iBasso DX170 You want your Music? It is right here. *** NEW Firmware: 1.06 Apple support and other additions! ***

[Vamp898]

Good morning,

You don't seem to have a DX170 so you think that because some people post on this thread mentioning a problem, then the product is bad?

I follow this thread since day one and a lot of people have tons of issue since day one. Way above average of similar products (no matter who makes them).

Just read the reviews on this thread objectively if you can and you will see that your comment is not valid.

The case of the supposed fragility of the product is ONE case. Were the falls that common, that the DAP was well protected? Was it bad luck or a context of use particularly conducive to this type of accident and damage whatever the model or brand of the DAP? doesn't know anything about it and neither do you.

And what about all the software issues that sometimes even gotten worse with updates? People have issues with this DAP since this DAP exists, completely unrelated to the recent hardware issues of some persons.

If you look in the Threads of other DAPs, that is not the case. Mostly people discuss about which Headphones fit the DAP, what Apps they use, tips and tricks for speed issues and stuff like that. How many songs they have on their DAP and whatnot. Average standard talk.

But in this thread, all that people talk about are the issues they have with their DAP and what things do not work. That is quite different to other DAPs.

Other people have application problems (personally I have none and I use several music playing applications) but my system is up to date, so are my applications and I try to use them appropriately. Being a software developer myself, I know how to distinguish between software, system or hardware problems. Other people do not have this ability. And it is easier to submit a problem encountered with a DAP on the thread of this DAP than on the thread of the software used (which does not necessarily have a dedicated thread and perhaps even less a thread dedicated to a category of material). So people can complain about a problem here, without the quality of the product being responsible for the problem they encounter…

But it seems that your remark is only intended to promote another Brand, given that you go from thread to thread on various brand products other than the one you support in order to suggest that the grass is greener elsewhere...

Which brand would that be? So far i have owned an FiiO M11 Plus (LTD and ESS) which both have been excellent and i did recommend them. I owned several Walkman (ZX300, ZX500, both WM1 and the WM1ZM2) and just recently i got my Moondrop MIAD01. I am not loyal to one single maker and never have been.

And i did never said anywhere which product is better than the DX 170. All i said was that, when you read this thread, its an ongoing, never ending, train wreck. And read the Thread from start to finish, it is exactly that. People complaining since day 1 that this product has tons of issues, both software and hardware.

Personally Having a smartphone that does DAP or a DAP that does smartphone means a lot of problems. The qualities of a good Smartphone are not those of a good DAP. Wanting to combine the 2 is necessarily having one of the 2 which is not good to see neither one nor the other…

Most DAP (if not all) are just Smartphones without Antenna. If you use an Headphone/In-Ear with integrated mic, you can even do phone calls using VoIP. The only thing that DAP do not have are SIM Card Slots (and mostly Cameras).

If you would add an Camera and an SIM Card Slot to the DX 170, it would be a smartphone. So i do not see why a Smartphone should not be usable as a DAP and/or the other way around. The DX 170 uses 2*CS43131, those are insanely tiny chips, really really tiny. Look at this


You can easily put them in every device (which is exactly how Cirrus made them and how they are supposed to be). You can put them in DAP, Smartphones, USB Dognles and they always perform the same.

Have you ever seen the Tanchjim Space? Its an ultra Tiny USB Dongle and it has exactly these chips. It is basically these Chips with an heapdhone jack. the Headphone Jack are even bigger than the PCB


An DAP is a practical device because all your music is in one place and it works independent of other devices. You can have the DAP in your pocket playing music and, independently, use your smartphone. So i do not think DAP are useless or anything like that. I owned an DAP for many years up until this very month.

If you should use your Smartphone as an DAP is a question that everyone have to answer for himself and for a lot of people, an DAP is very practical. But still, no matter how you look at it, an DAP is just a Smartphone without antenna.

 

[Cryanheh]

Yes, a simple fall from the original case maybe, I never saw exactly when they appeared, they were put on as soon as received and haven't been removed, front screens are completely normal.

Just went after DX170s as they were cheap and suited my needs. However the back cracking has always occured.

Weird how I've had a phone with no projection as you say without any cracked screen or issues, since 2021 and I've actually skateboarded that lots. And no, the DX170 was used to connect to a speaker while doing that before you try imply I'm taking improper care.

