[uli87]

  Hi there all,
 
im owner of an DX90 for ~14 days now, purchased by eglobecentral, a seriously strange shop in Europe but everything works fine and the ibasso reached my place within 7 days (~300€).
 
I used the Ibasso with the following headphones for now. Shure 535, Bosse QC15 and standard Nokia Lumia 920 in ears which came with my older Lumia 920.
 
First, I must say that the sound is okay, but its almost similar to an 95€ used Lumia 820 - which offers the far better player interface (Windows Phone), in terms of responsiveness and over all handling. The DX90 behaves strange from time to time. Overall I would say it reacts quite fast, but it also tends to hang seconds from time to time.
 
Believe it or not, but the bundled in ears of the Lumia 920 head up with the Shure 535 in terms of soundquality. Listening to Pink Floyed - The Wall album in FLAC, im kinda disappointed of the DX90 + Shure 535 combo compared to a Lumia 820 with bundled in Ears, wired... - in addition the Win Phone EQ is far better than the ibassos (I disabled it for the ibasso usually as the SQ drops simply enabling its EQ in my mind)
Even if I do a complete zero on the EQ it looses pressure and clarity ... so strange...
 
Im missing some deeper bass and pressure on the lower end in the DX90 - which greatest advantage is the output power on headphones. The QC15 delivers the best pressure compared to all 3 headphones, even if its called not to have the best audio quality at its pricerange. (even if im not listening to drum and base, usually i listen to classic rock or the usual top100.)
 
All over, I prefer my my Canton + Denon Setting at home at higher volume. 
 
So far my impression. 
 
Regards
 
Edit: another advantage is the line out, which provides the ability to use 2 headphones with the DX90. I bought him as my gal is a singer (marcella-carin.de) and the DX90 is almost perfect to replace a standard CD player for the half-playbacks... with 3 hardware buttons |<<   |>   >>| ...  + Line out to use with her dual Bose L2 System.

 
I didn't immediately hear the difference between my iPod classic and my DX90. It took me some time to appreciate it's wonderful signature which could be a combination of burning in the device together with my brain adapting to the new sound.
 
Do you oftenly use EQ? It could be that you are used to a sound signature which is far from neutral(ish) with overly boosted low frequency that your brain has grown acustomed to. Perfectly fine if you like listening to music that way but I think it might be the reason you aren't digging the sound of the DX90 as I think it's best to let it shine without any use of it's EQ.
 
Are you using your device on high gain? I think the major difference between your Lumia and the DX90 is the amp section. For me it added alot more dynamics to songs I have heard multiple times before. 
 
Give it some time to let it grow on you. If you still aren't satisfied in a few weeks you can assume that it doesn't suit your needs which is not a big deal at all It's all about the music!

 

[Krautmaster]

Thanks for your response... Most times I disable the eq , sounds better in my opinion. As already said, the mayor difference is the amp, correct, but all of the listed phones as well as the bose qc15 are quite sensitive and don't require that much level... I found mid or high gain slightly better but the difference is marginal...

 

[nc8000]

The QC15 is probably not a good phone to use to compare anything since it is active noise cancelling and therefor does all sorts of things to the sound.

Amps are about a lot more than volume, most devices can play most phones loud enough to go deaf.

I think the question about eq was if you use eq on other devices than the DX90.

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

DX90 does indeed sound great, and yes even better with Lurker's 2.1 firmware (so far I test with Beyerdynamic DT990 and Shure SRH940). Just do not use the EQ, choose slow rolloff filter to kill preringing, use high output gain. Avoid MP3, use proper wav/flac/ape files only. With such setup (and decent bright cans, like mine two

) DX90 proved itself to be the great neutral source for this price and beyond. Unless you already got used to strong EQ boost, or you may be wrongly interpreting distortion/ringing (of some other players) as 'richer' or 'warmer' sound. Also, DX90 is very dynamic, at first I simply couldn't believe that small portable source can be that dynamic (but again, you need the good DR files to feel this). E.g. my 24-bit/96KHz Saracon SACD rip of Black Sabbath Heaven&Hell was so dynamic and involving that after some riffs I couldn't stop moving and jumping in my room pretending I'm Dio on stage 

 

 

[Wyd4]

I had a really negative impression at first.
But I was burning in a new pair of iems and the dx90.
Now after in excess of 100 hours on both I love it.
Lurkers firmware really bumps it up a notch too.
If you want eq I suggest rock box. Much better eq options.

 

[Wyd4]

DX90 does indeed sound great, and yes even better with Lurker's 2.1 firmware (so far I test with Beyerdynamic DT990 and Shure SRH940). Just do not use the EQ, choose slow rolloff filter to kill preringing, use high output gain. Avoid MP3, use proper wav/flac/ape files only. With such setup (and decent bright cans, like mine two ) DX90 proved itself to be the great neutral source for this price and beyond. Unless you already got used to strong EQ boost, or you may be wrongly interpreting distortion/ringing (of some other players) as 'richer' or 'warmer' sound. Also, DX90 is very dynamic, at first I simply couldn't believe that small portable source can be that dynamic (but again, you need the good DR files to feel this). E.g. my 24-bit/96KHz Saracon SACD rip of Black Sabbath Heaven&Hell was so dynamic and involving that after some riffs I couldn't stop moving and jumping in my room pretending I'm Dio on stage   

Much respect for Dio.
I get lost listening to Dio on the dx90.

