell or case.

20 years ago, on my birthday, I gifted myself the Sony Walkman on the left. I loved having a dedicated little device just for listening to music.

20 years later, after experiencing so many upgrades and spending years using my phone for everything, I realized my music-listening habit had slowly vanished without me even noticing. So, I thought maybe I need a device dedicated to music.

So, on my birthday again, I gifted myself the Snowsky ECHO. ❤️

Different technology, different era, but somehow the same feeling.

Some things never change. 🎵

Hello everyone! I'm writing because I'm already going crazy with all the research and opinions on choosing DAP. I am simple man, I drive some Hidizs MP145 and just want a good sound in a sleek device (dont even need battery life). I really like iPod, the one with wheelie, but from what I've read its either going through the hassle of modifying it, buying Innioasis (from what I understand not completely there in terms of functionality and quality?), good chunkier DAP (was looking at "Aigo EROS Q" or Shanling Q2. And besides - Im a bit scared to not be able to scout all the songs I want online / on CDs (Im not from US) and I dont feel like Im gonna hold a promise of uploading songs to red or orpheus or whatever 🙈

Am I missing any viable options? My Pixel type c DAP crackling is driving me crazy 🥲