iBasso DX100:24 bit for bit, PG 1> Reviews & Impressions, Downloads, VIDEO, NEW Firmware 1.4.2.
Mar 4, 2013 at 5:08 PM Post #10,966 of 13,503
Quote:
 
My son has a Galaxy S.  Soundwise, there is no comparison...the DX100 wins in every department.  However, I'll give the Galaxy a win on GUI. 

Obviously there is no comparison between the Galaxy S and high end DAPs ... but if the Galaxy S is rooted and has the Voodoo Sound application installed, it transforms into a different beast. The best combination would be the full bodied sound the Voodoo modded Galaxy S gives with the clarity of the Colorfly C4. Here is where Im hoping iBasso comes in.
 
Mar 4, 2013 at 5:21 PM Post #10,967 of 13,503
Quote:
Someone please tell me a Galaxy S shouldn't sound anywhere near as good as a C4.....even in the bass!?!

Galaxy S with Voodoo Sound Enhancement sounds very good. But you cant compare with the clarity and 3 dimensionality of the C4 sound. The C4 is a clearly superior player by far in terms of sq. Just its lack of low bass is quite striking to me. The C4s bass is quite punchy and very well controlled but concentrated towards the mid bass. There is a clear roll off from 100hz and below, and it is very noticable to me. Best way I can describe is "lean" bass and that can be good/bad depending on ur taste in sound signature. Some people might say its bass is very clear whereas other will say its lacking. hope this helps.
 
Mar 4, 2013 at 6:01 PM Post #10,968 of 13,503
Hi all,
 
I've had my DX100 for about 2 weeks now and it is the best sounding portable player I have ever listened to.  I am using HD650 headphones and soon will have LCD-2 for increased bass response.  Here are some of my experiences, thoughts:
 
1. Equalizer is not usable (at least for me).  The DX100 sounds best when it it closed.  I am coming from Cowon S9 and YES, I loved the various BBE effects and wonderful EQ though the sound cannot be compared with the DX100.
 
2. The wifi is not usable.  I have tried to connect it to my Asus router and although it connects, about 2 seconds later it drops connection.  I have tried close as a few feet from the router and as far as different rooms.  My mobile phone and other electronics connect fine with the router and never had a problem.
 
3. My dap came with 1.3.5 firmware and yesterday I upgraded to the 1.3.7.  I can verify that the user interface is more snappy and easier to use, BUT the sound quality has dropped significantly in comparison to the 1.3.5.  1.3.7 sounds muddy and not as clear as the previous firmware (to my ears using the HD650).  It seems the sound magic is gone with 1.3.7.  I will have to resort back to 1.3.5 or older firmware for better sound - it is a must as I have bought it for the ultimate sound quality in a portable player.
 
Has anyone else experienced the strange issue with the wifi and the reduced audio quality with 1.3.7?  Also, does anyone know why the unit gets so hot?  It is the amplifier chip and if so, is it connected thermally to the body to dissipate the heat?  
 
From being an electrical engineer and have worked on reliability of devices due to thermal stress (I have also designed devices to have a 30 year operational life as required in MIL and Telecordia specs) - heat shortens the lifespan of electronics considerably.  I often wonder if this expensive dap will work 2-3 years from now?  I pray that it will as my Cowon that I purchased in 2009 has served me really well over the last 4 years and still looks / works as new.  Anyhow, this is one great sounding player, and I hope that future firmware releases will fix issues and improve on sound quality and it will still be working years from now. 
 
Thanks fellow audiophiles.
 
Mar 4, 2013 at 6:48 PM Post #10,969 of 13,503
Quote:
Galaxy S with Voodoo Sound Enhancement sounds very good. But you cant compare with the clarity and 3 dimensionality of the C4 sound. The C4 is a clearly superior player by far in terms of sq. Just its lack of low bass is quite striking to me. The C4s bass is quite punchy and very well controlled but concentrated towards the mid bass. There is a clear roll off from 100hz and below, and it is very noticable to me. Best way I can describe is "lean" bass and that can be good/bad depending on ur taste in sound signature. Some people might say its bass is very clear whereas other will say its lacking. hope this helps.

 
It does...greatly....thanks
smile.gif

 
Mar 5, 2013 at 5:11 AM Post #10,970 of 13,503
Hi all,

I've had my DX100 for about 2 weeks now and it is the best sounding portable player I have ever listened to.  I am using HD650 headphones and soon will have LCD-2 for increased bass response.  Here are some of my experiences, thoughts:

1. Equalizer is not usable (at least for me).  The DX100 sounds best when it it closed.  I am coming from Cowon S9 and YES, I loved the various BBE effects and wonderful EQ though the sound cannot be compared with the DX100.

2. The wifi is not usable.  I have tried to connect it to my Asus router and although it connects, about 2 seconds later it drops connection.  I have tried close as a few feet from the router and as far as different rooms.  My mobile phone and other electronics connect fine with the router and never had a problem.

