Nov 24, 2014 - Introduction: I have been on a bit of Digital Audio Player (DAP) hype recently as I think these are the best way to listen to music on the go even if. I've had a chance now to use my C4 Pro (firmware version 1.00.02.01 downloadable from for a few.

The Colorfly C10 digital media player has been out for a while actually so this review is not about a new product launch. In fact, the whole process of this DAP ending up in my hands was more of a perchance situation when I visited the Guangzhou Audio Show back in early November 2017. I had my eye firmly on their new flagship DAP on display when I went over but the team at Colorfly got me to sit down and have a nice chat about this and that. At the end of it all the wood of the C10 proved too much to not ask about it and the net result was I walked away with one for a review. I am a solid C4 PRO fan, one of the original high-end DAPs way back when AK was a concept on the iRiver board meeting table. It was the DAP that got me off an iPod and into audiophile digital media player madness. It sits beside me to this very day.

Who can’t resist that retro wood and volume slider design? It is the same legacy now on the C10 albeit a bit slimmed down and it is equally full of old-school charm. What Is The Pitch? Mid-Fi The C10 was launched in 2015 and is still selling today though the street price seems to vary a fair amount. When launched the price was much higher at over $500. However, today the SRP is $299 making this a decidedly mid-fi DAP that competes squarely with non-OS mid-fi players such as the FiiO X3 Mark III and the Shanling M3s.

This is 100% a music player and has no crossover appeal such as you would find with the Android DAPs. Unique Aesthetic What makes it ‘different’ apart from the internals is the legacy of the C4Pro and that very old school combination of wood and retro front design with the slider volume button. That was what turned my head with the C4 and the C10 is aiming squarely for that market also. Never underestimate the wood fanatics, they are more hardcore the should shrugging aluminum crowd. Competitive Internals So the external pitch is really one of individual uniqueness, however, the internals is pretty good, even by today’s standards.

Inside there is the AK100 MK2’s DAC chip, the CS4398, you have the ability to decode DSD natively and a fairly light and breezy non-touch Linux OS that older Hifiman DAP users might be familiar with. Build Form Factor Old school is the best way to describe the C10 in 2017 yet I honestly think it has a charm unique in our ever growing faceless slabs of Android and Apple. The C10 is still fairly boxy by today’s lithe assembly standards but it is it much smaller than the C4 Pro measuring in at 67mm x 105mm x 19 mm compared to the C4’s portly 70mm x 125 mm x20mm.

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