Sujay Rao
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2015
- Posts
- 57
- Likes
- 31
ONKYO DP-X1 SCOUT REPORT
Not a technical review.
Just received my Onkyo DP-X1 a month ago. Been listening up to 2 - 3 hours a day.
Just my initial experience with a new device I've been interested in.
Listening with AKG K553Pro, AKG K7XX, AudioTechnica M50X, Soundmagic HP150, Beyerdynamic DT 990, V-Moda Crossfade (All non-balanced)
Add-on headphone amps: FiiO Montblanc, DarkVoice 336SE, NAD D7050, Little Bear B3 portable mini-tube headphone amp.
OUT OF THE BOX:
Good firm slide-in type box. Secure, foam damped packing inside. All black and minimal. One USB cable. Some printed matter. One quick-ref user guide. No pouch. No case.
Initial impression of a dark slab of rectangular phone-like device. Momentary confusion telling front from back until you see white writing on one surface saying "Protection Sheet". Explains itself, but writing won't peel off.
Unexpectedly light for size.
Large. Like a big smart phone, only wider. Sharp edged and sharp cornered. Initial hand-hold bit awkward because of width and the edgy perimeter.
Left side appears dented until you see the tapering contour, a design element to accommodate a volume knob.
Combined unbalanced phone out and line out, with balanced phone out to the left of top panel
Two SD card slots on the lower right side, play related buttons in the middle of the right side, power-sleep button on the upper right siding. USB port right side of bottom panel.
Internal 32 Gb memory is just a glove compartment. Contains native, system stuff. Ignore it.
Scratches on right side of shiny steel accented top panel. Don't return the device. It turned out to be uber stylish rendition of the legend "X1". All written matter hard to read, except the legend on the protection screen!
Overall first visual impression: dark, sombre, minimalist, not cuddly, means business. Batman's DAP! Also, no give-aways.
FIRING IT UP:
17 secs to boot up. Quite long.
Opening screen gives you a field for Google searches in the middle with an option for voice commands.
Top edge from left to right gives you a headphone symbol in the corner. Hold and drag down, see what you've been last listening to, date time and recent browsing activity. Neat.
Top right edge gives you indicators for Airplane mode, battery, time and to tell you you're in line out mode (Great, because headphone-out doubles as line-out, set from menu. Don't want to be surprised by full volume output into your cans).
Bottom half gives you menu items: settings, play, apps screen, Google icon, controls to quick-navigate between screens.
Initial user experience: very responsive screen, very smart phone like feel and behaviour, intuitive menu navigation. Screen res won't burn retina, but bright, crisp and punchy images and text. No grouses.
App screen packed with apps: docs, sheets, mail, games, YouTube, music, video, Donald Trump's campaign app (not really!) and more. Wondering if they sent me a phone by mistake!
Every kind of smart phone swipe and touch trick is available on the X1. An absolutely massive number of user adjustable functions for apps, appearance, functional tweaks, playlists and the like is possible. Will take days to work through the package.
Left sidewall contains power button, external play control buttons.
Manual is available on the device and very detailed. But reading up on an item, shifting back to the device to make a setting, and back to the manual to recheck is tiring. Better keep the manual on another device; in my case, an iPad.
Play Music, a particularly mention-worthy app, can be short-cutted (like all the other apps) on to the bottom pane of main screen. Bright colourful UI provides multi-directional and easy navigation through your music library. Big deal for me. You can thumbs-up or down an item, no rating possible.
Alternately, hit Play icon on main screen lower panel for a less embellished native music player. See SD card 1 and 2, find folders and items in directory format, listen to music. Looks spartan, but using swiping and touch-hold actions, and a neat circular design, it is actually quite capable.
Fast reactions to all commands. No lag on rummaging around my library any which way, provided system has fully synced with the cards. Sync from the menu. Will happen by itself, if set to auto, every time device is switched on.
Some songs within albums, and some whole albums wouldn't play. Message appears saying can't play this file, or something to that effect. Reloaded some of these songs; some would then play, some wouldn't. Tagging problem? Incomplete or corrupted transfer?
