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This is a Review of Astell & Kern AK120ii Digital Audio Player (DAP). http://www.astellnkern.com/eng/htm/ak120/ak120_2_feature01.asp , also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Astell-Kern-AK120II-Resolution-Player/dp/B00L3NAW42/
Either if you are a novice audio enthusiast or a seasoned audiophile, you are probably familiar with a name of "Astell & Kern". It’s like a fashion brand name or a luxury vehicle known for their stylish looks, durable design, and top of the line performance. Nevertheless, for a number of people A&K products are still an intimidating mystery because of their premium price and somewhat exclusive review coverage. I've read some of those reviews and still had a few unanswered questions, especially what makes this DAP so special at a premium price? As you can see, I've already mentioned “premium price” twice, and I'm only a few sentences into my review. Unfortunately, premium price quite often clouds are judgment since we have high expectations when in reality we are looking at diminishing returns. In the last few years I covered close to a dozen of DAPs priced between $50 -$700, and as a reviewer when you focus on a performance and features it makes it easier to judge a product without a biased opinion clouded by its price, though you still have to consider it. So let me proceed with my review, to share with you what I found, and to let you be the judge if this amazing piece of electronics (oops, a biased slip!) is worth your hard earned money.
People, who appreciate the art of sound or just educated enough to understand that free earbuds supplied with your smartphone or endorsed by celebrities just don’t cut it, are usually in constant search of new headphones to get closer to their ideal sound signature. Unfortunately, a lot of the times we neglect an important variable in this sound signature equation - the audio source. No matter how good you think your iDevice or Android phone sounds, it’s not an ideal source even if you manage to load it with lossless audio files. It will not substitute a dedicated DAP designed with one specific functionality in mind - playing audio without compromises or interferences from 3G/4G radios, noisy power supplies, social media updates, and a ton of apps running in the background. I always looked at DAP as anti-smartphone, and perhaps that’s why I was happy with small screens, hardware buttons, and other mechanical scrolling options. Now, I made a full circle and came back to a product which you can almost call a smartphone without a “phone”.
Arrived in a formally dressed silver carton sleeve, A&K wanted to keep an element of surprise without any revealing glossy pictures or too much of an artwork beside a stamped logo and a company name with a sticker of DUAL DAC on the front. AK120ii is their dual CS4398 DAC version, very similar in looks to AK100ii - a single CS4398 DAC version with a slightly shorter body and a few other cut down specs. On a back side of the packaging you will find a very comprehensive device specification that resembles a typical compact smartphone spec. We are talking about 3.31” AMOLED touch screen display with WVGA 480x800 resolution, 3,250 mAh li-polymer battery, 128GB of internal NAND memory with microSD expansion supporting up to 128GB flash card, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, MTP media device connection, micro USB input, and OTA (over-the-air) firmware upgrade. Yes, we are still talking about DAP, and to reassure that – I removed the sleeve and opened an impressive black gift-box to reveal AK120ii inside of it.
Unboxing.
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I have seen pictures of AK100ii/120ii before, but the first hand experience of opening the box and taking a glance at this DAP is priceless. Out of the box I found AK120ii to be surprisingly compact with dimensions of approximate 118mm x 55mm x 15mm and very lightweight at only 177g. Along with AK120ii, included accessories were a high quality usb to micro-usb charging/data cable, clear screen protectors for the front display and the back, a comprehensive quick start guide (printed on a quality paper like it was a wedding invitation), a warranty card, and a fancy leather case. And by fancy, I mean a designer quality "Made in Italy" case with perfect cutouts to reveal all the hardware controls and ports, and to provide a full access to touch screen where only a microSD port was covered. Btw, once fitted, the case is not easy to slide out, but I found a little trick by pushing it out with an eraser tip of a pencil through micro-usb port opening at the bottom. Could A&K have included additional accessories? I certainly would be happy to see more considering the asking price, but optional color leather cases, cradles, and some cables are available for purchase directly from Astell & Kern website.
Accessories.
