Obscure Chinese DAPs

[hakuzen]

   
The dac chips are practically the same, but AK4495SEQ is newer and has a few extra pro audio features. Imo these AKM dac chips are better than the dacs from other makers, they just sound "right".
 
I haven't heard X10 so can't I comment on it's sound, but I know X10 uses muses8920 as amp and LMH6643 as buffer, in a generic setup this combo should result in a smoother presentation, somewhat rolled off sounding highs, and less defined bass, basically a lusher sound, kinda similar to Fiio house sound, while the Zishan leans towards a more neutral and defined or drier sound with OP275 and BUF634. Personally I'm not a fan of the sound of Muses8920 used as amp, imo it only sounds great used as IV and LPF, so I personally would not buy X10 for that reason, but again, that is just my sound preference.
 
The great thing about the Zishan is that even though it has a neutral presentation it has bass in spades, it kicks hard and deep, if it had any more bass it would sound like beats. The Zishan has rollable LPF, you can customize the sound presentation, it will still always be neutral due to the Zishans circuit design, but for example if you switch LPF to Muses01 the sound is denser, more controlled, laid back in tone, thicker bass (less slam, more body), thicker mids (less upfront, deeper and richer), highs are more sparkly with better timbre, while the stock LME49720 is upfront, energetic, cooler in tone, upper mids and vocals jump out at you in a good way, bass slams and highs are in line with mids and bass, timbre is generic.
 
The sound is still neutral in balance for both setups, and both setups keep the Zishan's hard hitting bass and extended highs, but each setup leans to a different genre, the Muses01 is better for jazz, acoustic, the LME49720 is better for rock, pop, but because it is always neutral in balance it sounds excellent with everything from electronic to classical no matter the LPF choice. What genre music are you primarily concerned with?
 
In the end I cannot tell you which one you would actually prefer, nor have I heard the X10, or have any plans to.

thanks! have you tried Muses02 as LPF? if so, i'd love to read your impressions

 

[anyone007]

I think ZiShan DSD will have a separate thread soon. I was wondering though if its sound will be on par with Fiio's X5ii and iBasso's DX90. I would definitely buy it with that price tag if that will be the case.

 

[w3nj13]

I, too, have ordered zishan dsd plus combo 2 upgrade plus electrical upgrade plus a1 amp on 11/11 from taobao. Can't wait!

 

[cokrewel]

The dac chips are practically the same, but AK4495SEQ is newer and has a few extra pro audio features. Imo these AKM dac chips are better than the dacs from other makers, they just sound "right".

I haven't heard X10 so can't I comment on it's sound, but I know X10 uses muses8920 as amp and LMH6643 as buffer, in a generic setup this combo should result in a smoother presentation, somewhat rolled off sounding highs, and less defined bass, basically a lusher sound, kinda similar to Fiio house sound, while the Zishan leans towards a more neutral and defined or drier sound with OP275 and BUF634. Personally I'm not a fan of the sound of Muses8920 used as amp, imo it only sounds great used as IV and LPF, so I personally would not buy X10 for that reason, but again, that is just my sound preference.

The great thing about the Zishan is that even though it has a neutral presentation it has bass in spades, it kicks hard and deep, if it had any more bass it would sound like beats. The Zishan has rollable LPF, you can customize the sound presentation, it will still always be neutral due to the Zishans circuit design, but for example if you switch LPF to Muses01 the sound is denser, more controlled, laid back in tone, thicker bass (less slam, more body), thicker mids (less upfront, deeper and richer), highs are more sparkly with better timbre, while the stock LME49720 is upfront, energetic, cooler in tone, upper mids and vocals jump out at you in a good way, bass slams and highs are in line with mids and bass, timbre is generic.

The sound is still neutral in balance for both setups, and both setups keep the Zishan's hard hitting bass and extended highs, but each setup leans to a different genre, the Muses01 is better for jazz, acoustic, the LME49720 is better for rock, pop, but because it is always neutral in balance it sounds excellent with everything from electronic to classical no matter the LPF choice. What genre music are you primarily concerned with?

In the end I cannot tell you which one you would actually prefer, nor have I heard the X10, or have any plans to.

Tq
Zishan dsd memory error isue?
how to fix it if there is a software update?

Dang looks like I missed out on the metal buttons, my Zishan has hard rubber buttons.

EDIT: Also I found that while playing certain songs from my 64gb card that I would get an error. Cards greater than 32gb have to be formatted to fat32 (for now hopefully) and the maximum size supported is 256gb.

there may be other ways besides?

