[waveSounds]

Very brief impressions:

For the price, this has exceeded my expectations (albeit is my first true DAP). I prefer it to the A&K SR25 MKII I tried at the London CanJam, and it feels more responsive. I have no qualms with the quickness of its operation, if anything, it's snappier than I was expecting.

The SR25 shows its extra cost with its volume wheel. It felt sturdier, with more precision and defined clicks on rotation. The one on the DX170 isn't bad but it's nothing amazing and has a tiny bit of play each way before it turns. Probably the only area of build that is in line with what you'd expect for the cost, whereas the rest of the device is truly great; better than the price would suggest.

Extremely happy with the purchase and it's clear even from my limited time with it that it's a step up in sound quality from the LG V30 it replaces.

 

[dmphile]

Very brief impressions:

For the price, this has exceeded my expectations (albeit is my first true DAP). I prefer it to the A&K SR25 MKII I tried at the London CanJam, and it feels more responsive. I have no qualms with the quickness of its operation, if anything, it's snappier than I was expecting.

The SR25 shows its extra cost with its volume wheel. It felt sturdier, with more precision and defined clicks on rotation. The one on the DX170 isn't bad but it's nothing amazing and has a tiny bit of play each way before it turns. Probably the only area of build that is in line with what you'd expect for the cost, whereas the rest of the device is truly great; better than the price would suggest.

Extremely happy with the purchase and it's clear even from my limited time with it that it's a step up in sound quality from the LG V30 it replaces.

Can you expand further on what you liked more about it vs the A&K SR25 MKII in terms of sonic profile?

 

[waveSounds]

@dmphile Honestly, I liked the SR25. It was listening to it at the show that showed me the merits of a true DAP over my dongles. The volume wheel on it was a joy to use. I only had a short time with it and don't have one to compare to the iBasso so don't put too much stock in my impressions, but from memory the 170 has more impact in the bass and extends a tad deeper, which for me as a bass aficionado works in favour for my preferences, but the SR25 did sound very nice, too. I'd have been happy with either but I don't think the A&K does enough to justify an almost 50% cost premium.

 

[fidshimmer]

I received my new DX170 today ordered it Friday night from Bloom Audio. I immediately loaded Google Play store, Quboz and Roon. I was able to stream from Roon right away. Quboz was not launching, removed app reloaded from Google Play store not APK pure. Still quboz wouldnt open. Restarted device, now Quboz works fine am streaming at highest res.

I also removed the animations, using this article as guide, you do have to enable developer mode first, https://wccftech.com/how-to/how-to-turn-off-system-animations-on-android-tutorial/

My DX 170 is using build number 1.00.174, Quboz is ver 6.9.0.0 from Google Play Store.
I have had the DX300 since the first month of its release. First impressions, The DX170 is very very close in SQ. The interface is near identical and having Android 11 is great.

 

[WarrenS]

I received my new DX170 today ordered it Friday night from Bloom Audio. I immediately loaded Google Play store, Quboz and Roon. I was able to stream from Roon right away. Quboz was not launching, removed app reloaded from Google Play store not APK pure. Still quboz wouldnt open. Restarted device, now Quboz works fine am streaming at highest res.

I also removed the animations, using this article as guide, you do have to enable developer mode first, https://wccftech.com/how-to/how-to-turn-off-system-animations-on-android-tutorial/

My DX 170 is using build number 1.00.174, Quboz is ver 6.9.0.0 from Google Play Store.
I have had the DX300 since the first month of its release. First impressions, The DX170 is very very close in SQ. The interface is near identical and having Android 11 is great.

Are you able to download tracks or Albums on Qobuz and play them offline?

The easier way to remove animations is to go to Settings > Accessibility > Remove animations

 

[fidshimmer]

Are you able to download tracks or Albums on Qobuz and play them offline?

The easier way to remove animations is to go to Settings > Accessibility > Remove animations

Only tested streaming on Quboz, just now checked, It seems like I can download, I see download activity and quboz says download is complete, but when trying to access off line library

but quboz is telling me a cryptic message:

No Release Imported Click on the import option in to ooo menu to import a release on your device

I have only tried internal memory will get a microsd card installed and play with this more in the next few days.

 

[waveSounds]

For further reference, all my earlier impressions were done using low gain and the NOS filter with a TH900 and SE846 from the single ended output. Volume levels around 45 and 32 respectively.

iBasso have knocked it out of the park with the DX170. For its price, the combination of design, build quality, features and sound quality is immense. Having a 4 month old daughter 99% of my listening is now done on portable devices. While I still like dongles, simply carrying one device with my cans plugged straight into it is vastly preferable. I'd often get my adapters caught or have them disconnect while in my pocket using my phone and Paw S1. Really annoying when I'm in the middle of jamming to Bicep lol.

