[mikemercer]

   
 
From my experiences the players with the much more current firmware is extremely usable, as long as you're more careful with the database of files it creates than I was being.  I'm glad I didn't seem to jinx myself yesterday by my posting that my device stopped freezing, because it still hasn't froze.   
 
But apparently it is fairly easy to put the device in a state of which it could freeze.  Which is unfortunate, and not very user friendly.  The freezing, the volume control glitch, and as of firmware 1.2.6 the lack of a proper gapless feature seem to sum of the remaining issues that I think really exist.  If those three things are addressed eventually I would be left with a perfect player.  

That's GREAT news on the machine not freezing on ya!!
 
And you still seem loyal to iBasso - right??
That's important, when a company does something, through attentive service, or be willing to be open and honest about issues
they might be having... It goes a long way.
 
What's made you stick with iBasso - even though your player has some issues?
I don't ask this as a wise-a__ or anything. I'm askin' sincerely.
 

  It would be fun if you guys did a follow-up review 3 months from now, checking in to see if things got better 

 
Thanks for sharing!

GREAT idea!!
Believe me I'm gonna be talking w/ them to try and arrange a follow-up!

 

[Lilfurbal]

  That's GREAT news on the machine not freezing on ya!!
 
And you still seem loyal to iBasso - right??
That's important, when a company does something, through attentive service, or be willing to be open and honest about issues
they might be having... It goes a long way.
 
What's made you stick with iBasso - even though your player has some issues?
I don't ask this as a wise-a__ or anything. I'm askin' sincerely.
 

 
 
I don't know if loyal is the correct term.  If the Fiio x5 was already available I would have migrated to that to see if it also had freezing issues.  But as of now I have found a work around that seems to have my DX50 rather stable, and if that continues up won't feel so compelled to jump ship.  I've been sticking with iBasso for now because there is currently another player on the market I am interested in replacing it with so am along for the ride until there is a player that is, or the lingering issues are resolved.  
 
Also what has kept me with using the iBasso device purely over just say using my smart phone is that I love the 256 step volume, opposed to my phone's 8 steps.  lol.  So this has made me keep the iBasso player, instead of resorting to my phone in the meantime.  

 

[BeBop Lives]

The Audio360 review speaks to many of the ongoing problems DX 50 has, and why it's necessary to work out the kinks before product release.  However, we all expect small issues to arise with any any new product.  I am still working with FW 1.2.2 and all works well..  Therefor, I shall not make any changes in FW as an experiment.  HE 400, with either O2, or BH2, line out is working just fine.  I too would like to see a follow up review when the problem issues are resolved.   Thank you for the information.

 

[mikemercer]

   
 
I don't know if loyal is the correct term.  If the Fiio x5 was already available I would have migrated to that to see if it also had freezing issues.  But as of now I have found a work around that seems to have my DX50 rather stable, and if that continues up won't feel so compelled to jump ship.  I've been sticking with iBasso for now because there is currently another player on the market I am interested in replacing it with so am along for the ride until there is a player that is, or the lingering issues are resolved.  
 
Also what has kept me with using the iBasso device purely over just say using my smart phone is that I love the 256 step volume, opposed to my phone's 8 steps.  lol.  So this has made me keep the iBasso player, instead of resorting to my phone in the meantime.  

Gotcha. I totally get it.
 
What about the Astell & Kern AK100?? Too pricey??
I know it's over-shadowed by its much pricier AK120 - I have both and I still rock the AK100
all the time - as it stacks really well on my ALO International, and that makes for a wickedly musical 
combo in my book!

I even wrote about it for Part-Time Audiophile! That whole rig included the LCD-3 however!
But I also dig my PHA-1, as I use iDevices - man its a disease isn't it - it could be worse!!
 
But I hear ya on needing to hold out for a player that meets your precise needs. 
 
I like the AK120 because it has enough juice to drive my Alpha Dogs, M-100s, or LCD-X/XC!
But it is pricey. That's undeniable. We had a roundtable about it at Audio360. 
 
This space (higher performance DAPS) is still in its infancy I believe. This whole segment is still developing so fast!
Most of the users today are experiencing their music through headphones! That's just an undeniable fact.
So the company that can NAIL an iPod alternative thats easy to use, easy to connect with and interface well - they'll
KILL it.
 
I haven't tried any Fiio gear - but I think I should change that...

