[nioh]

what a downgrade...

Care to elaborate ?
Imo, iBasso may be a bit behind in Software and in Hardware only when it comes to things like CPU. Audio components and circuitry from iBasso is top-notch in my experience and a good value for money compared to some of the other more expensive brands.

The Dx260 looks stunning from the outside and I‘m sure it performs great from the inside as well. I‘m personally not a fan of iBasso anymore. But that’s only because of their analytical and flat sound tuning. If iBasso were to have a nice warm musical tuning like Sony, Shanling, Hiby etc. I would be happy to try more from iBasso.

 

[buckster666]

Care to elaborate ?
Imo, iBasso may be a bit behind in Software and in Hardware only when it comes to things like CPU. Audio components and circuitry from iBasso is top-notch in my experience and a good value for money compared to some of the other more expensive brands.

The Dx260 looks stunning from the outside and I‘m sure it performs great from the inside as well. I‘m personally not a fan of iBasso anymore. But that’s only because of their analytical and flat sound tuning. If iBasso were to have a nice warm musical tuning like Sony, Shanling, Hiby etc. I would be happy to try more from iBasso.

Possible are they referring to the lack of swappable amp on the DX260

 

[Yefry]

Looking at comparisons between the SD660 and SD665 you can easily see that in terms of CPU there is no improvement at all, in fact there is a slight disadvantage, in the rest of the departments such as GPU and bandwidth the improvements are too small to have any a real effect on the use of a device, there is also an improvement in energy consumption but going from 11 to 14nm there is not such an obvious jump either.

I am sure that adding 2 GB of ram would be a better value for a multitasking device and for me, the biggest 'inconvenience' will come from the 5" screen which is a bit uncomfortable for my taste and even increasing it to 5.5 "It would be something great.

On the other hand I was not very interested mainly in DX260 and had thought about something like Hiby R8 II but finally I went with Ibasso, having an 8 DAC and 16 channel matrix is something that has rarely been seen and adding the Fir filters that can 'tweak' the sound along with a 1W power amp for under $1000, I don't think there is anyone offering that value for money right now, so I hope to receive my DX260 next week

 

[Bondipix]

I’m looking forward to hearing your experience with the dx260.

 

[yannis]

Leather case, sold separately.

 

[yannis]

Another unboxing video:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4988678862537628

 

[gadgetgod]

Pics from Weibo:

It looks absolutely amazing. I am thinking of getting one.

 

[DJ Core]

I absolutely agree here... having a faster/newer cpu means faster working user interface on dap, faster music library scanning, smoother operations, faster any app start, zero lags and freezes when navigating menus or installing apps and so on... and when you pay for your dap ~1k $ or above in 2024 you want to have modern snappy device with smooth user experience...and 7 year old processor like Snapdragon660 is a shame to use in such device. There are a lot of new Snapdragon processors which are super power efficient and much faster than an ancient SD660...and regarding the price of a DAP I would pay some more to have 5+ years futureproof smoothly operating device instead of laggy, but still expensive dap.
All I can say here - "greediness" of dap developers that is why I don't buy daps anymore, and use only portable dac/amp instead, to get that super snappy and joyful software experience with latest updates on my smartphone.

Ya'll always overreacting. Just a FYI, buy it or don't buy it.

Upgrading to the latest CPU means upgrading the whole board design, memory controllers and a bunch of other parts for stable operation etc.

Venting without knowing or breaking down the R&D costs of upgrading to a newer CPU for a niche product makes no sense. These DAPs have a very small customer base, and we must always remember that.

660 is plenty fast for a DAP like DX240 (which I own and use daily) or DX260.

 

[nioh]

Ya'll always overreacting. Just a FYI, buy it or don't buy it.

Upgrading to the latest CPU means upgrading the whole board design, memory controllers and a bunch of other parts for stable operation etc.

Venting without knowing or breaking down the R&D costs of upgrading to a newer CPU for a niche product makes no sense. These DAPs have a very small customer base, and we must always remember that.