As I already mentioned, the unit itself felt very compact and rather lightweight despite its solid build and alloy metal housing with a front touch screen. If this would have been a smartphone, I would have already proceeded to power it up, but I was still hesitant holding it in my hand while examining design details. I think the experience of testing and reviewing other DAPs made me appreciate this design even more, including how thoughtfully it was crafted. The ergonomics was perfect for use with one hand, and it felt very comfortable to reach hardware transport controls and volume knob as well as touch screen - not bad considering I have just an average size hands. The transport control buttons are located on the top left side, and you have Play/Pause in the middle between Skip Next/Prev where single click skips a track and a long press fast forwards/backwards. Buttons felt solid, no rattling or shaking, with a very nice tactile response. At the bottom of the same left side you will find microSD slot with a card sitting flush once fully inserted. The bottom of AK120ii has micro-usb connector for charging (impressive battery life of up to 12hrs) and connection to a computer (for a file transfer and use as USB DAC). The top has 3.5mm TRS headphone output (HO which also doubles as electrical/optical Line Out) and 2.5mm balanced output with a 4-pole TRRS connector (for a balanced wired output).
The upper right corner of AK120ii is protruded with a small power button at the top and a dedicated volume knob facing to the right. There is no denial it looks and feels like a real authentic scaled down hardware volume knob you can find in high end desktop systems. The rotation of the knob felt well controlled with a nice feedback, and I was able to adjust it even with a roll of a thumb. I was kind of wishing this volume knob would also function as a push-button control, but it didn’t. I mean, the whole look of the knob design with a cap just screams to be pushed, maybe with some hidden functionality like a quick mute. At the same time, I can understand it would be too easy to accidentally trigger it in your pocket, so this volume knob can only rotate.
Design.
Finally, I was able to tear myself away from pushing the buttons and turning the knob, and went ahead to power it up. Greeted by a glowing “A” logo, it took a little while for the player to boot up. From what I understand, previous AK versions were Unix/Linux based, and the new AK100ii/120ii/240 are Android based for a better support of wireless connection with OTA updates. As a matter of fact, as soon as I booted up and connected to Wi-Fi, within a minute I had a message in notification bar informing me about downloading a system update. It felt like at home with familiar smartphone functionality, especially with touch controls and notification bar. Touch screen was very responsive with every move/slide/touch registering without a lag or a delay, thus suggesting a well optimized custom OS on top of Android. The main screen was well laid out with tiles for Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, Playlist, and Folder – all corresponding to a specific sorting method of accessing your song library. On top of that there were also tiles for MQS Streaming and Setting. Also, there was an “invisible” Home touch button at the bottom in the middle which took you back to a playback screen. From playback screen, where you have access to touch transport controls and song/album artwork, you can also create a Playlist by clicking on the screen and selecting "+".
The Setting menu was my first stop where you have toggle switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EQ, Gapless playback, Line Out and Balanced Out selection, L/R Balance, Brightness control, and Theme selection. There was also system settings related to Date/Time, Language, Power management, USB Connection, and Downloads folder. Further in System Info you can keep a track of model and firmware, internal storage management, and SD card management. But I think the greatest feature of A&K OS is how you can access most of these settings from one place in pull down notification bar. It was simply brilliant how you get a bird eye view of all the important settings where you enable/disable it with a simple touch and get into a detailed setting menu by touch’n’hold of the corresponding control. With notification bar accessible from any screen, this was the best and the easiest way to change settings on the fly.
One of the settings I found quite interesting was EQ where you can create a numerous custom presets. Also, you can draw EQ curve on the screen with a finger, and every EQ-band slider will self-adjust in animated fashion following a drawn curve. It was great to see a complete set of 10-band EQ (30Hz/60/120/250/500/1k/2k/4k/8k/16k), but I found it a bit frustrating to adjust individual bands since they were too close to each other to zero in with a finger touch. I would suggest for A&K to implement a zoom-in feature to expand EQ screen for a more precise selection of the EQ band.
In general, it was a pleasure to be able to see song names and artwork, and effortlessly control the playback and selection from a large and clear touch screen without straining my eyes. But it's not only the size of the screen, but how logical everything is laid out and utilized, from pull-down notification bar with access to all the settings, to a "home" button to get back to the playback and the rest of the controls and settings. I also liked how cool it was to adjust the volume once you turn the volume knob and get on-screen volume-arc graphics to slide your finger up/down and also to quickly enable/disable Balanced output. It takes a little bit of time to figure out controls, but afterwards it becomes a second nature to navigate. Going back to my other DAPs after using AK120ii was a painful experience using small screens and clicking buttons to navigate around.
GUI/Interface.