Wifi connect easy, quick, fast browsing. Haven't used Bluetooth yet.
I am a first time Android user. Uploading music from a Mac needs Android File Transfer, a program to bridge between OS X and Android. Detects the SD cards and you can drag and drop, but only one card at a time. Slowish, tends to stall and become comatose. Need to disconnect and reconnect to detect cards again. Some Head-fiers who helped out have similar issues. Followed their advice on directly writing into SD cards via card readers, then putting the cards into the device. Worked.
Mounts cards automatically on insertion. Needs unmounting to remove.
Has an Erase Card command. Guess it formats, not just deletes data.
Heating issues. None when normally playing. Put in music containing SD cards and let them sync with the system, load music via android-OS app directly into SD cards in the machine, charge it, or connect to wifi and the device becomes uncomfortably warm . Had to take it off my lap and place it on a table. Stuck-on 4 silicon rubber studs I had left over from X5. Keeps the device off its back, hopefully ventilates better. Wonder if a case will be a problem when it gets hot?
Have about 100Gb of music on each of 2 SD cards. Once they are docked into their slots, takes almost 70 mins for all of it to appear in the library. During this time, gets quite hot.
Otherwise, runs cool when playing music.
Shares line-out with unbalanced phone out. Set from menu.
Use "sound and notifications" in menu to set gain (3 levels).
Interestingly allows setting of jitter/clock timing window (slider and presets). Have noticed change in sound quality between wide and narrow settings, latter supposed to improve audio quality. Still trying to make sense of them.
Digital filters named "Slow", "Sharp" and "Short". Sharp makes the sound definitely crisper. Can't yet tell the other two apart. I feel the Slow setting dulls the highs a bit. Effects may depend on the file type and spectral characteristics of the music you're playing.
There is a switch in the menu to stop device from continuously searching for wifi or Bluetooth signal. Also there's a separate Airplane mode. Huh?
EATING THE PUDDING:
One word: Fantastic!
Been listening to FLAC, Apple Lossless (mostly) and MP3s. About 2 hours a day for a month. FLAC and ALAC immeasurably superior sounding.
When the music first came through, didn't experience much of the expected eye-popping, "wow" phenomenon. Instead, a quiet and convincing sense of pleasure. Smooth, highly resolved sound. Easy naturalness. Very well balanced and sure footed throughout the spectrum. Tremendous timing through all genres. As expected from the dual DACs and dual Amps, this is meant for serious, knowledgeable audio enthusiasts. Party rockers will sneer.
Slightly rounded tops of the highs. No complaints, but some might want it just a tad sharper. No sibilance or tinniness. On tweaking the EQ, treble becomes pin sharp.
Mids are spacious, sonorous and precise. Couldn't help thinking, maybe slightly less forward compared to an X5-II or iBasso, but utterly engaging. Classical orchestral FLAC induces weakness in both knees.
Base is tightly defined, but not assertive. Initial impression of reticence disappears when you notice how detailed and well resolved it is. With jazz and chamber music, can hear the flutter of heavy bass and cello strings. With rock music, bass tends to be a bit polite. EQ adjustment adds meat. Lows acquire bulk and power, but don't bloat or lose detail.
Vocals, solo guitar, solo piano, saxophones sound stunningly real and natural. Heavy striking of a plectrum against the thick strings of the Sarode, an Indian lute like instrument, is reproduced with both power and clarity. Carelessly recorded or reproduced Sitar can sound thin and tinny, but the X1 gives it a naturally rounded and even tone. Solo guitar by Grigoryan brothers is very realistic. The accompanying base guitar comes through as it should, expressive but never overwhelming.
Extensive EQ and spectral graphics features. Will need time to explore and familiarise.
Extraordinarily deep depiction of the music. Heard sounds on very familiar tracks that I didn't know were there. Played off against FiiO X5-II and MacBook (running PureMusic through ODAC RevB DAC), same impression.
Nicely laid out sound stage. Philharmonic orchestras and Jazz trios equally occupy a floating stage in front. I think the spatial spread makes the sound less intense, reduces fatigue.
An interesting feature is the ability to select from a list of headphone presets to best match the frequency response of your cans, but list contains only Onkyo headphones. Can one make one's own presets?
