[FInixNOver]

Yes it is.
Anyway I am just trying to decide between this amp and and I Fiio 18(that is a DAC also but...really more expensive).
My environment is a Note 1 and a Galaxy S3 paired with sennheiser HD 449...really can't decide

To be honest, this will be my first amp, and although I've read about the definition of DAC, I still don't know what really is the advantage of having one, and how it works exactly (but I'll have to read more about it, I guess).
It's like they say... If you never had one, you won't miss it, right?
 
I'm sure someone else will be able to give a useful advice. @DJScope has an E17, and he wrote about it in his review... 

 

[DJScope]

To be honest, this will be my first amp, and although I've read about the definition of DAC, I still don't know what really is the advantage of having one, and how it works exactly (but I'll have to read more about it, I guess).
It's like they say... If you never had one, you won't miss it, right?

I'm sure someone else will be able to give a useful advice. @DJScope
 has an E17, and he wrote about it in his review... 

The ironic thing about that is you do have a DAC, you probably have several of them! You cannot listen to digital audio files without a DAC (digital to analogue converter). Your PC, phone, tablet and even TV has one. The trick is to have a decent DAC. Most devices suffer from having a bad amplifier and no line out to bypass that amplifier. This is why you would buy a separate DAC which allows you to use your own amplifier, or amplifiers, as you wish. Usually the difference between different good DACs is not audible, this is why most people say the one DAC is really all you need. Which I absolutely agree. I bought the E17 because it kills two birds with one stone, that is having a good DAC and having a good dual amp setup. But you can have them separate, but this makes it not very portable when you are forced to carry around 3 devices to get decent audio.

 

[Supergen2]

@Xtralglactic
 has the Sony XBA-3 i think. He can help you out with that question.

Thanks for your help. I will send a pm to him.

 

[DJScope]

All finished. Third times a charm!
 
 

 

 

[xaddictionx]

All finished. Third times a charm!

o.0 what is that?

 

[DJScope]

o.0 what is that?

 
It's an AB switch. Similar to the one I used in my review.

 

[xaddictionx]

It's an AB switch. Similar to the one I used in my review.

oh. it does look really nice! very creative design there!

 

[FInixNOver]

The ironic thing about that is you do have a DAC, you probably have several of them! You cannot listen to digital audio files without a DAC (digital to analogue converter). Your PC, phone, tablet and even TV has one. The trick is to have a decent DAC. Most devices suffer from having a bad amplifier and no line out to bypass that amplifier. This is why you would buy a separate DAC which allows you to use your own amplifier, or amplifiers, as you wish. Usually the difference between different good DACs is not audible, this is why most people say the one DAC is really all you need. Which I absolutely agree. I bought the E17 because it kills two birds with one stone, that is having a good DAC and having a good dual amp setup. But you can have them separate, but this makes it not very portable when you are forced to carry around 3 devices to get decent audio.

 
So, if I understand correctly, a standalone DAC, or a DAC/Amp combo, will connect to the source's digital output (usually USB, right?), and then convert the signal to analog, while doing it better than the source's inbuilt DAC. It also has the ability to send commands back to the source, like music controls.
To sum up, if you are used to a particular sound signature, and wish to keep it across your devices (the ones that allow for the DAC to be connected to anyways), you should get a DAC. This leads me to another question: Is is possible to connect a DAC to any kind of source?

 

[BatFi]

With the NX1, the vocal and instruments are much more forward than the BH. So that makes it sound a bit more detailed. However, the soundstage sounds quite narrow compared to the BH and because of that the 3d image also doesn't sound as good as the BH. So you're trading off the soundstage for the forward mids and local. [sic]

[snip]

It's still early days, perhaps by listening to it more, I might grown to like them and start to enjoy the good sounding mids and not pay too much attention to the congestion (narrow soundstage).

