[ExpatinJapan]

Quote:

Expatin, can you report back how RWAK fares against MS AK, also would be great to hear more impressions about RWAK vs. AK120.

I reported some impressions earlier in the thread.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/630288/the-new-iriver-ak100-a-high-end-dap/5205#post_9470946
 
I didnt do any serious listening comparisons today - just browsed through the gear.
I also had my young son with me who kept me busy

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Lee (or anyone else), how much difference do you notice between FLAC (0 compression) and WAV?
 
I've tried doing some comparisons and from RWAK100 direct to Miracles, I really can't tell enough of a difference to know if there's anything more than placebo at play. What are your thoughts?

Loquah I noticed a slight difference on both the Studio V and the AK120. I was doing direct comparisons back to back of the WAV file and the FLAC with 0 compression. I still noticed a difference and preferred the WAV overall. If the difference is very minor to you or you don't notice any difference then just stick with FLAC and save space. I'd have stayed with FLAC and kept the tags and album art if I didn't hear a difference. But I did so there was no going back lol. Even ended up buying 3 more 32 GB Sandisk SDHC cards since I'm no longer gonna use the 64 GB cards (doesn't sound as good). So I have 2 64 GB cards up for grabs .

 

[spkrs01]

Quote:

Loquah I noticed a slight difference on both the Studio V and the AK120. I was doing direct comparisons back to back of the WAV file and the FLAC with 0 compression. I still noticed a difference and preferred the WAV overall. If the difference is very minor to you or you don't notice any difference then just stick with FLAC and save space. I'd have stayed with FLAC and kept the tags and album art if I didn't hear a difference. But I did so there was no going back lol. Even ended up buying 3 more 32 GB Sandisk SDHC cards since I'm no longer gonna use the 64 GB cards (doesn't sound as good). So I have 2 64 GB cards up for grabs .

 
I am pretty much gonna switch to 32 cards as well...............

 

[Jason36]

Loquah I noticed a slight difference on both the Studio V and the AK120. I was doing direct comparisons back to back of the WAV file and the FLAC with 0 compression. I still noticed a difference and preferred the WAV overall. If the difference is very minor to you or you don't notice any difference then just stick with FLAC and save space. I'd have stayed with FLAC and kept the tags and album art if I didn't hear a difference. But I did so there was no going back lol. Even ended up buying 3 more 32 GB Sandisk SDHC cards since I'm no longer gonna use the 64 GB cards (doesn't sound as good). So I have 2 64 GB cards up for grabs .

Seriously.....the 32GB cards sound better than 64GB cards?? Do you have any indication of why that would be the case? I currently use 64GB cards in my AK100......wonder if it actually might be worth buying a 32GB card to compare? I could probably get most of the stuff I want to listen to on the internal memory and 2 x 32gb cards for the AK100.

My only issue is that I'm not a great fan of changing my music regularly or swapping cards with different music on them.....I'd rather just have as much as my collection as I can get on my player so I have the options. Of course if using with HiRes music in FLAC or WAV format it also means you are even more restricted with the smaller card sizes

 

[hecaitomex]

Hey Guys!
Just downloaded and presently testing firmware 2.00 beta, works fine so far, no bugs.
New features as far as allready found: equalizer boost function, 3 designs for the startscreen to choose, and of course
holy gapless.
All over same design as Ak120 but no improvement in starting or changing songs speed.
Will test it more today in the evening (CET).
 
Here are some pictures:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uqlv6egps9rwan6/rwlz9oalyj
 
kind regards

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Seriously.....the 32GB cards sound better than 64GB cards?? Do you have any indication of why that would be the case? I currently use 64GB cards in my AK100......wonder if it actually might be worth buying a 32GB card to compare? I could probably get most of the stuff I want to listen to on the internal memory and 2 x 32gb cards for the AK100.

My only issue is that I'm not a great fan of changing my music regularly or swapping cards with different music on them.....I'd rather just have as much as my collection as I can get on my player so I have the options. Of course if using with HiRes music in FLAC or WAV format it also means you are even more restricted with the smaller card sizes

 
Yeah I don't know why but I just hear the 32 GB cards as sounding better. It's strange.... It could very well be due to the the cards designs SDHC and SDXC. More compression/density of the larger cards. But when I compare them on songs that I am extremely familiar with the differences are undeniable for me. I find the songs on the 32 GB cards to be more coherent. Bass reaches deeper with more control. Treble on the 64 GB card had this hollow tinge to it. Even the positioning of the sound stage is slightly different. Overall I found the sound on the 32 GB cards to be more natural and effortless in comparison. Now keep in mind I am being critical here. If I wasn't comparing the cards I would still be very happy on the 64 GB cards.
 
Honestly I never even intended to hear these differences. It started with the Studio V and issues with FLAC with too high of compression leading to clipping/distortion. Once I changed my FLAC files to 0 compression that problem completely vanished and I noticed the sound was better for some reason. With high compression the sound was more edgy/aggressive. Well after this I got curious about testing WAV and to my surprise even WAV sounded better than the 0 compression FLAC so I reverted to all WAV and some mp3s here and there (lossless not available for some of the stuff I have).
 
