[Whitigir]

In terms of failure longevity, will these old generation capacitors last?

They should ! Most of the devices back in the 90 stills work just fine. These old are NOS or New but Old Stock, so they should last at least until the new Titanium release

 

[efftee]

That is the question. People here prefer the non CS version, which is the i300 series. I am struggling to find a clear difference between the c200 consumer series vs the i300 industrial series. From the datasheet, they are almost identical.

From what I gather, the debate is on reliability and endurance (life span) of the cards. If used in a CCTV where the read/write is very frequent, if not constant, the wear on the card is greater and, if I may guess, require whatever additions the Industrial series provides that cost that $60 more. For normal consumer electronics uses, I can’t imagine the same level of demands. For that reason, I generally prefer getting multiple smaller sized (2x 512Gb, even 4x 256Gb, rather than 1x 1Tb), tried and tested/proven cards. I have more corrupted cards, damaged by human stupidity cards, lost cards than worn ones, which currently stands at zero. Unless I miss the point completely…

 

[Whitigir]

From what I gather, the debate is on reliability and endurance (life span) of the cards. If used in a CCTV where the read/write is very frequent, if not constant, the wear on the card is greater and, if I may guess, require whatever additions the Industrial series provides that cost that $60 more. For normal consumer electronics uses, I can’t imagine the same level of demands. For that reason, I generally prefer getting multiple smaller sized (2x 512Gb, even 4x 256Gb, rather than 1x 1Tb), tried and tested/proven cards. I have more corrupted cards, damaged by human stupidity cards, lost cards than worn ones, which currently stands at zero. Unless I miss the point completely…

You are correct about getting multiple cards of smaller capacity. But I don’t like to swap out cards, and so I prefer to keep my library as much as I can.

There is a perk to smaller capacity card, the cells are not too much cramped, and hence the accuracy is even better for info being stored and retrieved

 

[Ojisan]

Congrat's to all who scored the ti version! Especially happy for @Whitigir !

I fell asleep after seeing the page come up. What an event! Page up just an hour before the sale and it looks like it went on schedule. Looking forward to the SS vs Ti impressions!

I'm leaning towards R2R right now so PM me if you are looking for SS MAX in the US.

 

[DarginMahkum]

I'm leaning towards R2R right now

What makes you prefer it?

I feel like the recent R2R wind is blowing due to the AKM issue and the manufacturers trying to avoid a similar issue in the future, but not because it sounds better.

 

[Ojisan]

What makes you prefer it?

I feel like the recent R2R wind is blowing due to the AKM issue and the manufacturers trying to avoid a similar issue in the future, but not because it sounds better.

I have had Schiit Yggdrasil as my desktop DAC for several years now and that has been my reference. Even though it's not a discrete R2R, the architecture is R2R on a chip. I always love AKM sound and indeed N6ii+A01 and Shanling M8 were my recent favorites. Then came L&P P6Pro and there was no doubt in my mind this was the most musical choice. It doesn't appear to me that L&P markets in a way to compete with supply and hype issues. They seem to do their own thing

For me, R2R has a time-domain transient character that is very natural if you key into it with acoustic instruments. It's not razor sharp (although it could be if needed), but not overly smooth, just right with full of note weight/body. But not all R2R is the same so it does come down to tuning. I believe Cayin R01 is quite different from that regard.

 

[DarginMahkum]

I have had Schiit Yggdrasil as my desktop DAC for several years now and that has been my reference. Even though it's not a discrete R2R, the architecture is R2R on a chip. I always love AKM sound and indeed N6ii+A01 and Shanling M8 were my recent favorites. Then came L&P P6Pro and there was no doubt in my mind this was the most musical choice. It doesn't appear to me that L&P markets in a way to compete with supply and hype issues. They seem to do their own thing

For me, R2R has a time-domain transient character that is very natural if you key into it with acoustic instruments. It's not razor sharp (although it could be if needed), but not overly smooth, just right with full of note weight/body. But not all R2R is the same so it does come down to tuning. I believe Cayin R01 is quite different from that regard.

Got it. Both Hiby (Darwin) and Cayin are also going for R2R now. Possibly a good choice for a portable due to less processing (other than over sampling, I guess). Thanks for the feedback.

