[jlynton]

or like many others we have had great times listening to iBasso products with pleasure.

The quality of the hardware is undeniably great, but without good firmware...

 

[470221]

Exactly. Sound is good, UI is terrible. Response is very low, icons too big, selection of active elements not readable at all. People from player.ru did more to make firmware snappier, than iBasso team all the time. This is my second iBasso unit (after DX50) and definitely the last one.

 

[Cold Train]

Hi Paul, all my friends and I are facing a lot of issues with the DX80. At first we all thought that the battery or the device itself was defective, some of us sent back their DX80 and got replacement, but the same issues appears again and again and doesn't seems to be hardware related.

1. When switched off, the dap loses about 40% of battery per 12hrs
2. It barely reaches 2hrs of playback time (tested on DSD, Flac 16 and 24 bit), even on MP3 it doesn't cross the 3hr30 of playback time
3. All latest firmwares as from 1.4.2 seems to drain battery a lot faster (I always thought that : newer is better, iBasso proved that I'm wrong)
4. Sound quality seems to get worst on low gain in the latest firmwares
5. Gapless on cue files doesn't work in 1.5.8
6. Latency on DSD decoding is a real concern and is somewhat worst on ISO files
7. Frequent Auto-skip in the middle of a song
8. The battery meter shows '' Charge completed'' after only 45min, when unplug the device it will show 89% after a few seconds and 73% after 5min without playing any track

I understand that all your efforts right now are focused on the DX200, but if you want to keep your customers, you'll have to solve these issues !

 

[Paul - iBasso]

Hi Paul, all my friends and I are facing a lot of issues with the DX80. At first we all thought that the battery or the device itself was defective, some of us sent back their DX80 and got replacement, but the same issues appears again and again and doesn't seems to be hardware related.

1. When switched off, the dap loses about 40% of battery per 12hrs
2. It barely reaches 2hrs of playback time (tested on DSD, Flac 16 and 24 bit), even on MP3 it doesn't cross the 3hr30 of playback time
3. All latest firmwares as from 1.4.2 seems to drain battery a lot faster (I always thought that : newer is better, iBasso proved that I'm wrong)
4. Sound quality seems to get worst on low gain in the latest firmwares
5. Gapless on cue files doesn't work in 1.5.8
6. Latency on DSD decoding is a real concern and is somewhat worst on ISO files
7. Frequent Auto-skip in the middle of a song
8. The battery meter shows '' Charge completed'' after only 45min, when unplug the device it will show 89% after a few seconds and 73% after 5min without playing any track

I understand that all your efforts right now are focused on the DX200, but if you want to keep your customers, you'll have to solve these issues !

The battery draining 40% in 12 hours when turned off would mean that your battery needs to be replaced. All batteries for some time now have been fine with zero issue so I think you have an older DX80. We will replace the battery under warranty.

I haven't had any complaints about sound quality issues using low gain but have noted it to our software team.

Auto skip is something that would be software related or something to do with the song format. I would suggest using the Batch Tool that is linked on the first page. It will reformat the DX80 and do a clean FW install.

 

[Gandasaputra]

I've had the DX80 for a year since 2016 and so far I am happy with it. I also own other DAPs as well like Sony's NWA-A35, A25, Sansa Clip Zip-rockboxed, and Samsung S8. Each is unique on its own and I am happy with all of em.

The DX80 has the best display screen among all - most detailed and colorful ; yet, the best volume control to get into the "sweet spot". The NWA-A35 and rockboxed Sansa Clip Zip have excellent volume control as well but the DX80 is twice better and has even more volume increments, making it a perfect player for sensitive earphones like DN-2000, Westone UM30Pro, and ATH-IM02. The Samsung S8 and A25 have bad volume control so I kept leaning toward DX80 for a safe listening and "sweet-spot". On top of that it is the least lagging and easiest user interface to me IMO. No need to wait for your player to scan the whole library, like the A35 and A25, after music transfer.

Sound-wise, the DX80 is the most neutral sounding player among the five. I set the player to High Gain, Sharp Roll-off, and a humble EQ below, which I set to all my players.

The DX80 has no weaknesses nor glaring extremities in both low and high so it is perfect for non-fatiguing listening, which my primary preference. Therefore its musical characteristic makes it suited for all 30+ earphones I have without revealing each weaknesses. For example the DX80 manages to make the XBA-40 the least the sibilant and metallic sounding earphone compared to all players I have. Thus I consider the DX80 as a true audiophile DAP in my possession; whenever I want a music marathon, critical listening, or reference, I would choose the DX80.

.....But the bulky and being the heaviest player of all, making it difficult to be carried around on my pocket, even at gym! It is even heavier than the biggest Samsung S8. Regardless I listen the DX80 at home most of the time when relaxing at room, reading, or painting.

