[HK_sends]

I always get the "everyone has different tastes...it's what you like" speech when I am shopping for gear and I have to tell the guy I'm not impressed with something. It's cliche and annoying. I always prefer when people are upfront about their experiences with various gear. I think some more discussion about the various firmwares would be very welcome here. The differences are NOT subtle, however everyone has different rigs and set-ups.


 


Is anyone else using the DX50 as a transport to their home rig via the coax? That seems to work exceptionally well. Sounds much better than various USB Dacs and my computer and it responds very well to EQ. I do notice the differences don't bother me as much when I am using the lineout to my car's aux jack.

 


I am using it as a transport with the coax feeding my Schiit Bifrost (w/uber upgrade) and Lyr and listening with the LCD-2s. I am very impressed with the overall sound! I don't use the EQ though since I like the effects the tubes I am using in the Lyr have on the music.

Cheers!
-HK sends

 

[AladdinSane]

I haven't received it yet so can't comment on heft but I ordered a custom mini-coax-->RCA from Blue Jeans Cable. Cables from BJC are nothing fancy but well made and you can spec length. 3 footer was < $20. I wanted a longer one to connect to my AV receiver. Still may be too much girth for what you want. Let you know in a couple days when I receive.
 
I'm sure there must be other outlets as well. Just happened to be ordering some RF cables for a project and thought I'd throw the mini-coax in for fun! Just specify a 1/8" TS connector on one end in the Notes on checkout if you proceed. It is an extra $5.

 

[GoldfishX]

Audio impression, is just that impression which for one might emphasize on certain frequency range and how their audition can capture subtle sounds, like wine tasting it is practice that makes perfect and it may well be personal while another auditor won't sense the same audio inflexions. There are good references of sound description on this site and everyone is well advised to consult them however, you'll find that you will have to classify what you hear according to your personal preferences and how you capture the audio signal in your ears and how your brain interprets it, truly unique experience in each of us.

 
All true, the problem is I've come away from some horribly unimpressive demonstrations and get the fed the "everyone is different" line every time. It's just something the industry falls back on, it seems. The problem is when an expensive piece of gear doesn't perform at its price level (read: $1000-$2000 amps that sound like $50 amps, $1000 DAC's that sound ugly and digital). I think people will be more helped by my description of 1.2.7 as "muddy" than me saying "it's different than 1.2.6, but it depends on what you like, etc".
 
Thankfully, DX50 is such a reasonably priced piece of gear, I can deal with its little quirks.
 
I tend to avoid the EQ, but the exception is I need to remove that 30hz band. It clutters up the sound, I've found. That is universal across EVERY firmware I've tried so far. Maybe it works better for loudspeakers, but IEM's/headphones, no luck with it.

 

[geagle]

Yes that is the one I,ve got. I was one of the original crowdsourcers for the project, but for me the DX50 will not boot with it plugged in with a 64GB SanDisk black Ultra card in. Plugged in after the DX50 has started all is fine.

For me too it's better to unplug it, turn on DX50, and plug it as soon as the Ibasso screen comes up (even before the music screen comes on). If I leave it on, sometimes everything is nice, some other times the Ibasso does start but the screen does not light up, and you can solve that by clicking once on the "On" button to turn the screen off, and another time to turn the screen on again… usually this solves the problem, but sometimes the screen gets a very distinct blue tinge (instead of the usual black), when one does this. So now I mainly disconnect the the Meenova right before turning on, and connect it as soon as I see the Ibasso logo on the screen, not a really huge problem.

 

[nc8000]

That is also the behavior I've been getting (all described scenarios) playing about with it the last hour.

 

[gamefreak054]

   
When I strapped an amp to the DX50, I put my DX100 up for sale... Yes it gets bulky, but sounds amazing, has physical buttons and I can just unplug the amp when using it on the go 

 
I will have to try to use the line out when I have access to a good amp to compare the two. Right now the DX50 definitely seems a bit warmer with less detail. Which is to be expected, but it is a question of whether or not an amp would change this enough for me. 
 
Honestly the limit of being too bulky for me would be a DX100 with an amp. I could see lugging around a DX50 with an amp. However I do more transportable things than portable. If I wanted to walk or run and carry music my iems and clip are my go to.

   
Not sure what his problem is, I have the EQ On right now and it stays that way so no problem with the function. Remember that the EQ is actually enabled when the display shows Off at the bottom, not too intuitive but that's what iBasso has chosen, it is reflective of what you want to do next and not the current EQ status.

It is definitely switching from whatever setting he is using. From what he tells me he turns it off and it will show no "custom" icon on the screen. Then later the "custom" icon will pop back up. This is what he has told me, and what I somewhat witnessed. I will definitely play around with it some more, and maybe do a factory reset.

 

[ramilacaponi]

I only ask for .cue support
Well, full screen album art would be nice also.

 

[Stonephace]

I'm just about to install 1.2.7, having had no problems with any of the previous FW I've installed (golden DX50 and cloth/tin/wooden ears FTW...).
 
One really stupid question I have is, is there any way of displaying the number of the track I'm playing? It's more of a belt and braces thing, but it's a bit annoying that I can't(?) check the screen and see that I'm on track x (of y)...
 
<nomex suit on>
So. With the changes to gapless, is there now a setting where the DX50 doesn't add/remove silence from what was on the original CD? As in, if there was a one second gap between tracks one and two on the CD, is there now a setting where when I play the flacs of the CD on the DX50 there's a gap of one second between tracks one and two?
</nomex suit stays on>

 

[Lilfurbal]

Just installed firmware 1.2.7 a bit ago from 1.2.5.  I like how they got rid of the 'close / off' ' 5 second' '10 second' crap from the gapless menu and just simply have it 'on' and 'off.  Lol.
 
