[slumberman]

Sadly no. I already asked

I can confirm it’s a no go. Still very thankful we got the PB5 for such an amazing price!!!!

 

[nihalsharma]

Hearing solid things about the amp PB5. How does it handle sensitive iems? Any hissing issues?

 

[ma151]

Anymore impressions on this ?
Can someone please compare it to other external amps on the market like the Cayin C9, Mass Kobo 475, Tsuranagi etc ?

Thanks !

 

[Doug2507]

@Damz87 has 475/PB5.

Think @twister6 has the full stack in house and a C9 on the shelf...

 

[Whitigir]

You can use search function and see those posts. But for more comparison, only @twister6 can provide further

 

[lantian]

You can use search function and see those posts. But for more comparison, only @twister6 can provide further

I'm more hoping to hear your impressions of d16,the dac section seems phenomenal from your description. Hope you'll give some more infor once you've had week or two more time with it.

 

[slumberman]

I just received my PB5 and waiting for @Paul - iBasso to get back to me after contacting him via email, but I figured I’d ask here if there are others with the same “issue” :

My unit rattles. I noticed it when moving it, and then when lightly shaken it sounds like something big is loose inside (a battery pack, perhaps?).

Anyway, I don’t want to turn it on until I find out more. Package was in perfect shape with no sign of mishandling , so that’s all I can say.

Anyone else?

Thanks!

 

[lantian]

I just received my PB5 and waiting for @Paul - iBasso to get back to me after contacting him via email, but I figured I’d ask here if there are others with the same “issue” :

My unit rattles. I noticed it when moving it, and then when lightly shaken it sounds like something big is loose inside (a battery pack, perhaps?).

Anyway, I don’t want to turn it on until I find out more. Package was in perfect shape with no sign of mishandling , so that’s all I can say.

Anyone else?

Thanks!

Would recommend opening it up and just giving a visual inspection.most likely loose battery, perhaps something else.

 

[Smirk 24]

Anymore impressions on this ?
Can someone please compare it to other external amps on the market like the Cayin C9, Mass Kobo 475, Tsuranagi etc ?

Thanks !

I have 475 and PB5. PB5 has a warmer tone and some bass bloom. PB5's stage is larger compared to the 475, at least when paired with the 320MAX.

 

[Smirk 24]

I just received my PB5 and waiting for @Paul - iBasso to get back to me after contacting him via email, but I figured I’d ask here if there are others with the same “issue” :

My unit rattles. I noticed it when moving it, and then when lightly shaken it sounds like something big is loose inside (a battery pack, perhaps?).

Anyway, I don’t want to turn it on until I find out more. Package was in perfect shape with no sign of mishandling , so that’s all I can say.

Anyone else?

Thanks!

Sorry for the double post.

My unit rattles as well. Could you update us on what Paul says?

 

[slumberman]

Would recommend opening it up and just giving a visual inspection.most likely loose battery, perhaps something else.

Yup it’s a loose battery. The Velcro needed some attention/repositioning. All good now.

I actually swapped the left and right battery positions and it seems to be firm now. No rattling. Onto listening next.

Thanks!

 

[lantian]

Yup it’s a loose battery. The Velcro needed some attention/repositioning. All good now.

I actually swapped the left and right battery positions and it seems to be firm now. No rattling. Onto listening next.

Thanks!

Nice, enjoy, and give some impressions later on.

 

[Whitigir]

Yes, indeed the PB5 is a touch warm, especially lower bass and the bloom. This is a signature of it as I take it, and it will depend on your personal preferences. IMHO, the amp section from D16 is more clean, natural and transparent. IME, I enjoy the Tube harmonic with PB5 but my preferences is more into neutral and punchiness. The Stock IC cables is also a bit warmer. One of the many ways to improve the synergies would be to have a good quality IC of silver materials to voice it the way you want

The PB5 technically is a very capable amp, perhaps is the “most dynamic” amp that I have heard from portable system. It exerts much better punchiness than the C9 as an example. It ability to have layering/separation and extensions are all top notch. The Tube harmonic is sweet and well done. It is of great fidelity while being very well controlled. Perhaps, too well controlled when paired with D16, the timbres harmonic from each individual instruments just pop and pop, this is the magic of the 2 when paired together

I underestimated the PB5 but I think this is the result of a long time development by Ibasso, using 2 individual battery packs to power the Korg units. This is the first of it kinds, leading by Ibasso

 

[twister6]

Sorry, been dealing with some personal health issues, so I'm behind with reviews/impressions. But wanted to mention that for me personally D16 comparison makes sense against other popular DAPs. I'm honestly having a hard time addressing it as just a dac/amp, and no, I don't have iFi xDSD Gryphon for comparison. With PB5, everybody wants to know how it compares to C9, and that would be the logical comparison which I'm going to address as well in the review.

 

[Loftprojection]

Sorry, been dealing with some personal health issues, so I'm behind with reviews/impressions. But wanted to mention that for me personally D16 comparison makes sense against other popular DAPs. I'm honestly having a hard time addressing it as just a dac/amp, and no, I don't have iFi xDSD Gryphon for comparison. With PB5, everybody wants to know how it compares to C9, and that would be the logical comparison which I'm going to address as well in the review.

Hope your health issues ar not serious, we need you here to feed us great info, take care of yourself and we’ll read your reviews even if it takes more time to publish them.

If I may ask, the D16 being a dad/amp, not a DAP, it would be nice to know how it performs plugged into a computer (or phone) since I suspect this use case is the reality of a lot of us that buy DAC/AMP instead of DAPs. As well if we could have a comparison of the D16 DAC itself versus the DAC of others (DAP or DAC/AMP) using the same external amp so that we have a feel of the specific sound signature of this new type of DAC. Thanks much for considering it.