The evolution of chipsets and Android optimization in DAPs

DAPs (Digital Audio Players) running the Android operating system have become popular, but they have almost always been launched with older chipsets and older versions of Google’s operating system for smartphones. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is the cost of development and optimization for a device aimed at a very small, niche audience that is highly demanding in terms of audio quality and the overall music experience.

The emergence of Android-based DAPs

Digital Audio Players running Android became popular thanks to music streaming services. The growth in the use of this music playback model can be seen in a chart created in September 2022 by James Eagle from the website EEAGLI, which used data from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the Billboard 200, the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), and the ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association).

One of the first companies to invest in this Android-based music player format—originally designed for smartphones—was FiiO, a Chinese audio equipment manufacturer founded in 2007. Over the years, other companies entered the Android DAP market, such as iBasso, Hiby, Shanling, and Sony, with its Walkman line of players.

Optimizing Android-based DAPs for high-fidelity music playback

The key differentiator of a DAP is its hardware and software designed to reproduce music with high fidelity and minimal interference. However, to make commercialization viable, it is necessary to balance costs while keeping the device focused on delivering the best possible audio experience.

The peak of this balance was reached with the Snapdragon 660 and Snapdragon 665 SoCs (System-on-a-Chip), which can be easily found in Digital Audio Players from FiiO, Hiby, Shanling, iBasso, and Cayin. To better understand what this means, it is worth reading what FiiO’s founder and CEO, James Chung, has said on the subject.

In an August 2025 post on the Chinese social network Weibo, Chung explained the software development cycle for the SoC used in his company’s DAPs:

“The software development cycle for the main processor took more than two years, with significant investment in personnel to develop and debug the software.
This is a major technical hurdle—and because the market is very niche, most brands do not even have the capability to develop on Android. That is why today there are only a few companies producing Android players.
And it’s worth noting: some brands do not even develop the software for their Android players themselves.”

In December 2024, Chung wrote the following in the “FiiO x Jade Audio JM21” thread on the Head-Fi forum:

“In the player industry, several years have passed since the application of the Qualcomm 660, and no better SoC has been applied to portable players. This is an important reason, because the player market is shrinking, and the higher the performance of a new SoC, the greater the required R&D investment.”

To give an idea of the scale of investment required when adopting a new SoC in Android DAPs, Chung explained the development costs in an August 2025 Weibo post, noting that these costs are usually spread across multiple models to dilute expenses:

“Excluding hardware engineers, there were five software engineers working for two years. Each Android software engineer costs more than 300,000 yuan per year (US$41,781 at direct conversion). That means labor costs alone were about 3 million yuan (US$417,812 at direct conversion).
In addition, even after launch, it is still necessary to maintain the team to fix issues and add features. From an economic standpoint, changing the processor is very costly—and that is why most brands keep the same chip for many years.”

As if that were not enough, there is also the difficulty of acquiring a Qualcomm SoC, since small companies cannot buy directly from the manufacturer. This is precisely the situation faced by DAP manufacturers, whose volumes are much lower than those of companies focused on smartphone sales.

To be able to purchase a Qualcomm processor, Chung explains that it is necessary to buy third-party modules that “already come with the processor, RAM and flash memory, a power management chip, and other common components, as well as a ready-to-use firmware SDK.” FiiO’s founder adds:

“When FiiO receives the module and software package, we ask the manufacturer to release the source code for certain functions so we can adapt them to our needs. Some functions we are not permitted to access—so the module manufacturer has to implement them for us.”

For an Android DAP, updating the Android operating system represents “a major investment,” says Chung, who explains why:

“Portable players not only need to adapt to certain hardware, but also need to modify the Android system at the system level to bypass SRC and support high sample rate audio formats.”

One of the main differences between a Digital Audio Player and a smartphone—beyond audio-focused hardware with lower interference and higher output power—is the ability to bypass the SRC (Sample Rate Conversion) applied by Android’s audio APIs, OpenSL ES (Open Sound Library for Embedded Systems) and AAudio.

The OpenSL ES and AAudio APIs are basically used to process audio on Android with low latency and high performance. SRC is used to standardize the audio output by the operating system in order to reduce CPU usage, improve audio transmission latency, and save battery life.

SRC performs resampling, converting all audio files to a 48 kHz sample rate. When plugging headphones into the 3.5 mm or 4.4 mm output of a DAP, the music’s sample rate is not altered. This can also be avoided by connecting an external DAC via an OTG cable to a smartphone and using an app that allows exclusive audio access to the connected external device.

