[AntoineDe]

The NOS filter is also my favorite. I like the synergy with the Odin.

 

[fzman]

Are there even other filter settings? LOL. Also, I think I might prefer the sound of UAPP to Mango. Just have to be careful not to play DSD with UAPP yet- it just makes white-ish noise-probably great as a burn-in signal.

 

[fzman]

Also comes alive after it has been playing for 30 minutes or so. I really do love this thing. It is versatile (Android), has 3.5, 2.5 & 4.4 connections builtin, and it is reasanably light for being big. It also sounds really good-captivating, in fact

 

[NaittsirK]

In my estimation Mango OS is significantly better sounding then anything in Android OS.

The difference I hear with Thummim is substantial really.
So much that whenever I feel like streaming I connect my Note 20u with dx300 in Mangos Dac mode and go bit perfect with UAPP , rather then using dx300 Android OS.

I also find Mango app to be better then Neutron most of the time (Netron maybe resolves better slightly) , but I'm still waiting for UAPP to issue full dx300 support before giving it a listen.

As for filters I prefer D3 90 % of the time and NOS otherwise.

 

[Skullar]

There was some interesting discussion a couple months back on this thread about burn-in skepticism happening to "coincidentally" always be the changes that we wish for, never negative. Wanted to share a small anecdotal experience to play a quick devil's advocate.

When I demo'd the Traillii 8 weeks ago, I loved the out-of-box DX300 warmer signature as a compliment to the R8's more stage, treble and airiness focused presentation. The pre-burned in DX300 had a much more forward, well-layered yet intimate lower-midrange and bass emphasis, which worked for when I wanted more "aggression" in my pairing.

8 weeks is a long-time in our fast-moving hobby, and although I overall prefer how DX300 has burned-in to become more balanced since then, I do find it has approached closer to the R8 in terms of neutrality, which has me somewhat missing the synergy Traillii had with pre-burned in DX300. Yes-the mids are still more forward and musical on DX300 than R8. Yes-the bass is still more textured and dynamic on DX300, but it's no longer the warm monster pairing I had prior, which was a guilty pleasure!

Nonetheless, today's pairing out of High Gain, NOS digital filter is amazing as a standalone. Excellent timbre, beautiful layering, and amazing bass-response. No complaints here! Just portraying how we win some and lose some .

Dx300 had that pleasant out of the box experience for me whet it did not take any time to readjust to. Unlike with R8 i had something missing initially.
I was almost convinced to sell R8 even though it clearly more technically capable dap.
But i did have a problem with dx300 ergonomics so decided to go through some tip rolling to see if a can achieve desired tonality.
And i did. Right tips + system wide MESB and flawless software won me over and i sold dx300 and kept R8.

But that is not to say dx300 is bad. R8 simply is different price bracket.
There are things that dx300 does better. Such as having no RFI issued. R8 cannot be kept near the phone at all.
Dx300 is lighter. It has slightly better wifi signal. Screen is bettet on DX300.

But when it comes to sound. R8 is more refined technically. Extends deeper and higher both ends, has better soundstage. Imaging is crazy good. And dx300 is already impressive in all above.

I am not judging by tonality here as its too subjective. But personally i did love dx300 mids. IBasso know how to tune mids to my preference. As i did luke it on dx220 too. It took me some eq and tip rolling to come fairly close with R8, but still not 100%

And as mentioned, there are still amp modules to come.
Tho amps also give opportunity to mod without loosing warranty. Where as i will have send all unit.

Anyways even if i chose to sell dx300, i will be watching ibasso closely.

Enjoy your dx300 as it is one of best price/performance ratio daps.

 

[NaittsirK]

Dx300 had that pleasant out of the box experience for me whet it did not take any time to readjust to. Unlike with R8 i had something missing initially.
I was almost convinced to sell R8 even though it clearly more technically capable dap.
But i did have a problem with dx300 ergonomics so decided to go through some tip rolling to see if a can achieve desired tonality.
And i did. Right tips + system wide MESB and flawless software won me over and i sold dx300 and kept R8.

