[DaYooper]

Just found turning WiFi off stabilises the Bluetooth a lot.

Geeze, who'd have thunk that? One radio signal interfering with another.

 

[dharmasteve]

Geeze, who'd have thunk that? One radio signal interfering with another.

Trouble is it still doesn't stabilise the Bluetooth, just somewhat. And on the FiiO M9 there is no problem.

 

[dharmasteve]

Geeze, who'd have thunk that? One radio signal interfering with another.

@Paul - iBasso

All sarcasm aside my FiiO M9 plays Amazon HD to my APTX-HD receiver, even with me running around, with no signal problem....and the WiFi is ON streaming. With the DX160 even with the WiFi OFF the connection to Bluetooth is unstable. I'm sure iBasso can fix this. But it won't fix itself.

 

[twister6]

All sarcasm aside my FiiO M9 plays Amazon HD to my APTX-HD receiver, even with me running around, with no signal problem....and the WiFi is ON streaming. With the DX160 even with the WiFi OFF the connection to Bluetooth is unstable. I'm sure iBasso can fix this. But it won't fix itself.

What Wireless headphones are you using? How far away are you from DX160? Open space or in a different room? Do you have DX160 in your pocket or out in an open?

I did more Bluetooth testing last night and this morning, compared to DX220 as well. With DX220 I could be 35ft away with my headphones in open space (Senns Momentum 2 full size wireless and B&W P7 Wireless), while with DX160 now I'm getting closer to 25ft.

 

[abitdeef]

Hi guys, I have tried out the DX160 for 2 full days. The battery gives me at max 5 &1/2 hrs of play time (20% brightness, all functions i.e wifi, BT etc..turned off, low gain, volume at 40% and minimal screen time i.e turn on and off just to check - basically I just plug my T800 in and let it play). Is this normal for everyone here? The tone is very nice but battery's draining pretty rapidly.

This is horrible battery life. Under those circumstances I would expect about 8 hours, or more if you're not using balanced. The battery on mine sucks, but I'm going to give it a couple of cycles to see if it gets better.

This and the crappy bluetooth are unacceptable, it's not like this is ibassos first dap.

 

[abitdeef]

Regarding Bluetooth on the DX160. Going to Developer Settings and choosing the Various LDAC bitrates seems to work and connect. BUT.....with my FiiO BTR3 the signal is only stable (at all bitrates) if I am just sitting still. Moving the BTR3 around, even close to the DX160,causes a very quick breakup in the signal and moving around more exacerbates it. Then when I am still it plays well.
I have a small HiFi system. An AMPTASTIC MINI-1 AMPLIFIER, Wharfedale 9.1 speakers and a Bluedento APTX-HD receiver with its own DAC. The DX160 does connect but has exactly the same problem. If the DX160 is moved around (in the same room as the Router and the Budento-HD receiver) there are signal problems. When I am still it is fine. My FiiO M9 is completely stable moving around if I use LDAC (connection first) and APTX-HD with my Bludento receiver. So for those of you who want to use Bluetooth either with the FiiO BTR3 or APTX HD......... iBasso have some work to do. I know it is early days, but iBasso must optimise their Bluetooth fairly quickly. I haven't tried to connect to my HiFi via WiFi yet but will do so soon.

Is the same with the Lurker firmware or does that stabilise the Bluetooth. Could someone please check.

I have the same exact behavior on my dx160. Even my little ap80 is rock solid on BT. I can hold the dx160 and then turn it and lose the connection, and it's about 2 feet from the source (sony bt iems) So far besides the sound it's crap. Granted I probably won't use the bluetooth on it, but it would be nice if it worked.

But the battery, I fiddled around a couple hours last night and the battery went down to 52%. That worse than when I had sr15.

 

[dharmasteve]

What Wireless headphones are you using? How far away are you from DX160? Open space or in a different room? Do you have DX160 in your pocket or out in an open?

I did more Bluetooth testing last night and this morning, compared to DX220 as well. With DX220 I could be 35ft away with my headphones in open space (Senns Momentum 2 full size wireless and B&W P7 Wireless), while with DX160 now I'm getting closer to 25ft.

@Paul - iBasso

Same room, 10ft away, line of sight for all items. DX160, FiiO BTR3, BluDento HD Aptx-Hd receiver. With the FiiO M9 I can have WiFi on, move around, and stream from Amazon HD in LDAC and APTX-HD and it sounds exceptional. The DX160 works with LDAC to the FiiO BTR3, with WiFi on, only if I am not moving around and am still. It improves a little when WiFi is off. In terms of sound quality the FiiO M9, over Bluetooth is much better. Almost identical to the original. With the DX160 with Bluetooth the sound is dull and quite poor actually. When used without Bluetooth the DX160 is better than the M9.

