headwhacker said:

  Look at DT250, that is neutral. I can't understand why you insist that the NT-6 is neutral. It just seem DX90 is revealing what NT-6 really sounded and you are just upset and pointing the fingers at the wrong direction.

 

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Yep, I agree that the DT250 is about as neutral as you can get, while multi BA iems vary wildly in terms of their phase coherency and neutral becomes a moot point, also with how hard it is to tune those damn BA's properly (I think its impossible personally). I have nothing against BA, in fact I love them for their uniquely quick articulate sound. But I feel Dynamic drivers are simply more coherent and natural overall and the DT250 is a brilliant headphone. There is simply no contest between multi BA iems vs full size dynamic driver, but BA iem vs mini dynamic driver iem is somewhat debatable as they both have their positives and negatives.

t.r.a.n.c.e. said:

   
Yep, I agree that the DT250 is about as neutral as you can get, while multi BA iems vary wildly in terms of their phase coherency and neutral becomes a moot point, also with how hard it is to tune those damn BA's properly (I think its impossible personally). I have nothing against BA, in fact I love them for their uniquely quick articulate sound. But I feel Dynamic drivers are simply more coherent and natural overall and the DT250 is a brilliant headphone. There is simply no contest between multi BA iems vs full size dynamic driver, but BA iem vs mini dynamic driver iem is somewhat debatable as they both have their positives and negatives.

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Agree!! I listened to really bad BAs iems and really good BAs iems same thing with the dynamic driver iem. I mean most important things is different gear suited different people just like DAPs too, I don't like the sounding of my brother ZX1 and my brother thinks that my DX90 sound weird too but iPod sound better than DX90......I really confuse is my ear different from others or my iPod is a faulty iPod??

goodvibes said:

  Check your notebook sound card settings. Default always has some sort of 'enhancement'.

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Thanks for pointing this out. This is the soundcard enhancement I used in foobar2000:

deleted.

silverears said:

  In terms of ui and size and weight, I prefer the DX90.  I really want to like it as it seems more portable.  Unfortunately, I prefer X5.  I just tried the LO, or is that HO that is split into two and calling one LO as it has volume control and we know ES9018 chip has digital volume control?  LO not clean as X5 LO.   Still boosted bass, and don't hear changes.  I'm hearing no better than ipod with bassboost.  

 

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If you hear an iPod while listening to the DX90 then it seems you have some misaligned. I have a number of daps and none sound the same. The DX90 sounds unlike the iPod I used to have and frankly would not use them in the same sentence regarding sound quality as the DX90 is far more open and dynamic sounding with a more solid and balanced bass. The bass boost you report, I do not hear with any of my equipment and it seems, few others have heard this. Now you have stated it over and over and since this is an impressions thread and review thread, it would seem you have stead your impression of the bass. 
 
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Right now I am driving the HE-560's. Surprising that the DX90 does very well with this. The soundstage is of a normal width with well placed instruments and voices. Crowd noises, applause, is well place on live music and has the quality I associate with what I hear live, within the capabilities of IEM's or headphones and in this case, the 560's. 

jamato8 said:

  If you hear an iPod while listening to the DX90 then it seems you have some misaligned. I have a number of daps and none sound the same. The DX90 sounds unlike the iPod I used to have and frankly would not use them in the same sentence regarding sound quality as the DX90 is far more open and dynamic sounding with a more solid and balanced bass. The bass boost you report, I do not hear with any of my equipment and it seems, few others have heard this. Now you have stated it over and over and since this is an impressions thread and review thread, it would seem you have stead your impression of the bass. 
 

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Lets not go there - the flip side is that a lot of people who find these sound differences are minor/non-existent can claim the same about your impressions.    If someone feels that the differences are minor or non-existent, let's respect that.     Or, if we are going to challenge that (which i am ok with), then it should be ok to challenge all those "night and day" differences as well.
 
 

jamato8 said:

  Right now I am driving the HE-560's. Surprising that the DX90 does very well with this. The soundstage is of a normal width with well placed instruments and voices. Crowd noises, applause, is well place on live music and has the quality I associate with what I hear live, within the capabilities of IEM's or headphones and in this case, the 560's. 

