iBasso DX100 cracked open (not done by me)

[3602]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Nice!!! Got a link to more info on this???

It's a Chinese domain, automatically censored here. I'll upload pics in a couple of minutes, pulling them right now.

[CrowdAds]

[The DarkSide]

Great!!! Looking forward to it,...HiSound my AZZ!!!

[3602]

Ladies and gentlemen: A $400+ (retails for 2800 RMB) audiophile DAP.

Back panel (note "Class A Inside"):
Hi-2.jpg

Innards (front):
Hi-1.jpg

Innards (back):
Hi-3.jpg

All-in-one chip (SigmaTel STMP3770):
Hi-4.jpg

And behold, the "class A amp":
Hi-5.jpg

[The DarkSide]

Did anyone bring this up where the HSound fanboi's are, ala' head-fi? I'd luv to see what a ruckus this would cause,...

[3602]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

Did anyone bring this up where the HSound fanboi's are, ala' head-fi? I'd luv to see what a ruckus this would cause,...

That particular thread spanned 190 full pages with 20 individual posts per page. Eventually HiSound came out and started playing on words, stating that "We didn't call it a pure Class A so we're not cheating you". Then they said: "Do not doubt our developing capabilities, here's a Studio made only for hi-end European recording studios (pics attached)."

That particular "European Studio" turned out to be the HiSound Master DAP.

If this isn't a scam, I don't know what is.

[Baadaq]

ooo this made my day!!i really laught at the part he mention "the dx is made for non-portable huge-cans at all" on a portable section...its just to funny..with a sansa and a good amp i can drive anything...for a lot less and better baterry(if the size isn't problem like ibasso dx is just a brick with no battery...)
head-fi sometime's really funny.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

So does the A sound any different than the S, asides from EU volume issues? I remember well the sound of the S being quite good.

IMO they all pretty much sound the same - excellent. And as for the gapless, I mostly shuffle or do playlists. I guess it really doesn't matter much to me anymore. I'm lucky I even get to listen to music,...

Man, I need a vacation.

[Currawong]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

This is an excellent response and it’s a shame if it were posted in that big thread over there it would probably get deleted by their mods or the owner ….

This thing reminds me of that overpriced POS player that dfkt reviewed ... I can't understand someone paying $829.00 for this thing when there's so many other better and lower cost options, guess it's just an audioFool thing ...

Hi Walkgood,

Long time no see. I'd hope some intelligent criticism would be posted in threads. Nobody likes reading one-sided opinions.

Someone posted a link here to the post about the Elna capacitors. When I've talked with companies in China, they've told me about having difficulty finding genuine parts in their own country. This makes it hard for the companies that genuinely want to produce good products to do so. It's much like trying to run a mechanic or second-hand car or computer shop in a big city -- there are a lot of dodgy people out there.

I have a DX100 and I like it. The sound, to me, is good with IEMs and full-sized headphones and I even connected it as a pre-amp to a Linn Klimax Twin with great results. Some people received defective ones, however. I don't get hiss with sensitive IEMs but other people have, suggesting to me there may be issues with quality control or differences between batches. This is a problem not just with companies in China though but in every country.

As for reasons for buying the player, the sound quality is the main reason. I wish Apple could cram this sound quality into an iDevice, but I don't see it happening soon. I wanted something I could take with me easily rather than something I had to strap to my iPhone to be useful. It has the flexibility of being able to be used as a pre-amp or digital transport if I want to demo equipment in a store with my own music, something which can only be done with one or two other products. As well I'm planning to eventually get custom IEMs for travel, so having one unit that performs well with them and has very high sound quality is ideal, especially as I listen to a lot of high quality jazz and classical recordings, so the benefits are useful to me.

The down side is I don't like the Android UI (though with 3rd party launchers it is somewhat better). iBasso's music playing software is also work in progress and quite buggy.

I totally understand the thought that paying ~$800 for an audiophile DAP is crazy. For most people it probably is.

[chengdude]

Not sure the date of those pics from the Chinese forum, but MP4Nation exposed the Studio two years ago:

http://mp4nation.net/blog/2010/03/hi...d-impressions/


I believe the Hisound Amp3 and Rocoo players also used the Sigmatel chip.

