[fuhransahis]

I do. But I think, any case makes any DAP bulky

Seeing as how you are looking into extra modding possibilities... ... is there any way to mod... anything, whether it's the app itself or creating a separate app or however it may be done, to have Tidal work with your USB audio tweaks? It works perfectly with USB Audio Player, my only issue is that I'd like to access my offline Tidal files, but can't cause they are encrypted and only readable by Tidal.

 

[zerolight]

Can someone with experience with this and Acoustic research give me your thoughts on the two or three please?

Right now I have a Mojo which I love but it's not convenient with all its cables and mess to use with iPhone, especially troublesome since 10.3 iOS.

I did not like the Dragonfly red which sounded thin in comparison the Mojo. I'm concerned that I might feel the same with the DX200 too since both are Sabre?

I gather that the DACs in the M2 and M20 are warmer and might therefore be a better match of the Ether C Flow. The M20 bypasses Android even through Tidal and Spotify.

On the other hand, the DX200 looks more future proof with Android 6 - less chance of losing Tidal or Spotify. It also does USB audio and officially supports Bluetooth whilst the M20 only sort of does.

On paper the DX200 looks a winner. But that Sabre DAC worries me.

 

[jamato8]

Can someone with experience with this and Acoustic research give me your thoughts on the two or three please?

Right now I have a Mojo which I love but it's not convenient with all its cables and mess to use with iPhone, especially troublesome since 10.3 iOS.

I did not like the Dragonfly red which sounded thin in comparison the Mojo. I'm concerned that I might feel the same with the DX200 too since both are Sabre?

I gather that the DACs in the M2 and M20 are warmer and might therefore be a better match of the Ether C Flow. The M20 bypasses Android even through Tidal and Spotify.

On the other hand, the DX200 looks more future proof with Android 6 - less chance of losing Tidal or Spotify. It also does USB audio and officially supports Bluetooth whilst the M20 only sort of does.

On paper the DX200 looks a winner. But that Sabre DAC worries me.

Nothing to worry about, IMO, on the dacs in the DX200. I now use it as my source when using my desktop amp over anything else and the new AMP2 amp is excellent and in some areas, like separation and dynamics now outdoes the WM1Z.

 

[Glasha]

What do you guys think about the comination DX200 and Focal Elear? Can the DX200 drive those headphones? I am going to use the DX200 for the outside, but even at home as a DAC/AMP to watch movies, still with the Elear. Is it a stupid idea?

 

[jamato8]

What do you guys think about the comination DX200 and Focal Elear? Can the DX200 drive those headphones? I am going to use the DX200 for the outside, but even at home as a DAC/AMP to watch movies, still with the Elear. Is it a stupid idea?

I use it with my Utopia all the time but don't have the Elear. It drives the Utopia without a problem and sounds very good.

 

[fuhransahis]

I see a lot of comparisons between the Amp 1 in SE and Amp 2, but can't recall any comparisons between Amp 1 Balanced and Amp 2... any impressions?

 

[nzvlam]

My English take on the AMP2 module: http://kopfhoerer-lounge.blogspot.com/2017/05/iBasso-AMP2-Review.html#more

Nice review Chris, as usual!

I've had my AMP2 for about three weeks now, with burn-in of between 70 - 100hrs. I did post some very early take on the AMP2 and that largely still stands.

This time using Beyer's DT1990 Pro to listen to various sections of a DSD64 recording of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2, I did some A/B with the two AMPs. I was using high gain and volume set to about 120, the DT1990 has a new Tesla driver and is rated 250ohms. I do not have many balanced gears, so most of my listening is done with single ended equipments. Sonically there are noticeable differences, but they are not night and day.

To my ears, the AMP1 is more reference, there is hardly any emphasis in any part of the frequency response, its more detailed and cleaner. It has slightly less bass when compared to the AMP2 but its tighter. AMP2 definitely has a bigger soundstage and slightly more bass. The AMP2 is slightly more powerful but only 3-4 notch up from the AMP1 so don't expect a big power gain from the AMP2. Power is not a problem even when driving full size over heads. However I did not try using my Beyer T1 or any of my planars with the DX200 as I do not think thats what the DX200 is designed for.

One thing to note is, contrary to other comments on this forum, I find the treble sparkles more with the AMP2 than AMP1 which I find surprising. I am a "treble head" so this is not a problem for me. It could be just my unit, or matching with the DT1990.

