iBasso DX100 cracked open (not done by me)

[3602]

Do note that I did not crack one such unit open. These pictures are not mine.
Can any capacitor experts comment on the brown ELNA SILMIC II capacitors? The original disassembler thinks that they are fake ELNA capacitors.

[CrowdAds]

[chengdude]

Interesting they use a Rockchip 2918, one of the two processors that power almost all of the ChinaTabs. I wonder how cooperative Rockchip was with iBasso since typically they take an "our way or the highway" approach to their code. Makes it rough going for manufacturers if they want to tweak anything much beyond the home screen.

Then again, most of the China brands are all too happy using a turn-key solution, so it works both ways I guess.

[The DarkSide]

For the price they're asking coupled with the shit battery life they can keep this thing. I'll admit I originally wanted it, but not the way it is.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by chengdude

Interesting they use a Rockchip 2918, one of the two processors that power almost all of the ChinaTabs. I wonder how cooperative Rockchip was with iBasso since typically they take an "our way or the highway" approach to their code.

I think its more that they're meant for ultra-lowend devices, where the re-seller usually can't afford the cost of software development.

[The DarkSide]

Lol!!! Another case of low cost components coupled with extravagant pricing??? Amazing!!!

[3602]

^ Well the ESS can't exactly be "cheap". On the other hand, I cannot say about the other parts.
Notice the poor soldering of the electrolytic caps. Also the op-amps with their specifications removed. Seeing how they didn't even bother to inscribe a serial number...

[chengdude]

I think its more that they're meant for ultra-lowend devices, where the re-seller usually can't afford the cost of software development.

The "big brands" in China like RAmos, Ainol, Window, Cube, et al. are all powered by Rockchip, Allwinner, and for a few models, Amlogic. Competition is so fierce, pricing cut so fine, and cycle of new product so ridiculously short that software development is simply out of the equation.

[Baadaq]

yeah, some brand out of china use rockchip.. like philips (gogear muse...laggy device...infernal ui=crappy device) and are all no winner, the competition is fierce in all part of the planets (japan for example?), with this pics i only see a overpriced piece of hardware with anything special, i could get a smartphone with twice the power and twice the battery,better screen, dual core and a lot of other stuff for half of that price, i dunno if sound like a 800 dollar but with a little of common sense how the hell a soo expensive "dap" like this has a battery that last 8 hours!!!the think is a freaking brick, with a cheap look and made with cheap parts.

[3602]

I won't exactly start bashing the DX100 for "cheap parts" since ESS 9018 can't be "cheap".
But I've seen enough Chinese Audiophile DAPs to see where this is going.

[bikertrash]

Why doesn't someone come out with a DAP thats like Apples Ipod Classic and charge 50 bucks less while still having equal or better sound. Don't even develop a firmware, just use RockBox. I have to believe that it could be done and a 120 gig alternative to the Ipod, while probably not likely to be a huge seller, would probably do well for companies like iBasso who don't sell anything in near the numbers that Apple or even Cowon does. I like the form factor of the Ipod Classic, small enough for my pocket but not so small as to be easily misplaced. I will probably get one as soon as the Rockbox for it is deemed stable. I don't have one because I don't want to be part of the Apple ecosystem. I want one so I can download all my CDs in lossless, probably FLAC, and listen to it instead of using a seperate external hard drive.
Anyway thats my 2 cents, I don't need an $800 wannabe audiophile rig with crappy battery life and have to add SD cards, I want an Ipod Classic with its battery life and no ecosystem.

[3602]

Rockbox + AK4385 + MAX9722 + 256 GB CompactFlash + 10000 mAh batt. There. An "audiophile" player.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by bikertrash

Why doesn't someone come out with a DAP thats like Apples Ipod Classic and charge 50 bucks less while still having equal or better sound.

Because its impossible to match Apple's price points without massively cutting corners. Apple can sell a classic for $250 because they make tens of millions of them and so can invest in the engineering to get the absolute lowest cost per device while retaining very high quality.

Low volume devices like the iBasso cost a fortune in part due to markup, but also just due to the tiny volumes they sell in. Likewise, because the volume is so low, engineering costs have to be kept to a minimum so they're using a rockchip design that gets horrible battery life.

Originally Posted by 3602

Rockbox + AK4385 + MAX9722 + 256 GB CompactFlash + 10000 mAh batt. There. An "audiophile" player.

