For my ears, paired with HD650, even my old ibasso D14 bushmaster sound better from onix, D14 soundstage is wider and bigger, more 3d sound, treble, and sound separation also better, onix is better with bass, smoothness, and warmer.
I just sold my onix last night.
For my ears, paired with HD650, even my old ibasso D14 bushmaster sound better from onix, D14 soundstage is wider and bigger, more 3d sound, treble, and sound separation also better, onix is better with bass, smoothness, and warmer.
I just sold my onix last night.
You do realize you now have to break out the Hugo...
I don't think it will compete... but would be curious as to how close it can come.
Would be interesting if you could take the output and feed into either RCA or even XLR inputs of an amp. ( Maybe it would require the USB-C splitter ... )
I am going to try the Hugo2. Last night was getting too late to start and my mind was getting tired. Hugo2 needs a longer warm up time. I listen to it from the RCA using a PWAudio adapter. One of the insanely priced Anniversary ones to give an unbalanced 4.4mm Pentacon connection. That alone is an advantage over the Mojo that needs a $300 bespoke Lectrik-S silver 8 wire ZMF adapter for the 4.4mm Pentacon cable of my 64 Audio Forte Blanc and Noble Ragnar.
After turning on the Hugo2 and setting it to play on its own for about 45 minutes through a set of Noble Ragnars. I came back from breakfast and did a quick A/B with the ONIX Alpha with one 3 minute Halie Loren song. Well, the tonality and timbre for at least this lounge jazz music is impressively close. The ONIX Alpha is a little shy on the plucky leading edge of the string double bass or the snap on the brush strokes on the snare drums, but otherwise if I just walked into my office and started hearing the Alpha, I might easily be fooled into thinking this was the Hugo2. The Mojo and Alpha are easy to tell appart because I think the Mojo is slightly not tonally accurate, maybe due to the number of adapters I have to go through to connect 4.4mm to 3.5mm. The Hugo2 with the PWAudio 1960s connector theoretically has a cleaner access to the Hugo2 amp.
This is pretty interesting. I would have thought that the Alpha was NOT going to be close. The Ragnars are pretty easy to drive, I think my Sony IER Z1R are more of a challenge for the Alpha. With the Sony, I definitely preferred the Kann Cube to the ONIX Alpha. With the Ragnar, the texture is only slightly less initial attack on the notes or sounds. The HUGO2 completely beats the Alpha in the sense of openness. Its like the sense of having a car moon roof (Onix) with all windows open and then going to a convertable car (Hugo2). By this time, I have heard my 5th song on the album.
I'll go looking around for a shorter USB cable and switch USB ports, maybe I can get a little bit more voltage from one of the other combinations. Technology has definitely advanced quite a bit since the Hugo2 was launched.
I'll spend some time with DSD 256... Alpha challenging a desktop dac/amp...humm, I've only tried easy to drive loads and well for those it's not doing a bad job.
Well, I'm not able to tell if I have one of the defective firmware versions. Since I can't seem to get it to play DSD or DSD over DoP, I probably have
one of the early ones that just won't sync up with DSD files.
I've tried to understand the manual, but I have no idea how to get it to display the firmware or to get USB 1.0 to show up. It always shows USB 2.0 and won't show me the menu options to display the firmware version number.
Tried many things to try to get DSD files to play including down sampling and memory conversion remapping of the format. It just doesn't like DSD.
I looked at the ONIX website, I see no support for upgrading the firmware. Well, if this is not my lack of understanding then DSD is not well supported.
Update: I still can't get JRiver MC 32 to play DSD with the Alpha, but I am able to get an older version 1.6of FooBar2000 to play DSD.
I've tried to understand the manual, but I have no idea how to get it to display the firmware or to get USB 1.0 to show up. It always shows USB 2.0 and won't show me the menu options to display the firmware version number.
You can connect your Alpha to some other phone than an iPhone, or a PC. It'd work too.
Have you tried DSD playback through something like UAPP or Hiby Music on an Android phone with the Alpha connected and used in exclusive mode? Would be useful to help narrow down the issue. It could just be a one-off with your JRiver.