When I received the AK120 I already had 2 of my 64 GB cards filled with WAV so I threw them in and had most of the internal memory free for future storage. This would be much more ideal for me due to the convenience of having the extra capacity. But I'd rather get the most I can out of the gear so I'll make sacrifices to get the better sound quality in the end. I noticed discrepancies on this unit from having the same tracks on the internal memory and compared them that way. Then I started comparing the SDHC card to the SDXC card and internal memory. I found the internal memory and the 32 GB cards to be on par with each other. What's funny is I noticed Sandisk changed the look of their SDHC cards and being paranoid I ordered the older class 4 design they had. Just didn't want to risk it lol....

 

[CraftyClown]

I've also been listening to the two new firmwares
 
Listrid has apparently cleaned up his code, making it faster and more efficient. His is also a full firmware now, rather than just a patch. So I presume it can be installed on top of any other firmware (the key word here being presume!)
 
The IRiver firmware beta 2.0 has added gapless, as well as a 3db boost function for quieter recordings. (this comes with a warning that it may cause clipping on louder recordings) and a function to change the look and colour scheme of it's AK120 style UI (There are three alternate looks)
 
I have tested both and they both work fine. I haven't had time to axb them for sq differences, although it appears from the Russian forum where Listrid posts that people are reporting his firmware has a better sound to it. Make of that what you will 

 

 

[wladrus]

Yes,new listrid-firmware can be put on any version. Those who formerly 1.33, now it does not make a brick.
Who hears the difference between iriver-beta and listrid patch?
On forum.doctorhead.ru I wrote my report and I can hear the difference.
iriver-beta does not always map is being actualised 64 scan

 

[Gintaras]

Lee, with all due respect i cannot hear 32G card sounding better or worse than 64G or 16G. perhaps this is just your ear phenomenon? 

 
I think 32G cards are more stable and more easily scanned in AK. This is why i use 32G only. However a few days ago my RWAK had a glitch happen two times when i was swapping between songs the player would freeze and then show some abracadabre in folder. Restarting DAP cured this but i was a bit pissed off since even my bloody simple C3 does not hang on like this. i think Iriver must address some card support issues to make reading process stable and seamless.
 
curious about new firmware, sounds like finally something really good coming our way :-D

 

[Gintaras]

deleted

 

[Fatalethal]

Quote:

Loquah I noticed a slight difference on both the Studio V and the AK120. I was doing direct comparisons back to back of the WAV file and the FLAC with 0 compression. I still noticed a difference and preferred the WAV overall. If the difference is very minor to you or you don't notice any difference then just stick with FLAC and save space. I'd have stayed with FLAC and kept the tags and album art if I didn't hear a difference. But I did so there was no going back lol. Even ended up buying 3 more 32 GB Sandisk SDHC cards since I'm no longer gonna use the 64 GB cards (doesn't sound as good). So I have 2 64 GB cards up for grabs .

 
 
seems like im not the only person on this planet who can hear the difference between FLAC and WAV...
 
worst off... i can hear the difference between AIFF and WAV... pls tell me im not the only person
 
 
*pls note that the term 'difference' is not significant; it is extremely small difference. to me, wav is darker sounding compared to AIFF.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Lee, with all due respect i cannot hear 32G card sounding better or worse than 64G or 16G. perhaps this is just your ear phenomenon? 

 
I think 32G cards are more stable and more easily scanned in AK. This is why i use 32G only. However a few days ago my RWAK had a glitch happen two times when i was swapping between songs the player would freeze and then show some abracadabre in folder. Restarting DAP cured this but i was a bit pissed off since even my bloody simple C3 does not hang on like this. i think Iriver must address some card support issues to make reading process stable and seamless.
 
curious about new firmware, sounds like finally something really good coming our way :-D

I'm actually not the only one to hear things this way . I just call it as I hear it .

 

[Baele]

Quote:

 
 
seems like im not the only person on this planet who can hear the difference between FLAC and WAV...
 
worst off... i can hear the difference between AIFF and WAV... pls tell me im not the only person
 
 
*pls note that the term 'difference' is not significant; it is extremely small difference. to me, wav is darker sounding compared to AIFF.

 
+1

 

[Gintaras]

guys, to be able to detect differences between FLAC and WAV i am afraid you will need very resolving equipment, i do not know if portable is capable of bringing it to this level. i listened to some FLAC 16/44 and then same music in 24/192 and to tell frankly i could hear audible differences much more clearer on front end rig while on RWAK differences were not as outstanding. i understand it also depends on the quality of recorded material but i still would challenge the idea that portable equipment allows superior resolution compared to dedicated multi-kilo gear.
 
Lee, we all are humans and i do not doubt you but sometimes we all are prone to hearing in our brain rather than hearing with our ears, could this be there is some brain effect? i had similar situation sometimes with gear i had, one example was using different USB ports out of my Mac Mini which i use for digit playback. i read it somewhere that connecting to ports number 2 and 4 is better than connecting to ports number 1 and 3..... i then began audition different USB ports and frankly speaking if there was any difference that was the one in my brain... but... but out of scare not to receive best result i left USB cable into port 2 

 
yes, forgot to add, my wife was watching my exercise with USB cables with great curiosity, then with sarcastic smile on her face she inquired if i could hear any differences... 

 

[toads]

please take this 'discussion' to sound science forum...you guys are making my head hurt