[AmberOzL]

I wonder when will Apple wake up actually to see if they invest in audiophile players, they can earn huge amount of money. Despite their strategy, they still have a solid support from audiophiles (thanks to manufacturers like Cypher Labs, Centrance etc). Some people just don't want to leave Apple ecosystem.
 
Me? I have never liked Apple's ecosystem so fair competition and variety of daps to choose is a good welcome for me of course.

 

[sardar17]

  I wonder when will Apple wake up actually to see if they invest in audiophile players, they can earn huge amount of money. Despite their strategy, they still have a solid support from audiophiles (thanks to manufacturers like Cypher Labs, Centrance etc). Some people just don't want to leave Apple ecosystem.
 
Me? I have never liked Apple's ecosystem so fair competition and variety of daps to choose is a good welcome for me of course.

i hate anything other than a direct transfer,,,i tunes can kiss my ass

 

[Mython]

  ....   Apple   ....   Despite their strategy, they still have a solid support from audiophiles (thanks to manufacturers like Cypher Labs, Centrance etc).

 
Yes, as you know, they're still viable if an audiophile customer is willing to stack, but, personally, I seek single-box, portable, in-your-pocket, solutions, not trans-portable stacks.
 
Each to their own; there's room for all tastes and preferences in the marketplace.

 

[AmberOzL]

   
Yes, as you know, they're still viable if an audiophile customer is willing to stack, but, personally, I seek single-box, portable, in-your-pocket, solutions, not trans-portable stacks.
 
Each to their own; there's room for all tastes and preferences in the marketplace.

I also believe that a dap should do great as a standalone solution, a person can ask/seek more if he wants to get link it with other things.

 

[eke2k6]

Funny. Millions of people have never had a problem with itunes. I just plug in my ipod/iphone, go brush my teeth or something, and come back to find them filled with new music that is ready to be listened to. I've never once had to rescan or refresh a library, or worry about formatting.
 
RE: audiophile players, the HPO of my iPhone 4 sounds cleaner and more dynamic than many  most dedicated portable amps I've owned/listened to. Still, people are ready to jump down Apple's throat. I've had desktop gear that isn't as clean as the iP4's HPO.

 

[TekeRugburn]

I partly agree with you, but the DX90 is estimated at just under $500, whereas the X5 is estimated at around $350

The X3 (around $200) has still been very successful, in spite of the presence of the DX50 (around $270).

So I don't think they are in totally direct competition. Close, but not direct.

And the market for audiophile DAPs may not be enormous (yet), but it is likely to increase, as people gradually wake up to the fact that Apple DAPs are not the end-game in sound quality.

It's not an all or nothing business. Both will have success but how much success depends on what else is out there. How big of the pie can they get. With products in the same category each slice gets smaller.

How are they not direct competitors? What else is out there? There's this huge gap of 300-1000 usd dap market. Ak100, x5 and dx90. Maybe 1 or more I can't think of but they are direct competitors to each other. Like how the x3 and dx50 are.

 

[Mython]

Still, people are ready to jump down Apple's throat. I've had desktop gear that isn't as clean as the iP4's HPO.

 
 
Not taking your remark personally, but just letting you know that I am entitled to criticise Apple, as I have personally spent time and money suffering the inadequacies of their products.
 
I've owned 2 iPod Classics (5.5  &  6) and 1 G4 Powerbook.
 
Several times, I've experienced iTunes corrupting the entire contents of the Classic HDD - total wipeout.
 
As for the Classics themselves, their EQ distorted appallingly, even at very moderate settings (it wasn't the IEMs - it happened with a variety of different IEMs), their batteries had shorter lifetimes than I would have hoped for, and the HDD reliability was dubious, but I won't get into that here.
 
I also had major issues with the Powerbook, due to a faulty screen which Apple refused to repair, and thousands of other customers with the same issue, too.
 
No rant intended, and no argument intended - just briefly explaining the legitimacy of my dislike of Apple's iPod products.
 
Quite a few Head-fiers, in spite of disliking Apple DAPs, for one reason or another, have mentioned, publicly or privately, that we would welcome Apple entering the audiophile DAP market, since they have the R&D might to do wonderful things.

 

[H20Fidelity]

Apple won't make an audiophile player, we're just a spec of dust floating in the wind to their consumer base, it's a shame as I personally believe they could create an impressive DAP with their resources. The iPod touch 4g I have is ok actually, I was rather surprised, but a far cry from my Studio V units when the synergy matches.

 

[Retrias]

Isn't the latest nano and ipod touch 5g lauded as being at least decent in terms of sound quality? I remember them being said to be flat and I guess thats good for some people?

 

[Mython]

All I care about is that companies like Fiio do take audiophiles seriously and don't try to screw us with restricted memory capacity and closed ecosystems

 

 

[ClieOS]

   
 
I partly agree with you, but the DX90 is estimated at just under $500, whereas the X5 is estimated at around $350
 
The X3 (around $200) has still been very successful, in spite of the presence of the DX50 (around $270).
 
So I don't think they are in totally direct competition. Close, but not direct.
 
 

 
By number of sale alone, there is actually nothing for FiiO to worry about. They are selling X3 much faster than iBasso can make DX50. Having own both, I'll say DX50 is sleeker overall, but not necessary better if SQ is the main concern. Both have their pros and cons.
 
I will repeat what I have stated in the DX90 thread, it would have been much more impressive if iBasso goes for a vanilla ES9018 rather than dual ES9018K2M.
 

  If anything, I think iRiver have more reason to be worried about the DX90 than Fiio do (and I have zero sympathy for iRiver).
 
And the market for audiophile DAPs may not be enormous (yet), but it is likely to increase, as people gradually wake up to the fact that Apple DAPs are not the end-game in sound quality.
 

 
I'll think a big portion of people (especially outside of HF) who go for iriver don't really care that much about iBasso, or FiiO, or HifiMan, or any small HiFi DAP brand on that matter.

 

[rawrster]

After my experience with the ibasso UI with the DX50 I would much rather give my money to Fiio's X5 than the DX90. Fiio isn't perfect and there are trade offs but I feel they are minimal compared to other daps that I have tried or owned. Also it's rare that I can buy the dap at a physical store which is something I can do with Fiio and more recently Fiio. Of course I only know about NYC so not sure about other large cities.

 

[Mython]

   
I'll think a big portion of people (especially outside of HF) who go for iriver don't really care that much about iBasso, or FiiO, or HifiMan, or any small HiFi DAP brand on that matter.

 
 
I didn't mean in terms of outright performance; I meant in terms of pricing.
 
We both know that the AK120 is a much sleeker, more compact, and slickly-marketed, piece of kit than the DX90 will be, but in terms of bang-for-the-buck, the DX90 will only highlight all the more what so many people have been saying about iRiver's AK line - it may be premium but it's still grossly (greedily?) overpriced.
 
I applaud Fiio and iBasso for declining to use glossy marketing tactics to charge double the price.

 

[ClieOS]

  After my experience with the ibasso UI with the DX50 I would much rather give my money to Fiio's X5 than the DX90....

 
Interesting enough (or maybe just lucky enough) that I don't have much problem with my DX50.
 

  I didn't mean in terms of outright performance; I meant in terms of pricing.

 
As you probably fully aware, pricing is often what determines performance when you listen with eyes.

 

[Mython]

  As you probably fully aware, pricing is often what determines performance when you listen with eyes.

 
 
LOL, now you're talking!