A little about the Shozy Alien
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I've acquired an Alien Gold Edition recently, and save for the lack of UI, I'd say it has really excellent SQ for its price tier. I'm using the Aurisonics Rockets with it and they have great synergy together. This has probably been mentioned in the thread before, but the Alien Gold and Rockets pairing strengthens what the Rockets were good at - great detail and fullness in the mids - and improves what was weak about the Rockets, namely bass extension (slightly more sub bass) and treble (slightly more pronounced highs). It also produces a fairly airy and larger than average staging proportions. More width than depth but depth is decent too. Great combination in all.
Raketen
Headphoneus Supremus
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Agree! Rockets signature isn't my favorite (I mainly use them because the size & toughness), but makes a really nice combo w/ the Alien.
Kangeki
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Nothing to do with amping but here my humble first impressions :
I got the Alien Gold recently too, and the first word which came to my mind when I first tried it was : clarity, even though I was using "from the supermarket" cheap semi intra earphones at the moment. The Cowon J3, my previous DAP, really suffers from the comparison. The Shozy Gold sounds way more dynamic especially in mids, even with those earphones.
Can't wait for my refitted CIEM to arrive so I can "really" try the Alien Gold ! (But I have to send them back first
)
I got the Alien Gold recently too, and the first word which came to my mind when I first tried it was : clarity, even though I was using "from the supermarket" cheap semi intra earphones at the moment. The Cowon J3, my previous DAP, really suffers from the comparison. The Shozy Gold sounds way more dynamic especially in mids, even with those earphones.
Can't wait for my refitted CIEM to arrive so I can "really" try the Alien Gold ! (But I have to send them back first
)
tbritton
500+ Head-Fier
The Alien Gold pairs incredibly well with my Ultrasone Proline 750's (...the predecessor to the Pro 750, pretty much the same thing). The bass is so tight, and the space between elements is just amazing.
Curiously, at least for the Proline 750/Alien pairing, I do not recommend putting the Fiio E12a amplifier in-between those two. The Alien seems to "need" the impedance of the headphone (at least in the case of the Ultrasone Proline 750) to play against to control the sound. It did not enjoy being sent into the Fiio E12a first one single bit. The tight bass, the space between elements - definitely gone, even though the power was increased massively (55mw/channel in the Alien vs >430mw from the E12a).
I don't know what was going on, but the sound seemed claustrophobic and entirely un-engaging. It was really quite a surprise! Plugged the Proline 750 back into the Alien direct and all the fun was back!
Has me scratching my head and wondering why... I tried all different volume levels from the Alien and E12a, but nothing could fix it. When I feed the line-out of my MOTU Ultralight or 828 mk3 hybrid DACs to the E12a amp and then to the Proline 750's, the sound is incredible, so I don't know what is going on here.
Terry
Curiously, at least for the Proline 750/Alien pairing, I do not recommend putting the Fiio E12a amplifier in-between those two. The Alien seems to "need" the impedance of the headphone (at least in the case of the Ultrasone Proline 750) to play against to control the sound. It did not enjoy being sent into the Fiio E12a first one single bit. The tight bass, the space between elements - definitely gone, even though the power was increased massively (55mw/channel in the Alien vs >430mw from the E12a).
I don't know what was going on, but the sound seemed claustrophobic and entirely un-engaging. It was really quite a surprise! Plugged the Proline 750 back into the Alien direct and all the fun was back!
Has me scratching my head and wondering why... I tried all different volume levels from the Alien and E12a, but nothing could fix it. When I feed the line-out of my MOTU Ultralight or 828 mk3 hybrid DACs to the E12a amp and then to the Proline 750's, the sound is incredible, so I don't know what is going on here.
Terry
areek
100+ Head-Fier
Same thing happened to me too, except I have used the E12 original. I am currently driving my LCD-2 directly with the alien and fnd that I lose the magic whenever I put my E12 in between.
Guys looking to buy the Gold Alien preferably new.
