[icefalkon]

Quote:

I thought doing this mod did something to the durability of the AK 100?
 there is a statement by iriver about this I think? where they say that doing the mod may break your headphone or something?

iRiver had to release that statement because they found out that RWA discovered a way to FIX their engineering mistake of putting a 22 ohm resistor in the unit. Once that fix went global, iRiver had no choice but to respond that if you modify the unit you risk damage to your headphones and void your warranty. It is their way of covering their own ass in case something BAD happened to someone's can's after the mod. As with anything else in life...if you modify or mess with it...you void the warranty. Just as Lee said...take what you read on that other site with a grain of salt. I've found that site to be very biased in some ways, and misinformed in others. But that's just me personally.

 

[goodvibes]

Quote:

They lyed . All in hopes in preventing themselves from looking like horses-asses. Still it didn't work. They just made themselves look worse  .

Not entirely. It may not like a shorted output. While many modern op amps tend to have short circuit protection, these output FETs do not. Plugging in earphones probably doesn't create momentary shorts and cables tend to go open instead of short so we may not know the extent of durability yet. Perhaps there's not enough current on the rail to fail the output device over a few minutes but we don't know that.
 
Being down on Iriver for coming up with a circuit that has a 12 ohm output impedance is valid but calling them liars at this point in the process is a bit premature. You're likely fine with it gone but there may be a good reason for it being there. Try shorting the the output of a solid state home amplifier without protection circuit and see how that output transistor likes it. You'll take out a fuze or take out the amp.
 
As usual, what's actually happening here likely falls into a gray area. They are probably not lying but they may have been overly cautious. Either way, it wasn't a great design choice.
 
I think we should probably stop calling them liars and applying ulterior motives to their comments whether we agree or not.
 
I think many of the comments on headfi  a bit strong. While I'm at it, I also hate technobable taking over almost every thread. Knowing something is not a bad thing but projecting that limited knowledge to something is too much. The guy who made the device is the smarter one or we'd be talking about what you made instead. Doesn't mean it's perfect as we're properly discussing here but the resistor wasn't just thrown in there by mistake, the Tera and Anv 3 can sound good and there's more to earphones than freq. response.

 LOL

 

[Achmedisdead]

Between the controversy over the hardware, and the fact that many people are having to revise their music's tags, I am fascinated by the level of interest here.

 

[shotgunshane]

As far as tags, XLD has converted my ALAC files to FLAC and maintained them perfectly. Only issue I had was to reduced album art file sizes, which can be corrected in settings of both XLD and Media Rage. Pretty simple.

 

[AnakChan]

To be honest I had a tough time with tags on the DX100 too for most of last year. So to me it wasn't a big issue.

The only device where I had the least issue are my iDevices.

 

[icefalkon]

Quote:

Not entirely. It may not like a shorted output. While many modern op amps tend to have short circuit protection, these output FETs do not. Plugging in earphones probably doesn't create momentary shorts and cables tend to go open instead of short so we may not know the extent of durability yet. Perhaps there's not enough current on the rail to fail the output device over a few minutes but we don't know that.
 
Being down on Iriver for coming up with a circuit that has a 12 ohm output impedance is valid but calling them liars at this point in the process is a bit premature. You're likely fine with it gone but there may be a good reason for it being there. Try shorting the the output of a solid state home amplifier without protection circuit and see how that output transistor likes it. You'll take out a fuze or take out the amp.
 
As usual, what's actually happening here likely falls into a gray area. They are probably not lying but they may have been overly cautious. Either way, it wasn't a great design choice.
 
I think we should probably stop calling them liars and applying ulterior motives to their comments whether we agree or not.
 
I think many of the comments on headfi  a bit strong. While I'm at it, I also hate technobable taking over almost every thread. Knowing something is not bad but projecting that limited knowledge to something is too much. The guy who made the device is the smarter one or we'd be talking about what you made instead. Doesn't mean it's perfect as we're properly discussing here but the resistor wasn't just thrown in there by mistake, the Tera and Anv 3 can sound good and there's more to earphones than freq. response.

 LOL

Great post.

 

[toads]

Quote:

So far I'm actually liking the player. I've found it needs to be set to EQ Flat to sound really good. On EQ off it's a bit harsh (fatiguing) at slightly higher volumes. On EQ Flat its even more detailed and much more balanced IMO. I understand the comments now on the black background. It indeed is even blacker than the DX100. This is clearly evident with me listening to it on low volumes (20 out of 75). I'm curious as to what you other headfier listen to this device at volume wise .
 

 
 
hmm...curious that the sonics change so significantly with the EQ set to "ON" but at the same time Zeroed out....i will have to check out your observation Lee....

 

[NegoNeo]

And yet what is the op amp in this player?
OPA, TDA, other?

 

[toads]

Quote:

There are NO opamps on the output stage. There
are discrete FETs that sound better than opamps.

Away in Vegas,

Vinnie

^

 

[shotgunshane]

This and some other info should be placed in the first post.

 

[NegoNeo]

Thank you.
The player works with the format CUE?
 
Sorry, my English is very bad ...

 

[goodvibes]

Quote:

 
 
hmm...curious that the sonics change so significantly with the EQ set to "ON" but at the same time Zeroed out....i will have to check out your observation Lee...

Stuff like this is often audible even if the mearuements say it shouldn't be. I find that changing buffer sizes can have subtle character changes on play programs for instance. It may also be adding dither as would be preferred with a level change which can be a good thing. For instance, I prefer dither on my clip. There will be buffers in the EQ circuit. The unit may have been voiced with the resistors in place and if the buffer or dither gives a more 'damped' character, it may be preferred.

 

[tds101]

All I know is that I have 30 different playlists on my players, and they were simple to implement and transfer. This alone will make me avoid this like the plague. Then all the album artwork issues? Heck no!!! The fact there's no gapless is an annoyance, but livable. But the playlist thing totally turnes my off.

Ugh!!! Later people,...

 

[lee730]

Yep it's a bit frustrating but at least the UI is simple enough. Just I prefer the speed and organization associated with playlists.

 

[toads]

Quote:

Stuff like this is often audible even if the mearuements say it shouldn't be. I find that changing buffer sizes can have subtle character changes on play programs for instance. It may also be adding dither as would be preferred with a level change which can be a good thing. For instance, I prefer dither on my clip. There will be buffers in the EQ circuit. The unit may have been voiced with the resistors in place and if the buffer or dither gives a more 'damped' character, it may be preferred.

 
thanks for the 'planation GV...!