[zikarus]

New 320X owner checking in, loving it so far - here it is with my beloved Turii Ti. My main nitpick at the moment is the volume wheel.

Oh and that IT-05 looks very tempting…

Congrats for jumping the train. Hope you will enjoy your ride...

As we recently chatted about different IEM - when buying the IE900 I considered your tip too, but decided against the JVC hoping for an even more allrounder type of IEM.

After enjoying my old Fostex that much I meanwhile tend to get my hands on a T+A Solitaire T to replace my Senn M3 instead of buying another IEM. I will try out the ST soon and decide afterwards....

 

[1kHz]

Two weeks into my DX320X. Still waiting for Amp 12 and 14 modules which meanwhile seem to be customs cleared at least.

What to say? The 320 is definitely a TOTL player, sounding absolutely great on all my few gear. A keeper in my book.

But let me try to explain a bit more detailed even if that goes beyond the device itself:

I am the lazy kind of guy and have changed my mind about the need for a dedicated DAP several times over the past years. Most of the time I found my phone and a few decisive apps together with a BT headphone or a dongle for IEM use totally sufficient. Neither my first DAP, an iBasso DX90 nor a later bought A+K DAP or the even later acquired Shanling M3X could really change my view over time. In the end it always had to do with the user experience I encountered. All DAPs I owned sounded fine but none of them was as easy to use as my phones. The few percent of better soundquality with DAPs - for me - never made up its downsides usability wise (phones lacking only the dedicated buttons for track jumping).

The iBasso 320 might be the first DAP to make me change my mind. Why that? It has to do with two things: 1. the hardware and Android version used in the 320 is very close to my phones (a S22 Ultra btw) capabilities and user experience. 2. Roon has released Arc and I have decided to take the risk and dive into their cosmos.

Well, to be honest, 2. might have been even more decisive for me, which has to do with how, where and wherefrom I listen to music. I once had many Vinyls and even more CDs but have almost sold all of them, totally switching to streaming music many years ago. I am an early Qobuz subscriber but being old school about ownership have besides that built up a library of my own on a dedicated NAS over the course of the last almost 12 years. That might explain why Roon is quite interesting in my usecase, being able to fuse Qobuz' library with my own > 30k albums. Nonetheless I was able to withstand Roons temptation, until the release of Arc. The latter was game changing for me because I often listen to my music when driving to the office in my car. So being able to get a hold onto ALL my music EVERYWHERE really grabbed me.

But back to the 320. It sounds great with the standard module already. My IE900 are a good match, though I will try out a Lavricables Master soon in order to see what it may be able to add detail wise...

Even better - to my ears - is the combination of my 320 with the TR-X00 Ebony. I had not used those for quite a while now and (after getting a suitable cable with a 4.4 Pentacon termination) was really surprised to find out how profound and well they deliver a solid bass as well as highly energetic and rightly paced details. This combo is an absolute joy imo...

Besides that the 320 is a device with a great usability, UI and UI-experience. I have only installed a few apps (Google Play, UAPP, Neutron, ROON and ROON ARC) and the 320 is fast and reacting instantly. A pleasure to use, running all my apps with no recognizable lag.

So what is maybe not to like?
Until now firstly the battery. Like many others, I experience a - digital - battery draining which appears to be quick, very quick. Not loading up beyond 80% and trying not to sink (both batteries) below 20%, I usually do not get out more than ~3, maybe 4 hours of usage. I guess (besides the usage in balanced mode) this has to do with the upsampling process to 705/768 khz I have actived in Roon as well as Neutron (since the benefits soundwise are noticeable to my ears). Though 3-4 hours of continous replay are enough for me - seldomly I have the time for listening sessions that reach beyond - , I would have been glad if it would have tended more versus ~6 hours. As the analog battery drains a lot slower (even in high gain modus) that leaves something to optimize for iBasso (in coming devices).

Something else - the setting to limit the battery loading to a max. of 80% only applies when the device is turned on. Being turned off you can still load (both batteries) to 100%. That offers both possibilities, but me, personally would still prefer the limit to apply in both situations (like with my Samsung phone). And I would like the setting to be changed to 85% instead of 80 due to the before mentioned, quite limited run time of the digital battery.

So, all in all, after roughly 2 weeks I am very pleased with the 320.

Forgive me, if this post became a tad long, but sitting at home instead of the office today, having caught a virus, I was in no particular hurry...

I understand about the battery. But there are a few things to get a little more out of it. Most people get android devices and never optimize it or turn down the screen brightness some. Next are the background processes. It's android so there are a lot of crap running in the background draining battery "especially the google play stuff".

