[miceblue]

Quantitively measuring the sound quality difference with our ears? Wow I wish I could do that.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Quantitively measuring the sound quality difference with our ears? Wow I wish I could do that.

Get better gear and your wish will come true .

 

[Saraguie]

Quote:

For me the difference between my HP-P1 and AK120 is more than 5%.

Which is the winner? Do you find that your opinions change? Mine do and so I take what I say as TODAY......and of course everyone is different. You certainly have gear to compare to and I respect what you have to say. Well for a surfer dude anyway 

 

[dallan]

Quote:

Which is the winner? Do you find that your opinions change? Mine do and so I take what I say as TODAY......and of course everyone is different. You certainly have gear to compare to and I respect what you have to say. Well for a surfer dude anyway 

The winner is the AK120, my opinions rarely change, rarely still means it has occurred.  Everyone is different, that is why i started it with "for me".  I do have gear to compare it to, and I would say the benchmark is my home setup which I think is also more than 5% better than the AK120 but that doesn't mean i don't like different gear depending on moods.(haven't done direct comparisons though to be honest).  As far as respect goes, as long as you don't drop in on me that's all i really need, (but being a haole I don't expect much over there anyway, lucky to just have some of your waves shared with me when I am at my parents old condo on Kauai-been going there since the late 60's). 

 

[Eide]

I found a dealer in Oslo, Norway who expects a shipment of AK120 any day now. Then I will finally be able to listen and compare it to my HP-P1 setup. I hope it brings a larger and more holographic soundstage. I think I will buy i if I feel it's 10% better. I will soon find out.

 

[Mimouille]

Quote:

I found a dealer in Oslo, Norway who expects a shipment of AK120 any day now. Then I will finally be able to listen and compare it to my HP-P1 setup. I hope it brings a larger and more holographic soundstage. I think I will buy i if I feel it's 10% better.

I will soon find out.

What about if it is 9.67% better ? Will you hesitate ?

 

[rdsreference]

Does anybody know if its possible to use the AK 120 as a portable DAC in the car. I'm sure it is but due to limitations in car audio head units it may not be possible. surely as DACs become popular the car audio world will want to embrace this technology. I was once in involved in that business and used to judge competitions and I said to a friend recently who just built a competition car. I think he could win everything with the likes of an AK 120

 

[Hiyono]

Is it just me or does Playlists dont work on both the Iriver software and adding directly on the AK120?

 

[Eide]

Quote:

What about if it is 9.67% better ? Will you hesitate ?

Hehe… I am hesitating a bit regardless of how good AK120 is. Here´s the pros and cons for my usage:
 
+ probably the best DAP
+ size
+ HD tracks
 
- can´t play direct from Spotify or other streaming services. Spotify is rumored to have lossless streaming soon.
- I´v already got the HP-P1 
 
The sollution is of course to keep the HP-P1 when I´m using Spotify. But I would rather just have one "miracle" device.
Seems like such device is nonexistent. And maybe that´s a good thing for our hobby?

 

[burtomr]

Does anybody know if its possible to use the AK 120 as a portable DAC in the car. I'm sure it is but due to limitations in car audio head units it may not be possible. surely as DACs become popular the car audio world will want to embrace this technology. I was once in involved in that business and used to judge competitions and I said to a friend recently who just built a competition car. I think he could win everything with the likes of an AK 120

 
Yes, I do everyday via the 'AUX IN' of the car head unit (GTI), Works fabulously.

 

[dsalomon]

Hi All -
 
Just wanted to drop a note saying hello to everyone in this thread.
 
I'm a new AK120 owner.  Just sold my iBasso DX-100 and replaced it with the AK120.
 
My 2p - I have to agree with the reviews about the DX-100 sound being slightly better than the AK120.  However, the AK120 form factor, battery life, double microSDXC card capability, better GUI, charging, indexing and stability just blow away the DX-100.
 
