[majo123]

Putting it lightly, the M11 doesn’t even compare to the DX160. Loved that DAP though but the SQ is not on par.

I totally agree with both statements ...the dap itself is brilliant and I would even go as far to say probably the best I have used , but dx160 sounds way better

 

[Shahram]

I totally agree with both statements ...the dap itself is brilliant and I would even go as far to say probably the best I have used , but dx160 sounds way better

I know it's not a fair comparison due to price, but has anyone heard the M11 Pro vs. the DX160?

 

[majo123]

I know it's not a fair comparison due to price, but has anyone heard the M11 Pro vs. the DX160?

I'm sorry I cant help you there but I have heard some (not all) say its not so different but way less hiss and a bit better low end and treble.

Edit....sorry just read back my post and I should of said compared to m11 apologies

 

[Chopin75]

Is it? OK, thanks

Well, the default is 4th for mine, and I got 2 of them, one exchanged for another one. But I bought mine in US. It may have changed with time or depends on where u get it.

 

[Chopin75]

That bad .. SO you would need to go wired headphones.. no good for my Sennheiser's.. thanks for the info .. i would be buying from Amazon so if it's really bad i can always return them.

But isn't blue tooth worsening the sound in general ? Best SQ should be with a wired headphone, at least from my experience but maybe I have not had a great blue tooth Headphone.

 

[MattSPL]

Probably of no importance to most but can you now get/have the Google Play Store as an alternate To using APK Pure if so how is it obtained,, when people say the Bluetooth range is poor do you lose connection in the same room i ask as i have Sennheiser TWMS or do you need the 160 by your side to be sure of a Bluetooth connection.

My Bluetooth works walking out into the hallway and only starts breaking up when I go into the next room. It also works perfectly holding the DX160 walking around.

 

[dharmasteve]

But isn't blue tooth worsening the sound in general ? Best SQ should be with a wired headphone, at least from my experience but maybe I have not had a great blue tooth Headphone.

Bluetooth through the Radsone ES100 LDAC and a good wired IEM is exceptional.

 

[xFreeezer]

Why is the wlan of the iBasso DX so bad?
Every $100 smartphone has better transmission and reception!
Hopefully some things can be improved via update.

 

[Detectit]

@Paul - iBasso

May i make a suggestion on the Android UI?

Would it be possible to get the Mango player style volume control in the Android environment?
Or at least a slider to the right to swipe it up and down.

@Chopin75 now you get me scratching my head... Hahaha never mind...

 

[john galley]

But isn't blue tooth worsening the sound in general ? Best SQ should be with a wired headphone, at least from my experience but maybe I have not had a great blue tooth Headphone.

Probably right but the Sennheiser are good at there price range SQ is the number 1 requirement .. but i also want the Bluetooth conectivity and WIFI and a decent battery life.. maybe asking too much.

 

[john galley]

My Bluetooth works walking out into the hallway and only starts breaking up when I go into the next room. It also works perfectly holding the DX160 walking around.

That sounds more promising .. Has anyone used the Sennheiser Truly Wireless Momentums with a DX160.

 

[MattSPL]

That sounds more promising .. Has anyone used the Sennheiser Truly Wireless Momentums with a DX160.

I have the Jabra elite 75t, not tried anything else.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Can u tell me what is PO vs LO on the 3.5 mm ?
I wish there is an easier way to take out the micro SD. I need to use a tooth pick to press it down and then it ejects out.

I am using a SIM Tray eject tool from my smartphones to take out the microSD cards. I tend to always keep one in my wallet just in case.

As for your question about the PO vs LO, you can't really compare them unless you connect the LO to an external amplifier, it isn't made to directly drive IEMs or headphones.

When it is connected to an external amplifier, it really depends on what you connect it to, but I would use DX160 as the main DAC in a large system , and I use it as a DAC for Feliks Euforia , for example, situation in which the DAC is really capable, despite the DAC not being a Desktop ESS PRO chip like the one in DX220, I still find DX160 to have really good overall detail, clarity and staging

 

[samandhi]

I just got silver one 2 days ago (took me this long to post because there are 172 pages here to read). I have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with this DAP so far. The love: This DAP pairs SO very well with my HE400S's (and is not too shabby with some eq'ing on my HD700's either). I have totally loved my HE400S with my old portable equipment (Fiio X5 1st gen, Fiio X3II, Alpen, Alpen 2, Laptop, iPod Touch 5th gen, other cheaper DAPs...all in different combinations), but the DX160 really makes these sound amazing.

I find that there is some added bass quantity, but the quality is still there with these phones. Nothing really helps the large rolloff of the sub-bass on these headphones. I just have to remember to change headphones when I want to listen to much rap (or anything that has boomy type sub-bass). Definition is really great, and the mid bass to upper bass is fantastically punchy (which I adore).

The treble actually is a bit more sparkly compared to the way they have sounded on the Fiio devices with these phones. Mind you, it is NOT sibilant or overdone, just a bit less... warm than they seemed before. I would still call the treble warm to neutral (IMO). That also could be because of the major roll-off on the upper end of these headphones. But it hardly matters that I am missing some micro-details because the treble is silky sounding.