I go to settings / apps & notifications. Click the see all apps link in blue. Turn off or disable the ones you don't need in the mobile data&wifi area of each app. Then uncheck the background data to off of each app. Then in the Battery selection click the background restriction to limit it.

Then Settings privacy then permission manager and revolk a lot of permission access. Then Turn off any location in settings.


Its a pain in the .... but i get almost 2 days battery. I leave work after listening 6-8 hrs with 59% left at the end of the day.
But I always disable stuff and remove things i don't need. It's a music player first anything else i need can be on my mobile device.

 

[samandhi]

Two weeks into my DX320X. Still waiting for Amp 12 and 14 modules which meanwhile seem to be customs cleared at least.

What to say? The 320 is definitely a TOTL player, sounding absolutely great on all my few gear. A keeper in my book.

But let me try to explain a bit more detailed even if that goes beyond the device itself:

I am the lazy kind of guy and have changed my mind about the need for a dedicated DAP several times over the past years. Most of the time I found my phone and a few decisive apps together with a BT headphone or a dongle for IEM use totally sufficient. Neither my first DAP, an iBasso DX90 nor a later bought A+K DAP or the even later acquired Shanling M3X could really change my view over time. In the end it always had to do with the user experience I encountered. All DAPs I owned sounded fine but none of them was as easy to use as my phones. The few percent of better soundquality with DAPs - for me - never made up its downsides usability wise (phones lacking only the dedicated buttons for track jumping).

The iBasso 320 might be the first DAP to make me change my mind. Why that? It has to do with two things: 1. the hardware and Android version used in the 320 is very close to my phones (a S22 Ultra btw) capabilities and user experience. 2. Roon has released Arc and I have decided to take the risk and dive into their cosmos.

Well, to be honest, 2. might have been even more decisive for me, which has to do with how, where and wherefrom I listen to music. I once had many Vinyls and even more CDs but have almost sold all of them, totally switching to streaming music many years ago. I am an early Qobuz subscriber but being old school about ownership have besides that built up a library of my own on a dedicated NAS over the course of the last almost 12 years. That might explain why Roon is quite interesting in my usecase, being able to fuse Qobuz' library with my own > 30k albums. Nonetheless I was able to withstand Roons temptation, until the release of Arc. The latter was game changing for me because I often listen to my music when driving to the office in my car. So being able to get a hold onto ALL my music EVERYWHERE really grabbed me.

But back to the 320. It sounds great with the standard module already. My IE900 are a good match, though I will try out a Lavricables Master soon in order to see what it may be able to add detail wise...

Even better - to my ears - is the combination of my 320 with the TR-X00 Ebony. I had not used those for quite a while now and (after getting a suitable cable with a 4.4 Pentacon termination) was really surprised to find out how profound and well they deliver a solid bass as well as highly energetic and rightly paced details. This combo is an absolute joy imo...

Besides that the 320 is a device with a great usability, UI and UI-experience. I have only installed a few apps (Google Play, UAPP, Neutron, ROON and ROON ARC) and the 320 is fast and reacting instantly. A pleasure to use, running all my apps with no recognizable lag.

So what is maybe not to like?
Until now firstly the battery. Like many others, I experience a - digital - battery draining which appears to be quick, very quick. Not loading up beyond 80% and trying not to sink (both batteries) below 20%, I usually do not get out more than ~3, maybe 4 hours of usage. I guess (besides the usage in balanced mode) this has to do with the upsampling process to 705/768 khz I have actived in Roon as well as Neutron (since the benefits soundwise are noticeable to my ears). Though 3-4 hours of continous replay are enough for me - seldomly I have the time for listening sessions that reach beyond - , I would have been glad if it would have tended more versus ~6 hours. As the analog battery drains a lot slower (even in high gain modus) that leaves something to optimize for iBasso (in coming devices).

Something else - the setting to limit the battery loading to a max. of 80% only applies when the device is turned on. Being turned off you can still load (both batteries) to 100%. That offers both possibilities, but me, personally would still prefer the limit to apply in both situations (like with my Samsung phone). And I would like the setting to be changed to 85% instead of 80 due to the before mentioned, quite limited run time of the digital battery.

So, all in all, after roughly 2 weeks I am very pleased with the 320.

Forgive me, if this post became a tad long, but sitting at home instead of the office today, having caught a virus, I was in no particular hurry...

Congrats on your new shiny (and also the incoming amp cards too)!

