I've read some reports on it being rather hissy and some on it not having any at all. It could be that some have hiss and some don't, I mean it is a strange DAP with it's controls and what not.
hi there, i reckon this is one of the tougher to measure issues atm. this mostly depends on what the user uses as their headphone/earphone of choice. I personally find that there is not enough hiss to give me problems with music when it is playing and can detect no hiss when i am not playing music.
I've read some reports on it being rather hissy and some on it not having any at all. It could be that some have hiss and some don't, I mean it is a strange DAP with it's controls and what not.
hi there, i reckon this is one of the tougher to measure issues atm. this mostly depends on what the user uses as their headphone/earphone of choice. I personally find that there is not enough hiss to give me problems with music when it is playing and can detect no hiss when i am not playing music.
I just got new version of Alien and listened a couple of hours. What I found is that I could not hear any hiss between the gap or during play most of the time. However, I could hear the slight hiss on one song (it was 24 bit Flac file converted to WAV). I changed the song with different file format (16 bit Flac) and hiss is gone. I think that it is depends on file itself.
I think that many people want to find out what the differences between old and new version but no one has both old and new version. I contacted @Loquah and he is very generous to do comparison review between old and new version. I will send my brand new unit to him this week. If you have any specific questions, let's send questions to him before he complete the review. Again, thank you very much for sparing your time to do the review, @Loquah
I got yesterday Alien V3. Give me some times I writing a review new version with compare to Opus #1, AK380, Cayin N5 and a little to first version Alien, but a little, because I change iem from Custom Art Pro330v2 to Etymotic ER4s and I no listening first Alien on Etymotic.
I got yesterday Alien V3. Give me some times I writing a review new version with compare to Opus #1, AK380, Cayin N5 and a little to first version Alien, but a little, because I change iem from Custom Art Pro330v2 to Etymotic ER4s and I no listening first Alien on Etymotic.
Awesome. Love to hear your feedback on comparing AK380 and Cayin N5. I just got another DAP that I purchased, Xduoo X3 and compared briefly and it cannot match with Alien in terms of sound quality so decide to sell Xduoo X3 and keep Alien.
I just got new version of Alien and listened a couple of hours. What I found is that I could not hear any hiss between the gap or during play most of the time. However, I could hear the slight hiss on one song (it was 24 bit Flac file converted to WAV). I changed the song with different file format (16 bit Flac) and hiss is gone. I think that it is depends on file itself.
see, there it goes to show that hiss is hard to measure since it depends on the headphones/earphones used, etc. the hiss i heard was during the songs, like during the soft bits. personally, i wouldnt worry about it with the alien rose gold. I actually had the alien v1, but it died before the alien gold came so too bad no direct comparison, but from memory, this one has better extension both ways and is much better to me
I can see them making the new ones a little airier in the highs but lows with better extension than the old alien? Get outta here! That sub kick was killer!!
I can see them making the new ones a little airier in the highs but lows with better extension than the old alien? Get outta here! That sub kick was killer!!
I'm not for a second suggesting that I have it right or that there is one single correct way to do this, but I found on my blog that scoring systems made things more difficult over time. For example: do you score a cheap earphone like the VE Monk based on its price or its outright quality? If you then have something TOTL on the same blog (i.e. Noble K10 with its outstanding sound quality and build / design quality), how do you then score that so people know that relative to the VE Monk (and vice versa). If you scored the VE Monk outright then it might get only 2-3/5 compared to a TOTL offering that gets 4-5/5, but then that becomes misleading for someone who is coming from stock earbuds and will find a massive improvement with a high quality budget solution. If you scored the VE Monk relative to its price then it should get a 4-5/5 because it's so good and yet so cheap, but now it looks (at first glance) like it is as good as a Noble K10.
I let go of ratings for this reason - too hard to balance different value levels and too hard to adjust the scores as newer, better stuff is released. For example, once upon a time, the iPod Video was a top notch portable player worth a solid 4-5/5. These days it's probably a 3/5 relative to what's available.
Not sure the answer here. My response was to do away with ratings and just discuss each product on its own merits, but that lacks the at-a-glance ratings that some people love so it's not the perfect solution.
As someone who relies a lot on reviews for my every purchase, the current scoring system used by most head-fi reviewers are not very useful for me.
As an example, a Fiio X1 scoring a 5 stars by one reviewer is definitely not truely in the same league as a Fiio X7 rated a 3.5 stars by another reviewer.
Personally, I will very much prefer that reviewers are able to give product comparisons against its competitors instead of ratings.
Not sure the answer here. My response was to do away with ratings and just discuss each product on its own merits, but that lacks the at-a-glance ratings that some people love so it's not the perfect solution.
Yeh, many recordings I have already have hiss, that's unavoidable. The hiss from a bad DAP tho just amplifies it to me, and it's uncomforting to hear it when the song is paused or in a menu. I never heard a hiss with either my two IEMs on the Shozy, even very loud, like the uppermost volume that the Shozy can reach (yes I listened to it that loudly xD).
I cannot hear hiss on the AP100 either, but I can on other DAPs I own. When the hiss is enough to be glaringly obvious, it's an issue. If people are reporting its vague enough to only barely be audible under very quiet room conditions, then to me it passes flying colours.
First impressions Alien Gold, there are brighter than one of first version Alien, but still organic sound and more details. I love for this organic sound with brighter signature. I don't hiss, but I use Etymotic Er4s i check on Westone Um pro30 and other item. On previous Alien I had, there are no his on CIEM Custom Art Pro330v2 and Westone Um Pro30, but this is will one of first copies.
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I just got another DAP that I purchased, Xduoo X3 and compared briefly and it cannot match with Alien in terms of sound quality so decide to sell Xduoo X3 and keep Alien. 
