|
|
Post by Axis on Dec 24, 2016 22:54:20 GMT -5
Portable Digital Audio Players are becoming very popular. They are not just for your pocket, You can use them as the Heart and Source of a home system. Several have a docking station made just for the player. The price range of these 10 players are $650 to $4000. avprogear.com/top-10-best-portable-music-players-for-audiophiles/ |
|
|
|
Post by lesliew on Dec 25, 2016 0:55:11 GMT -5
I've had my Onkyo DP-X1 DAP for a few weeks now and its a very impressive sounding piece of kit. The DP-X1 even has a balanced output and supports file formats such as DSD & MQA.
|
|
|
|
Post by Axis on Dec 25, 2016 0:59:39 GMT -5
I've had my Onkyo DP-X1 DAP for a few weeks now and its a very impressive sounding piece of kit. The DP-X1 even has a balanced output and supports file formats such as DSD & MQA. I have a Sony NWZ-A17 Walkman loaded with 128 gigs of FLAC and it sounds great with headphones and through my USP-1 Preamp. |
|
|
|
Post by qdtjni on Dec 25, 2016 6:08:37 GMT -5
Do these things really sound better than an iPhone with a good eternal Headphone Preamp DAC?
|
|
|
|
Post by brubacca on Dec 25, 2016 7:10:18 GMT -5
I am "invested" in the Geek Wave DAP project. Someday maybe I'll get one. It was a crowd funding project about the same time as Pono. they have still not delivered or finished the product several years later.
I only say this as a warning for people not to support LH Labs. They have a history of over promising and in this case not delivering at all.
|
|
|
|
Post by mauriceminor on Dec 25, 2016 9:20:18 GMT -5
FIIO XI supports up to 192/24 Headphone and line out $100 www.fiio.net
|
|
|
|
Post by dcg44s on Dec 25, 2016 12:33:32 GMT -5
I have looked at several of these and really like the Fiio X7 but am leaning more towards an Astell&Kern AK Jr for the money. link |
|
|
|
Post by gld3gld3 on Dec 25, 2016 13:20:55 GMT -5
Do these things really sound better than an iPhone with a good eternal Headphone Preamp DAC? I am with you on this one. I just purchased a Dragonfly Black v1.5 to pair with my phone. The DAC in this thing has some magic to it. USB out streaming Tidal HIFI it sounds amazing with my 1More Triple Driver IEMs. It shouldn't sound this good for $99. I am using IEMs though, so this amp has enough juice for them. If you have harder to drive phones then a beefier external amp might be needed. John Darko over at Digitial Audio Review said that he got better SQ out of his phone+Dragonfly black then the way more expensive Astell & Kern dap that he had at the time. |
|
|
|
Post by lesliew on Dec 27, 2016 16:56:34 GMT -5
Do these things really sound better than an iPhone with a good eternal Headphone Preamp DAC? Probably not, however I have used my iPhone 6Plus with a lightning->USB cable into my Onkyo USB DAC/headphone amp and it sounds superb, feed it with Hi-Res audio from Tidal or HF Player and it does a superb job, but not very portable. Subjectively the Onkyo DP-X1(A) sounds just as good if not better, and its portable and its capable of driving some ridiculously hard to drive balanced headphones. |
|
|
|
Post by qdtjni on Dec 27, 2016 17:17:27 GMT -5
Do these things really sound better than an iPhone with a good eternal Headphone Preamp DAC? Probably not, however I have used my iPhone 6Plus with a lightning->USB cable into my Onkyo USB DAC/headphone amp and it sounds superb, feed it with Hi-Res audio from Tidal or HF Player and it does a superb job, but not very portable. Subjectively the Onkyo DP-X1(A) sounds just as good if not better, and its portable and its capable of driving some ridiculously hard to drive balanced headphones. So it would make sense if you don't have your iPhone with you all the time (like I do) and the DAP sounds better than whatever portable DAC/Headphone amp you use.  Ideally, one should have a great DAP that can work as great DAC for the iPhone too. |
|
|
|
Post by lesliew on Dec 27, 2016 17:31:16 GMT -5
Probably not, however I have used my iPhone 6Plus with a lightning->USB cable into my Onkyo USB DAC/headphone amp and it sounds superb, feed it with Hi-Res audio from Tidal or HF Player and it does a superb job, but not very portable. Subjectively the Onkyo DP-X1(A) sounds just as good if not better, and its portable and its capable of driving some ridiculously hard to drive balanced headphones. So it would make sense if you don't have your iPhone with you all the time (like I do) and the DAP sounds better than whatever portable DAC/Headphone amp you use. Ideally, one should have a great DAP that can work as great DAC for the iPhone too. I will add that if your only going to use a set of bluetooth or wired in-ear headphones then don't bother an iphone will do, but if you travel a lot or are the kind of person who walks around with on-ear or over the ear headphones then this is where one of these DAP's really shine. |