 

[twister6]

I have the same exact behavior on my dx160. Even my little ap80 is rock solid on BT. I can hold the dx160 and then turn it and lose the connection, and it's about 2 feet from the source (sony bt iems) So far besides the sound it's crap.

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but it's crap because it doesn't meet your Bluetooth requirements? If that's your highest priority, you don't need to buy $400 DAP for it, just use $50 wireless dongle with your smartphone. Yes, Bluetooth performance is not its strongest, and its android benchmark scores are not the highest, but everything else seems to be at the top of its game, especially in this price range.

 

[cschau81]

This is horrible battery life. Under those circumstances I would expect about 8 hours, or more if you're not using balanced. The battery on mine sucks, but I'm going to give it a couple of cycles to see if it gets better.

This and the crappy bluetooth are unacceptable, it's not like this is ibassos first dap.

Yeah actually a little disappointing. This thing guzzles batt juice like nobody's biz.

 

[dharmasteve]

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but it's crap because it doesn't meet your Bluetooth requirements? If that's your highest priority, you don't need to buy $400 DAP for it, just use $50 wireless dongle with your smartphone. Yes, Bluetooth performance is not its strongest, and its android benchmark scores are not the highest, but everything else seems to be at the top of its game, especially in this price range.

Well it's not crap. It should do Bluetooth up to top standard. Bluetooth does not sound good from the DX160. I will still use my M9 to control my LDAC and APTX HD receivers because it sounds a lot better. It is something ibasso can fix so it's not the end of the world. I do suggest others compare with other DACs just to get to the empirical facts. I do agree when using the DX160 with headphones/IEMs/Buds it is superb. Unfortunately they have to work on the Bluetooth.

@Paul - iBasso

 

[abitdeef]

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but it's crap because it doesn't meet your Bluetooth requirements? If that's your highest priority, you don't need to buy $400 DAP for it, just use $50 wireless dongle with your smartphone. Yes, Bluetooth performance is not its strongest, and its android benchmark scores are not the highest, but everything else seems to be at the top of its game, especially in this price range.

Well I'm going by the performance of hiby r5, I'd like similar performance, especially in the battery department. I can't give slack for plain mediocrity when a little 150 dollar dap beats it 2 areas. The sound is nice yes, but usability is a big factor.

Sorry, I'm underwhelmed and disappointed. And no bt isn't my highest priority- but people looking for a dap, lots of people will want good bt performance. And as I said battery life is a biggie, I'm just going by what I'm experiencing. Do you cut a company some slack just because it sounds a bit better than a competitor??

I can't even hold it in my lap and not lose bt signal.

And the price thing, for you guys getting units free or at a discount well 400 dollars is still a lot of money for most people. I would like functional bt, and at least close to ibassos claimed battery life.

 

[abitdeef]

Well it's not crap. It should do Bluetooth up to top standard. Bluetooth does not sound good from the DX160. I will still use my M9 to control my LDAC and APTX HD receivers because it sounds a lot better. It is something ibasso can fix so it's not the end of the world. I do suggest others compare with other DACs just to get to the empirical facts. I do agree when using the DX160 with headphones/IEMs/Buds it is superb. Unfortunately they have to work on the Bluetooth.

Hows your battery life? Does anybody else's drain super fast?

 

[dharmasteve]

Hows your battery life? Does anybody else's drain super fast?

I haven't had a chance to test it properly. Will do so over the next week or so. It seems to drain a bit like my phone. As I'm in a lot I will get a chance to test it properly. Bluetooth on the M6 and M9 sounded a lot better than this.

 

[Luke Thomas]

Could someone suggest a reason to use the 160 for a stand alone dac ? Would this be for using a laptop for the digital source instead of the 160 ? Thanks

 

[gLer]

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but it's crap because it doesn't meet your Bluetooth requirements? If that's your highest priority, you don't need to buy $400 DAP for it, just use $50 wireless dongle with your smartphone. Yes, Bluetooth performance is not its strongest, and its android benchmark scores are not the highest, but everything else seems to be at the top of its game, especially in this price range.

Yeah it’s amazing how quickly we feel ‘entitled’ to features from a new device. Everything in this market is relative. I think iBasso have delivered a good value, high performance dap here, but there are going to be rough edges (it’s iBasso, no Astell&Kern), and there are going to be compromises made to squeeze it into the price bracket. As a previous M9 owner myself I had issues with its illogical BT volume, for example, which has to be set at max just to eek out respectable volume at the receiver end. And it was too slow to run any of the larger apps with any fluidity. But for the cost it was good, just as for the cost the DX160 is good. Want a bit more? Look up