Well, the FR curve seems to indicate that the tuning is more inline with recent Hana than the Oxygen. The pinna gain is just more than I would like so probably doesn't suit my taste. Anyway, happy to see a new product from the brand.

Sorry but no. And I personally own a Holo sabertooth dac so I don't care much about tech details of spring. I don't know much about Holo in US but doesn't every Holo product sold in US come from KitsuneHIFI?

For those who use hqplayer to convert everything to DSD then yes. However you don't really lose the ability to play both PCM and DSD using either R2R or DSD module since the AKM PCM/DSD converter chip used in spring is also included

Notice that the XMOS chip is different from the one used in current spring dac. Also the designer said that the isolation's improved and the module would also be included in the future batches of spring.

It's still an engineering sample though but it's said that as a standalone DAC it should be close to spring level 1, just w/o the capability to convert PCM/DSD natively at the same time.

6980 RMB, roughly a little bit over 1K USD

A new mid-priced modular dac/amp combo from Holo called Cyan: DAC module is either R2R PCM or DSD, with or w/o headphone amp, also an upgraded USB receiver module.

This is actually not a new product. Your link just says that it's not a R2R design but using dual AK4396 chips. I've been using this DAC for several years. Generally a good DAC for less than $700 but is said to be replaced by a new product using the same R2R module used in spring DAC (not gonna...

I guess no. The reason why it supports DSD is that the module can operate at a very high speed similar to modern dacs so removing DSD support would just make very little hardware difference.

​The built-in USB module of spring is XMOS based, fully isolated and that's it. No femto clocks and other fancy stuff. It's good enough in my opinion. Better than its SPDIF inputs.   The creator of the spring DAC does have another usb noise filter product like schiit wyrd. I don't know if it...

Not shabby at all if fed by a good USB/SPDIF converter. A little bit prim compared to sabre dacs but should not be a problem with most headphone systems.

Isn't HM700 using sigmatel solution? Is there any possibility that rockbox will be ported to this player?

I would like to see the mids to be more direct and flat. Current iteration seems a little bit recessed. Although the relaxing sound is not bad, I think more authentic and energetic sound would be generally prefered.

I guess since es9018k2m is designed for portable devices, it does not require additional I/V stage and etc. Also the power consumption can be lowered.

It's just as simple as compressing a file. The bitrate goes down and so does the file size.

It’s using xmos solutions just like other USB DACs and of course DoP is supported. What troubles me is that they are still using TPA6120 which means output impedance is still a issue.

That is exactly the cable for Android USB OTG feature. Maybe we can expect to attach any USB device which is supported by Android to ZX1 if SONY does not put some kind of restriction on purpose.

Looks like USB OTG cable. Maybe it's also possible to attach a SD card reader to that.

After all the flagship of portable devices of SONY in term of SQ should be PHA2. I wound say ZX1 < AK120 is more reasonable.

I think it's just typical USB feature you can find on most android phones. Since android supports USB DACs, paring ZX1 with PHA2 makes perfect sense. It's not as convenient as spdif though.

Actually the mid-range of HE-500 is not boosted. It's true that the decay time of mid-range is relatively longer which may be an issue to some people. Anyway, HE-500 is tuned to be so to imitate the sound of monitors in a small space. You can try the fuzz pads to alter the sound. Hope it will be...

Small companies really cannot afford a software team which could develop a decent OS or just customize Android OS properly nowadays in China.

Quote: The upper-mids of TF10 is somehow veiled and this makes TF10 sound a little laid-back. The upper-mids of FX700 is, on the contrary, quite aggressive.

Quote:   http://erji.net/read.php?tid=1458265 It's a small batch intended to raise money for charity. I haven't heared it myself. Anyway RE-600 would probably be available by the end of this month.

A small bach of RE600 has been released. Seems like the sound signatures are close to those of RE262/272.