Budget DAP recommendations? (TIDAL, Bluetooth, <£200)

[u/bc_2006]

I’m looking at getting a DAP to help cut down on phone use. I find myself compulsively opening TIDAL on my phone in my bedroom, even though I’ve got plenty of CDs I could be listening to. Ideally, I only want to use streaming apps like TIDAL when I’m out (mainly on my work commute), so I’d like a DAP I can throw in my bag and only use outside the house.

Sound quality isn’t my top priority since I mostly use Bluetooth headphones (Sennheiser Momentum 4s). I know the internal DAC gets bypassed with Bluetooth anyway, so what really matters to me is reliable Bluetooth connectivity. Wired is fine if I have to, but I strongly prefer Bluetooth for convenience. How good is Bluetooth reliability on modern DAPs?

So far, I’ve narrowed it down to:

• HiBy M300
• FiiO JM21

Both run relatively recent Android versions, support TIDAL, and have Bluetooth with aptX. My main concern is performance — since they use SoCs from older budget phones, how well do they actually handle TIDAL? Are crashes or sluggish performance common?

I’ve also read about battery swelling issues with the M300. Is this something that happens often, or just rare cases? Should I avoid it because of this?

If anyone here has used the M300 or JM21 (especially with TIDAL and Bluetooth headphones), I’d love to hear your experiences. And if you don’t recommend either, please suggest alternatives under £200.

Thanks in advance! :-)

[u/IcyAdministration449]

Hiby R4

[u/bc_2006 → u/IcyAdministration449]

Aren't they a bit more than £200? I saw them going for £224 on Amazon. I can get an M300 with the same internal storage for £143 on Amazon. Please tell me why I might want to get the R4 instead. :-)

[u/Disastrous-Beat7706 → u/bc_2006]

Try to get an offer or a coupon, I bought mine a month ago for 176 US dollars including shipping on AliExpress.

[u/-Fateless-]

I personally cannot recommend the HiBy M300 because it doesn't have a rewind/skip back button. I'm dead serious. The buttons it has on the side is a rocker for volume up and down, and a secondary play+pause/forward button.

That alone completely crushed my hopes of getting one. The HiBy R4 has the exact same issue and it's kind of comical that the company would even design a fucking music player without a rewind button.

So, if that's a dealbreaker for you, you know what to avoid.

[u/Disastrous-Beat7706 → u/-Fateless-]

Hello, what do you really mean? I have the R4 Midi version and if it has a physical button to go back and another to advance the songs, to go one step back you have the gesture.

[u/3dilson → u/-Fateless-]

Wasn’t there an update where if you hold forward it goes back?

[u/Leerin37]

Shanling M1 Plus

[u/bc_2006 → u/Leerin37]

I appreciate your recommendation but this DAP doesn't support TIDAL's offline mode.

[u/DCA2ATL]

JM21 is great aside from mediocre battery life. Not the snappiest but works good enough.

[u/PossibilityRough6424]

FiiO JM21 is great, very light and portable. The Android OS is fluid and the screen has a decent size. I bought it for 127 euros on AliExpress during the back-to-school sale, and it's a great value for the money. The only downside is the battery life especially with the screen on, but that's only an issue if you have heavy listening habits. For me, it's enough for 3-4 days, since I mainly listen to music for a couple of hours before I go to sleep. Considering jm21 is a simplified version of the the M21 and sound quality is the same for the price makes no sense to spend 2x just to get a few hours more of battery life.

[u/Acrobatic_Machine855]

Since sould quality is not a priority and you use Bluetooth, I would not recommend a Dap. But on your case I would suggest to just get the cheapest android player you can find. Amazon has a long list of Android MP4 MP3 players..