I'm looking for something where the placement and stage / imaging is such that I can close my eyes and it sounds like the person is singing in front of me in the room, rather than inside my head.   My experience is limited to the Denon D5000 and "lesser" headphones, so I haven't heard HD800s...

Just wanted to contribute that I have the 450 and it sounds amazing with my Denon D5000s. This is my first "sorta" high-end DAC, and there is a legitimate difference between my previous DACs and this one. I'm comparing it to the Audioengine D1, Audioengine D3, Dragonfly 1.2, Cowon X9, etc.  ...

Geek Out 450 is 0.47Ohm and sounds amazing with my D5000s. Much better than the Dragonfly 1.2 (which doesn't have good synergy with D5000s due to fatigue) or the Audioengine D1 / D3.

Just picked up a Geek Out 450 from Amazon and after listening to it for a few hours today, I can definitely say that it sounds noticeably better than both he Audioengine D3 and Dragonfly 1.2 in all categories.   Better separation, imaging, detail, no fatigue, etc. Quite warm, but not rolled...

Google Play store would be amazing on a DAP. The only thing keeping me from getting something like this is that I'd still spend the majority of my listening time at the office on my laptop, through the Google Play Store. If I had a player that had wifi / Google Play with this level of sound...

EDIT: This was supposed to be posted in the Astell & Kern April Fools thread, but was created as a new thread for some reason.   All jokes aside, please make your next player look like this. It looks like something Heimdall would use.

Burn-in = not real. But this thing should definitely sound leaps and bounds better than an iPod Classic. Just about anything sounds better than an iPod Classic.

Cowon uses odd numbers for JetEffects iterations. 3, 5, 7, etc.

Unless I'm completely wrong about this, I just don't see Cowon pricing this thing anywhere near $1,000. That would be a huge leap in their product line. There's not really a precedent for that type of move from them, especially since they're using the exact same marketing materials they usually...

Exactly. My X9 isn't an audiophile DAP, but it's much better sounding than my iPod Classic and it costs less. The only problem I see with this is being underwhelmed at the sound quality. If you have a truly great sounding player, you don't need things like JetEffect at all. The fact that they're...

This is why we take everything with a grain of salt.

Yeah, I really hope we don't have to wait months and months for this.

Ha, I'm not even interested in reading about the DX90 anymore after hearing about this. Thanks OP! Like mentioned earlier, if the sound is neutral and resolves detail (unlike my Cowon X9) I'll get this in a heartbeat. Look at those specs! Cowon actually has usable UI, too.

That will hopefully include my 32ohm Denon D5000s. That will hopefully include my 32ohm Denon D5000s.

Does this DX90 have the potential to compete with the HM-901, based on the DAC chips used. Or is this more in competition with the HM-802?