Questyle CMA Fifteen DAC/Headphone amp. Unit has been upgraded from new by replacing all the internal Nichicon FW (audio grade) capacitors with FG (fine gold). They're physically larger and more costly but improved every aspect of the sound. Clearly more refined and blacker with better texture...

I'll be listing mine in the buy sell trade forum in the next few days. All the internal Nichicon FW caps are upgrade to Fine Gold (FW) with a few of the larger values bypassed. Did this as an experiment and it was very successful. Clearer, more contrast, openness, focused, and textural...

It's a nice amp chip with a follower circuit to actually lower the output impedance like here. The ONIX does NOT have a high output impedance and should work well with any IEM and almost all headphones.

Seems to me that the only way to purposely do that is with phase cancelation via the super tweeter crossover. I can't comment on the actual sound so won't but will guess it would sound very friendly and open on top with an added ethereal factor. Looks like the dip is prevented from being even...

TPA6120A2 is a nice amp... if your multi driver earphone is above 30 ohms/50 ohms balanced.

I remember ONIX from the 80s and they were very good at doing amps etc. Did they have a hand in the final voicing etc of the kit you make with/for them or help them with?

Don't care about DSP tube sound but really like the rest.

For me, it was the Moondrop S8 with comply tips and matching cable choice that got me there. It sounds like a single driver but optimized for all ranges at the same time without compromise. Percentages are meaningless as it's a qualitative and not quantitative assessment of meeting a personal...

I can listen to actual masters of what's on both platforms on some top (costly) home kit to compare and Qobuz is easily the better representation. Try doing one of their downloads (to wav.) and comparing it to the live stream sometime. It may have you rethink what 'bit perfect' actually means...

I still slightly prefer the sound of Qobuz, even after Tidal improved some months back and finally dropped the ill conceived MQA.

Looks great. Which OS? Local streaming? Qobuz?

heat gun if the parts won't melt. clean, tin rosin and flow.

Don't see how they could even do that without a phase issue There's not enough components to fit, even in that large shell, to get a noble/notch filter that steep. I was being kind but it looks like phase cancelation or simply something I'm in the dark about. The coupler used can't be far from...

It's great curve except for that huge trough at 8K where you'd expect and insertion peak and I've seen that in other response measurements as well. Perhaps it's intentional to compensate for the insertion standing wave and overdone but my guess is the super tweeters are phase inverted relative...

try popping the amp card out and back in a few times to clean the contacts.

Better to have good info here and my post suggested something that is not. It's still in a reply if someone wants to see it but it appears it's not relative to this device as they are using an additional amp stage after the ESS chip set as suggested.

Thanks guys. Deleted that so not to scare potential buyers and should have looked closer. :zipper_mouth:

oops

I've had players that sound better in that situation from the HF out when they had Low available. Likely had to do with the higher impedances some line outs have. I'd wait for a review of that before dismissing it. By nature of it's price it will have a relatively simple path without as much...

Making DSD better is a fine goal as making any format better would be but I sure wouldn't emphasize it any longer. After all, it's a format that gets mixed and mastered in DXD which is just a fancy name for PCM, to not tip their hand.

iBasso DX260 might be worth a try.

I don't think the R4 is Android but Hiby OS does work with Qobuz etc.

https://www.headfonia.com/shanling-m1s-review/4/ Hiby R3 Pro Saber is an option depending on preferences. Nice compare above. Personally, I like having the ability to use Qobuz on a DAP.

Then enjoy listening to your phone. Ever hear of economies of scale? Tidal has done this numerous times for no good reason I can think of and there is nothing wrong with older Android OS for these devices unless you’re a Tidal engineer and I use the term loosely. MQA🤪