PM if you have one you want to sell.
PM if you have one you want to sell.
Raketen
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Thank you.I will check with them about shipping and customs fees.
tbritton
500+ Head-Fier
Yes, it is rather strange. I am guessing that the Alien really needs some kind of lower impedance to deliver to rather than the high impedance of the line-in input of the Fiio E12 and E12a.
Yes, indeed.
This is no reflection on either the Alien nor the Fiio E12 or E12a - it is only a reflection on how they pair together. This may be similarly true with other amps having high impedance inputs being presented to the Alien.
Terry
you risk to spoil the driver.
E12 can harm them.
T.R.A.N.C.E.
Headphoneus Supremus
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The truth about Alien, a most unremarkable dap...
Bottom right square chip is the DAC and amp, Cirrus CS42I52CNZ. a budget, low power, space saving combined chip solution that is primarily targeted at smartphones, and no it is not a high fidelity part, 91dB dynamic range, weak inbuilt amp using a simple charge pump circuit. In fact most modern smart phones have a better dac and amp than Alien's...
Top right chip next to the sd slot is the memory card reader, GL827L. It has it's own clock which is good.
Big middle chip is the CPU, above it the TCXO.
Top left chip is the lithium-ion battery charger, TP4056.
Bottom left chip is a data flip-flop, for button inputs I presume, CM013B.
The smaller black chips are voltage regulators.
Nothing on the other side of pcb, just the battery, li-ion polymer, 4.51Whr.
Conclusion: I feel ripped off. Alien should cost half of what it does. This seems to be the running theme with shozy products. The insides of shozy magic and aegis are also unremarkable compared to their price, and more importantly compared to competitor products.
Aliens circuit is well thought out, but is extremely simple and mediocre in component, the issue is it's price is ridiculous, the Fiio X3ii is at the same price point, and is leagues better, it would also cost Fiio a heck of a lot more to build X3ii than it costs Shozy to build Alien. And it gets worse, why would you buy Alien over the cheaper yet better Xduoo X3?
Shozy seem to think they are entitled to higher profit margins for their mediocre designs, and their other products also indicate the same thing. I will not be buying from Shozy ever again, and I see no reason why anyone should when there are unquestionably better products to be had. Shozy reminds me of Hisoundaudio, another rip-off merchant selling mediocre designs for more than their worth.
Bottom right square chip is the DAC and amp, Cirrus CS42I52CNZ. a budget, low power, space saving combined chip solution that is primarily targeted at smartphones, and no it is not a high fidelity part, 91dB dynamic range, weak inbuilt amp using a simple charge pump circuit. In fact most modern smart phones have a better dac and amp than Alien's...
Top right chip next to the sd slot is the memory card reader, GL827L. It has it's own clock which is good.
Big middle chip is the CPU, above it the TCXO.
Top left chip is the lithium-ion battery charger, TP4056.
Bottom left chip is a data flip-flop, for button inputs I presume, CM013B.
The smaller black chips are voltage regulators.
Nothing on the other side of pcb, just the battery, li-ion polymer, 4.51Whr.
Conclusion: I feel ripped off. Alien should cost half of what it does. This seems to be the running theme with shozy products. The insides of shozy magic and aegis are also unremarkable compared to their price, and more importantly compared to competitor products.
Aliens circuit is well thought out, but is extremely simple and mediocre in component, the issue is it's price is ridiculous, the Fiio X3ii is at the same price point, and is leagues better, it would also cost Fiio a heck of a lot more to build X3ii than it costs Shozy to build Alien. And it gets worse, why would you buy Alien over the cheaper yet better Xduoo X3?
Shozy seem to think they are entitled to higher profit margins for their mediocre designs, and their other products also indicate the same thing. I will not be buying from Shozy ever again, and I see no reason why anyone should when there are unquestionably better products to be had. Shozy reminds me of Hisoundaudio, another rip-off merchant selling mediocre designs for more than their worth.
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