[musicheaven]

What's happened to GG?

Sold his DX50

 

[toivi]

  Hi,
 
My DX50 just arrived today, 9th batch and came with 1.2.5 by default.
First experiences are great, tho I could't manage to make my Macbook recognize it, so I formatted it to EXFAT.
After that I could copy music to the device's internal memory but the player doesn't detected any songs. So I just put a 1GB mSD into it, at the moment I don't have any larger in capacity or in Class, so I guess the lags when pressing Play/Pause can be due to the slow card.
 
Anyway, since I formatted to EXFAT I can't even connect the device to my computer, it charges tho.
Tried factory reset. Device is turned on when plugging in to computer so I really have no clue on the issue.
Any suggestions?
 
By the way there is a good deal on mp4nation right now. 20USD off coupon with free BW R3.
 
Edit: Forgot to mention other than the lag which is probably because the slow card the plyer operates smoothly without any scanning issues or freezes.

 
Just wanted to report in that the problem has been solved. I e-mailed to iBasso and they came up with a Batch Tool, guess its a flash tool simply.
I've just upgraded the firmware to 1.2.6 and my computer recognized it by the second attempt.
 
The firmware runs smoothly, and I was thinking right that the memory card I used was the one responsible for slow operation. Now loading a track is smooth, play/pause lags far less. Skipping a track still lags about 2 sec, but that is something I can live with for now, continuos playing is smooth using gapless. Couldn't try the "Close" option because of fw update but I'm happy with the "5 sec" option.
 
Scanning my tracks which is about 200 at the moment was a breeze, took me about 45 seconds. I didn't even edited the file names, did not removed the artworks or resized them. Absolutely nothing was done to the tracks. 
 
About the sound quality there is nothing much I can say. I didn't noticed great improvement over an iPod Nano 2G. : P (Most must hate me for saying this, hahaha - I must say that most my music is 320kBps mp3 with16bit, 44,1kHz)
Of course I did a comparison and there are details in the highs that can be noticed but nothing in your face experience that really makes is stand out. 
I'm using the bundled Brainwavz R3. Lots of users seem to degraded these phones, maybe I should get another one, especially because I hate the way I have to wear it, its just too complicated to put around your ears and squeeze the comply at the same time...I only found it fit securely with the comply by the way, the rest of the tips just doesn't grip enough. Before with my R1 it wasn't an issue, this must be because of the weight of the phones.
 
Anyway, first day conclusions are really great so far. 
 
Tomorrow I will go audit some headphones, any suggestions with which I should try with?
 
Also not sure if driving these 32ohm phones with Hi Gain settings is safe enough, but I only found it powerful enough on this setting. 
Do I need and AMP? Exactly what should I expect from one? Don't really like the idea to carry another bulky box around...
 
I would rather upgrade my phones. I need one with much bass and clear highs and mids so that you feel Angels are singing into you ears. It is probably a dream-headset LOL...

 

[highfell]

Op Amps.

Whilst I prefer to use my Leckerton UHA-6S mkii as an amp rather than the DX50 amp,particularly as I have "tubey" op amps in the Leckerton, I actually think that the DX50 amp isn't too bad at all.

Does anyone know the OPamps that Ibasso have used?

 

[nihontoman]

What's happened to GG?

dunno...

 

[Don Lehrer]

  iBasso Firmware:  Two steps forward.....one step back.....

just what I thought, but it´s getting better...

 

[Cotnijoe]

better than one step forward and two steps back i guess... sooner or later it'll get to where it should be

 

[princekali]

hey there, one more thing.
 
is it possible to adjust balance, left right?
 
and if not, how likely do you guys think it is to get a rockbox in the future?
 
cheers

 

[cub0ne]

hey there, one more thing.

is it possible to adjust balance, left right?

and if not, how likely do you guys think it is to get a rockbox in the future?

cheers

The balance adjustment is not implemented yet and I'm not sure if it will be available. For the rockbox - that will be great but a lot of work for rockbox devs. Its like creating a new rom for an unknown android base device. More like cyanogen and paranoid android for smartphones and tablets.

