Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Headphone Amps › iBasso D2: Boa Review (56K i shall slay thee!)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

iBasso D2: Boa Review (56K i shall slay thee!) - Page 6

post #76 of 115
9/11/08 at 11:22am
Sad panda. Ordered Monday night, it departed Hong Kong last night. It should be here friday.

I hope my LOD from CA comes before an amp from China comes LOL.
Reply

Head-Fi's Best Sellers

post #77 of 115
9/11/08 at 6:33pm
Does the Boa use 1/4 plugs or 1/8 plugs?
Reply
post #78 of 115
9/11/08 at 7:02pm
1/8 plug. The only portable I know of that has a 1/4 is the Xin Reference.
Reply
post #79 of 115
9/12/08 at 4:23pm
Got mine yesterday (Thu) -- very fast shipping, as others have reported. I haven't done any extended listening or A/B comparisons yet, but here are some first reactions. Bear in mind my other setups are as described in my sig (ipod 6G -> LOD -> portaphile v2 -> Pk1 AND AV-710 -> Gilmore Lite -> HF-1)

-- Bass is good, but a bit muddy, compared to my preferred amps.

-- Less detail than I get from my other setups

-- Noticeably warmer than the portaphile and the gilmore.

This leaves me a little disappointed at first impression stage. I wonder if I would get better results from the D3 python? I really like the USB charging feature of the D2 though. I will keepan open mind until I get a chance to listen a little more carefully and extensively.
Reply
post #80 of 115
9/12/08 at 4:50pm
You need to get at least 100 hours on it if not more. The bass isn't good at first nor is the detail. Things have to form.
Reply
post #81 of 115
9/12/08 at 4:53pm
Good to know -- thanks for the burn-in advice (I must have missed that in my reading). Looks like I will go hunting for a pink noise file for this purpose...
Reply
post #82 of 115
9/12/08 at 5:08pm
Foobar questions w/ Boa (I am using Eee pc 901 XP with FB2K v0.9.5.5). I have installed KS & ASIO optional components. But I haven't gotten them to work.

I'm guessing I need ASIO4ALL, which I haven't installed yet.

Any idea why Kernel Streaming isn't working, though? When I go to select output device, the list shows KS: USB Audio Device and DS: USB Audio DAC (as well as my default devices). Any idea why the designation is different (no KS: DAC)? When I try using the KS output device, I get nothing at first (the icon indicates it's playing, but the time does not advance), then (after I pause & play a couple of times, terrible sound (lots of static & bits of distorted things that were once part of the music I imagine). Any idea what's going on? I tried resampling to 48khz, but that didn't solve the problems.

KS output works fine on my desktop machine with the AV-710, so I never bothered to go down the ASIO route -- now it looks like I need to, but I'd also like to know why KS doesn't play nice with the Boa. Any ideas? (I am using the DS output to USB Audio DAC for now, but I'd rather bypass the windows kernel mixer if possible.)
Reply
post #83 of 115
9/12/08 at 6:06pm
Any comment on using boa with Denon D2000 and SR225?
Thanks.
Reply
post #84 of 115
9/12/08 at 6:22pm
After a week I must say I've really grown to love iBasso D2 Boa with Shure SE530's. I have Sennheiser HD-650 waiting for me at the post office but I've been contemplating if I should just not get them. I don't believe D2 can drive them to their full potential and getting another amp is just a hassle when it comes to traveling. I have traveled quite a lot with Total BitHead and (HD-600, ER-4P). So now I'm actually considering leaving my setup as it is and just enjoy the music. I've found so much more music that previously I couldn't stand with my TBH + (SE530, HD-600, ER-4P).

The combo sounds so fine even after one week and it's so portable that it leaves very little to be desired. I do have Pico also on order, but no idea when to get it. And as others have stated, it's not worth the 3x price to get 2% better SQ. I think I'd spend my money better by buying some DAP so I can enjoy this wonderful combo without my laptop.

For less than 500 dollars I got more than I expected. I actually bought D2 just to get something better than TBH before the infinite wait for Pico and I've been positively surprised how much value I got for my money.

Thank you all!
Reply
post #85 of 115
9/12/08 at 7:57pm
Got mine in. How do you use the usb DAC with a mac? I connected it but nothing comes up. Does it work through iTunes?

Gotta mention that this thing is SMALL. Nearly the size of the mentos amps found on ebay. It's also very light.

Build quality is amazing. Definatly drives my Grado SR-80 better then a Fiio lol. Well worth 187 dollars.
Reply
post #86 of 115
9/12/08 at 8:29pm
You have to go into preferences and go to the sound management under hardware. It will show up there and you click on it and all will be fine.
Reply
post #87 of 115
9/13/08 at 12:21am




Some pictures. USB-DAC is MIND BLOWING. Crystal clear. Wow wow wow. Coming from a Fiio and a crappy logitech z-5500 ........I'm in heaven.
Reply
post #88 of 115
9/15/08 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamato8 View Post
You need to get at least 100 hours on it if not more. The bass isn't good at first nor is the detail. Things have to form.
Status update: I've got about 30-35 hours on it so far, all music (no pink noise, as earlier contemplated). Mostly through the DAC, running from my desktop or the Eee PC 901 -- but some from the ipod/LOD. It may be a bit improved -- better detail? Bass is probably somewhat tighter than on first report, but I'm hoping it will continue to improve, as you say.

BTW, I did get foobar --> ASIO4All sorted out. I haven't done any comparisons with the DirectSound output, but I'm happy to have it worked out anyway (still curious about KS, but I guess it doesn't matter).

-----

Further update: I now have about 60+ hours on the amp, and it is sounding a bit better, though I haven't done any side-by-side comparisons lately. Bass seems to have a bit more impact, but it's not as precise as I'd like -- still on the muddy side I'd say. Lots of air & good soundstage -- overall a very rich and slightly warm sound.
Reply
post #89 of 115
9/16/08 at 3:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by alxwang View Post
Any comment on using boa with Denon D2000 and SR225?
Thanks.
FWIW I've been using mine with markl-modded D5000's - including the comparison test with the Pico that I wrote about earlier in the thread.
Reply
post #90 of 115
9/17/08 at 11:43am
Line out?

I noticed that a mini-mini partially inserted into the input jack produces sound from the DAC even when the amp is turned off (pot clicked all the way left & front blue light off). This appears similar to the line-out function on the python and other amps from ibasso, except that it doesn't work with a plug fully inserted into the jack. Can anyone else confirm this operation? (It works with headphones too -- I tested without them on my head to avoid hearing damage, although the output level was not that high actually.) Any idea how to get this to work reliably? Is there a different type of mini-plug that will capture this output? I would love to have the option of line-out with this amp (I would have bought the Python but I wanted the USB charging capability).
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Portable Headphone Amps

Head-Fi's Best Sellers

Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Portable Headphone Amps › iBasso D2: Boa Review (56K i shall slay thee!)