iBasso DX100 Reference DAP - ES9018 inside

[Mython]

I appreciate the suggestion of a harddrive but personally, I never want to own another HDD-based player as long as I live - had an iPod Classic 5.5gen and a 6gen and both of them had mechanical HDD failure. Total waste of money. Both of them are within arms reach as I type this, having sat on my shelf, dead-as-dodos, for well over a year.
 
Also, a 32gb microSD card can now, at last, be had for 30 dollars - if one does the math, without getting too pedantic about formatting overheads, that's actually not far off being equivalent to the cost-per-gb of a 1.8" HDD:
 
240gb/32gb = 7.5
 
$30 x 7.5 = $225
http://tinyurl.com/d6qhccq
 
Toshiba MK2431GAH 240 GB 1.8" Internal Hard Drive = $235.13
http://tinyurl.com/d8pgwyh

 

[Somnambulist]

One of these is quite useful if you want to carry microSDs about.
 

 

[MacedonianHero]

 

[uelover]

Quote:

Also, a 32gb microSD card can now, at last, be had for 30 dollars - if one does the math, without getting too pedantic about formatting overheads, that's actually not far off being equivalent to the cost-per-gb of a 1.8" HDD:
 
240gb/32gb = 7.5

I get your point but I would rather not listen to anything than to carry 7-8 microSD card around with me, not to mention the trouble of identifying which songs are in which card, the trouble of changing the SD cards, as well as the trouble of loading/organizing the songs on the DAP and the computer.
 

 

[Mython]

Quote:

One of these is quite useful if you want to carry microSDs about.
 

 
I'm still waiting for some enterprising Chinese 'aftermarket' manufacturer to bring a card like the above to market, that actually contains a circuitboard allowing one to use microSD cards in combination with each other in a way that they could be inserted 'as one' into devices such as an iPod Classic as an (admittedly slower) alternative to an expensive SSD. Probably be a firmware-compatibility-nightmare, but hey, a man can dream...
 
After all, multi-SIM devices have been available for many years for GSM cellphones, albeit in a sequential rather than parallel usage format.
 
...But I digress... 

 

 
 

 

[Mython]

Quote:

I get your point but I would rather not listen to anything than to carry 7-8 microSD card around with me, not to mention the trouble of identifying which songs are in which card, the trouble of changing the SD cards, as well as the trouble of loading/organizing the songs on the DAP and the computer.
 

Yeah, fair point, although, just to play 'Devil's Advocate' for a moment, I used to happily carry around 7-8 compact cassettes back in the hey day of the cassette Walkman - showing my age, there, I know!
 
Same goes for my Sony D-777 discman (still have 2 of these). Admittedly, they don't see as much use now I've got a Cowon J3 but they still knock spots off the J3 for sound quality and I regularly used to carry around upwards of a dozen CDs in my pocket. microSD cards are so much smaller and convenient.
 
However, I do, nonetheless, take your point.    ...But for me, I'd GLADLY suffer the hassle of carrying and swapping numerous microSDs if the iBasso DX100 really does the business where it matters - SQ.
 

 

[Mython]

Quote:

One of these is quite useful if you want to carry microSDs about.
 

I just visited the above URL and it's 'dead'.
 
Pity. Looks quite useful! (seriously)

 

[Mython]

 
Quote:

DX100 Reference DAP
 

Another image from erji.net.

 
I wonder if that's cast magnesium / aluminium? Hope so - that'd be a real classy touch (though I'd still settle for plastic if the SQ is top-notch).

 

[evilhippie]

As far as carrying around multiple SD cards goes, android offers a number of solutions for lossless music streaming such as squeezeplayer/commander and google music, amongst others.  More than likely the internal flash memory won't exceed 8gb, but keep in mind the android system and data partition take up a fair amount of space as well (around 2gb on most modern devices).  Plus, given the astronomical price of memory atm it is possible that there may not be a massive amount of internal storage for music.  Even so, the nature of android mitigates these factors to a large extent.

 

[lestercabs]

Only thing that would get this off is if it were priced lower and... priced lower.

 

 

[jamato8]

Watching with interest.  

 

[ChavaC]

Looks amazing... and expensive.

 

[deadhead12]

Quote:

 
With respect, you're missing the point - the iPod will play lossless files at 16/44.1, but when you move up to a device capable of playing 24/192, the filesizes become MUCH larger. Admittedly, most folks won't go past 24/96 but even then, it's a good deal larger than 16/44.1

Good point, I did overlook the 24/192 playback capability.  My hi-res library is pretty small but those files do take up a ton of space.  I still would rather have flash memory over a hard disk though.   
 
Picking nits- flac player app allows 24/96 decoding but the ipod can only output 16/48 (your point is still completely valid).  I have a few 24/96 files on there but even those don't compare to the size of 24/192 files.  
 

 

[davidloh]

I wonder if adding a JDS Labs C421 to this would make a substantial enough difference vs the built in headphone out..

 

[Szadzik]

Want to see where this gets us. Subscribed.