[bossfan48009]

Hi everyone. I recently purchased the PB5 and D16 stack and I am trying to get the most out of my listening enjoyment.

My ?'s:

Anyone use Luxury Precision DAP's and know what settings to place on the D16 to actually be able to play music from it? I went through all of the provided cable options and no luck. I have the LP6 TI and have no luck at all getting it to play COAX, Optical, USB, etc....

I also have the N30. With the N30....you can set D16 to:

Input USB
Output: it plays on both LINE and PHONE settings. I noticed on phone it enables you to use the volume control on the D16, but set to LINE I can only control the PB5 through it's volume control. It sounds a lot better in PHONE to me....am I using the stack properly?

Sorry for both "newbie" questions but I appreciate any of your responses as it just came today and I want to know I am hooking it up quite the right way. If you have a cable suggestion that would optimize my rig, please let me know.

Thanks everyone,
Tom

 

[FooFighter]

Hi everyone. I recently purchased the PB5 and D16 stack and I am trying to get the most out of my listening enjoyment.

My ?'s:

Anyone use Luxury Precision DAP's and know what settings to place on the D16 to actually be able to play music from it? I went through all of the provided cable options and no luck. I have the LP6 TI and have no luck at all getting it to play COAX, Optical, USB, etc....

I also have the N30. With the N30....you can set D16 to:

Input USB
Output: it plays on both LINE and PHONE settings. I noticed on phone it enables you to use the volume control on the D16, but set to LINE I can only control the PB5 through it's volume control. It sounds a lot better in PHONE to me....am I using the stack properly?

Sorry for both "newbie" questions but I appreciate any of your responses as it just came today and I want to know I am hooking it up quite the right way. If you have a cable suggestion that would optimize my rig, please let me know.

Thanks everyone,
Tom

Hi Tom
Can only respond to your D16 PB5 volume issues.
If using LO mode on D16 you need to use the small wheel to lower or increase the digital volume going into PB5.
By this way you can fine control the stepped volume of PB5
Keep digital volume as high as possible for best SQ
Using PO will mean double amping with its extra coloring but usually inferior from the technical point of view.
I really encourage you to read the D16 PB5 review of Alex Twister with good descriptions, background information and pairing suggestions.

Regarding no sound check your D16 input settings it set accordingly to either USB or Coax

 

[jamato8]

Very high purity copper in teflon and wrapped in cotton USB C to C. Feeding the RSA A-10 to the Voce.

 

[Whitigir]

The D16 continues to show me what a good DAC can do with USB cables. Previously, I thought USB wouldn’t be used as much as Coax. However, after swapping out USB cables to an upgraded one, I found that I enjoy D16-USB with many other stuff. Like Laptop/pc and even Max, streaming and so on.

Of course Coax sounds better, but it stops sounding better after a certain sampling rates. Anything higher than 192Khz and USB has an upper hands, including Native DSD

Don’t ask me why, the D16 is like breaking everything I have known up until this points. I am sure there are explanations for all of that. FE, USB has higher bandwidth, and as long as the sample rates are higher, the negativities of USB becomes less of a factor ? Also Native DSD doesn’t go through DOP conversion stage from the Host ?

Well, whatever, as long as it is good performances that I am hearing, then I am happy.

Additionally, I have got confirmation from @Paul - iBasso that D16 was made for PB5, and as much as most of other devices on the market. The limitations of <2.5Vrms input is an advice for unique instances. For example, and listed officially, is the Max series. It was advised that you should use Low gain LO

Therefore, anyone who has been wondered about PB5, you are good to go with almost everything. I can confirm that as much as others who have heard it, the D16 into PB5 doesn’t have distortions at all. Additionally, as I have tested it previously, you can always turn down the D16 by the Digital attenuations. I have seen and heard people who stated that it is not as of good quality as Analog attenuations, which is true, but it is very negligible. Specifically for my case, I almost couldn’t discern the differences until I was very focused and analyzing it….in this listening mode and mood, I don’t listen to music, this mode is for analyzation and modifications….which I do not to turn on all the time, because it is tiresome and I just want music.

