[LaughMoreDaily]

I prefer the F.Audio S1 over the Zishan Z2 and Z3.
The F.Audio S1 has an impedance measured by me of 9.3 Ohms
IMHO F.Audio S1 is brighter, better separation, better defined bass, clearer mids, more detail, the voices are more complete and better defined. It also has more scene.

RE: DAP/Amp/DAC: Fiio X3II, AGPtek H1, AGPtek B05, AGPtek Rocker, Zishan Z2, Zishan Z3, Ruizu A50 HD, F.Audio S1/ Fiio Q1 / FX-Audio DAC-X6.

Can you give us a bit more info on what you think of the F Audio S1 compared to your other players? Is it one of your faves?

 

[cqtek]

I just had to read this message to convince me to buy it:

Scrambler said in a pm that the F.audio S1 has minor interface/software issues (like alot of other DAP's) but the sound and power it generates is better then even the Shanling M1 which is his favorite DAP (and costs twice as much). XDuoo Nano D3, HiFiMan MegaMini can certainly not touch the soundquality and power this budget DAP produces, so it is probably (one of) the best DAP soundwise till atleast €130+ and costs only €46,--. I am probably gonna choose between the F.Audio S1 or the Xuelin 780. F.Audio apparantly has very high quality sound&power with 35h playtime but the Xuelin 780 @15h playtime looks much more fabulous and has covers and is allready recieving software updates. It is a difficult choice when you do not exactly know what you are deciding on, so I am gonna sleep on it. Do I go for the looks or character.... (1 more extra day does not matter anyway).

Here is another message talking about the S1:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/obscure-chinese-daps.720512/page-294#post-14032647

I have spoken personally with @deltecdpa about the F.Audio players and he says that even the Xunsound XS01 has better sound quality than the S1. It also costs twice as much. The problem is that the XS01 plays some background clicks, which are played with certain types of music.

Why people don't speak about this awesome player (F.Audio S1)? I don't know, it may be that your DAC does not draw attention to the DAC used by the Zishan Z2 / Z3. But what does that matter when it finally sounds better, is better built and its battery life is more long?

Z2/Z3 comes with LM4562NA opamp. LM4562HA is the same but with another capsule, called TO-99. This kind of chip can dissipate more heat and this seems to affect the final sound quality. I do not distinguish differences between them.
In my country (Spain) LME49720HA it's discontinued. The store offered me the LM4562HA and told me it was the same model, or current replacement model.

Technically who should buy or manufacture a player whose output impedance is 100 Ohms? S1 has 9.3 Ohms, it's also high for use with low impedance headphones. The rule for a DAP not to change the frequency response of a headphones is that its output impedance must be 8 times less than that of the headphones.

You can read more here about "Headphone & Amp Impedance":

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com.es/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html

I think that the great benefit of Zishan is its volume control, its unusual aesthetics, and the possibility of altering its sound by changing components.

For me S1 is better than AGPTek Rocker, its sound is narrow in comparison. Ruizu A50 HD and Rocker have a similar sound, I prefer the A50. But S1 is in another league. Agptek H1 is a DAP that I like a lot, it has a very nice warm sound. I have not compared them face to face because I prefer to have the H1 in a good memory. S1 has another profile, it is clear, brighter.

Definitely and without a doubt S1 is the best DAP that I have below 60€.

Finally I wrote a review of the Z3 in Spanish in this blog:

https://auricular.org/zishan-z3-reproductor-mp3/

 

[Wiljen]

RE: AD8066. When you say coherency, do you mean that it's not able to easily understand what's being sung/said? I like the sound that the Burson is mid-forward, as vocals are great to listen to, but I think them only semi--forward, not as much as that they get lost in the back. I think I'll buy the Burson anyway in time because everyone seems to love it so much. It won't be for a while though, as I just bought 4 others and still need to post a review.

Don't worry about mailing me a v5i, that's too much effort on your part. Thanks anyway.

On the term coherency what I am referencing is how the instruments sound in comparison to others and how they are placed in reference to each other on the stage. If you consider the orchestra, the instruments are always seated in a particular arrangement so you do not anticipate hearing a cello in front of the viola. Same thing with brass bands, you would not expect to hear a trombone coming from the same point in space as the clarinets. The other problem is that not all instruments error in the same direction, One may seem overly bright while another comes across as just slightly flat. If all voices are off by the same degree and in the same direction it is much more easily ignored. When they error in opposite directions it is much more pronounced.

 

[silverfishla]

I just had to read this message to convince me to buy it:



Here is another message talking about the S1:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/obscure-chinese-daps.720512/page-294#post-14032647

I have spoken personally with @deltecdpa about the F.Audio players and he says that even the Xunsound XS01 has better sound quality than the S1. It also costs twice as much. The problem is that the XS01 plays some background clicks, which are played with certain types of music.

Why people don't speak about this awesome player (F.Audio S1)? I don't know, it may be that your DAC does not draw attention to the DAC used by the Zishan Z2 / Z3. But what does that matter when it finally sounds better, is better built and its battery life is more long?

Z2/Z3 comes with LM4562NA opamp. LM4562HA is the same but with another capsule, called TO-99. This kind of chip can dissipate more heat and this seems to affect the final sound quality. I do not distinguish differences between them.
In my country (Spain) LME49720HA it's discontinued. The store offered me the LM4562HA and told me it was the same model, or current replacement model.

Technically who should buy or manufacture a player whose output impedance is 100 Ohms? S1 has 9.3 Ohms, it's also high for use with low impedance headphones. The rule for a DAP not to change the frequency response of a headphones is that its output impedance must be 8 times less than that of the headphones.

