[Luis1316]

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av69445482
You have this "super comparison" if you know chinese. Basically it ended up like a Shanling M6 vs Ibasso DX160, because he didn't like the sound of the M11, calling it "not special" compared to both of them. In a nutshell, his conclusions are: get M6 if you want extra navigation smoothness or get DX160 for the best sound performance and screen, but they're actually not that far from each other than you think.
Me personally, i have chosen the DX160 because i'm only going to use it for music and not other stuff that i can do with my phone. Using my Audiosense T800 and comparing the DAP with my NX4 DSD (both on High Gain), on the DX160 I feel that the sound stage has been widened and that the highs harssness of some pieces has been tamed down (smoothened i would say?). Maybe that's because of the super low noise floor? i'm not sure, don't really understand about the numbers on the DAPs. I don't really know why but the high sensitivity of the T800 don't hiss at all at high gain on 3.5mm on the DX160, i will try it with a 4.4mm balanced cable when i get them.
For now, i'm pretty impressed by the sound performance of the DX160 so far, an easy recommendation.

P.D: oh, i have forgotten to say that i also tried my HE-400i on the 3.5mm at high gain and i feel very satisfied by the outcome at 68 of volume.

I feel that my comment might help a little bit in the thread, so i'm posting it here too.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Mango player is crashing repeatedly and when re-opened not responding.
Re-start fixes temporarily. No hard boot required yet

 

[shahkhan]

Mango player is crashing repeatedly and when re-opened not responding.
Re-start fixes temporarily. No hard boot required yet

If this issue would be encountered and reported by other users, people will tilt towards M11 eventually... Btw any idea about mW pumped by dx160?

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

If this issue would be encountered and reported by other users, people will tilt towards M11 eventually... Btw any idea about mW pumped by dx160?

The specs I think are in the first post? It is potent.
The firmware needs work. Have not had a DAP crash as much ever. Firmwares are designed to fix such things so I am cool but 30% of the screen being taken by the control bar on a high res screen is a waste of space. Maybe they can steal Colorfly U8 player G.U.I since those folks go ghost on users so it should be abandonware

 

[Vitaly2017]

Mango player is crashing repeatedly and when re-opened not responding.
Re-start fixes temporarily. No hard boot required yet

You are aware that mango is not supported officially by ibasso in dx160.
Its lurker that has to fix this since he released this extra bonus for dx160.

May I ask how you find its sonic performances? Is it on par with wm1z?
How is is the sound signature, how does it compares vs zx300 or wm1z?

 

[PinkyPowers]

How its compared to n5ii and dx200 etc? Can it drive 300 ohms 6xx etc as well with authority?

The DX160 is superior to the N5ii, no question. Cayin has its work cut out for them in this price range.

The DX200 is still the better-sounding device... if you have one of the newer amp modules. The original AMP1 is not great, and I'd take the DX160 over that any day. But the DX200 with AMP7 or 8 is a goddamn beast.

And yes, it DX160 will drive the HD6xx easily. It drives Sundara easily, and Sundara is harder to drive. It also handles my ZMF Atticus beautifully.

HOWEVER! This is from the balanced port. There's a lot more power from the balanced port. If you plan to run single-ended, you may run into problems. I haven't tested that yet.

 

[Vitaly2017]

The DX160 is superior to the N5ii, no question. Cayin has its work cut out for them in this price range.

The DX200 is still the better-sounding device... if you have one of the newer amp modules. The original AMP1 is not great, and I'd take the DX160 over that any day. But the DX200 with AMP7 or 8 is a goddamn beast.

Spec wise dx160 is on par with dx228.
So why does dx160 sound inferior?

 

[PinkyPowers]

Spec wise dx160 is on par with dx228.
So why does dx160 sound inferior?

I didn't design the thing, so I can't say. Are those specs implemented the same? Is the power supply equal between both? And I don't mean the battery, but the power supply circuitry.

Also, my DX160 isn't fully burned-in yet. And my comment is based off my initial impressions. I'll have a more complete take when I get closer to review.

 

[Paul - iBasso]

The specs I think are in the first post? It is potent.
The firmware needs work. Have not had a DAP crash as much ever. Firmwares are designed to fix such things so I am cool but 30% of the screen being taken by the control bar on a high res screen is a waste of space. Maybe they can steal Colorfly U8 player G.U.I since those folks go ghost on users so it should be abandonware

There are a couple of thousand DX160s now in users hands now and software has not been an issue. I suspect there is some corruption in the FW on your DX160. I assume you have done a factory reset. The next step would be to use the Android Tool and a .img firmware for the DX160 to wipe and refresh the FW on the DX160.

1. Android Tool for use on Windows computers and used with the .img FW to do a fresh factory install and then update to the latest FW in the normal manner:

http://www.ibasso.com/uploadfiles/download/AndroidTool.zip

2. Firmware in .img format to be used with the Android Too.

DX160 V1.0 image (055)
http://www.ibasso.com/uploadfiles/download/DX160-v1.0-image.zip

3. USB/DAC Windows Driver to be used with Windows computer for the above and loaded to the computer first.

http://ibasso.com/uploadfiles/20181222/201812222356407309.zip

 

[shahkhan]

There are a couple of thousand DX160s now in users hands now and software has not been an issue. I suspect there is some corruption in the FW on your DX160. I assume you have done a factory reset. The next step would be to use the Android Tool and a .img firmware for the DX160 to wipe and refresh the FW on the DX160.