 

[timeslip]

The D16 continues to show me what a good DAC can do with USB cables. Previously, I thought USB wouldn’t be used as much as Coax. However, after swapping out USB cables to an upgraded one, I found that I enjoy D16-USB with many other stuff. Like Laptop/pc and even Max, streaming and so on.

Curious what usb cable you swapped out to.

 

[meomap]

Curious what usb cable you swapped out to.

For me, I use Moon Audio silver UPOCC usb C to usb C from DX300MAX Ti.

Stock usb C to C sucks. Too much glaring.
Tested with mojo2. Same glaring.

Plan to use DHC UPUCC silver Coax cable later from D16 to PB5.

 

[Whitigir]

Curious what usb cable you swapped out to.

Just mine own and made of solid silver. You can see the quote below

Enjoying D16-320Max with USB cables. Why not ? If there is a mixture of Native DSD and PCM in my collections for today mood!

At this point, I gotta say that the D16 is the best all around unit. It is very impressive by itself alone, and more so with PB5 paired up

Regardless of what interfaces I am using

 

[Whitigir]

The officially measured Voltage output from the D16 with gain and digital attenuation for <2.5V is as follows

High gain @92

Low gain @95

For anyone who is more curious about it and PB5

Once again, I always use it at max DAC/Low gain into my PB5

 

[purk]

Very high purity copper in teflon and wrapped in cotton USB C to C. Feeding the RSA A-10 to the Voce.

How do you liking the Voce? I just bought mine recently.

 

[FooFighter]

Anyone tried Multiverse Mentor out of D16 with or without PB5?

 

[ECE Violinist]

Hi, is there anyone who can compare D16 and Hugo 2 as a one box DAC/AMP combo?

I have access to shops where I can try Hugo 2 but not D16…

For tonality, I believe Hugo 2 will be more digital and bright with both being quite close to neutral from what I have heard for each device.

My main curiosity is difference of technical performances, the resolution, spatial representation, and ability to get good performance out of harder-to-drive headphones/IEMs, especially at lower volumes.

I wonder why this product has so few reviews…

 

[KaiFi]

^I'd be interested in a comparison between these two as well.

It does seem the D16 has few reviews. It is quite expensive, and iBasso is mostly known for DAPs, so that might be part of why. It also seems to be mostly marketed as part of a $3000 stack with the PB5, which makes its appeal even more limited. Desktop amps and dongles are edging out battery-powered DAC/amps.

That said, I am still interested in the D16 as a standalone DAC/amp.

 

[jamato8]

^I'd be interested in a comparison between these two as well.

It does seem the D16 has few reviews. It is quite expensive, and iBasso is mostly known for DAPs, so that might be part of why. It also seems to be mostly marketed as part of a $3000 stack with the PB5, which makes its appeal even more limited. Desktop amps and dongles are edging out battery-powered DAC/amps.

That said, I am still interested in the D16 as a standalone DAC/amp.

The D16 is a universal deck that will work with any amplifier. I have the PB five but I use the D16 a lot with my desktop amp. It sounds excellent great detail, a huge soundstage, very transparent and very lifelike.

 

[Whitigir]

I love D16! Best piece I have owned and heard yet. It even surpasses desktop DAC when connected to my large home speakers

 

[salwani8888]

^I'd be interested in a comparison between these two as well.

It does seem the D16 has few reviews. It is quite expensive, and iBasso is mostly known for DAPs, so that might be part of why. It also seems to be mostly marketed as part of a $3000 stack with the PB5, which makes its appeal even more limited. Desktop amps and dongles are edging out battery-powered DAC/amps.

That said, I am still interested in the D16 as a standalone DAC/amp.

I agree with the other comments replied, but also would add that D16 is very musical with bass in particular having a nice analogue feel. Being 1 bit there is a nice flow to the music. I use it as a dac/amp often and the amp section too is highly capable. I did try with PB5 briefly, which adds warmth, better soundstage definition and feels more authoritive, but I was perfectly happy with the D16 on its own.