[flyingcoin]

Three DACs, I like to use ES9039spro when listening to symphonies

Listen to Jazz, Rom sounds better and his voice is more natural

4499EX is somewhere in between

Maybe 9039 is powerful, but Rom is too natural. I feel like 4499EX is a bit average

 

[nioh]

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CKQZLPP8? ref=myi _title _dp

Bah I already did too much shopping on Amazon this month due to Prime Day and also some other Hi-Fi purchases outside so I’ll pass on this for now.

Let us know how it sounds compared to the ES9039SPro when you get it. I’m guessing it sounds warmer as it is with all AKM based DACs but with lesser resolution and clarity than the ESS.

 

[nioh]

Maybe 9039 is powerful, but Rom is too natural. I feel like 4499EX is a bit average

After using the XD05Pro with ES9039SPro, I feel the same about my other AK4499EX based devices.
The new flagship ESS DAC is a beast in all aspects. If only Xduoo would give us some kind of a bass boost option (without changing filters).

 

[KaiFi]

I’m looking forward to testing the AKM module. The consensus in this thread seems to be that the ESS module is superior and the others may not even be worth using. But as someone who has long disliked ESS DACs and their typical “bright” sound, I feel like I might be the one person who prefers the AKM. But I don’t know. Maybe XDuoo’s implementation has made it so swapping DACs is more of an unnecessary gimmick than anything else. I guess we’ll find out…

 

[nioh]

I don’t understand how people feel ROHM sounds natural.
To me ROHM sounds .. lifeless .. like all the fun has been sucked out of the music !

ESS puts both AKM and ROHM to shame ! So energetic and yet fun.

 

[Ben86]

I don’t understand how people feel ROHM sounds natural.
To me ROHM sounds .. lifeless .. like all the fun has been sucked out of the music !

ESS puts both AKM and ROHM to shame ! So energetic and yet fun.

I also enjoy this ESS dac sound a lot, it is very technical and engaging but sometimes, I just want to relax and flow with the sound, and in some cases this ESS dac gives me too much information, too much dynamics, details and precision, that in some cases my brain just can't relax from this precision and technicalities, when I just need to get some kind of sweeter, softer and velvety presentation to melt in I hope that I'll get that kind of joy with this new 4499ex dac module to be fair, I have checked my ROHM module just once and then put it back in the box, because in most cases I like that engaging, detailed and dynamic presentation of ESS more I hope that this new 4499EX module will sound as addictive as ESS, but in its own way

 

[KaiFi]

That’s the other thing—I prefer a smoother, warmer, more musical tuning but I get that sound from my choice of headphones. I don’t know that I need the DAC to provide it. But that’s why I want to see if I can really notice the difference between the DAC options.

 

[Jahgrid]

Three DACs, I like to use ES9039spro when listening to symphonies

Listen to Jazz, Rom sounds better and his voice is more natural

4499EX is somewhere in between

Maybe 9039 is powerful, but Rom is too natural. I feel like 4499EX is a bit average

To my taste, I agree with your statement.

Today is only the second day I'm using the AKM so I'm waiting first to see if there will be any burn-in (in my case that's how much my ears got used to the ROHM about 1 week, after that it sounded the same) so I expect a similar time with the AKM.

ESS is certainly the most detailed, has the most holography and has the widest stage. AKM is after it and the farthest in this range is ROHM.

Actually in all aspects this is how I would rate it for now although ROHM in its characteristics is more like ESS than AKM (although it doesn't have that the coldness of ESS). ROHM sounds a bit like a cheap version of ESS.

AKM is warm to the ear. The only thing is that after these two days I have the impression that AKM has the weakest Bass, it is very short faint (maybe after a week this will change). The midrange is very pleasant "natural" especially the vocals (I deliberately omit the term neutral) reminds me most of real voices and the trumpets are very pleasant although the least metallic (and I note that I really like this metallic characteristic, which is most audible in the ESS).

Highs similarly emphasized as in ESS strongly in the foreground

On the other hand, I disagree with the statement that ROHM is the most "natural". As for me, it has exaggerated vocals and anything that has more than vocals, for example, many instruments begin to get lost in their presentation and an inaccurately righteous mush is created.

