jook
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Posts
- 59
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- 6
Cool, thanks for the on-the-floor evaluation!
I'd be curious if you can disable the DSP on the iRiver. I can't help but wonder if the A&K models sound signature is largely due to the effects they add. I do know that part of the extra cost is the DSP chip on board.
I had a simple iRiver model back in the day and it had various "3D sound" type features and it always sounded lush and immersive. But it was additive processing that just completely threw off the actual recorded detail. Stuff that I recorded myself (and had spent many nights tweaking to sound a particular way) would sound totally different on the iRiver (e.g. flat poorly recorded drum sounds came across alot more thumpy, and actual decently recorded stuff with dynamics came across over saturated and squished) and it meant I couldn't trust anything I heard to be what had been recorded. Stuff that sounds good on the iRiver won't sound good at home, or elsewhere and vice versa. But by all means, if you just want to maximise your enjoyment of music on your portable playback, and that's your tastes, go for it. But I can't afford having my ears get "untrained" from what's normal.
For me, the Onkyo is one of the more accurate DAPs I've heard. There's a clarity to it that's akin to a studio playback session -- which typically do not use the most pleasant sounding rig (as per home audiophile gear), but just the most accurate (and often unflattering).Having said that, within the "neutral" camp, I think it does lean slightly towards Japanese tastes in terms of bass response.
I'd be curious if you can disable the DSP on the iRiver. I can't help but wonder if the A&K models sound signature is largely due to the effects they add. I do know that part of the extra cost is the DSP chip on board.
I had a simple iRiver model back in the day and it had various "3D sound" type features and it always sounded lush and immersive. But it was additive processing that just completely threw off the actual recorded detail. Stuff that I recorded myself (and had spent many nights tweaking to sound a particular way) would sound totally different on the iRiver (e.g. flat poorly recorded drum sounds came across alot more thumpy, and actual decently recorded stuff with dynamics came across over saturated and squished) and it meant I couldn't trust anything I heard to be what had been recorded. Stuff that sounds good on the iRiver won't sound good at home, or elsewhere and vice versa. But by all means, if you just want to maximise your enjoyment of music on your portable playback, and that's your tastes, go for it. But I can't afford having my ears get "untrained" from what's normal.
For me, the Onkyo is one of the more accurate DAPs I've heard. There's a clarity to it that's akin to a studio playback session -- which typically do not use the most pleasant sounding rig (as per home audiophile gear), but just the most accurate (and often unflattering).Having said that, within the "neutral" camp, I think it does lean slightly towards Japanese tastes in terms of bass response.
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