The New iRiver AK100: A High-End DAP - Page 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somnambulist 

DX100

 

He has a point though, that is if ibasso doesn't hurry up an deliver. I want a spotless UI already. It's been more than long enough. I know the issues now are minor but still. It's been more than enough time for them to address these little niggles and with products like Hifiman 901 and iriver my expectations are even higher now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

Sad that it is 22 ohms. That is ridiculous. How can they mess up on something so basic.....? Wonder if  they will address this before releasing the player because this is not acceptable. Come on what do you think the main crowd for this device would be for? The portable crowd and most of which is sensitive IEMs, not headphones.... Leave the full-size headphones at home ;).
 

I could see it in a portable amp but a dap over about 7 ohms is a lot and a device like this should be under 2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodvibes 

I could see it in a portable amp but a dap over 5 ohms is a lot.

Fact is I'd rather not have to use another amp if possible. Plus if I have to do that will it be better than the DX100 in sound? Otherwise so not worth it.

Ya, I meant I could more easily see a higher output impedance in an amp because they're often used to drive higher impedance phones. I also don't like carying extra boxes or I would have stopped looking for DAPs. LOD out from my touch 3g is pretty good but the amp stage is lacking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicday 

This is really strange, on the official release photo the iRiver logo on on the front of the player, now is gone?

Who made this after all?

Which you mean?

I don't see the odd quirk justifying being too scared to turn the thing on though - it doesn't bite! Plus it'd be rather silly to buy and sell a player without even listening to it, especially when you have other gear on hand you want to compare it to. It's like he's afraid he'll like it or something. I've had mine almost a week and it hasn't done anything out of the ordinary once. The only thing that annoys me is the track fade-in, thing, other than that - flawless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

He has a point though, that is if ibasso doesn't hurry up an deliver. I want a spotless UI already. It's been more than long enough. I know the issues now are minor but still. It's been more than enough time for them to address these little niggles and with products like Hifiman 901 and iriver my expectations are even higher now.

No 88.2 & 176.4 khz support?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somnambulist 

I don't see the odd quirk justifying being too scared to turn the thing on though - it doesn't bite! Plus it'd be rather silly to buy and sell a player without even listening to it, especially when you have other gear on hand you want to compare it to. It's like he's afraid he'll like it or something. I've had mine almost a week and it hasn't done anything out of the ordinary once. The only thing that annoys me is the track fade-in, thing, other than that - flawless.

He's actually gonna return his unit to my knowledge for a refund. Seems since iriver and Hifiman are just around the corner and possibly none of the issues ibasso is having, I understand his decision. He also listened to my unit so he knows how good it sounds. Just the UI leaves more to be desired.

1. For starters having to sync your tracks in the order you want them to show up in (playlists, etc) is not right. It's the Sflo2 nightmare all over again. 2. the fade in as you had mentioned is also irritating. 3. The unit goes into a state of sleep randomly and will loudly pop when turning the screen back on (also sleep mode extremely drains battery randomly). 4. The discrepancies between sound on the firmwares and the fact that ibasso didn't know they screwed things up on 1.2.3, while also inducing other bugs with the new update (they got album art to show up but ruined the sound and caused long delays between switching tracks). 5. The Chipmonks or slow-play while playing high definition files.... There's more minor quirks I haven't mentioned yet. The DX100 has been out since February, how long will this take to get it right? I'm quite fed-up with ibasso already and hope Hifiman 901 will squash it so I can have a bug-free music experience for the price I paid.... I've been extremely patient from the very beginning but somethings gotta give. figgie could very well fix the issues they cannot and I don't see ibasso making any efforts to help him out in this regard.