So biased that it has to be me and not poor build quality?

Why exactly does cracking the back glass cause sound problems anyway? Seems like a ridiculous fault.


And yes, I can't really get ibasso to respond, I imagine when they do they'll want the price of a new one roughly since apparently my misuse of the device caused this it seems.

Silly back screens getting cracked.

First pic isn't enhanced and can't really see a circular crack with lots of arms branching out.

Second is enhanced but you can tell damage better.

 

[LBD59]

Yes, a simple fall from the original case, they were put on as soon as received and haven't been removed, front screens are completely normal.

Just went after DX170s as they were cheap and suited my needs. However the back cracking has always occured.

Weird how I've had a phone with no projection as you say without any cracked screen or issues, since 2021 and I've actually skateboarded that lots. And no, the DX170 was used to connect to a speaker while doing that before you try imply I'm taking improper care.

So biased that it has to be me and not poor build quality?

Why exactly does cracking the back glass cause sound problems anyway? Seems like a ridiculous fault.


And yes, I can't really get ibasso to respond, I imagine when they do they'll want the price of a new one roughly since apparently my misuse of the device caused this it seems.

Silly back screens getting cracked.

First pic isn't enhanced and can't really see a circular crack with lots of arms branching out.

Second is enhanced but you can tell damage better.

Sorry for your issues with the cracked case back. Perhaps this is indeed a weakness of the DX170. Since the DX180 does not have a glass back, there should not be this type of problem. But if I were you, I would see if there were any other alternatives. Some products may be more robust. The DX170 had the advantage of having a shape very close to smartphones (fairly small and not too thick) which could easily be put in pockets while other DAPs look more like bricks. Look at SONY maybe they can suit you and in case of return, I think it will be simpler than a Chinese brand…

 

[Cryanheh]

Sorry for your issues with the cracked case back. Perhaps this is indeed a weakness of the DX170. Since the DX180 does not have a glass back, there should not be this type of problem. But if I were you, I would see if there were any other alternatives. Some products may be more robust. The DX170 had the advantage of having a shape very close to smartphones (fairly small and not too thick) which could easily be put in pockets while other DAPs look more like bricks. Look at SONY maybe they can suit you and in case of return, I think it will be simpler than a Chinese brand…

I'd rather ibasso just fix the sound rather than me having to purchase another new DAP.

Although the DX180 not having a glass back is why I was thinking of one.

Unless I get something sorted soon I'll probably just chargeback via credit card and avoid the brand, if ibasso insists I pay for this again.

 

[Cryanheh]

I really, really cannot support this device, it's under warranty but I won't know how much I'll have to pay because until they exam it, as they aren't sure how its broke.

As I stated I may have dropped it (actually unsure as it was working when I went for a walk but upon walking home it wouldn't play sound) but that is not covered under warranty with their fantastic silicone case that might aswell not come with it if that's the case.


Found other issues.

The sound works fine through Bluetooth speakers etc.
If you shake the dx170 a bit it turns off.


Sending it in for a RMA but really not hoping for the best, want to get a dx180 to never have issues with back glass again but don't know if I can do it now with the approach that its under warranty still but it's my fault..

 

[mbphotox]

"I drop my DAC so often, I already broke three of the same model."

Sounds like an issue with quality control for sure... lol

 

[turbohobbit]

So I've had my DX170 just under a week and I have to be honest my first impression is not at all good. I bought this as my first foray into DAPs because I wanted high res audio on the move without having to carry my Mojo2 with my phone. Having read and watched a bunch of reviews the DX170 seemed like a decent place to start, but I think I may have been wrong.

My primary use case was as an offline streamer, so downloading albums from Tidal (mostly) but listening to them offline since my commuter route has poor cellular coverage. I popped in a 500GB (class10) card and hoped for the best.

My first observation is that the performance alone of my unit is WOEFUL. It is sluggish on startup and on selecting the Tidal app it hangs longer than Dick Turpin. I've updated to the latest firmware and deleted all superfluous apps so only Play Store, Settings, Files, and Mango remain but that hasn't made any difference. I downloaded a bunch of albums to my SD card but when I try to play thern the unit hangs AGAIN - sometimes for minutes, sometimes it just freezes. Even restarting the app doesn't help.