I had updated my DX80 to the most recent firmware, the 1.5.8, and so far I have had no complaints with it. Neither the battery, skipping, nor sorting issues were experienced since the older 1.4 firmware to me so far because I listened at max of 2-3 hours and I arranged my music files in folders. There were no battery leaks as far I concern but I hope I wont experience battery issues in future since I feel the warranty may be expiring soon. I do not create playlist and I create the folders based on albums so I do know my songs very well.

 

[Cold Train]

The battery draining 40% in 12 hours when turned off would mean that your battery needs to be replaced. All batteries for some time now have been fine with zero issue so I think you have an older DX80. We will replace the battery under warranty.

I haven't had any complaints about sound quality issues using low gain but have noted it to our software team.

Auto skip is something that would be software related or something to do with the song format. I would suggest using the Batch Tool that is linked on the first page. It will reformat the DX80 and do a clean FW install.

Thanks for your response, but it is questionable how the battery degrades after an average of 3 to 6 mths of usage. You meant that I have an older DX80 but I bought it back in December 2016 from Penon Audio and some of my friends bought theirs from another sellers less than 3mths ago and they have the same battery issues.

Shipping this device back will incur charges and weeks of patience. This is something that could have been prevented if iBasso had tested the battery in supposed "early batches" before initial shipment to sellers. Even my four year old $80 Colorfly C3 still offers a better battery life. I wanted to purchase the DX200 but knowing the issues in my DX80, I preferred ordering an Opus #2

 

[jamato8]

Thanks for your response, but it is questionable how the battery degrades after an average of 3 to 6 mths of usage. You meant that I have an older DX80 but I bought it back in December 2016 from Penon Audio and some of my friends bought theirs from another sellers less than 3mths ago and they have the same battery issues.

Shipping this device back will incur charges and weeks of patience. This is something that could have been prevented if iBasso had tested the battery in supposed "early batches" before initial shipment to sellers. Even my four year old $80 Colorfly C3 still offers a better battery life. I wanted to purchase the DX200 but knowing the issues in my DX80, I preferred ordering an Opus #2

I had my battery replaced and have a few 1000 hours on it now and it still charges and holds a charge like new. Nothing made won't have possible problems. I have a car with the highest resell value of any non collectable car (about 2000 less than new) after 4 years but it has had a few issues that the manufacture took care of. I remember the 1st year of product the FJ Cruiser had buckling of the front fender wells but it was covered. Stuff happens and you move on.

 

[Homey-b]

Received my dx80 this morning. I'm officially blown away! I put on some of my favorite tracks and was grinning from ear to ear, never really had that happen before just listening to music. I love the fact that I can use this as a usb dac with computer, it's one of the main reasons why I got this over the dx90 (really wanted to try out those dual sabre dacs) but I am beyond impressed with the sound quality. Also works great with my phone as a usb dac for Tidal streaming.

As others have said. Good purchase.. Now I will advise you on what took me a long while to learn. All music files are not created equal. If you decide that you want to listen to your music at the highest possible quality. Buy it from HD Tracks and none of the others.. That will show you what this player is capable of.

 

[Homey-b]

We are working on it and I have noted the issues.

Are there any more specific issues that anyone feels need to be addressed?

Yes

Can we have an easier way to create playlists?
And can we get a feature that makes the EQ larger so it is easier to tweak? Right now the buttons are too small for me to even use the EQ function.

 

[Homey-b]

I realized with a new FW coming that I needed a new Micro SD card. So I ant to Best Buy. They have on sale right now a 128 Gig Sandisk Extreme Plus card for $90. Regular priced at $270. Just an FYI.

 

[jamato8]

I realized with a new FW coming that I needed a new Micro SD card. So I ant to Best Buy. They have on sale right now a 128 Gig Sandisk Extreme Plus card for $90. Regular priced at $270. Just an FYI.

I always go to Amazon.

 

[jlynton]

I realized with a new FW coming that I needed a new Micro SD card. So I ant to Best Buy. They have on sale right now a 128 Gig Sandisk Extreme Plus card for $90. Regular priced at $270. Just an FYI.

I got one of these, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01EAKAUUK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 - it was on offer for £28, and works perfectly in my dx80.

 

[Homey-b]

I got one of these, https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01EAKAUUK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 - it was on offer for £28, and works perfectly in my dx80.

As I was a professional photojournalist for 20 years. I learned a long time ago to never buy cheap cards. High end cards always out perform the cheapo's and have a lower failure rate.. My post was for those that want the higher quality cards

 

[pholcus1975]

We are working on it and I have noted the issues.

Are there any more specific issues that anyone feels need to be addressed?

Just another thing: allow to lower backlight more

 

[470221]

I have enough of waiting for new firmware, despite Paul's promises. Selling my DX80 unit in For Sale section. Goodbye to all.