Many things in the past had the standard of 2 volts. I have seen up to 4 volts, and that really gets things rocking. Using the DX80 at the 1.6 into my micro Zotl or other amps I get the normal range of the volume control, not too hot not too cold. :^)
Many things in the past had the standard of 2 volts. I have seen up to 4 volts, and that really gets things rocking. Using the DX80 at the 1.6 into my micro Zotl or other amps I get the normal range of the volume control, not too hot not too cold. :^)
Yes it would be nice if the RCA line output had some kind of standard but unfortunately it can be wildly different between devices.
I guess the best thing any good amp designer can do is to make sure that their product can handle the worst case scenarios.
A lot of portable amps run on +/- 2.5V supply, so the line input opamp just can't handle a very high voltage. Sometimes the input signal is higher voltage than what the amp can drive up to.
The line level output of DX80 is pretty high voltage for a consumer product standard, and unfortunately this is the way most DAPs are going these days.
My Chord Mojo has even higher line out voltage.
DX80's line out does 1.62 Vrms on a full scale digital signal (1kHz 0dBFS) on a standard 47k ohm line input like most consumer preamps, and it maintains it fairly well all the way down to 600 ohms.
Just as a generic comparison,
0.32 Vrms (0.9 Vp-p) at 47k ohms (consumer line output, according to Wikipedia: 10dBv)
0.50 Vrms (1.4 Vp-p) at 47k ohms (typical target for consumer audio e.g. CD players)
1.22 Vrms (3.5 Vp-p) at 600 ohms (professional studio gear in USA: +4dBU)
1.55 Vrms (4.4 Vp-p) at 600 ohms (professional studio gear in Europe: +6dBU)
In reality, consumer audio standards in countries like Japan states the line input needs to handle up to 2 Vrms mainly because some idiot might use a smartphone or laptop headphone output as a line output to an amp, and crank it up to max volume (e.g. iPhone does around 1.1Vrms at max).
Basically your amp will clip and distort if it was not designed to handle these kinds of loads.
Thanks for that. So basically, I should just use the headphone out rather than line out. I'm not so anal that double amping bothers me. It's a car, after all. I will say that even using the headphone out, the DX80 sounds wonderful in the car.
Thanks for that. So basically, I should just use the headphone out rather than line out. I'm not so anal that double amping bothers me. It's a car, after all. I will say that even using the headphone out, the DX80 sounds wonderful in the car.
I guess using headphone out is good if you are experiencing clipping on line out. I didn't notice any major detrimental issues with headphone out over line out in terms of noise floor, crosstalk etc.
As long as you set the headphone out to low gain mode, it should be fine. I think the dedicated line output is there because some idiots might try to use the headphone out at max volume on high gain mode (3.4Vrms), which could blow up the input on whatever amp it is connected to.
So hold up hold up, so as long as it doesn't clip, does that mean that from ANY DAP, such as, say, my Fiio X3ii, I should use the line-out into my car's stereo rather than the headphone-out in order to get the best possible sound-quality???????????????? Or will it not make a difference in the SQ?????
So hold up hold up, so as long as it doesn't clip, does that mean that from ANY DAP, such as, say, my Fiio X3ii, I should use the line-out into my car's stereo rather than the headphone-out in order to get the best possible sound-quality???????????????? Or will it not make a difference in the SQ?????
Normally the line out is the best quality but in a car system, I doubt it will be noticeable and using the phone out is kind of like using the dap as a preamp, since you are using the volume control of the dap to control the volume but normally you would put the car system to near max but I wouldn't do that since if you forget and don't have the dap in place, well you can see what I am saying.
Normally the line out is the best quality but in a car system, I doubt it will be noticeable and using the phone out is kind of like using the dap as a preamp, since you are using the volume control of the dap to control the volume but normally you would put the car system to near max but I wouldn't do that since if you forget and don't have the dap in place, well you can see what I am saying.
I'll try using the line-out instead of phone-out into the car stereo when heading to my Doctor's Appointment tomorrow morning, and see how that works out Thanks for the advice.
