I recently bought an M300 because of rave reviews and the sound quality is poor. I tried it with native playback, HiBy Music and Poweramp and spent hours configuring it. While it sounds good on some songs, I miss the clarity of my MacBook Pro or even Apples dongle. It sounds sharp, vocals sounds sometimes a bit screechy (even on Taylor Swifts Mirrorball). Listening to music on the MacBook Pro is at another level.
Do you have recommendations for a DAP which can deliver that sound quality and warmness of the MacBook Pro without harsh/loud vocals and ideally a screen size under 5 inch?
I’m not one to notice much of a difference bw sound quality diff daps but I’ve seen reviews that say the Hiby R4 has that warm sound and Fiio M21 has that more neutral, more natural sound without much colouration. So maybe go for the bigger brothers of the m300. If you’re sticking with on device files then maybe consider the new R3 2025 version ( iirc its the R3 pro mk2 2025 but I’m not sure). Otherwise if you want android, Hiby R4 has been received pretty well in the community.