[asquare3376]

Haha, thanks for confirming. Odd question I know but usually what you would expect to be "better" is the less expensive version in this case.

I checked out the pricing last night and the difference between the DSD and the highest available flac (24/176) is mere $0.01, with DSD being the expensive one

 

[asquare3376]

Got my XDP-300R delivered yesterday. Out of the box, it sounds boring. Also, this guy's having hard time sounding good with the Sony's XBA-Z5 and EX1000. Bass is nowhere to be found. However, on the MDR-1A, things are relatively better. I'm using 3.5mm out.
Quick question - Does this DAP has a break-in period?

 

[asquare3376]

I perso

Hello guys can i ask and explain to me what the difference between fixed line out mode and variable line out mode on sound settings?
And can somebody tell they best set up on settings to maximize this device
New xdp-300 users here

I personally found their manual to be not so elaborative. I am using it with EQ disabled, upsampling set to 24/192, club sound boost disabled, lock range adjust between Normal and Narrow, Digital filter set to Sharp, Stand-alone mode.
With fixed line out, you cannot control volume from your player. You need to use the external amp's vol control.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Got my XDP-300R delivered yesterday. Out of the box, it sounds boring. Also, this guy's having hard time sounding good with the Sony's XBA-Z5 and EX1000. Bass is nowhere to be found. However, on the MDR-1A, things are relatively better. I'm using 3.5mm out.
Quick question - Does this DAP has a break-in period?

Interesting comments, I personally find the sound very good (Grado 325i and UE TripleFi10's). I was enjoying just sitting in my chair listening to some HD music the other night, I haven't done that for ages which shows how much I'm enjoying listening to this DAP.

I've tried DSD, FLAC, and AAC and at the moment I have no complaints.

I'm afraid I've never been a fan of Sony headphones, I find their sound too analytical for some reason. The warmth I like in the sound just isn't there for me.

I did splash out for a pair of the Pioneer SE-CH5BL-K (so I could use the balanced connection) and I will admit that at the moment I can't live with the EQ off, the sound is a bit to sharp in the treble and the bass is not quite as forceful as I would like, however they are new so I'll see what they are like after a few hours of use. I could live with them as a travelling set for example. Not so expensive that if they got damaged I would be distraught!

Everyone's ears are different though so if you don't like it, return it quick my friend.

Just as a little side story, last year I was visiting John Lewis in London and they had some Sony DAP's on display (due to almost no sales they don't sell them now). So out of curiosity I plugged in my SoundMagic E10C earphones (my cheapish everyday earphones) and played a few tracks. I was very disappointed. The sound was thin, no bass, treble was very sharp (almost painful) and I was almost relieved to go back to the comfort of my iPod Classic! lol.

So I was slightly nervous of getting the 300R, the reviews had all been good (although I think What Hifi found the sound slightly too relaxed for them) but I wanted to see if I could improve my listening out on the move, and I'm glad I did

I'm not a die-hard enthusiast and I don't use separate DAC's and Amps but for me it was a great purchase and I'm very happy with it so far.

Perhaps my only gripe is I would like the build quality to be slightly better, maybe a gorilla glass front rather than plastic for example. I keep reading about the headphone sockets but I'm just being careful at the moment.

I've got about 9 hours playback on a full charge so I'm more or less happy with that but of course it's nothing compared to the two or three days of solid play I used to get out of the iPod Classic.

I'm still going to keep my iPod updated with my collection though, my car head unit has full iPod control and being able to control everything via the screen is frankly much safer.

 

[usagishi]

Got my XDP-300R delivered yesterday. Out of the box, it sounds boring. Also, this guy's having hard time sounding good with the Sony's XBA-Z5 and EX1000. Bass is nowhere to be found. However, on the MDR-1A, things are relatively better. I'm using 3.5mm out.
Quick question - Does this DAP has a break-in period?

I am also a new XDP-300R user, so I can only provide my personal experience with this DAP. I have only been using Campfire Jupiter via 2.5mm out so I am speaking from this perspective.
Out of the box, I wouldn't say it sounds boring, but seems like something was missing. However, I pretty much went through the entire XDP-300R before my purchase and a lot of owners have recommended to fiddle with the setting to get the sound you want and I think that's the most helpful and honest comment.

My setting is balanced mode, short filter, no boost, unsampling mode off, and stand alone when I am strictly listening to music.
I have noticed playing around with setting have improved the sound significantly, but that's just my opinion.
It may also has to do with all the sound source, and even .flacs are not all created equal. Some sounds heavenly and some mediocre.

You said there's also no bass. I can't speak for that because I don't listen to bass heavy music but I do notice the increase in clarity and a wider sound stage when I listen to female vocals and jazz. It is truly wonderful.
Maybe it's about taking the time to get used to it. I enjoy mine more each day.

 

[Lurk650]

If there is no bass then either the device has a really weird defect and needs to be retuened or it's your headphones.

 

[asquare3376]

Interesting comments, I personally find the sound very good (Grado 325i and UE TripleFi10's). I was enjoying just sitting in my chair listening to some HD music the other night, I haven't done that for ages which shows how much I'm enjoying listening to this DAP.

I've tried DSD, FLAC, and AAC and at the moment I have no complaints.

I'm afraid I've never been a fan of Sony headphones, I find their sound too analytical for some reason. The warmth I like in the sound just isn't there for me.

I did splash out for a pair of the Pioneer SE-CH5BL-K (so I could use the balanced connection) and I will admit that at the moment I can't live with the EQ off, the sound is a bit to sharp in the treble and the bass is not quite as forceful as I would like, however they are new so I'll see what they are like after a few hours of use. I could live with them as a travelling set for example. Not so expensive that if they got damaged I would be distraught!

