09 August,2026 07:29 AM IST | Mumbai | Jaison Lewis
The Digital Audio Player is like the spiritual successor of an iPod
The greatest thing about a smartphone is also its biggest problem, it does everything. You can take pictures, watch movies, listen to music, answer emails and, unfortunately, unlock your phone to change a song only to emerge three hours later wondering why you are watching a man restore a rusty axe. Maybe the solution is to stop making the phone do everything.
Enter the Digital Audio Player, or DAP. Think of it as the spiritual successor to the iPod, a dedicated little box whose primary job is to play music and, depending on what you buy, play it considerably better than your phone. Audiophile DAPs can cost ridiculous amounts of money, but you don't need to sell a kidney to get started.
There are now several budget DAPs available that give you dedicated music controls, expandable storage, decent audio hardware and, most importantly, absolutely no reason to check WhatsApp between songs. So, in the interest of de-streaming both our music and our attention spans, here are some budget DAPs worth looking at.
If your budget is really tight, this is where I would start. The AGPTEK is tiny, plastic and resolutely uncomplicated. Put music on it, plug in headphones and press play. Revolutionary.
You get physical controls, 32GB of built-in storage on the reviewed A02 variant, microSD expansion and a claimed battery life of around 40 hours. Bluetooth can send audio to wireless headphones and speakers, although it doesn't work as a Bluetooth receiver for your phone.
It isn't an audiophile powerhouse, but that almost misses the point. For less than Rs 5,000, it gets your music off your smartphone and removes all the distracting rubbish that came with it. Which, when you think about it, is exactly why we started looking at DAPs in the first place.
Rs 4,600
The Echo Mini looks like someone shrunk an old cassette player and stuffed modern audio hardware inside it. I approve. You get dual CS43131 DACs, both 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm headphone outputs, Bluetooth, physical controls and microSD expansion. The sound is warm, full-bodied and easy to listen to rather than obsessively detailed, which is probably a good thing unless your idea of relaxing involves listening for the third triangle player at the back of an orchestra.
Rs 10,500
The M0''s is tiny. At around 37 grams, it is closer to an old iPod Nano than the chunky DAPs audiophiles usually lug around. Despite the size, it packs a CS43131 DAC, Bluetooth with LDAC support, USB DAC functionality, and microSD support up to 2TB. The sound is relatively neutral and works best with easy-to-drive earphones and IEMs. The tiny 1.54-inch touchscreen is both its greatest strength and weakness. It makes the M0s wonderfully pocketable, but navigating a large music collection on it can become annoying.
Rs 15,500
The M30 looks gloriously old-school, with a metal body, physical controls, and a scroll wheel. It is the sort of player that makes you feel like you should be loading Winamp skins somewhere. More importantly, it sounds good. Reviews point to strong detail, good instrument separation, controlled bass and a slightly forward midrange that works particularly well with rock and metal. Battery life is quoted at around 30 hours, and despite the official limitations, reviewers have successfully used 512GB cards through folder browsing. The downside is that the interface feels dated, and you don't get luxuries such as Bluetooth or USB.
Rs 15,722
The Rs 1 is probably one of the more sensible all-rounders on this list. It uses a Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC, supports microSD cards up to 2TB and weighs just 70 grams. Battery life is around 15 hours. The sound leans warm rather than brutally analytical, which makes it pleasant for long listening sessions. HiBy also includes its MSEB sound adjustment system, which lets you play with vocal presentation without needing a degree in equaliser frequencies.
Rs 12,900
If what you really want is an iPod Classic without having to hunt for a 20-year-old one, the Innioasis Y1 comes very close. It has the familiar click wheel, a 2.4-inch colour screen, USB-C, Bluetooth, a headphone jack and approximately 25 to 30 hours of claimed music playback. It also comes with 128GB of storage. There is a catch. The 128GB is on a microSD card buried inside the device, so upgrading it involves opening the Y1 and performing a little surgery.
Rs 6,999
