I killed a few birds with one stone today in todays listening/testing...
Wednesday June 10th, 2020.
I took the DX220 Max on a tour of Tokyo. I took the Andromeda MW10 and also Campfire Audio Ara with me.
This was less and exercise in sound changes but more as a Transportable versus portable experiment.
I mainly carrier it in my front jeans pocket, (see photos a couple of pages back).
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/iba...und-reproduction.911378/page-75#post-15667374
heavier of course than the DX220, but manageable. Although a shoulder bag, or backpack would be more fitting. Nevertheless i managed without much discomfort to negotiate my way across Tokyo and back home again.
I suspect the coming Japan summer will render such daring experiments void and the preferable place at that stage would be within a bag. The DX220 Max is about two diet coke cans in weight.
Sound - dunno.
Friday June 18th, 2020. mid afternoon.
From Tuesday to now the hours have increased from 100 - 120 to around 165- -185 hours of listening and burn in.
I am quite curious to get started and see where we are at.
Here we go...
Circling back around to the initial test set up
DX220 Max low gain/ brick wall filter. Android side.
Campfire Audio Andromeda (V3- 2019).
Stock cable, final audio tips ( i prefer Spiral dot ++ for my wider CA nozzle but i am using the Final Audio tips so others can replicate my findings, or not...), 3.5mm Single ended.
Beck - ‘Sea Changes’.
The DX220
max seems to have settled down nicely.
It seems like from memory (i am trying to avoid my notes) that the DX220 Max started off quite nicely and competently... but just was not ‘there’ yet.
From a reasonably enjoyable flat with resolving nature at the start, to an increase in the treble, which was slightly alarming at first to the mids coming into play and finally the bass coming more fully into play - i think the bass will open up even more.
Its is a reference player in the meaning that it plays back your files as one expects the music to sound, there is a whisper of added dynamics- but nothing too colored as such.
Vocals are centered within the skull and expand out slightly.
Tonality is excellent - earphone dependent. Better the earphone l, better the recording, better the result with the DX220 Max - not so forgiving with bad gear.
Sound stage is once again the area of the earphones - but the DX220 Max allows them to perform at their maximum ability, couple that with high performing imaging and it is an aural delight for the ears.
It certainly is an incredible sounding machine.
Next up with be some a/b-ing against DX220/amp 8 and amp ex and then revisiting it again at around 250 hours which i suspect will be the sweet spot - and everything past that will be a bonus for the ears.
*i made use of my latter time to do an a/b of Andro v1, and v4/2020.