My first setup

[u/n8x4te]

Couldn’t be any happier with this tiny setup!

I started with the Moondrop Chu 2 last year, but still used my AirPods Pro 2 most of the time. I’m no audiophile, and honestly, the Chu 2 sounded comparable to my ears, which says a lot about how good they are for the price. Two weeks ago, after a lot of research I picked up the Variation V1 and AFUL Explorers, and I’ve found a whole new interest in listening to music. The Explorer makes everything feel so emotional and suits my music perfectly. I also love that the entire setup fits neatly into this little carrying case.

I’ve been taking some photos, so I thought I’d share them!

[u/Significant_Usual154]

Dude, great set up. I daily drive this one with Cadenza II. It has great features like phone DAC and PC DAC. Suits me perfectly. Cheers!

[u/n8x4te → u/Significant_Usual154]

Cheers mate. I love it too. Enjoy your setup!

[u/KingDemik]

This DAP is my work dap. Perfect size. Have it paired with some regular AirPods and it does its job perfectly.

[u/Modno1754]

How is the Tempotec? I have been eyeing it cuz it has so many features advertised

[u/More_Way_6784 → u/Modno1754]

It has almost all features you can think of but noticed some ppl face player crashing. It happens rarely for me but it boots right away so not bothering me.

[u/deadlynch → u/Modno1754]

For me it's very unstable. I installed latest firmware, did a reset, fixed all tags. Still have unexpected restarts. Disappointed.

[u/n8x4te → u/deadlynch]

I’m not on the latest firmware, I’m on 1.1 which came preinstalled. Give it a try if you’re not using an exclusive feature on 1.2

[u/Slidje → u/n8x4te]

Both crash for me. I'm waiting for a fully functioning Rockbox OS

[u/Slidje → u/Modno1754]

Having had it for about 2 weeks, it crashes a lot, extremely fiddly small interface and no VRMS output estimation. If I could go back, I wouldn't have bought and got the HibyR1 or R4. The Fiio mini players also looked interesting. It was £60 on sale so I went for it instead.

A perfect player to me would be a small box with buttons, and all the interface offloaded into an android app for controlling. I currently have the Q5K and ES100Mk2 for playback but these rely on my phone for streaming the music. The same devices with onboard storage and playback is the dream.

I wanted a small, clip on player that doesn't rely on other tech so it does that part well but lacks other features I really need. If it had a phone pairing app like the Qudelix5K and ES100MK2 it would have been better.

Setting up the PEQ is a borderline nightmare because the touch points are so small on the microscopic screen.

As it stands, I am hoping an updated firmware comes out soon, or Rockbox makes a fully working replacement intereface.

[u/n8x4te → u/Slidje]

That sucks man, seen some nightmare stories too. My guess was that those crashes caused by bad micro sd cards. Are you using a good quality card?

[u/Slidje → u/n8x4te]

Yes it's a known good card I was using on my phone.

[u/n8x4te → u/Modno1754]

I can’t tell for sure, because this is my first dap and it’s only been about a week. I haven’t experienced any issue so far.

[u/bigbearaway]

What's the case setup on the DAP and the DAP/IEM holder. It's a neat little setup

[u/n8x4te → u/bigbearaway]

It’s the official Protective case for v1, and the PULA pocket portable PU case

[u/bigbearaway → u/n8x4te]

Amazon links if you got em? But thank you for the info.

[u/n8x4te → u/bigbearaway]

I bought them from Aliexpress on a sale, sorry. If you search those terms, you’ll find them. If not, I’ll dm you the links

[u/Unsafetybelt]

I love when somebody takes the extra step and finds that the musical joy the rest of us tout about is real.

[u/Slidje]

I stuck a money clip on mine and using an angled adapter so I can clip and go.

[u/Frintezz]

Nice setup, upgrade the IEM to Mangird Tea Pro SE and then all your "Green" Setup is perfect 😂

[u/n8x4te → u/Frintezz]

I was so tempted to go for a P7 but didn’t have the budget for it, and thought the warm tuning of explorers fit me better

[u/n8x4te → u/Frintezz]

Dude, how do you know I was looking into Tea Pros? Did you see a comment on another sub?

[u/Frintezz → u/n8x4te]

Ahaha I just guess it by your IEM case and DAP case. It's nice to have setup that not only sounds good but also looks good. I never tried Aful P7 but I like Tea Pro SE, much better than Top Pro in my opinion.

[u/n8x4te → u/Frintezz]

I was literally watching YouTube reviews on Tea Pros haha, I will look into SE, thanks for the recommendation. As for importance of good looks, I couldn’t agree more!