Ibasso 1 bit Discrete portable DAC with Resistors Array D16

[Whitigir]

@Whitigir
Vince, I'd like to try hooking up D16 to my Ifi Zen Stream at my bedside for Roon streaming.
That device features some Cinch-socket that I ve been using with according Cinch cables to my desktop DAC.
Which 1m cable will I need to connect D16 to that Cinch port?
Will a usual Mono Cinch to 3.5mm cable with good quality suffice?

Any coaxial RCA toward Mono 3.5mm will work just fine

 

[FooFighter]

Any coaxial RCA toward Mono 3.5mm will work just fine

Thx mate

 

[Whitigir]

Never heard this album better than this

 

[Santamaria]

Hi, Witigir answered kindly some doubts I had, and finally bought the D16 in Supersonido, a Spain store from which I have bought before, always with excelent service. I will share some impressions ”without authority”.
The D16 is a light aluminium box of industrial design, really does not impress, but the finish is perfectly good. It is far from the sleekness of dx300 and cannot be compare with the high end finish of the Maxes and Rs8 in steel and titanium. The screen is small and rudimentary, sufficient for its use, but impress as quite primitive in our era of colorful screens. The step attenuator is smoother than the max320 and I did not have any problem adjusting to the desired level without need of dac attenuator. If Ibasso wants to sell this nondescript box for 1500E it has to sound really good. And it does.
I connected the D16 to dx300 with the supply coaxial cable and play streaming and local without any trouble nor interruptions. I have used the softears RS10, an iem that needs some power to sing. I burned in the unit 50 h but only noted changes in the first 15-20 hours. On first listening nothing caught specially my attention. In Rs8 you note immediatly the strong timbral contrast and the density of the sound. In 320max the transparency and smoothnes . In 300max the lush mids. D16 sounds simply good, NATURAL. The dynamic is just on point, as is the density. The details are embedded in the textures and do not call your attention, but listening to well known voices I hear new nuances. There is a sense a coherency and fluidity that invite you to just relax and listen without fixing your attention in any particular detail. The soundstage is wide and above that you have a great sense on the ambience. Yes I am in love with this nondescript box. And it is not only the DAC, the tuning of the amp is very tasteful. I added the C9 and the sound is more precise and dynamic with better separation but I do prefer the naturalness of D16 amp.
Thanks for the help

 

[FooFighter]

Is there a battery indication on the small display or seperate analogue LED indicator?

 

[Whitigir]

Hi, Witigir answer kindly some doubts I had, and finally bought the D16 in Supersonido, a Spain store from which I have bought before, always with excelent service. I will share some impressions ”without authority”.
The D16 is a light aluminium box of industrial design, really does not impress, but the finish is perfectly good. It is far from the sleekness of dx300 and cannot be compare with the high end finish of the Maxes and Rs8 in steel and titanium. The screen is small and rudimentary, sufficient for its use, but impress as quite primitive in our era of colorful screens. The step attenuator is smoother than the max320 and I did not have any problem adjusting to the desired level without need of dac attenuator. If ibasso wats to sell this nondescript box for 1500E it has to sound really good. And it does.
I connected the D16 to dx300 with the supply coaxial cable and play streaming and local without any trouble nor interruptions. I have used the softears RS10, an iem that need some power to sing. I burn the unit 50 h but only noted changes in the first 15-20 hours. On first listening nothing caught specially my attention. In Rs8 you note immediatly the strong timbral contrast and the density of the sound. In max320 the transparency and smoothnes . D16 sounds simply good, NATURAL. The dynamic is just on point, as is the density. The details are embedded in the textures and do not call your attention, but listening to well known voices I hear new nuances. There is a sense a coherency and fluidity that invite you to just relax and listen without fixing your attention in any particular detail. The soundstage is wide and above that you have a great sense on the ambience. Yes I am in love with this nondescrip box. And it is not only the DAC, the tuning of the amp is very tasteful. I added the C9 and the sound is more precise and dynamic with better separation but I do prefer the naturalness of D16 amp.
Thanks for the help

Welcome to the club!! I am glad you are enjoying it!!

Is there a battery indication on the small display or seperate analogue LED indicator?

Yes, the battery is displayed on the screen. Even though the screen is small and primitive, it serves the purpose. It is somewhat nostalgic as well. I enjoy it

 

[Loftprojection]

Hi, Witigir answer kindly some doubts I had, and finally bought the D16 in Supersonido, a Spain store from which I have bought before, always with excelent service. I will share some impressions ”without authority”.
The D16 is a light aluminium box of industrial design, really does not impress, but the finish is perfectly good. It is far from the sleekness of dx300 and cannot be compare with the high end finish of the Maxes and Rs8 in steel and titanium. The screen is small and rudimentary, sufficient for its use, but impress as quite primitive in our era of colorful screens. The step attenuator is smoother than the max320 and I did not have any problem adjusting to the desired level without need of dac attenuator. If ibasso wats to sell this nondescript box for 1500E it has to sound really good. And it does.
I connected the D16 to dx300 with the supply coaxial cable and play streaming and local without any trouble nor interruptions. I have used the softears RS10, an iem that need some power to sing. I burn the unit 50 h but only noted changes in the first 15-20 hours. On first listening nothing caught specially my attention. In Rs8 you note immediatly the strong timbral contrast and the density of the sound. In max320 the transparency and smoothnes . D16 sounds simply good, NATURAL. The dynamic is just on point, as is the density. The details are embedded in the textures and do not call your attention, but listening to well known voices I hear new nuances. There is a sense a coherency and fluidity that invite you to just relax and listen without fixing your attention in any particular detail. The soundstage is wide and above that you have a great sense on the ambience. Yes I am in love with this nondescrip box. And it is not only the DAC, the tuning of the amp is very tasteful. I added the C9 and the sound is more precise and dynamic with better separation but I do prefer the naturalness of D16 amp.
Thanks for the help

Superb review, we sense the honesty of the words chosen. Very interesting your comments about the amp section. Thanks.

