[greyforest]

Hi All,

As briefly as possible - heard the N6ii on Saturday and it was so lovely it nearly made me cry (honestly). Now actively investigating. Currently have Fiio M11.
Was previously considering iBasso DX220 because of holographic soundstage (not keen on the reports of bad performance though)
So from a soundstage (esp depth) POV, how do you feel the N6ii with E02 or T01 stack up against the 220?
I'm kind of thinking E02 - is there a reason I should be considering T01 instead? Balanced is my intended use.

t01 does have better frontal depth than e02, but i would consider none of them being holographic.

 

[misteral201103]

t01 does have better frontal depth than e02, but i would consider none of them being holographic.

Thanks for the quick and honest reply!

 

[111MilesToGo]

I hope you can find the solution to handle the Qobuz download folders more effectively

Certainly can't compare an Android device against a computer, one of the biggest different of Android vs Microsoft or macOS is multitasking. When you are using a computer, the system can put several intensive process in the background so that you can continue to navigate through the UI or even a different application without feeling lagging (until you run out of RAM). Android is seriously behind on this regard, that's why the device is fully occupied even with "simple" task of scrolling through 18,000 chunk files.

The Snapdragon CPU in N6ii was widely used in mid-tier mobile phones back in 2016. This sounds outdated by numbers, but the bottleneck of mobile phone processing is always games and video, when we build an Android device that don't involve games and video, even a 2016 CPU should be fairly adequate. To certain extended, we are ambushed by Qobuz's choice of privacy protection strategy. Breaking 500 songs (~30 albums) into 18,000 chunk files is ... unexpected. I wonder whether a current mid-tier (Snapdragon 665?) mobile phone will performs significantly better because I have a feeling that this is not only a matter of CPU processing power, the file management approach of Android system also play a role in this problem.

I would suggest you stick with the default format and that will be exFAT. Copy 30GB to 50GB music to your new Extreme Pro 512 GB TF card and try to use it in your N6ii for a day, it you don't run into any problem, then you can copy the rest of your Music Library to the card and use it with peace of mind.

Hi @Andykong, welcome back after your time off and out! Thanks for all your answers today.

I should like to repeat here that the N6ii is an awesome DAP with a wealth of features and top SQ. Maybe not fully TOTL SQ, maybe not the very fastest UI, maybe Android is not the most accessible OS of all, but my summarized experience is: Just an awesome DAP, lots of joy and fun.

I am really grateful for your advice at the time when I was contemplating which DAP I should get as my first one, N8, N6ii, or another brand. It was late 2019 or early 2020 when you recommended the N6ii as a universal starting point. That was spot-on for me, happy to this very day!

 

[misteral201103]

t01 does have better frontal depth than e02, but i would consider none of them being holographic.

Suddenly thought - have you heard the DX220? Would you call that holographic?
Driving myself absolutely crazy right now between the N6ii, the DX220 (not heard yet) and the Lotoo PAW 6000...need to spend an hour or two auditioning all of them!

 

[111MilesToGo]

Suddenly thought - have you heard the DX220? Would you call that holographic?
Driving myself absolutely crazy right now between the N6ii, the DX220 (not heard yet) and the Lotoo PAW 6000...need to spend an hour or two auditioning all of them!

You might want - or maybe not - to increase your list by one more, the HiBy R8. The R8 thread here has tons of comparisons, as do the various reviews (in particular by @twister6 and Headfonics).

Myself, I haven‘t heard any of the others, that‘s just too difficult here in Germany. Just hypothetically: If there were a reason for me to upgrade from my N6ii + A01 & T01, I would either consider an E02, or an R8. My reasoning for the R8 would primarily be the UI (Android 9) & SoC plus the screen, but it‘s a lot of dough for just that. As I said above, just happy now. An E02 might come for me at a point in time when the current 2nd Corona wave will hopefully be behind us ... prayers.

 

[Andykong]

A03?