As for the battery life, it is definitely because you are up sampling/oversampling. If you were playing somewhere around Redbook quality all the time, it would get around 8 or 9 hours of playback. Also, I don't think this is something that iBasso can do to fix per se'. It is due to the Rohm DAC chips inside of it. The DX300 is the same device but with CL chips instead (and 4 of those). The battery will run for me anywhere between 10-16 hours of playback depending on the quality of music I am playing. This is also due to the very energy efficient nature of the DACs in it. The point is that it is more about how efficient the chip makers make these DAC chips.

Keep in mind that when you get the Amp14 card you will get around the same playtime but this time it will be the analog side that drains very fast (comparatively). With the Amp13 card on my DX300, I only get about 8 hours of playtime before the analog side is drained. And BTW, most times I use Neutron with 384 oversampling enabled (the DX300's upper limit).

 

[samandhi]

I understand about the battery. But there are a few things to get a little more out of it. Most people get android devices and never optimize it or turn down the screen brightness some. Next are the background processes. It's android so there are a lot of crap running in the background draining battery "especially the google play stuff".

I go to settings / apps & notifications. Click the see all apps link in blue. Turn off or disable the ones you don't need in the mobile data&wifi area of each app. Then uncheck the background data to off of each app. Then in the Battery selection click the background restriction to limit it.

Then Settings privacy then permission manager and revolk a lot of permission access. Then Turn off any location in settings.


Its a pain in the .... but i get almost 2 days battery. I leave work after listening 6-8 hrs with 59% left at the end of the day.
But I always disable stuff and remove things i don't need. It's a music player first anything else i need can be on my mobile device.

Some great thoughts there!

 

[zikarus]

Thank you for your advice 1khz and samandhi.

Another solution I consider to solve the battery drain issue might be something (not specifically this item, though it is the only one I found in silver) like that.

 

[coldbru]

Why can't I power on my DX320?

After being powered down for a couple days (battery is 95%A, 84%D) this thing refuses to power up. A quick press of the volume knob does nothing. A 5-second press-and-hold appears to start the sequence (iBasso flashes on the screen, maybe for 2-3 seconds) but then it goes dead again. I have to repeat this 4 or times, THEN I get the animated iBasso logo and it powers up normally.

I'm booted into the Mango system.... is THAT why?

 

[samandhi]

Thank you for your advice 1khz and samandhi.

Another solution I consider to solve the battery drain issue might be something (not specifically this item, though it is the only one I found in silver) like that...that....

You are most welcome!

Keep in mind that I don't see anything about QC or PD on this (which the DX300/DX320 is compatible with both). If this is the case that it has neither, it will take forever to charge the DX320. It really likes quick charging best. I just use a simple Anker QC compatible charger with mine, and it charges really fast. I know that doesn't really help in the portability category, but I have a few (strategically) placed throughout my house for just such a purpose.

That isn't to say that slow charging won't work with the DX320, but in some cases I have seen them not work (sometimes) on my DX300. Other times it works fine, but you might have to leave it plugged in overnight to get a full charge on both batteries. Just some thoughts.

BTW! Here is the charger I use with mine (the DX320 and the DX160). Anker QC 3.0 charger

 

[samandhi]

Why can't I power on my DX320?

After being powered down for a couple days (battery is 95%A, 84%D) this thing refuses to power up. A quick press of the volume knob does nothing. A 5-second press-and-hold appears to start the sequence (iBasso flashes on the screen, maybe for 2-3 seconds) but then it goes dead again. I have to repeat this 4 or times, THEN I get the animated iBasso logo and it powers up normally.

I'm booted into the Mango system.... is THAT why?

No, that sounds pretty odd to happen. Have you tried going from Mango OS (once booted up) straight to android (not shutting it down, but rebooting)? Once in android you can shut it down, then try it again.

Are you trying to boot it up while it is plugged in?

 

[jamato8]

Why can't I power on my DX320?

After being powered down for a couple days (battery is 95%A, 84%D) this thing refuses to power up. A quick press of the volume knob does nothing. A 5-second press-and-hold appears to start the sequence (iBasso flashes on the screen, maybe for 2-3 seconds) but then it goes dead again. I have to repeat this 4 or times, THEN I get the animated iBasso logo and it powers up normally.

I'm booted into the Mango system.... is THAT why?

I would boot into Android and do a factory reset.

 

[zikarus]

Why can't I power on my DX320?

After being powered down for a couple days (battery is 95%A, 84%D) this thing refuses to power up. A quick press of the volume knob does nothing. A 5-second press-and-hold appears to start the sequence (iBasso flashes on the screen, maybe for 2-3 seconds) but then it goes dead again. I have to repeat this 4 or times, THEN I get the animated iBasso logo and it powers up normally.

