Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › Fiio d5 better than asus d2x?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Fiio d5 better than asus d2x?

post #1 of 16
9/9/11 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 

So today my new fiio d5 arrived, it wasn't for me it was for a friend, but I thought I'd test it anyways. I was astounded to hear that it was quite a bit better(testing with my hd650s and little dot mkIII) than my current asus 2dx. I've heard that the d2x is a poor dac, but come on it's almost 4 times the price of the d5. In short the voice is much better separated from the rest with the d5. There is also less echo in the voice.

Is this a realistic difference? Or have I gone terribly wrong somewhere?

Reply
post #2 of 16
9/9/11 at 11:15am

I hope your right as i've just ordered one.

Reply
post #3 of 16
9/9/11 at 12:01pm

D2X has a poor DAC?

Who told you this?

Actually it is a very good DAC compared to others up to 300 bucks range..

Are you sure it isn't placebo what you are experiencing or excitement from a new product purchase?

Fiio E7 which is a good budget DAC can't compete D2X..


Edited by Optimus Praim - 9/9/11 at 12:05pm
Reply
post #4 of 16
9/9/11 at 2:50pm
Thread Starter 

Hmmmm, it's strange. I have 2 CD players with one being a new 300euro denon. Both CD players and the d5 seem to have a different sound even though the dx2 seems to surpass both the old cd player and d5 in terms of detail. It's difficult to describe, but in 2 particular songs, the d2x seems much more immersive which makes it sound like an echo which sounds worse IMO than the other sound signature of the cd players and d5. It's hard to say whether it's a difference in quality as much as just a difference. I feel fairly confident in saying that the background instrumentals certainly sound more defined on the d2x than the d5. I think we can conclude that the better dac would definitely be the d2x. It just seems strange that the d2x sounds so different from time to time lol.

Reply
post #5 of 16
9/9/11 at 3:08pm

So your now changing your tune.

Reply
post #6 of 16
9/9/11 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Somebody007 View Post

Hmmmm, it's strange. I have 2 CD players with one being a new 300euro denon. Both CD players and the d5 seem to have a different sound even though the dx2 seems to surpass both the old cd player and d5 in terms of detail. It's difficult to describe, but in 2 particular songs, the d2x seems much more immersive which makes it sound like an echo which sounds worse IMO than the other sound signature of the cd players and d5. It's hard to say whether it's a difference in quality as much as just a difference. I feel fairly confident in saying that the background instrumentals certainly sound more defined on the d2x than the d5. I think we can conclude that the better dac would definitely be the d2x. It just seems strange that the d2x sounds so different from time to time lol.


You aren't using any effects like Dolby Headphone when you use the D2X, are you?

 

Judging purely by the signal-to-noise ratio, because that's all I can find of the D2X, the D2X is superior. However, SNR tells very little on its own. The Fiio's rated >70dB THD is not a particularly good number, and probably worse than the D2X but I can't be sure. Overall I doubt the differences are audible enough to create strange echoes or make the sound more "immersive" unless you're suffering from placebo or you have Dolby Headphone, etc. turned on.

 

I just found RMAA measurements of the D2X at Guru3D. RMAA is by no means reliable, and these numbers should not be taken as truth, but at worst case with 16/44.1 settings the D2X has 0.0016% THD and best case with 24/48 and 24/96 it has 0.0008%. Fiio D5 by comparison is rated at 0.03%, but because there's no telling how that was measured it's just as unreliable as RMAA. Measured noise level is about 111dB, around 16dB better than the D5. IMD is low, at best 0.001%. Crosstalk is measured to be up to 50dB better than the D5 (116 vs 65) but that's very unrealistic and probably not true (ASUS's flagship card, Essence STX, has 90dB crosstalk at its worst point).

 

Overall, the D2X is probably much better than the D5, but how reliable these numbers are and how audible the differences are is questionable.


Edited by Head Injury - 9/9/11 at 3:42pm
Reply
post #7 of 16
9/9/11 at 3:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by anadin View Post

So your now changing your tune.