 

[sdcson]

What kind of dap can I connect to cox in D16? Please let me know. I can't connect because the dap I have is hiby

 

[nkanak]

This is a good question. As we all have known it, USB type C is capable of multiple outputs, even if it is HDMI, or Digital music, and of course Coax out is not out of the question.

It brings us back to a couple foundations of USB as an interface. It has to go through a processing chips. Let's take Thunderbolt IC chip for an example. The JHL 8540 is a chip for that, and it conducts universally for many different tasks. The question would be, was it made dedicated toward music ?

I am thinking that Hiby is also using USB type C interfaces but configured it to enable Coax out. This Coax out is already Digital to Digital Converted, and is not Pure Coax, as the signals have to go through the USB C processing chips and get processed before going out. This will define the Coax out to be yet another USB interface and not true coax. What would be worse is that it takes an "Extra step" to process. Everything Extra is not worth it

Though, I have not been following these new products lines up from brands like Hiby for example. You will need to ask @Z_Showmaster and see what he knows as an insider ?

Could you please provide a solid reason for coax being superior to usb? Any kind of modern usb connection is asynchronous so jitter is of no concern.
I also cannot understand why "USC C processing chip" affect in any way the the digital signal, since the bitstream is any way reclocked in the dac part of the reproduction chain. On the other hand coaxial connection relies for timing on the accuracy on the transmitted signal.
Not trying to be a smart ass just curious......

 

[Whitigir]

What kind of dap can I connect to cox in D16? Please let me know. I can't connect because the dap I have is hiby

I believe Hiby has Coax from USB and so can D16 with direct USB. There are only 2 brands on the market that still offer coax, Ibasso and FiiO, as far as I know. Ibasso has a dedicated one

Could you please provide a solid reason for coax being superior to usb? Any kind of modern usb connection is asynchronous so jitter is of no concern.
I also cannot understand why "USC C processing chip" affect in any way the the digital signal, since the bitstream is any way reclocked in the dac part of the reproduction chain. On the other hand coaxial connection relies for timing on the accuracy on the transmitted signal.
Not trying to be a smart ass just curious......

For you question, I would kindly suggest that you seek out information about USB and it technical, limitations and so on, they can be found everywhere in Google. Anyways, a single source of explanations like myself, shouldn’t be any one reason to stopped searching for knowledge. Knowledge is infinite, and the more you learn, is the better.

One thing to keep in mind, Jitter is not the only thing that corrupt data. Some main culprits are voltage errors, close cells interferences….etc

 

[sdcson]

Thank you for your answer. I understand it's possible with usb. I asked because I thought I would need to buy another dap because I wanted to try connecting to Cox
and fiio has a 4pole cox so I don't think I can connect with mono. I think I asked the wrong question. I was wondering which dap has a mono cox terminal

 

[nkanak]

I believe Hiby has Coax from USB and so can D16 with direct USB. There are only 2 brands on the market that still offer coax, Ibasso and FiiO, as far as I know. Ibasso has a dedicated one

For you question, I would kindly suggest that you seek out information about USB and it technical, limitations and so on, they can be found everywhere in Google. Anyways, a single source of explanations like myself, shouldn’t be any one reason to stopped searching for knowledge. Knowledge is infinite, and the more you learn, is the better.

One thing to keep in mind, Jitter is not the only thing that corrupt data. Some main culprits are voltage errors, close cells interferences….etc

I am an electrical engineer by profession and so far the technical limitation of a protocol like USB for asynchronous short range of music digital transmissions that include error correction elude me. Thanks anyway.

 

[Whitigir]

Thank you for your answer. I understand it's possible with usb. I asked because I thought I would need to buy another dap because I wanted to try connecting to Cox
and fiio has a 4pole cox so I don't think I can connect with mono. I think I asked the wrong question. I was wondering which dap has a mono cox terminal

I would say that has to be Ibasso for now, and my suspect is that Dx260 will make a wonderful source for Coax. It has everything you need in a compact package with FPGA 2.0.

When you need nothing else, you would want the player by itself, using 8X DAC chip . Sound like an expensive solution.

I am satisfied with 320M as a coax source, but can’t stop wondering myself if there could be any differences from FPGA 1.0 vs 2.0

 

[Loftprojection]

I would say that has to be Ibasso for now, and my suspect is that Dx260 will make a wonderful source for Coax. It has everything you need in a compact package with FPGA 2.0.

When you need nothing else, you would want the player by itself, using 8X DAC chip . Sound like an expensive solution.

I am satisfied with 320M as a coax source, but can’t stop wondering myself if there could be any differences from FPGA 1.0 vs 2.0

Imagine the money you could assign to other goodies selling your 320M and using your phone over USB to the D16! Obviously joking Whitigir.

 

[purk]

Imagine the money you could assign to other goodies selling your 320M and using your phone over USB to the D16! Obviously joking Whitigir.

I wish that as well. I should have not try the coaxial input and I’ve made at least 3 USB C OTG cables since the D16 got here.