[WCDchee]

It would be nice if it only cost $149 in parts but it costs much more. If it did we would price it to reflect that. R&D changes as the chips change and as we integrate the circuit to get the most out of the new chips being used. Past R&D gives experience but that is all. New chips and function require a tremendous amount of time. The DX200 will be very reasonable priced compared to what the cost is to us but we can not afford give it away or we like any business will no longer exist.

IBasso has always had reasonable prices and I don't see why they will change that.

 

[Mimouille]

The truth cuts like a knife to the bone, every time, makes them up-in-arms, very predictable.

And I never mentioned a thing about how or why people make their money, you've twisted my post out of all context, just like Hillary and her cronies.

OH now I understand.

 

[Mimouille]

There's nothing bitter or hate filled in my post or thoughts about dx200 or pricing. Everybody wants a great price, as low as possible on everything they buy. That's logic. I have zero issue paying the price of an item if I want it either. I can understand the guy's post and his thoughts though.

Obviously ibasso won't be pricing this in the lower echelons regardless of manufacturing costs. That's fine too. I'll buy it if I want it.

Im in the middle of saving for vega which is not exactly pocket change for a pair of IEM's. Were talking a G plus in UK. Would I like them price more around £100 than £1000 of course... not bothered they are the price they are though. Plenty of headfiers impressions leads me to believe they are great value.

When people talk about price, alot of time it isn't about the price. It's more about the perceived value of a product. Ask joe bloggs to spend £x amount on a DAP and he will scoff most likely and says his phone is fine. Ask the same guy to hear the voices of Angels out of a certain DAP and all of a sudden it makes sense... I can hear angels every day and it only needs an investment of x amount, fantastic!

Nobody on here really knows people's spending power. Am I following threads as a dreamer? Lol no... if I want a dx200 and its £1000+ would it be out of my league? No... would I like it be as low cost as possible? Yes, same with everything I buy.

The tighest people I've known in my short life so far are pretty wallet tight, im talking some seriously wealthy people. I can claim to know a multi millionaire who recycles laces from old work boots when its pretty clear they could do with a whole new boot lol

I was referring to the post you where liking, the one of Einstein up there.

 

[Rockcoon]

Opus1 is 399 dollar player. and honestly year old already, would want to compete them ?

I own Opus 1. Dx200 should be the next step.

If dx200 performs at level of LPG, with half of it's price, that would be realy nice.

 

[Jalo]

If I can be totally honest here, what I want and what I can afford are two totally different things. More often than not they do not agree with each other. However the one and only reason I am even on this thread is because I am hoping to see what can the latest audio technology bring me regardless of price and not that I can always afford it but because I have something to aspire to. If this thread is all about what is the lowest price to make the DX200 and whether it can beat the Opus1, I can leave now and will have absolutely no reason to return. It is because the objective of the DX200 then becomes a project to make an affordable but decent dap for the masses but not to make a totl product as I thought that it was the original goal. True, Ibasso has always been very reasonable in terms of their price structure for their latest products. I was one of their first customers for their DX100 and I have absolutely no problem with that as a business objective but It will not interest me as a product. As a headfier, I am not only interested to find a decent music player to listen to music and I have done that but I am also wanting to see If the quality envelope can be pushed farther.

 

[UtopiaB]

FTR, It's not about bitterness for me. A free market means companies have carte-blanche to charge what they wish according to their target market or according to supply-&-demand, simple as that, and I'm a Westerner, and so I believe a free market is the only way to go and always will be, but I was simply making an appeal to iBasso hoping they would not go for the toffee nosed cashed-up buyers with their pricing strategy, I was sort of exhorting them to reconsider their price bracket before releasing their new wonder DAP.
 
But another thing is, facts are facts, and we don't have to be Einstein to know the facts, for example I could buy a Lenovo ZUK Z2 smartphone for $240 or a Samsung Galaxy S7 for $800, problem for Samsung is both these phones have nigh-on the same specs, despite the fact that Samsung has big buying power, both phones have the heavy-hitter specs, a Snapdragon 820 cpu, 4 gig ram, Gorilla Glass 4, Android 6.0, SD expansion, 64GB built-in rom, high-end metal alloy body blah blah, but there's a $550 price difference between them, so when Paul from iBasso tries to play dumb and claim they can't give it away, that doesn't wash off on me, and the phone example I just gave is only one of many examples, just like the example I gave of the FiiO X1 only costing $99 retail while essentially having the same components as all other $1000 DAPs, but the thing is, some companies think because they spent $50 more on the components, all of a sudden it is worth $1000 more retail

, this is how they've been doing it for years, and that's what my problem is.
 
I'm not willing to spend so much on the overpriced new Sony DAPs, and the FiiO X7 is about to be bested by the DX200 (I anticipate) but I just want it to be affordable, and as my earlier post stated, I'm happy to pay $499 at the absolute most, but IF Paul from iBasso would suggest that is giving it away, then sorry mate, you need to reconsider the credibility of your statement. 
 
PS: the aim of a DAP maker IMO should be to add nothing to the music, and take nothing away. Absolutely neutral sound-signature is the key, not warm, not cold, just give us everything in the song, nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes I think DAP makers don't understand this. 

 

[musicday]

UtobiaB- i understand that you are somehow not happy but you need to watch what you write carefully in the future as thatbit may get you banned.
Just a friendly advise.

 

[UtopiaB]

UtobiaB- i understand that you are somehow not happy but you need to watch what you write carefully in the future as thatbit may get you banned.
Just a friendly advise.

