[fokta]

A quick summary after 1 night of listening.

Very first impression - It feels light considering it's size. I had expected it to be much heavier. A huge plus

Next impressions - Screen is amazing and UI is very fast and smooth... Makes my Iphone XR feel like a grandparent

How it sounds - Extremely impressive out of the box. I actually prefer how it sounds vs stock MAX which from my memory was on the neutral reference side of things. Hence my MAX had been fiddled with in the early days by @Whitigir for conversion in MAXEX which made it sound more organic and added body while maintaining that huge sound stage. The DX300 on the other is tuned neutral warm, has really good body and weight in the mids and low end. Mids are more forward which is again a big plus for the vocal genres I listen to. Resolution and clarity is among the very best I have heard. While I feel the R8 in Turbo mode has a larger sound stage overall (Managed to audition the R8 at the deal while collecting the Ibasso), the DX300 has really good height and depth and the sound stage is very complete. There are no holes or dark spots. The other technical areas like Imaging, Layering and Separation are tops as well.

Still early days and I am sure it will open up with more use.

PS: Never thought Youtube music videos can actually sound this good as what I am hearing out of the DX300. Holographic and 3D sound stage.

Btw, has anyone managed to get Netflix to work on their unit?

I agreed with your impression regarding DX300 & MAX stock...
Happy with the DX300 sound sig tends to my preference...

regarding Youtube, did you realize that in DX300, song in YT all are in perfect 48 kHz.. (of course from reputable source)... somehow I prefer this then spotify..

edit... YT on DX300 on 48 kHz ( see top left)

 

[Whitigir]

I agreed with your impression regarding DX300 & MAX stock...
Happy with the DX300 sound sig tends to my preference...

regarding Youtube, did you realize that in DX300, song in YT all are in perfect 48 kHz.. (of course from reputable source)... somehow I prefer this then spotify..

Perfect streamer for YouTube and Netflix with a perfect screen ? It keeps getting better and better!!

 

[Whitigir]

Speaking of MAX, some one need to scoop this up. It is so cheap.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ibasso-dx-220-max-reduced.952633/

 

[Bosk]

My initial impressions of the DX300 as my first iBasso DAP are very favorable.

Soundtage size, sub-bass impact, musicality & detail retrieval are exceptional, surely only the pickiest audiophile would consider the DX300 sonically poor value versus the TOTL competition at its' current sticker price. Yes I do miss Astell & Kern's midrange-centric coloration which to me imparts a very special and addictive quality on music, but without it the DX300 is probably better balanced & more neutral from top to bottom. Mine has been burning in for only twenty or so hours so that's to be factored in as well.

The stock amp is simply a beast, and I commend iBasso for including such a high-performing amp right out of the box - bravo guys!! I can't wait to read how far others are able to improve it with mods, and plan to give that a try myself. No wonder people have happily spent so much rolling various DX220 AMPs if the quality is this good.

There's only a couple of downsides I've found. Firstly, I welcome the label of Dignis Snob because the stock case is rubbish and I'll be opening my wallet the moment a decent alternative comes along. Second, is the elephant in the DAP and the room in my pocket, may it jostle in peace. I suffix that with the admission of not being a big phone person, but the DX300 would make a decent ping pong paddle.... and yet is significantly lighter than most premium TOTL offerings, so ergonomics are not great, not terrible. Just wierd.

Overall this is great DAP that's going to make a lot of people happy, and hopefully encourage the TOTL competition to lower their prices. I call that a win for the community.

 

[robbi22]

@hshock76 any first compassion dx300 vs SE200?

 

[Skullar]

@hshock76 any first compassion dx300 vs SE200?

Waiting for that one too.

 

[Lurker0]

UAPP is having issue on decoding DSD correctly

I'd suggest to contact UAPP developer. You may need to send him a log file. Then he should be able to turn native DSD playback on for this device. That's what I was doing with the previous iBasso DAPs

 

[hshock76]

@hshock76 any first compassion dx300 vs SE200?

will def be posting something soon.

 

[Puzzler]

Hi and welcome!

I too listen to Tidal and have all the items you listed but FH7 instead of FA3 and can safely say that the jump from the iFi hip dac to the DX300 is very noticable especially in the low end, soundstage, layering, transients and imaging! It's not even a fair comparison.

It will be a solid investment and an excellent upgrade.

Thank you, that's music to my ears! Looking forward to it even more now

 

[Levanter]

Just paid for the DX300 pre-order with my local supplier
Was juggling btw this, M8 and N6ii.

 

[cubasesx]

Done 2 battery cycles and got 13hrs each time playing mixed sd and hd flacs.

 

[king73]

Can anyone compare with the stock MAX in more detail?

 

[astr0n0m1nus]

Done 2 battery cycles and got 13hrs each time playing mixed sd and hd flacs.

This is amazing. Was this on single ended or balanced? Also what was the gain setting?

 

[cubasesx]

This is amazing. Was this on single ended or balanced? Also what was the gain setting?

balanced medium gain

 

[astr0n0m1nus]

balanced medium gain

Thanks @cubasesx for the clarifications.