Honestly I'm THIS close to packing it up, sending it back, and trying an SR35. But before I do that, I want to know if there is anything I am missing? Is it becuase I'm trying to play from an SD card (if so, pretty poor design effectiveness there)? Is it becuase Tidal is offline and doesn't like it (also, pretty poor design effectiveness there too!)? SOmething else? Or is this just what the DX170 is like?

There are so many glowing reports about the DX170 I can't believe they are all smoke, but I also can't believe this is the expected performance of a half-decent DAP.

 

[Vamp898]

So I've had my DX170 just under a week and I have to be honest my first impression is not at all good. I bought this as my first foray into DAPs because I wanted high res audio on the move without having to carry my Mojo2 with my phone. Having read and watched a bunch of reviews the DX170 seemed like a decent place to start, but I think I may have been wrong.

My primary use case was as an offline streamer, so downloading albums from Tidal (mostly) but listening to them offline since my commuter route has poor cellular coverage. I popped in a 500GB (class10) card and hoped for the best.

My first observation is that the performance alone of my unit is WOEFUL. It is sluggish on startup and on selecting the Tidal app it hangs longer than Dick Turpin. I've updated to the latest firmware and deleted all superfluous apps so only Play Store, Settings, Files, and Mango remain but that hasn't made any difference. I downloaded a bunch of albums to my SD card but when I try to play thern the unit hangs AGAIN - sometimes for minutes, sometimes it just freezes. Even restarting the app doesn't help.

Honestly I'm THIS close to packing it up, sending it back, and trying an SR35. But before I do that, I want to know if there is anything I am missing? Is it becuase I'm trying to play from an SD card (if so, pretty poor design effectiveness there)? Is it becuase Tidal is offline and doesn't like it (also, pretty poor design effectiveness there too!)? SOmething else? Or is this just what the DX170 is like?

There are so many glowing reports about the DX170 I can't believe they are all smoke, but I also can't believe this is the expected performance of a half-decent DAP.

I am not a fan of this DAP as some might noticed, but i still want to give you some advice before you send it back (and yes, it is not an fast device), do the following.

• Install the F-Droid App (Its an App Store that only contains OpenSource Software)
  • https://f-droid.org/
• Uninstall/Deactivate as much apps as absolutely possible
  • Except for F-Droid, of course
  • Including the Google Play Store
• Remove the Google Account (yes, trust me, you don't need it)
• Install KISS (From F-Droid)
  • This is an Alternative Android launcher. Its insanely small (a few kb) and is the fastest launcher that you can possibly have
  • Set it as the default launcher via the Android Settings or the Advanced Settings in KISS itself
  • Go into the Setting --> User Experience --> Minimal UI
  • Optional
    • Make the Swipe upwards gesture open the app list
    • In the User Interface Menu, make the search bar transparent
    • When your back at the home screen, remove all favorites (if they are still there)
• Install Odyssey (From F-Droid)
  • Its an very small, very simple, just works, music player
  • It is the fastest music player that exists on this planet
    • It needs 50ms to index an library >=5000 Songs
    • Adding new Albums is, of course, instant
• Install Aurora (From F-Droid)
  • This is Application does nothing more than accessing the Google Play Store
  • It is much smaller/faster/simpler than the Google Play Store
  • It works without an Google Account

Don't expect wonders, but there should be an instantly noticeable improvement.

 

[LBD59]

Good morning,

I cannot advise you to do the manipulations recommended "
Vamp898" since it encourages you to remove elements of the system and replace them with alternative, non-certified elements (therefore at your own risk without any guarantee).

The DX170 has good sound but its 2GB of RAM makes it slow. it is not left with Streaming applications. And many of them can operate capriciously (or not optimized in certain cases) regardless of the DAP used.

If you want to know if the DAP is the problem, you need to do some testing.

Without your SD card being inserted, Via TIDAL download 1 or 2 albums to the internal memory of the DX170. see what that gives.
Then do the same thing (so with the same 2 albums no more) on your SD card.

IMPORTANT: the quality of the SD card as well as its formatting may be the cause or source of the problem.

ExtFAT formatting is recommended (given the size of the SD card >32GB). Do it on a computer (or use the original preformatted card if necessary). Use the “SD Cart Formatter” software (free) made available by sdcart.org (those who define the standards for SD cards): https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

the software is available for Windows and MacOS and recommended by the manufacturers.

a class 10 SD card guaranteed 10MB/s which is not much. I recommend at least a V30 class card.