My greatest frustration with the DX-100 was having to wait 10 minutes every time I turned it on before I could listen to music.  To be fair, I had an external microSDXC -> SDXC adapter and was using a 120GB SDXC card.  Both the card and memory were full, so it did have a LOT of music to index.  However, the AK120 can be set to only index on demand - a great feature.  I've got 2 x 64GB cards in it, and my internal 64GB memory is full.  Even with 192GB (172GB formatted), it indexes a LOT faster that the DX-100.
 
I'm using my new toy with Heir Audio 4.Ai and 5.0 cans.  It sounds great with both.  I had planned to sell my 4.Ais when I got the 5.0s.  However, I find that some music is better with the flatter 4.Ais and some with the warmer, more bassy 5.0s.  I've done a bunch of side by side tests which, unfortunately, had just made me want to keep both (damn you, Head-Fi, damn you .
 
Now I'm waiting for 128GB microSDXC cards to hit the market, and the price to come down to reasonable levels, probably a year -.  Even with 2 x 64GB microSDXC cards and 64GB internal memory, my AK120 is filled up.  I guess I'll have to temporarily down sample some of my music to make space for more.
 
Overall, I'm a very happy new owner.

 

[Greed]

Quote:

Hi All -
 
Just wanted to drop a note saying hello to everyone in this thread.
 
I'm a new AK120 owner.  Just sold my iBasso DX-100 and replaced it with the AK120.
 
My 2p - I have to agree with the reviews about the DX-100 sound being slightly better than the AK120.  However, the AK120 form factor, battery life, double microSDXC card capability, better GUI, charging, indexing and stability just blow away the DX-100.
 
My greatest frustration with the DX-100 was having to wait 10 minutes every time I turned it on before I could listen to music.  To be fair, I had an external microSDXC -> SDXC adapter and was using a 120GB SDXC card.  Both the card and memory were full, so it did have a LOT of music to index.  However, the AK120 can be set to only index on demand - a great feature.  I've got 2 x 64GB cards in it, and my internal 64GB memory is full.  Even with 192GB (172GB formatted), it indexes a LOT faster that the DX-100.
 
I'm using my new toy with Heir Audio 4.Ai and 5.0 cans.  It sounds great with both.  I had planned to sell my 4.Ais when I got the 5.0s.  However, I find that some music is better with the flatter 4.Ais and some with the warmer, more bassy 5.0s.  I've done a bunch of side by side tests which, unfortunately, had just made me want to keep both (damn you, Head-Fi, damn you .
 
Now I'm waiting for 128GB microSDXC cards to hit the market, and the price to come down to reasonable levels, probably a year -.  Even with 2 x 64GB microSDXC cards and 64GB internal memory, my AK120 is filled up.  I guess I'll have to temporarily down sample some of my music to make space for more.
 
Overall, I'm a very happy new owner.

 
Was that with or without an external amp attached?

 

[Trang]

I got my new ak120 with scratch just from the moment of unboxing. How it could be with player for 1299USD?

 

[kkcc]

I got my new ak120 with scratch just from the moment of unboxing. How it could be with player for 1299USD?

You mean the unit itself or the leather case? The case is steadily scratched unfortunately mine is totally ruined

 

[dsalomon]

Quote:

 
Was that with or without an external amp attached?

Both.  I listened with the DX-100 and AK120 direct with both my Heir Audio 4.Ai and 5.0 cans, and also using my Ray Samuels SR-71A amp.  The problem with testing these two devices is that the DX-100 has analog line out + amped out.  So that's 8 combinations (line out / amp out, amped / non-amped, Heir 4.Ai / 5.0) with the DX-100, vs  4 (amped / non-amped, Heir 4.Ai / 5.0) with the AK120.  Too many combinations to do any real unbiased testing.  Besides, I didn't have anyone here to do blind testing, so my results had built in bias (since I just bought the AK120 .
 
The bottom line, for my ears: the AK120 sounds great to me.
 
I haven't tested the optical in or out on the AK120 yet.  Nor have I tested it as a DAC.  I'll post my (unscientific) results of both when I have.  I don't have a mini-optical cable - just ordered one.