You can read more here about "Headphone & Amp Impedance":

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com.es/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html

I think that the great benefit of Zishan is its volume control, its unusual aesthetics, and the possibility of altering its sound by changing components.

For me S1 is better than AGPTek Rocker, its sound is narrow in comparison. Ruizu A50 HD and Rocker have a similar sound, I prefer the A50. But S1 is in another league. Agptek H1 is a DAP that I like a lot, it has a very nice warm sound. I have not compared them face to face because I prefer to have the H1 in a good memory. S1 has another profile, it is clear, brighter.

Definitely and without a doubt S1 is the best DAP that I have below 60€.

Finally I wrote a review of the Z3 in Spanish in this blog:

https://auricular.org/zishan-z3-reproductor-mp3/

My biggest complaint about the Z3 is that they misspell "Folder" as "Floder". Haha.

 

[tarhana]

That's good to hear, I heard the Z3 (what I have) is similar to the Z2 but it's not as good. Is a Z2 your "end game" player for a while? Are you happy enough with it to just swap an opamp here and there and be done?

i had hidizs ap100, shanling m2s and tried other mid-fi daps (x5iii, m1s etc), currently using z2 due to budget issues. z2 can compete them on pretty much everything but they have better soundstage and instrument separation (except m2s lol).

i was using it with stock op amp, then burson sent me a v5i to try out. it has better tonality, mids and bass compared to stock op amp. and it has lower output impedance (at least what they told me) so it pairs with low impedance iems nicely (i'm using it with ibasso it03). it's a bit pricey but imo worth it.

i always look for upgrade but i think i will always hold on to z2. perfect for commuting.

 

[mbwilson111]

My biggest complaint about the Z3 is that they misspell "Folder" as "Floder". Haha.

A firmware update could fix that.

 

[silverfishla]

A firmware update could fix that.

It could...if they would. Isn't always this way?

 

[mbwilson111]

It could...if they would. Isn't always this way?

You could make custom firmware

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

i had hidizs ap100, shanling m2s and tried other mid-fi daps (x5iii, m1s etc), currently using z2 due to budget issues. z2 can compete them on pretty much everything but they have better soundstage and instrument separation (except m2s lol).

i was using it with stock op amp, then burson sent me a v5i to try out. it has better tonality, mids and bass compared to stock op amp. and it has lower output impedance (at least what they told me) so it pairs with low impedance iems nicely (i'm using it with ibasso it03). it's a bit pricey but imo worth it.

i always look for upgrade but i think i will always hold on to z2. perfect for commuting.

So you had to sell your old players because of your budget? That's too bad... it must be nice to have a nice player, but yeah, with Zishan, it's cheap and ugly when unskinned so it doesn't look like it's worth stealing but it sounds like it should be stolen!

I'm not sure Burson is worth it right now, I take that back, it probably is... but it'd cost $70 over here when I can buy another $15 opamp easily. Someone here said they liked the LT1028 better than the Burson so I bought that and am waiting for it... it's cool they'll give you 30 days to audition it, but the $15 shipping kills the deal, almost.

Do you still use the Burson in the Z2 for daily commuting?

 

[tarhana]

So you had to sell your old players because of your budget? That's too bad... it must be nice to have a nice player, but yeah, with Zishan, it's cheap and ugly when unskinned so it doesn't look like it's worth stealing but it sounds like it should be stolen!

I'm not sure Burson is worth it right now, I take that back, it probably is... but it'd cost $70 over here when I can buy another $15 opamp easily. Someone here said they liked the LT1028 better than the Burson so I bought that and am waiting for it... it's cool they'll give you 30 days to audition it, but the $15 shipping kills the deal, almost.

Do you still use the Burson in the Z2 for daily commuting?

yeah i'm happy with sq of z2 so it doesn't bother me. although i don't like the feel of aluminum.

i only tried v5i so i recommended that. i'm sure lt1028 is nice too. let me know your impressions on it.

yeah i'm using it daily. funny thing is when i had daps with screen i always listened with shuffle or play all. couldn't stand listening whole album. now i get used to listening album. i think it's better this way.

 

[ShabtabQ]

best portable dac or a dap under $100 please.

 

[bsoplinger]

Any of the Benjie (or equivalent AGPtEK branded versions) under $30 units if you need bare bones absolutely no frills but it just plays mp3 and flac. A number of them have crazy 40+ hours of battery life. Most have nice metal shells. The Benjie T6 / AGPtEK Rocker for about $50 if you want a few more features and gapless playback or Bluetooth. The Hidizs AP60 MKII for about $100 for a player that can act as a transport for a separate decoder and amp or as a USB DAC for your computer.

 

[ShabtabQ]

Any of the Benjie (or equivalent AGPtEK branded versions) under $30 units if you need bare bones absolutely no frills but it just plays mp3 and flac. A number of them have crazy 40+ hours of battery life. Most have nice metal shells. The Benjie T6 / AGPtEK Rocker for about $50 if you want a few more features and gapless playback or Bluetooth. The Hidizs AP60 MKII for about $100 for a player that can act as a transport for a separate decoder and amp or as a USB DAC for your computer.

Sir, the Hidizs AP60 MKII will be better than the FiiO Q1 Mark II, in terms of SQ?

 

[bsoplinger]

The Q1 is a DAC + amp combo. You had asked about players. I do own the Q1 mk2 and its an OK amp. I've not used it as a DAC. If you held a gun to my head and insisted I describe its sound I'd say it has added bass. But I don't think it is too much of an addition. I like how the AP60 MKII sounds and its feature set.

 

[Roboturner913]

I looked at the S1 for a while but figured it was too good to be true. I may need to revisit it. What's the navigation, volume changes, etc. like?