[nutkunkup]

I've noticed too that the recording levels in general have been steadily climbing, I think partly because things tend to sound better louder.

But example that I wrote, Adele songs are in DSD file but JB and Ed are Flac 24bit

 

[vladr]

I sent return request to the seller on Friday for my SP2000. Yesterday gave it last chance to impress me. Battery went from 90 to 20% in less than 4 hours of Amazon HD streaming. Meee-hh. Do not fool yourself folks, this is not the best thing you could spent your hard earned $3.5K cash on. Last session did not change my opinion - overpriced, overhyped DAP.
My KC + i3 sounds way better than SP2000 + i3 combo. The reason is : 3.5mm output on SP2000 is not powerful enough to drive this small beast. Sure, balanced output will be probably better, but I do not want to spend $300-$400 on balanced cable just to be able to use i3 with SP2000.
In my opinion, and I have tried 4 different DAPs almost at the same time - Fiio Q5s AM3D THX version, Kann Cube , Fiio M15 and SP2000, SP2000 is the worst value for the money. One should invest in a good sounding cans first. This is where sound come from. I personally do not care if DAP has 0.002% or 0.00001% of THD+N, or channel separation 100dB or 120dB. First of all, I won't hear that with my ears, second of all, the best HP is around 0.1% THD anyway, which makes DAP technological superiority useless. DAP output power (ability to drive wider spectrum of cans, IEMs), headphone quality (not always - cost), followed by quality of recording and only after that, all these insane noise, distortions, channel separations, DACs, etc matter. In this particular order.

 

[edwardsean]

I sent return request to the seller on Friday for my SP2000. Yesterday gave it last chance to impress me. Battery went from 90 to 20% in less than 4 hours of Amazon HD streaming. Meee-hh. Do not fool yourself folks, this is not the best thing you could spent your hard earned $3.5K cash on. Last session did not change my opinion - overpriced, overhyped DAP.
My KC + i3 sounds way better than SP2000 + i3 combo. The reason is : 3.5mm output on SP2000 is not powerful enough to drive this small beast. Sure, balanced output will be probably better, but I do not want to spend $300-$400 on balanced cable just to be able to use i3 with SP2000.
In my opinion, and I have tried 4 different DAPs almost at the same time - Fiio Q5s AM3D THX version, Kann Cube , Fiio M15 and SP2000, SP2000 is the worst value for the money. One should invest in a good sounding cans first. This is where sound come from. I personally do not care if DAP has 0.002% or 0.00001% of THD+N, or channel separation 100dB or 120dB. First of all, I won't hear that with my ears, second of all, the best HP is around 0.1% THD anyway, which makes DAP technological superiority useless. DAP output power (ability to drive wider spectrum of cans, IEMs), headphone quality (not always - cost), followed by quality of recording and only after that, all these insane noise, distortions, channel separations, DACs, etc matter. In this particular order.

You made a good decision for yourself. I sincerely mean that. The law of diminishing returns accelerates to small degrees at this point and you really have to ask whether it's worth it for yourself.

I got my SP2000 around the same time and recently made the opposite decision. I just reterminated my cable from a 4.4mm to a 2.5mm. I really didn't want to do that, but the SP2K is worth it for me.

Form factor, features, battery life aside, I'm keeping the SP2K to gain "all those insane noise, distortions, channel separations, DACs, etc." specifications.

Those specs don't necessarily translate to actual SQ. That's without question. But, they aren't meaningless either. They are the benchmark metrics that passionate companies use to strive to achieve audibly great sound. Without e.g., SNR, THD figures, they would be working in vague subjective opinions. It would be like if Olympic athletes weren't judged by precise laser guided timers, but a bunch of onlookers. When audio engineers achieve certain numbers they display them with pride. It might just be marketing, but if it's a worthy company, they've earned it.

Who else cares about these numbers though? I do. You should.

Yes, firstly, you need very good equipment to hear the difference. You're absolutely right, you would be foolish to get an SP2K if the rest of your system isn't at that level. I agree with you, phones have the most impact, and they should come first. Secondly, you need good ears. But, even so, can anyone really hear a difference in these micro values of sonic measurements?

If you can't, you can't... but, maybe you can. No one is saying a human can differentiate between 0.0004% and 0.0005% THD+N. Again, that's why we have the machines (as long as they are nice to us and do what we say). In the real world it goes like this: "Hmm... this sounds really good. Then, this sounds better than that, but I don't know why. Then, this sounds better because it sounds more... real. Then, this sounds better because the imaging is more precise, the background is blacker, the transients are sharper, the notes are less grainy and more fluid, the harmonic overtone structure is more natural and complete in timbre, etc. etc."

That–is "all those insane noise, distortions, channel separations, DACs, etc." specifications, for which I am keeping my SP2000.

 

[F208Frank]

Beautifully written

 

[Samuel777]

You mean you enjoy how AK EQued its daps for you.

Should we pay 3,5k dap to eq? I think no. Better to use smartphone and ios or android music applications. A great dap should sound perfectly. And AK daps natively do that. Personally I love how these are.

 

[Samuel777]

What I really need is function to auto adjust the volume of each song to similar level not eq.

That would negatively impact the sound quality!

