I received the iBasso D3 Python review sample on 10/15 and started the burn-in right away, to reach 300 hours and do my review. I have used some popular headphones and the top 4 phones all have APureSound cable on them, including Grado RS-1, Denon AH-D2000, Sennheiser HD600 (silver mesh) and Ultrasone Edition 9. I also tested with Livewires custom IEM, and Klipsch Image X10 IEM. It sounded fantastic with everything, even right out of the box. Without any burn-in it sounded as good as my 1500+ hour D2 Viper with LM4562 opamp in the main socket and LM6172 in the ground.
I used 5xAAA Energizer batteries in the D3 and I got 123 hours out of the batteries before they became too weak to play loud without distortion today. The next set last 113 hours. The third set was Rayovac Hybrid NiMH long lasting re-chargeables which went over 96 hours on a charge (it was still running strong at 96 hours at 2am even though the LED had become dim, and it was dead at 10am when I got up). During burn-in I used my Denon D2000 with a pillow between the ear cups and listened intermittently each day, without a lot of changes during that time. I just finished charging the batteries, and with 332 hours on the D3 I am starting my review (10/29/08).
My first listening had been with Denon D2000 and this was the first time to try the Grado RS-1 with bowls, so I started there. I had previously compared the D3 Python out of the box vs my D2 Viper (see above) and felt I could not tell which was which with my eyes closed, so this time I started my comparison vs the D2 Boa (while the Viper and Predator are being charged). I put on some Shelby Lynn "Just a Little Lovin" and felt that the D2 Boa sounded nice. After 3-4 tracks on the Shelby Lynn album, I switched to Guinea Pig "Kool Cats", and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto "Smooth Jazz Festival", Jazz at the Pawnshop, Handel "Messiah", Arvo Part "Tabula Rasa", Sibelius (assorted), Infected Mushroom "B.P. Empire", We the Kings "We the Kings", Metro Station "Metro Station", and Jack Johnson "Sleep Through the Static". After that I just randomly picked music from my library that I wanted to hear.
Switching between the D2 Boa to the D3 Python produced a noticeable change - the soundstage opened up a bit and became bigger, and the highs brightened up a little. The D3 Python seems a little more clear and sparkly than the D2 Boa. The third thing I noticed was the D3 Python's seems a little more solid and focused than the Boa. This not to say the D2 Boa doesn't have treble presence or good bass, just that the D3 Python is better. The next thing I noticed was the D2 Boa at 800 hours has lost a little more of the lower mids hump that it used to have in female vocals - this brought it up to being less colored than before, and closer to being neutral like the D3. If you recall from previously, it took 600 hours for the Boa's soundstage to open up as much as it did, and it was still changing for a long time like the Predator which took 1000 hours - so it is reasonable to me that the D2 Boa sound has further improved with time. On the other hand, the D2 Viper only took 300 hours to fully burn-in, and the D3 Python seems like it needed even less time. Nevertheless, the D3 is an upgrade over the Boa in the areas I mentioned.
Next was comparing the D3 to the Pico, still with the RS-1. Now if you have read all of my review from the beginning, you will see that while I gave the Predator a slight edge in personal preference, I have always said the Pico was very good and I enjoy it (9.7/10 vs 10/10). I have also posted in another thread that the Pico's sound had become warmer after I put an additional 300-400 hours on it, after Asr had owned it and broken it in already. Most recently I had decided that I now like the Pico as much as my D2 Viper with rolled opamps, and have been planning to move it up to a second place tie. It's still my favorite to use as a USB DAC Pre-amp to feed a full sized amp. So while comparing the D3 Python to the Pico with the Grado RS-1 tonight I thought the Pico was slightly smoother in the upper mids - but in regards to soundstage and air and ambience and micro-detail I think they are on a very similar level, with only the very slightest edge going to the Pico. The upper mids did not cause trouble with the RS-1 and rock music like I had found with the Vivid V1, so it was still enjoyable with bowls or flats won the RS-1.
Switching to the Denon D2000 I felt the Pico's advantage in the smoothness of the upper mids went away. I have previously said I really like the Synergy between the Pico and D2000, and I think the D3 has it there in spades too. With the D2000 I can tell that the two amps do sound a little different - the D3 bass was slightly less in quantity than with the Pico (like maybe only 1 db), but maybe it was a little more taught with the D3 Python. Again, the soundstage remained open and airy with good detail; and with both amps and I could place Shelby Lynn and the various instruments on stage - same with other pieces like Jazz at the Pawnshop where the D3/D2000 combo was very transparent with excellent soundstage and instrument placement. Interestingly I was then surprised with some classical music where I found it a little bit too wide, where sometimes I felt the result left a hole in the middle (Sibelius: Finlandia, En Saga, Karelia Suite, Etc.). This didn't occur with the D3 and RS-1 or D3/HD600, or with the Pico and D2000 where I found a more cohesive soundstage from ear to ear with no hole. With Arvo Part "Tabula Rasa" the hole was much smaller in the center of the soundstage but not entirely gone. With Handel: Messiah the hole went away completely with the D2000, just by changing the program material. Since the issue wasn't apparent with the D3/RS-1 or D3/HD600, it is also possible that it's the fault of the D2000 since I haven't done the markl mods and stuffed the earpads to tilt the cans and drivers more. I would again put the D3 and Pico on about the same level with all my other program material, as it was difficult to find any other material that gave a hole in the soundstage with the D2000. One other test I ran was test tones since the D2000 has such excellent sub-bass, and the D3 has solid bass down to 20Hz with the D2000 (and 16Hz is audible).