I think that depends on your perspective. Even though the reproduction of the d2x is much more accurate, the sound out of the d5 is much nicer. It's so much closer and more intimate. I think that I've simply got to be doing something wrong, or the d2x just has quite a different sound. I mean in this range of products, the differences in actual detail or quality are small to say the least, so I find it's far more important to get a product whose sound you like as opposed to just the "best" after all it's all a matter of opinion, at least that's my opnion.

 

Reply
post #8 of 16
9/9/11 at 4:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Head Injury View Post


You aren't using any effects like Dolby Headphone when you use the D2X, are you?

 

Judging purely by the signal-to-noise ratio, because that's all I can find of the D2X, the D2X is superior. However, SNR tells very little on its own. The Fiio's rated >70dB THD is not a particularly good number, and probably worse than the D2X but I can't be sure. Overall I doubt the differences are audible enough to create strange echoes or make the sound more "immersive" unless you're suffering from placebo or you have Dolby Headphone, etc. turned on.

 

I just found RMAA measurements of the D2X at Guru3D. RMAA is by no means reliable, and these numbers should not be taken as truth, but at worst case with 16/44.1 settings the D2X has 0.0016% THD and best case with 24/48 and 24/96 it has 0.0008%. Fiio D5 by comparison is rated at 0.03%, but because there's no telling how that was measured it's just as unreliable as RMAA. Measured noise level is about 111dB, around 16dB better than the D5. IMD is low, at best 0.001%. Crosstalk is measured to be up to 50dB better than the D5 (116 vs 65) but that's very unrealistic and probably not true (ASUS's flagship card, Essence STX, has 90dB crosstalk at its worst point).

 

Overall, the D2X is probably much better than the D5, but how reliable these numbers are and how audible the differences are is questionable.


I use an input selector making switching basically instant, I try my very hardest not to get sucked in placebos and can state with almost certainty that for this thread at least I was succesful. I was looking for effects to be turned off, but there are so darn many. Of course dolby headphone isn't on lol. I don't even know why there are so many **** affects -_- what happened to hearing it as the artist intended? Anyways there is this room simulator effect, but then there is no off button. It's on isolation room on small now, but is this still an effect or not? 

I'll try describe my hearing more accurately. With the d5 seems to be closer, like I said more intimate. However in the wrong songs this can become harsh. Whereas with the safe distance you get from the music with the d2x means that it never gets harsh or anything. In some songs the d5 sounds better in others the d5. Come to think of it the d5 seems to shine with less popular songs and presumably worse recorded. This does agree with what reviewers stated that the d2x is warm and unforgiving. I guess I just found a few songs where the d5 just happened to sound better.

Anyways thanks for the lengthy info.

 

Reply
post #9 of 16
9/9/11 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Somebody007 View Post

I use an input selector making switching basically instant, I try my very hardest not to get sucked in placebos and can state with almost certainty that for this thread at least I was succesful. I was looking for effects to be turned off, but there are so darn many. Of course dolby headphone isn't on lol. I don't even know why there are so many **** affects -_- what happened to hearing it as the artist intended? Anyways there is this room simulator effect, but then there is no off button. It's on isolation room on small now, but is this still an effect or not? 


I'll try describe my hearing more accurately. With the d5 seems to be closer, like I said more intimate. However in the wrong songs this can become harsh. Whereas with the safe distance you get from the music with the d2x means that it never gets harsh or anything. In some songs the d5 sounds better in others the d5. Come to think of it the d5 seems to shine with less popular songs and presumably worse recorded. This does agree with what reviewers stated that the d2x is warm and unforgiving. I guess I just found a few songs where the d5 just happened to sound better.

Anyways thanks for the lengthy info.