3. My dap came with 1.3.5 firmware and yesterday I upgraded to the 1.3.7.  I can verify that the user interface is more snappy and easier to use, BUT the sound quality has dropped significantly in comparison to the 1.3.5.  1.3.7 sounds muddy and not as clear as the previous firmware (to my ears using the HD650).  It seems the sound magic is gone with 1.3.7.  I will have to resort back to 1.3.5 or older firmware for better sound - it is a must as I have bought it for the ultimate sound quality in a portable player.

Has anyone else experienced the strange issue with the wifi and the reduced audio quality with 1.3.7?  Also, does anyone know why the unit gets so hot?  It is the amplifier chip and if so, is it connected thermally to the body to dissipate the heat?  

From being an electrical engineer and have worked on reliability of devices due to thermal stress (I have also designed devices to have a 30 year operational life as required in MIL and Telecordia specs) - heat shortens the lifespan of electronics considerably.  I often wonder if this expensive dap will work 2-3 years from now?  I pray that it will as my Cowon that I purchased in 2009 has served me really well over the last 4 years and still looks / works as new.  Anyhow, this is one great sounding player, and I hope that future firmware releases will fix issues and improve on sound quality and it will still be working years from now. 

Thanks fellow audiophiles.


regarding the wifi, DX100's wifi is pretty bad but one way to make it at least usable is to set your router from a multichannel to a single channel (I use channel 6)

Regarding the heat issue, I believe that the built in amp is a class A amp. Aside from that, you also need to check the running services in android's settings. I noticed that when the Google service is running, my unit gets hotter. To solve this, use the tutorial to root your DX100 and use titanium backup to freeze what you can safely freeze

edit: added the bold words to make sure you don't brick your DX :wink:
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 5:17 AM Post #10,971 of 13,503
I don't have any issues with the wifi, other than increased battery use. Downloaded a few apps and browsed a little with it.
Did you try a different router or connection?

It does get hot, even when not using the screen for a while. I hope it's just the battery and not so much other internal components.

Don't know about the firmware, I upgrade it the first day to 1.3.7 and never looked back.

It's something about this player, the sound quality is awesome, but everything around it is pretty bad for today standards.
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 6:28 AM Post #10,972 of 13,503
Quote:
It's something about this player, the sound quality is awesome, but everything around it is pretty bad for today standards.

I'm an it specialist and Android Fan extraordinaire. There are so many things about the DX100 as an Android device that are appallingly poor. Wifi performance, general ui performance, dev support, screen quality, file sorting and so on...
 
But all is forgiven when the music plays.
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 7:34 AM Post #10,973 of 13,503
Can someone let me know the differences in sq between all the firmwares? If I upgrade to a new firmware, can I downgrade to a previous one if I am not happy?
 
Also I was thinking of getting a full sized headphone but it needs to be closed as I might sometimes travel with them. Anyone know which headphone paors with the sound signature of the iBasso? I love the sound of the HD650 but the open back design kills it for me. I was thinking of the Denon Music Maniac Ah-D7100 headphones (got a cheap deal from a seller for £449).
 
Any ideas?
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 10:11 AM Post #10,974 of 13,503
Quote:
I'm an it specialist and Android Fan extraordinaire. There are so many things about the DX100 as an Android device that are appallingly poor. Wifi performance, general ui performance, dev support, screen quality, file sorting and so on...
 
But all is forgiven when the music plays.

 
 
^^^   THIS!!!  
biggrin.gif

 
Mar 5, 2013 at 10:14 AM Post #10,975 of 13,503
People should bear in  mind, this device was not designed to be an all purpose pocket computer.  It was designed to be a Digital Audio Player.  The designers chose an Android platform, I'm sure they had plenty of reasons, but that doesn't mean it should be compared to the latest, greatest, multi-cored Android smart phone.
 
It does what it needs to do.
 
Sure, it has some idiosyncrasies, but iBasso has been pretty proactive so far with firmware releases to address every problem that's been brought to their attention.  There's no reason to suspect that they won't continue to do so.
 
Personally I couldn't be happier with mine.
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 10:47 AM Post #10,977 of 13,503
I know that this is off topic, but would anyone happen to live in the DFW area and would be interested in designing and making a US Audiophile DAP?  I am an electrical engineer and would love to work with 2-3 others in the area on audio projects - not alone for just a hobby, but to create actual products to sell and enjoy.
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 7:19 PM Post #10,979 of 13,503
Ok ... just got my DX100 ... so far so good. But I cannot connect to the internet with wifi and have to sort that out. Anyone know how to find the MAC address of the DX100 wifi module. On my android phone it is under settings>about device but in the DX100 it doesnt exist.
 
Another problem is that after I manually installed poweramp in the DX100, the maximum volume is very low no matter what settings I change. But on the stock player its fine. The max volume at high gain on poweramp is like around 100 in low gain on stock player. I have installed and used poweramp on countless devices and this is the first time I encounter this weird problem !!! Anyone have any ideas? Im running v1.3.5 currently.
 
Mar 5, 2013 at 7:26 PM Post #10,980 of 13,503
You shouldn't use PowerAmp anyway, it isn't able to make full use of the DAC.  Only the native music player uses iBasso's proprietary driver, only it can play high res files.
 

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