|
|
|
Post by qdtjni on Dec 27, 2016 18:21:25 GMT -5
So it would make sense if you don't have your iPhone with you all the time (like I do) and the DAP sounds better than whatever portable DAC/Headphone amp you use. Ideally, one should have a great DAP that can work as great DAC for the iPhone too. I will add that if your only going to use a set of bluetooth or wired in-ear headphones then don't bother an iphone will do, but if you travel a lot or are the kind of person who walks around with on-ear or over the ear headphones then this is where one of these DAP's really shine. I do think my in-ear headphones, Shure SE535, deserve something better than the standard iPhone. |
|
|
|
Post by esquire on Dec 28, 2016 7:44:41 GMT -5
I have looked at several of these and really like the Fiio X7 but am leaning more towards an Astell&Kern AK Jr for the money. linkI've been looking as well and the A&k is on sale at B&H. |
|
cawgijoe
Emo VIPs 
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra
Posts: 5,033
|
Post by cawgijoe on Dec 28, 2016 8:35:21 GMT -5
I have the Dragonfly Red as well as a Fiio X3.
The Red with iPhone is magic. Much better than without. I use this mainly with Apple Music.
The Fiio beats it hands down. However you need to pay for albums and music from sites such as HDTracks.
You need good earbuds or phones to really hear and appreciate the difference.
|
|
|
|
Post by yves on Dec 28, 2016 10:38:06 GMT -5
I have looked at several of these and really like the Fiio X7 but am leaning more towards an Astell&Kern AK Jr for the money. linkThe sound of the AK Jr. is excellent for the money, and the build quality is also great, but TBH the touchscreen is not very responsive, and the user interface also leaves a lot to be desired. I would recommend the AK70 instead because of the much better user interface and touchscreen, as well as because it sounds even better so IMO the bang for the buck is better, but then again there simply are no Fiio products the user interface of which I find acceptable, and their sound quality is only mediocre by comparison IMO. |
|
|
|
Post by qdtjni on Dec 28, 2016 10:41:54 GMT -5
I have the Dragonfly Red as well as a Fiio X3. The Red with iPhone is magic. Much better than without. I use this mainly with Apple Music. The Fiio beats it hands down. However you need to pay for albums and music from sites such as HDTracks. You need good earbuds or phones to really hear and appreciate the difference. So the iPhone DF Red and lossy compressed music sounds worse than Fiio with lossless compressed, maybe even HighRes. What about the same files through Onkyo HF Player on the iPhone? PS Cool avatar! |
|
cawgijoe
Emo VIPs
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra
Posts: 5,033
|
Post by cawgijoe on Dec 29, 2016 8:54:07 GMT -5
I have the Dragonfly Red as well as a Fiio X3. The Red with iPhone is magic. Much better than without. I use this mainly with Apple Music. The Fiio beats it hands down. However you need to pay for albums and music from sites such as HDTracks. You need good earbuds or phones to really hear and appreciate the difference. So the iPhone DF Red and lossy compressed music sounds worse than Fiio with lossless compressed, maybe even HighRes. What about the same files through Onkyo HF Player on the iPhone? PS Cool avatar! The HF player used with the iPhone sounds maybe a bit more dynamic IMO than the Red and iPhone combo. It's very close. The DF Red is really a huge improvement in sound quality and convenience if you are an Apple Music user. I'm sure the AQ Black version is close also based on reviews. I chose the Red due mainly to its higher output to drive inefficient phones. |
|
|
|
Post by qdtjni on Jan 20, 2017 13:41:03 GMT -5
Have anyone with an Android based DAP tried it with Roon?
|
|
|
|
Post by autiger on Jan 20, 2017 13:52:21 GMT -5
I like my Ibasso DX50 and there are a bunch of software option to get the sound you like with you particular HP's or IEM's. and reasonably priced compared to some.
|
|
|
|
Post by qdtjni on Jan 30, 2017 6:34:37 GMT -5
Have anyone with an Android based DAP tried it with Roon? At least with my newly acquired Fiio X7, it seems to suffer from the normal 48k limitation. Since the X7's latest FW generation (i.e. FW 1.x) is customised to bypass the normal Android mixer for all audio output, this might be a bug in Roon. I will follow that up with Roon support |
|