Having an ample storage is very important when you are dealing with high resolution audio and lossless formats, where AK120ii supports everything under the sun. And despite the fact that AK100ii/120ii doesn’t support native DSD decoding (only 240 does it natively while 100/120 converts it internally to PCM), you still will be tempted to load this DAP with your DSD files. Depending on the size of your lossless library, even 128GB of internal storage and another 128GB of external one might not be enough. Or perhaps when you are at home you want to listen to a few other songs/albums without going through a hassle of copying them to a DAP. To expand your storage capacity while you are at home connected to your local Wi-Fi, AK120ii supports MQS Streaming from your local computer. All you have to do is to download a small lightweight MQS Server program to run on your laptop or PC/MAC, select your shared directory, and within seconds it will be mirrored and ready to be accessed from your AK DAP. It’s insanely easy and efficient, and there is no delay or buffering stutter as you streaming the music – sounds just like you are playing it from internal NAND memory. Of course, with a full Android based OS on my smartphone I can also stream anything from the cloud (Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, etc.), but unfortunately you can’t run any 3rd party or even native Android apps with AK120ii. Furthermore, you can also play music directly from your laptop/PC/MAC through AK120ii by utilizing its USB DAC functionality like an external soundcard.
MQS Streaming.
Obviously, AK120ii has an excellent design and one amazing GUI with hardware buttons to complement touch controls, but how does it sounds? Here, I found a few surprises. Keep in mind, the intent of my review was to test AK120ii as a standalone portable DAP rather than a puzzle piece of the equation that requires another $2.5k DAC/amp and $2.5k pair of IEMs to complete a picture in order to make it sound good. I found that it was absolutely not necessary to stack up AK120ii with other portable Amps or to use it exclusively with TOTL multi-driver IEMs in order to enjoy the sound. To my surprise, it paired up quite well with a lot of my headphones straight out of HO, but you have to be VERY selective which headphones to use - everything comes down to finding headphones with a perfect synergy to work with sound signature of AK120ii.
I had a bit of a rough start when I began testing AK120ii only to realize that warm, bassy, and generally v-shaped headphones are not a perfect match for this DAP. I found sound signature of this DAP to be neutral-smooth with a slight touch of warmth. It made my bright and revealing IEMs and Headphones to sound lush and organic while retaining clarity and high level of details. I would even go as far as saying this DAP shapes a sound to be more smooth analog rather than cold-analytical. The background was perfectly black, and I didn't experience any hissing or high level of noise, though my headphones are not that sensitive either. With a help of it's Dual DAC architecture, soundstage had a great level of width/depth, though it wasn't too airy in my opinion. I wasn't able to quite reach that precise level of detailed analytical layering and separation. Don't take this as a negative comment, actually AK120ii was able to breath in a new life into some of my brighter tuned headphones, adding more body and texture making them sound more natural and less fatigue.
As expected, once you switch to 2.5mm Balanced Output and if your headphones can support wide imaging, balanced output did improve soundstage width/depth by further expansion and even some treble enhancement. The difference wasn't exactly night'n'day, but after closer listening it was definitely noticeable, especially with my UM Pro 50 (advantage of replacement cable to go between 3.5mm and 2.5mm was priceless). To get the most out of the balanced output you really need to look into aftermarket quality replacement cables for your headphones. Just a stock OFC or cheap silver plated wires won't be enough. For example, I noticed a better margin of improvement once I switched to low impedance Linum Balanced BaX cable. A balanced wired Whiplash Pure Silver cable (part of modular system) did introduce an improvement as well, but hearing my UM Pro 50 or W40 or A83 with Linum Balanced BaX took it a notch higher, which I attribute to lower impedance of Linum Litz cable.
Speaking of headphones I used for testing, I picked Pro 50 since it has a darker/warmer signature, while W40 is smoother and brighter, and A83 hybrid delivers revealing bright upper mids/treble thanks to BA drivers balanced out by dynamic driver covering low end. I also used ATH-MSR7 since these full size cans deliver a high-res extended and detailed sound and not as forgiving when it comes to bright recording. With AK120ii a performance of all these headphones was very consistent and sound became very smooth and organic in upper mids and treble while still preserving high level of detail retrieval. It's very interesting how with the same CS4398 DAC used in Hidizs AP100 DAP and FiiO X3 2nd gen as well as AK100ii/120ii, due to variations in low path filter and voltage/current amplification there is a difference between colder analytical bright sound of AP100 vs smother warmer sound of X3ii vs analog-smooth detailed sound of 120ii. Of course, you do need to try different pairs of headphones to find a match with a better synergy. When it comes to low end (bass), AK120ii favors headphones with more quality than quantity. A sound with headphones that have a typical v-shaped signature and exaggerated bass spilling into lower mids will become muddy. Even a more controlled low end of UM Pro 50 with stock cables (or Pure Silver cables) wasn't shining until I went through cable-rolling to find a better match which turned out to be Linum Balanced BaX. In there I found Linum to be a better match to open up the sound with even more details and soundstage expansion, while their new prototype of Super Balanced BaX impressed me a lot with a smoother balance of low end.