 
Tell someone who cares.

 

[musicday]

UtobiaB- i understand that you are somehow not happy but you need to watch what you write carefully in the future as thatbit may get you banned.

Just a friendly advise.

Tell someone who cares.

I thought you did, sorry to hear that

 

[vrapan]

  FTR, It's not about bitterness for me. A free market means companies have carte-blanche to charge what they wish according to their target market or according to supply-&-demand, simple as that, and I'm a Westerner, and so I believe a free market is the only way to go and always will be, but I was simply making an appeal to iBasso hoping they would not go for the toffee nosed cashed-up buyers with their pricing strategy, I was sort of exhorting them to reconsider their price bracket before releasing their new wonder DAP.
 
But another thing is, facts are facts, and we don't have to be Einstein to know the facts, for example I could buy a Lenovo ZUK Z2 smartphone for $240 or a Samsung Galaxy S7 for $800, problem for Samsung is both these phones have nigh-on the same specs, despite the fact that Samsung has big buying power, both phones have the heavy-hitter specs, a Snapdragon 820 cpu, 4 gig ram, Gorilla Glass 4, Android 6.0, SD expansion, 64GB built-in rom, high-end metal alloy body blah blah, but there's a $550 price difference between them, so when Paul from iBasso tries to play dumb and claim they can't give it away, that doesn't wash off on me, and the phone example I just gave is only one of many examples, just like the example I gave of the FiiO X1 only costing $99 retail while essentially having the same components as all other $1000 DAPs, but the thing is, some companies think because they spent $50 more on the components, all of a sudden it is worth $1000 more retail

, this is how they've been doing it for years, and that's what my problem is.
 
I'm not willing to spend so much on the overpriced new Sony DAPs, and the FiiO X7 is about to be bested by the DX200 (I anticipate) but I just want it to be affordable, and as my earlier post stated, I'm happy to pay $499 at the absolute most, but IF Paul from iBasso would suggest that is giving it away, then sorry mate, you need to reconsider the credibility of your statement. 
 
PS: the aim of a DAP maker IMO should be to add nothing to the music, and take nothing away. Absolutely neutral sound-signature is the key, not warm, not cold, just give us everything in the song, nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes I think DAP makers don't understand this. 

If the X1 is good enough then why even bother ask for a sub 500$ DX200? Just sating specs is not everything.

 

[UtopiaB]

I thought you did, sorry to hear that

You got me wrong. I care about reasonable pricing and affordability, but I don't care if I get banned for simply speaking a few well-known truths, that's what I meant. I am keen on the DX200 and yes iBasso has a good reputation, I think they are a good company, like FiiO is a good company, but I just hope iBasso will make the DX200 affordable for all enthusiasts, not just the well-off ones. The way I see it, I have two choices for the newest DAPs, a DX200 or the FiiO X5 3rd-gen. The more affordable of the two will likely get more sales, and I do expect the FiiO X5 3rd-gen will be no slouch. I have no problem with iBasso, but Sony with their $3500 DAP, and Astell-&-Kern with their $3500 DAP, we all know they're pulling a fast one.

 

[Rockcoon]

if in this world exists such tremendous evil like Sony NW-WM1Z, thing that costs 3k $ and performs on pair with Opus 2 or even lesser. I believe there's an oposite force should be aweken soon to keep the balence in audiophile universe. Hero that stands on it's 800 $ feets and hit 3k monsters. Could it be dx200? We'll see

 

[H20Fidelity]

if in this world exists such tremendous evil like Sony NW-WM1Z, thing that costs 3k $ and performs on pair with Opus 2 or even lesser. I believe there's an oposite force should be aweken soon to keep the balence in audiophile universe. Hero that stands on it's 800 $ feets and hit 3k monsters. Could it be dx200? We'll see

 
For price to peformance ratio, I find iBasso DX90 still hitting above its weight, especially at revealing detail.
 
With the right firmware/IEM DX90 can pull ahead of my AK300 in raw detail retrieval. It does suffer a little with layering and instrument placement compared but hey, picking up a used DX90 for $150 and pulling more detail than a $600-$800 player says a few things.
 
Its such a mixed performance ratio this hobby, $1k bombshells, $300 excelling devices, I hardly buy any longer without an audition. Especially DAPs, the synergy between your IEM is difficult to predict until you try. That's why I owned/sold the mighty Mojo twice because I didn't like the synergy with my Tralucent earphones. Right there a proven heavy hitting device not right for me.

 

[Raketen]

Just for some perspective: The original iPod cost $400 for a 5 GB model. These days DAPs compete over a tiny fraction of the market devices like the iPod had. If we're going to worry about "the little guy" perhaps we should be asking ourselves why our electronics are so cheap.

Meanwhile a DAP like the dx200 is explicitly meant to be the best iBasso's designers can put together with minimal compromises on performance- given iBasso's history maybe w should wait to agonize about the price until after it's actually announced :blink:

Anyway, sorry if this is only contributing to the noise, I couldn't help but contribute a baseless opinion of my own :\

 

[H20Fidelity]

Its not the first time someone's come flying in a thread about pricing and won't be the last. Each time AK release a new DAP the amount of noise made almost requires around the clock moderation, makes UtopiaB seem quite tame. The fact is after all that noise, storm and ranting the sun rises tomorrow with exactly the same outcome we started with. I've witnessed it too many times, AK240, AK380. In my personal opinion. I praise iBasso for keeping the price way below that of other flagships. And I bet DX200 can stand up to those TOTL respectfully.