 

[efftee]

You are correct about getting multiple cards of smaller capacity. But I don’t like to swap out cards, and so I prefer to keep my library as much as I can.

There is a perk to smaller capacity card, the cells are not too much cramped, and hence the accuracy is even better for info being stored and retrieved

I feel having different cards for different types of music, genre, period, for different moods, time, make putting the right music for the right rig at the right time, for me at least, is easier than searching through a large database of playlists, etc. Anyway, everyone has different preferences and habits!

 

[efftee]

What makes you prefer it?

I feel like the recent R2R wind is blowing due to the AKM issue and the manufacturers trying to avoid a similar issue in the future, but not because it sounds better.

It doesn't sound better; well, not all the time, but when paired with the right transducers playing the right type of music, it does serve up a truly amazing treat. The details, musicality and organic, almost analog sound is like nothing else, certainly not any AKM I have heard. This is my experience based the HM1000 with 4x PCM1704K chips, which have also gone extinct, by the way. Not saying it's better than a SP2K, LPGT or another AKM-based DAC/DAP, just saying the R2R wind is not blowing opportunistically; the rave, if any, is definitely deserved. Give it try if you have a chance.

 

[Whitigir]

It doesn't sound better; well, not all the time, but when paired with the right transducers playing the right type of music, it does serve up a truly amazing treat. The details, musicality and organic, almost analog sound is like nothing else, certainly not any AKM I have heard. This is my experience based the HM1000 with 4x PCM1704K chips, which have also gone extinct, by the way. Not saying it's better than a SP2K, LPGT or another AKM-based DAC/DAP, just saying the R2R wind is not blowing opportunistically; the rave, if any, is definitely deserved. Give it try if you have a chance.

R2R is technically inferior to Sigma Delta. Even R2R for quantization and OS for Interpolations is inferior to Sigma Delta. May be R2R IC wafer chip based, but that is still technically inferior to the latest advancements of Sigma Delta, especially against the latest mighty ES9028-38Pro, or AK4497-99EQ

Sound performances is all subjective and they are being subjective by many different reasons, we simply call it being personal.

Neither choices are wrong, but in the technicality, Sigma Delta is the most advanced. Analog to Digital stages in studio recording are mostly Sigma Delta with super high sample rate !!! Like 384Khz or so. In the future, it will be even higher

 

[mungster]

It can be said both ways
So! Is it an Upgrade ? Or is it just being different ?

From a manufacturer point of view, for obvious reason, it is just being different. This is a status of “neither deny nor confirm” the question with answer. However, it would satisfy both the one who doesn’t get it and don’t agree with it, also whoever that do

From my experiences and point of view, everything will effect the sound, even Chassis as a materials will change the sound, cables do change the sound, capacitors do change the sound….resistors….etc…everything, period.

So, when you combined both of those listed point of views. You may still be confused. But allow me to say this, a properly done modification may be different, and side grade rather than an upgrade, but it can not be a degrade in comparison!!! Therefore, I would think that as a manufacturer, Ibasso will have to stick with that final mark. That will mean that if a Titanium is sitting next to a SS, the sound will be different. But for better or being different ? That is all depend on the end user

Well, i think there will be a few in the classifieds soon if it's just different and not really an upgrade. We'll see.

 

[efftee]

Well, I do not have the chops to respond to technicalities. What I do have though, is the good fortune of having experienced AKM, ESS, PCM, Cirrus, Wolfson and even the whatever-the-Tera-player is or unknown proprietary dCS DAC thing, and all I can say is, when done right, none sounds inferior to another, categorically speaking. Maybe it's just me but there's always something that sounds nicer, not necessarily better, on something else...

 

[immortalsoul]

Implementation is the key

 

[Whitigir]

There are many reasons that sounds are being subjective. Some can be explained technically and some can not (just yet). But technically progressing, digital technologies still is on going and pretty strongly so

 

[gentzen]

The mathematical-physical description of sound (in terms of parameters like frequency or amplitude) is one thing, the perception of sound another, i.e. a matter of neural pathways which are not identical for the same physical sound.