[jamato8]

I just bought the 2020 version days ago and it's an amazing dap; no problems so far and the SQ it's great , clearly a substantial update from the Opus #1.
I ordered a replacement battery from Ibasso; does anyone knows how long does it take to arrive?

I would guess it depends upon where you live. I have ordered a few and it took around 10 to 14 days.

 

[Paco ignacio]

I would guess it depends upon where you live. I have ordered a few and it took around 10 to 14 days.

Thanks for the response. I'm from México, i hope it arrives on that timeline.

 

[samandhi]

I just bought the 2020 version days ago and it's an amazing dap; no problems so far and the SQ it's great , clearly a substantial update from the Opus #1.
I ordered a replacement battery from Ibasso; does anyone knows how long does it take to arrive?

Congrats on your new shiny!

I think that it DID get the credit it deserved when it first came out, but I would say that nowadays it and the DX170 both get a bit overlooked (maybe because of its price???). I really think that even though there are a few foibles with this thing, the sound quality itself rivals some TOTL DAPs (IMHO)....

 

[Paco ignacio]

Congrats on your new shiny!

I think that it DID get the credit it deserved when it first came out, but I would say that nowadays it and the DX170 both get a bit overlooked (maybe because of its price???). I really think that even though there are a few foibles with this thing, the sound quality itself rivals some TOTL DAPs (IMHO)....

Thanks, man.

I wonder how much does anyone has to pay to get twice the SQ of the DX160. I'm pairing it with some Audiosense Dt200 and they sound amazing.

 

[MotleyG]

I wonder how much does anyone has to pay to get twice the SQ of the DX160. I'm pairing it with some Audiosense Dt200 and they sound amazing.

This may be a very tall order, to get double the SQ. The DX160 is already a good unit compared to many other DAPs, and miles ahead of any Smartphone. But even the DX170 is already priced higher than the DX160 was, and it is just a newer version of the same base model. In the iBasso lineup, you could go up to the DX240 and get replaceable amp modules that would make a sonic improvement. And then you are on to the flagship DX320. But looking at the prices of both of those models, the diminishing returns as you jump to those steps won't get you twice the SQ.

 

[samandhi]

This may be a very tall order, to get double the SQ. The DX160 is already a good unit compared to many other DAPs, and miles ahead of any Smartphone. But even the DX170 is already priced higher than the DX160 was, and it is just a newer version of the same base model. In the iBasso lineup, you could go up to the DX240 and get replaceable amp modules that would make a sonic improvement. And then you are on to the flagship DX320. But looking at the prices of both of those models, the diminishing returns as you jump to those steps won't get you twice the SQ.

I also have the (now discontinued) DX300, and I can say that while there IS an improvement in sound quality, with the stock amp (compared to the DX160) it isn't night and day, and you would have to have them side by side to really tell IMO. It is only when changing out from the stock amp card that the DX300 leaves the DX160 in the dust.

It is my belief that the DX line has more value to quality than any other brand on the market, period (when comparing to others in their class, and for the DX300/DX320 this would include DAPs 2+ times the cost). As for the DX160, I would put it up there with the DX240 and DX300 in sound quality alone (maybe 90+% thereof). It is all the shortcomings that make it fit into its price class (cheap antenna, lower quality WiFi card, slow CPU, very inexpensive and little RAM, etc...). Does that make it bad? No, it simply makes REALLY great sound affordable. I would take this over something sleek, fast, etc... but with lesser power, and sound capabilities any day. Hell, this thing will drive my 600ohms head gear without sweating (for instance).

 

[matchbox]

hello there, my dx160, which I've had since 2021, is not connecting to the schiit asgard 3 that I normally use. the amp uses the unison usb-c connector for the installed dac. is there something I can do about this or fix the problem? I'm using the latest firmware upgrade.

 

[samandhi]

hello there, my dx160, which I've had since 2021, is not connecting to the schiit asgard 3 that I normally use. the amp uses the unison usb-c connector for the installed dac. is there something I can do about this or fix the problem? I'm using the latest firmware upgrade.

So, you are trying to connect the DX160 via USB to the Asgard3 amp? Do you have the upgraded version of the amp; the $299 version that has a DAC chip in it? The cheaper $199 version does not come with a DAC chip, so it is just an amplifier. I assume that you DO have the "installed" DAC since you mentioned it, but I was just making sure.

Have you had it connected with this amp before? If so, have you tried rebooting your DX160?

 

[matchbox]

@samandhi-
I have connected the dx160 to the schiit through the single-ended jack many times, however, now that i have had the dac chip installed, I would rather connect that way. my dx160 will not recognize the amp when connected via usb-c. since I'm without a computer for backing up files, it would be easier not to reset the device. I'm in the habit of rebooting it regularly. thanks for responding

-any advice?

 

[samandhi]

@samandhi-
I have connected the dx160 to the schiit through the single-ended jack many times, however, now that i have had the dac chip installed, I would rather connect that way. my dx160 will not recognize the amp when connected via usb-c. since I'm without a computer for backing up files, it would be easier not to reset the device. I'm in the habit of rebooting it regularly. thanks for responding

-any advice?

