[jamato8]

Most of the components are a step down from top of the line. The cost difference between top of the line and a step or two down is upwards of an order of magnitude. Really. The 8GB flash chip in DX50 goes for around $4.50; the 64GB flash chip in DX100 goes for around $40.00. DX100's Sabre DAC lists at $65; DX50's Wolfson DAC is about $12.50. DX100 has a substantially larger display, an optical output jack, full working Android support (not sure if there's a license fee for that). All of these things add up.

Yes but iRiver charges 3 times the price. They both use the same screen, they use the 8740 sac, the component cost is about the same as I have worked on the AK100 and there is nothing special in there. It is the implementation that iBasso did with the DX50 that makes it special. I can hear the differences all the more between the AK100 and DX50 with my TH900. I enjoy the iRiver but the DX50 to me, just has better implementation for 1/3 the price. I would not call the 8740 a lesser dac chip, just one that renders differently with some preferring the Sabre chip and some the Wolfson. Cost and specs are not everything. It is all good. 

 

[Dopaminer]

This is my latest solution, a $10 neoprene iPhone case.  Fits with perfect snugness and I can operate all the buttons through the neoprene. Highly recommended.  I also don`t like the functionality of silicon cases, but the ones from iBasso do look good.  
 

 

[wlz12]

Just got my dx50. The firmaware numbering is confusing. Is 1.2.5 an old firmware? I live in China so, i might not be surprised if this is the a new one

 

[ClieOS]

  Yes but iRiver charges 3 times the price. They both use the same screen, they use the 8740 sac, the component cost is about the same as I have worked on the AK100 and there is nothing special in there. It is the implementation that iBasso did with the DX50 that makes it special. I can hear the differences all the more between the AK100 and DX50 with my TH900. I enjoy the iRiver but the DX50 to me, just has better implementation for 1/3 the price. I would not call the 8740 a lesser dac chip, just one that renders differently with some preferring the Sabre chip and some the Wolfson. Cost and specs are not everything. It is all good. 

 
The real difference is that iriver went for a Korean SoC while iBasso is stuck with RockChip. They are both ARM based but RockChip isn't nearly quite as capable as chip maker. But they shouldn't really matter as much on actual hardware performance wise since both are overkill for the task. That aside, DX50 does have a much proper designed headphone amp section, which is something totally missing from the AK100.

 

[jamato8]

   
The real difference is that iriver went for a Korean SoC while iBasso is stuck with RockChip. They are both ARM based but RockChip isn't nearly quite as capable as chip maker. But they shouldn't really matter as much on actual hardware performance wise since both are overkill for the task. That aside, DX50 does have a much proper designed headphone amp section, which is something totally missing from the AK100.

And that is a good point. They are both overkill for the application so it boils down to implementation. I had high hopes for the amp section of the AK100 being discrete but they dropped the ball some and at a price. 
 
Sure a great time right now for DAP's and us though. 

 

[wlz12]

  Just got my dx50. The firmaware numbering is confusing. Is 1.2.5 an old firmware? I live in China so, i might not be surprised if this is the a new one

 

[Dopaminer]

 

Everything looks normal, and you have the most recent firmware.  Proceed to Step 2:  listening to some awesome music.  

 

[jon parker]

For certain values of "worse". I found 1.2.3b to have too much bass. Everything from the upper mids (tenor vocals) through the highs are overwhelmed by the bass and that's saying something for KNS-8400 headphones. While 1.2.5's soundstage is noticeably smaller, it is a much better overall sound in my opinion.

Edit:
headwhacker's post on the topic is #7267, and mine is #7287, in case you want to go digging back in the archives.

I guess we are a little unique here in that the marriage of the DX50 with the headphone of our choice will most likely be quite specific & wide ranging for everyone. For my Grado GR10's / ears the v1.2.3 sounds perfect where as v1.2.5 sounds fairly lifeless...in comparisson which is the frustration for me!   

 

[wlz12]

  Everything looks normal, and you have the most recent firmware.  Proceed to Step 2:  listening to some awesome music.  

Thanks mate, currently putting my favourite flac collections to this beast. Do you guys have 1.2.5 too? Cool thing about DX50 i just found out. When there was chinese music in my DX50 the interface was Chinese, as soon as i wiped it out and put my music, it became english. 

 

[headwhacker]

  The DX50 is the finest sounding player Ive heard. i love it 
As i already explained though the v1.2.5 STILL has many bugs and [for me] has a sound quality that is no where near as good as the v1.2.3...
soooo something that works a bit better (1.2.5) but sounds worse or something that sounds great but is buggy ??
(that should have worked WHEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC) = my main issue
 
It looks like we have had opposite experiences All my previous devices worked after I bought them with no problems but the DX50 is just bug city for me although, again Im beyond happy with the price and the [over all] sound quality.
 
Anyhoo - I feel confident and rejoice in that when we are all 'in the zone' listening on our devices we will all be, im sure, experiencing something quite special... audiotorially speaking... end of the day thats the main thing 'in it

 
I think is not fair to rant for using a beta fw and complain about UI issues because you like the sound better on the beta FW? You forget your perceived sound quality is only yours and different from others. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people find the latest official FW better than the beta SQ-wise and worry less about UI/usability issues. Or at the very least can live with the sound signature of the official FW and rather not worry about other bugs due to a beta firmware.
 
Ibasso certainly can't please everybody which sound signature to implement with each FW update but certainly will benefit everybody cleaning up the bugs and issues with each update.
 
Yes DX50 came in with a ton of bugs when it first came out and I can only imagine what you have been through starting with the earlier FW. As for me I waited and only pulled the trigger when the bugs I think would annoy me most had been fixed starting 1.2.2. With 1.2.5 I still encounter a few bugs but none prevents me from enjoying listening to it. For the record I like it's sound signature over 1.2.2 which in turn I also preferred over the 1.2.3b.
 
After all that has been said, DX50 is no iDevice when it comes to UI experience. But I suppose we all have DX50 because we care about better sound quality more than anything.

 

[Dopaminer]

  Thanks mate, currently putting my favourite flac collections to this beast. Do you guys have 1.2.5 too? Cool thing about DX50 i just found out. When there was chinese music in my DX50 the interface was Chinese, as soon as i wiped it out and put my music, it became english. 

I`ll have to try it with Japanese text.  
I`m still on 1.2.2 and loving it; in this thread there is a lot of discussion of the sonic variation between the fw updates.  .  .  .  

 

[wlz12]

  I`ll have to try it with Japanese text.  
I`m still on 1.2.2 and loving it; in this thread there is a lot of discussion of the sonic variation between the fw updates.  .  .  .  

Yeah i know but, i won't read over 500 pages. It would be wonderful if someone would help describe the sonic signatures of the firmwares with a few words. 

 

[headwhacker]

full working Android support (not sure if there's a license fee for that). All of these things add up.

 
Android in itself is free. But not sure about the music player they use in DX100 cost any.

 

[jamato8]

I had an earlier iPad and never used it much because I did not like the UI. I have 8 iRiver H120 and H140's and did not like in any way the UI but once RockBoxed it was a different world. To me, neither iPod or iRiver back then did a very good job but evolved. So iBasso is and has evolved as well but IMO, much faster as I never got used to the UI of the H120 and iRiver never did much to improve it. 

 

[ratinox]

Android in itself is free. But not sure about the music player they use in DX100 cost any.

I figure it's licensing the Android trademarks and paying for whatever certifications Google requires to use those trademarks.

I`ll have to try it with Japanese text.

Japanese text displays just fine alone and mixed with Latin-1.