Personally, I’d start with ended output only and remove balanced. Depending on how much space that frees up on the audio mobo, I could see a few directions...but I’m not an engineer so I’m kind of guessing what is possible at that point ; )

Tried the A02 pre-out to a pair of tube monoblocks the other night and I did like the flexibility, btw!

What was the original setup before you plug in the A02? A02 Sounds good in the home audio system? With off-the-shelf 3.5mm to 2xRCA interconnect? This is the first case of using A02 pre out in this thread, so I am interested to find out more about your impression.

 

[greyforest]

Suddenly thought - have you heard the DX220? Would you call that holographic?
Driving myself absolutely crazy right now between the N6ii, the DX220 (not heard yet) and the Lotoo PAW 6000...need to spend an hour or two auditioning all of them!

dx220have many amp modules, I tried those early one. not impressed

paw 6000 is in general inferior compare to e02. smaller soundstage and weaker dynamics

if you are happy with m11, why don’t you try m15.

 

[misteral201103]

dx220have many amp modules, I tried those early one. not impressed

paw 6000 is in general inferior compare to e02. smaller soundstage and weaker dynamics

if you are happy with m11, why don’t you try m15.

Thanks again for the reply! I don't feel that M15 is going to give me what I am after (more three dimensional soundstage)
In fact, I was only casually considering a new DAP - all the hoohah about the UM MEST had got me onto a renewed investigation for 3D and had brought the DX220 to my attention.
At the 28th Annual Shanghai High End Audio Show (which I blundered into on Saturday while trying to demo the MEST at a shop which turned out to be closed because they were exhibiting) I tried a few things, among them the MMR Thummin (highly regarded) and some other earphone (can't remember) and then the N6ii (sadly I don't know which module - A01 or T01) and the Lotoo PAW 6k.

I found a much larger difference swapping the DAP as opposed to swapping the earphones.

Lotoo impressed with details but Cayin went straight to my heart. Maybe it was a touch of added warmth, I don't know. I couldn't really take it in and didn't spend very long there. But it was an instant, visceral reaction. Didn't even get a chance to consider the staging!!!

All things being good, I'll get to demo all three on Friday. If I can't demo, then I think I will go for the Cayin with E02 (maybe T02 to follow later.....)
Again, many thanks for your help with this!

 

[misteral201103]

You might want - or maybe not - to increase your list by one more, the HiBy R8. The R8 thread here has tons of comparisons, as do the various reviews (in particular by @twister6 and Headfonics).

Myself, I haven‘t heard any of the others, that‘s just too difficult here in Germany. Just hypothetically: If there were a reason for me to upgrade from my N6ii + A01 & T01, I would either consider an E02, or an R8. My reasoning for the R8 would primarily be the UI (Android 9) & SoC plus the screen, but it‘s a lot of dough for just that. As I said above, just happy now. An E02 might come for me at a point in time when the current 2nd Corona wave will hopefully be behind us ... prayers.

Thanks for the rec, R8 is out of my price range! But appreciate the info

 

[greyforest]

Thanks again for the reply! I don't feel that M15 is going to give me what I am after (more three dimensional soundstage)
In fact, I was only casually considering a new DAP - all the hoohah about the UM MEST had got me onto a renewed investigation for 3D and had brought the DX220 to my attention.
At the 28th Annual Shanghai High End Audio Show (which I blundered into on Saturday while trying to demo the MEST at a shop which turned out to be closed because they were exhibiting) I tried a few things, among them the MMR Thummin (highly regarded) and some other earphone (can't remember) and then the N6ii (sadly I don't know which module - A01 or T01) and the Lotoo PAW 6k.

I found a much larger difference swapping the DAP as opposed to swapping the earphones.

Lotoo impressed with details but Cayin went straight to my heart. Maybe it was a touch of added warmth, I don't know. I couldn't really take it in and didn't spend very long there. But it was an instant, visceral reaction. Didn't even get a chance to consider the staging!!!