I'm booted into the Mango system.... is THAT why?

Not powering up (after you had shut down the device) when pressing the volume knob for less than ~5 seconds is the usual behaviour I guess. Pressing the button only shortly will only bring back the 320 when it has not been completely turned off.

When the battery is almost completely drained, what you describe could be normal too, because it has to be reloaded a little while before you can restart the device. At least that is what occurred with my device lately too.

If all that does not make sense to you, please try another loading cable. It happened to me just today, that I did not seem to be able to load the battery of my device with one of my cables I usually use for all my USB C stuff. Trying another it suddenly worked...

Especially better loading cables (for higher loading speeds) sometimes do not seem to be totally 'backwards' compatible. My Senn M3 won't load with my TB3 or USB 4 cables e. g..

 

[Poganin]

As far as battery is concerned I have noticed some weird behaviour.

DX320 is charged to 100%. I connect some IEMs, start Neutron, and leave it to play some music. D battery drain is 8-9% per hour. Let's say it plays around five hours, so the D battery is at 54%. If I shut it off, leave it off for a few hours, start it again and do the same thing, the D battery drain becomes noticeably higher, at 11-12% per hour. It's still playing the same album from the internal memory, but now more battery is consumed.

 

[samandhi]

As far as battery is concerned I have noticed some weird behaviour.

DX320 is charged to 100%. I connect some IEMs, start Neutron, and leave it to play some music. D battery drain is 8-9% per hour. Let's say it plays around five hours, so the D battery is at 54%. If I shut it off, leave it off for a few hours, start it again and do the same thing, the D battery drain becomes noticeably higher, at 11-12% per hour. It's still playing the same album from the internal memory, but now more battery is consumed.

Have you calibrated the android battery reporting software by letting it run until it shuts down, then charge it to full? While lithium batteries don't need calibration, the software in android that reports its level does sometimes. Not saying this is what is happening, but it certainly can't hurt to verify.

This method is actually recommended by Google about once per month (or so), in order to keep the reporting tool accurate. Having said that, I have never actually done it myself, nor have I had any battery issues (that I know of). At least not unless the battery is bad or getting there.

 

[NAD Fi]

I understand about the battery. But there are a few things to get a little more out of it. Most people get android devices and never optimize it or turn down the screen brightness some. Next are the background processes. It's android so there are a lot of crap running in the background draining battery "especially the google play stuff".

I go to settings / apps & notifications. Click the see all apps link in blue. Turn off or disable the ones you don't need in the mobile data&wifi area of each app. Then uncheck the background data to off of each app. Then in the Battery selection click the background restriction to limit it.

Then Settings privacy then permission manager and revolk a lot of permission access. Then Turn off any location in settings.


Its a pain in the .... but i get almost 2 days battery. I leave work after listening 6-8 hrs with 59% left at the end of the day.
But I always disable stuff and remove things i don't need. It's a music player first anything else i need can be on my mobile device.

I have deleted every non music app besides play store and activated every known battery saver feature but still get excessive battery drain. Some behaviour adjustment is needed for living with the DX320. I have started reusing my iPhone + amp combo again to give myself a mental break from battery peeping and screen response fatigue.

 

[NAD Fi]

Have you calibrated the android battery reporting software by letting it run until it shuts down, then charge it to full? While lithium batteries don't need calibration, the software in android that reports its level does sometimes. Not saying this is what is happening, but it certainly can't hurt to verify.

This method is actually recommended by Google about once per month (or so), in order to keep the reporting tool accurate. Having said that, I have never actually done it myself, nor have I had any battery issues (that I know of). At least not unless the battery is bad or getting there.

Never knew this, I will be giving it a try. That won’t require any effort.

 

[Maxx134]

maybe a dap that'll come along the way that'll have dual ak4499ex (multibit deltasigma dac)

Don't fall for the latest "new" AKM design, where they abandon the one chip dac solution of past, with a new iteration of separating of the "front end" with a second chip (AK4191EQ) which was already existing from before this latest 4499 chip. IMO, Nothing new to see in actual topology here. Just a different spin, with justification being some "lower noise" on the digital front end.
Meanwhile the added battery drain of needing an extra chip and also extra circuit board space is not mentioned. Sounds like it was designed more for like a desktop. Not really a portable(mobile) chip solution, or an actual evolution of design (IMO).

The "One chip" complete dac solution is more ideal for DAPs.
IMO, ROHM is still the newer design.