The mids are very clear, if a tad recessed. I like a bit of a "V" shape anyhow, because a lot of mid to higher toned singers are right in a range that hurts my ears if too loud. But the most amazing part is the soundstage. Compared to the Fiio DAPS I have (which are now considered ancient in tech years), the soundstage, imaging, and overall smoothness are just ridiculous for the $ paid. Also keep in mind that these are $200 planar headphones, and I got goosebumps the first listen. I just can't wait to mortgage my house to get a better pair.

I have had 0 issues with the following things (that I have seen complaints about):

WiFi = Perfect hooked up to 5GHZ. Range is about 3/4 the range my Note 9 can get with my router, which is the Linksys WRT32X.

Bluetooth=As with WiFi, range is less (maybe 10 feet), but as long as I'm close it never drops - Using Senn Momentum wireless 2.0, Bose AE2W, and Bose Soundsport Free. I wonder if it might be the higher bandwidth codecs causing some drops.

Noise= Absolutely black, even near router, or downloading, or touching screen - using Xiaomi Piston 2.1 which are low impedance but not too sensitive so, there's that.

Specs:
Weight: 12g
Impedance: 12Ω-16Ω (depending on the version, 2.0 vs 2.1)
Cable length: 1.2m
Sensitivity: 93db
Plug Type: 3.5mm gold-plate
Rated Power: 5-20mW
Frequency Range: 20-20000Hz

Battery= Not 100% sure on exact time yet, but it seems that I easily made it through an 8 hour work day (playing the whole time), 3.5 mm jack, low gain, volume at 38, streaming Tidal random songs (mostly "HiFi").

Things I hate (well not really hate but at least dislike):

It seems that every time I put the thing on charge, it shuts itself off. Not a problem, just inconvenient because it takes a while to boot (which leads to the next "hate").

I am used to using my Note 9 (lightning fast), and the older Fiio DAPS that have their proprietary OS's. Other than scanning library (super slow), these DAPS were pretty snappy. The DX160 is pretty slow (relatively speaking). This isn't too much of an issue, it was just enough to notice it. Sometimes a tap takes a little bit to register (kinda' like mouse clicking something on an old 486 Compaq desktop computer or something similar). At some point I may have to tweak/change the governer used to help it out a bit. Not enough to get rid of this DAP though.

This device will break my bank because, while the HE400S and HD700 sounds good with this, my lesser headphones and IEMs (Momentum 1, and 2.0 wireless in wired mode, B&W P5, Bose AE2W in wired mode, Marshall Monitors, Xiaomi Piston 2.1, Bose Soundsport Free, and random other cheaper IEMS) sound like complete shiit in this DAP. This also leads to the next one.

Being a Chinese device it uses pinout for OMTP. ALL of my IEMs and some of my headphones are CTIA, and most don't have an interchangeable cable. Ima' have to get an adaptor for these. Anyone know of a good adaptor that I can get in the US?

The device has shut down by itself once when I first powered it up. It hasn't happened again since then, but it has me on pins and needles everytime it seems to slow down a bit.

No system-wide EQ. System-wide PEQ would be even better....

No obvious manual. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I have read this whole thread, and someone was kind enough to post a (hidden) link from the iBasso site to download the pdf for it.

Nitpicking here, but: I would have liked to see the 3.5 mm jack on the left instead of the middle, because a couple of my headphones have an angle connector, and this makes it a little scary when putting the device in my pants pocket. Maybe they didn't design it for id10t's like me...

In conclusion, I find this to be one of the best DAP's I have heard thus far. Far better than any that I have owned. Even with the issues I might be having with it, it is well worth the price. I am in agreeance with the reviews I have read on here (and I have read them all), and thank all those here that HAVE reviewed it, because I was in the market to buy a new one (as you can tell from the generation of DAPS that I had), and those reviews are why I bought it. Sorry this is so long, I am just very excited to be a part of the experience of the DX160, and wanted to share my experience with you.

Peace....

 

[samandhi]

Quite a few pages back I saw people talking about UAPP, and asking why they were seeing 192kHZ in the Tidal app, but was only seeing 96kHZ in the UAPP app. Looking it up in Google Play for the description the creator says this:

The MQA decoder will unfold the MQA stream from 44.1/48kHz to 88.2/96 kHz and can also be combined with certain USB DACs that feature an MQA renderer (e.g. AudioQuest DragonFly / iFi DACs) for further unfolding to even higher sample rates.
Please visit http://mqa.co.uk for more information about MQA and https://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/mqa to read more about MQA inside the app.

And, I also saw this (not sure if this is true or not but found it to be, at the very least, interesting):

Note that the official Tidal app resamples audio back to 44.1/48kHz on many Android devices or upsamples to 96/192kHz when using a USB DAC and cannot deliver a bit-perfect signal for MQA rendering!