Even so I'm not a fan of EQ tweaking and hate how other DAPs usually have one custom preset option, being able to have numerous custom presets you can name according to your pair of headphones was very convenient with 120ii. I was actually pleased with sound shaping after EQ adjustment where frequency boosting didn't introduce any unnatural harsh artifacts. YMMV since its a matter of a person taste, but I just wanted to make a point that you can sound-shape any pair of headphones to make them work with AK120ii.
Another great way of sound shaping is to pair up AK120ii with your favorite portable amp while bypassing the internal one. I really felt like a mad scientist playing with all these combinations of headphones, cables, and amps - but it turned out to be quite a rewarding experience. I know I already mentioned that my review intent was to see how it performs standalone without any external stack up, but I was actually able to shape a sound other than with EQ by pairing it up with two of my favorite amp (FiiO E12A and Cayin C5). These both amps did take a bit of an edge off analog warmth in comparison to 120ii internal amp, but they also introduced more byte to the sound with a different texture at low end and brighter crispiness at top end. Especially C5 added more analytical clarity to upper mids and a touch more details while brightening the treble, though I personally liked the "looks" of 120ii stack-up with E12A.
I'm sure a lot of you will be curious how does $1.7k DAP compares to other cheaper DAPs I tested in the past. I know the sound quality is very important, but when it comes to A&K DAPs you have to look at the whole picture where overall experience plays a significant factor. It probably sounds very cliché and some of you might think I got spoiled by having access to test and to compare different DAPs, but it's an important point where you can forget for a minute a price tag and just focus on the product's sound, ergonomics, flexibility, and control interface. All I have to say is that experience of testing and reviewing AK120ii ruined the enjoyment of my other favorite DAPs. Maybe it's a temporary infatuation since I spent the last few weeks mostly using this A&K DAP, but I felt that a touch screen interface made such a perfect sense in song browsing, playback control, and overall settings - I actually became a bit frustrated with a button clicking or a wheel scrolling to get to where I wanted in other DAPs. And this touch screen interface was not a reminder of a "smartphone", absolutely not! It enabled me to be in full control of how I wanted to listen to my music, and I found that to be quite liberating.
Nevertheless, if you compare it to other DAPs like for example Cayin N6, those who are after a lush organic sound will prefer A&K sound signature, while if you want a more analytical detailed sound - N6 is a better candidate. In my opinion, they both are relatively neutral, but AK leans more toward neutral-smooth with a touch of warmth, while N6 leans more toward neutral-bright with a slightly better retrieval of details. With something like FiiO X5, I hear X5 being thinner, more neutral, less dynamic (sound is a bit flatter), and soundstage being narrower. Especially with X5 (single DAC architecture), you can hear an advantage of dual dac design of AK120ii and N6 where the width/depth of soundstage along with airiness and improved separation/layering becomes more apparent.
Next to N6, X5, and X3ii
Conclusion.
I mentioned early that I took a pricing out of the equation, just focusing on design and performance. I guess in a conclusion with my traditional "Overall" statement, I should put this variable back in and look from a perspective of the overall AK120ii value. I have reviewed a lot of DAPs and various stack up combos of my Note 4 with portable Amps or usb otg DACs, thus I tend to believe I have a good base for comparison. With that in mind, I still feel that Astell & Kern delivered a product that took the best out of all that audio equipment and encapsulated it in a very compact Digital Audio Player with the most logical touch and hardware controls I have experienced to date. It looks solid, it feels solid, and with a right pair of headphones it sounds solid! I know some people expect $1.7k DAP to sound 2x as good as $800-$900 DAP, but you have to keep in mind that with TOTL audio equipment (just like with multi-driver IEMs) you are in a territory of diminishing returns. Can Astell & Kern keep this crown forever? Only time will tell since we are facing a number of new TOTL DAPs from other manufacturers planned for this summer, and I know that competition will heat up! But I can tell you with certainly, A&K set a very high bar (and not just in pricing) where all my upcoming reviews will be measured against this little masterpiece!