I'm so pleased with what the DX170 has given me, I'm now giving serious thought to whether I could part with my Dangerous Source and use it to fund a DX320 and not have any desktop DACs or AMPs at all. Never thought I'd ever even contemplate letting my Source go, but here we are.

 

[WarrenS]

Only tested streaming on Quboz, just now checked, It seems like I can download, I see download activity and quboz says download is complete, but when trying to access off line library

but quboz is telling me a cryptic message:

No Release Imported Click on the import option in to ooo menu to import a release on your device

I have only tried internal memory will get a microsd card installed and play with this more in the next few days.

Same problem as me then and downloading to MicroSD card doesn't help matters either unfortunately. Hopefully iBasso will sort this soon with a firmware update.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/iba...r-music-it-is-right-here.964120/post-17098130

 

[Paul - iBasso]

Same problem as me then and downloading to MicroSD card doesn't help matters either unfortunately. Hopefully iBasso will sort this soon with a firmware update.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/iba...r-music-it-is-right-here.964120/post-17098130

We are currently looking at this issue and working on it.

 

[WarrenS]

We are currently looking at this issue and working on it.

Thanks Paul, much appreciated!

Can you also have a look at the Classic FM Radio App please

 

[rlw6534]

We are currently looking at this issue and working on it.

Any update on Mango player and MQA tracks not showing full unfold bitrate?

 

[Bret Halford]

Does the ibasso Android build allow for bitperfect playback direct from Qobuz/Tidal apps directly, or is something like UAPP still required to force the internal DAC to whatever source sample rate I'm streaming from Qobuz etc?

 

[rlw6534]

Does the ibasso Android build allow for bitperfect playback direct from Qobuz/Tidal apps directly, or is something like UAPP still required to force the internal DAC to whatever source sample rate I'm streaming from Qobuz etc?

Qobuz and Tidal apps are both working in bitperfect high resolution out of the box. Tidal MQA works also at 8x.

 

[dmphile]

I received my new DX170 today ordered it Friday night from Bloom Audio. I immediately loaded Google Play store, Quboz and Roon. I was able to stream from Roon right away. Quboz was not launching, removed app reloaded from Google Play store not APK pure. Still quboz wouldnt open. Restarted device, now Quboz works fine am streaming at highest res.

I also removed the animations, using this article as guide, you do have to enable developer mode first, https://wccftech.com/how-to/how-to-turn-off-system-animations-on-android-tutorial/

My DX 170 is using build number 1.00.174, Quboz is ver 6.9.0.0 from Google Play Store.
I have had the DX300 since the first month of its release. First impressions, The DX170 is very very close in SQ. The interface is near identical and having Android 11 is great.

Encouraging, my expectations of the DX170 have slowly gone up given the various experiences that people have shared and compared to higher quality / priced DAPs. Thanks for sharing. I'm looking to replace my N3Pro due to shoddy BT capability but other than that, a very nice player. Hopefully iBasso fills that void nicely.

For further reference, all my earlier impressions were done using low gain and the NOS filter with a TH900 and SE846 from the single ended output. Volume levels around 45 and 32 respectively.

iBasso have knocked it out of the park with the DX170. For its price, the combination of design, build quality, features and sound quality is immense. Having a 4 month old daughter 99% of my listening is now done on portable devices. While I still like dongles, simply carrying one device with my cans plugged straight into it is vastly preferable. I'd often get my adapters caught or have them disconnect while in my pocket using my phone and Paw S1. Really annoying when I'm in the middle of jamming to Bicep lol.

I'm so pleased with what the DX170 has given me, I'm now giving serious thought to whether I could part with my Dangerous Source and use it to fund a DX320 and not have any desktop DACs or AMPs at all. Never thought I'd ever even contemplate letting my Source go, but here we are.

Another encouraging initial set of impressions. Expectations are going up and more excited for my package to arrive even more! Very curious to hear NOS mode. This will be my first iBasso DAP and I'm curious to hear what the iBasso 'sound house' is like relative to other DAPs. I've tried FiiO, Shanling, Sony, Cayin so hopefully this will meet and / or maybe exceed my expectations as it has for many of you!

 

[wolfstar76]

Unless there is some surprise from RS2, I will pick up DX170 as well.