660 is plenty fast for a DAP like DX240 (which I own and use daily) or DX260.

As a consumer I don’t care what challenges a manufacturer has, that is their job to figure out. When they ask €1k-4k for a DAP, for sure as a consumer I can also ask to have a pizza delivered along with the DAP.

In the end, it’s all business.

I edited my comment because I know the last one was a bit too much. Sorry for that.

 

[lantian]

As a consumer I don’t care what challenges a manufacturer has, that is their job to figure out. When they ask €1k-4k for a DAP, for sure as a consumer I can also ask to have a pizza delivered along with the DAP.

In the end, it’s all business.

I edited my comment because I know the last one was a bit too much. Sorry for that.

Both views are legit, just agree to disagree here.
We all have things we would live to see in it, but let's be real satisfying everyone is Impossible. Especially in this hobby where each of us have their own views of how these things should operate and sound.

In any case, am pretty sure that in every aspect dx260 will be a good upgrade to previous dx240.

 

[Yefry]

I agree that the SoC issue is somewhat controversial, I can understand the challenges of implementation but at the same time as a consumer of mid/high-range products that have a high cost I also like to get the best.

If memory serves, I think that the DX300 was the first DAP to have an SD660 and 6Gb of RAM, which was a milestone in its day. I think that Ibasso would be in a very advantageous situation if it took a step forward and improved the SoC of DX3XX.

In the end, the improvement of the SoC will be inevitable since the apps consume more resources every day and so does the Android system itself, so a powerful and efficient SoC never hurts, there is no need to go to the 8 series, much less a Gen7 It would make a big difference

 

[buckster666]

The main thing to consider for any DAP manufacturer is the cost of the SoC, Samsung probably buy hundreds of thousands, possibly a million SoC from Qualcomm every year, so get decent discounts.
DAP manufacturers probably only buy, less than 10 or 5 thousands, possibly less, so don't get the discounts to be able to get the latest Snapdragon SoC.
In this hobby, you have to appreciate upgrades in SoC are slower, eventually the industry will move to something like the Snapdragon 730 or 745, and that will bring better performance for the UI, better battery performance and power management.
Until then folks just enjoy the music

 

[waveSounds]

What are you guys planning on running on a DAP? CAD? Video editing? For anything I can think of that would come under typical usage on an audio player, the limitations of this SoC are nowhere close to being exceeded. The fact it runs Android smoothly and without issue is surely all that matters. If it does this then, in practice, who cares if it has a 660 or 665. Let's not get upset over trivial matters. Does it sound great? Can it be used without interface lag? DAPs really don't necessitate number crunching SoCs and 16Gb of Ram at the consequence of added price if the two former requirements are met. Or am I missing something?

 

[Bondipix]

So. I guess we all agree the SOC is perfectly good. Excellent! Now, we can look forward to the reviews.

 

[Ben86]

What are you guys planning on running on a DAP? CAD? Video editing? For anything I can think of that would come under typical usage on an audio player, the limitations of this SoC are nowhere close to being exceeded. The fact it runs Android smoothly and without issue is surely all that matters. If it does this then, in practice, who cares if it has a 660 or 665. Let's not get upset over trivial matters. Does it sound great? Can it be used without interface lag? DAPs really don't necessitate number crunching SoCs and 16Gb of Ram at the consequence of added price if the two former requirements are met. Or am I missing something?

Hello, it is 2024 ou here nobody is talking about the newest tech cpu in dap like Snapdragon8 gen3, but having a 7 year old processor in your 2024 year newest dap which you plan to keep and use for several upcoming years is not a wise idea in my opinion. Not talking about other outdated system compenents in daps like cheap wifi/bluetooth transmiters and so on...

How much more would cost to put a 3 year old energy-efficient SD processor for a manufacturer? If I pay 1k $ for a dap, I could pay 10-15% more, to get a smoother overall everyday experience and not to feel everytime that my hardware is outdated with random system and app lags, freezes, crashes, loading times, weak wifi signal and so on... This is my opinion.