 

[neog007]

Since the Zishan owners are increasing I started a thread with the intention to have some interesting related information altogether  . 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/826185/the-zishan-dsds-corner

 

[MLTKSHHBT]

I, too, have ordered zishan dsd plus combo 2 upgrade plus electrical upgrade plus a1 amp on 11/11 from taobao. Can't wait!

Looking forward for your impression! I was looking at this combo as well, but end up buying ibasso pb3 for my dx90.

 

[vapman]

Glad to see there's a Zishan dedicated thread now, I was starting too think it was becoming a little too popular for this thread

 

[nick n]

How's mp3 playback working and have you used it in amp mode yet? I'm still waiting on mine to ship

Would imagine unless the noise doesnt occur only on very sensitive gear that an impedance adapter could be beneficial.

oops missed this post. No issues at all with MP3 playback.
 Amp mode briefly not long enough to recall yet. I'll get to that. I thought you had to hold a button down on startup, maybe don't know what I am doing there but didn't work, however it self detects and swaps into that mode from what I recall.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

The walnut seems to have digital vol control as well as analog, you can hold down the next or prev button to change the digital vol, I max out the digital vol personally then use analog. I'm liking the Walnut, good little unit well worth the $20 I won for on ebay. The cpu chip includes the dac, I tried finding out what the chip is but I found nothing when googling it's serial, also there is no PLL circuit either, no crystal oscillator, the only other chips on the bottom of the pcb are an EEPROM which contains the OS, chip 4056E which charges the battery, and a voltage boost chip + regulator. I tried a bunch of opamps and a few had no noise floor, my favorite opamp with Walnut is AD827SQ, lowest noise floor and soo good for electronic, excellent separation and staging, excellent treble and bass, but if you want excellent vocals go for Muses02, has more body, more soul to vocals.

 

[neog007]

I thought you had to hold a button down on startup, maybe don't know what I am doing there but didn't work, however it self detects and swaps into that mode from what I recall.

For amp mode just insert the cable in the line in/out jack and that's all. An impedance adapter could be certanly beneficial with the stock oamp to reduce the hiss for sure. One thing I found curious about the digital/analog volume thing is that you can use the digital volume to set the maximum level to operate with the analog one -the volume weel- so, in this way, you have a kind of personalized low-gain function for both player and amplifier function. Very good for sensitive iems since this player is very powerful.
Another thing I noticed about this player is that there's a bit appreciative difference in quality sound between wav and MP3 files, not so noticeable in other players I tried, although the MP3 sound quality is very good. Just notice that the quality step up with wav files is more noticeable than in others players.

 

[nick n]

   my favorite opamp with Walnut is AD827SQ, lowest noise floor and soo good for electronic, excellent separation and staging, excellent treble and bass, but if you want excellent vocals go for Muses02, has more body, more soul to vocals.

 ouch SQ is as much as the player 
JN not low enough ideal operating range it looks like.
Thanks and noted / saved.
 
 
the dual volume adjustment is a great feature yes.

 

[vapman]

I can't wait at all to get mine. All your posts are making me so impatient for mine to arrive!!!
 
Anyone have luck with a card larger than 32GB btw? I figure I won't want tons of music on a screenless DAP but just curious. And wondering if anyone's tried OPA opamps in it?

 

[neog007]

Anyone have luck with a card larger than 32GB btw? I figure I won't want tons of music on a screenless DAP but just curious. 

This player came with a 8gb micro SD card fully loaded with strange  Chinese WAV songs. That's more than enough for a screenless player but  I'm sure you can use any micro SD size card by formatting it with some special fat32 formatting software. That's what I did with the rockboxed xduoo'd x3 and the zishan dsd (before the exFat support of the newer FU)

 

[vapman]

  This player came with a 8gb micro SD card fully loaded with strange  Chinese WAV songs. That's more than enough for a screenless player but  I'm sure you can use any micro SD size card by formatting it with some special fat32 formatting software. That's what I did with the rockboxed xduoo'd x3 and the zishan dsd (before the exFat support of the newer FU)

Woah! I hope I got a card full of Chinese music! Would be too awesome

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

   ouch SQ is as much as the player 
JN not low enough ideal operating range it looks like.
Thanks and noted / saved.

 
My favorite budget opamp with Walnut was AD8397, in case you were wondering, it has low noise floor and high dynamics. I also tried LME49860 but unfortunately there is a noise floor (still better than stock though), I also tried several other LME and OPA opamps but all had some noise floor (I didn't try LME49990 though so I'm interested in your results with it).
 
Overall it seems the AD opamps work well in the Walnut. I didn't get to try some Linear Technology (LT) opamps, I will do that some other day. Actually I also forgot to try Muses8820 which would be a good cheaper alternative for those after the Muses02 sound.