[PinkyPowers]

Pairing any Astell & Kern player with the Mojo is insane. AK is so bloody expensive, and all you're using it for is storage, and an interface to access the songs. All the sound-quality comes from the Mojo. I say buy a used smartphone like the Galaxy S4, pennies on the dollar. Put a 200GB microSD in her, stack on the Mojo, and profit big. It's cheaper than going with the FiiO X1, and you get a far nicer UI.

 

[echineko]

  I have no personal contact with Sony devices anymore.  The ZX2 costs $1K+, I believe.  That's more than an AK100ll.  I'd suggest starting out low, and seeing what you like.  

The Mojo is expensive, but it is meant to pair with cell phones.  No point in buying a good DAP if you're going to get a Mojo.  Just plug it in to your phone.

Everyone has likes here.  Read up on things in your price range before jumping in.  Figure out what you need, and what you just would like.  You could buy a Fiio X1 for a hundred bucks.  That might be enough for you.  Or maybe the X5 2nd.  Or any number of other low or mid-range DAPs.  Or go all in and get the Mojo.

That's what makes this hobby fun.    

The ZX2 is also less than half the asking price of the AK240, significantly less if you import the Japanese version, like me. I just can't stand AKs horrible value proposition, at every tier there's alternatives that come close/are better while costing much less. The only one I haven't demoed was the 380, simply because I thought the asking price was ridiculous

But I agree with what you mean, that's why my first question was what his sources would be, we really need to understand the use case before making a meaningful suggestion. Hopefully he will chime in with some feedback. I've been curious about the new Pioneer and Onkyo DAPs as well, they seem an interesting possibility, hope to hear them in person as well soon.

But here's a question to you (I'm guessing you've been at this much longer than me, given I only started about a year ago), knowing what you know now, and probably wading through a lot of mid-tier DAPs, IEMs, etc first before levelling up, so to speak: If you had a chance, would you have just gone big for your initial purchase and saved up for a flagship?

I've been pondering this a lot recently, maybe I should stop trying lower-end stuff, save cash and just make 2-3 big purchases a year, and call it a day. I guess making resolutions can't be avoided at this time of year

Edited for clarity.

 

[ahossam]

Moon audio black dragon v2 100% recomended

 

[Skint]

@Kogyaru

Worth checking cowon players too. Use my angie with plenue m and it sounds as good as pc>mojo. New plenue D has just come out for around $300 with crazy battery life. I will be testing angie/plenue D in about a week when it's delivered, will comment on sq.

 

[philk34]

  The Mojo is expensive, but it is meant to pair with cell phones.  No point in buying a good DAP if you're going to get a Mojo.  Just plug it in to your phone.

Sure, Mojo can give you for your money just using a phone as a transport.

  Everyone has likes here.  Read up on things in your price range before jumping in.  Figure out what you need, and what you just would like.  You could buy a Fiio X1 for a hundred bucks.  That might be enough for you.  Or maybe the X5 2nd.  Or any number of other low or mid-range DAPs.  Or go all in and get the Mojo.

Not the X1, it has no digital output. Judt line out but that mean you use DAC form the X1 and Mojo just has an amp, not as its best.

 

[x RELIC x]

.....................

Not the X1, it has no digital output. Judt line out but that mean you use DAC form the X1 and Mojo just has an amp, not as its best.

olddude wasn't talking about matching the X1 to the Mojo. He was just mentioning it as a good low cost DAP. :wink_face:

Also, you can not use the amp in the Mojo as it has no analogue input. Btw, Mojo doesn't have an amp. It's the discrete variable analogue output straight from the DAC... no seperate amp section like in traditional DAC/amp setups. You can't say the amp is not the Mojo's 'best' because you really are only hearing the DAC.

Spoiler: Rob Watts on the Hugo 'amp', which is mostly the same as Mojo

From this post:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/702787/chord-hugo/1830#post_10459450

3. The lack of DAC RF OP noise means that the analogue section can be made radically simpler as the analogue filter requirements are smaller. Now in analogue terms, making it simpler, with everything else being constant, gives more transparency. You really can hear every solder joint, every passive component, and every active stage. Now Hugo has a single active stage - a very high performance op-amp with a discrete op-stage as a hybrid with a single global feedback path. This arrangement means that you have a single active stage, two resistors and two capacitors in the direct signal path - and that is it. Note: there is no headphone drive. Normal high performance DAC's have 3 op-amp stages, followed by a separate headphone amp. So to conclude - Hugo's analogue path is not a simple couple of op-amps chucked together, it is fundamentally simpler than all other headphone amp solutions.

