DX320 Edition X Disclosure: This is personal purchases from both the original and edition X and my views is not influenced by Ibasso, or affiliated to Ibasso by any meanings. After the release of Dx320, Ibasso followed with a special edition that is Edition X. This was to commemorate the 10th years anniversary of Ibasso into the portable market. This run is limited to only 500 units globally! What is so special about this edition ? The chassis is made out of Liquid Metal Alloy that is based on Titanium metal. The specific procedures to...

Cayin has made their name known in the portable players market since the release of N8, which was the first portable DAP that ever utilized Korg tube, and that shook up the industry a bit. Back then, I was also excited about this release, but when I had the chance to try it out, My impressions were that the N8 was warm, and the Tube was limited at single ended only. Additionally, the design was not as appealing either. So back then by comparison, the players that grabbed me was NW-WM1Z, DX200Titanium, DMP-Z1. Living in the technological...

Disclaimer: M8 player was not sent to me free of charge for this non biased review. It was a purchase out of curiosity. This review was conducted with HD800S, HD800S anniversary, IER Z1R, MDR EX1000. My personal preferences and experiences is my own. Therefore, I recommend everyone to give this player a try before making any decision, and only use my review as a rough guides. Link to instructions for installation of Google play services. There is also a link in the detail of my shorter impression video at the bottom of the page for people with...

Dx220Max With the name, we can all easily figured out by now that the player is based upon Dx220 platform and Maxed out in design. Giving it time for burning in about 200 hours or so together with the experiences in Dx220, and modifying the player itself, I could almost tell exactly how the player behaves and what great the community that support it can be. Please bare with me on my journey and impressions along the way Sound impression: the Max coming out of the box is oozing out oceans of details, extensions, Fidelity, separations...

Sony DMP-Z1 Practicality: DMP-Z1 is practical in some limited ways. For example, you would think about traveling with it, but it won’t be worth it unless you are on a very long trip. So, to carry it around, it may only be a more viable way to carry it from office to home and so on. I carry it from home to work, and it can last the whole working day without charging up. It can fully unfold MQA if that is what you are seeking for, and if so, the combination of MQA+LDAC+DSEE-HX will do it. However, in my experiences, I rather listen to...

Ibasso DX160 So, for the year of 2019, Ibasso has been very busy to keep up with the enthusiasts forever demanding for higher quality music player, and at an affordable pricing. Ibasso while keeping themselves busy, still have not forgot about all of their line up and previously released products, such as Dx100, Dx150, Dx200....etc As everyone have known, I sometimes review to share my thoughts about a product, and so here, I have had a pleasure to have a DX160 review unit sent to me. I am not affiliated to Ibasso, and having a review unit just...

It has since been a long time to have once encountered with something that is new release with price-performances that can hit so many spots, and for it extremely price-performances ratio, I can only have it rated 5 stars. You can find unboxing video from my YouTube here Short sound impressions here Build quality impressions here Musicteck is an authorized dealer in the USA Here is a written review for Aiva. Please remember that each of us have different experiences and preferences. Always try out the gears and trust your own ears :)...

Thanks to Musicteck , an authorized dealer of Lotoo in the US, I am able to spend sometime with the Gold-Touch. I requested the Gold-Touch because it peaked my interest in many of the technologies which is dedicated toward Sound quality. The 2 main reasons are 1/ DSP, Digital Signal Processing. Instead of using the typical FPGA or Xmos chips to handle this process, Lotoo opted for another chip that is Black Fin 706. Yes, the DSP is just as important as a DAC, or it could even be more important. I am sure the majority of people overlooked this...

If you are into this hobby, and especially also seeking for Portability just like me, then you will find some helpful informations from my journey down this road and the experiences that I am about to share. I found my purchase of this little device has served it purpose very well and totally justifiable It seems that everything is heading down the road where good sound quality will be associated with higher pricing. Will there be a gem somewhere that would be named "giant killer" ? It seems Fiio and Ibasso are both trying to do this with their...

Disclaimer Before you read my impressions, please beware that every system is different. My experiences will also be different My system is consisted of KG-T2 Electro static amplifier with all internal silver wires and external silver wires, XF2 Quad tubes and SQ E88CC from Phillips. Stax SR-009 headphones and the source is WM1Z with Docking cradles with internal Silver wiring, usb silver cables, UPOCC power cables for amplifier and Silver Power cables for R2R-7. I am writing this impression to share with people who may be interested in...