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I am curious.   Do you actually get a sense of performers placed in front of you, the way they would at a live event, with ANY headphones?     With every headphone i have tried, i get the performers around or behind my head.  Never in front (although the HD800s do a game job there).    Does anyone actually perceive the performers in front of them with headphones?
 
(This is a genuine question, not a challenge, btw).

vkalia said:

   
Lets not go there - the flip side is that a lot of people who find these sound differences are minor/non-existent can claim the same about your impressions.    If someone feels that the differences are minor or non-existent, let's respect that.     Or, if we are going to challenge that (which i am ok with), then it should be ok to challenge all those "night and day" differences as well.
 
 
 
I am curious.   Do you actually get a sense of performers placed in front of you, the way they would at a live event, with ANY headphones?     With every headphone i have tried, i get the performers around or behind my head.  Never in front (although the HD800s do a game job there).    Does anyone actually perceive the performers in front of them with headphones?
 
(This is a genuine question, not a challenge, btw).

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If little difference is heard then why switch? 
 
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On the HE560 and the Fostex TH900 I get a more in front of you impression and yes, the drummer (if listening to well recorded rock) guitar is in front of me as are voices. On some recordings, it is more of around me and it varies. 
 
I do not get a U frequency response from what I hear, and that is comparing to the other daps as well as the Hugo, which has been highly reviewed. 
 
What would be nice would be to keep this a review and impressions thread. I try to give mine as I go along without saying the same thing over and over, though I imagine I do overlap at times. 

borrego said:

   
Thanks for pointing this out. This is the soundcard enhancement I used in foobar2000:

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Obviously not using the defaults.

jamato8 said:

   
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Right now I am driving the HE-560's. Surprising that the DX90 does very well with this.

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This is un-amped?  Been following 560 thread and see changes are being made. Would you consider DX90 and 560 a good match?  Neutral sound?

andrewh13 said:

   
This is un-amped?  Been following 560 thread and see changes are being made. Would you consider DX90 and 560 a good match?  Neutral sound?

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I find it natural. Good match is in the ears of the user. I am at around 245 (plenty loud and I play music a little louder than most as I like the live feeling but not to the point of doing harm to my ears, which I value), with a max of the DX90 at 250. There is no distortion and the headroom is there. I think an ideal or more ideal might be a more sensitive headphone but again, I do not hear any distortion and unlike many amps I have used, getting to the max output of the internal DX90 amp is like going half way on many. Seems they left plenty of room for the amp to perform. 

jamato8 said:

  I find it natural. Good match is in the ears of the user. I am at around 245 (plenty loud and I play music a little louder than most as I like the live feeling but not to the point of doing harm to my ears, which I value), with a max of the DX90 at 250. There is no distortion and the headroom is there. I think an ideal or more ideal might be a more sensitive headphone but again, I do not hear any distortion and unlike many amps I have used, getting to the max output of the internal DX90 amp is like going half way on many. Seems they left plenty of room for the amp to perform. 

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I'm glad to hear that others have played their DX at similarly high levels as I have - I hover between 210 and 230 - there is not even a hint of distortion - and another funny thing - when I used to play my iPod really loud, or through the HO of my iMac - my ears would fatigue - there is no fatigue whatsoever after a lengthy high volume listening session with my DX90.
 
To add my 2 cents to the iPod/DX90 sound debate - I have had and still do have a number of different iPods - iPod Mini - nano (4th gen, 5th gen) - Classic....Touch... etc.. - and what I have found (or heard) is a thinner sound than my DX90 - but where the DX90 really distances itself from my iPods is congestion - really fast, loud and complex passages tend to be smeared in the Apple devices - the DX90 suffers no such issues - maybe it is the power, maybe the Sabre DAC - but whatever it is, I am able to hear all the details of a complex passage - I am able to pick out the individual instruments at levels my iPods cannot attain without mashing them into a cacophony of noise.
 