 

[sensui123]

Bottom line the device isn't exactly robust and tested with all the varying content/tags people are putting on the unit.  I have very straight forward clean tags all made from scratch with album artwork tied in to each track.....DX50 has never faltered on any of my content (mostly redbook lossless FLAC, some 24bit/96kz files) with the recent firmwares.  I am not on the latest firmware, on 1.2.2 and have never had an issue with it using it on a semi daily basis.  Throughout the firmware revisions since launch (mine was 1st batch), I have had the unit freeze twice (1 time it was touchscreen being not responsive) and a battery pull solved it completely....probably a 20 second delay as the unit starts up so fast.....otherwise it's been flawless and sounds great.  Take it around juggling the kids, take it to Mexico on my vacation to listen to @ the beaches, take it out to occupy myself when the wife's shopping....whatever it may be. 
I don't doubt these problems reported but I'd like to think I'm using the unit as "expected" by iBasso so that's why I'm having almost 0 problems with it.  That's why I haven't bought the new Sony ZX-1 yet because I can't bring myself to pay more $$ when I'm so satisfied with the DX50 already and if I wanted really high SQ head fi, I'd listen to my home rig anyway and rather invest more $$ into that.  I can say iBasso devices DX100 and DX50 have treated me very well, iBasso customer support has been great to me as well with the DX100, and both devices are still getting semi daily use without a hitch.  The firmwares are only getting better and I think it's going to be tough to beat once these small kinks are straightened out.
 
Just my 2 cents.
 
P.S.  Thanks Sorensiim for maintaining the thread, I can't follow a thread that moves this quick on head fi and you've done a very good job with the 1st post.

 

[Lilfurbal]

  Gotcha. I totally get it.
 
What about the Astell & Kern AK100?? Too pricey??
I know it's over-shadowed by its much pricier AK120 - I have both and I still rock the AK100
all the time - as it stacks really well on my ALO International, and that makes for a wickedly musical 
combo in my book!
 
I even wrote about it for Part-Time Audiophile! That whole rig included the LCD-3 however!
But I also dig my PHA-1, as I use iDevices - man its a disease isn't it - it could be worse!!
 
But I hear ya on needing to hold out for a player that meets your precise needs. 
 
I like the AK120 because it has enough juice to drive my Alpha Dogs, M-100s, or LCD-X/XC!
But it is pricey. That's undeniable. We had a roundtable about it at Audio360. 
 
This space (higher performance DAPS) is still in its infancy I believe. This whole segment is still developing so fast!
Most of the users today are experiencing their music through headphones! That's just an undeniable fact.
So the company that can NAIL an iPod alternative thats easy to use, easy to connect with and interface well - they'll
KILL it.
 
I haven't tried any Fiio gear - but I think I should change that...

 
 
Yeeah, $700 is a bit much for a portable player at this time.  I don't yet have headphones worth that amount, which probably make for the singular most dramatic difference in sound quality one can make.  
 
I do love the DX50's price.  DX100 was overpriced too for my purposes.  I also came across the Fiio x3 online prior to deciding on the DX50, not sure what made me go for the DX50 at that time.  Possibly just a slight lean towards to what is 'newer'.  
 
I think the Fiio x5 has been rumored to possibly cost about twice as much, around $400.  I could probably get myself to do that, but not if I find a cheaper option that actually does fit my requirements.  
 
DX50 has actually been my first high end player.  I hated my iPod, worst music player I ever encountered.  Was replaced with a creative labs zen which was excellent for all the cheapo mp3s.  Eventually I migrated to Android smart phones.  And then more recently became fed up with my smart phone as a player.  If it weren't for all the annoying beeps and bloops and phone calls that interrupt the music, and the insanely poor amount of volume steps (can never find a perfect volume), I could probably handle it better but it's what prompted my search for a new dedicated player.  
 
Not long before I got the DX50 I actually came to realize what flacs were, and how I wasn't using them.  Upgraded my entire mp3 collection to flac, spending about 3 weeks re-ripping everything.  Then I learned that Android phones can play flac natively.  Then I realized that I should have gotten a phone with a micro sd card slot.  Regarding iBasso I ended up stumbling across the DX100 first in a search for a portable lossless music player, which quickly drew my attention to the new DX50 which I reserved a unit for in batch 5.  
 
Fortunately for iBasso, they haven't offended me to the degree Apple did with their iPod.  So I certainly haven't come to hate the DX50, which would have caused me to immediately abandon the thing.  I'm also a computer engineer, so understand that new computer related products are never perfect.  Apple had a mature product though, they had no excuses.  Lol.  

 

[ratinox]

Here, let me fix that for you:

Yeeah, $700 is way too much for a portable player.

There. Much better.