This brings me on to my biggest annoyance - the claim that Hugo's amp is merely good. Firstly, no body can possibly know how good the headphone amp in Hugo is, because there is not a separate headphone stage as such - its integrated into the DAC function directly. You can't remove the sound of the headphone amp from the sound of the DAC, it's one and the same.

Edit: The Angie's sound better from the Mojo than anything else I've paired them with.

 

[514077]

 

  I have no personal contact with Sony devices anymore.  The ZX2 costs $1K+, I believe.  That's more than an AK100ll.  I'd suggest starting out low, and seeing what you like.  

The Mojo is expensive, but it is meant to pair with cell phones.  No point in buying a good DAP if you're going to get a Mojo.  Just plug it in to your phone.

Everyone has likes here.  Read up on things in your price range before jumping in.  Figure out what you need, and what you just would like.  You could buy a Fiio X1 for a hundred bucks.  That might be enough for you.  Or maybe the X5 2nd.  Or any number of other low or mid-range DAPs.  Or go all in and get the Mojo.

That's what makes this hobby fun.    

The ZX2 is also less than half the asking price of the AK240, significantly less if you import the Japanese version, like me. I just can't stand AKs horrible value proposition, at every tier there's alternatives that come close/are better while costing much less. The only one I haven't demoed was the 380, simply because I thought the asking price was ridiculous

But I agree with what you mean, that's why my first question was what his sources would be, we really need to understand the use case before making a meaningful suggestion. Hopefully he will chime in with some feedback. I've been curious about the new Pioneer and Onkyo DAPs as well, they seem an interesting possibility, hope to hear them in person as well soon.

But here's a question to you (I'm guessing you've been at this much longer than me, given I only started about a year ago), knowing what you know now, and probably wading through a lot of mid-tier DAPs, IEMs, etc first before levelling up, so to speak: If you had a chance, would you have just gone big for your initial purchase and saved up for a flagship?

I've been pondering this a lot recently, maybe I should stop trying lower-end stuff, save cash and just make 2-3 big purchases a year, and call it a day. I guess making resolutions can't be avoided at this time of year

Edited for clarity.

As to your question about jumping over midpriced gear:  I enjoyed the journey to where I am.  When I got the X5, it was much better than the IPod160GB.  I couldn't understand what people didn't like about the DAP.  I got some TF-10s-better than anything had before-and thought I was done.
But, I found excitement in each improvement in components up to what I have now.  I don't regret any of my purchases, and enjoy what I have even more because I learned as I went.  IMHO

 

[olddude]

Had all of the stuff out now been available when I started, I probably would simply have gone for a Mojo for my phone.  Skipped all of the DAPs entirely.
 
As to my trip up the ladder, it's hard to know what is "better" without trying stuff.  I went through a lot of earbuds (Apple to UE lower-end ($80) to better UE $150-200) to, finally TF10s.  All for my iPhone.  That's when I first came here.  That got me curious about DAPs,  I started asking questions, and several folks (H20Fidelity, Brooko, some others) were willing to give suggestions.  Got an entry-level Colorfly C3, better sound than my iPhone.  Then I read about amps, got a little B&H amp for it.  Better.  Got a better amp for it (JDSLabs C5).  Better still.  Got silver interconnects.  Better still (my opinion).  Now the UI of the C3 became an issue, as it was very hard to see.  Did research here, was looking at iBasso DX50 and Fiio X5.  Chose the DX50 (should have chosen the X5, it turned out), but it really needed the C5 to sound good (to my ears).  But way better than the C3.  Used that for a while, tried all the firmwares that were available, kept on reading here.  Got an X5, better (to my ears) even without the amp.  Bye bye stack.  Now I was happening.  I thought I was there.  Nope.  Started getting more iems as I progressed up, went through a bunch (Altone, Dunu1K, finally the Fidue A83.  Thought I was there.  I knew what sound sig I liked, I was set.  Then my older boy gave me a Pono and, shockingly, I liked it more than my X5.  Then it became a matter of better iems again.  Did research, chose between UERM and Shure 846.  Chose (for me) wrong, got the 846.  Got a custom Moon Audio cable, got Sensaphonic sleeves.  Couldn't get the top end where I wanted it, struggled with it, finally went back and got the UERM.  Now I was set.  Everything was perfect.  But I had a little question about just how much better the AKs were.  Thought they were horribly overpriced, but was curious.  Fought myself, but finally got one off of Amazon thinking I would send it back because it wouldn't be that much better than my Pono.  It (to me) was.  Better UI, better sound, better file handling.  Expensive but better.  Amazingly better.  Crap!  Kept it.  Love it.  totally happy with it.  Then my ears began giving me trouble (long story) and I couldn't get the UERMs to fit.  Went back to the Fidues, but now they didn't do it for me anymore.  So I bought a Universal Angie, and loved it.  Now I use the UERMs (which finally fit again) at home and the Angie on walks, both with my AK120ll.  I hear the sweet siren call of the Mojo, but getting one would negate all of the aforementioned, and I'm just not going to do it.  Got myself a Moon cable for the Angie, should be here soon.
 