[The DarkSide]

So, HiSound are scammers. Even MP4Nation wouldn't carry their garbage. Chengdude,...I luv your honesty,...thank you.

[gameguytw]

The photo by DIY MODER From Taiwan(Country on Earth)

I mod my ibasso DX100 like this:



















































The photo by DIY MODER From Taiwan(Country on Earth)

[WalkGood]

Wow now the whole thing makes perfect sense to me ¯\(º_o)/¯ - You pay $800+ dollars for a DAP that you have to replace parts because it is just not good enough, ROFLMFAO.

[dawningistheday]

Surely this mod is a joke...? If not then I've never seen a crazier audiophile nutjob, and that's saying A LOT.

[El C]

I don't even know what to say...

[The DarkSide]

Ok,...

[saratoga]

A class A amp in an MP3 player sounds like a terrible idea since they waste huge amounts of power. You'd either have no battery life, or have to sacrifice output power (or likely both) verses a more modern design.

Reminds me of what I said before:

Originally Posted by saratoga

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

I guess someone saw that class A amps work pretty well if you don't mind throwing huge amounts of power at them, and didn't think through what that would mean for an mp3 player.

[Big Sky]

Originally Posted by saratoga

A class A amp in an MP3 player sounds like a terrible idea since they waste huge amounts of power. You'd either have no battery life, or have to sacrifice output power (or likely both) verses a more modern design.

Reminds me of what I said before:



I guess someone saw that class A amps work pretty well if you don't mind throwing huge amounts of power at them, and didn't think through what that would mean for an mp3 player.

My thoughts exactly.

[The DarkSide]

But,...but,...they're audiophiles!!! They could never be wrong,...

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

But,...but,...they're audiophiles!!! They could never be wrong,...

Yeah, only rational people audiophiles would want to hook an external DAC and amplifier to a cell phone.

[file624]

Hard to tell from the modder pix ...
What were the orig LO and HO op-amps? What did the modder change them to?

BTW: DIY modder myself. Yes, if carefully done, the level of improvement can be anywhere from subtle to dramatic. The Chinese devices do offer better AUDIOPHILE performance (regardless of $) than the major brands (Apple, Sony, Cowon, Samsung, etc.). THAT SAID ... CAREFUL: some of the Chinese devices are very delicate (= cheaply made) -- and, modded or not, can have short lifespans, never-honored warranties and other NON-after-sale support -- so be gentle and know exactly what you're doing (= action plan, practice soldering and DE-SOLDERING) before diving in.
Yes, modding -- when carefully done -- is ABSOLUTELY worth the effort.

Originally Posted by file624

Hard to tell from the modder pix ...
What were the orig LO and HO op-amps? What did the modder change them to?

Looked a bit harder ... the BUF634's are a bit old-school.
http://tangentsoft.net/audio/pimeta2/history.html

I chose the BUF634 by a wish for a low supply current option, matching the Elantecs. I thought that was important at the time, but it’s slowly become clear to me that most people choose to throw this advantage out the window, in favor of better sound quality. (Obvious to me now in retrospect, of course.) Given that low supply current isn’t a critical design consideration for most people, and given the need to choose a different buffer, I began re-examining the field.

The chip that came to the forefront was the LMH6321, primarily because it’s a near drop-in replacement for the BUF634 in the PIMETA v1 circuit, making it easy to do the early tests. I found that I really liked the sound. They drink a lot more current than BUF634s in low-bandwidth mode, but if you dial up the bandwidth or stack the buffers so they draw the same current, they still don’t sound as good as the LMH6321s, in my opinion.

I concur with Tangent ... change the 634's to the LMH6321's, for even more DIY magic
EDIT 2012-07-17: Looks like modder (above with all those pix) may have class-A-biased some opa's: note the addition of the two brown resistors. Hmm ... strange that this 'audiophile' device does not have those opa's class A'd pert stock. Can anyone owning a DX100 confirm?
Editor Skip:
While I somewhat see why you edited my post, you destroyed the sense of knowledge-discovery thought process.
That's a good thing and what 'foruming' is all about.
If you're going to edit or splice, please note where IN the combined post you spliced things together.
Thx for understanding!