Listening with the HD600 the D3 had good synergy and sounded very similar to the Pico again, and it has plenty of power to drive them to high volumes as well. The power output with these 300 ohm cans is very good, and better than the Predator and D2 Boa in terms of sheer clean volume. The power output with HD600 is very similar to the Pico and Vivid V1. I found nothing to complain about with the D3 and HD600, and would be happy to listen to the combo anytime. Female and male vocals are still very good like with the other headphones, and I liked the D3 with all genres out of the HD600. The bass was powerful but detailed, the mids smooth and the highs sparkly, just the way I like it. The D3/HD600 was just as exciting with Infected Mushroom "Dancing with the Kadafi" as with the Pico and V1 in my earlier reviews, and I could achieve the same volume levels with the D3 at 4 o'clock as the Pico at 3 o'clock, but past that either amp would start clipping. With the HD600 the D2 Boa was well behind in volume and punch, with at least 4-5 db less output. There were NO soundstage defects with the HD600, and the soundstage was centered in front of my forehead and running from in front of my head to inside of my head, and width was good as well. Again, this was reminiscent of the Pico soundstage. However, the Pico does still seem be a little clearer in the ambient cues and very slightly more detailed in complex passages.
With the Edition 9 I was really impressed with the D3 - it does a good job controlling the bass and defining it like with the D2000, so it doesn't over power the rest of the sound spectrum. It was clean and alive sounding, and very quick and punchy. Soundstage, tone, transparency and frequency balance are all a good match for the Edition 9. Normal listening levels were at 10 o'clock and it could play very loudly at 12 o'clock, reaching the same volume levels that I would achieve with the HD600 maxed out at 4 o'clock! Clipping would not begin until past 2 o'clock with the Ediiton 9, at volume levels much higher than I could ever use, and I could feel my ears and jaw shaking at max clean volumes - thank God for the ear plugs! The Pico still manages to out-power the D3 with Edition 9, by probably a noticeable 2 db louder, even though they could both play to the same volume with HD600.
The last ones to try were some IEM. I felt the D3 was very good with my Livewires, SE530 in Custom Shells, Freq Show and Klipsch Image X10. However, I could easily hear that the D3 is picking up some RF interference from NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain that are in my backyard, along all the local radio station towers are up the mountain too! I could actually hear FM stations being picked up by the D3, which made it very difficult to use with IEM and USB. With my iMod or analog input there was no such RF interference, and it only occurred with a USB cable plugged into the back of the D3, even if not connected to a computer. And it was only heard with headphones plugged into the amp when the amp is turned on, but not heard in the DAC line out. I had a similar problem with my Meier HA-1 Mk2 headphone amp, but only with headphones plugged into the low impedance headphone jack, and sure enough this RF improves in the basement like the HA-1 did when I moved it there. I will be taking my amps to a Colorado Head-fi meet Saturday 11/1 in Denver, and will listen again for any RF interference, but I'm pretty sure the fault is Cheyenne Mountain - because of them we had to change all of our garage door frequencies because NORAD was blocking the remote door openers.
Fortunately it only occurs between 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock on the volume knob, almost like the D3 uses an active volume control. And it gets better in some parts of the house where the radio towers that are on the mountain behind my house don't seem to reach as well. I hadn't noticed it before because I was only using the volume between 9-12 o'clock to listen to music with full size headphones. None of my other amps pick up radio stations, but the D3 Python and D2 Viper are also very susceptible to chattering from my iPhone if it is anywhere near the amps.
Finally - Ranking, with a caveat: I want to first clarify a little about some changes my personal tastes and preferences. One big area that is becoming more important to me over time is not just having those rich warm seductive mids for vocals and saxophone or other acoustic instruments, but also having good transparency with larger soundstage and good ambience and space, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. My home amps have spoiled me and I am becoming more demanding in my expectations as well.
