ScottSummers
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Definitely looking to buy this DAP, what is the typical time frame for iBasso products to drop in pricing (if at all)?
The DX90 by iBasso . . . Sound impressions . . . . . . . New Firmware, 2.5.1 . . .
- Thread starter jamato8
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If you wait long enough, they'll be head-fiers selling theirs on the selling/trading thread for hopefully a lot less, that's what happened to the DX50, that's of course you don't mind second handiness.
Pudu
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These, being portable, are probably in direct contact with a lot more skin and sweat than other audio equipment (iems excepted).
Just sayin'
(You're welcome iBasso.)
Just sayin'
(You're welcome iBasso.)
headwhacker
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I see a few R10's in Amazon selling for < $700. Maybe a few months from now you might see a cheaper DX90 floating around Amazon (or eBay).
headwhacker
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A knockoff or two maybe?
How about a DX50 board in a DX90 body lmao haha.
Considering the DX90 FW ported to DX50 and boots with DX90 banner, it's just a matter of time before it happens. Remember a couple of Vietnam impressions just a few days after the launch?
Considering the DX90 FW ported to DX50 and boots with DX90 banner, it's just a matter of time before it happens. Remember a couple of Vietnam impressions just a few days after the lauch?
Absolutely that alone got me laughing at least for a full day until I took it off the DX50, the tamed fr was just too hard to bear.
Those impressions got tossed out very rapidly though, no real merits to them.
ScottSummers
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Thanks everyone for the responses!
vkalia
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So I got my DX90 yesterday (I wanted the 2 micro SD cards of the FiiO but their 5800 song limit and abysmally hideous UI with mysterious buttons of all sorts put me off it).
Perfect timing - i loaded it up with a 64GB memory card I pulled off my AK100 (which is getting a couple of 128GB cards), and some new CD rips and went off today for a day trip to another city for some work (morning flight, cab ride, meeting, lunch, cab ride, afternoon flight. damn. But I digress). I had these plugged into Shure SE846s.
It is a very, very competent unit. I'll leave the florid descriptions to others - all I know is that they drove the headphones really well, allowing the music to shine through. Music was dynamic, there was no hiss (although the background wasnt as inky-black as on my AK100/Quickstep stack) and transient response was very, very good. I am going to sit down and A/B it with the AK100/Quickstep stack, but I dont expect a huge difference in sound quality, other than dynamic range.
But one thing. *** iBasso (and FiiO) - how effing difficult is it to build a player that can READ ID3 TAGS PROPERLY WITHOUT SCREWING UP? I know there are people here who dont care - good on you. I do - and this is a pretty basic functionality. You'd think that now that you guys are on your 2nd or 3rd players, you'd be able to do something like this. My ID3 tags are quite clean, but I do have Album Artist and Composer there. So now I have to go through EVERY damn album and delete it manually. Seriously. What. A $50 throwaway Android phone does a better job than you guys. I cut you guys some slack with the DX50 and X3, both of which I own, but given that you guys are going upmarket, this is simply not acceptable.
The DX90 is near-perfect, IMO. 2 micro-SD slots and better ID3 tag handling and it gets there.
Perfect timing - i loaded it up with a 64GB memory card I pulled off my AK100 (which is getting a couple of 128GB cards), and some new CD rips and went off today for a day trip to another city for some work (morning flight, cab ride, meeting, lunch, cab ride, afternoon flight. damn. But I digress). I had these plugged into Shure SE846s.
It is a very, very competent unit. I'll leave the florid descriptions to others - all I know is that they drove the headphones really well, allowing the music to shine through. Music was dynamic, there was no hiss (although the background wasnt as inky-black as on my AK100/Quickstep stack) and transient response was very, very good. I am going to sit down and A/B it with the AK100/Quickstep stack, but I dont expect a huge difference in sound quality, other than dynamic range.
But one thing. *** iBasso (and FiiO) - how effing difficult is it to build a player that can READ ID3 TAGS PROPERLY WITHOUT SCREWING UP? I know there are people here who dont care - good on you. I do - and this is a pretty basic functionality. You'd think that now that you guys are on your 2nd or 3rd players, you'd be able to do something like this. My ID3 tags are quite clean, but I do have Album Artist and Composer there. So now I have to go through EVERY damn album and delete it manually. Seriously. What. A $50 throwaway Android phone does a better job than you guys. I cut you guys some slack with the DX50 and X3, both of which I own, but given that you guys are going upmarket, this is simply not acceptable.