This is a Review of Riva Turbo X hi-fi Bluetooth wireless speaker. http://shop.rivaaudio.com/dp/B00IPS8QXM#.VTb03md0z3h, also available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Riva-Performance-Premium-Bluetooth-Black/dp/B00IPSC6F6/
Thanks to the original Jambox, going back a few years, wireless speakers used to be a popular “accessory” for your smartphone and tablet. Consumer electronics market was flooded with all these cute and colorful speakers with a tiny sound, only a fraction louder than a phone itself. But just like with any new trend, the infatuation doesn’t last for too long and the product either evolves or slowly fades away from a spotlight. As expected, for a number of companies it faded away because they decided to scale up their mini speakers into bigger and louder versions without realizing that sound quality remained the same, only a few dBs louder. At the same time, a few premium audio quality wireless speakers have emerged with a performance approaching some of the wired setups. One thing these premium speakers had in common was companies behind them with deep roots in pro audio design and manufacturing, not just someone who decided to add speakers to their lineup of accessories or used celebrity endorsements for credibility.
One of such star-quality products I just had a chance to review came from a company you probably never heard of before, but after testing their latest Turbo X Bluetooth wireless speaker – I can tell you with certainty they have a potential of becoming the next household name. RIVA Audio was launched only a year ago, as a lifestyle brand of Audio Design Experts (ADX) headed by none other than a legendary “star” himself – Rikki Farr. With 45 years of experience in building and designing audio products and over 30 Platinum and Gold certified studio record awards while working with some of the top legendary bands – you can rest assured that a chairman and CCO of ADX knows a thing or two about music!!! But were they [RIVA/ADX] able to encapsulate a wealth of this knowledge and experience into their new compact Bluetooth wireless speaker? Let’s see what I found.
Even so I usually start my review with a description of the packaging, I wanted to mention how much I was impressed with the actual shipping box and thick pieces of styrofoam used inside to make sure packaging box would arrive undamaged. Packaging box itself was made out of high quality thick carton and had a detailed description of key features, included accessories, technical spec, and even a picture of their Ground Control app. The list of key features really sets a tone to make you realize about dealing with a serious audio product. Of course, the focal point of the exterior packaging is a picture of the speaker on the front and the view of inner design on the back. You can clearly see how much pride RIVA takes in their product by showcasing their design, inside out! With a top of the packaging box off, you'll find a small rectangular speaker sitting on a pedestal of inner base, including more protection inside to prevent RIVA Turbo X from any damage. I do have to admit, it's not a lightweight product, and I was impressed with the amount of thought that went into packaging of it to make sure Turbo X arrives at your doorstep intact.
Unboxing.
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After removing a speaker from the box, you gain access to all the included accessories stored in the base underneath. Here you will find AC power supply, 70" 3.5mm to RCA connector (to connect Turbo X to your external audio source with RCA output port), 48" 3.5mm male-to-male audio cable (to connect Turbo X to any non-bluetooth 3.5mm audio port), and a very comprehensive manual. There is also a special Phono Mode you can activate by holding "+" and "-" buttons together so you can use Turbo X with a turntable that has a low audio output. Although not being able to use a common micro-usb cable for charging, I completely understand why RIVA went with AC power supply (impressive 19V/3.42A output) for a faster charging of its internal massive battery. Even so I didn't see anywhere mentioning of the actual mAh capacity, a mere fact of 26+ hours of battery life (with Surround and Turbo off, and at 75dB of volume level) and capability to charge other devices makes you realize you are dealing with a high capacity rechargeable battery.
Another included accessory is I/O splash cover - a very clever way to cover the exposed usb, audio, and power ports on the back. What makes it unique is how you can store this I/O cover plugged on the bottom of the speaker so you don't loose it. When in need to cover up open ports - it goes right in with a secure fit, and still providing an access to power button.
Accessories.
So how does Turbo X looks once out of the box? There is nothing "cute" or "colorful" about it, instead you are looking at a very elegant design in a shape of a straight forward brick. Surrounded by a mesh grill around front/back and sides, it doesn't scream "look at me", and as I later found out - it grabs your attention with its sound rather than flashy looks. The bottom of the speaker has two rubber feet for an excellent non-slip grip with a surface as well as some dampening of the weight pressure. That is something you will feel right away with a weight of over 3lbs and dimensions of 9" x 4" x 3.5". Unlike other audio products, when it comes to speakers - having "extra" weight is actually a good thing knowing you're dealing with quality drivers and amp inside of it.
