[warrior1975]

Thanks everyone for your input on the AK100 II vs DX90; 

Will place an order for the AK100 II soon. Would have considered the AK120 II as well but my lack of high res albums at the moment doesn't justify the cost (majority of my music are CD rips, with a few high res albums here and there). 

Edit: Order placed! $875 USD ($1020 AUD) which was the best price I could find within Australia. 

You made a wise choice, I hear no difference between the two...if you were able to, I'm sure it would be hardly worth the additional cost.

 

[Ray1684]

Thanks! Now having a browse around for some HD Audio sites (feel free to share some here too if it's not too much trouble, otherwise I'll continue hunting around in the forum)

 

[Gamingmusiclove]

Question: Is the X1 THAT bad?. Most people on this thread put it last to everything else, and while i know its because its cheap, i doubt its that bad. I just bought one, should ship in a few days so i'm starting to worry if it was a good purchase

 

[warrior1975]

I have one. Also and X3,both are great devices, with a fun signature. For the money, best device you can buy. All of my AK devices have sounded better, but not 8 times better. I could have easily been happy with a little Fiio DAP. what are you pairing it with?

 

[Gamingmusiclove]

I have one. Also and X3,both are great devices, with a fun signature. For the money, best device you can buy. All of my AK devices have sounded better, but not 8 times better. I could have easily been happy with a little Fiio DAP. what are you pairing it with?

I have no portable amp if that is what you refer to, but i'm going to use them with v moda m100, and in a future Grados RS1e or Sr80e

 

[warrior1975]

The X1 is a powerful little DAP. It drives IEMS well, and probably easy to drive headphones as well. X3 is a little stronger, so that might be an alternative. I don't use headphones so I can't say for sure. I never found the need to amp either device.

 

[Gamingmusiclove]

The X1 is a powerful little DAP. It drives IEMS well, and probably easy to drive headphones as well. X3 is a little stronger, so that might be an alternative. I don't use headphones so I can't say for sure. I never found the need to amp either device.

Thanks a lot! I already bought the X1 so i just wanted to see if it was worth it

 

[warrior1975]

I'd say it's definitely worth it. I don't think you'll regret it.

 

[Noah99]

  Thanks everyone for your input on the AK100 II vs DX90; 
 
Will place an order for the AK100 II soon. Would have considered the AK120 II as well but my lack of high res albums at the moment doesn't justify the cost (majority of my music are CD rips, with a few high res albums here and there). 
 
Edit: Order placed! $875 USD ($1020 AUD) which was the best price I could find within Australia. 

I'm comparing multiple portable audio players under the $1,000 mark-- (Check out my thread)
The two I'm comparing is the Ak100 II and HM901, I know that the HM901 is the obvious winner for sound,
But for the overall user experience- The Ak100 II wins...which is worth it?
Plus, the Ak100 II has Bluetooth and streaming capabilities which I would use
I own the Sennheiser IE 800 IEMS

 

[kneel]

DX90 wins the poll but I am not sure if it is really the best dap in the list, or maybe most of the participants here owns a DX90 and they want to feel good about their purchase. I am just thinking loudly here. 

 

[jk47]

a note on the power of the dx90 amp.  i just got a mr. speakers alpha prime.  in a report from canjam on innerfidelity, dan clark [mr. speakers himself] said the primes were harder to drive than the alpha dogs, and he recommended a minimum of 200mw@50ohms output.  so i assumed my dx90 wasn't going to be up to it.  i had noticed, for example, that on high gain the dx90 could drive hd700's but produced a smaller soundstage than when using a more powerful amp.  the alpha primes show lower impedance, but as planar magnetics the impedance rating doesn't tell most of the story.
 
i got an ifi micro idsd, thinking that would surely be powerful enough for the alpha primes, plus would allow me to compare a different dac, and different amp by either using the dx90 only as a transport via the coax out, or using the dx90 only as a dac via the line out.
 
i won't go into the various comparisons of different configurations, but the dx90 alone, on medium gain, was as good as any.

 

[uchihaitachi]

I can't tell the difference between the DX90 and AK240. So, relying on objective data under different loads, the DX90 is surprisingly a better performer in raw performance.