The DX90 is near-perfect, IMO. 2 micro-SD slots and better ID3 tag handling and it gets there.
jamato8
Headphoneus Supremus
I find that with burn-in, the background actually get blacker(the noises floor goes down for what I hear). It seems that iBasso said they don't support ID3 tags, I could be wrong. I will ask them.
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How can they not support ID3 tags? My MP3 files are indexed, so it must support ID3 tags - mustn't it?
jamato8
Headphoneus Supremus
Maybe I am thinking of something else. I have MP3, though I don't use them much and most other types of files and they all work.
bbfoto
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I agree. ID3 tag implementation on the DX90 is sad, and ID3 tagging has been an industry-wide standard for how long now? And as previously stated, this is iBasso's 3rd DAP! Hello iBasso?
In addition (and I realize that some people may not care one way or the other), but I would also LOVE to have better Playlist Support:
1. Be able to give Playlists Custom Names
2. Be able to SAVE those Custom-Named Playlists to the mSD Card so that they can be reloaded each time we update firmware, or after a factory reset to clear bugs, add music to the mSD card & re-scan the library, etc!
As it stands, using playlists is frustrating and pretty much useless. I hate to say it, but even after all these years, no other (competitively-priced) DAP maker has come close to the user-friendliness of the iPod UI. If the DX90 had the iPod Classic UI with the DX90 innards, it would pretty much be an end-game DAP, IMHO. I really do appreciate the hardware/tactile, dont-have-to-look, buttons though, but again, those are available with the iPod Classic UI as well, + much more...
And I also do realize that Apple patents prevent a lot of those unique UI features, but...???
The Font or typeface iBasso decided to use is terrible IMO, and quite difficult to read most of the time, especially in bright sunlight. IMO, I think it would be much better to have black or dark text on a white background, or at least be able to choose either, as you can at least choose a custom background.
I don't want to come off as a hater, LOL, but in this day and age we all know what is possible, especially on the Android front.
Again, the SQ of the DX90 (both DAC & Amp) are phenomenal, and can drive my T1's w/o using a separate amp. That's the only thing that really keeps me from selling it. That being said, I've honestly been very tempted to just go with the Galaxy Note 3 and the 2nd Gen Dragonfly in order to not have to carry around two separate devices.
/End of Rant
In addition (and I realize that some people may not care one way or the other), but I would also LOVE to have better Playlist Support:
1. Be able to give Playlists Custom Names
2. Be able to SAVE those Custom-Named Playlists to the mSD Card so that they can be reloaded each time we update firmware, or after a factory reset to clear bugs, add music to the mSD card & re-scan the library, etc!
As it stands, using playlists is frustrating and pretty much useless. I hate to say it, but even after all these years, no other (competitively-priced) DAP maker has come close to the user-friendliness of the iPod UI. If the DX90 had the iPod Classic UI with the DX90 innards, it would pretty much be an end-game DAP, IMHO. I really do appreciate the hardware/tactile, dont-have-to-look, buttons though, but again, those are available with the iPod Classic UI as well, + much more...
And I also do realize that Apple patents prevent a lot of those unique UI features, but...???
The Font or typeface iBasso decided to use is terrible IMO, and quite difficult to read most of the time, especially in bright sunlight. IMO, I think it would be much better to have black or dark text on a white background, or at least be able to choose either, as you can at least choose a custom background.
I don't want to come off as a hater, LOL, but in this day and age we all know what is possible, especially on the Android front.
Again, the SQ of the DX90 (both DAC & Amp) are phenomenal, and can drive my T1's w/o using a separate amp. That's the only thing that really keeps me from selling it. That being said, I've honestly been very tempted to just go with the Galaxy Note 3 and the 2nd Gen Dragonfly in order to not have to carry around two separate devices.
/End of Rant
headwhacker
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Or you can wait for Rockbox. Playlist, tags, EQ and a lot more works perfectly on DX50.
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