But that is not to say dx300 is bad. R8 simply is different price bracket.
There are things that dx300 does better. Such as having no RFI issued. R8 cannot be kept near the phone at all.
Dx300 is lighter. It has slightly better wifi signal. Screen is bettet on DX300.

But when it comes to sound. R8 is more refined technically. Extends deeper and higher both ends, has better soundstage. Imaging is crazy good. And dx300 is already impressive in all above.

I am not judging by tonality here as its too subjective. But personally i did love dx300 mids. IBasso know how to tune mids to my preference. As i did luke it on dx220 too. It took me some eq and tip rolling to come fairly close with R8, but still not 100%

And as mentioned, there are still amp modules to come.
Tho amps also give opportunity to mod without loosing warranty. Where as i will have send all unit.

Anyways even if i chose to sell dx300, i will be watching ibasso closely.

Enjoy your dx300 as it is one of best price/performance ratio daps.

Did you come to these conclusions while listening to dx300 in Mango Os or Android?

 

[jamato8]

Dx300 had that pleasant out of the box experience for me whet it did not take any time to readjust to. Unlike with R8 i had something missing initially.
I was almost convinced to sell R8 even though it clearly more technically capable dap.
But i did have a problem with dx300 ergonomics so decided to go through some tip rolling to see if a can achieve desired tonality.
And i did. Right tips + system wide MESB and flawless software won me over and i sold dx300 and kept R8.

But that is not to say dx300 is bad. R8 simply is different price bracket.
There are things that dx300 does better. Such as having no RFI issued. R8 cannot be kept near the phone at all.
Dx300 is lighter. It has slightly better wifi signal. Screen is bettet on DX300.

But when it comes to sound. R8 is more refined technically. Extends deeper and higher both ends, has better soundstage. Imaging is crazy good. And dx300 is already impressive in all above.

I am not judging by tonality here as its too subjective. But personally i did love dx300 mids. IBasso know how to tune mids to my preference. As i did luke it on dx220 too. It took me some eq and tip rolling to come fairly close with R8, but still not 100%

And as mentioned, there are still amp modules to come.
Tho amps also give opportunity to mod without loosing warranty. Where as i will have send all unit.

Anyways even if i chose to sell dx300, i will be watching ibasso closely.

Enjoy your dx300 as it is one of best price/performance ratio daps.

Interesting. Well I would have to say having compared them both I do not agree with you and price not mattering one bit consider the DX300 to be the better of the two daps. Soundstage if you weren’t getting a huge soundstage with the DX 300 and something was definitely wrong. Another disagreement would be the lows to the highs I’m sorry but I cannot agree with you at all.

 

[tawmizzzz]

Interesting. Well I would have to say having compared them both I do not agree with you and price not mattering one bit consider the DX300 to be the better of the two daps. Soundstage if you weren’t getting a huge soundstage with the DX 300 and something was definitely wrong. Another basis of from Lowe’s to highs again I’m sorry but I cannot agree with you at all.

You get better treble extension from DX300 over R8? I unfortunately hear a bit of splashiness on lower treble from 300, but nothing that’s noticeable unless I am A/B’ing. Staging is great, but width is a bit more intimate relative to R8. Layering is good on both.

So I’d definitely agree with Skullar on impressions from Android UAPP-although we’ve discussed it at length the past couple of months in PM. Both are great-DX300 for slight musicality advantage, R8 for slight technicality and airiness advantage.

 

[Onurb8690]

There was some interesting discussion a couple months back on this thread about burn-in skepticism happening to "coincidentally" always be the changes that we wish for, never negative. Wanted to share a small anecdotal experience to play a quick devil's advocate.

When I demo'd the Traillii 8 weeks ago, I loved the out-of-box DX300 warmer signature as a compliment to the R8's more stage, treble and airiness focused presentation. The pre-burned in DX300 had a much more forward, well-layered yet intimate lower-midrange and bass emphasis, which worked for when I wanted more "aggression" in my pairing.

