[jook]

This won't stop me going back to try it out with my own HD-25 headphones (unbalanced) out of curiousity tho.

I'll see if they have both models (dp-s1 and dp-s1a) on display and if I can note any difference between them from a regular consumers standpoint tomorrow.

That's my workday combination (HD-25 unbalanced with Japanese DP-S1). Still looking for an affordable HD-25 balanced TRRS cable...

Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the DP-S1 vs the DP-S1A. Make sure to check out the DAC settings: Lock Range Adjust, 32-bit upsampling, Filter (sharp/short/slow).

In particular, the Lock Range Adjust on the DP-S1 is unable to go to the highest Narrow setting (all the way to the right) when using complicated / higher res material (24-bit and 96 or 192 kHz) without skipping. One level left from the right-most setting plays everything without issue however. It would be very interesting if the DP-S1A has slightly better CPU or optimisations to handle this.

To my ears, this setting affects the time and spatial information the most e.g. room acoustics for kick drum, snare drums and cymbals

 

[jook]

Found a picture of the new volume dial mechanism.

And a picture of the new back (I will remain one of the few that prefer the retro pleather look):

More pictures!

Side by side (DP-S1 and DP-S1A):

 

[Floorless]

Well crud, I got called to work so instead of trying these along with xmas shopping I'm stuck in the office....

I don't have much option until January 11 now, hopefully I can squeeze it in on Saturday night or Tuesday morning...

 

[Technocrafts]

Hi head-fi, first post here. Been lurking a bit so figured I should say hi.

Wow, just saw the dp-s1a advertised in store here in Japan and thought, "hey that'll be cool if I could get one for my next flight out of Japan.
Oh, its like twice the price as the dp-s1..."

I cried a little. 60350 yen is a large chunk towards the hdv820 amp I ultimately want. My HD800's haven't been used for a year since I moved to Japan so I guess I have to pass on the dp-s1a for now... But... But.... I want...

This was at the larger yodobashi camera store in Akihabara that I had a look.

This won't stop me going back to try it out with my own HD-25 headphones (unbalanced) out of curiosity tho.

I'll see if they have both models (dp-s1 and dp-s1a) on display and if I can note any difference between them from a regular consumers standpoint tomorrow. Juuust in case its being shown earlier. Else, I'll do some hunting after release date on the 15th anyway.

edit: fixed errors given the release date is on the 15th of December.

Good for them, that would be about $600 USD, they can keep it...

 

[RoMee]

How's the Bluetooth performance? Especially on the Pioneer XDP-30R.
Looking to pair it with the crossfade wireless 2

 

[Blamelouis]

How's the Bluetooth performance? Especially on the Pioneer XDP-30R.
Looking to pair it with the crossfade wireless 2

Sound with my akg y50bt's is excellent. Distance is about 10 metres before signal weakens.

 

[SpanishGuy]

Sound with my akg y50bt's is excellent. Distance is about 10 metres before signal weakens.

How's the Bluetooth performance? Especially on the Pioneer XDP-30R.
Looking to pair it with the crossfade wireless 2

With earphones works well but I can't connect it with my car sound system (wolkswagen). The paired is done successfully but the car says all the time "error connecting with xdp30". I don't mind too much but maybe is interesting to know for other users.

 

[RoMee]

Sound with my akg y50bt's is excellent. Distance is about 10 metres before signal weakens.

Thank you. Most of the time the player will be in my pocket. Just need something that sound good with good connection for work so I don't drain my phone's battery.

 

[Floorless]

https://imgur.com/a/IcSpn

I got to have a play with the DP-S1A today
Firmware: 1.12/Y09AEO

Unfortunately this shop did not have the older model to do a side by side. But the link above are photos I took of the unit while having a play.
Because its an in store model I can't load it with my own music to be super familiar with the content. The music library was a bunch of final fantasy and some other demo music

I have not had the honor of having anything decent in my house or pocket since the end of 2016 (I got offered a position in Japan so I decided to sell most of my stuff and move, still rebuilding)
But my initial impression is that its great to have a more full scale volume (not loudness volume) and that quick punchy quality back. Given that everything sounds weak and muddy with onboard PC audio or a Zoom F8 audio recorder (the only current audio interface I have)

I really want to play my own library on it to get a real impression, or do a side by side in store with their selected music.

I can't give a detailed audio impression other than its miles better than what is at home. Miles better even with the fact I was in a store with a lot of ambient noise going around me (HD-25 II block that out pretty well mind you)

That's my workday combination (HD-25 unbalanced with Japanese DP-S1). Still looking for an affordable HD-25 balanced TRRS cable...
Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the DP-S1 vs the DP-S1A. Make sure to check out the DAC settings: Lock Range Adjust, 32-bit upsampling, Filter (sharp/short/slow).

With 32-bit upsampling, 192/24bit flac files still skipped once every 30 seconds (29 to 32 seconds I counted) with Lock Range set to full "narrow". As you can see in one of the photos it has a warning that too narrow will intermittent sound.
This was with the Filter set to Sharp. I did try changing the filter but didn't listen long enough to see if there were any changes in skips or to conclude any real audible changes either. (Although, short/slow did seem a bit less quick and punchy?)
There are 7 settings between Wide and Narrow, one notch from wide seemed fine for 192/24
I listened for about 5 minutes with an 96/24 file with the slider full narrow \ Hi-bit 32 up-sampling and didn't notice any skips.

