[TheOneInYellow]

Rather than Onkyo being priced at AK prices, I think the opposite: AK products should be priced at Onkyo prices.
The debut of players like the Questyle QP1R and Onkyo DP-X1 which offer great quality at a quarter of AK's prices has been a godsend for us consumers.

I actually agree!

And disagree.

Why?

Without Apple, AK, Beats who charge crazy prices for gear, competition would be stagnant. (Ok, ignore most of the Beats line but we must remember that their marketing engine has furthered our community and competition).

What each company has done is create great ergonomical pieces of gear that appeals to specific markets.
Such gear might have existed before (Creative DAP's, Microsoft Tablets and Sony UMPC's/Clie, most headphones) but never marketed or made appealing in the way these companies (amongst others) did.

Then competitors, either established or new, saw this, and marched in.
Samsung, Sony (rebirthed), CEntrance, Schiit Audio, JH Audio, Noble Audio, FitEar, Denon and Fostex, Audeze, HiFiman, so on and so forth.

AK devices filled a big niche, and then some by capitalising on the bespoke audiophile industry with quality gear at huge prices.
It works.
Sony, I think, nearly broke this with ZX1 but went backward with ZX2 (and PHA-3) price wise, as other devices existed with similar hardware but lower prices at the sacrifice of ergonomics.

Questyle hit new ground with a current-based amp DAP (Bakoon only make amps), and though not like new Android DAP's, the appeal of the QP1 and QP1R are truly TOTL SQ devices (yes I think they really are the best of all DAP's based on EVERY USERS FEEDBACK). Then add a nifty, beloved click wheel of yore. Pure joy!

All of this was necessary for a company like Onkyo, and commanding it's sister Pioneer, to be disruptive and show off what a DAP (or two) should be priced with consumers in mind.

The AK Jr and FiiO X7 costs similar to the XDP-100R! Unbelievable!

Headphones, tablets, DAP's, all started somewhere, but the original big companies who re-imagined existing products will still have a fan base, but other companies have certainly disrupted them.

 

[TheOneInYellow]

Concluding my above heavily condensed piece:

In other words, yes AK should be priced at Onkyo/Pioneer prices.
Yet that would never have happened had AK done that; we wouldn't have this convo because we would already have cheap high DAP's by now.

AK prices fostered a new trend in high-end DAP's, with Onkyo/Pioneer leading the charge, followed by FiiO, (Echobox hopefully...), and Questyle.

 

[Whitigir]

Then the portable world will progress faster than this...lol

 

[TheOneInYellow]

Then the portable world will progress faster than this...lol

Ha ha ha, patience my friend. Our Head-Fi plan is (sorta, haphazardly) working

 

[bflat]

LOL, when will we see (hear) a full digital audio from source to output? It's already happened to photos and videos. I would imagine the headphones would be something like electrostatics, with some type of high density circuit that works similar way LED does for video. Each digital bit gets transmitted with no analog conversion.

 

[scootermafia]

I'm a fan of the DP-X1.  It's me...
 
Still putting it through its paces, but very impressed, not just for the price, but in general it's a top performing portable system.  It doesn't hurt that I can do full Android stuff on it, use Devialet Spark to play Tidal and my music files through it to my Devialet Silver Phantom speakers, and so on.  Build quality and UI are a 10/10, even though it's not as idiot proof as A&K, it's still very easy.  And the monstrous amount of features it adds over everything else on the market is going to mean that everyone else will be playing catch up for the next year.

 

[Whitigir]

Can any of you who already have dp-x1 try jet audio and see if it work ? Thank u

 

[TheOneInYellow]

I'm a fan of the DP-X1.  It's me...

Still putting it through its paces, but very impressed, not just for the price, but in general it's a top performing portable system.  It doesn't hurt that I can do full Android stuff on it, use Devialet Spark to play Tidal and my music files through it to my Devialet Silver Phantom speakers, and so on.  Build quality and UI are a 10/10, even though it's not as idiot proof as A&K, it's still very easy.  And the monstrous amount of features it adds over everything else on the market is going to mean that everyone else will be playing catch up for the next year.

YOU FINALLY POSTED!

Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to know you...

I never posted you in secret in this thread or took a screenshot of your DP-X1 settings at all TRUTH (...).

Balls...

(Lol, your impressions were shorter and funnier on Messenger ha ha)!

 

[Whitigir]

L+L-R+R- is the order of 2.5 TRRS in respected order ? Is that correct ? Thanks

 

[sq3rjick]

L+L-R+R- is the order of 2.5 TRRS in respected order ? Is that correct ? Thanks

If it is the same as AK, it should be (from tip to sleeve) R-, R+, L+, L-, I believe.

 

[Whitigir]

If it is the same as AK, it should be (from tip to sleeve) R-, R+, L+, L-, I believe.

Thank you ! Gotta make this cables to enjoy TRRS balanced !

 

[Badfish5446]

  LOL, when will we see (hear) a full digital audio from source to output? It's already happened to photos and videos. I would imagine the headphones would be something like electrostatics, with some type of high density circuit that works similar way LED does for video. Each digital bit gets transmitted with no analog conversion.

Even direct digital amps perform conversion at the speaker outputs.  Given music "lives" as an analogue waveform I'm not sure I get the meaning of your post?

 

[davidmolliere]

  If it is the same as AK, it should be (from tip to sleeve) R-, R+, L+, L-, I believe.

 
I am waiting on confirmation from Whiplash about the cable I have being compatible...

 

[bflat]

  Even direct digital amps perform conversion at the speaker outputs.  Given music "lives" as an analogue waveform I'm not sure I get the meaning of your post?

Purely theoretical and for fun. But one idea would be thousands or millions of miniature piezoelectric transducers for each bit and frequency. If you were to ask a Kodak engineer 40 years ago:
 
"hey, how can I capture a picture in pure digital form and then view instantly in a pure digital form?"
 
I bet that engineer would say "impossible".
 
We have clearly captured audio in digital form and to say one must have speakers is analogous to saying you need a piece of paper to view a photo. Maybe so, maybe not. But it's fun to think about it.

 

[Whitigir]

According to an eBay seller


Input and output terminal : 2.5 mm 4-pole balanced headphone output (from the tip R- R + / L + L-)