With gain on high, volume needs to be set at about 127 of 141 to get optimal listening levels on a 32 ohms unbalanced headphone. Set below 100, music is listenable only in a quiet room. Would have expected to hit limit of comfortable listening volume at just over 60% or thereabouts. I suppose the intention is to accommodate both IEMs and big hungry cans, but that's why you have gain adjustments. Small volume increment only between gain levels (unbalanced 32 ohms phones). No distortion heard at max volume.
Set to "Fixed Line Out" mode, and running through FiiO Mont Blanc headphone amp, there is a leap in audio quality. The sound stage expands, music acquires unexpectedly enhanced presence, and I feel that even resolution improves slightly. Plus, of course, it's a lot louder.
Playing through DarkVoice, the sonic enhancement is explosive. Stage is humongous with the music acquiring an lush, expansive feel. Also, seems to pull out a lot of detail from the undergrowth that I hadn't noticed before. Tube amp warmth is evident, but so controlled and subtle as to be very addictive.
Playing through the NAD D 7050, same exhilarating, desert island sense of space and absence of noise. Remarkable timing, neutrality and resolution. Classic solid state.
Little Bear B3 portable, battery operated min- tube amp (5899 tubes), presents a nice glowing, utterly charming, tubey sound. Mids and voices come out strongly. As expected, resolution and timing are nowhere comparable. Nonetheless, it is a hugely enjoyable experience. I can't help being in love with that little tube amp.
Volume pot slightly iffy. Becomes stiffer or lighter as you keep turning. Can't always feel each bit of turn distinctly. If not to your liking, touch screen lets you drag volume slider up and down.
Every operation of the touch screen produces a clicking sound even when the music is playing. Turn it off from Alarm Sound in menu.
When done listening to some music, leave device in sleep (one push on the power button). If switched off, will need the old 70 mins to fully sync with SD cards, not to mention the boot-time teaser.
Battery will not run down your trouser leg on wifi, Bluetooth, and when browsing. Three trials playing music at 50% volume through 32 ohm unbalanced headphones with wifi and bluetooth turned off gave continuous running times of 9.2 hours average, before the battery died. In sleep battery does not drain more than you would expect from a hibernating android device.
IMPRESSIONS:
Impressive, distinguished looking player. Conceived and built to belong to the highest class of portable audiophile device. Hard to disagree. Top class, premier league audio performance.
Outstanding audio point-outs: Fine resolution. Mines deep for hidden detail. Spacious stage. Rich but controlled timbre. High-end, user tweakable controls.
Smooth, enjoyable, intuitive handling and user experience. Massive customisable options.
Huge storage and easily navigable music library, both big issues for me. Perhaps, if MQA succeeds, large on-board storages will become obsolete. Store on NAS and enjoy hi-res.
Battery life is adequate, but just.
Heating could be worrisome.
Slightly lower than desirable listening volumes at 32 ohms unbalanced, even on high gain. Maybe a planar headphone will be louder. A really good headphone amp will add tremendous value to an already classy performer.
Holding it in your hand, you will be constantly setting off touch screen actions, unless the screen is in sleep. Annoying. I think the addition of a rubber/ leather case will improve handling. Ordered one at insane price. Regret that. Onkyo should have offered one in the box for such a premium product.
Waiting for someone to come out with a stacking kit for the DP-X1. Silicone bands across a touch screen are a real pain.
Loads of controls and apps (some out of place in a high end DAP), efficient connectivity through wire, wifi and Bluetooth.
Premium build quality, except for slightly tacky volume knob and pot.
External signages too stylish for their own good. Hard to read , except with mom's glasses and in good lighting.
"Protection Sheet" legend joined at the hip with the screen guard. Gets in the way of everything. Can't peel off. Need to remove entire sheet from screen. Damaging?
Very quick, free international delivery. Impressed. Murdered by Indian customs though.
Overall and thus far: very glad I bought this player. Really enjoying listening to it. Carry it everywhere in an FiiO hardshell zippered case. Find myself playing it all the time, almost always through a MontBlanc or B3 when away from home. Look forward to listening through planar cans and balanced output.