I can't be sure because I have not used it (the DX160) with a desktop amp via USB out, but it may need a USB driver installed to make it work. I have used it with some USB headphones though (which does have a built-in DAC/amp), and when I plug it in, it always asks me if I want to use the USB-Audio driver from UAPP or Neutron for this, which I have installed on the DX. You could either install UAPP, Neutron, or the Lurker addon that contains the driver in the USB-Audio app (but you have to have it running when you plug it in to the USB device). I have always used the DX160 as a DAC for other things though and it works great this way, but as a source, I always use either LO (for analog) or coax (for digital) except for those two sets of headphones that have a USB in option.

Have you tried another source like your phone or something like that, that might have a USB audio out to make sure it isn't something in the Shiit DAC/amp?

 

[matchbox]

I have also used the dx160 as an external dac & had no problems & I own it to use as a portable music source. this is not the only connectivity issue I have found with the dx160, but i dont require bluetooth from a dap. the amp connects to my note 9 easily, so no problems there.
I might try UAPP, but the usb audio bypass on the hiby app has not had an effect, so I'm skeptical . I guess I could look for a schiit asgard thread & find out if other dap models have the same issue.

 

[MotleyG]

I have also used the dx160 as an external dac & had no problems & I own it to use as a portable music source. this is not the only connectivity issue I have found with the dx160, but i dont require bluetooth from a dap. the amp connects to my note 9 easily, so no problems there.
I might try UAPP, but the usb audio bypass on the hiby app has not had an effect, so I'm skeptical . I guess I could look for a schiit asgard thread & find out if other dap models have the same issue.

I have connected by DX160 (2020 version) to several outboard DACs without any issues. My own Elite SC-79 AVR and Elite A9 both work (although the A9 is limited to 16bit/48kHz). I have also connected to some TEAC devices and the output is fantastic.

 

[samandhi]

I have connected by DX160 (2020 version) to several outboard DACs without any issues. My own Elite SC-79 AVR and Elite A9 both work (although the A9 is limited to 16bit/48kHz). I have also connected to some TEAC devices and the output is fantastic.

I am limited in the amount of knowledge I have on connecting to an external DAC (desktop type) because I have only ever connected to something like another portable (FiiO E17, and E17K) which requires an OTG adapter to connect. But I have had no issues with those.

Connecting to USB headphones DOES popup and ask me if I want to connect via UAPP or Neutron. I don't know if they are just trying to use their internal driver or not, but with those apps installed, I don't have any choice but to choose one of the two (or I can run the USB-Audio app supplied by the Lurker add-on). I have not tried to connect to one of those sets with none of these options installed, so I guess I can't speak to whether the android system (or iBasso's add-ons) work in this way or not, though I remember when I first got mine that it mentioned being able to do this on their website. I assumed it was possible, I just have never had need of it, and when I did, I use one of those apps that I referred to anyhow. As a matter of fact, I remember choosing one of those apps, then switching to Amazon Music HD app and it worked fine into the DAC/amp of the headphones mentioned (Hifiman Deva, and Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless).

If I ever reset my device any time soon, maybe I will give it a try (though I don't have an actual "desktop" DAC to do this with; though it should work the same for any external DAC).

 

[MotleyG]

I have connected by DX160 (2020 version) to several outboard DACs without any issues. My own Elite SC-79 AVR and Elite A9 both work (although the A9 is limited to 16bit/48kHz). I have also connected to some TEAC devices and the output is fantastic.

Following up on this. I have verified on another USB DAC device, a TEAC UD-505X. Everything worked as expected, with the display of the DAC clearly changing to match the format of each file that was being played on the DX160.

A note of caution however. The player app will influence the output, based on what is supported and also depending on the settings in that app. I have tried these four apps with very different results.
1.Neutron, set to "Bit Perfect" followed the source frequency of each file. The only exception I found was with some DSD files, but I'm thinking this was something I changed in the settings that I couldn't figure out quickly. Otherwise FLAC, ALAC, and even lowly mp3 files all played with exactly the format in question. The DAC does all the heavy lifting in this case. [This is the app I would recommend to use when using an external DAC]
2. Foobar2000, all files played back natively up to a limit of 96kHz. Everything I have that was higher than that rate was down-sampled. So work is split between the app, and the DAC.
3. Poweramp is an odd duck. The dev does not want to support having anything follow the source frequency at this time. So for hi-res you need to select the sample rate manually. Poweramp will then up or downsample everything to be played at that rate only. So lots of CPU power being used in the DX160 for any sample rates selected that don't match the file being played.
4. GoneMAD doesn't currently use a proprietary audio engine, so all output from this app is limited to the 48kHz max stock Android limit.

I don't use the stock iBasso Mango Player, I just can't get the browser interface to play nicely like all of the others do with my library. And it takes a very long time to update any time I do a library update on the SD card. So I can't comment on how well it works with external DACs.

 

[Rfx9123]

Well, I did it: After I installed the Windows program "ADBAppControl" and made the appropriate settings on the DX160 according to the instructions on the homepage, I now have access to blocked apps. Since I don't use and need things like Google Play /Playstore, apps running unnecessarily in the background (Easter Egg, Mango Player, Chrome Browser), I was able to delete these apps without root. The program warns of problems when deleting, but if there are problems at the start, it is quite easy to get to the running system via the recovery console of the factory settings and test again what is possible. Since not so many apps are running in the background anymore, I expect a longer runtime and fewer delays. I'll keep an eye on it for now, but it looks promising.