ONKYO DP-X1 | Dual Sabre Dacs | Balanced | Sabre BTL Amp | MQA | DSD 256 | Android 5 |

[AzureBlue]

I've ordered a few cases from Dignis. They ship fast and delivery time to me (in USA) has been 4 to 10 days, depending on Customs delay time.

 
That sounds more than reasonable. Thanks for the info.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I think Android upsamples all digital music if played natively through most music apps so Tidal, Spotify, Google Music, Apple Music to name a few.
The exceptions I know of are UAPP, Onkyo HF Player, Hiby Music which all bypass the inbuilt DAC chip

Sigh... :rolleyes:

There is no inbuilt DAC chip. Software up-sampling, sure. The SoC used in the DP-X1 is incapable of converting Digital to Analogue.

It's not the inbuilt DAC chip that these programs bypass (since as x RELIC x mentioned there is no inbuilt DAC chip to bypass. There is a separate DAC chip which, if bypassed, would yield screaming static as output at the headphone port ) It's the inbuilt Android audio subsystem. It had a fixed output sample rate of 44100 or 48000 Hz. This was "fixed" in some Android 5/6 builds by upping the fixed sample rate to e.g. 192kHz. But it's still a fixed output sample rate so the fundamental "problem" of "everything that's not at X kHz sample rate to start with gets resampled to X kHz" has "not" been resolved, but morphed into something a bit different.

 

[masterpfa]

It's not the inbuilt DAC chip that these programs bypass (since as @x RELIC x mentioned there is no inbuilt DAC chip to bypass. There is a separate DAC chip which, if bypassed, would yield screaming static as output at the headphone port

) It's the inbuilt Android audio subsystem. It had a fixed output sample rate of 44100 or 48000 Hz. This was "fixed" in some Android 5/6 builds by upping the fixed sample rate to e.g. 192kHz. But it's still a fixed output sample rate so the fundamental "problem" of "everything that's not at X kHz sample rate to start with gets resampled to X kHz" has "not" been resolved, but morphed into something a bit different.

It might be better to link this and this to explain Android implementation of upsampling and USB out

 

[x RELIC x]

masterpfa, I see where the communication breakdown occurred. You were simply stating the difference between sending a signal to an outboard DAC via USB vs using the devices own DAC implementation. This wasn't clear in your original post that Joe and I quoted.

 

[masterpfa]

@masterpfa, I see where the communication breakdown occurred. You were simply stating the difference between sending a signal to an outboard DAC via USB vs using the devices own DAC implementation. This wasn't clear in your original post that Joe and I quoted.

As careful as I was trying to be with my wording, I failed 

 

 

[Yasuo]

Just got my balanced cable, what is a good setting for IEMs in general?

 

[MadDane]

So I just got DP-X1, and I've been listening with the OPPO PM3 from the loaner program. This is a great combo. Tried my Sennheiser HD650's but I found the sound shrill and hollow and required a very high volume setting (135+).

I was really hoping to have my k10's within the next week, but production hit a snag. :rolleyes:

Cant wait to try with balanced as well, think I'll rewire a headphone set tonight and try balanced.

Anyone else tried the HD650 and had the same sound??

 

[golfpro]

I have had the X1 for about a month and really like it.  Yes I have the same issues as everyone else, but it is well worth it for my use.
 
I did buy the player to see if it sounded good unamped, and it does sound very good.  But when you pair the X1 with the Creative E5 amp, it sounds absolutely amazing.  I bypass the E5's DAC and use it as an amp with a great EQ program.  I know many of you want to listen as a stand alone player, as do I, and have probably never heard of the E5.  But this combo with good IEM's is unbelievable.  If you like good bass, nothing comes close.  The E5 does eliminate the noise problem when playing Spotify on the X1, and it is Bluetooth.  And you can use the E5's EQ on Spotify or any player.  I know its seems strange slapping a $200 dollar amp on the X1, but it is totally worth it for the SQ.  One other guy uses the E5 with his AK380 player and loves it as well.   

