The New iRiver AK100: A High-End DAP - Page 97

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnakChan 

 

Rudi, I managed to do a -VERY- brief comparison between the AK100 & RWAK100. I tried on 2 ear/headphones - TG!334 and HD700. The TG!334 is quite easy to drive and the difference was largest on these IEMs. The upper bass and lower mids felt thin. Vocals sounded somewhat nasally. The imaging also sounded somewhat shallow or more 2D-ish. My RWAK100 (after 16 hrs burn-in so many more to go) felt more full and better imaging.

 

On the HD700 that has a higher impedance they sounded closer to each other but it's an open headphone in a departmental store so you'll have to take with a pinch of salt.

 

Other RWAK100 aspects so far :-

 

1) after 12 hrs burn-in, the DX100 still has a slight edge on soundstage, imaging, and general "fullness". Will continue burning in the RWAK100. The difference is not great. I had to listen hard to discern the difference. One person PMed me and I kept going back 'n forth as though I was fickle minded. However that's a good sign that the RWAK100 and DX100 is so close that it takes critical listening to hear the difference.

 

2) Disconnected from the charger 6 hrs ago and there's hardly a dent in the battery life!! It's been playing continuously either through my earphones or through my burn-in resistors (at full volume in this case).

 

3) No gapless - GRRR!!!

 

4) It's so small, I'm not used to going out with such a small yet audiophile level SQ - I feel naked.

 

5) The auto pause when yanking the headphone out is a blessing and curse. Blessing that I don't have to worry about the app running in the background requiring to be paused or killed. But a curse when doing side-by-side testing, yanking the earphone in 'n out means I have to play/pause/fast forward the tracks on either one player or the other.

 

6) Instantaneous UI (unlike the DX100...did I hit that pause or not?).

 

7) volume knob although easily hit doesn't really change volume so no problems there. But build-wise it feels "rocky".

 

8) brilliant that when I insert a new SD card, indexing doesn't take that long. And even if I don't want to, I can go to folder to play.

 

9) did I say I feel naked already?

I'd call 5 a blessing. I don't really care for the fast A/B type of comparing and rather get the independent takes on the music presentation instead of just the 'sound'. Once they're both in your possession for a bit, you'll naturally reach for one over the other. If it's only foe size, it counts as well as the the other isn't better enough to dissuade you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smial1966 

Proud to be a Norfolk resident! 

 

Vinnie shipped my RWAK100 on the 29th December so hopefully it'll be delivered soon. It'll be very interesting to compare the SQ with my Tera Player.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy. 

 

make sure to compare some HiDef files.

OK whilst replying this, my battery died. Lasted about 11 hrs since charge. I was playing around with the GUI every now and then, doing testing of IEMs, etc. Also when not using I plugged in the resistor plug for burning at full volume. So I'm reasonably happy with 11 hrs (compared to my 4.5 hrs on my DX100 :-()..

I took this opportunity to upgrade to fw 1.20. No change on my album/track sorting. Only on some tracks so I'm guessing MP3tagging related.

Side Note: my 24k resistor plug for burning-in (cable) broke. Guess it's using normal IEMs for burning in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

Same. Wouldn't that just degrade sound quality anyways when enabled? At least that is what I felt with WIFI. I uninstalled bluetooth from the DX100. So I see you sold your 334? Kinda hard to believe :P. Then again I think the same can be said about me in regards to the DX100...

 

And again lee730  asked:

What about playlist support? That is very important to me. Please say yes and please say it automatically alphabetizes them (playlist names)...

Yep, such a heartache. You don't want to know what's coming 'cos I'm blaming you -ENTIRELY- for that ;-). I have to use my XBA-30's as a poor man's TG!334 for the interim. And either this IEM has reached it's limitation, or I cannot tell the difference between the DX100 & RWAK100 with the XBA-30. I may even lean towards the RWAK100 to have the "bigger" sound. I think the bass it a little more impactful than the DX100's - I really don't want to believe this!

Playlist seems to be in the order that I add them. So far I don't know how to rename my Playlist yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uelover 

 

The thought of getting the Sony MDR-1R Bluetooth version did crossed my mind.

You're not the only one. I know I didn't write glowing reviews of the MDR-1R but I'm actually finding the sound quite decent and was looking for good SQ earmuffs this cold winter. I had the bluetooth version on loan, which I thought wasn't that bad and considered buying them. But after a 2nd round of listening, the bass was just a little too boomy and the highs felt a little too digitally processed. Sticking to my M-100 for this winter's earmuffs.

Quote:

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by smial1966 

Proud to be a Norfolk resident! 

 

Vinnie shipped my RWAK100 on the 29th December so hopefully it'll be delivered soon. It'll be very interesting to compare the SQ with my Tera Player.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy. 

 

Originally Posted by lee730 
 

I look forward to your comparisons to the Tera player. Although I have a feeling the Tera Player still wins and hopefully so with all its compromises. :)

Hear, hear! The Tera Player is reported to be sonically superior to the DX100. Glad to find someone can do the Tera/RWAK100 comparison!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Szadzik 

 

How smoothly does it integrate music from internal and external memory? Is it just one huge library (preferable) or does one have to play around to get to music from another card?

The good thing about the (RW)AK100 is that I can choose to scan manually or automatically (and in my case it's manual). Once scanned then it builds an index (separated by Album, Aritst, and all the usual categories) - then you have your single integral library index. But if you don't, then you still can go to a (filesystem) directory folder to play. This is good when friends put in their microSD card to test but don't really want to integrated into the player's library.

I've not tried scanning a full 64GB card yet. My card was only 1/2 full and it did it pretty quickly. Makes me wonder a report someone made earlier that it took 20 mins to scan 128GB. I'm guessing it must have been a lot of small compressed files. On the other hand I'm the opposite where most of my files are 24/192.

^ i suspect another member of the newly formed, soon to be illustrious but all together crazed 1+2r RWAK100 club...

i just spent more on a mp3 player than i have sunk into my desktop setup.  heres to 2013!!

We all crazy ftw.

so is the rwak100 better than the dx100?

am torn between these 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubick 

so is the rwak100 better than the dx100?

am torn between these 2

I have no idea

The reason why i went with the RWAK is strictly because I dont need/want all the bells and whistles.  I dont need a huge screen, wifi, etc.  I just want it to play my IEMs and if possible, replace my desktop setup for my HD650 (but not expecting that).  

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnakChan 

Just you, V0...just you ;-).

So true...

No gapless, sigh.  Why don't they realise that's what we pretty much want. 

Cheers

*innocent* But that's just gapless, right? *innocent*

*braces for impactg*

what are common recommendations for SD cards....?

is 'class' type relevant...?

i see on amazon cards ranging from $60 to $180.... 

i try not to go under class 10 anymore.  think i have 2 32gb class 10s i could use.

for brands i like sandisk and samsung usually, although i dont have a ton of experience 

Quote:

Originally Posted by toads 

what are common recommendations for SD cards....?

 

is 'class' type relevant...?

 

 

Only as far as the speed writing to them. A Class 10, if put in a dedicated card reader capable of it, will fill much faster than a Class 4. For playback, I don't think it is relevant.....I can play a 1080p movie on my tablet from a Class 4 card just fine.