It is as if you had a pot of water with hard-boiled eggs in it and stirred them as fast as you could - you can still see the whole eggs - whereas the iPod would be more like stirring Egg-Drop Soup - there are bits of egg that you can spot, but for the most part the bulk of the egg is mixed with the broth... (sorry for the food analogy - I'm hungry)

ivabign said:

I'm glad to hear that others have played their DX at similarly high levels as I have - I hover between 210 and 230 - there is not even a hint of distortion - and another funny thing - when I used to play my iPod really loud, or through the HO of my iMac - my ears would fatigue - there is no fatigue whatsoever after a lengthy high volume listening session with my DX90.

To add my 2 cents to the iPod/DX90 sound debate - I have had and still do have a number of different iPods - iPod Mini - nano (4th gen, 5th gen) - Classic....Touch... etc.. - and what I have found (or heard) is a thinner sound than my DX90 - but where the DX90 really distances itself from my iPods is congestion - really fast, loud and complex passages tend to be smeared in the Apple devices - the DX90 suffers no such issues - maybe it is the power, maybe the Sabre DAC - but whatever it is, I am able to hear all the details of a complex passage - I am able to pick out the individual instruments at levels my iPods cannot attain without mashing them into a cacophony of noise.

It is as if you had a pot of water with hard-boiled eggs in it and stirred them as fast as you could - you can still see the whole eggs - whereas the iPod would be more like stirring Egg-Drop Soup - there are bits of egg that you can spot, but for the most part the bulk of the egg is mixed with the broth... (sorry for the food analogy - I'm hungry)

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Don't apologize, it's actually very good, now I'm hungry too.

jamato8 said:

  I find it natural. Good match is in the ears of the user.

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Very true it appears. Coming from a hifi background, most enthusiasts wanted extended treble and bass with no humps. So many here in Head-Fi world seem to like over-emphasised bass and treble rolled off. Don't quite understand it!  But everyone to their own!  I find the DX90 natural and open, and looking for a punchy open crisp-treble headphone that's better than my P7 (has slight overdone mid bass veil) to match!

Wow, where did all that quality bass come from all of a sudden with the DX90. My DX90 has been sitting in the drawer collecting dust while my X5 has been getting all the love. However, I decided to go slumming today at the gym with my lowly TF10 giving my CIEM a rest and decided to pair it up with my DX90 to give the X5 a rest. Wham, the DX90 bass is hitting hard, detailed, and going low unlike what I had heard before. My TF10 was hitting harder than my CIEM which is hard to do. This is not what I heard before when I paired the TF10/DX90 previously. The whole frequency range cleared up and the mids came a little forward while providing a wider sound stage with the normally congested TF10. I'm liking this, but will have to try the DX90 with my CIEMs again to see if the new slam translates to them as well. I am not feeling the X5/NT6pro textures that draws me that direction, but the bass is better with the DX90/TF10 pairing. Maybe the texture I am talking about requires the skills of the NT6pro. I'm going to have to go find out..........

barra said:

  Wow, where did all that quality bass come from all of a sudden with the DX90. My DX90 has been sitting in the drawer collecting dust while my X5 has been getting all the love. However, I decided to go slumming today at the gym with my lowly TF10 giving my CIEM a rest and decided to pair it up with my DX90 to give the X5 a rest. Wham, the DX90 bass is hitting hard, detailed, and going low unlike what I had heard before. My TF10 was hitting harder than my CIEM which is hard to do. This is not what I heard before when I paired the TF10/DX90 previously. The whole frequency range cleared up and the mids came a little forward while providing a wider sound stage with the normally congested TF10. I'm liking this, but will have to try the DX90 with my CIEMs again to see if the new slam translates to them as well. I am not feeling the X5/NT6pro textures that draws me that direction, but the bass is better with the DX90/TF10 pairing. Maybe the texture I am talking about requires the skills of the NT6pro. I'm going to have to go find out..........
 

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Keep burning in the DX90, the bass gets more texture and the entire frequency range get very nice.