Icon Mobile Upgrade Recommendation - Page 2

that budget id say have a look at the XM5. very versatile and its bass bost does wonders far the er4

oh and it has a 75 ohm adapter bulit in

I will for sure, cant wait to get it supposed to be awesome sounding.

I found some of my notes on the highs from when I was comparing the uDAC vs. the Extasy a few weeks ago, if this will help. I was going to post directly in the other thread, but considering the results I thought it might be better to just post it here instead so as to not disturb the fanboyism too much. Between the two, the wolfson is clearly the superior DAC, though, so I hope this helps describe the differences more.

Here's the complete list of tracks I auditioned and compared them with, with some notes below - the Extasy came out the clear winner across the board:

No, I don't have IEMs.

Not so much lower impedance but more higher efficiency....

I was reading about IEMs and hiss issues on this forum actually...

Seems MOST DACs and AMPs will have some level of hiss with the really high efficiency IEMs....

They are just too sensitive....

I just order a DAC Ecstasy from you 2 hours ago, send it to me quick so I can tell you about the hiss. I have Westone UM3X (hiss monster)and Audeo PFE (full-can like hard to push IEM)

x2 - That is great that you'll have both. I can't wait to hear your impressions - see how they match up with what I heard.

Haven't compare uDAC to Extasy but Cowon D2+. using SRH840. uDAC has warmer mid, depend on what type of focal you listen it can good or bad. however uDAC is a little recess in the vocal, particular the female focal. recess with warm mean the airiness and echo is less to make more up-shifted emotional lacking in some songs. if the music itself is already U shape then it can be slightly harder to feel the singer. Singer is further and less "high". overall, uDAC sound is on the heavy side.

There is a Japanese song by Flipside called "Only my railgun" which people can try.another song I test is by Aya Hirano called "ElecTriCk" both foval sound less engaging with uDAC+Srh840 due to laid back and warm mid.

This is combination with SRH840 so please take the nature of SRH840 into consideration as well (also referred by some are laid back with punchy bass).

Looking at your first post I see you have Icon Mobile and ER4P and feel too bright of the sound. I have PFE (mid and high emphasis)which is closer sound to ER4P than UM3X or SRH840 while I try the same song. it bring back the singer quite a bit, although the bass become less prominent, the airiness of female vocal is much better and closer. overall uDAC will be better match with ER4P than SRH840 or UM3x (not saying these two match bad but ER4P or FPE is better for genre (anime song) I listen most.

At the end it is more of synergy of equipments, music style and personal taste. unless you can get super balance headphone, ruler flat DAC and amp, golden ear (mine is worst than rust >_<) you won't get perfect balance sound especially most headphone are not true neutral. one should really tried different equipment personally or read ahead to match their equipment (eg UM3x to my ear match better with Sansa Clip+ while PFE better with uDAC)

Exactly - great description! The singer is "farther away," or more recessed with the uDAC, and there's a slight kind of "echo," or a little bit of a "hollow" sound there as I think I worded it. And not only on female vocals, but I noticed it with male vocals too, most notably with Pearl Jam and XTC.

For example, with the DAC-Extasy (and with the V-DAC - or I would assume with any neutral DAC), Eddie Vedder's voice is completely natural sounding and clear, not upfront, and not too laid back. You hear all the subtle nuances of his voice like he's right there talking to you. The mids are even with the rest of the frequency range. But with the uDAC, his voice sounds farther away and "thinner" and is buried in the mix a little more. It's not as neutral.

I noticed the same thing for XTC and REM, while strangely not noticing it as much with the female vocals in Stereolab. I guess those male voices are right smack dab in the range that is recessed on the uDAC, or else I wasn't keyed in to noticing it yet when I listened to the stereolab. But it's definitely there - thanks for the review. I was starting to feel like the only one on the planet who was noticing some of the sonic flaws in the iDAC... oops, I mean uDAC.

Hey Dave - maybe you should give the DAC-Extasy a nifty little "iPod" name like the uDAC has, or iBasso, etc. -- maybe eDAC, aDAC, or oDAC are available. It might drum up sales a little to have a cutesy marketing name like that, as it seems to be what people go for over sound quality.