[RodLaird]

I couldn't agree with you more. I still have my old ak300. The sp1000 is much better in regards to imaging, soundstage and resolution with both my Khan and Solaris. The ak300 is great for use with my car stereo though.

What are you using in your main stereo system?

It is modest but for my aged ears more that adequate; a pair of Dali Epicon 2 and an Arcam Solo Music which predominantly takes material from my NAS or through-streamed from the net (using BubblePnP). All my CD collection has been moved my the NAS as lossless FLAC and I now only tend to acquire new material at higher bit rates. The quality difference from 44/16 to 96/24 is huge and wonderful - but beyond that the differences diminish to a point of "sometimes but not always discernable" (depending on the source material - and from the perspective of enjoyment, irrelevant. Some Sennheiser HD800s' provide a separate reference, driven by a Questyle CMA400i

There are always diminishing returns from investment/effort - and as you age the crossover can bring you to a point where you realise the equipment you can buy exceeds the performance of the equipment between your ears. In which case it's a matter of simply easing back and focusing on enjoying the superlative choice of music now available. A liberating point in your life I might add!

 

[FidelityCastro]

The quality difference from 44/16 to 96/24 is huge and wonderful - but beyond that the differences diminish to a point of "sometimes but not always discernable" (depending on the source material - and from the perspective of enjoyment, irrelevant. Some Sennheiser HD800s' provide a separate reference, driven by a Questyle CMA400i

There are always diminishing returns from investment/effort - and as you age the crossover can bring you to a point where you realise the equipment you can buy exceeds the performance of the equipment between your ears. In which case it's a matter of simply easing back and focusing on enjoying the superlative choice of music now available. A liberating point in your life I might add!

Agree with this 100%. Nicely put.

 

[gazzington]

This dap is expensive but to be honest it leaves my other daps behind. Dx220 with amp 8, can't compete with it. To my ears anyhow. I also think it sounds far better than the lotoo paw gold touch. Again, these are my options so other people may have different opinions. One dap I'm hoping to buy an old ak240 or ak380 for my out and about device.

 

[JasonNYC]

New firmware updates coming this month for SP1000 and SP1000M.

New features include:

• AMP support for SP1000
• Car Mode function - When enabled, a more simplified display for one-handed use in the car
• EQ Sync Function - ability to save and export EQ settings and share with others. Ability to import custom EQ settings. We see headphone manufacturers using this to create custom EQ settings for our players to use with their headphones or friends to share their recommended EQ settings.
• Improvements to OpenApp - Have not received much info on this yet, but I believe it's functional fixes like fixing the text color in search on Qobuz app, etc.
• System optimizations and bug fixes

SP1000 firmware target release date is morning of June 18 in Korea (late night 6/17 in the US)

SP1000M firmware target release date is morning of June 25 in Korea (late night 6/24 in the US)

 

[Progisus]

@JasonNYC - no roon yet?

 

[JasonNYC]

@JasonNYC - no roon yet?

No update yet. I asked for an update last night when I received the firmware info. I will share once I receive more info.

 

[ChrisLN]

@JasonNYC, how about playlist .m3u file handling? Is there a solution for importing .m3u files? Thanks.

 

[KimChee]

I agree it blows dx220 away...when dx200 came out they were saying it was better than sp1000, but sp1000 is the best portable I’ve heard so far.

I've had this player for just over a month and I know money does not equal quality all the time but in this case it really does. It just sounds so much better than my dx220 and lotoo paw gold touch i used to own. Incredible euphoric sound.

 

[emrelights1973]

Wait for the amp!

 

[olddude]

Update went smoothly (as always).

 

[lithiumnk]

Line out functionality changed in new update. 1.19CM

 

[Dionysus]

Nice, update went smooth, I like the horizontal view.

 

[RodLaird]

New firmware updates coming this month for SP1000 and SP1000M.

New features include:

• AMP support for SP1000
• Car Mode function - When enabled, a more simplified display for one-handed use in the car
• EQ Sync Function - ability to save and export EQ settings and share with others. Ability to import custom EQ settings. We see headphone manufacturers using this to create custom EQ settings for our players to use with their headphones or friends to share their recommended EQ settings.
• Improvements to OpenApp - Have not received much info on this yet, but I believe it's functional fixes like fixing the text color in search on Qobuz app, etc.
• System optimizations and bug fixes

SP1000 firmware target release date is morning of June 18 in Korea (late night 6/17 in the US)

SP1000M firmware target release date is morning of June 25 in Korea (late night 6/24 in the US)

The new car mode is lovely.; I remain frustrated by the Genre and MQA displays. I would have hope for at least a choice that would just show Albums/Thumbnails rather than specific tracks. And in the MQA area a filter to select file type / sampling parameters. How do I provide this feedback best to A&K?

otherwise a very happy camper

Rod

 

[dhc0329]

I agree it blows dx220 away...when dx200 came out they were saying it was better than sp1000, but sp1000 is the best portable I’ve heard so far.

Have you tried both sp1000 and dx220? I had sp1000ss for quite some times and thought it sounded pretty good but there are a lot of people claiming dx220 has bigger sound stage with texture bass, etc.
I never had ibaaso products so makes me want to try out to see if dx220's indeed better.

 

[KimChee]

I have owned both, a few other members messaged me when I sold my dx220, and we agreed about our perceptions of the dx220. IMHO 220 stage is smaller than regular ak380, and sonically inferior in all areas particularly the upper registers, and bass quantity/quality imaging. Sp1000 is technically superior to AK380, so honestly I don’t think it’s an realistic comparison. Dx200 has nice equalization, and you can substantially boost levels high, but even so bass quality wasn’t up to 380 level, and more mid than sub bass.

In all fairness the 1000/380 cost much more, but people were saying the dx200 was better than sp1000 and I owned both at the same time as well, which I didn’t find personally to be true.

I like Ibasso and I owned a dx90 happily for 4-5 years without feeling the need to upgrade, and I’m not bashing the 220, it’s a great dap for the money for sure.

Have you tried both sp1000 and dx220? I had sp1000ss for quite some times and thought it sounded pretty good but there are a lot of people claiming dx220 has bigger sound stage with texture bass, etc.
I never had ibaaso products so makes me want to try out to see if dx220's indeed better.