It's fairly neutral in presentation, maybe a touch forward in the mids, with good detail. Breadth and depth of soundstage isn't bad at all. It doesn't quite have the transparency of the tube amp or the same level of three-dimensionality (the layering of the vocals in the intro isn't as well defined) but then I'd be pretty disappointed with my HD83 if it did.

I must say I'm quite impressed with the performance of NX1, its quite a detailed little amp, I find it rather neutral in tonal character maybe a fraction cool (bright) with a slight tilt in the low end and forward mid-range.

The slight bass emphasis, clear mids, and slight treble boost works well, except for some tracks that have too much treble as it is.

The sound stage is good. It makes it maybe 10% wider than originally. But it suffers a bit from the highs and lows being a bit forward and some of the percussive elements which are put behind you are drowned out.

Slightly boost on the both ends of the spectrum but not on to level of being a V shaped. Just very slightly.

I'm glad you picked up on the slight "V shapedness". I'm not the only one going crazy here. xD
I think that it's maybe a 2-3db boost on both ends. Quite hard to pinpoint because it's so subtle and much more noticeable on some tracks.

• V Shaped
• Mids a bit suppressed

[snip]

It sounds pretty transparent. Not cold or warm, but truly neutral. The boosted highs and lows gives it a fun and punchy signature with crisp and somewhat airy highs.

[snip]

The sound stage is just "WOW!". On the Takstar Pro 80s the sound stage is wide and deep, this is the same with the DT770 Pro 250Ohm. But even more surprising is using it with the Senns HD650, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The soundstage goes deeper than normal and somewhat sounds unnatural but truly spectacular. This amp compliments open headphones with lots of imaging more than anything.

I don't understand. Which is it? Forward mids and narrow soundstage, or V shaped and wide, or neutral?

 

[DJScope]

   
So, if I understand correctly, a standalone DAC, or a DAC/Amp combo, will connect to the source's digital output (usually USB, right?), and then convert the signal to analog, while doing it better than the source's inbuilt DAC. It also has the ability to send commands back to the source, like music controls.
To sum up, if you are used to a particular sound signature, and wish to keep it across your devices (the ones that allow for the DAC to be connected to anyways), you should get a DAC. This leads me to another question: Is is possible to connect a DAC to any kind of source?

 
The digital signal does not get coloured like it does with amps, so will always be exactly what it's supposed to sound like. That's why different DACs will all sound the same. Getting a decent DAC which can do 24/192 makes it future proof for a looooong time.
Sending commands back is a gimmicky sort of feature but a welcome feature which is device specific like on the Fiio E18.
My E17 has 3 types of SPDIF inputs: coaxial (RCA), optical and USB. This makes it able to it's thing on most devices, old and new. Because the E17 has it's own DAC and amp combo, you'll always get the same sound signature regardless of the device it gets its digital signal from.

 

[H20Fidelity]

I don't understand. Which is it? Forward mids and narrow soundstage, or V shaped and wide?

I think what you're seeing there is a variation between high and low gain.

High gain tends to bring the mids forward. The soundstage isn't narrow with my gear. 


 

 

[DJScope]

I don't understand. Which is it? Forward mids and narrow soundstage, or V shaped and wide, or neutral?

 
HAHA! Different ears is what it is! xD
 
You have to take reviews with a pinch of salt. 

 

[Baycode]

I had no problems with soundstage. Its great IMO. Also amp became more transparant after some couple of hours burn-in. It became a standart gear for me now.

 

[BatFi]

I think what you're seeing there is a variation between high and low gain. High gain tends to bring the mids forward.

But you said:

I must say I'm quite impressed with the performance of NX1, its quite a detailed little amp, I find it rather neutral in tonal character maybe a fraction cool (bright) with a slight tilt in the low end and forward mid-range. There's no background hiss, nor any channel imbalance at low volumes with this unit. The soundstage is quite spacious with T-Peos H-300. I haven't put the amp into high gain yet.

This is so confusing :confused_face_2:

 

[H20Fidelity]

But you said:

Yup, that's what I said. High gain brings them forward more than low gain, actually quite bit more.