Owning the Utopia is such an honor to me. I remember that I couldn't believe what Focal was announcing a year ago about Utopia and the price point, yet $3999 can have me a beefy gaming computer, a set up for Virtual Reality game, a Home Surround system...etc...etc. It was very hard to fathom the idea of such a Headphones can be astronomically expensive. However, knowing Focal is like a Ferrari brand with years of experiences and reputation into the speaker and stereophile worlds, it would also be hard to think that Focal just want to step into the...

Opus #3 Disclaimer: I was chosen by the bit randomly to have received a free sample of the Opus 3 player in exchange for my honest review. The followings are what I found from testing and observing with my systems which include different adapters and cables. Opus 3 balanced into Sony MDR sa5000, balanced into Utopia, balanced line out into Stax KGHV GG and to Stax SR009. Introduction: The bit as a brand has been out to catch us enthusiast who appreciate good quality DAP with their development speed and customer supports. I have never seen any...

The introduction Sony has recently just started to get back at the game to create portable players, and so they too wants something to stand for their Summit of inventions, technologies. NW-WM1Z is the result of this, a flagship that has everything fancy about it, from materials to the technology. The build 1Z was made with the chassis being the most exquisite materials, Oxygen free pure copper with gold plated. The ideas were brought to productions due to the engineers observations of great sonic quality out of this chassis, and together with...

    MDR Z1R Having to own the Sony Z7 before, while it has some flaws, I couldn't wait for another better version of it, the Top of the line from Sony.  Why ? Because it is musical and great to enjoy movies with from either the large home system or by an iPad Fortunately, it only took about 2 years and some until Sony announced the MDR-Z1R.  It was told from several interviews around the net to be under development for 10 years (Magnesium Domes) Z1R is so easy to drive and I meant you can almost get 70% of it performances out of many things which...

              Introduction Opus Audio, or the Bit, I am sure the name is not familiar for many people.  Neither was it to me.  However, on the journal to seek for a good digital portable player with adequate power for full side headphones, I came across the Opus 2 from the threads, posts about it as a newly developed player from The Bit.  Reading into it with dual DAC ES9018K2M x2.  The Opus 2 sports the same DAC chipset from Onkyo DP-X1 (newest DP-X1A).  DP-x1 was never that enjoyable in my opinion, and then on top of that, the pricing of Opus 2...

i actually won the ipurifier 2 in a contest, and as a pure enthusiast I would like to voice up what I gathered under different instances and circumstances. The ipurifier is very well built and eyes catching. It offers different kind of connectors end to be ordered by your liking and convenient. Using HA-1 and Zx2-Cradle with all lossless, high-res, and DSD albums. I observed the following instances. 1/ out of the box, stock everything. The ipurifier 2 offer immediate improvements as in bigger bass, dynamic, punches, and some trebles details, larger...

Last year I was so excited buying the Walkman Zx2 and Z7 from Sony, and I was gradually enjoying the better of real quality audio when I am stepping back into the portable world. I feel that now is better than ever to have the dips into the rest of Sony gears, the PHA-3 portable amplifier. Why ? Because somehow many people don't appreciate it, and hence the used market price is dropping hard, and I was lucky to have bought one at a very good price. What made me decided to buy the Pha-3 were these followings: Portability, Build quality, Balanced...

Please allow me a moment to express my appreciation toward IFI for this opportunity to demo the Micro IDSD for reviewing purposes and return. The unit itself is a DAC/AMP combo which plays DSD natively, and sport Burrbrown DAC, so any fan of BurrBrown will be happy. Upon receiving the unit, it arrived in a nice and neat box, and literally comes with a lot of supportive cables and adapter, a carrying pouch as well. At first I couldn't figure out how to charge the unit because the confusion between the "smart charging" port on the side and the...

Sound signature in general: detailed, neutral, great clarity, super speedy, good control of layering and spaces rendering. This was an import purchased unit from Japan as US release is not here yet. The design is beautiful, nice screen, snappy processing power The operation system is android 5.1 which was the newest upon the announcement of the DP-x1 itself. I got the over the air upgrade on firmware out of the box, it was still 5.1 but with bugs fixed, and not sure what. I hope that Onkyo would keep up with the OTA upgrade on firmwares. Because...

Thanks to Chord electric for giving me a chance to experience your newest product "Mojo". All tests and critical listening sessions were done with the helps of MDR-Z7, MDR-SA5000, Fostex TH900, and 24/96 files, 16/44.1 files. First of all, the mojo arrives In a very small box, probably as small as an iPhone box. The Mojo itself is very small and compact. Though, there is a weighty feeling while holding it in my hand. The feeling that would give me the impression " wow, small but weighty, definitely good stuff". Looking at it, the whole body is with...