[rrondo]

Two weeks ago i bought my first 'closed' headphones Audio-Technica M40x (for 120$ in my country). By that time I already had iBasso DC02 and pair of in-ear headphones TRN V90. And my new M40x very disappointed me. I was hoping to get wide soundstage and more 'deep' sound, but my TRN v90 (~35$) sounds much better than M40x and that makes me sad. Could DC02 be "bottleneck" of my setup? Maybe i need something more powerful than little DC02?

My budget is around $150

Thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

Could just be the TRN V90 is better than the ATH-M40X.
What sources are you plugging the iBasso DC02 into?
If you plug the ATH-M40X and TRN V90 into the source without using the iBasso DC02, how do the headphones sound?

 

[rrondo]

What sources are you plugging the iBasso DC02 into?

Mostly i plug DC02 to my PC (Asus Z97-AR motherboard without soundcard) , sometimes using it with Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (UAPP with bit-prefect)
I also have external USB sound card called ORICO SC2 (20$ on amazon), but it's absolutely garbage. Nevertheless i tested my v90/m40x with this device too.

TRN V90 sounds almost fine with Redmi, less good with ORICO and perfectly fine with iBasso DC02
M40x sounds absolutely 'flat' with Redmi, awful with ORICO and unsatisfactorily with iBasso (yet still it's not that 'flat' like Redmi/ORICO)

Could just be the TRN V90 is better than the ATH-M40X.

I really afraid of this

 

[PurpleAngel]

Mostly i plug DC02 to my PC (Asus Z97-AR motherboard without sound card) , sometimes using it with Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (UAPP with bit-prefect)
I also have external USB sound card called ORICO SC2 (20$ on amazon), but it's absolutely garbage. Nevertheless i tested my v90/m40x with this device too.

TRN V90 sounds almost fine with Redmi, less good with ORICO and perfectly fine with iBasso DC02
M40x sounds absolutely 'flat' with Redmi, awful with ORICO and unsatisfactorily with iBasso (yet still it's not that 'flat' like Redmi/ORICO)

I really afraid of this

The M40X might be defective or a knock off.
ATH-M40X is normally considered a decent headphone, for it's price.
Or the TRN V90 is a good bang for the buck.