[CutzNClickz]

Just read some about loudness war and dynamic range stuff. Go to loudness war page and check which records are best in terms of dynamic range. Stuff mastered in 80's and classical music has DR around 10-15. Nowadays its around 5 most of the time. Of course there were bad mastered tracks back then but there are also those mastered well now. Just download DR plugin for foobat2000 and check whatever you have on your cpu. Enjoy!

I am always on Bob Katz K-System when mixing or mastering. No foobar, nice try.

http://www.digido.com/how-to-make-better-recordings-part-2.html
http://www.meterplugs.com/kmeter

I now reverted back from FW 2.18 to an older Stock FW.

1. No more able to listen for more than 2 hours without ringing ears. I always make a pause after 3 hours
to get fresh ears and use moderate Volume @180-185, i use my DX90 often for A/B judgements.

2. Something changed the sound signature under the hood to be more agressive. I don't think iBasso did it
by disabling some unused services. If something has changed the playback or decoding algorythms due to
newer software builds, i don't like it. I have seen this a couple of times when new versions of audio plugins
got released. Often the first versions were the best at SQ but at processing, decoding and CPU strategies the
never...

3. For me, there is a noticable higher cutoff at the subbass area. I think the bass gets his "hitting harder" and
"new" definition, because the area is tidied up and bassenergy is more effective used with our phones.
I like "defined" deep rumble, so a no-go for me.

4. Another thing, the new 10 Band EQ with 6(!) Bands for the bass region...
A better dayly use factor of the 10 provided frequencies got my like.

5. The exFAT compatibility is not fixed, some Cards need to be formated with the
SDCard.org Tool. If formatted under MS Windows ( Microsoft invented exFAT ! )
the Cards show weired behavior while scanning/saving cache data...

+ A positive finding is the improved scanning engine, nice.

 

[wolfen68]

   
Currently I enjoy DX90 Phone Out more than QA360 Phone Out. I feel that the QA360 is excellent bit of hardware, that needs firmware optimizing for higher potential, but the QA360 has higher SQ from LO and Digital out than DX90.

 
If the devices are properly implemented and bit perfect they should be equal transports...how could the digital out sound different?

 

[jamato8]

   
If the devices are properly implemented and bit perfect they should be equal transports...how could the digital out sound different?

I haven't heard much difference in transports. Ok, TRANCE, fess up. :^) 

 

[jj69]

   
If the devices are properly implemented and bit perfect they should be equal transports...how could the digital out sound different?

 
One word: JITTER

 

[jamato8]

   
One word: JITTER

Has anyone measured the two to confirm that one has more than the other? Maybe the cards made a difference unless each one had the same card used. 

 

[ShenaRingo326]

 

I've been away from headfi for a while... What is this dx90 mod that i've seen mentioned by a few ppl?

The!

It's a Russian techie who does a hardware mod. Search through this thread for details

 
 

 

What is this dx90 mod that i've seen mentioned by a few ppl?

It is performed by sanmigel. A brief description is here. You may also find and read his recent posts.

 
Thanks, I will read back through the thread to learn about this mod.

 

[Bellyworshipper]

I am always on Bob Katz K-System when mixing or mastering. No foobar, nice try.

http://www.digido.com/how-to-make-better-recordings-part-2.html
http://www.meterplugs.com/kmeter

I now reverted back from FW 2.18 to an older Stock FW.

1. No more able to listen for more than 2 hours without ringing ears. I always make a pause after 3 hours
to get fresh ears and use moderate Volume @180-185, i use my DX90 often for A/B judgements.

2. Something changed the sound signature under the hood to be more agressive. I don't think iBasso did it
by disabling some unused services. If something has changed the playback or decoding algorythms due to
newer software builds, i don't like it. I have seen this a couple of times when new versions of audio plugins
got released. Often the first versions were the best at SQ but at processing, decoding and CPU strategies the
never...

3. For me, there is a noticable higher cutoff at the subbass area. I think the bass gets his "hitting harder" and
"new" definition, because the area is tidied up and bassenergy is more effective used with our phones.
I like "defined" deep rumble, so a no-go for me.

4. Another thing, the new 10 Band EQ with 6(!) Bands for the bass region...
A better dayly use factor of the 10 provided frequencies got my like.

5. The exFAT compatibility is not fixed, some Cards need to be formated with the
SDCard.org Tool. If formatted under MS Windows ( Microsoft invented exFAT ! )
the Cards show weired behavior while scanning/saving cache data...

+ A positive finding is the improved scanning engine, nice.

