I received my DA2 player a few weeks ago, and I like it overall. Let me address its pros and cons.
The DA2 player is a bit wider than the DS1/DA1, which I will refer to from now on as the "old" players. When you first encounter it, it appears to have many more buttons than the old players, but in fact, it only has a few more. It is a bit lighter than the old ones.
Finally, it has Bluetooth, with a reliable Bluetooth radio, which allows you to connect to earbuds, headphones, glasses, hearing aids, speakers, and more. Note that you cannot connect Bluetooth keyboards or Braille displays.
It has BARD support, allowing you to download books and magazines and add them to your wish list.
I've pined for this feature for years! I honestly don't get why you have to set it yourself, as it is connected to the internet, but it's just once, so no big deal.
No power cord in the back anymore, and you can finally connect it to a computer directly. You cannot use this to connect keyboards or audio devices, as far as I am aware.
A decent amount of internal storage, especially if you're just storing NLS books, which are fairly small.
You can put audio files anywhere, not just in the Audio+Podcasts folder. It will treat each folder as a separate book, which could be a pro or a con, but will label every one of those folder-books "Other Books."
Maybe it's just me, but it's a feature I didn't know I wanted until I had it. Additionally, you can press Info to hear more... well, info, like book number and description.
Maybe it's me, but I think it's a vastly better speaker than the old players.
The player plays jingle sounds when you start it, shut it down, etc. Gotta love 'em.
When I press a key, it happens. I didn't notice the latency of the old player until I started adjusting the volume on the new player. Wow! Kudos to the engineers on this one.
They added a Bookshelf button, but if you press and hold Play/Stop, it'll still take you to the Bookshelf. Old habits die hard.
The player supports the NTFS file system, allowing for higher-capacity flash drives.
Keep in mind that this is a free product, so you can't expect everything, and I appreciate what they've done already. Some bugs mentioned may be ironed out in future updates. If I notice that they have, I will update this post.
Pro or con, you decide, but it means a less natural-sounding experience. I will fondly miss "Player on."
Wi-Fi is kinda there, but the radio, in my experience, is pretty hit-or-miss. I found it didn't detect the network well, and was extremely slow.
When you adjust the speed, the audio will skip a tad bit, and if you're using TTS to read the user guide, it may jump to the next section.
I have always found the A Capella voices included on Humanware-designed products distasteful, as in my opinion they are neither natural-sounding nor responsive. There are a few English voices and one Spanish voice currently available.
They are sometimes hard to distinguish their meanings on first glance, and the button location can vary. In saying so, I appreciate that once you've learned the buttons, it's not that big of a deal.
It takes around five times longer to start than the old player, and it also takes longer to refresh the bookshelf.
Overall, a great improvement, and I congratulate and thank the Library for consistently excellent service.