Overall, I found that there is no "obvious" choice between the AMP1 and AMP2. Its as usual a matter of taste and preference. The AMP1 is more reference and has balanced output so its more versatile. The AMP2 has bigger soundstage and more bass so its more "fun" to listen to.

 

[HiFiChris]

Product page for the AMP2: https://head-fi.org/f/showcase/ibasso-amp2.22412/

 

[Lurker0]

I feel myself very proud announcing release of Firmware 2.2.110-L2! Since release of L1, a lot of work was done, including communications with developers of USB Audio Player PRO, Neutron Music Player and HibyMusic, to make them work better with USB Audio. Recently released Neutron Music Player 1.95.0 is fully compatible, and a special build of the free HibyMusic is embedded into this firmware release, with a kind permission of HiBy Music company! The required changes were made by myself. This build allows you to install the official versions via Google Play Market in addition.

Another hidden work was done to let MacOS and Linux users install my firmware builds. A separate zip archive to flash using rkflashtool is available now! A compatible build of rkflashtool was pushed into Homebrew for easy install in MacOS. Please read the firmware description for step-by-step instructions.

The new features of USB Audio application (turn on/off USB DAC mode of DX200; save/restore system sound settings), along with a good player pre-installed, allow to disable MangoPlayer in Android Apps settings, without loosing neither functionality nor sound quality.

Warning: This firmware build fixes a problem, that exFAT formatted media was mounted under default name, not by UUID, as it should. Now all supported file systems are mounted by UUID, but, after the first boot, you may find your microSD (and music library!) at a different path.

Here is the full list of differences between 2.2.110-L2 and the official firmware:

Mango mode:​

• Removed Android services, that are not used in this mode.
• Enabled USB Reader mode (with some restrictions - read the description!)
• Fonts are replaced with a font based on Roboto Condenced.

But you should not need Mango mode anymore with all the advantages of the full Android!

Android mode:​

• Embedded USB Audio for DX200 application which lets you play bit-perfect music from any supported sources and formats using USB Audio Player PRO, Neutron Music, or embedded special build of HibyMusic, with all their advanced features. It also addresses performance (listen even DST SACD!) and power control (play/pause key works!) issues with screen turned off.
  
• USB Mass Storage instead of MIDI to problem free access to microSD on any platform.
• Google Play Market for easy install apps, including paid or with in-app purchases.
• SuperSU for those who really need it.
• exFAT and NTFS media are mounted by UUID, to prevent problems with mounting two storages with the same format.
• Some performance and stability optimization.

Please spend some time to read the descriptions of the firmware and USB Audio for DX200 that I've written, before making your decision or asking questions!

 

[javahut]

would your new 2.2.110-L2 firmware also support the Poweramp player at source resolution?

 

[Lurker0]

would your new 2.2.110-L2 firmware also support the Poweramp player at source resolution?

It's a question to PowerAmp developers.

 

[artpiggo]

Thanks for FW work, Lurker0.

Sadly, My DX200 sent for repair still not arrived yet. T^T

 

[javahut]

It's a question to PowerAmp developers.

how would poweramp developers know how you designed the firmware? It seems if Android OS is functioning as intended, and Neutron player is supported, wouldn't Poweramp use the same OS resources as Neutron?

 

[Lurker0]

how would poweramp developers know how you designed the firmware?

I didn't design the firmware, but Android in iBasso DX200 does not perform resampling internally. It's up to the application to provide accurate sound stream. So please ask developers of a particular software whether they send sound stream as is or modified.

Neutron player is supported, wouldn't Poweramp use the same OS resources as Neutron?

Please ask PowerAmp developers In my firmware description I mentioned only apps that are able to play via an external USB DAC, with options for bit perfect stream. I never heard that Poweramp has implemented either USB DAC support and/or an option for bit-perfect playback.

I didn't mention Onkyo Music, which is claimed to support USB DAC, because it does not work with DX200, and with many other devices.

 

[Lurker0]

Regarding PowerAmp, I've found this information: "704 does support external DACs, but obviously being an alpha test there's no direct support for it as yet, nor any guarantee it will work with your model yet..." December 7, 2016. I don't want to be an alpha tester without a guarantee that the release will happen before EOL of my DAP