Not a technical review.
Just received my Onkyo DP-X1 a month ago. Been listening up to 2 - 3 hours a day.
Just my initial experience with a new device I've been interested in.
Listening with AKG K553Pro, AKG K7XX, AudioTechnica M50X, Soundmagic HP150, Beyerdynamic DT 990, V-Moda Crossfade (All non-balanced)
Add-on headphone amps: FiiO Montblanc, DarkVoice 336SE, NAD D7050, Little Bear B3 portable mini-tube headphone amp.
OUT OF THE BOX:
Good firm slide-in type box. Secure, foam damped packing inside. All black and minimal. One USB cable. Some printed matter. One quick-ref user guide. No pouch. No case.
Initial impression of a dark slab of rectangular phone-like device. Momentary confusion telling front from back until you see white writing on one surface saying "Protection Sheet". Explains itself, but writing won't peel off.
Unexpectedly light for size.
Large. Like a big smart phone, only wider. Sharp edged and sharp cornered. Initial hand-hold bit awkward because of width and the edgy perimeter.
Left side appears dented until you see the tapering contour, a design element to accommodate a volume knob.
Combined unbalanced phone out and line out, with balanced phone out to the left of top panel
Two SD card slots on the lower right side, play related buttons in the middle of the right side, power-sleep button on the upper right siding. USB port right side of bottom panel.
Internal 32 Gb memory is just a glove compartment. Contains native, system stuff. Ignore it.
Scratches on right side of shiny steel accented top panel. Don't return the device. It turned out to be uber stylish rendition of the legend "X1". All written matter hard to read, except the legend on the protection screen!
Overall first visual impression: dark, sombre, minimalist, not cuddly, means business. Batman's DAP! Also, no give-aways.
FIRING IT UP:
17 secs to boot up. Quite long.
Opening screen gives you a field for Google searches in the middle with an option for voice commands.
Top edge from left to right gives you a headphone symbol in the corner. Hold and drag down, see what you've been last listening to, date time and recent browsing activity. Neat.
Top right edge gives you indicators for Airplane mode, battery, time and to tell you you're in line out mode (Great, because headphone-out doubles as line-out, set from menu. Don't want to be surprised by full volume output into your cans).
Bottom half gives you menu items: settings, play, apps screen, Google icon, controls to quick-navigate between screens.
Initial user experience: very responsive screen, very smart phone like feel and behaviour, intuitive menu navigation. Screen res won't burn retina, but bright, crisp and punchy images and text. No grouses.
App screen packed with apps: docs, sheets, mail, games, YouTube, music, video, Donald Trump's campaign app (not really!) and more. Wondering if they sent me a phone by mistake!
Every kind of smart phone swipe and touch trick is available on the X1. An absolutely massive number of user adjustable functions for apps, appearance, functional tweaks, playlists and the like is possible. Will take days to work through the package.
Left sidewall contains power button, external play control buttons.
Manual is available on the device and very detailed. But reading up on an item, shifting back to the device to make a setting, and back to the manual to recheck is tiring. Better keep the manual on another device; in my case, an iPad.
Play Music, a particularly mention-worthy app, can be short-cutted (like all the other apps) on to the bottom pane of main screen. Bright colourful UI provides multi-directional and easy navigation through your music library. Big deal for me. You can thumbs-up or down an item, no rating possible.
Alternately, hit Play icon on main screen lower panel for a less embellished native music player. See SD card 1 and 2, find folders and items in directory format, listen to music. Looks spartan, but using swiping and touch-hold actions, and a neat circular design, it is actually quite capable.
Fast reactions to all commands. No lag on rummaging around my library any which way, provided system has fully synced with the cards. Sync from the menu. Will happen by itself, if set to auto, every time device is switched on.
Some songs within albums, and some whole albums wouldn't play. Message appears saying can't play this file, or something to that effect. Reloaded some of these songs; some would then play, some wouldn't. Tagging problem? Incomplete or corrupted transfer?
Wifi connect easy, quick, fast browsing. Haven't used Bluetooth yet.
