[Rappo]

I would pay quite a good amount of money for it. Add nice amp section with minimum 10 hours of battery life: we have a winner.

And a pricetag around the $1k mark. I would definitely consider it. No, seriously.

 

[AmberOzL]

And a pricetag around the $1k mark. I would definitely consider it. No, seriously.

Yup, a clean 1k it deserves and I am sure it would sell quite good.

 

[Mython]

 
Yup, a clean 1k it deserves and I am sure it would sell quite good.

 
But no silly crippled / omitted features, at that price. It would have to be the mutt's nuts for that price.
 
 
I would rather spend less than $1k (DX100 was $830, which was quite a substantial chunk of cash for many, including me).
 
When you look at how much the DX90 will offer for $500, and how much the X5 will offer for $350-400, there actually isn't a great deal of justification to charge $1k for a relatively few additional features.
 
I would think that iBasso or Fiio could produce an absolutely stonking DAP for $850, with a bit of leeway if a high-spec screen was thrown in.
 
Technology has made substantial gains in the 2 years since the inception of the (wonderful) DX100.
 
The same money should now buy more DAP, given improved component technology + experience of iBasso and Fiio engineers, from making previous DAPs.
 
 

---

 

[vkalia]

Why, o why, can they not put 2 smegging SD card slots there?    Memory is cheap, you are selling something designed to play high-res files.... hel-lo!!!
 
Some of us actually take our players with us for multi-day trips.

 

[Mython]

Although competition is generally a good thing, for customers, I can't help admitting that part of me almost wishes Fiio and iBasso would merge, to form a more powerful force in keenly-priced audiophile DAPs.
 
 
Currently, the competition between iBasso and Fiio is a good thing in the sense that they keep pushing themselves to outdo each other, so the customer benefits (and it helps keep the retail prices down).
 
However, the flipside of this competition is that they cannot afford to risk investing too much time or money in developing each DAP, so in that way, customers may lose out, to some extent.
 
 
This is why I would love to see Fiio and iBasso combine forces to create an X7-DX200 super-DAP, which would sell like hotcakes and smoke the greedier competitors.
 
 
I don't think they'd get lazy if they did that, because they'd still have plenty of other competitors to compete with.
 
 
 

---

 

[burtomr]

  Why, o why, can they not put 2 smegging SD card slots there?    Memory is cheap, you are selling something designed to play high-res files.... hel-lo!!!
 

 
Because 2 'Smeg' SD cards are not available yet....

 
 
Actually the reason is probably because they are basing the DX90 on the 50 and full size SD slots take up too much PCB board space...same story with (2) MicroSD slots.

 

[Rappo]

   
But no silly crippled / omitted features, at that price. It would have to be the mutt's nuts for that price.
 
 
I would rather spend less than $1k (DX100 was $830, which was quite a substantial chunk of cash for many, including me).
 
When you look at how much the DX90 will offer for $500, and how much the X5 will offer for $350-400, there actually isn't a great deal of justification to charge $1k for a relatively few additional features.
 
I would think that iBasso or Fiio could produce an absolutely stonking DAP for $850, with a bit of leeway if a high-spec screen was thrown in.
 
Technology has maid substantial gains in the 2 years since the inception of the (wonderful) DX100.
 
The same money should now buy more DAP, given improved component technology + experience of iBasso and Fiio engineers, from making previous DAPs.

Back om december 2012 when i bought my DX100, it was after several months of consideration. I found the pricetag to be completely mental, and at that price it really had to be very, very good. Luckily it was. It is by a far margin the best investment i have ever made in terms of audio gear.
 
Since then, a lot of things has happened, and there is now a lot of audiophile DAPs on the market to choose from. I have no idea how many units Ibasso have sold of the DX100, but i am sure that if they had realeased it today, it would not have been as huge a success. With more DAPs to choose from, and people expecting more and more for less, i would say, that if Ibasso was to release a new TOTL DAP (which i hope they will), it would of course have to be better than the DX100, both in terms of sound and functionality, but they would also have to price it around the $800 mark, for people to buy it. I do not know exactly what we could expect from a DX100 successor, but hopefully time will tell. 

 
I am mainly following this thread because i have an interrest in Ibasso's products in general, but especially in their DAPs. I have though about selling my DX100, to go for a DX50+amp solution, but the DX90 would probably be a better choice for that. The question is how much i will have to sacrifice in terms of SQ, when going from the DX100 to the DX50 or the DX90 for that mattter. I hope that i will get to listen to the DX50 soon, so i can get a change to figure out, if i can live with DX50 as my only DAP or not.

 

[Mython]

   
Because 2 'Smeg' SD cards are not available yet....

 
 

 
But Smeg is widely-available:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A0RFDm8_rE

 

[vkalia]

   
Because 2 'Smeg' SD cards are not available yet....

 
 
Actually the reason is probably because they are basing the DX90 on the 50 and full size SD slots take up too much PCB board space...same story with (2) MicroSD slots.

 
Hehe, true dat.
 
I seem to be in a minority here, but I'd have thought more capacity would have made it worth redesigning the case.  The X5 is the only option and after the ugliness that is the X3 interface (I rarely ever use mine) and the issues i had getting that player to read my music files, I am not sure i want to go down that road.   Memory is cheap - wish all these DAP players would add $XX to the price, and slap in a 64-128GB internal memory at the very least.    iRiver gets it.

 

[dc-k]

   
Hehe, true dat.
 
I seem to be in a minority here, but I'd have thought more capacity would have made it worth redesigning the case.  The X5 is the only option and after the ugliness that is the X3 interface (I rarely ever use mine) and the issues i had getting that player to read my music files, I am not sure i want to go down that road.   Memory is cheap - wish all these DAP players would add $XX to the price, and slap in a 64-128GB internal memory at the very least.    iRiver gets it.

quite agree, it can't be that tricky

 

[burtomr]

  Memory is cheap - wish all these DAP players would add $XX to the price, and slap in a 64-128GB internal memory at the very least.    iRiver gets it.

 
...and SONY doesn't get it: ZX-1 has the 128GB internal, but What...no SD slot(s)...

 

 

[dc-k]

   
...and SONY doesn't get it: ZX-1 has the 128GB internal, but What...no SD slot(s)...

 

yes unbelievable, I unsubscribed from that thread as soon as I realised it wasn't going to do me... to be honest 256 and no slot wouldn't do...

 

[jamato8]

The DX50 scans pretty fast now, a couple of minutes so the DX90 will do just as well. I Much prefer a slot, or two, and my cards. 64gbs of musics is a fair bit of music. I enjoy having say, blues, and I have a couple of 64gb of blues, then 4 64gb of rock, then classical and I don't have to go into the internal memory, erase music I don't want, and then start loading other music. The process takes quite  while. Cards for me, are just easier and more convenient. 
 
Ah, but it's all good. Nice that we have some great players coming out. I can't wait for the DX90.  

 

[hilosxdd]

  I have a sneaking suspicion that the DX90 will sound very, very close to the DX100. 
 
...but the DX100 won't remain the flagship forever. 

Maybe , but if your suspicion is indeed right , it'd be priced between 475USD to 500USD 
 
Definitely , once FiiO release X1 and X7 , iBasso will release DX20 and DX120 .
 
I wonder when will this daps 'war' end ....... AK240 , X5 , DX90 

 

 

[musicheaven]

  Maybe , but if your suspicion is indeed right , it'd be priced between 475USD to 500USD 
 
Definitely , once FiiO release X1 and X7 , iBasso will release DX20 and DX120 .
 
I wonder when will this daps 'war' end ....... AK240 , X5 , DX90 

 

 DX20

 
 Are we regressing?