Everyone's ears are different though so if you don't like it, return it quick my friend.

Just as a little side story, last year I was visiting John Lewis in London and they had some Sony DAP's on display (due to almost no sales they don't sell them now). So out of curiosity I plugged in my SoundMagic E10C earphones (my cheapish everyday earphones) and played a few tracks. I was very disappointed. The sound was thin, no bass, treble was very sharp (almost painful) and I was almost relieved to go back to the comfort of my iPod Classic! lol.

So I was slightly nervous of getting the 300R, the reviews had all been good (although I think What Hifi found the sound slightly too relaxed for them) but I wanted to see if I could improve my listening out on the move, and I'm glad I did

I'm not a die-hard enthusiast and I don't use separate DAC's and Amps but for me it was a great purchase and I'm very happy with it so far.

Perhaps my only gripe is I would like the build quality to be slightly better, maybe a gorilla glass front rather than plastic for example. I keep reading about the headphone sockets but I'm just being careful at the moment.

I've got about 9 hours playback on a full charge so I'm more or less happy with that but of course it's nothing compared to the two or three days of solid play I used to get out of the iPod Classic.

I'm still going to keep my iPod updated with my collection though, my car head unit has full iPod control and being able to control everything via the screen is frankly much safer.

I am also a new XDP-300R user, so I can only provide my personal experience with this DAP. I have only been using Campfire Jupiter via 2.5mm out so I am speaking from this perspective.
Out of the box, I wouldn't say it sounds boring, but seems like something was missing. However, I pretty much went through the entire XDP-300R before my purchase and a lot of owners have recommended to fiddle with the setting to get the sound you want and I think that's the most helpful and honest comment.

My setting is balanced mode, short filter, no boost, unsampling mode off, and stand alone when I am strictly listening to music.
I have noticed playing around with setting have improved the sound significantly, but that's just my opinion.
It may also has to do with all the sound source, and even .flacs are not all created equal. Some sounds heavenly and some mediocre.

You said there's also no bass. I can't speak for that because I don't listen to bass heavy music but I do notice the increase in clarity and a wider sound stage when I listen to female vocals and jazz. It is truly wonderful.
Maybe it's about taking the time to get used to it. I enjoy mine more each day.

If there is no bass then either the device has a really weird defect and needs to be retuened or it's your headphones.

Hmm.. Thank you friends for your thoughts. I think the player is getting better after ~10 hrs of use or perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me. It's not the DAP that is to be blamed, it's me. Coming from WM1Z, I had different expectation from Pioneer. I am yet to figure out what kind of iems shines on these but as of now ex1000 is keeping it busy.
Speaking of Sony DAPs especially the WM1Z, it's way ahead of the competition. Be it the sound or the battery life. And it can drive just about any headphones. But anyways, we are not here to talk about Sony. Are we?

 

[Lurk650]

The Pioneer in High Gain powers my Amiron (250 ohm) with easd

 

[Andrew Harper]

Speaking of Sony DAPs especially the WM1Z, it's way ahead of the competition. Be it the sound or the battery life. And it can drive just about any headphones. But anyways, we are not here to talk about Sony. Are we?

It's a fair enough comment, I did look at the Sony but I will admit I got attracted by the potential storage capacity of the Pioneer but also the good deals that I was seeing online. There were also other features that I found interesting as well. MQA support for example.

Sony certainly have a good rep for build quality though.

It's one of those unfortunate things. If you want an Apple Music device you can travel down to your local apple store, spend as long as you like listening to music. Testing the product.

With DAP's it's more what reviews are like, people's opinions and so on. So always a slight jump into the unknown when you purchase one.

I'm certainly happy with the Pioneer so far. Hope you manage to find a nice balance on the sound setup.

 

[doctorjazz]

The Sony is getting to another level, what are we talking, 4-5 times more expensive? My HE-1000 v2 sounds better than my Koss Porta Pro; doesn't say anything bad about the Porta Pro, though.

 

[doctorjazz]

I like the Pioneer, not a fortune, good storage. I find it sounds better using a different music player than the stock one. I like Neutron. Nice thing about using Android, you have that option.

 

[Andrew Harper]

The Sony is getting to another level, what are we talking, 4-5 times more expensive? My HE-1000 v2 sounds better than my Koss Porta Pro; doesn't say anything bad about the Porta Pro, though.

Yeah exactly. The Sony is lovely obviously but for my first DAP I wanted something slightly cheaper. With the deal I got the Pioneer was nearly half retail price so I can't complain. A lot of sound for the money

 

[asquare3376]

Yeah exactly. The Sony is lovely obviously but for my first DAP I wanted something slightly cheaper. With the deal I got the Pioneer was nearly half retail price so I can't complain. A lot of sound for the money

True! And the capability of streaming. Priorities priorities

 

[tonywalk]

Interesting comments, I personally find the sound very good (Grado 325i and UE TripleFi10's). I was enjoying just sitting in my chair listening to some HD music the other night, I haven't done that for ages which shows how much I'm enjoying listening to this DAP.

Interesting. I've got Grado 325se's and the Triple Fi 10's.

The player rocks with the Grados but I find the UEs are stilted with the player. They pair very well with my iBasso DX50 though.

Hi -end audio can be a strange place at times.

 

[cider glider]

I'm not sure if it's really the DAC or the stock player that converts dsd into pcm. I use hiby app and it's not converting dsd into pcm based on the screen output. Not good UI though.

Looking at the manual for the XDP300R, it does say that DSD files are "converted to PCM for playback on the main device", which suggests to me that native DSD playback isn't happening on this device.