 

[Wapiti]

  nope. iBasso says the volume is controlled by voltage change and not digital magic so 24 bits will be 24 even on volume set at 15

While this is indeed what iBAsso's help people sent in an email to a user, I am afraid the iBasso rep does not know how DAC chips attenuate voltage out. 
 
Bits represent voltage levels.  This is the only thing bits represent.
 
To lower volume, one needs to lower the voltage level.  A DAC chip lowers its voltage output through bit shifting.  It is the only way it can do so.
 
That is, DAC chips do not have analog voltage controls built into them.    (Analog volume controls, by the way, lower voltage output by throwing away voltage by sending it to ground.)
 
To be fair to the iBasso rep, the data path remains 24-bit.  However, the upper-most bits are padded with zeros as the volume is lowered, and the bottom-most bits drop off.  A 44/16 file can move eight bits to the right (48dB attenuation) before any bit values are dropped off in a 24-bit data path.
 
If someone knows of a DAC chip that attenuates voltage out (volume) in some other fashion I would love to learn about it.

 

[Hellkitchen]

The touch UI has been greatly improved... Finally I haven't any accidental input due to too high sensitiveness..

 

[ratinox]

I've identified a reason why media scanning is noticeably faster: 1.2.6 creates a directory called .audio_data on the root of the uSD card. The media scan database is stored as an sqlite3 database called audio.db in this directory. Since a fast uSD card is likely much, much faster than the internal eMMC card, writing the database takes less time. Boot-time scans will be much faster if they simply read the database instead of regenerating it every time.

Album artwork is still stored in .album_art on the internal eMMC in a custom format.

Playlists, unfortunately, still appear to be stored internally on an inaccessible partition.

 

[headwhacker]

While this is indeed what iBAsso's help people sent in an email to a user, I am afraid the iBasso rep does not know how DAC chips attenuate voltage out. 

Bits represent voltage levels.  This is the only thing bits represent.

To lower volume, one needs to lower the voltage level.  A DAC chip lowers its voltage output through bit shifting.  It is the only way it can do so.

That is, DAC chips do not have analog voltage controls built into them.    (Analog volume controls, by the way, lower voltage output by throwing away voltage by sending it to ground.)

To be fair to the iBasso rep, the data path remains 24-bit.  However, the upper-most bits are padded with zeros as the volume is lowered, and the bottom-most bits drop off.  A 44/16 file can move eight bits to the right (48dB attenuation) before any bit values are dropped off in a 24-bit data path.

If someone knows of a DAC chip that attenuates voltage out (volume) in some other fashion I would love to learn about it.

If this is true then this is a compelling reason to use an external amp. You set the max volume in DX50 so you get the full dynamic range and feed it to an external amp. Then control the volume instead in the amp.

 

[pOOB73]

If this is true then this is a compelling reason to use an external amp. You set the max volume in DX50 so you get the full dynamic range and feed it to an external amp. Then control the volume instead in the amp.

Yep. Analog volume control beats digital, unless using a 32bit DAC, in which case it would be bit perfect even with 24bit files, for those who think they need it.

 

[Wapiti]

Analog volume controls have their issues as well, unfortunately. 
 
As a practical matter, I would not worry about loosing a few low level bits in this context.  Again, the bottom four or five of 24-bit files are useless and lost in thermal noise.  Then, the next four or five typically contain little valuable information even if you listen to classical music.  If you listen to pop/rock/electronic, etc.  There is nothing down there you are ever going to hear. 
 
This is 48dB to 56dB attenuation before one will even begin to hear anything is lost. 
 
While audiophiles like to worry about these matters, they have little practical real-world impact. 

 

[Cotnijoe]

With the 1.2.6 update and my new aftermarket cable: i can officially say i like the dx50 sound with my asg 2 more than my AQ dragonfly.

What a great sound. Cant wait for my rendition 1 to get here