I believe it is aimed to go against the Fiio X5ii. X7 and L5 Pro are on a different level. And I read somewhere that iBasso is planning on a premium DAP to against the X7. But I am not sure, it could very well be a rumor.
I believe it is aimed to go against the Fiio X5ii. X7 and L5 Pro are on a different level. And I read somewhere that iBasso is planning on a premium DAP to against the X7. But I am not sure, it could very well be a rumor.
We appreciate the products by other manufactures. Some have excellent sound and there is no denying that. We don't voice or tune our products to go up against any other model. We try very hard to get the best out of what we have and to get the best sound possible for our customers. That is our goal.
We appreciate the products by other manufactures. Some have excellent sound and there is no denying that. We don't voice or tune our products to go up against any other model. We try very hard to get the best out of what we have and to get the best sound possible for our customers. That is our goal.
Are you saying iBasso does not have a Flagship DX100 replacement in the works? Me and many will be pissed if iBasso pulls an Astell Kern BS lie on us and release a flagship in the next few months+
Are you saying iBasso does not have a Flagship DX100 replacement in the works? Me and many will be pissed if iBasso pulls an Astell Kern BS lie on us and release a flagship in the next few months+
well, there are two kinds of technology advancements, one is to push the limit, the other is to make the best more affordable. and i appreciate ibasso's effort in making really good and affordable products as i still struggle to find a reasonable upgrade for my dx90, especially when they have the Oriolus coming out.
well, there are two kinds of technology advancements, one is to push the limit, the other is to make the best more affordable. and i appreciate ibasso's effort in making really good and affordable products as i still struggle to find a reasonable upgrade for my dx90, especially when they have the Oriolus coming out.
And I personally think it totally makes sense to dedicate all power to only one DAP rather 3 and deal with all their problems and guarantees etc. - beneficial to company and users.
well, there are two kinds of technology advancements, one is to push the limit, the other is to make the best more affordable. and i appreciate ibasso's effort in making really good and affordable products as i still struggle to find a reasonable upgrade for my dx90, especially when they have the Oriolus coming out.
I think in the future a good software user interface and support for music streaming services like tidal, spotifiy, Apple music and Google music are becoming more important.
There are two ways to accomplish that:
Either build a pure dac/headphone amplifier that connects well with android phones and iPhones. That way you don't have to worry about software / user interface at all. The phone is the user interface. IfI Nano iDSD is an example of this.
The other option is to use Android as user interface and support wifi for music streaming apps. With Android, as a dap manufacturer you do not have to reinvent the wheel, music player apps and music streaming apps already exists. The fiio x7 appears to be going this way and Pioneer with its new coming dap.
I'm not too sure about that. With android os, there is almost a certain need for more powerful CPU chip in the system. Not to mention GPU to drive the graphics in the interface. Unless the android is heavily tweaked to keep it simple, it will need more resources and therefore, be more expensive due to hardware considerations. Second, I think that having a WIFI antenna inside the device will increase interference in the circuit, decrease battery life and the same can be said of bluetooth capabilities. Even a high resolution screen will decrease battery life. Plus, services such as tidal, spotify and such are not available in all countries, and since iBasso is a Chinese company, I can see why they won't implement it. I'm in Asia as well, and we don't get spotify or tidal here. So a android enabled wifi capable DAP is of little use to me and I'd rather not pay the extra cash for one while losing out on battery life. I get that there are those here who would really like the services to be available, but I wouldn't be surprised if the demand was in the minority and not majority. Isn't there another high-end DAP that is capable of WIFI streaming? I think it was the Geek Wave...
And I personally think it totally makes sense to dedicate all power to only one DAP rather 3 and deal with all their problems and guarantees etc. - beneficial to company and users.
IMO, Yes and No. The target market plays a huge role.
1. Yes, because as you mentioned, it is easy to focus on a single product and excel in it.
2. No, because, people have different requirements and fall under multiple spending buckets, when they are shopping for a device. While some might look for the cheapest option, some might look for the best the company can offer and some might look for the best of both worlds. And DAP market being a niche market by itself, having only a single product can limit the company's market share and profitability. On the other hand, having products in multiple tiers can help in profits and market capture.