Very good, fast, quality SD cards of 256, 500GB or 1TB:
Samsung Pro Plus, Samsung Pro Ultimate, SanDisk Extreme, SanDisk Extreme Pro.

If you put too many downloaded albums on an SD card, it may be TIDAL which does not know how to manage them correctly but it could also be the SD card which is not efficient enough and may be poorly formatted which will slow down TIDAL …

 

[Vamp898]

Good morning,

I cannot advise you to do the manipulations recommended "
Vamp898" since it encourages you to remove elements of the system and replace them with alternative, non-certified elements (therefore at your own risk without any guarantee).

What guarantee, you can just reset Android and everything is like it was shipped. There is nothing you can break by uninstalling applications. As long he doesn't root the device, there is nothing you can break.

Also this Software is OpenSource, you can look at the SourceCode and see what they do. There is nothing secret or dangerous about that.

Also there is no certification system from iBasso, no Software is certified to run on that device.

 

[megathrash]

I've had the DX 170 for about almost 2 years and have had a terrible experience with it, the operating system is extremely sluggish, worse than cell phones from the early 2000's, it crashes all the time when listening to music locally on the SD card, and to put music on the DAP is extremely slow, even with fast SD Cards, I don't use any Internet with it, so all my music is mp3 320kbps files on Fast SD Cards and it still it struggles to play them, I only use one app so it doesn't use much RAM but still it freezes and crashes, I've been holding on to some hope ever since I purchased it that a firmware will fix all these issues but to no avail.

 

[LBD59]

Ok, we are going to an OpenSource AppStore, are the apps verified and verifiable by Play Protect, a component of the Google PlayStore? - no since you suggest removing it.
But whatever...This doesn't address the problem posed by "turbohobbit" since it has a problem with TIDAL. Will "Odyssey" allow him to connect to his TIDAL account to download Albums associated with his account? He never said that he bought Albums on TIDAL and then listened to them with TIDAL or another player... The albums he downloads are therefore "protected" by TIDAL and can only be legally read by the application TIDAL. Without PlayStore, what will he do for TIDAL updates (certified)?…and I’m talking about Android certification / protection not iBasso…

I use my DX170 mainly for offline listening. Albums purchased on Quobuz or my ripped CDs. I use Samsung cards that I recommended and I have no problems. I use different Players. When you make updates on an SD card, Mango Player is the slowest, but I like its interface and the information it displays. Other players like HF Player from Onkyo, HiBy Musique are faster but pay, there is also Musicolet, AIMP, foobar2000 free, a fast scan but interfaces which do not suit me and not always the information I want.So if you want to listen to music offline, before downloading apps from alternative insecure AppStores, you can already look at what is available on the Google PlayStore and see if any of them They suit us…

Notes for "megathrash": Personally, I have two 512GB SD cards, one of which is almost full. I only listen to songs in FLAC 16/24/32Bit - 44/48/96/132kHz or AIFF or WAV. When I add songs, the SD scan takes a little time (especially with Mango Player) but no playback problem. On the other hand, the songs are copied to the SD card from a computer. And the quality of SD cards makes a real difference for both copying and reading…

 

[LBD59]

Other remarks:
if you put mp3 quality songs you can put tens of thousands of them on a 512GB SD card. In this case :
- Quality SD card v30 mini (see recommended SD cards to be sure of the performance of the cards).
- ExtFat SD card formatting required.
- Preferably not to have all the pieces in the same tree structure.
- If possible distribute the pieces (in folders) on Player differences.
Because here the DX170 with its processor and its 2 GB reaches its limits and so does the system…

 

[Vamp898]

Ok, we are going to an OpenSource AppStore, are the apps verified and verifiable by Play Protect, a component of the Google PlayStore?

Do you mean F-Droid? That one is, again, OpenSource. You can look at the SourceCode. There is no more security than this.

And Aurora is an GUI for the App Store, so the Apps are still verified and tested by Google. It is just a GUI, it replaces the part that Downloads the Apps from the Google Server, they are still the exact same apk that come directly from the Google Server, verified by Google.

You can even login with your Google Account and have access to paid apps an all that. It is just a GUI, not an Service.

 

[LBD59]

Ok, It's just an interface...

So how does this solve the problem of reading files offline with or without TIDAL?