8 weeks is a long-time in our fast-moving hobby, and although I overall prefer how DX300 has burned-in to become more balanced since then, I do find it has approached closer to the R8 in terms of neutrality, which has me somewhat missing the synergy Traillii had with pre-burned in DX300. Yes-the mids are still more forward and musical on DX300 than R8. Yes-the bass is still more textured and dynamic on DX300, but it's no longer the warm monster pairing I had prior, which was a guilty pleasure!

Nonetheless, today's pairing out of High Gain, NOS digital filter is amazing as a standalone. Excellent timbre, beautiful layering, and amazing bass-response. No complaints here! Just portraying how we win some and lose some .

Overall what would you be like if you only had to keep just one Dap l, Dx300 or R8?

Cheers,
Bruno

 

[xLuffyzx]

The "double tap to wake" function seem to wake up the device when 3 or more finger and even palm are placed on the screen. This is so annoying when holding the device(especially so since the device is so big). Please fix the issue.

 

[dmac6419]

Overall what would you be like if you only had to keep just one Dap l, Dx300 or R8?

Cheers,
Bruno

I'd keep both if I bought both,but since I don't have the R8 I'm keeping the DX300

 

[tawmizzzz]

Overall what would you be like if you only had to keep just one Dap l, Dx300 or R8?

Cheers,
Bruno

Prob R8 since it pairs slightly better for my IEMs since I focus more on airy soundstage and low level detail with focus on texture of instruments. Rhapsodio IEMs in particularly sensitive to source and I love the synergy it has with R8.

But you can’t go wrong with both-excellent DAPs. The AMP feature as noted gives DX300 more potential/versatility.

 

[Onurb8690]

Prob R8 since it pairs slightly better for my IEMs since I focus more on airy soundstage and low level detail with focus on texture of instruments. Rhapsodio IEMs in particularly sensitive to source and I love the synergy it has with R8.

But you can’t go wrong with both-excellent DAPs. The AMP feature as noted gives DX300 more potential/versatility.

I'm honestly undecided. . . switching Amps on the Dx300 really is something that pulls on his side

 

[gentzen]

Price to value ratio also seems to be in favour of the DX300. These two are running pretty much head to head, even if in the opinion of some R8 has a slight technical advantage in sound, but the DX is $600-700 cheaper!

 

[fzman]

Prob R8 since it pairs slightly better for my IEMs since I focus more on airy soundstage and low level detail with focus on texture of instruments. Rhapsodio IEMs in particularly sensitive to source and I love the synergy it has with R8.

But you can’t go wrong with both-excellent DAPs. The AMP feature as noted gives DX300 more potential/versatility.

Awesome post. Context, criteria, and pairing(s) are super-important to the overall evaluation of gear not only in terms of sonics, but also ergonomics/user-experience and value.

In addition, most gear these days (except the knock-offs, fakes and the ocasional 'stinker' are pretty good, and can be skillgully combined to make very good sound. The differences are often small quantitatively, but large qualitatively. Putting together a system that sounds good takes some work and some luck (not to mention some $$$). When you find 'it', count your blessings and stop. YOU WIN!

It also helps to pay attention and determine what you actually want/like, and go for it. I'm a coffee home-roaster, and have been for about 15 years. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself reading flavor descriptions of unroasted beans from vendors, thinking- ew that one doesnt sound like something I'd like then realizing that I've tried and really liked it... I would not be surprise to discover that many audiophiles say they like one thing, while they actually like something different. (Similar, but different-- like warm vs soft, or vice versa, detailed vs actually resolving, big soundstage vs phase-y cross-tsalk tricks. etc....

Everything matters, dap, cable, iem, tips, genre, file quality, and recording quality. And - does it sound the eay it is supposed to sound, or just the way you WANT it to sound. Not judging-I swear! Just asking...