Is the hiss just like waterfall, I mean present but in the background not high noise?
For me Clara has like waterfall noise when connected to PB5 but only if music is paused and the AMP is still engaged. When music is playing I don’r hear it anymore. Is that your case as well on XM10?
Correct. It's perceptually masked by pretty much anything that's playing at the moment, but it's audible if your rig is powered on and you have nothing playing.
The Dunu one was SA6EST.
I've heard that one is pretty good, but I've never tried it personally.
Yeah, I really like how it looks + the slimness of it is a huge factor and selling point for me.
Right, that's what sold me on it, the thinness of it.
I actually use it without the case just to keep it as thin as possible. I don't plan on selling it, so I'm not terribly concerned about protecting its resale value. And even if I were open to selling it someday, I'm not about to bork portability during my ownership period, just so the next owner can enjoy its thinness at a discount.
Here's a fun fact: at its thickest point, my iPhone 16 Pro Max + case is thicker than the XM10.
Curious how it stacks up against other DAPs and even AMPs.
My reference setup is DX340 w/AMP14 LO -> Penon Totem IC 4.4mm -> PB5 -> Penon Adapter 4.4M to 4.4F
It may be a lot but it sounds terrific, I also hooked it up to the recently received AK CA1000T and it also soungs great.
On some songs it’s really hard to tell them apart.
lol, I'm going to imagine that your reference rig eclipses the XM10 sonically.
Trying the L&P W4, it does bring it down in SQ, it is less open but sound is still very close, like 89% or more? For a highly portable setup it’s awesome!
Curious how XM10 sounds directly, hopefully better than DX180 which seems not enough in comparison with the above.
Haha, I couldn't tell ya, haven't tried the DX180.
Of course plan is to be able to listen directly via 4.4mm upcoming adapter (@Shanling please provide update and details) and via external DAC/AMP dongles for change in flavor.
Honestly, I'm not that crazy about the new adapter. It just seems like another hardpoint that can get snagged on something. I'm fine with the included adapter for now,