DX260 Digital Audio Player, a New avenue to your music. Preorders have started. Easily replaceable battery. NEW Firmware Update! 2.02

[rickywck]

I mostly listen at my desk and I'm getting kind of tired messing with dongles. I've been thinking of grabbing a DAP and the DX260 is the one I've been looking at the most. Besides the convenience, would the sound quality be much of a step up from a phone with a Onix Alpha?

DX260 is definitely a step up but its sound profile is different from Onix Alpha. Alpha is a very easy listening dongle and its sound is warm, energetic ... basically very fun to listen, and its power is enough for your IEMs. DX260 has more neutral sound, higher resolution (you will hear more details), clean background with basically no noise, but you may miss some 'fun' from Alpha.

 

[Jerwardemy]

DX260 is definitely a step up but its sound profile is different from Onix Alpha. Alpha is a very easy listening dongle and its sound is warm, energetic ... basically very fun to listen, and its power is enough for your IEMs. DX260 has more neutral sound, higher resolution (you will hear more details), clean background with basically no noise, but you may miss some 'fun' from Alpha.

Thanks for the quick reply! Yeah, I realize that the sound signature would be different than the Onix. I also have the DC04PRO and imagine the DX260 to have a similar sound signature to it. I think the Onix steps up the technicalities over the DC04PRO but it's nothing major really, but noticeable. I guess I was wondering if a DAP like the DX260 would be a larger jump in things like Depth, Resolution, Dynamics, Impacts etc...

 

[rickywck]

Thanks for the quick reply! Yeah, I realize that the sound signature would be different than the Onix. I also have the DC04PRO and imagine the DX260 to have a similar sound signature to it. I think the Onix steps up the technicalities over the DC04PRO but it's nothing major really, but noticeable. I guess I was wondering if a DAP like the DX260 would be a larger jump in things like Depth, Resolution, Dynamics, Impacts etc...

For resolution, DX260 is significantly above Onix (actually resolution is one of the limitations for most entry level gears). For depth, I found that DX260 is good overall but to be honest I don't think it is its primary strength. For dynamics and impact, it depends on your IEM but if you compare with Onix, you may be disappointed with the improvement since Onix performs good in these areas to give more pleasing sound - basically the tuning is to give the most easy listening sound to most variety of music with the lowest price.

For me, I pair DX260 with an external headphone amp (still using DX260 as DAC) and I can "get back" the missing fun part, and I can get better dynamics, impact, depth as well ... DX260's strength is on its neutral sound profile, clean with no noise, very high resolution ... these can give a very high quality audio signal, but I would say its built-in amplifier is not the best in class ... I am not criticizing at all in fact it does a decent job with decent power too, but if you really want to fully benefit the advantage of its high quality audio output, you would need to fit the audio signal into a decent amplifier ... then everything will be brought to another level.

 

[Jerwardemy]

For resolution, DX260 is significantly above Onix (actually resolution is one of the limitations for most entry level gears). For depth, I found that DX260 is good overall but to be honest I don't think it is its primary strength. For dynamics and impact, it depends on your IEM but if you compare with Onix, you may be disappointed with the improvement since Onix performs good in these areas to give more pleasing sound - basically the tuning is to give the most easy listening sound to most variety of music with the lowest price.

For me, I pair DX260 with an external headphone amp (still using DX260 as DAC) and I can "get back" the missing fun part, and I can get better dynamics, impact, depth as well ... DX260's strength is on its neutral sound profile, clean with no noise, very high resolution ... these can give a very high quality audio signal, but I would say its built-in amplifier is not the best in class ... I am not criticizing at all in fact it does a decent job with decent power too, but if you really want to fully benefit the advantage of its high quality audio output, you would need to fit the audio signal into a decent amplifier ... then everything will be brought to another level.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I always assumed DAP's had much better amp stages than most dongles, like all discrete transistors, or Class A, etc...I can't seem to find what kind of amp section the DX260 has. Now I'm wondering if I should look at a Hiby, Fiio or Shanling to get a more "fun" sound but with a large increase in technicalities over the Onix. Then again, the DC04PRO is less "fun" than the Onix and I still enjoy it. Tough decisions lol

 

[rickywck]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I always assumed DAP's had much better amp stages than most dongles, like all discrete transistors, or Class A, etc...I can't seem to find what kind of amp section the DX260 has. Now I'm wondering if I should look at a Hiby, Fiio or Shanling to get a more "fun" sound but with a large increase in technicalities over the Onix. Then again, the DC04PRO is less "fun" than the Onix and I still enjoy it. Tough decisions lol

Yes, it is a tough decision. For example, if you like warmer, fuller sound, then N7 should be a better choice but even it is more expensive, it is no way comparable with detail, cleanness of DX260. Again, DX260 amp is not bad at all ... in fact, it is one of most powerful DAP at its price range (I found that it is even more powerful than iFI Gryphon - not based on spec, but AB comparison). However, if you are looking for more colourful, fun sound (which could mean different things to different people) out of the box, then it may not fully satisfy you.

p.s. Btw, I also own a Sony WM1AM2 ... in my opinion, don't expect to get the 'best' sound from just one integrated device. Just like the old days when I was listening to Hifi, separated DAC, pre-amp, power amp almost always give better sound than an integrated amplifier.

 

[Jerwardemy]

Yes, it is a tough decision. For example, if you like warmer, fuller sound, then N7 should be a better choice but even it is more expensive, it is no way comparable with detail, cleanness of DX260. Again, DX260 amp is not bad at all ... in fact, it is one of most powerful DAP at its price range (I found that it is even more powerful than iFI Gryphon - not based on spec, but AB comparison). However, if you are looking for more colourful, fun sound (which could mean different things to different people) out of the box, then it may not fully satisfy you.

p.s. Btw, I also own a Sony WM1AM2 ... in my opinion, don't expect to get the 'best' sound from just one integrated device. Just like the old days when I was listening to Hifi, separated DAC, pre-amp, power amp almost always give better sound than an integrated amplifier.