1. Android Tool for use on Windows computers and used with the .img FW to do a fresh factory install and then update to the latest FW in the normal manner:

http://www.ibasso.com/uploadfiles/download/AndroidTool.zip

2. Firmware in .img format to be used with the Android Too.

DX160 V1.0 image (055)
http://www.ibasso.com/uploadfiles/download/DX160-v1.0-image.zip

3. USB/DAC Windows Driver to be used with Windows computer for the above and loaded to the computer first.

http://ibasso.com/uploadfiles/20181222/201812222356407309.zip

I see no reviews online for dx160, do send it to reviewers, so that people who are thinking of pulling trigger do make an aware decision.

 

[Lurker0]

do send it to reviewers

A number of reviewers already have it. I believe they need to recover from the shock to start writing

 

[PinkyPowers]

A number of reviewers already have it. I believe they need to recover from the shock to start writing

I know I do.

 

[twister6]

Here is something totally bizarre. When I have DX160 and DX220 w/amp1mk2 (DX221) in front of me, I can tell the difference in sound. It’s not a huge difference, rather subtle where I hear DX160 mids to have a little more body making them sound a bit more fuller and intimate, while DX221 mids are a little more transparent and a touch brighter, making them sound more reference. All this under a test using the same lossless track (as an example, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you” flac), both having the latest fw, volume matched, with the same gain, the same filter, and using U18t. One difference, U18t cable is 2.5mm terminated so it goes directly into DX221, while I’m using DDhifi 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter with DX160. Again, the difference in sound under these test conditions is not night’n’day to my ears (just my subjective opinion), but I can hear it with both in front of me.

With all the talk about DX160 vs DX220, today I decided to do a blind test. Did it twice, five tries each, with my daughter randomly switching between DX160 and DX221 without me looking at it, each one playing the same track under the same settings. To my huge surprise, in the first test I got 2 out of 5 right guessing which DAP I was listening to. In the second test, I got 3 out of 5 right. So, in a blind test I couldn’t be 100% sure which DAP is which…

Hate to say it, but I have been using DX160 a lot more than DX221 lately. Of course, DX220 is a flagship and it has a modular design with access to different amps (and people seems to be having fun modding it). But to me both DAPs have identical Android performance (the same AnTuTu 3D benchmark score, confirmed that), the same fast Mango app response, the same streaming app experience (using Qobuz daily), and to my ears the sound with default amp1mk2 is not too far from DX160. For crying out loud, I even failed to tell them 100% apart in a blind test. And with DX160 being lighter and thinner, I just reach out for it more often. I hear a more noticeable difference in sound between R5 and R6Pro, but not so much between DX160 and DX221.

 

[lucasbrea]

Here is something totally bizarre. When I have DX160 and DX220 w/amp1mk2 (DX221) in front of me, I can tell the difference in sound. It’s not a huge difference, rather subtle where I hear DX160 mids to have a little more body making them sound a bit more fuller and intimate, while DX221 mids are a little more transparent and a touch brighter, making them sound more reference. All this under a test using the same lossless track (as an example, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you” flac), both having the latest fw, volume matched, with the same gain, the same filter, and using U18t. One difference, U18t cable is 2.5mm terminated so it goes directly into DX221, while I’m using DDhifi 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter with DX160. Again, the difference in sound under these test conditions is not night’n’day to my ears (just my subjective opinion), but I can hear it with both in front of me.

With all the talk about DX160 vs DX220, today I decided to do a blind test. Did it twice, five tries each, with my daughter randomly switching between DX160 and DX221 without me looking at it, each one playing the same track under the same settings. To my huge surprise, in the first test I got 2 out of 5 right guessing which DAP I was listening to. In the second test, I got 3 out of 5 right. So, in a blind test I couldn’t be 100% sure which DAP is which…

Hate to say it, but I have been using DX160 a lot more than DX221 lately. Of course, DX220 is a flagship and it has a modular design with access to different amps (and people seems to be having fun modding it). But to me both DAPs have identical Android performance (the same AnTuTu 3D benchmark score, confirmed that), the same fast Mango app response, the same streaming app experience (using Qobuz daily), and to my ears the sound with default amp1mk2 is not too far from DX160. For crying out loud, I even failed to tell them 100% apart in a blind test. And with DX160 being lighter and thinner, I just reach out for it more often. I hear a more noticeable difference in sound between R5 and R6Pro, but not so much between DX160 and DX221.

Thanks for your feedback, what do you think about battery life compared to the dx220?

 

[twister6]

Thanks for your feedback, what do you think about battery life compared to the dx220?

I already mentioned my battery test results before, getting about 9.5hrs on DX160 (4.4mm BAL, low gain, FLAC in a loop with a display off). DX221 was 8hrs from 2.5mm BAL, playing mix of mp3/flac in a loop with a display off. DX220 has more power hungry higher performance DACs.