iBasso DX80 . . impressions and reviews. . and discussion NEW FW: 1.6.0 ** link . . 1st page . . .
Dec 4, 2015 at 3:54 PM Post #916 of 6,795
  @Gerryhatrick, I'm not trying to talk you out of getting an amp but my W40's have a higher impedance than the P7's and do just fine.


Yea, done my homework! 31 vs 22 for the P7's?
 
Don't worry - I'm also considering whether a good amp has the potential to improve the SQ and soundstage (independently from the DAC). At the moment I'm thinking if it does it really won't do it the the extent of £100! (Although I confess I am watching an E12 on ebay currently at £40!).
 
Dec 4, 2015 at 4:16 PM Post #917 of 6,795
Received mine today and have given it a quick spin and here are my observations:
 
1) Mine came installed with v1.1.4
2) I've tested it with my JH13 Freq and Ultrasone Pro900 and they are completely black - no hiss whatever
3) There is a slight "puff" in my ears when a song starts and its barely noticeable with my JH13 that I had to purposely "listen" out for it. No audible puff that I can tell with my Pro900
4) I put in two 128GB exFAT microSD cards and one of 128GB Sandisk cards scanned in 6 mins without any issues, while the other kept bombing out after about 10%.
So I reformatted it with an SD Formatting tool, copied over about 30GB worth of music and it scanned in about 30 seconds.
5) Have tested a few tracks and am not sure about the sound. It seems slightly congested\muffled around the mids. I'm going to test it against my DX90 and see how it sounds. On initial impressions I think the DX90 is more resolving around the mids
 
Dec 4, 2015 at 4:39 PM Post #918 of 6,795
  Received mine today and have given it a quick spin and here are my observations:
 
1) Mine came installed with v1.1.4
2) I've tested it with my JH13 Freq and Ultrasone Pro900 and they are completely black - no hiss whatever
3) There is a slight "puff" in my ears when a song starts and its barely noticeable with my JH13 that I had to purposely "listen" out for it. No audible puff that I can tell with my Pro900
4) I put in two 128GB exFAT microSD cards and one of 128GB Sandisk cards scanned in 6 mins without any issues, while the other kept bombing out after about 10%.
So I reformatted it with an SD Formatting tool, copied over about 30GB worth of music and it scanned in about 30 seconds.
5) Have tested a few tracks and am not sure about the sound. It seems slightly congested\muffled around the mids. I'm going to test it against my DX90 and see how it sounds. On initial impressions I think the DX90 is more resolving around the mids

 
Definitely give it some more time.  It sounds to me like you might not be used to the smoother slightly laid back signature relative to the DX90.
 
Curious to hear more impressions!
 
Dec 4, 2015 at 5:20 PM Post #919 of 6,795
   
Definitely give it some more time.  It sounds to me like you might not be used to the smoother slightly laid back signature relative to the DX90.
 
Curious to hear more impressions!

Definitely going to give it time and do some proper comparisons. I'm not convinced Burn in makes a big difference, but I will give it the 100 hours and do some back to back with my DX90 after that/
 
Dec 4, 2015 at 7:25 PM Post #921 of 6,795
   
Definitely give it some more time.  It sounds to me like you might not be used to the smoother slightly laid back signature relative to the DX90.
 
Curious to hear more impressions!

 
Wow, you hear the DX80 as smoother and more laid back than the DX90!  There's some proof that everyone hears differently as I would say exactly the opposite.  I hear the DX80 as more forward (in a good way), punchy and dynamic.
 
Dec 5, 2015 at 12:20 AM Post #922 of 6,795
  In USB DAC mode? Each time I tried to playback a DSD128 track via ASIO driver, or tried to turn auto-convertion of other formats to DSD128, it failed. Which Windows player do you recommend to try DSD128?
 
No problems with the player itself! Only in USB DAC mode!


You are correct. I thought you meant as a dap. We are working on the DSD128 for USB.
 
iBasso Stay updated on iBasso at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://www.ibasso.com/ paul@ibasso.com
Dec 5, 2015 at 12:55 AM Post #923 of 6,795
So is it only the first batch of DX80's that have the slight hiss while music is playing, or do they all do this and some people just don't notice it or it only affects sensitive IEM's? I sent mine in for replacement within a few days of receiving it because it was defective with a loose part inside; they sent me back the exact same player only repaired. I can still hear the hiss at the lowest volumes, which I would never listen at, and every once in a while (rarely) I notice the screen blanks out or displays strangely after waking up the screen. Also, this morning the player would not power on after shutting off last night with the auto-off feature. (Edit; It turned on when I tried half an hour later). I'm really not happy with this player so far, wishing I just stuck with my DX90 which has been great. I want to return the player but I'm worried the dealer is gonna charge me an 18% restocking fee they mention in their Amazon seller details...
 
Dec 5, 2015 at 2:21 AM Post #924 of 6,795
Even my new unit had FW 1.0.0 so I'm not sure if it's a first batch issue, or just the occasional unit. Hard to tell.
 
Dec 5, 2015 at 5:59 AM Post #926 of 6,795
You are correct. I thought you meant as a dap. We are working on the DSD128 for USB.

Thanks for henryc and his idea to use a compatible driver, I'm even more happy owner of DX80!
 
Those tests with iBasso USB DAC driver I was performing at work, under Windows 7. But at home I still use Windows XP. Unfortunately, iBasso does not provide drivers for Windows XP. They failed to start even with manual install.
 
But the driver by iFi Audio runs under Windows XP just fine! Moreover, it supports native DSD128 playback via DX80!
 
In addition to what henryc said, you need to copy iFiHDUSBAudioapi.dll and iFiHDUSBAudioasio.dll somewhere (e.g. into WINDOWS directory), and manually register them:
regsvr32 iFiHDUSBAudioapi.dll
regsvr32 iFiHDUSBAudioasio.dll
 
By the way, iBasso D14 DAC uses the same USB receiver hardware, the same driver source, and does support Windows XP! They are based on generic binaries version 2.24, iFi uses version 2.23 (I mean, version of the generic drivers! iFi display version is 2.26), drivers for DX80 are based on 2.26.
 
So, Paul, I'd ask you to try supporting Windows XP in the next driver release, and add DSD128 support. While I see no a reason to change drivers right now, it would be a pleasure to install native drivers from you
smily_headphones1.gif
 
 
Dec 5, 2015 at 7:09 AM Post #927 of 6,795

 
I can only recommend everyone to buy a Anti Fingerprint Matte screen protector and cut it with a scissor to fit the DX80.. the fingerprints on the screen was making me crazy.. and this is a serious upgrade to my pleasure of using the device :D
 
Dec 5, 2015 at 10:28 AM Post #929 of 6,795
  So is it only the first batch of DX80's that have the slight hiss while music is playing, or do they all do this and some people just don't notice it or it only affects sensitive IEM's?

 
From what I have seen using several varieties of headphones on one of these problem units, if you have the "hiss problem" it may have nothing to do with IEM's. 
 
Even on a unit exhibiting this issue, my IEM's were dead silent.  It seems to have more to do with a certain sensitivity and impedance combination on a certain headphone (or perhaps the shielding/cable combination between the DX80 and the headphone).  I still believe that in the end, anybody who worries about hiss in a DAP should be confident that a properly working DX80 will provide the quiet background they want.    
 

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