 

[Samuel777]

Also: When I shuffle play all songs, I like to add certain tracks to one of my playlists while listening to the song. I've noticed that it's possible to add the same track multiple times to the same playlist.
Would it be an idea to just like with SONY NW-WM1Z / WM1A make this not possilble and get the message "this song was all ready added to the playlist"?

Great! THAT is something I'm claiming for since three years now. Hope the programmers hear @JasonNYC and do that in the next update.

 

[jmills8]

You made a good decision for yourself. I sincerely mean that. The law of diminishing returns accelerates to small degrees at this point and you really have to ask whether it's worth it for yourself.

I got my SP2000 around the same time and recently made the opposite decision. I just reterminated my cable from a 4.4mm to a 2.5mm. I really didn't want to do that, but the SP2K is worth it for me.

Form factor, features, battery life aside, I'm keeping the SP2K to gain "all those insane noise, distortions, channel separations, DACs, etc." specifications.

Those specs don't necessarily translate to actual SQ. That's without question. But, they aren't meaningless either. They are the benchmark metrics that passionate companies use to strive to achieve audibly great sound. Without e.g., SNR, THD figures, they would be working in vague subjective opinions. It would be like if Olympic athletes weren't judged by precise laser guided timers, but a bunch of onlookers. When audio engineers achieve certain numbers they display them with pride. It might just be marketing, but if it's a worthy company, they've earned it.

Who else cares about these numbers though? I do. You should.

Yes, firstly, you need very good equipment to hear the difference. You're absolutely right, you would be foolish to get an SP2K if the rest of your system isn't at that level. I agree with you, phones have the most impact, and they should come first. Secondly, you need good ears. But, even so, can anyone really hear a difference in these micro values of sonic measurements?

If you can't, you can't... but, maybe you can. No one is saying a human can differentiate between 0.0004% and 0.0005% THD+N. Again, that's why we have the machines (as long as they are nice to us and do what we say). In the real world it goes like this: "Hmm... this sounds really good. Then, this sounds better than that, but I don't know why. Then, this sounds better because it sounds more... real. Then, this sounds better because the imaging is more precise, the background is blacker, the transients are sharper, the notes are less grainy and more fluid, the harmonic overtone structure is more natural and complete in timbre, etc. etc."

That–is "all those insane noise, distortions, channel separations, DACs, etc." specifications, for which I am keeping my SP2000.

Which albums were you using ?

 

[edwardsean]

Which albums were you using ?

A bunch of genres, all DSD512, among them:
Anne Sophie Mutter: Tchaikovsky, Massenet
Chvrches: all albums
Hans Zimmer OSTs: Inception, Dark Knight, Interstellar, Batman v. Superman
Daniel Hope: Spheres
Depeche Mode: all albums
Roxy Music: Avalon
Dua Lipa: Dua Lipa
Fink: all albums
Florence + Machine: all albums
Ola Gjello: Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)
Haux: Caves
Jan Gaberek: Officium
Will Ackerman: all albums
Jesse Cook: all albums
Morten Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna
Pierre Bensusan: all albums
Deadmau5: While
Olafur Arnalds: Chopin Project
Rage Against the Machine: RATM
Alexandre Desplat OSTs: Coco Avant Chanel, The Danish Girl
M83: all albums

 

[jmills8]

A bunch of genres, all DSD512, among them:
Anne Sophie Mutter: Tchaikovsky, Massenet
Chvrches: all albums
Hans Zimmer OSTs: Inception, Dark Knight, Interstellar, Batman v. Superman
Daniel Hope: Spheres
Depeche Mode: all albums
Roxy Music: Avalon
Dua Lipa: Dua Lipa
Fink: all albums
Florence + Machine: all albums
Ola Gjello: Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)
Haux: Caves
Jan Gaberek: Officium
Will Ackerman: all albums
Jesse Cook: all albums
Morten Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna
Pierre Bensusan: all albums
Deadmau5: While
Olafur Arnalds: Chopin Project
Rage Against the Machine: RATM
Alexandre Desplat OSTs: Coco Avant Chanel, The Danish Girl
M83: all albums

Wow thanks , you spent over a week alone.

 

[Xander9211]

Hi, does anyone charge their SP2000 through 5V/3A outlet? I know I should use 2A. But won’t extra 1 ampere fry it?

 

[kel77]

Hi, does anyone charge their SP2000 through 5V/3A outlet? I know I should use 2A. But won’t extra 1 ampere fry it?

The extra ampere won't do damage as the max draw current will still be at 2A from the device.
It will be a problem if is at the wrong voltage.

 

[arftech]

Is there an option on the SPK2 where you could know the number of albums, artists or tracks you may have on the device?

 

[DaYooper]

When I have a track playing in random mode of all music I can see just below the album artwork, between the time counter the number of the track out of the total number of tracks on the device. i.e. 15206/21620

 

[arftech]

Lately I’ve been buying music from Qobuz to store on my device. You can get CD quality or HI-Res versions of the music you want but not all are Hi-Res. It sounds amazing and prices are cheaper than HD Tracks.

The buying process is relatively easy from Qobuz but you would think Tidal would offer that feature.

I’m finding myself to not stream that much from either Qobuz or Tidal. Personally, I prefer owning my music but that’s just me.

Man, the SPK2 sounds so good.