Obscure Chinese DAPs

[notamethlab]

Does K9 or S5 has warm sound? Coz I have xduoo x2 and I cant stand its bassy SQ, doesnt go well with most of my IEMs

With the EQ off I'd say it has a small emphasis in bass but, the "Jazz" setting is well balanced.

 

[bartzky]

Does K9 or S5 has warm sound? Coz I have xduoo x2 and I cant stand its bassy SQ, doesnt go well with most of my IEMs

The Xduoo has that tilt to warm signature because of it's high noisefloor in the bass region. Despite that it's totally neutral. So you will just need a neutral DAP with less noise.

If you like an especially cold sound you could try the Ruizu X02, wich has a rolled of bass.

 

[peter123]

The Xduoo has that tilt to warm signature because of it's high noisefloor in the bass region. Despite that it's totally neutral. So you will just need a neutral DAP with less noise.

If you like an especially cold sound you could try the Ruizu X02, wich has a rolled of bass.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with your reasoning here. The warmth doesn't come from the subbass in my experience, neither does a rolled of sub bass gives a colder sound (still in my experience). In my experience it's the amount of mid and upper bass that may give a device a "warm" or "cold" tilt.

It's obvious that we've got different experiences and I just wanted to add mine to the discussion.

 

[vapman]

In my experience the Xduoo is one of the more netural DAPs i have ever heard.

 

[bartzky]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with your reasoning here. The warmth doesn't come from the subbass in my experience, neither does a rolled of sub bass gives a colder sound (still in my experience). In my experience it's the amount of mid and upper bass that may give a device a "warm" or "cold" tilt.

It's obvious that we've got different experiences and I just wanted to add mine to the discussion.

I did't say subbass. So we don't necessarily disagree 

 
However it needs to be notet that the X2 has a perfectly flat FR loaded an unloaded:

So there's no emphasis either in mid or subbass.
 
Though, what I tried to make clear, is that if you are using sensitive low impedance IEMs the noise of the X2 becomes highly noticeable. Hence it's noise is overly low frequency noise (I don't want to specify further) the sound will be warm.

 

[vapman]

I got the Idealist S1813 in the mail today from @notamethlab


to be honest I had to get it for myself when he wrote it reminded him of dial-up, as i am a sucker for vintage computing nostalgia, anyway.... the packing is super inconspicuous, ust says MP3 PLAYER with no indication of brand or model, the usb cable and manual are inside the box.

it is extremely light despite feeling study enough - light aluminum casing looks like it could survive a tough fall, although who knows if the inside is as tough? transfer speed to internal memory is quite slow but not worrying over it.

i turned on the "bass" eq setting like i always do and it is quite good sounding!! seems to have kind of the "fiio" thing going on with forward mids & upper mids presentation. don't mind it though.

Its biggest problem IMO is the clunky interface which is pretty unintuitive. It makes up for it by having excellent SQ for the price, especially with lossy files.



Have been using it with KZ ZS3 or various earbuds, might try with the sz2000 for fun

 

[farisq]

The Xduoo has that tilt to warm signature because of it's high noisefloor in the bass region. Despite that it's totally neutral. So you will just need a neutral DAP with less noise.

If you like an especially cold sound you could try the Ruizu X02, wich has a rolled of bass.

I do own Ruizu X02 and I found that it responded well with all my iem, only I feel that it is not as powerful as xduoo x2, or as analytical

 

[vapman]

As much as I love the Idealist S1813, I can understand why it is so cheap....
 
kind of a shame since the SQ is so good at such a low price. randomly songs from SD card may stop playing and give a "File format error" strangely often. Does not read exFAT microSD, but can read FAT32. Just not reliably... have not found a way to keep it from crashing yet.
 
Have not had this error when playing from internal memory, so i'm hoping there might be a way to fix it.

 

[peter123]

  As much as I love the Idealist S1813, I can understand why it is so cheap....
 
kind of a shame since the SQ is so good at such a low price. randomly songs from SD card may stop playing and give a "File format error" strangely often. Does not read exFAT microSD, but can read FAT32. Just not reliably... have not found a way to keep it from crashing yet.
 
Have not had this error when playing from internal memory, so i'm hoping there might be a way to fix it.

+1!
 
I've used mine for over a year now and love the sq from it, by far the best cheap DAP I've tried (based on sound only). The UI and some other quirks does still keep me from recommending it widely. Once you get used to how it works it's still ok (at least to me) and I use mine a lot. 

 

[bzfrank]

The XUELIN iHifi990 seems to be available now. Anyone tried it yet?

 

[h1f1add1cted]

Hi, is there any chinese DAP exisiting with a single full size SD (not microSD) slot and digital out (no line-out) which is not from Hifiman or Lotoo?

 

[hqssui]

  Hi, is there any chinese DAP exisiting with a single full size SD (not microSD) slot and digital out (no line-out) which is not from Hifiman or Lotoo?

 
QLS QA360
 
http://www.qlshifi.com/en/wzcapi/qa360.htm

 

[h1f1add1cted]

Thank you for the fast reply, impressive piece but a way to oversized for me needs, I want to use it as a digital transport only, , so DAC, AMP, output power and so on is not important. Is there any cheaper <300 USD DAP with this two main requirements may existing?
 

 

[hqssui]

  Thank you for the fast reply, impressive piece but a way to oversized for me needs, I want to use it as a digital transport only, , so DAC, AMP, output power and so on is not important. Is there any cheaper <300 USD DAP with this two main requirements may existing?
 

 
I dont know any others. Calyx M has a full size SD slot. But I am not sure if it has digital out.

 

[audionewbi]

I dont know any others. Calyx M has a full size SD slot. But I am not sure if it has digital out.

No digital out for calyx m