Probably, you are right about the change of sound signature and the whole sound presentation-the bass became more aggressive, though I still don't find it smeared or bloated (at least on my modded DX 90). And even the vinyl rips I considered mild and relaxing now sound tiresome because of more aggressive lows (the treble is ok, as I perceive it)/
As for the new 10 Band EQ, many people on Russian forum don't share your optimism, because it was reported (and verified by oscillograph measurements) that the equalizer specified bands frequencies are incorrect and when moving an equalizer slider you are adjusting the sound in the band other than the specified one (allegedly, the adjustment results sometimes are even stranger than the ones, which consider such shift). I guess the EQ on DX90 is just condemned to suck...for all eternity (and better be consigned to oblivion)   

 

[wolfen68]

   
One word: JITTER

 
...but in reality differences in jitter between well designed devices will be inaudible.

 

[jj69]

   
...but in reality differences in jitter between well designed devices will be inaudible.

 
When you're using a device as an SPDIF transport (which I believe is the context here), jitter is the single most important reason two devices will "sound" different. 
 
 

 

[wolfen68]

   
When you're using a device as an SPDIF transport (which I believe is the context here), jitter is the single most important reason two devices will "sound" different. 
 
 

 
That may be POSSIBLE because of jitter.  Jitter, like everything else, is audible if you have enough of it. But "enough" is typically a couple of orders of magnitude more than any well designed gear exhibits.
 
It is not a common complaint on Head-fi that two transports independently fed to the same DAC end up sounding different.  I know I've not yet experienced that, and I've used various digital transports over the last 12 years. 

 

[ZverMetel]

I now reverted back from FW 2.18 to an older Stock FW.

1. No more able to listen for more than 2 hours without ringing ears. I always make a pause after 3 hours
to get fresh ears and use moderate Volume @180-185, i use my DX90 often for A/B judgements.

2. Something changed the sound signature under the hood to be more agressive. I don't think iBasso did it
by disabling some unused services. If something has changed the playback or decoding algorythms due to
newer software builds, i don't like it. I have seen this a couple of times when new versions of audio plugins
got released. Often the first versions were the best at SQ but at processing, decoding and CPU strategies the
never...
 

There is no direct relationship. Removing unneeded services only allows the CPU to free more resources for sound processing.
I completely agree with your opinion about fatigue ears after a while listening but in my case they even began to hurt! And I don't listen music very loud and mostly quiet.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

I haven't heard much difference in transports. Ok, TRANCE, fess up. :^) 

 
I instantly heard an imaging difference going from DX90 coaxial to QA360 coaxial into NAD M51 > Fostex Monitors. Also tested connecting DX90 coaxial and QA360 optical simultaneously to NAD M51 allowing me to switch between sources on the fly with remote while playing the same song on each. Testing can't get any more side by side than that!
 

  There is no direct relationship. Removing unneeded services only allows the CPU to free more resources for sound processing.
I completely agree with your opinion about fatigue ears after a while listening but in my case they even began to hurt! And I don't listen music very loud and mostly quiet.

 
iBasso have done a rewrite optimization to the code, and if it is indeed better optimized and I believe it to be, then there is no two ways about it, it means higher transparency, that's also what I'm hearing so I'm happy. Technically the newer firmware should be more representative of what DX90 and your HP truly sound like together.

 

[jamato8]

iBasso have done a rewrite optimization to the code, and if it is indeed better optimized and I believe it to be, then there is no two ways about it, it means higher transparency, that's also what I'm hearing so I'm happy. Technically the newer firmware should be more representative of what DX90 and your HP truly sound like together.

And sometimes, the closer you get to what the recording was/is like, if all digital, it can be fatiguing to listen to. I have my Audio Note UK based dac and when recordings were right, it was insanely good but if they were digital, it wasn't fun. I could also be that different clocking will work better in the future. 

 

[omastic]

I can't seem to hear any difference between the different FW version. I guess my ears are not sensitive enough. Honestly for me I usually go for the lurker's FW only for the font. It would be interesting to know in more detail exactly what aspect of the DX90 changes with the different FW versions that is causing most people to hear such noticeable differences.

 

[PDVJAM]

  I can't seem to hear any difference between the different FW version. I guess my ears are not sensitive enough. Honestly for me I usually go for the lurker's FW only for the font. It would be interesting to know in more detail exactly what aspect of the DX90 changes with the different FW versions that is causing most people to hear such noticeable differences.

If FW are bit perfect - and they are - there is no difference at all.