Ibasso 1 bit Discrete portable DAC with Resistors Array D16

[Whitigir]

Loving too much the D16. I just want to have the best for it!!

BlackGate amp caps
Jupiter pure Copper foils wax paper instead of Tin foils from stock.
Nichicon and Kemet PSU aluminum organic polymer caps
Internal connections to pure silver 28Awg
Still Coax connection

Every bit by bit and little by little. This D16 will stay with me for sure

 

[meomap]

Loving too much the D16. I just want to have the best for it!!

BlackGate amp caps
Jupiter pure Copper foils wax paper instead of Tin foils from stock.
Nichicon and Kemet PSU aluminum organic polymer caps
Internal connections to pure silver 28Awg
Still Coax connection

Every bit by bit and little by little. This D16 will stay with me for sure

Like always from u.
Excellent....

My problem is I can't see Sxxx. Too old for my eyes. Need microscope to see....

 

[Daniel59]

Loving too much the D16. I just want to have the best for it!!

BlackGate amp caps
Jupiter pure Copper foils wax paper instead of Tin foils from stock.
Nichicon and Kemet PSU aluminum organic polymer caps
Internal connections to pure silver 28Awg
Still Coax connection

Every bit by bit and little by little. This D16 will stay with me for sure

Do your mods improve both the LO and PO signals on the D16? I’m utilizing LO on the D16 mostly because I love the PB5 amp more!

 

[Whitigir]

Do your mods improve both the LO and PO signals on the D16? I’m utilizing LO on the D16 mostly because I love the PB5 amp more!

Good questions, it does as power supplies improvement and analog coupling both improve the Lines signals quality

 

[staxstax]

I got my d16 today, connected to a dx260 it sounds ok..but i am not impressed, does the sound changes after burn in? ex 100 hours?

 

[Whitigir]

I got my d16 today, connected to a dx260 it sounds ok..but i am not impressed, does the sound changes after burn in? ex 100 hours?

Which method are you connecting ? And yes the sound change over burn in period but not going to transform a cat to a dog .

 

[staxstax]

Which method are you connecting ? And yes the sound change over burn in period but not going to transform a cat to a dog .

i use the coaxial one in the box, custom kimber silver, and a custom 24karat gold, for headphones I tried stax audeze sonyz7 denon hd600 hd650 etc only classical music and jazz, it sounds like the old Hugo dac. I compared it to a NAD dac, a topping dx7 pro, the xduoo XD05 Bal2 and some more, maybe it is too early to talk about. if the cat turns to a friendly cat, I will happy, how do you use the volume knobs, dont tell me clockwise or counterclockwise

 

[Whitigir]

i use the coaxial one in the box, custom kimber silver, and a custom 24karat gold, for headphones I tried stax audeze sonyz7 denon hd600 hd650 etc only classical music and jazz, it sounds like the old Hugo dac. I compared it to a NAD dac, a topping dx7 pro, the xduoo XD05 Bal2 and some more, maybe it is too early to talk about. if the cat turns to a friendly cat, I will happy, how do you use the volume knobs, dont tell me clockwise or counterclockwise

The better coaxial one is the braided one, not the thick one.

Small knob is digital attenuations and feature function, press and rotate for commands

Larger knob is stepped attentuation, truly analog one. I maxed out digital volume to 100, and only use stepped attent for volume adjustments

 

[Loftprojection]

it sounds like the old Hugo dac.

This is somewhat a compliment, Hugo is a more expensive DAC than D16 and well praised even if a bit older.

 

[Death_Block]

I have both, I prefer the D16 overall, but the Hugo still has its use, sometimes, not really actually, should move it on.

 

[staxstax]

The better coaxial one is the braided one, not the thick one.

Small knob is digital attenuations and feature function, press and rotate for commands

Larger knob is stepped attentuation, truly analog one. I maxed out digital volume to 100, and only use stepped attent for volume adjustments

Thanks whitigir I use the braided one, already after 8 hours the sound changed positively not a lot but the violins sound more natural now, basses are very nice,
even with the HD600 and HD650

 

[Whitigir]

Since I love D16 too much and craving for an all in one as a DAP. Ibasso just released Dx340 and that just brought fires to my pants. Ofcourse I grabbed it as soon as I could.

Then came the questions that never popped to me or triggering my curiosities enough to investigate. I always had DAC gain at low for whag I would assumed to be the closest unity voltages. Just becayse it sounded so good, why would I wanna change that ? So, the question is that

What is DAC gain on 1bit Discrete from Ibasso ?

I took some 2 cents guess here

Then I went on for investigations according to sciences and terms. Especially feeding my D16 to tubes amps and Dynalo Mini SS amps. There were indeed some alternated performances.

The High Gain has a much more pronounced Sub bass rumbles and lower bass energies. The low gain is more neutral with greater staging. But it is most pronounced when I pluged in Line Out toward my Theater speakers with 2 subwoofers. The SubWoofers go crazy on High Gain

Anyways, on the Dx340, the filters from Advanced Harmonic Adjustments just scale it up further where as D16 we only have original and 1 type

 

[Death_Block]

Hmm interesting, like you I just left the dac pot alone. I will have a play tomorrow with the dac gain and do my best at volume matching and see how that goes. Sometimes I’ve been wanting less bass.. new headphones could solve that but worth a play around anyways.

So much speculation with this dac volume.. has Ibasso even given their explanation for it?

 

[Whitigir]

Hmm interesting, like you I just left the dac pot alone. I will have a play tomorrow with the dac gain and do my best at volume matching and see how that goes. Sometimes I’ve been wanting less bass.. new headphones could solve that but worth a play around anyways.

So much speculation with this dac volume.. has Ibasso even given their explanation for it?

Not DAC volume, just the Gain function. High gain is like more bass and Low is more neutral

 

[Daniel59]

So much speculation with this dac volume.. has Ibasso even given their explanation for it?

Yes, the DAC volume/gain on the D16, though maybe not a 1st time there’s ever been a piece of audio electronics designed this way, it is very interesting….and useful. The DAC volume/gain on the D16 controls the amp’s Line Out voltage, so it acts like a preamp when you want to feed a LO signal to an external amp.