Had I simply purchased top of the line equipment at the start would I have been happier?  I'm not sure.  Part of this hobby is often overlooked.  It's educating yourself to sound. What you hear, what it sounds like, what your preferences are. etc.  Had I just jumped in and gotten the AK and Angie (or UERM) would I really know what I know now?  I don't think so.  Would I have saved some money?  Sure, though I've sold most of what I bought and used that money for new stuff (sold my Fidue recently and applied that money to the Moon cable).  I also had all of the fun of buying, using, learning, talking about it here, trying new things.  I think it was the better way (for me) to get from where I was to where I am.  Others might feel it was a waste and just jump in to the deep end.  
 
I think the hardest part of all of this is knowing when to stop (or at least slow down).  It's like a drug, trying to find that perfect high (often, again and again).  The search goes on, satisfaction is achieved but then there is that question of, "is there better, would I be happier?"  That can mean a never-ending search.  I've spent about four years going down this road, but I think I'm where I want to be now.  I love and appreciate both of my iems, and my AK works and sounds exactly as I need it to do.  I have hopefully reached my end point.  Until something breaks and can't be fixed, of course.

 

[PinkyPowers]

I too celebrate the journey as much as the destination. I couldn't properly appreciate my AK120ii>Angie without having spent time with the previous gear. Each upgrade is lovely, and you learn a lot about the equipment, the industry, and yourself.

 

[philk34]

Not everyone "top end" is the same. It depends on what you listen, what you ear, what your tastes are ... and what your journey has been, probably, too.
 
Appreciate the journey as much as the destination
 
PS: AK Jr is a nice step. I question myself if Ei.XX would not benefit from balanced abd detailed output of 100II or 120II, though.

 

[olddude]

That's why we experiment.  My 846 was not "right" for me, even though it is a TOTL iem that pleases many people.  I had to shift sideways to the UERM to find the right sound signature for me.  And then again for the Angie, though that purchase was driven more by the UERM not fitting for a while.  As well as the fact that both the UERM and the Angie are tuned for AK devices.  And that a lot of people using the 100ll and the 120ll were raving about the synergy with the Angie.  Good timing for my ears to get hinkey and not let the UERM insert properly.  Now I have two great iems that work for me.    
 
I looked at the Sony, but found posts that said it didn't pair well with the UERM, so moved away from it.  Just as I was looking at the X7 but moved away from it when it became clear that Fiio was making it for a demographic that didn't include me.  I always thought the AKs were just extremely overpriced, but having gotten one I can see (hear) the value.  All of the little things that bothered me with other devices are absent with the AK.  I see no reason to go up the ladder to the more highly-priced AKs, as the sound signature of my 120ll and the ease of UI use with it totally satisfies me.  

 

[ezekiel77]

I enjoyed my 3 years head-fi journey immensely, but catch myself telling junior headfiers to save time and go big the first time around. It saves money in the long run, and I didn't want my buddies to endure what I did. Had to sell all my old gear before upgrading which takes time, and the potential buyers you deal with, man! Some are... unpleasant.
 
However having said that, they might not appreciate what our ears have gone through had they moved from tier to tier.

 

[PinkyPowers]

You're swell folk, Ezekiel.

 

[Kogyaru]

i played around with the wire abit and stayed away from the connectors both the wires flush into my ears perfectly now hopefully everything is okay if not i have a second cable included i'll just buy an adapter or something
 
I'll save up for the mojo and work on getting flacs so far I'm just using spotify and my collection for mp3's.
 
The audio store I went to bought my angie's has the mojo I believe... I'll test it out sometime later I need to work on my interview to get into a certain flac sharing website.... Then I can think of getting expensive audio gear for le flacs.
 
Geez these sound so good I can't go back to even my DT 770's.
 
Angie is really a siren... lol Another curious question are angies able to be reshelled? I'd like to customize them further the angies look fine but there is one air bubble on them ): Not sure if it's possible to even get rid of it lol.

 

[echineko]

Had I simply purchased top of the line equipment at the start would I have been happier?  I'm not sure.  Part of this hobby is often overlooked.  It's educating yourself to sound. What you hear, what it sounds like, what your preferences are. etc.  

Yes, many (myself included) have the same thoughts as this. Without filtering out the chaff, how would you appreciate the wheat, right? I think I'm getting to where I want to be (and can be content with), but I did have to try lots of stuff beforehand. Would have been good if I had an audiophile parent/uncle when I was younger, so I could have learnt from someone else's experience.