All things being good, I'll get to demo all three on Friday. If I can't demo, then I think I will go for the Cayin with E02 (maybe T02 to follow later.....)
Again, many thanks for your help with this!

go for e02, you can get very very cheap second hand t01 easily (10% of the asking price). But again to my ears m15 does have much more holographic soundstage than any of n6mk2’s soundcard, plus better power output. And it would be helpful if you can get a tf(or 2) card filled with songs that you familiar with to test the difference.

If you live in shanghai, zhiyintang(eng:concert goer) have all those daps for test.

 

[misteral201103]

go for e02, you can get very very cheap second hand t01 easily (10% of the asking price). But again to my ears m15 does have much more holographic soundstage than any of n6mk2’s soundcard, plus better power output. And it would be helpful if you can get a tf(or 2) card filled with songs that you familiar with to test the difference.

If you live in shanghai, zhiyintang(eng:concert goer) have all those daps for test.

That's exactly where I'm headed on Friday (after a trip to renew my passport!)
Definitely putting some cards together so I can A/B.
*sigh* I'll investigate the M15......this never ends, does it?

 

[greyforest]

That's exactly where I'm headed on Friday (after a trip to renew my passport!)
Definitely putting some cards together so I can A/B.
*sigh* I'll investigate the M15......this never ends, does it?

check your private message

 

[111MilesToGo]

Talking about adding an E02 to my N6ii: I would need to get a symmetric cable for my Beyerdynamic Xelento Remote IEM, MMCX / 4.4 mm connectors. Desired character: Sort of neutral, at most with a just touch on the warm and liquid side. The Xelento has got enough bass for my taste almost a little bit more than enough, so the cable should neither boost nor diminish the bass registers, but definitely should provide control and tight timing. Mids and treble should be "nice and musical", hard to describe. No need to diminish the Xelento's treble, it's good.

Can you recommend a symmetric cable to me? I'm in Germany, which is a bit tough for high-end audio. My buying philosophy primarily is to support the manufacturers and in particular my local dealers with their personal assistance, in the second place retailers in Germany who provide sales via a webshop. I have no desire to support Big A and the likes, actually read as "detest", but by the end of the day I would consider buying from them if there is no other way.

I had been looking around, and I found this one from ALO / Campfire, with their German distributor:
https://campfireaudio.com/shop/alo-audio-reference-8-iem-cable/
https://headphonecompany.com/produkt/alo-audio-reference-8-in-ear-kabel/
Actually, I am not so sure whether it is symmetric (that word doesn't show up on the respective pages). And I see one comment on the U.S. website stating "terrible, stiff, microphonic". Hmmm...

Thanks in advance for recommendations from your side.

 

[MikeKim]

Hi all
I just join here, nice to meet you all

 

[hellfire8888]

Talking about adding an E02 to my N6ii: I would need to get a symmetric cable for my Beyerdynamic Xelento Remote IEM, MMCX / 4.4 mm connectors. Desired character: Sort of neutral, at most with a just touch on the warm and liquid side. The Xelento has got enough bass for my taste almost a little bit more than enough, so the cable should neither boost nor diminish the bass registers, but definitely should provide control and tight timing. Mids and treble should be "nice and musical", hard to describe. No need to diminish the Xelento's treble, it's good.

Can you recommend a symmetric cable to me? I'm in Germany, which is a bit tough for high-end audio. My buying philosophy primarily is to support the manufacturers and in particular my local dealers with their personal assistance, in the second place retailers in Germany who provide sales via a webshop. I have no desire to support Big A and the likes, actually read as "detest", but by the end of the day I would consider buying from them if there is no other way.

I had been looking around, and I found this one from ALO / Campfire, with their German distributor:
https://campfireaudio.com/shop/alo-audio-reference-8-iem-cable/
https://headphonecompany.com/produkt/alo-audio-reference-8-in-ear-kabel/
Actually, I am not so sure whether it is symmetric (that word doesn't show up on the respective pages). And I see one comment on the U.S. website stating "terrible, stiff, microphonic". Hmmm...

Thanks in advance for recommendations from your side.

i just get my new e02 card as well. instead of changing cable..i bought the adapter