Well, I'm not able to tell if I have one of the defective firmware versions. Since I can't seem to get it to play DSD or DSD over DoP, I probably have
one of the early ones that just won't sync up with DSD files.
I've tried to understand the manual, but I have no idea how to get it to display the firmware or to get USB 1.0 to show up. It always shows USB 2.0 and won't show me the menu options to display the firmware version number.
Tried many things to try to get DSD files to play including down sampling and memory conversion remapping of the format. It just doesn't like DSD.
I looked at the ONIX website, I see no support for upgrading the firmware. Well, if this is not my lack of understanding then DSD is not well supported.
Update: I still can't get JRiver MC 32 to play DSD with the Alpha, but I am able to get an older version 1.6of FooBar2000 to play DSD.
For use with smartphones, it should work smoothly once you have DSD set to native and app is accessing XI1 in exclusive mode.
For Windows, make sure you have XI1 drivers installed (available on ONIX Website). If DSD works with fine your Foobar, it seems there might be some setting in JRiver that's causing the issue.
To get to menu, you simply hold down the Play/Pause button for 2 seconds.
If this one doesn't work at all, you might have unit from the very first run and we would recommend contacting your Chinese seller for replacement unit.
Last edited:
Have any question about our players? Just PM me or send me email.
Stay updated on Shanling at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
You can connect your Alpha to some other phone than an iPhone, or a PC. It'd work too.
Have you tried DSD playback through something like UAPP or Hiby Music on an Android phone with the Alpha connected and used in exclusive mode? Would be useful to help narrow down the issue. It could just be a one-off with your JRiver.
I've got the Hugo2 nice and hot after playing some DSD through it.
Now going back and forth with some Alba Molina "El Beso", Spanish singer and classical acoustical guitarist.
You can clearly hear if she is using her knuckles on the guitar or the palm of her hand to thump the guitar and where.
Yes, the Hugo2 is slightly fuller at the lower ranges of her husky voice. Piano is a hint more detailed and well rounded notes compared to the ONIX.
As mentioned, there is a bit more atmosphere and openness to the sound stage. Hugo2 is obviously more powerful presentation, almost agressive in comparison.
But the sound is a lot closer and similar than different. I don't think my wife can tell the difference switching back and forth.
If I had just bought the Hugo2, I think I would be taking it back to the store right about now.
The difference is about as much difference as comparing Kimber Kable Select XLR copper / silver hybrid to Select XLR all silver interconnects. Yes there was a difference, but was it worth paying that much more for minute differences?
I've got the Hugo2 nice and hot after playing some DSD through it.
Now going back and forth with some Alba Molina "El Beso", Spanish singer and classical acoustical guitarist.
You can clearly hear if she is using her knuckles on the guitar or the palm of her hand to thump the guitar and where.
Yes, the Hugo2 is slightly fuller at the lower ranges of her husky voice. Piano is a hint more detailed and well rounded notes compared to the ONIX.
As mentioned, there is a bit more atmosphere and openness to the sound stage.
But the sound is a lot closer and similar than different. I don't think my wife can tell the difference switching back and forth.
If I had just bought the Hugo2, I think I would be taking it back to the store right about now.
The difference is about as much difference as comparing Kimber Kable Select XLR copper / silver hybrid to Select XLR all silver interconnects. Yes there was a difference, but was it worth paying that much more for minute differences?
I'm comparing against the Hugo2 portable. I also have a HugoTT2 desktop with the Hugo M-Scaler with $4,000 Kimber Kable Select 1136 99.99% pure silver interconnects.
The only "big" difference for me with the ONIX and the Hugo2 portable is that the Hugo2 has the ability to disappear. You can forget it's a recording and instead experience the venue if the recording is good enough. ONIX is close, but occationally you sort of wake up from the illusion and realize it is still just a recording you are listing too.
LOL... Even I, who is just an ordinary person and not an audiophile expert, can differentiate the Onix from the Ibasso D14 using HD650, and I can really feel the difference.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