 

[Lilfurbal]

Here, let me fix that for you:
There. Much better.

 
Lol.
 
Speaking of things, I'm still quite cautious in throwing down a lot of money on portable audio equipment.  However I certainly didn't skimp out in my home theater system.  Don't use it too much for music listening, but I do love hearing those dolby and DTS master audio tracks the way they were intended to sound.  Spent like $7000+ on that stuff, and just recently upgraded my receiver to a new $1600 model.  Certain things I just go to town with.  
 
Edit: DVD-audio discs and SACD's are certainly fun to listen to on the home theater system though.  Like a whole other world of music listening.  lol

 

[HungryPanda]

My DX50 has never failed me once since I got it (FW 1.2.5 then updated to 1.2.6) but it does seem the most complaints come from apple formatted audio files. I'm really glad I bought this beautiful little device as the sound is awesome.

 

[Wapiti]

It would be good to pin down the commonality between those files which cause problems.  There may be other common factors behind the problems people are having.
 
I have had no problems with files scanning, identification, etc. This may because I rip my own (to FLAC) and tag them.  I always check the tags of high resolution and other files I download.  I can put them in folders or just load the files themselves and the DX50 is perfectly happy.
 
I would be completely happy if the cross-fading between tracks is removed, as well as the new wallpaper deleted. 

 

[HungryPanda]

I always tag my files with Tag & Rename meticulously and I'm sure that's why my albums play as expected. As for the 1.2.6  wallpaper I actually like it a lot but it would be cool if we could pick our own. I certainly feel very wierd when the crossfade kicks in, it has to go.

 

[unkle]

 
I would be completely happy if the cross-fading between tracks is removed, as well as the new wallpaper deleted. 

+1
 
and 0 freezing issues here, my device has always worked perfectly.
(all ALAC file tagged with iTunes)

 

[MCImes]

Just to add my $.02 to this, I have a random assortment of MP3's (~120gb) with ~20% flac (~80gb) mixed in there. Most of the file names are decent, but I just archive whatever I can from buddies or whatever, so there are a fair number of ugly file names and ID3 tags mixed in the group. So, with that preface, I've only had it hard freeze on me 2 times. It randomly cuts off the first/last few seconds of some songs, but then again im still on 1.2.2 and havent really had a need to update because things work generally well for me.

If im not really having many problems, is there any benefit to updating the firmware?

Also, is the turn on/off click normal? just the amp relay? (no phones plugged in, just turning on/off the player it clicks like a relay on a home theater amp)

Also, anyone use M100's with this? Im thinking about getting a pair and just curious what people think of this combo. (mostly, Im fairly new the the portable audio scene and am just wondering if it has enough power to properly drive the m100's)

Edit: Just read the review above and I havent had any of those problems. I guess some artwork doesnt show, but who cares. Its in my pocket all day anyways. My SD card auto scans. It has only frozen a couple times on me...so I guess it depends a lot on your music collection...

 

[bearFNF]

  GREAT idea!!
Believe me I'm gonna be talking w/ them to try and arrange a follow-up!

Heh, maybe I can bring my "golden" DX50 to Arly (DigitalFreak) at our next meet and we can compare my seventh batch to his ?first? batch, I believe. It would also be a compare of his ?apple? file loaded card to my fresh ripped EAC card (did this so it would work with the studio V, and it has worked fine with the DX50)...hhhhmmm time for a road trip...for the team...

 

[FlyinMN]

+1

and 0 freezing issues here, my device has always worked perfectly.
(all ALAC file tagged with iTunes)

Me too.

My DX50 has never failed me once since I got it (FW 1.2.5 then updated to 1.2.6) but it does seem the most complaints come from apple formatted audio files. I'm really glad I bought this beautiful little device as the sound is awesome.

I don't think Apple format has anything to do with it. I have had no freezing issues or scanning issues and my SD card is all copied artist folders directly out of my iTunes folder. All are mp3, AAC purchased, AAC CD rips and ALAC. My ALAC were all originally AIFF files that I converted in iTunes to ALAC before I got my DX50 when AIFF was not advertised as supported. So, iTunes can apparently handle all the tagging appropriately.

Call me one of the "Golden" owners because I am absolutely loving this thing. I'm not an audiophile from a trained ear and experience like many of you but this player has changed my music listening enjoyment dramatically. This is now my main device at home. I don't even bother with the laptop and USB dac. Just grab he DX50 and find my favorite chair.

I'll add that it wouldn't be the same experience without this forum and the FAQ. iBasso is going to need at least a basic owners manual if they want to go mainstream.
Scott