Also like how the gapless works correctly again.  
 
Appreciated the fastest full sd card scan I've ever witnessed, and further appreciate that it no longer performs ~any~ mini scan when the device is turned on.  Just goes straight to the music screen, and remembers the position of the last song it was playing when it was turned off.  Although I'm not sure how much I really appreciate that.  I prefer starting the song over again if I want to continue playing back what I was last listening to, but that's nice.
 
+- 12 steps in the EQ, rather than +- 6 steps.  Nice.  
 
Custom wallpaper isn't that worthwhile to me but I decided to give it a try anyway, which resulted in something a bit noisy.  The new default wallpaper though is really nice, it's of rain.  More soothing than 1.2.5 and earlier.  
 
Been over two weeks now without any freezes, hope to keep that trend going.  
 
Sound quality on 1.2.7 sounds the same to as on 1.2.5.  That is to say, it sounds consistent and nice.  
 
Love this firmware.  

 

[Varoudis]

So now EQ off is like EQ on with all sliders on 6 or 12?

In general if you ask a mastering engineer the less freqs you subtract the better as the frequency shelf is a bit bad

 

[tak-]

No, you won't be double amping. Line out uses the DAC from DX50 and amp from whichever device you plug you line in to. Set the volume to the highest you can tolerate on DX50 and adjust the volume using your amp.

Dear Folks,

i need help, i recently bought a Xduoo SD-01 USD DAC and Headphone Amp, it comes has a Coaxial in which is perfect for DX-50 3.5mm Coaxial out. However the stock cable from DX 50 is way too huge!










Does anyone know where i can get aftermarket cable, or DIY.

Of course i can use the regular 3.5mm line in line out, but i will be double amping?

regards

Gwee

 

[Lilfurbal]

So now EQ off is like EQ on with all sliders on 6 or 12?

In general if you ask a mastering engineer the less freqs you subtract the better as the frequency shelf is a bit bad

 
 
It doesn't to be either anymore.  EQ turned off seems to be more around everything on 7.  12 is too loud, but it is just a nudge louder than 7 when turned off.  7 might be fairly accurate to my ears.  
 
However when the EQ is off there is more bass.  For whatever reason the bass goes up to some unknown variable vs having the EQ on with everything set to the same number.  
 
Edit : While I usually have always used previous firmware versions with the EQ on with some custom setting, I seem to be unable to figure out what the default EQ is for the unit when it's turned off.  It clearly not straight across.  When using the EQ the settings sound the same when set the same as they were on previous firmware, but you can expand above and below 6 to 12.  But EQ off no longer appears to sound like 6 straight across like it use to.
 
Edit #2 : K, so anyone who claims the 'stock' EQ setting sounds different than previous firmware I have to agree.  It is not the same.  EQ on with everything set to +6 sounds to me like previous firmware versions with the EQ turned off though.
 
You can use the EQ to turn the bass , mids and treble to higher levels than the all previous firmware versions though.  7 and higher creates for sound signatures not even possible before.  I like this improved EQ.  Lets me actually give the treble a boost if I so desire.  Something not really possible before.  

 

[jon parker]

I emailed iBasso regarding the different sound qualities of the different FW updates
 
My main question was regarding a personal issue where version 1.2.3 sounded so good for me with my own set up but subsequent updates have been 
sounding far more [in general] muddy / fuller / bassy-er until now, with 1.2.7 I find that with all my music I am very aware of bass/low end which for me
is not ideal as I personally prefer a balance of bass/mid/high so that I am not aware of anything prominent in the mix. I understand the impossabilities 
of this from one point of view but I hope some might know what Im trying to say here
 
ANYWAY I think my question may have been misunderstood or I haven't understood the response. (I was hoping for for a set of presets to represent
the different typs of sound quality that some here have commented on / hated / loved with the different updates)
 
The answer I got was:
 
'Thank you for your email.
The changes on the decoding library affect sound.  Which isnt user pre-set EQ.
Also, if you read the head-fi, you would find most of people like the V1.2.7 the most'
 
I dont want to bother iBasso too much but does anyone know what -The changes on the decoding library affect sound- actualy means?

 

[jon parker]

By the way
if anyone would like to create chart for people to fill out their own impressions of the sound qualities of each firmware update i would find it very interesting
especially as different headphones would give different experiences for people. just a fleeting thought  

 

[musicheaven]

  I emailed iBasso regarding the different sound qualities of the different FW updates
 
My main question was regarding a personal issue where version 1.2.3 sounded so good for me with my own set up but subsequent updates have been 
sounding far more [in general] muddy / fuller / bassy-er until now, with 1.2.7 I find that with all my music I am very aware of bass/low end which for me
is not ideal as I personally prefer a balance of bass/mid/high so that I am not aware of anything prominent in the mix. I understand the impossabilities 
of this from one point of view but I hope some might know what Im trying to say here
 
ANYWAY I think my question may have been misunderstood or I haven't understood the response. (I was hoping for for a set of presets to represent
the different typs of sound quality that some here have commented on / hated / loved with the different updates)
 
The answer I got was:
 
'Thank you for your email.
The changes on the decoding library affect sound.  Which isnt user pre-set EQ.
Also, if you read the head-fi, you would find most of people like the V1.2.7 the most'
 
I dont want to bother iBasso too much but does anyone know what -The changes on the decoding library affect sound- actualy means?

I does not make sense to me I would have asked them some clarifications. TBH they are pretty good answering questions but if one makes this kind of statement that's worth the explanation.