[gadgetgod]

I don't want to curb everyones enthusiasm, but to me it doesn't sound like a big upgrade over the dx160. At least not for my use case. I don't use wifi/bluetooth, always on airplane mode. Always use power on/off and not standby.

• Playtime around 11 hours. That's about the same as the dx160 (originally). Ok it's annoyingly short, but I don't read an improvement here.
• Speed: Startup time dx160 is rather long, so there could possibly be some gains. No complaints however in the user-interface: it is quick and snappy enough.
• Powerspecs are the same
• The price is about the same
• Android11: If you don't use wifi or apps, but just use it as a player, the old android (don't even know what dx160 is using ) is just fine.
• Sound: (THE most important spec): unknown, but I guess very close to dx160?

Last December I bought the last DX160 in the world (or so I think. AdvancedMP3players was out-of-stock and dx160 out-of-production, but they emailed me they would receive a return in the coming weeks and if I was still interested.) and was astounded this device was out of production. So it's great to see the DX170 coming out, but it sounds more like a dx160-2022-version. YMMV.
If they would add a (very small) blue power led somewhere, now THAT would be a great improvement. Sometimes I forget to turn it off and without any visual clues it just keeps playing on my kitchen table until the already small battery is empty.

Anyway, I am happy to see the dx170 coming out, whatever the naming convention.

Exactly my thoughts man, with longer battery life I would have still said it to be a decent upgrade.

 

[Keko123]

Does anyone know the dimensions?

Thanks

 

[vcoheda]

looks very interesting and a direct competitor to the recently released Hiby R5 Gen 2. i prefer the look of the DX170 (larger screen and slimmer profile). it also has a volume knob where the Hiby has (awful) buttons. the selling points of the Hiby (i'm sure there are others) are the class A amplification, various gain settings, multiple headphone ports and the MSEB enhancements (DSP). i would love to see a comparison of the two players, especially with regard to the music players (features, ease of use, functionality).

 

[Leranis]

Same to me. But the Hiby R5 Gen2 has only Android 8.1 and this is a nogo (personally) for me, so I actually prefer the iBasso. And i prefer the volume knob in oppsite to the buttons.

Whats the advantage of the class A amplification in this case?

 

[alwass89]

Does anyone know the dimensions?

Thanks

The DX170 is 124.5mm*70mm*15mm

For reference the R5 Gen 2 is 123mm*71.3mm*15.5 mm, so the DX170 is very slightly taller, narrower and thinner, but both are pretty much the same size. The Shanling M3X is 109mm*72mm*15.9mm, so shorter, wider and fatter than the DX170.

The FiiO M11 Plus is a whopping 136.6mm*75.7mm*17.6mm, so while the FiiO has more RAM and a better SoC and slightly better battery (14hr vs 11hr), the DX170 is much smaller, runs a newer version of Android (11 vs 10 on the FiiO), and costs $250 less.

 

[Ichos]

6.4V from the balanced output, assuming a near zero output impedance, is roughly 1280mW for 32Ω load.

 

[e-dub]

Likely around 900mw@32ohms balanced as I can't imagine a current iBasso having a high output impedance.

The compromises here have to do with size vs battery vs power vs processor efficiency. That's a lot of power for something that size. Likely an efficient amp design and a newer 22nm processor will help with that as well. There has to be compromises in something this size and price but here, they seem well worked out. You'll know once reviews come out and we get battery life and snappiness reports.

6.4V from the balanced output, assuming a near zero output impedance, is roughly 1280mW for 32Ω load.

Yeesh, these are both BIG power numbers from such a small device!

 

[Ichos]

Yeesh, these are both BIG power numbers from such a small device!

I guess that it will be slightly less than the theoretical value.

But it is more powerful than similarly configured players.
As an example the A&K SR25 MKII with dual CS43198 can do 4V from the balanced output.

 

[e-dub]

Agreed.

 

[gadgetgod]

looks very interesting and a direct competitor to the recently released Hiby R5 Gen 2. i prefer the look of the DX170 (larger screen and slimmer profile). it also has a volume knob where the Hiby has (awful) buttons. the selling points of the Hiby (i'm sure there are others) are the class A amplification, various gain settings, multiple headphone ports and the MSEB enhancements (DSP). i would love to see a comparison of the two players, especially with regard to the music players (features, ease of use, functionality).

I am using HiBy R5 Gen 2 as my secondary DAP. Old android is meh although all the apps that I use as of now work fine(Tidal, UAPP, Apple Music). It has excellent sound with Class A amp mode also not to mention the 35 hours of battery life(in standard mode). Although Class A amp gives only 10 hours xD

 

[MotleyG]

Yeesh, these are both BIG power numbers from such a small device!

I like my music pretty loud, and yet have only ever had to run my DX160 with Low Gain mode since day 1. The output is not going to disappoint anyone for a truly portable device, and definitely nothing else in this price range comes close. Assuming the DX170 is what has already been described at the 2022 version of the DX160 with some modest changes, it is still a beast at >$500. If they actually improved the wireless or battery shortcomings, then even better!

 

[ljnew]

You guys are funny. Its a "pocket friendly" DAP, totally designed for portable use, probably better with IEM's and less power hungry heaphones and the first thing that everyone worries about is power.

After listening to fioo m17 I find i need desktop level power for iems. Desktop power let's you get gobs of detail at lower volumes. For some reason you can crank up the sound without it becoming harsh or distorted like most regular daps imho.

The line between iem and headphone power is diminishing

 

[vcoheda]

watching a bloom audio video of the DX320, i really like the interface of the device and the mango player. will the DX170 be about similar? i also see that bloom audio is offering the DX170 as a pre-order.

 

[MotleyG]

watching a bloom audio video of the DX320, i really like the interface of the device and the mango player. will the DX170 be about similar? i also see that bloom audio is offering the DX170 as a pre-order.

The OS and Mango interface will be very similar since iBasso is using this on most devices now. But the screens are different sizes and ratios, so there will be some differences.

 

[stephenkostas]

We have preorders live at Bloom. I'll be hanging out in this thread as we get more info to provide info and answer questions as well.
On a personal level, I'm a huge DX160 fan, so I'm really hyped for the DX170. Probably grabbing mine in blue.
https://bloomaudio.com/products/ibasso-dx170