I'll try using the line-out instead of phone-out into the car stereo when heading to my Doctor's Appointment tomorrow morning, and see how that works out Thanks for the advice.
As you know, even in car systems, some are pretty good. The car before my current one had a system that could image out past the windshield, had width and depth and was great. I was surprised how good it was. My current one is garbage but I am not going to invest money in it But, using a good dap, since it has an Aux, input, really does help a lot and makes it much more enjoyable.
So hold up hold up, so as long as it doesn't clip, does that mean that from ANY DAP, such as, say, my Fiio X3ii, I should use the line-out into my car's stereo rather than the headphone-out in order to get the best possible sound-quality???????????????? Or will it not make a difference in the SQ?????
It depends on the DAP, but most of them have a 100 ohm output resistor on the line output to ensure that it works in a stable manner with minimum noise.
The headphone out has very low impedance so it can unintentionally dump a lot of current (e.g. you might get more thump and noise with a surge current).
Some DAPs line output will bypass the unnecessary headphones output stage (e.g. current buffer) but I'm not sure how DX80 routes its line output.
The main point was that the DX80's line output was too loud (too high voltage) for the user's amp, so the best alternative is to use the headphone out with reduced volume, although it will add the risk of increased sensitivity to noise, and the potential to accidentally crank up the volume too loud and breaking the amp.
How is instrument separation and details of the DX80 compared with the AK 100 ii? I find my last generation iPod touch and iPhone 6 not very good (especially in instrument separation) with my Shure Se846.
For those who wants volume control for the DX80 line out - a hack
Don't disconnect your headphones from the Phone Out, connect the Line Out to the amplifier. In my tests, the Phone Out becomes mute, but the Line Out works and its volume can be changed.
Disclaimer: I have no an amplifier near me to try, I used another headphones to connect to the Line Out in my tests.
Can you guys kindly help me decide what to buy, I'm planning to upgrade my listening experience.
I walk everyday about 45 to work while listening to music. I listen mainly to alternative rock, jazz, female vocals, acoustic.
I am currently using Ttpod t1e connected to basic android phone, which sound bad compared to my fiio e10k/desktop using the same iem.
Moving forward, is it better to buy a Chord Mojo connected to a basic android phone or its much practical to buy Ibasso DX80?
I will still use Ttpod t1e as my iem. Will the sound difference be minimal cause the Mojo is almost double the price of the Dx80?
Can you guys kindly help me decide what to buy, I'm planning to upgrade my listening experience.
I walk everyday about 45 to work while listening to music. I listen mainly to alternative rock, jazz, female vocals, acoustic.
I am currently using Ttpod t1e connected to basic android phone, which sound bad compared to my fiio e10k/desktop using the same iem.
Moving forward, is it better to buy a Chord Mojo connected to a basic android phone or its much practical to buy Ibasso DX80?
I will still use Ttpod t1e as my iem. Will the sound difference be minimal cause the Mojo is almost double the price of the Dx80?
Moving forward, is it better to buy a Chord Mojo connected to a basic android phone or its much practical to buy Ibasso DX80?
I will still use Ttpod t1e as my iem. Will the sound difference be minimal cause the Mojo is almost double the price of the Dx80?
I have both the DX80 and Mojo, and although I think Mojo sounds amazing, I prefer to use DX80 for IEM and Mojo for larger headphones for home use.
Sound is very different between them so you would prefer one over the other. (e.g. I thought the DX80 works well for adding more musicality to harsher studio monitor headphones and BA IEMs, whereas Mojo was better for high end open headphones).
In my case, just from the practical consideration, a smartphone + Mojo was not exactly very feasible, because you need the OTG adaptor and a short USB cable that wobbles around, and having to charge the smartphone and Mojo batteries was a pain. That was the main reason why I got the DX80 despite having a Mojo.
And yes, having both a DX80 and a Mojo is the best way to go....
Just noticed that firmware V1.1.4 is available on iBasso's website. Just received my DX80 via UPS from B&H Photo. Going to load the new firmware and test this baby out.
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Thanks for the advice.