I am a first time Android user. Uploading music from a Mac needs Android File Transfer, a program to bridge between OS X and Android. Detects the SD cards and you can drag and drop, but only one card at a time. Slowish, tends to stall and become comatose. Need to disconnect and reconnect to detect cards again. Some Head-fiers who helped out have similar issues. Followed their advice on directly writing into SD cards via card readers, then putting the cards into the device. Worked.
Mounts cards automatically on insertion. Needs unmounting to remove.
Has an Erase Card command. Guess it formats, not just deletes data.
Heating issues. None when normally playing. Put in music containing SD cards and let them sync with the system, load music via android-OS app directly into SD cards in the machine, charge it, or connect to wifi and the device becomes uncomfortably warm . Had to take it off my lap and place it on a table. Stuck-on 4 silicon rubber studs I had left over from X5. Keeps the device off its back, hopefully ventilates better. Wonder if a case will be a problem when it gets hot?
Have about 100Gb of music on each of 2 SD cards. Once they are docked into their slots, takes almost 70 mins for all of it to appear in the library. During this time, gets quite hot.
Otherwise, runs cool when playing music.
Shares line-out with unbalanced phone out. Set from menu.
Use "sound and notifications" in menu to set gain (3 levels).
Interestingly allows setting of jitter/clock timing window (slider and presets). Have noticed change in sound quality between wide and narrow settings, latter supposed to improve audio quality. Still trying to make sense of them.
Digital filters named "Slow", "Sharp" and "Short". Sharp makes the sound definitely crisper. Can't yet tell the other two apart. I feel the Slow setting dulls the highs a bit. Effects may depend on the file type and spectral characteristics of the music you're playing.
There is a switch in the menu to stop device from continuously searching for wifi or Bluetooth signal. Also there's a separate Airplane mode. Huh?
EATING THE PUDDING:
One word: Fantastic!
Been listening to FLAC, Apple Lossless (mostly) and MP3s. About 2 hours a day for a month. FLAC and ALAC immeasurably superior sounding.
When the music first came through, didn't experience much of the expected eye-popping, "wow" phenomenon. Instead, a quiet and convincing sense of pleasure. Smooth, highly resolved sound. Easy naturalness. Very well balanced and sure footed throughout the spectrum. Tremendous timing through all genres. As expected from the dual DACs and dual Amps, this is meant for serious, knowledgeable audio enthusiasts. Party rockers will sneer.
Slightly rounded tops of the highs. No complaints, but some might want it just a tad sharper. No sibilance or tinniness. On tweaking the EQ, treble becomes pin sharp.
Mids are spacious, sonorous and precise. Couldn't help thinking, maybe slightly less forward compared to an X5-II or iBasso, but utterly engaging. Classical orchestral FLAC induces weakness in both knees.
Base is tightly defined, but not assertive. Initial impression of reticence disappears when you notice how detailed and well resolved it is. With jazz and chamber music, can hear the flutter of heavy bass and cello strings. With rock music, bass tends to be a bit polite. EQ adjustment adds meat. Lows acquire bulk and power, but don't bloat or lose detail.
Vocals, solo guitar, solo piano, saxophones sound stunningly real and natural. Heavy striking of a plectrum against the thick strings of the Sarode, an Indian lute like instrument, is reproduced with both power and clarity. Carelessly recorded or reproduced Sitar can sound thin and tinny, but the X1 gives it a naturally rounded and even tone. Solo guitar by Grigoryan brothers is very realistic. The accompanying base guitar comes through as it should, expressive but never overwhelming.
Extensive EQ and spectral graphics features. Will need time to explore and familiarise.
Extraordinarily deep depiction of the music. Heard sounds on very familiar tracks that I didn't know were there. Played off against FiiO X5-II and MacBook (running PureMusic through ODAC RevB DAC), same impression.
Nicely laid out sound stage. Philharmonic orchestras and Jazz trios equally occupy a floating stage in front. I think the spatial spread makes the sound less intense, reduces fatigue.
An interesting feature is the ability to select from a list of headphone presets to best match the frequency response of your cans, but list contains only Onkyo headphones. Can one make one's own presets?