Summarizing what I was thinking previously - The 2MOVE that I initially ranked slightly above the Pico was very detailed and warm and rich. But it lacked some space and air or ambience vs many of the other amps, creating a more forward intimate setting that I REALLY dug at the time I reviewed it. Some of this soundstage was due to the amp section itself, as feeding it with a better DAC still felt more close and intimate (just not quite as much). I do not have a 2MOVE anymore to compare to the D3 DAC, but I do have most of the other amps that I previously compared the 2MOVE against. Having listened to all of them again (except 2MOVE), I think that at this point I am happier with the Pico than I would have been if I had owned the 2MOVE. As a matter of fact, I haven't used my Meier Headsix in months, which has a similar sound signature and soundstage as the 2MOVE. I have been using the Predator, Pico and D2 Viper the most out of all of them.
Now, the Predator via DAC was more spacious than 2MOVE, while the Pico would project an even bigger more spacious and airy soundstage above and beyond all the others. The D2 Viper with the first round of rolled opamps (LM6172/THS4032) was in between the Pico and Predator in rank, but closer to the Predator in soundstage - what I considered a good compromise. The whole reason the Pico fell behind the others despite it's audibly superior DAC was the lack of fullness in the lower mids and the way a hard strike on the piano keys would bite my ears. Both of those problems were not audible when using it as a DAC/pre-amp instead of driving headphones - but when I listen with headphones now, those issues have also improved over the months since my initial review (the same ones as back in March).
However, the old D2 Viper top-pick opamp combo had a problem with sucking down the battery in 7 hours, and with being too forward with many of my IEM, allowing the Pico to pass it up with IEM. So I made changes and currently the D2 Viper has the LM4562/LM6172 in it, which is more clear and open and spacious (plus battery life climbed from 7 hours to 17). I would say it is now closer to the detail and space and ambience of the Pico, and I would put the D3 in that category as well. This is good, because they are also rich and not thin sounding in the mids. Seriously, the Predator, Pico and D3 are just so close that I might be ready to be put out to pasture and give up doing these reviews - but I still put the Predator just slightly ahead in how it conveys the emotion of the music in it's tone, although I like the soundstage and space of the Pico a little more.
So, even if the 2MOVE were here today I suspect that I would rank the Predator first, followed closely by a tie for second with Pico, D2 Viper (LM4562/LM6172), and Micro Stack, and I'd have the 2MOVE as a close 3rd. I suspect that all along I should have placed the 2MOVE there because otherwise I would have bought one by now (my 2MOVE loan was way back in April). That leaves me in a quandary as to where to put the D3 Python because while I like it very much, the RF problem makes it difficult for me to place it higher ranked than those in 1st - 3rd place above. And it can't tie with the Pico because the Pico also now has a very slight advantage of smoother upper mids with the RS-1, and slightly more ambient cues and micro-detail in complex passages.
At this point, while sounding closer to my second place picks when I can find a quiet spot in my house, I have to say it is tied with 2MOVE in 3rd. Although I'd rather listen to D3 than 2MOVE at this stage of the game, the RF interference wont let me rank it higher. I recognize that the RF is due to my particular location, and it may not affect anyone else out there like it has for me (will find out tomorrow). Such are the hazards of putting together a subjective review like this, when based on their technical merits either none of them are losers and personal preferences can change, or where personal preferences makes one decide to ignore technical faults. It was like Goldilocks saying this bed is too hard, and this one is too soft, but this one is just right. Who am I to say what you "sleep number" should be. I do think I need to be approaching any reviews in the future with a more objective eye (or should I say, ear), as I feel I am losing some of that here.
Nevertheless, I am now considering parting with the D2 Viper because the D3 sounds just as good, has 7x more battery life, and it also sounds great as a DAC-only when I feed a full size amp (without needing any batteries). While the D2 Viper can be made to sound similar to a Predator with the right opamps, and closer to the Pico with others, the D3 Python splits the difference well enough that it doesn't matter. Despite the nice DAC in the D3, I'm pretty sure right now that the D3 will spend most of it's time replacing the D2 viper as my "iMod amp". The Predator remains paired with my 3G Nano as the combo is pretty wicked sounding for such a small package. And the Pico will continue to be used the most with my Macbook and either powering headphones or used as a DAC/preamp feeding a desktop amp. If it wasn't for the nasty RF problem in my neighborhood caused by the radio towers right behind my house, I'd maybe use the D3 for the macbook instead because of the improved battery life.
I'll put this review in the first post later, along with my table of ranking - but for now I'm off to bed!
UPDATE 11/6/08: The RF interference with USB cable plugged in does go away when I get down the hill and away from NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain. So at this point I prefer the D3 over what I recall the 2MOVE sounded like. And, if I had ONLY the D3 as my only portable I would likely not be looking to get a Micro DAC or Pico or Predator to upgrade later, unless money grew on trees or I didn't have a large credit card to pay off.
