This is my honest attempt to describe the differences between the performance of my DAPs, my headphone amp (the Meier Stepdance) with my new Zen V2 earbud. It does not reflect on the equipment performance with other earphones and headphones (the Sflo2 is awesome with the Beyerdynamic DT1350 but fails big time with the Zen for example). The rating is my preference so take it with the usual caveats.
Mojo (yellow volume level) no additional amping – vocals are reasonably distinct and I can hear plenty of detail. Without hearing the other combos its fine if a little uninspiring but is slightly muddy (seperation not the best) next to the thinner sound of the clip zip or the mojo with stepdance. Rating 7
Mojo (line out setting) with stepdance – much better separation between instruments and voice. Vocals in particular are sharper and clearer sounding than mojo without stepdance but also manages to provide a better bass presence. I can also feel this bass presence in the guitar strings (e.g. the plucked guitar on Fields of Gold). Works well with all music types (Orchestral music likes the separation and bass). Rating 9.5. Awesome combo. Update (13/02/16): I have listened to this combo for several hours more and rate it as one of the best portable (if you call a source, dac and amp portable!) setups I have tried. The Zens are truely outstanding and respond very well to excellence in source and amping. Note: the Mojo without amplification is fine sounding but doesn't show what the Zens are capable of - the improvements in separation, depth of bass improvements with amplification show both the quality of the Zen and also the Mojo output.
Clip no stepdance (rockbox -7db output level) – Cleaner sounding with Zen than the mojo without the Stepdance – in fact I prefer it I think. Struggles to create impact with Laredo (Band of Horses) when the guitars comes in at the end of the Intro and struggles with Orchestral music but sounds pretty fab with lighter tracks (fields of gold – eva cassidy) Rating 7.5
Clip with stepdance (rockbox 0db output level) – Not as good as Mojo with Stepdance but sounds pretty great (as I mentioned in my earlier post). Vocals and and instruments are slightly thinner sounding than with Mojo with stepdance. Excellent separation (vocals and intruments) – better than Clip alone. Very slightly compressed output compared to mojo with stepdanxe – but sounds pretty great.. Rating 8.5
The following comments are first listens. I will spend more time with the iBasso but not bother with the Sflo2.
iBasso DX90 FW 1.4 (output 255) with Stepdance – quite nice but not as natural sounding as the Mojo (amped or unamped). Rating 6.
Ibasso DX90 FW 1.4 (output 215 high volume switch). Some loss of loss of fine detail and separation and openness compared to the best. I suspect this is a compatibility issue as the DX90 usually excels at this. Rating 6
Sflo2 without stepdance – not nice. No presence – weak sound, muddy and no impact on all song types. I think this isn't a good match. Rating 3
Sflo2 with stepdance (lineout) – vocals nice and separated from guitars. Not as much impact after intro as either clip or mojo. Rating 5
Sflo2 with stepdance (headphone out max volume) – not on the same level as mojo. Similar to iBasso without stepdance. Rating 6
Ade