With gain on high, volume needs to be set at about 127 of 141 to get optimal listening levels on a 32 ohms unbalanced headphone. Set below 100, music is listenable only in a quiet room. Would have expected to hit limit of comfortable listening volume at just over 60% or thereabouts. I suppose the intention is to accommodate both IEMs and big hungry cans, but that's why you have gain adjustments. Small volume increment only between gain levels (unbalanced 32 ohms phones). No distortion heard at max volume.
Set to "Fixed Line Out" mode, and running through FiiO Mont Blanc headphone amp, there is a leap in audio quality. The sound stage expands, music acquires unexpectedly enhanced presence, and I feel that even resolution improves slightly. Plus, of course, it's a lot louder.
Playing through DarkVoice, the sonic enhancement is explosive. Stage is humongous with the music acquiring an lush, expansive feel. Also, seems to pull out a lot of detail from the undergrowth that I hadn't noticed before. Tube amp warmth is evident, but so controlled and subtle as to be very addictive.
Playing through the NAD D 7050, same exhilarating, desert island sense of space and absence of noise. Remarkable timing, neutrality and resolution. Classic solid state.
Little Bear B3 portable, battery operated min- tube amp (5899 tubes), presents a nice glowing, utterly charming, tubey sound. Mids and voices come out strongly. As expected, resolution and timing are nowhere comparable. Nonetheless, it is a hugely enjoyable experience. I can't help being in love with that little tube amp.
Volume pot slightly iffy. Becomes stiffer or lighter as you keep turning. Can't always feel each bit of turn distinctly. If not to your liking, touch screen lets you drag volume slider up and down.
Every operation of the touch screen produces a clicking sound even when the music is playing. Turn it off from Alarm Sound in menu.
When done listening to some music, leave device in sleep (one push on the power button). If switched off, will need the old 70 mins to fully sync with SD cards, not to mention the boot-time teaser.
Battery will not run down your trouser leg on wifi, Bluetooth, and when browsing. Three trials playing music at 50% volume through 32 ohm unbalanced headphones with wifi and bluetooth turned off gave continuous running times of 9.2 hours average, before the battery died. In sleep battery does not drain more than you would expect from a hibernating android device.
IMPRESSIONS:
Impressive, distinguished looking player. Conceived and built to belong to the highest class of portable audiophile device. Hard to disagree. Top class, premier league audio performance.
Outstanding audio point-outs: Fine resolution. Mines deep for hidden detail. Spacious stage. Rich but controlled timbre. High-end, user tweakable controls.
Smooth, enjoyable, intuitive handling and user experience. Massive customisable options.
Huge storage and easily navigable music library, both big issues for me. Perhaps, if MQA succeeds, large on-board storages will become obsolete. Store on NAS and enjoy hi-res.
Battery life is adequate, but just.
Heating could be worrisome.
Slightly lower than desirable listening volumes at 32 ohms unbalanced, even on high gain. Maybe a planar headphone will be louder. A really good headphone amp will add tremendous value to an already classy performer.
Holding it in your hand, you will be constantly setting off touch screen actions, unless the screen is in sleep. Annoying. I think the addition of a rubber/ leather case will improve handling. Ordered one at insane price. Regret that. Onkyo should have offered one in the box for such a premium product.
Waiting for someone to come out with a stacking kit for the DP-X1. Silicone bands across a touch screen are a real pain.
Loads of controls and apps (some out of place in a high end DAP), efficient connectivity through wire, wifi and Bluetooth.
Premium build quality, except for slightly tacky volume knob and pot.
External signages too stylish for their own good. Hard to read , except with mom's glasses and in good lighting.
"Protection Sheet" legend joined at the hip with the screen guard. Gets in the way of everything. Can't peel off. Need to remove entire sheet from screen. Damaging?
Very quick, free international delivery. Impressed. Murdered by Indian customs though.
Overall and thus far: very glad I bought this player. Really enjoying listening to it. Carry it everywhere in an FiiO hardshell zippered case. Find myself playing it all the time, almost always through a MontBlanc or B3 when away from home. Look forward to listening through planar cans and balanced output.