Just because you "try" doesn't mean placebo goes away. I know full well that the audible differences between high bitrate MP3 and FLAC are hard to detect, but it sure doesn't stop me from liking a song more if I see it's lossless. If you can, have someone do the switching for you while you keep your eyes closed. If the differences are that large, you have some sort of effect turned on in the card's drivers. DACs don't make a big difference if they aren't colored, and neither of these are. One could be faulty, maybe, or your ears are incredibly sensitive to distortion, like superhuman sensitive considering your amp and headphone add way more than either DAC.

 

The Dolby Headphone and other effects are for gaming and movies, where "hearing it as the artist intended" isn't a concern. I don't even know if the effects work through RCA, and they probably don't. To be safe, make sure the card is set up properly. You should have your sample rate in the card driver (and OS just in case) set to the sampling rate of your music. That's probably 44.1kHz. Analog Out should probably be "FP Headphone" if you have that option. Make sure no boxes underneath this stuff is checked. Keep SVN off. Set your DSP mode to HF. That should disable all DSP effects. To make sure, go to all the tabs at the bottom and check that everything's turned off there.

 

By manufacturer specs, the D2X is very good, nearly as good as the Essence STX. If it sounds strange to you, it's either faulty, the D5 is faulty or much more colored that I'm lead to believe, it's placebo, or you're not used to "hearing it as the artist intended". In any case, keep what you like. You're using a tube amp, it's not like accuracy is what you want anyway wink.gif


Edited by Head Injury - 9/9/11 at 8:15pm
Reply
post #10 of 16
9/10/11 at 1:55am
Thread Starter 

I reset all audio settings that could have possibly affected the sound, let everything cool off overnight and the difference seems to have disappeared, I don't know what caused it, but I assure you it was there(btw: I did do blind testing with my brother doing the switching and I still heard the difference clearly). If it comes back I'll post it hear so I can try find out what the problem is. Could it be that my sound card is getting too hot from working 16hours a day and maybe causing small sound differences like this?

Reply
post #11 of 16
9/10/11 at 4:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Somebody007 View Post
Could it be that my sound card is getting too hot from working 16hours a day and maybe causing small sound differences like this?


Nope..There is no problem on using your soundcard for many hours.

It doesn't have any affect on SQ.

I have noticed that if some tracks are not well recorded even if they are tagged as 320kbps or Flac D2X reveals all the flaws and they sound strange or crappy..

Have you tested d5 and D2X with good recordings?

Reply
post #12 of 16
9/10/11 at 6:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Optimus Praim View Post





Nope..There is no problem on using your soundcard for many hours.

It doesn't have any affect on SQ.

I have noticed that if some tracks are not well recorded even if they are tagged as 320kbps or Flac D2X reveals all the flaws and they sound strange or crappy..

Have you tested d5 and D2X with good recordings?


 

Yes and like I said the difference wasn't as big there it was only a few less known songs which I presume were recorded badly where the difference was really noticeable. Also sample speed was 192KHz if that changes anything.

Reply
post #13 of 16
9/10/11 at 10:37am

My Fiio D5 arrived this morning, using the Line-out via Foobar and the Wasapi plug-in, not sure its a true line-out as the volume control changes the line-out volume.


Edited by anadin - 9/11/11 at 1:24am
Reply
post #14 of 16
9/26/11 at 7:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by anadin View Post

My Fiio D5 arrived this morning, using the Line-out via Foobar and the Wasapi plug-in, not sure its a true line-out as the volume control changes the line-out volume.


My headroom total bithead does this as well. To my ears, it sounds like a clean line-out when connected to my Denon receiver. The onboard amplifier is surprisingly powerful; three volume clicks is almost too loud for my SR60s, and it has no problem driving my HD580s either. I bought it primarily for using the line-out to my receiver, and it does that job very nicely, much better than the headphone-out on my laptop (Realtek is terrible).

 

Reply
post #15 of 16
10/28/11 at 4:58pm

I've just received my D5. Sounds great, but the volume is way too loud, even at 2%.

 

I'm on Windows 7, is there any way to fix this?

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Dedicated Source Components
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › Fiio d5 better than asus d2x?