Before Josh gives his opinion I would like to also offer my 0.02c. Using a DAP as a source for a HiFi system is perfectly acceptable.

There are some great DAPs out there including R-2R and 1-BIT such as the Cayin N7 (1-BIT) and HiBy RS8. They also offer a line out and in the case of the Cayin N7 it will give you a good pre-out also with volume control.

However, you still need a power amp for your speakers as no DAP has anything to directly hook up a speaker to. I might temper also that a pre out from a DAP would need a good quality Vrms output, perhaps a good preamp with gain boost and a stepped attenuator to allow you to change your source options around rather than get rid of everything and just use a DAP would be advisable.

thank you for your excellent review. Great service to DAP users and prospective buyers.
I have the following question.
While DAPs are designed for portable use with headphones and similar devices, I am thinking to replace my desk-top audiophile grade DATs (APL-DNP-M and 432 EVO AEON) plus DAC (Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE), possibly even the amp (Fezz Mira Ceti 300B) with suitable DAP only.
I do not stream, play from local USB or micro-SD drives only. I have very sensitive speakers (106 dB at 16 ohms) and listen in NF configuration at low volume in a small home studio. Use headphones only occasionally.
What do you think about this idea?
Best, Jerzy

Debating is healthy. Mind you the score above is readers, (audience), votes and has been since Jan 1, 2023. :)

Synergy is determined by the section entitled “Synergy” which includes efficiency with sources and amps and the ability to pair well with a wide range of sources or IEMs. All reviews are opinions by the way, even ones that throw up a measurement chart pretending to be objective but then tell you if they like it or not.

We also have in every single review at the top section a link to “How we score” as well as in the menu at the top of every page. That gives a broad overview also.

In order to provide more clarity, can you provide the break down of the score assigned to each category and the reasoning behind each score?

I would love more understanding in how ‘synergy’ is determined. Seems like a highly subjective category that can be used to weight the product score based on reviews opinion.

Cheers

Well, we do state clearly all the categories we score a DAP on at the very start of the review so I believe an assumption is not required here. We have been doing that for the last 8 years :)

Well, since Joshua wrote the review I have not tested it but I have tested quite a few other DAPs over the last 12 years, and having previously owned Ak DAPS I would also find the walled garden experience to be limiting.

That being said, I would not necessarily refer to otherwise excellent DAPs as “Chinese players” which could indicate some subjective geo-bias here which I would be loathed to assume. Many DAPs share commonly sourced and manufactured parts, including AK.

For qualitative we tend to resonate stronger with contextual since the reviewer has 3 DAPs in his hands 2 of which have scores already and he must balance what he is assessing and scoring against those benchmarks. You can find our rundown of how we score in every review with a link at the start or in the sub-menu “how we score”. I do not think we are any different in using scoring compared to many other long-established websites such as What HiFi.

As for validity, again the reviewer made an opinion, and you can agree or not agree, but not agreeing does not invalidate his opinion nor does it render your enjoyment of the DAP any less. That is the joy of reading a wide range of reviews and opinions, you get a broad perspective on what a wide variety of what people think about it or value.

The main thing is you are enjoying your purchased DAP which is more important than reading reviews post-purchase :)