Chinese DAP are now very good in electronics but are very late in programing firmware and screen user interface. I hope that iRiver or Hifiman can bring up a good firmware and a true interface, for the moment I will stay on my lovely sounding T51 (2xWM8740) and wait for the review on the AK100 and HM-901.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migou67 

Chinese DAP are now very good in electronics but are very late in programing firmware and screen user interface. I hope that iRiver or Hifiman can bring up a good firmware and a true interface, for the moment I will stay on my lovely sounding T51 (2xWM8740) and wait for the review on the AK100 and HM-901.

lol well I can say the DX100 UI is miles ahead of the T51 but still not acceptable for what it is intended to be. I hope iriver AK100 and Hifiman 901 can attain both the sound and UI. Then it will pretty much doom any other DAP that attempts to come to market and are lacking in UI (within the price range). Better for competition and will force the developers to put out quality and not quantity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

 

 

Which you mean?

The name iRiver on the front lower right corner of the device. It was there, saw it in another picture, but in the review is not.

so no line out?

Am I the only audiophile left in the world who still plugs his DAP into an analogue preamp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

lol well I can say the DX100 UI is miles ahead of the T51 but still not acceptable for what it is intended to be. I hope iriver AK100 and Hifiman 901 can attain both the sound and UI. Then it will pretty much doom any other DAP that attempts to come to market and are lacking in UI (within the price range). Better for competition and will force the developers to put out quality and not quantity.

For the price of the T51 I can deal with a crappy UI and firmware (the joke of the "normal equalizer") and sorting tracks with a third party software, but with an expensive DAP not sure :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by KT66 

so no line out?

 

Am I the only audiophile left in the world who still plugs his DAP into an analogue preamp?

No no, I use in my living room the line out of the T51, but I'm not an audiophile (not enough budget for that), just a music lover.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

He's actually gonna return his unit to my knowledge for a refund. Seems since iriver and Hifiman are just around the corner and possibly none of the issues ibasso is having, I understand his decision. He also listened to my unit so he knows how good it sounds. Just the UI leaves more to be desired.

 

1. For starters having to sync your tracks in the order you want them to show up in (playlists, etc) is not right. It's the Sflo2 nightmare all over again. 2. the fade in as you had mentioned is also irritating. 3. The unit goes into a state of sleep randomly and will loudly pop when turning the screen back on (also sleep mode extremely drains battery randomly). 4. The discrepancies between sound on the firmwares and the fact that ibasso didn't know they screwed things up on 1.2.3, while also inducing other bugs with the new update (they got album art to show up but ruined the sound and caused long delays between switching tracks). 5. The Chipmonks or slow-play while playing high definition files.... There's more minor quirks I haven't mentioned yet. The DX100 has been out since February, how long will this take to get it right? I'm quite fed-up with ibasso already and hope Hifiman 901 will squash it so I can have a bug-free music experience for the price I paid.... I've been extremely patient from the very beginning but somethings gotta give. figgie could very well fix the issues they cannot and I don't see ibasso making any efforts to help him out in this regard.

1) don't have this problem. When I rip I make sure the physical file names if it's not done automatically are 01 track 1, 02 track 2 etc, the actual tracks are just tagged with the correct track number - 01 of 10, 02 of 10 etc - and the song names are just tagged as what they are - First song, 2nd song and so on. I was an S:Flo2 owner and the DX100 is indeed miles ahead of it, not just because the touch screen actually works.

2)  yes

3) Not here

4) yes, although given I can get album artwork on all my files (high-bitrate lossy as I care more about quantity and it's not like 80% of the stuff I listen to is 'audiophile production' anyway - sounds awfully good though!)

5) as above, not a problem for me but yes, unacceptable

The thing is though, for years people on Head-Fi have pined after a 'does it all' player and get their hopes up every time a new thing hits the market. The same way every time a new player comes out with custom IEMs the hype train ramps up as them being the best thing since sliced bred, then it takes a few weeks/months before we get a more realistic placement in the grand scheme of things.

I don't want to sound like I'm pissing on people's chips, but I doubt any single one product is going to change the paradigm of portable listening, be it this iRiver, the X3, 901 etc. I agree the DX100 has some unacceptable quirks but it always seems like whatever is considered 'the best' is still 'the best of a bad (but good-sounding) bunch. I doubt the DX100 will be with me forever because there does seem more focus on high end DAPs now and screens, batteries and component size can improve... but I still expect it'll be a case of 'pick your poison' when it comes to choosing your player unless you settle for something mass-market.