 

[flyingcoin]

就我的口味而言，我同意你的说法。

今天只是我使用AKM的第二天，所以我首先等待看看是否会出现任何烧机（就我而言，这是我的耳朵大约1周后适应ROHM的程度，之后听起来相同）所以我预计 AKM 也会有类似的时间。

ESS无疑是最详细、最全息、最广阔的舞台。AKM紧随其后，在这个范围内最远的是ROHM。

其实从各方面来说，我现在对它的评价是这样的，虽然ROHM的特点更像是ESS而不是AKM（虽然它没有ESS的冷酷）。ROHM听起来有点像廉价版的ESS。

AKM 听起来很温暖。唯一的是，这两天我对AKM的印象是低音最弱，很短很微弱（也许一周后会改变）。中音非常令人愉悦“自然”，尤其是人声（我故意省略了“中性”一词）让我想起了大多数真实的声音，而小号却非常令人愉悦，尽管金属感最少（而且我注意到我真的很喜欢这种金属特性，这是最重要的）在 ESS 中可听到）。

与 ESS 中的高音类似，在前景中强烈强调

另一方面，我不同意罗姆最“天然”的说法。对我来说，它夸大了人声和任何超出人声的东西，例如，许多乐器开始迷失在它们的演示中，并创建了不准确的正义糊状。

I think this DAC replacement mode can at least allow my headphones to produce better sound,
For example, when listening to pop music, I prefer to use HD650 with ROHM,
By combining the sounds in this way, you can feel the very emotional feeling of the human voice.
When listening to symphonies, there is no doubt that ES9039 matches my HD820,
Especially for music such as marches, there is no doubt that their momentum is even stronger,
And you can feel clear details and grand scenes.

 

[stan1121]

 

[Ben86]

 

[quaddac]

And... ? What do you hear?

 

[ChangTan]

It has been 2 weeks since the launched of the AKM module and i still cant see it in their taobao store(buying from taobao directly is more convenient to me).
Messaged them about it and got a reply saying no stock. How can a newly launched product got no stock? I've no idea.

This gives me a feeling that they are not very confident about their own product that's why they produced so little. Am i wrong to have this thinking? Please enlighten me.
I've got a feeling that the AKM module will be the last module they make. Sure they will keep telling you more module is coming in the future but do you guys remember when this was first announced? I am very happy to be proven wrong by them by them keep pushing out new module every now and then for this XD05Pro.

I remember when FiiO launched the Q5s and promised new changeable amp module I was so happy and bought the unit only to discover they silently gave up on that unit not long after because sales are very low.

 

[Ferdinando1968]

This gives me a feeling that they are not very confident about their own product that's why they produced so little.

Or they had more requests than expected...

Together with the R2R it is a much desired module.
I got it from Shenzhenaudio and it should arrive within a few days.

Let's hope they stick to the roadmap.

 

[Ben86]

It has been 2 weeks since the launched of the AKM module and i still cant see it in their taobao store(buying from taobao directly is more convenient to me).
Messaged them about it and got a reply saying no stock. How can a newly launched product got no stock? I've no idea.

This gives me a feeling that they are not very confident about their own product that's why they produced so little. Am i wrong to have this thinking? Please enlighten me.
I've got a feeling that the AKM module will be the last module they make. Sure they will keep telling you more module is coming in the future but do you guys remember when this was first announced? I am very happy to be proven wrong by them by them keep pushing out new module every now and then for this XD05Pro.

I remember when FiiO launched the Q5s and promised new changeable amp module I was so happy and bought the unit only to discover they silently gave up on that unit not long after because sales are very low.

I don't know about TaoBao, I have ordered mine from Amazon and it has stock as I see atm... I also doubt that there will be more DAC modules upcoming in the future from Xduoo, the last remaining is R2R module. P.S. "ROHM" module was a big miss in my opininion, not worth the money, anemic and lifeless sound, ESS is much better. Will receive my AKM next week