Can anyone suggest the best measured DAP around $700?
Fiio BTR5 measures better than M11 and M11 Pro. It makes me think about why I should spend all the money on M11 and the Pro when not only they measure worse, but Zeos liked BTR5 more.
Even something like Aune BU1 measures better than them.
I know they’re not DAPs but I really don’t want to sacrifice the sound quality for a display.
EDIT: Finally found it. It’s iBasso DX160 for only $400.
I would suggest stop worrying about measurements and start looking at enjoyment. Measurements are a tool to help understand how an Amp, Dac or Headphone sounds. But that’s it, good measured stuff can sound harsh and not so good measured stuff can sound glorious. It’s all about what kind of sound signature you like, we’ve all been down this road. As for the Daps the Fiio M11 it’s very neutral. Hiby and Ibasso tend to be warmer.
yeah this isn’t really the forum for measurments lol. Ask Davidbiza or Hazi for good daps in that price range to my knowledge they have dabbled with DAPS alot
Line out for me is important because I want to feed my amps with it, too.
The problem is that, M11’s THD is too much (0.001%) while Fiio X5ii’s, a very old dap, is only 0.0006%. The same as M11 Pro.
I already have a tube preamp which colors the sound decently. I wanted to go for the best measurements to have the uncolored sound, too.
That is imperceivable by miles, not even a bat would hear it. My 2 cents, get the M11 pro and forget about measurements.
Some of the best sounding amps in the multi thousand dollar range are worse that 0.1% THD.
Because that’s good enough and pushing that metric a lot further compromises other aspects of the amp.
Amps are more than just frequency response, unless you just want to listen to excessively loud frequency sweeps which is how that’s measured.
FWIW the error in your headphones Or speakers are measured in single digit percentages, not fractions, so whether your DAP/Amp is 0.1%, or 0.0001% or whatever the transducer errors swamp any error they introduce.
I’m sure ASR probably has measurements of that’s what your looking for.
If so, wouldn’t it be better to get M11 since according to Zeos, it’s more powerful?
Because THX great measurements (which I really don’t see them in M11 Pro to be honest) shouldn’t be audible.
Thx and not thx differences are audible for the trained ear and not always for the better. As you put that much importance in measurements I recommended the pro (Thx). But if it were me I would get the regular M11 which is still very neutral and has important features like double micro SD slots.
Piece of advice: buy used until you know exactly what you like. That way if you aren’t sure you can always sell it back with little or no money loss. That will save you money and will open the possibility of trying different gear.
I don’t get DAPs, personally. I’ll get a BTR5 one day. Already have a 256gb microSD card on my phone with a ton of music on it (…and a screen, obviously lol). I’d rather use my phone as an “everythingizer” 
and not buy “everything twice” which feels like a waste (and, environmentally, is).
Fiio Q5S is probably what you’re searching for? Also available used, also available with a THX module.
Oh, I completely forgot about iFi. There’s the iFi iDSD nano / black label etc.
Links:
Edit: Deleted the xCAN because it’s JUST an amp. 
It’s really more about getting away from your phone and “unplug” by just having a sole device for music and just music. Also it’s nice to have just one device instead of having to have the separate dac/amp to connect to your phone as well. A lot of people also don’t believe in Bluetooth for audio yet even though it is pretty damn good nowadays with bluetooth 5 via Ldac and aptxHD.
The Q5S is indeed a awesome do it all device for a pretty great price, when I had mine I actually used it with bluetooth on my phone more often than not. I ultimately decided to sell it and go for a DAP instead for the exact reasons I mentioned above (as well as I was looking for something with a bit less analytical sound) but it is definitely a great piece of kit especially if you need the features.
I find it cheaper to just learn to leave the phone in my pocket, lol.
…Whether it’s effective or not is unrelated. 
Thanks for suggesting but I have (had, actually) a bit of problem with DSD1793.
I have an Aune T1SE which uses the same dac. The sound was always kinda off to me. It was enjoyable though and I thought the difference is because of the tube.
One good thing about the dac is that it bypasses most parts of its processing if plays DSD. Now I’m using Neutron and the PCM to DSD option. The sound quality improved significantly, at least to my ears. It makes sense because it is an old dac after all. The oversampling algorithms can’t compete with a 2020 software with much more horsepower.
That’s why I’m looking for the best measurements to have a taste of pure uncolored sound, too.
Hello,
I habe heard the Hiby R3 are not bad,take a look from Hiby Series maybe is okay for you.They habe good power for a Dap i find.And not bad chips inside.
Yup, a 300$USD portable amp. Oh well.
(Just saw the Joshua Valour’s review of the iCAN and iDSD – it’s the desktop versions – $$$)
Well, I finally found it: iBasso DX160
These are the measurements that I was looking for.
The sound signature is musical and engaging, the amp is powerful and hiss-free, and it measures almost perfect. Guess we can have both musicality and good measurements at the same time.
This is much better than what Fiio could ever offer, even with THX. And it’s half the cost of M11 Pro.
Recommed Fiio M11 pro, iBasso DX160 and Shanling M6 pro
The Ibasso DX 160 is the one I have. Not perfect but happy with it.