Third Time's the Charm
Quick disclaimer:
I'm not an audiophile, just a power user who wanted a separate device to listen to music so I could stay off my phone. This took way more effort than I expected, so here's the full rundown in case it helps anyone else.
1st try: Sony NW-A25
This was my first pick after doing some research, and honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that mine came scratched to hell, this would've been the winner. Great look, great functionality, great audio quality oh and really dumb thing but I really liked the sense me channels and its something I genuinely miss. My only other gripe was that Bluetooth wouldn't connect to my car, but I could've lived with that. The scratches were the dealbreaker. Returned it.
2nd try: Innioasis Y1
After the Sony experience, I wanted something brand new instead of risking another used/refurb situation. It came down to the Innioasis Y1 or the Snowsky Echo Mini. I went with the Y1 for the Rockbox capabilities. I'd heard about sound quality issues going in and thought "how bad could it really be?"
Bad. Real bad. It made all my headphones clip and sound muddy. Looked great, sounded like garbage. And if the whole point of a DAP is to actually listen to music, sound quality kind of has to be non-negotiable. So I returned it too.
3rd try: Snowsky Echo Mini
This was originally my last choice because I'd heard the UI was cumbersome, but at this point I decided I'd rather have good audio and a mediocre UI than the reverse. So I bit the bullet.
I've only had it a few days, but here's where I'm at:
Audio quality: Genuinely good. Bass feels a little lacking, but that might just be because I'm already cranking it through Poweramp on my phone, so I'm comparing against an inflated baseline.
UI: Not as responsive as I'd like, but not a dealbreaker either. I dont like the fact it doesn't support playlist but since I keep all of my music divided into folders I can just use those as a replacement for playlist so not a big deal atleast for me.
Gapless playback: Doesn't support it, but I don't really listen to albums start to finish, so it's a non-issue for me.
Bluetooth: This is my actual complaint. Every time I turn it off, it completely forgets my headphones and I have to re-pair them. Sound quality over Bluetooth is just okay too, feels like it's missing some volume compared to wired.
I know the Y2 is out now, but honestly, I'm too tired to get it. What this whole process taught me is that if I want every single box checked, I'd basically need an Android based DAP and at that point I already have my phone with Poweramp doing that job. So I'm keeping the Echo Mini. I like the look, I like the sound, and frankly I'm just tired of returning things. I wanted a fun way to listen to music away from my phone, and I guess I got there, it just took a lot more trial and error than I expected.
TLDR:
Went NW-A25 (great but arrived scratched) → Innioasis Y1 (looked good, sound quality was genuinely bad, made headphones clip) → Snowsky Echo Mini (good audio, mediocre UI, forgets Bluetooth pairing on power off, keeping it). Not chasing the Y2 because im tired of returning things and at higher price points I just rather use my phone.