I went for it and purchased the DX260. I should have it in 2-3 days. I'll report back with my thoughts. Thanks for all the info

 

[Bengkia369]

I mostly listen at my desk and I'm getting kind of tired messing with dongles. I've been thinking of grabbing a DAP and the DX260 is the one I've been looking at the most. Besides the convenience, would the sound quality be much of a step up from a phone with a Onix Alpha?

Can't be said about Onix as I never heard it before. But I can say DX260 beats most top of the line dongles I heard before.

 

[323HJK]

Hello everyone!
My short review of the DX260 player sound.
It came to me new and not warmed up. After the ESS 9068AS, the sound of the CS 43198 seemed a little unusual to me. Namely, that its midrange frequencies seemed a little recessed. If on the Shanling M6 Pro (21) the midrange and instrumental frequencies were presented brightly and in detail, then here it seemed a little muddy. And I don’t even know how to feel about this... I listened to it on NOS and Normal at high gain. I would like to add some midrange sound. And I don’t understand why this effect

 

[jamato8]

Hello everyone!
My short review of the DX260 player sound.
It came to me new and not warmed up. After the ESS 9068AS, the sound of the CS 43198 seemed a little unusual to me. Namely, that its midrange frequencies seemed a little recessed. If on the Shanling M6 Pro (21) the midrange and instrumental frequencies were presented brightly and in detail, then here it seemed a little muddy. And I don’t even know how to feel about this... I listened to it on NOS and Normal at high gain. I would like to add some midrange sound. And I don’t understand why this effect

You need at least 100 hours on the unit or more for it to really open up and for the mid range to come into its own. If fresh out of the box, you aren't even here in the DX 260 yet. Enjoy the journey.

 

[323HJK]

Вам нужно не менее 100 часов на устройстве или больше, чтобы оно действительно раскрылось и средний диапазон заработал. Если вы только что из коробки, вы еще даже не здесь, в DX 260. Наслаждайтесь путешествием.

Okay, I'll do that.

 

[rickywck]

Hello everyone!
My short review of the DX260 player sound.
It came to me new and not warmed up. After the ESS 9068AS, the sound of the CS 43198 seemed a little unusual to me. Namely, that its midrange frequencies seemed a little recessed. If on the Shanling M6 Pro (21) the midrange and instrumental frequencies were presented brightly and in detail, then here it seemed a little muddy. And I don’t even know how to feel about this... I listened to it on NOS and Normal at high gain. I would like to add some midrange sound. And I don’t understand why this effect

There is no way DX260 sounds muddy ... I didn't find it even when I listened to it immediately when I got it (to test for functionality only ... as I only seriously started listen to it after ~100 hours burn-in). However, I do want to point out, at least from my experience, DX260 could be (i) less accommodating, i.e. if the recording is not good then it will reproduce that imperfections ... but if you feed in high quality hi-res music files it will sound great with lot of details and clarify. This could be different some entry level gears as they could smooth out the sound a bit to make it sound good in most situations. (ii) DX260 by itself is relatively neutral, so what you ultimately hear will be the sound profile of your IEM (or headphone amp if you pair it with a headphone amp). For example, when I paired it with Softears Twilight, vocal sounds so beautiful (again, no way midrange is recessed) but this is basically the sound profile of Twilight itself, and DX260 does not add too much colour to mid range like some other flagship (or mid range) DAP.

 

[MonochromeFashionLawyer]

p.s. Btw, I also own a Sony WM1AM2 ... in my opinion, don't expect to get the 'best' sound from just one integrated device. Just like the old days when I was listening to Hifi, separated DAC, pre-amp, power amp almost always give better sound than an integrated amplifier.

Plus you can swap out a component to really dial in your sound. Not liking the DAC? Swap it out! You'd get better A/B testing results with separate components as well.

 

[Bengkia369]

There is no way DX260 sounds muddy ... I didn't find it even when I listened to it immediately when I got it (to test for functionality only ... as I only seriously started listen to it after ~100 hours burn-in). However, I do want to point out, at least from my experience, DX260 could be (i) less accommodating, i.e. if the recording is not good then it will reproduce that imperfections ... but if you feed in high quality hi-res music files it will sound great with lot of details and clarify. This could be different some entry level gears as they could smooth out the sound a bit to make it sound good in most situations. (ii) DX260 by itself is relatively neutral, so what you ultimately hear will be the sound profile of your IEM (or headphone amp if you pair it with a headphone amp). For example, when I paired it with Softears Twilight, vocal sounds so beautiful (again, no way midrange is recessed) but this is basically the sound profile of Twilight itself, and DX260 does not add too much colour to mid range like some other flagship (or mid range) DAP.

True, the DX260 is not muddy in the midrange even put of the box. It's a very reference sounding DAP with a slightly boosted bass for a more fun sound.
However, out of the box the treble might sounds a bit harsh but after 10 hours or so, the harsh will be gone.

 

[323HJK]

You need at least 100 hours on the unit or more for it to really open up and for the mid range to come into its own. If fresh out of the box, you aren't even here in the DX 260 yet. Enjoy the journey.

Will warming up at a volume level of 60% and at medium gain be enough?

 

[jamato8]

Will warming up at a volume level of 60% and at medium gain be enough?

Yes, what you want to use is a normal listing volume and that would be fine