DP-X1 is shaping up to be the dap for me honestly. I like the big screen, can fit 9-10 songs on the screen while browsing
Even though it increases the width and height of the dap it remains manageable, and importantly the depth remains thin, thinner than AK100ii for example which is 15mm compared to DP-X1 which is 12.8mm.
I don't really care that it doesn't have optical or line out, these things take up space on the circuit board and take away from a clean symmetrical circuit design which the DP-X1 has to a T, the only things on the analog board are dacs and amp chips along with their isolated power supply, a line out would mean extra circuitry in the way of these and another 3.5mm socket, all of which disrupt the symmetrical layout of the dac and amp implementation and output (in the DP-X1's case at any rate) .
An optical out would mean extra circuitry on the CPU board, but it looks pretty packed as is and it would require a SPDIF receiver chip along with it's circuitry implementation and another 3.5mm socket. So you get my point. Obviously dap makers want to pack as many features as possible into their dap, but PCB space is at a premium, not to mention the integrity of design is at risk the more convoluted the PCB is, so I like that the DP-X1 is a bare bones dap, albeit with dual dacs, balanced amps, mega nice UI and boat loads of processing power
Ok, so it isn't so barebones, but you get what I mean, Onkyo trimmed down the best places
imo.
The DP-X1's analog M.O. is simplicity where it is needed, the use of the Sabre Amps cut down on a lot of circuitry, shorten the signal path, and happen to be designed to be used with the ES9018K2M dacs, hopefully resulting in some top notch chemistry between them, then throw in the balanced topology from dacs through to amps and I'm hoping for some magic, fingers crossed.
The only things that remain unknown is output impedance and amp hiss (if any), If Onkyo nails these two things then the DP-X1 will be a game changer if priced right imo.