 

[Torq]

   
Out of curiosity, Torq, did you decide to get something else (and if so, what) or wait to see what will be released in the near future?

 
I've looked at everything I can think of.
 
The Pioneer version of the Onkyo will have, I expect, the same software issues as the DPX1 (love to be wrong).
 
The Calyx-M nails the storage side of things, but has no digital output.
 
The Lootoo PAW Gold fails on both the navigation and the lack of a digital output.
 
The FiiO X5ii can mount the storage I need, but completely falls apart if you use it with a large number of files.
 
The FiiO X7 can't handle the storage and is Android based (which I'm avoiding in an audio player for now).
 
The FiiO T3 is a good ways off, and I'm not betting on it until they ship a unit and the spec isn't subject to getting nobbled.
 
The iBasso DX200 is tempting, but it seems that's going down the Android path again.
 
The only other players I can think of, that can get close on the storage are the AK 240 and 380.  They only have one slot, but the 256 GB they have on board brings them up to parity with the AK120 I use now ... they'll just fall behind the moment bigger microSD cards ever show up.  Also, I don't care for the signature or aesthetics of the AK240 at all.  And even at $3500 the AK380 isn't great with my headphones anyway (no synergy - sucks the life out of the music), so I'd have to change IEMs there.  But, if the card-indexing on the AK380 is fast enough I could do that in the short term.
 
ALL of those would require that I continue to use my phone for streaming TIDAL when on the go.  And to get the sort of quality I want that means taking the Mojo everywhere, which I'd rather not do.  
 
So at the moment, I'm a bit stuck as I can't think of any other players that can mount dual cards, has a solid enough DAC/amp, can drive a digital output properly, will run my Bluetooth headphones when I want to use those, decent battery life, a fast and responsive metadata-driven UX, and ideally can do streaming for TIDAL ... all without being compromised by the vagaries of the current Android audio stack.
 
To get what I want I'll probably have to build it myself - which is a path I've considered before and is something I have the ability to do, both on the software and hardware side of things.  I'd just rather not do that if possible.  Hopefully Onkyo fix the issues I found and I can just buy another DPX1 before it comes to that though!
 
Until then, I'll continue to use my AK120 ... which is glacially slow with with my library, has horrible battery life, and does not show me SE846 in anything like their best light.  It does work a treat with the Mojo though ... if you can tolerate the UI slowness and 25-minute index times.

 

[Whitigir]

Isn't AK android based too ?

 

[cirodts]

the fiio x7 has a single dac desktop, it means better than 2 dac of onkyo dp x1?
Some of you made direct comparisons between onkyo and fiio who sounds better?

 

[Torq]

Isn't AK android based too ?

 
Not that I know of.
 
I believe it's a more direct Linux base for their O.S.
 
Either way, their players work correctly and seamlessly with external DACs without forcing re-sampling; a 44.1 KHz file outputs at 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz at 48 KHz and so on.

 

[EagleWings]

Isn't AK android based too ?

 
The original AK100 (including AK100MKii and not AK100ii) and AK120 are not Android based if I remember correctly.

 

[EagleWings]

 
I've looked at everything I can think of.

 
Any particular reason you are not considering the DX80?

 

[Torq]

   
Any particular reason you are not considering the DX80?

 
The same reason I don't want an AK240 or Questyle QP1R ... I've yet to hear an implementation of the CS4398 DAC that I found enjoyable (it might not actually be the DAC chip itself that has results in the units I've heard being sterile and lacking musicality, but it's the only common factor there was).  I'm leaning strongly towards AKM or ESS based solutions for mobile listening.
 
As a result I mentally wrote it off a while ago, though given it's low price, I might re-evalute it as a pure-transport ... IF the UX performance is nice and fluid with portable library of ~10,000 tracks/400 GB.