[Ardian]

Hi to everyone

I have bought a Martin Logan Mikros 90, and the sound is incredible in my opinion.
The Sansa Clip+ that I have, seems a bit poor in body for the Martin, anche I need to high up the volume too much!! Can you suggest me a new DAP that can easily drive the ML and that would be the most natural sounding, something that is near real sound.
I saw the Colorfly C3, iBasso DX50, FiiO X3, Hisoundaudio Rocoo BA, iPod Classic. Which one can be the best??

My kind of music is: Classical, Ambient, Heavy Metal and little Pop.

- The iPod have the biggest storage, 160GB for my FLAC library is very adeguate But te SQ seems a bit inferior than the others, or I am wrong?
- Colorfly C3 is very cheap, cool and good sounding according to this forum, but doesn't have the shuffle function (I read here that Colorfly want to make a new DAP, is it true?).
- iBasso is more expensive, but have an excellent sound (someone said poor body?! I need something whit more body, cause my Sansa is "body-less" too!)
- FiiO is dark, that means not natural sounding?
- Rocoo BA is very cool, cheap but has a bad UI and I don't know if it is superior in comparison with iPod or Colorfly or Sansa.

Last but not least, it's worth to have a 24bit device reader? Martin Logan Mikros 90 (or my IEM shure Se215le) can shine with this kind of music?



Thanks. And sorry for the poor english of mine!

 

[Sefelt103]

Choosing a new DAP is a difficult choice. They all tend to be unique and really you won't know what you have until the purchase is made. The iPod is the mainstream player on your list. It won't play flac files unless you modify it. For usage on the move it has many strengths, its interface, capacity, duration and availability but it is expensive slightly less reliable (due to HDD) and people have questioned its sound quality. The C3/IBasso/X3 are alternative hi-fi players. They have all had or have dreadful interfaces at some point. Their capacity is made using microsd cards that are cheap now but may be inconvenient. The C3 is low cost and very minimalist which does not appeal to some. Fiio's X3 is probably the highest sound quality player although Fiio went for a warm analogue type sound which is away from neutral. So it has added bass and some colouration in its sound. It has the well regarded Wofson DAC WM8740. The iBasso is a more elegant solution, perhaps slightly thin sounding with a narrower soundstage and slighly bright. The X3 and DX50 are both high resolution players although I believe Colorfly has recently added that to their new C3. Regarding high resolution have a read of gregorio's article '24bit vs 16bit the myth exploded'. My opinion is for listening on the move high resolution gives little for a great loss of capacity but perhaps when used with very high end components indoors some benefit can be derived. I would go for the X3. It has a full sound which you are after and it can drive just about any headphones with its very powerful internal amplifier. It plays flac as well.

 

[Ardian]

Choosing a new DAP is a difficult choice. They all tend to be unique and really you won't know what you have until the purchase is made. The iPod is the mainstream player on your list. It won't play flac files unless you modify it. For usage on the move it has many strengths, its interface, capacity, duration and availability but it is expensive slightly less reliable (due to HDD) and people have questioned its sound quality. The C3/IBasso/X3 are alternative hi-fi players. They have all had or have dreadful interfaces at some point. Their capacity is made using microsd cards that are cheap now but may be inconvenient. The C3 is low cost and very minimalist which does not appeal to some. Fiio's X3 is probably the highest sound quality player although Fiio went for a warm analogue type sound which is away from neutral. So it has added bass and some colouration in its sound. It has the well regarded Wofson DAC WM8740. 

The FiiO maybe can have the thickness that I'm searching from my Sansa Clip+??
 

The iBasso is a more elegant solution, perhaps slightly thin sounding with a narrower soundstage and slighly bright. The X3 and DX50 are both high resolution players although I believe Colorfly has recently added that to their new C3. 

What does it mean that Colorfly has added that to their new (there is a new version of it?) C3?? Now color fly can read other format?
 

Regarding high resolution have a read of gregorio's article '24bit vs 16bit the myth exploded'. My opinion is for listening on the move high resolution gives little for a great loss of capacity but perhaps when used with very high end components indoors some benefit can be derived. 

Thanks for the advice. I'll read the article
 

I would go for the X3. It has a full sound which you are after and it can drive just about any headphones with its very powerful internal amplifier. It plays flac as well.

Maybe I have to wait for the new X1 incoming? Lower price with the same quality except for some features that I don't need?

 
 
 
Thank you for the detailed answer

 

[Lorspeaker]

lol.... just mod the mikros n stick to the sansa

 

[Ardian]

  lol.... just mod the mikros n stick to the sansa

What type of mod? The sansa is great, but for my taste need some thickness to the sound.. I need a new DAP that can make shine the Mikros!

 

[Sefelt103]

I was mistaken about the C3 - its always been a high resolution player like the Fiio X3/DX50. It may be that your headphones lack in the midrange rather than your player. I once came across a really thick sounding player in the form of a Cowon S9 but it was not a player I particularly liked. Unfortunately really neutral/natural sounding players tend to be rare and often expensive.

 

[Lorspeaker]

  What type of mod? The sansa is great, but for my taste need some thickness to the sound.. I need a new DAP that can make shine the Mikros!

http://www.head-fi.org/t/633514/martin-logan-mikros-90-on-ear-headphones/3900
 
visit this thread...a few mods suggested...or read my signature below

 

[olddude]

C3 has shuffle.

 

[chee006]

Get the dx50 it has the best of most dap around that price range

 

[MUSICCURE]

Have you rockboxed the clip?

 

[Ardian]

Have you rockboxed the clip?

Yes, I had! But rockbox changes sound quality?

 

[MUSICCURE]

Yes, I had! But rockbox changes sound quality?

The eq helped give me the kind of sound I wanted out of my portable head headphones and iem's. For full size headphones I include a headphone amp like the E11.

 

[Ardian]

The eq helped give me the kind of sound I wanted out of my portable head headphones and iem's. For full size headphones I include a headphone amp like the E11.

It seems a bit difficult to use the EQ of rockbox, can you suggest me the paramethres??
I wanted to buy something more portable like FiiO E6, it worth the buying?

 

[MUSICCURE]

It seems a bit difficult to use the EQ of rockbox, can you suggest me the paramethres??
I wanted to buy something more portable like FiiO E6, it worth the buying?

For me, I go to sound settings/compressor/threshold and set to -3 db to give a little more power. Be careful, turning threshold to high could lead to distortion.

The simple meier crossfeed makes music more focused and seperated.

Regarding small amps like e5 and e6 is a good start to see if you can see improvements. The e5 was my first amp I bought for 20$ Now I have several and still use them all.

 

[Ardian]

For me, I go to sound settings/compressor/threshold and set to -3 db to give a little more power. Be careful, turning threshold to high could lead to distortion.

The simple meier crossfeed makes music more focused and seperated.

Regarding small amps like e5 and e6 is a good start to see if you can see improvements. The e5 was my first amp I bought for 20$ Now I have several and still use them all.

Thank you very much for these informations! I tried and seems a bit different in better
Definitely I need more power, this is the lack of body that I perceive with the Clip+!
I have to try a mini FiiO and seeing if gives me what I'm searching

Thank you another time!!!