10000 mah is bigger then an ipad. Thats the problem with these stupid audiophile designs that combine a bunch of popular chips into some random design: the power usage is off the chart and the actual performance tends to suck because sticking expensive parts into a crappy design doesn't make up for the crappy design

If you want to make a good player, do what Sandisk does. Go find a good all in one design with solid, all integrated analog. Then you'll get 20 hours off of a 400 mah battery for $25 worth of hardware and the fact that almost all the analog design is internal to the chips will keep your bad design from screwing it up too much.

[3602]

Originally Posted by saratoga

10000 mah is bigger then an ipad. Thats the problem with these stupid audiophile designs that combine a bunch of popular chips into some random design: the power usage is off the chart and the actual performance tends to suck because sticking expensive parts into a crappy design doesn't make up for the crappy design

If you want to make a good player, do what Sandisk does. Go find a good all in one design with solid, all integrated analog. Then you'll get 20 hours off of a 400 mah battery for $25 worth of hardware and the fact that almost all the analog design is internal to the chips will keep your bad design from screwing it up too much.

Thank you! About time somebody said that out loud.

The Clip(+) is quite an amazing piece of engineering. Real cheap, card slot, good autonomy, no output caps, 1-ohm output Z. But the screen is just so tiny. I guess that's one way to not design a nice-looking color UI...

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by 3602

The Clip(+) is quite an amazing piece of engineering. Real cheap, card slot, good autonomy, no output caps, 1-ohm output Z. But the screen is just so tiny. I guess that's one way to not design a nice-looking color UI...

Clip+ with a color screen and UI would be the FuzeV2 or Clip Zip.

[3602]

I might as well just pick up one of those things as by beat-around player. Fixing lawn-mowers and such.

[bikertrash]

[QUOTE=saratoga;609525]Because its impossible to match Apple's price points without massively cutting corners. Apple can sell a classic for $250 because they make tens of millions of them and so can invest in the engineering to get the absolute lowest cost per device while retaining very high quality.

Apple is one of the rare companies that can mark up products for a profit. They don't have a low profit margin on anything, that's why they're able to pay enough to only hire college grads at their stores.Because there are so many Apple fanboys, they pretty much have no competition, and as such they set prices where they want. The only device that may be a lower profit is the Nano, but $120 for a 4 gig nano is still high, a 4 gig Clip Zip is only 40 bucks. You know even the Nano is a money maker for Apple. It probably wouldn't take much to beat the price on any device they have. Even Samsungs Galaxy PMPs either beat Apples Ipod touch in price or offer more features and larger screen size for the same price.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by bikertrash

It probably wouldn't take much to beat the price on any device they have.

Oh yeah? Who else sells a 160GB player a lot cheaper then an ipod classic?

You only think it wouldn't take much because you don't know what it would take: massive volume. You need to sell tens of millions of units to get into Apple's costs. And basically no one but Sandisk or Sansung can do that, and those can only do it for certain models (e.g. stripped down Galaxy phones).

Everyone else either cuts corners, sells something Apple doesn't sell, or costs more. Sandisk being the obvious example. They need 5x the battery capacity as Apple players to match the same battery life. They still haven't gotten their AAC decoder to work on files over 15 minutes. They have occasional quality issues (i.e. flash memory hiss). They could fix these things by using modern processors, better materials and more engineers, but then you wouldn't be able to get one of their players for much cheaper then a Nano.

Then there is the Fuze+

Anyway, this isn't to say Apple is the best at everything. But for a given design, they will almost certainly sell it for much less then anyone but maybe Samsung could even break even for.

[bikertrash]

Well Apples stock isn't sky high because they're cost leaders. It's because they have really high profits.Profits don't come from low prices. The Samsung Galaxy PMPs match really well against the Ipod Touch, they just don't have a stainless steel back.
I'm no Apple hater, just don't want to be stuck on Itunes. As for AAC decoder, well don't use AAC. Amazon beats Itunes prices and will even download to Itunes.
The fact that Sandisks Clip Zip offers more features and better sound than the Nano for a third of the price pretty much backs me up. Never heard of flash memory hiss on the Zip, mine doesn't have it. And the Nano can't even use an SD card. Apple makes lots of money on everything they make. I wish them well, they have enough fanboys to stay ahead.

[3602]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/592076/ibas...0#post_8368010


Nope. Can't stop laughing.

[The DarkSide]

Yeah, that is funny. iBasso fanboi!!!