Examples of apps that support exclusive audio access when connecting a DAC via USB include:

• FiiO Music
• Hiby Music
• USB Audio Player Pro

Apps need to be optimized for each Android version

According to Chung, when a Digital Audio Player’s operating system is updated, the company must optimize its music playback apps for that Android version:

“Updating to a newer version of Android also means that many apps need to be adapted to fix certain bugs or compatibility issues.”

He adds:

“Currently, an open Android system supports virtually unlimited apps, including hundreds of music streaming apps. Although these apps are essentially similar, there are still significant differences, so there is a high chance of encountering usage issues due to new drivers and systems, which need to be fixed and optimized through system updates.”

The influence of Google apps and Android services

Running Google apps—which come preinstalled on Android devices—and Android services/features (such as Digital Wellbeing and parental controls, Google Assistant, security and emergency features, etc.) affects a DAP’s performance because they consume resources (e.g., RAM, CPU, read/write operations).

With this in mind, some Digital Audio Player manufacturers modify the operating system, optimizing it to restrict the use of apps and services as much as possible when they do not make a difference to the use of a portable music player.

Some PMP (Portable Media Player) brands have chosen not to alter what Android offers by default (Google apps and system services). One example is Sony, which kept the stock operating system and modified only its native music playback app to allow bit-perfect playback [1], excluding third-party apps [2].

Since the Japanese manufacturer also updated the operating system from Android 12 to Android 14 on the Walkman A300 and ZX700 series without performing optimizations, these players became even slower. Fortunately, users can manually disable some Google apps and Android services/features.

[1] Bit-perfect refers to audio transmission without influence from the operating system used by the device responsible for music playback.

[2] Sony Walkman DAPs running Android do not modify the operating system to bypass SRC and other system-level processes that degrade audio. As a result, bit-perfect playback is only possible with Sony’s native music app and with apps that include specific drivers for this purpose, such as USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP).

Why isn’t an Android DAP updated to a newer OS version?

The SoC used in a DAP has specific drivers to manage the operation of its components, such as the display, physical buttons, sensors, DAC, Wi-Fi modem, Bluetooth modem, and others. The Android version used by the Digital Audio Player must support these drivers.

When new Android updates are released, they are usually compatible with newer drivers, which may prevent a given DAP from being updated to a newer OS version. Considering that Digital Audio Players already use older chipsets, the chances of an OS update are even lower.

In addition, new Android features may require greater CPU and GPU processing power. When using older SoCs—as is the case with Android DAPs—this can make it unfeasible to run a newer version of the operating system. Hence the need for manufacturers to implement system-level optimizations to deliver the best possible user experience.

When does a music streaming app stop supporting Android DAPs?

A music streaming app developer may stop providing updates for a specific Android version for several reasons. These reasons usually revolve around the following factors:

• A low number of app users on a given Android version.
• Lack of support for certain APIs or functionalities required to use new features implemented in the latest version of the app.
• Increased risk of security vulnerabilities.
• Use of Widevine L1, a digital rights management (DRM) technology that requires a high level of security. Currently, the only app that requires this is Nintendo Music, and it can only be used on Sony and iBasso Android DAPs.
• High development and testing costs due to the need for compatibility with multiple Android versions.
• Changes in app libraries to continue using modern technologies.
• Minimum API level (Target SDK) requirements imposed by the Play Store for new apps and their updates.
• Significant app restructuring with major changes to its architecture.

Target SDK is the API level for which the app was tested and optimized. It tells the Play Store and the operating system that the app knows how to handle the behavior of that version.

Each Android version has an associated API level. For example, Android 13 is associated with API level 33, while Android 14 is associated with API level 34.

What is the minimum Android version required by music streaming apps?

Each app has its own reasons for requiring a minimum Android version in order to run the latest update. Check the table below for the Android versions required by each music streaming app:

App	Minimum Android Version Required
Amazon Music	Android 10 (Android Q)
Apple Music	Android 10 (Android Q)
Deezer	Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Spotify	Android 7.0 (Nougat)
Qobuz	Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Tidal	Android 7.0 (Nougat)
YouTube Music	Android 8.0 (Oreo)

Does having the latest Android version guarantee continued app support on a DAP?

No. There are cases where, due to minimum API level (Target SDK) requirements imposed by the version of the Play Store installed on the DAP, apps may stop working properly. In addition, depending on the SoC used by the Digital Audio Player, compatibility issues may also occur.

Between 2020 and 2021, there were reports on Reddit and on Apple’s forum that Apple Music no longer allowed login on the FiiO M11. In an FAQ, the device manufacturer clarified that the issue was related to Samsung’s Exynos 7872 chip:

“Currently, the M11 can install and use Apple Music normally, but it cannot log in when attempting to sign in. This issue is related to the 7872 platform itself and has already been reported to Samsung for further processing.”