Dethonray DTR1+ Review

Build Quality

The material used for the chassis is a lightweight aluminium alloy, which helps to reduce EMI. It also allows the player to be light in the hand, which I can confirm. Overall the player feels very rigid and sturdy. A lightweight design usually feels cheap with these kinds of devices, but I can say that this is not the case with the DTR1+. The device feels sharp and ready to receive any kind of blow. However, I suggest you protect it from possible scratches since this rectangular shape with an aluminium/gloss finish is prone to those.

The buttons feel good when pressed and you get good feedback, more so than the original model. From distance, the DTR1+ may seem very basic, but when you have it into your hands, you can feel the design actually is thoughtful. It’s built and designed very well. The new charging unit also has better build quality since it’s also aluminium.

Software

The player uses a classic Linux OS with a very simple UI. I personally didn’t face any problems with the OS as it is on point and easy to use. At first, it may be difficult to adapt to the button layout in today’s smartphone and touch screen world, but after some time it’s really easy to get used to. The good thing is that Anson listens to the community and brings firmware updates accordingly, for the best functionality and user experience.

Operation and Settings

The DTR1+ is quite fast in terms of operation, with very responsive direction buttons and a fast database search. The UI is quite simple indeed, but the functionality is perfect without any flaws. The latest version (1.20), which was claimed as the “Stable Version”, with a bug-free experience.

The settings allow you to play around with screen time, brightness, CUE, Gain (PO/LO), Filters, Auto Shutdown, Play Mode (random, replay etc.) and more. One thing I missed from the original model is the Wake-Up mode. That allows any button to wake up the device but somehow it’s removed.

The gain setting is very generous which supports 4 different options including “middle gain” and “extra high gain”. This way you can set the gain according to your IEMs and headphones precisely. The Line-Out Gain setting is also the same with 4 options, including the hilarious “insane” option.

I particularly liked their update policy with the original DTR1 in 2019. They kept listening to the users who actually use the DAP and updated it accordingly. In fact, the “Middle Gain” setting was actually added for earbud users who demanded a little more power than low gain. This option is still present from that day on.

Overall if you like to have a fancy UI with several EQ settings and etc., this is not the player for you. If you’re a purist, however, you can perfectly rely on the OS.

User Experience

Of course, this is not a modern-day DAP. It’s small, rectangular and supports one Micro SD card to stock your tunes on. Yet, I really liked this goal-oriented design approach from Dethonray. Everything works smoothly in a very small package. Nowadays we have large and heavy players with big screens, but the DTR1+ is very compact, light and very easy to grip. Overall the operation has been very pleasing to me so far and I think it’s the same for the other users.

One negative side of the device is the screen brightness. On a sunny day, it’s quite difficult to use the screen. I think Anson could’ve changed the screen to a brighter one for better usability.

There are some points that you should be also aware of. There’s no cable connection to your computer with the DTR1+. The only option is to use a Micro SD card to put your songs on. So your PC must support an SD Card input. That is also the case for the firmware updates. The only other option is to have a card reader.

Charging

As I mentioned above, you need to use the supplied charger only, and there’s no other option. The connection is micro-HDMI, which is very rare to see. The reason behind this choice lies in the unique circuit design. To save space, the actual charger holds the charging circuit of the DAP instead of the DAP itself. The Micro HDMI interface allows transferring the current & voltage information to the dual-density batteries inside.

MicroSD Only

The device has a single MicroSD port without any internal storage. You can use MicroSD cards up to 2TB in ExFat format. However, when you want to upgrade the software, the only option is a FAT32 card. So while using the DTR1+, you will heavily rely on your MicroSD cards. Because of this, it would’ve been nice to have an SD Card adapter of some sort in the package.

Battery Life

The battery life is fairly good with up to 10 hours in the specs. Real-life experience would be around 6-7h in my opinion, and although I haven’t done any specific battery tests, I can honestly say that this is not the best DAP in terms of battery life. The circuit design relies on high and clean power at all times. I also found out that the charging takes quite some time to get a full charge.

Page 1: About the Brand, About the Device, Upgrades, Design

Page 3: Sound

Page 4: Comparisons and Conclusion