 

[Krautmaster]

I'll test the fw as well as the newer Rockbox, did test the last version but that was kinda unusable... New one might be better

 

[Caruryn]

I have a hard time believing that a bundled iem with a phone can compete with shure se535 as far as clarity,mids and details go and the same can be said for dx90 and the phone.If you cannot discern the huge difference now you can burn it till kingdom come and i doubt you will notice the subtle changes then,like the more relaxed treble.Just to avoid any misunderstanding you are using high bitrate files like flac,wav and not 128bit mp3s i hope.

 

[uli87]

V0 and 320 mp3 sound excellent on the DX90 as well. I can't tell the difference between them and flac,wav.

 

[Krautmaster]

well, I have to say that the bundled In ears are pretty good, especially in mids and treble - I was quite suprised playing Pink Floyd Flac albums. I like them much, as well as they are very comfortable. I found the ~100 € beyerdynamic DX 160 iE Premium worse in therm of mids and trebs, to bassy... found the bundled to outperfrom them.
 
U might leave a high res Flac using an dropbox link here, put in ur fav songs =) that would be great. I'll search for Lurkers firmware now and report later on.
 
Thanks =)
 
Edit: Compared the bundled with the Shure 535 quite now ... 
 
Listening to Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason - Sorrow, FLAC 797kb/s 44,1khz, the bundles "In-Ears" need slightly more level but are far better at the low end, warmer, more pressure in bass then the Shure, more "kicking". The Shure are better in terms of mids and trebs, true, more "open" - almost too light and open in all over sound impression. 
 
Its the "kick" im missing in the Shure 535 , clearity and resolution is better than in the bundled and the Beyerdynamic but the med low and bass is less present - which I found missing in that song.
 
Beat me if needed - but its more an "wow" effect if u put on the bundled with the DX90 than the Shure 535 - maybe thats the problem (due to good threbs and way better lower frequencies). Any how, I might go for the IE800 Sennheiser, but 800 bucks for a slight performance plus on free smartphone In Ears... 
Maybe the Shure are desigend for this "light" sound with less focus on low frequencies. In that part its clearly Shure ---->Bundled one --> Beyerdynamic (bass focus), even if I dont ply that much electro and disco music.
 
U may try them out next to Tübingen, Stuttgart, Germany
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h18yfekjj57n3z5/Pink%20Floyd%20-%20A%20Momentary%20Lapse%20Of%20Reason%20-%2011%20-%20Sorrow.flac?dl=0

 

[Krautmaster]

@Caruryn
 
at a 500$ price difference I would not say "compete" , trebs and mids are worse than in the Shure but the drums are more kicking. Shure is perfect in clearity but sounds a bit like a High End System with a too small sub. 
 
Edit: Maybe Shure did that 535 that way to make me buy the IE 800 Sennheiser as well 

 

 

[Caruryn]

Go for it.I have both and the ie800 is a step above in terms of clarity,instrument separation,soundstage and two steps in terms of bass and treble.You will have to get used to the dynamic signature when coming from armature though.

 

[Heartsmart]

Now I have ordered both DX90 and AKG K545. it will be interesting to hear if they are a good combination.

 

[Jensenchua]

   
I didn't immediately hear the difference between my iPod classic and my DX90. It took me some time to appreciate it's wonderful signature which could be a combination of burning in the device together with my brain adapting to the new sound.
 
Do you oftenly use EQ? It could be that you are used to a sound signature which is far from neutral(ish) with overly boosted low frequency that your brain has grown acustomed to. Perfectly fine if you like listening to music that way but I think it might be the reason you aren't digging the sound of the DX90 as I think it's best to let it shine without any use of it's EQ.
 
Are you using your device on high gain? I think the major difference between your Lumia and the DX90 is the amp section. For me it added alot more dynamics to songs I have heard multiple times before. 
 
Give it some time to let it grow on you. If you still aren't satisfied in a few weeks you can assume that it doesn't suit your needs which is not a big deal at all It's all about the music!

I didn't hear any immediate differences between my iPod touch 5 & my DX90 too, I did notice there is a little bit more details on the DX90, at first I was quite disappointing.
 
Yes, after about 2 weeks of 100 hour burning I realise there is big difference between them,  the bass, mids, high, soundstage, details everything is different & better. (Don't get me wrong iPod touch 5 sounded not too bad though)
 
BTW I don't use any EQ on both iPod touch 5 & DX90 with mid & high gain.

 

[nuxos]

How the gain affects the sound ?
 
I've tried the three settings ( all with slow roll off) and noticed different levels noise, and also a slightly more punch in the sound.
 
In my case i have Heir Audio 4ai, which are easy to drive ( low impedance).