All in all I spent about 30-40 minutes with the unit and would like to own one. But that price tag is really putting me off, especially without a lengthy side by side with the DP-S1 to determine if chassis modifications really do make a noticeable improvement to the audio like Onkyo claims.

I also put an AK70MK2NB photos in there just because the price tag on that thing is 74,050 yen. As opposed to 60,350 yen, which has paper specs advertised in store much higher than the DP-S1. That also sounded lovely to me but the choices of audio were very "safe" in my opinion (voice or classical DSD files)

 

[jook]

Thanks for reporting back on the DP-S1A!

Because its an in store model I can't load it with my own music to be super familiar with the content. The music library was a bunch of final fantasy and some other demo music

Did they block off the SD card slot? I would think you can just bring your own micro sd card and plug it in. There's an auto-sync (or sync now) setting in the Config menu.

With 32-bit upsampling, 192/24bit flac files still skipped once every 30 seconds (29 to 32 seconds I counted) with Lock Range set to full "narrow". As you can see in one of the photos it has a warning that too narrow will intermittent sound.
This was with the Filter set to Sharp. I did try changing the filter but didn't listen long enough to see if there were any changes in skips or to conclude any real audible changes either. (Although, short/slow did seem a bit less quick and punchy?)
There are 7 settings between Wide and Narrow, one notch from wide seemed fine for 192/24
I listened for about 5 minutes with an 96/24 file with the slider full narrow \ Hi-bit 32 up-sampling and didn't notice any skips.

This all sounds the same as the current DP-S1.

My preference is one notch from most Narrow, Hi-bit 32, and SHORT filter. Agree that Sharp is quickest and punchiest. This can be good for more electronic and heavily produced music, but for me, I listen to a wide range of stuff where natural room acoustics matter and I find "Short" the best.

All in all I spent about 30-40 minutes with the unit and would like to own one. But that price tag is really putting me off, especially without a lengthy side by side with the DP-S1 to determine if chassis modifications really do make a noticeable improvement to the audio like Onkyo claims.

I'm not seeing much benefit over the DP-S1 at this point, not for me personally. The extra resistance on the knob is a nice thing to have but not +US$300-nice-thing-to-have.

The blow out price for the DP-S1 is really a bargain.

 

[Floorless]

Did they block off the SD card slot? I would think you can just bring your own micro sd card and plug it in. There's an auto-sync (or sync now) setting in the Config menu.

Ahhhhh good point. For some reason was thinking I'd need to install them then xfer music via an app on the pc too.

When I tried changing the language it took a few minutes to resync the audio. How quick is it when you chuck a card in?

In any case I'll load a card with a small handful of songs and try out models when I next get a chance.

 

[Floorless]

According to this Japanese review, the sound signature is in fact different.
Sounds noticeably more fuller, especially the bass has more impact/punch to it.

The volume knob itself feels much smoother and more solid. But the feel of the unit otherwise is much the same.
It talks about interface improvements if you compare with off the shelf units between DB-S1 but DB-S1A but that mostly comes down to firmware updates.

But essentially it comes down to the same chipset inside but the internal housing and power supply has been improved.

Source:
https://www.phileweb.com/review/article/201712/11/2830.html

 

[jook]

According to this Japanese review, the sound signature is in fact different.
Sounds noticeably more fuller, especially the bass has more impact/punch to it.

That's interesting! I haven't been able to fully discern if the latest firmware has changed the sound signature of the DP-S1 yet.

The post by WilcoRoger before made me question if there was any changes but I simply don't have two units (before and after the firmware update) to A/B and compare. So I don't feel certain. In any case, it still sounds good. There has been times when I felt like there was more bass, but again, I'm not sure.

It would be interesting if they can verify if this is an official improvement, and whether this improvement was made via firmware changes or not. I noticed a few pictures of the chassis -- are they alluding to any sonic improvements from this? (seems far fetched to me, but I'm open minded) Is it supposed to be different to the DP-S1?

FYI... if you're really sneaky, and you find a shop with both units (and presuming the DP-S1 has the factory older firmware) -- you CAN bring in a micro SD card with your music and the latest firmware on it. Compare the two as stock first, and then secretly update the firmware on the DP-S1, and compare again. I know Japanese shops are quite easy going when it comes to using their test units... but I dont know if firmware updates are going too far haha.

For the record, the sync/loading of music from your SD card takes only seconds,... and the firmware update takes maybe a minute.

The volume knob itself feels much smoother and more solid.

The mechanism looks like it would be possible as an after-market accessory (or a DIY mod) that could be offered one day... but I'd guess the former is unlikely, as it means Onkyo would be shooting themselves in the foot and hurting DP-S1A sales.

 

[Floorless]

I think they were attributing the sonic change to the power supply component, since I recall power supplies play a huge part in sonic signature

 

[Floorless]

I went back with my own micro sd card. Tried DSD64 (2.6) and DSD128 (5.2) as well.

64 required two notches away from narrow, else you hear weird scrape sounds in the audio.

128 required normal setting or it would skip several times a second.

256 of course just states it can't play it back.

Using a lexar x300 16gb card to test.

All in all the more expensive iriver model in the pics I sent sounded more open (maybe worth the extra $150). But the dp-s1a is not exactly a slouch either. It's miles better than what I have now and re-introduces elements from music I have missed for the past 11 months.

I do feel the seperation isn't so fantastic and is a little muddier than the more expensive iriver in my opinion mind you.
I'm curious what the balanced output sounds like.

Nearly want. But this test has convinced me to wait and get my home listening set up first, while hopefully the price drops to a more enticing value once I recover from my inevitible desktop purchase.