Lets take smartphone market for example. Apple, with it's limited lineup has been doing really great in most countries. But it's market in India is very limited. One of the reasons is, unlike in many western countries, the system of buying the device in a subsidiary price is not popular and prevalent in India. So people usually pay the entire price for the device upfront. Because of which it is not easy for people to afford one. That leaves close to 90% of the smartphone market in terms of volume untouched in India. That is where Samsung comes in. They have multiple smartphones in the range of $100, $200, $300 that fits the bill of a larger population.
And even with iBasso's current lineup DX50 and DX90. People on a tight budget can pickup a DX50 while the ones looking for the best that iBasso can offer can go for the DX90.
Having a single product can benefit the customers, but just the customers who can afford the device.
Didn't mean to subdue your statement. Just trying to say that there is another side to this as well.
Yep, I pre-ordered mine a couple of days ago for €400 (The Netherlands), there was a discount of €50 when pre-ordered. When I saw that the MSRP was $359 is was slightly disappointed that I had to purchase it for €400, but I'm used to it by now unfortunately. It's either a higher price or let it ship from the US and pay additional import duties and VAT.
I think in the future a good software user interface and support for music streaming services like tidal, spotifiy, Apple music and Google music are becoming more important.
There are two ways to accomplish that:
Either build a pure dac/headphone amplifier that connects well with android phones and iPhones. That way you don't have to worry about software / user interface at all. The phone is the user interface. IfI Nano iDSD is an example of this.
The other option is to use Android as user interface and support wifi for music streaming apps. With Android, as a dap manufacturer you do not have to reinvent the wheel, music player apps and music streaming apps already exists. The fiio x7 appears to be going this way and Pioneer with its new coming dap.
I love the sound of the DX90 and was really looking forward to something with streaming from iBasso, I may still get the DX80 if it sounds like the DX90 and assuming it is not as buggy with half hearted features as the DX90. But really still hoping for a much more feature rich player from you all!
I'm not too sure about that. With android os, there is almost a certain need for more powerful CPU chip in the system. Not to mention GPU to drive the graphics in the interface. Unless the android is heavily tweaked to keep it simple, it will need more resources and therefore, be more expensive due to hardware considerations. Second, I think that having a WIFI antenna inside the device will increase interference in the circuit, decrease battery life and the same can be said of bluetooth capabilities. Even a high resolution screen will decrease battery life. Plus, services such as tidal, spotify and such are not available in all countries, and since iBasso is a Chinese company, I can see why they won't implement it. I'm in Asia as well, and we don't get spotify or tidal here. So a android enabled wifi capable DAP is of little use to me and I'd rather not pay the extra cash for one while losing out on battery life. I get that there are those here who would really like the services to be available, but I wouldn't be surprised if the demand was in the minority and not majority. Isn't there another high-end DAP that is capable of WIFI streaming? I think it was the Geek Wave...
Well, for American and European customers music streaming support in one way or the other (direct support with built-in wifi or at least USB dac support in connection with an iPhone or android phone) is becoming more and more important. I don't know of any survey but I would estimate that between a third and half of all US and European customers of Fiio and IBasso are using music streaming services - even if they don't pay for it. Spotifiy offers a free ad-based version, YouTube is free, Apple Music is free for the first 3 months. Deezer currently has a 2 months free offer. Tidal and Wimp offer cd quality flac streaming. Tidal is also thinking about supporting high res audio streaming beginning with mqa support. I believe in 1 or 2 years we'll see the first 192khz/24bit music streaming services as Internet bandwidth becomes even cheaper. In my home country it's already common for a household to have an Internet flat rate at home with 100 or 150 Mbit/s bandwidth.
Buying and locally storing your music is on the way out - just with video streaming via Netflix or Amazon Instant Video, music streaming services are the future at least where enough internet bandwidth is available and where copyright issues are sorted out (the latter is probably why it doesn't work in China yet). And streamed music does sound better when not listened to through an iPhone or iPad but through the dac of the ibasso dx90 - I do use the Ibasso dx90 connected to an iPad currently for streaming Apple Music. So it works but an option would be nice to chose to turn USB charging off when operated as dac for an iPhone because it's important to draw not too much current to increase compatibility with phones.
For a dap, you would not need expensive components if you want to go Android. A cheap phone based on 2 or 3 year old technology with a dual core CPU should do. But sure, supporting high res audio on Android requires some Android programming skills and hood Android developers don't come cheap.
I am hearing reports from friends who are at the Japanese headphone show in Tokyo that the DX80 sounds great but the UI responsiveness is slightly slow (probably due to processor not the screen).
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