Moving on to the top, you have a plethora of illuminated capacitive touch buttons with a proximity sensor that triggers all buttons to lit up as you hover your hand over it - excellent idea when you are in the dark. You can also lock these keys by pressing Mute and "-" buttons together. Of course, all the functionality is duplicated on the remote app for your phone, but more about it later. Here we have a Power, Bluetooth pair-up, Volume up/down/mute (3 separate buttons), and S (to activate Trillium Surround) and T (to activate TURBO) buttons. One thing I wish would have been included or somehow implemented is a transport control in order to play/pause and skip songs from within a speaker, though this functionality is already mirrored in a remote app. Plus, it’s understandable that every button (or combination of buttons) has multiple functionality, so it's a challenge to add more controls.
Also, at the top you have a dual noise and echo canceling mics for Speakerphone functionality. This speakerphone functionality is a great bonus, but to be honest I never really used it with any of my wireless speakers, and consider it to be just a nice "bonus", no more or less. For a speakerphone functionality, you can Accept or Reject the call right from the speaker by using T and S buttons. Last, but not least, the top of the speaker is plastic with a glossy piano finish which somewhat a fingerprint magnet.
At the bottom on the back of the speaker you have a selection of different ports, which as I mentioned before can also be protected with removable I/O cover. In there you will find 3.5mm auxiliary input, a micro-usb data input for a future firmware upgrades (a very important feature), a physical power button (another brilliant idea to make sure touch buttons on the top are disabled and battery is not wasted when not in use), USB charge out port (though labeled as iPad/iPhone it designed to charge any device), 19V DC Power adapter input (to connect AC/DC power supply), and a battery capacity indicator (depending on the color you can determine 0-30, 30-60, and 60-100 remaining capacity). Battery indicator is very important, and you can access the actual battery reading from Ground Control app, down to 1% accuracy.
Design.
Pair up with audio source was effortless, and I had no issues with either my Note 4 phone or AK120ii DAP. At first I thought that NFC would have been a good option, but later after discussion with RIVA I realized that due to a small footprint and proximity sensor on the top - NFC implementation wouldn't have been feasible. Once paired up, I had no issues with wireless connection across an open space of 40+ feet. Sound quality was very impressive and deserves a separate section in my review since we are talking about a true audiophile quality performance. And it's not just because it supports some of the popular SBC, AAC, and aptX audio wireless codecs, but actually because of its top notch audio hardware design. Since I'm Android based, aptX codec support is very important to me, but a transparency of the transmitted digital audio is meaningless without a quality amplifier and drivers to deliver their audio interpretation to your ears.
Pair up.
Before I go into a deeper audio analysis, let me talk a little bit about RIVA's remote control app which they call "Ground Control" app.
There are a few other premium speakers that come with their companion setup apps, but those are usually limited to mostly "setup" functionality. Here, you are dealing with a control app that covers everything! Usually I prefer to leave my phone/source alone and control music directly from a speaker's transport controls (if it's available). Part of it has to do with me using more rugged speakers outside while keeping my phone out of sight. Since I found RIVA Turbo X to be more appropriate for indoor use, the roles reversed and now I was looking for any opportunity to fire up that Ground Control app. You get everything from a precise battery reading to every touch button “access”, including a large volume wheel and even a playback control with play/pause and track skip (though only when using native audio playback app, no 3rd party support yet). And if you want more customization, you can go into settings to change speaker "name", app background control, and my favorite - switch audio prompts between voice and tones. The only thing that can make it better is to add a "no sound" audio prompt option.
Ground Control app.
Finally, I’m getting to the actual sound! I have reviewed a lot of different wireless speakers, including a number of those which I consider to be smartphone accessories. With an exception of a few, a more detailed audio analysis was simply not necessary for those other speakers since there was nothing special about their sound. With RIVA Turbo X, even before getting to sound analysis, you have to look closer into the actual internal design to appreciate how much this speaker has to offer.
Unlike other speakers that use off-the-shelf generic or headphone drivers, RIVA packs 7 ADX speakers! Starting with three ADX 60mm full range proprietary drivers, it looks like they cleverly placed one in the front middle and two on the sides. Complimenting that, you also have four ADX custom dual piston bass radiators, with two facing front and two facing back. Pretty much, you have speakers and bass radiators all the way around RIVA’s compact footprint. But speakers itself is only a part of this equation. Driving power to these speakers is proprietary ADX 3-channel amplifier with 45 watts of RMS power under control of advanced DSP. This amount of power is higher than I have ever seen from any other Bluetooth wireless speaker in the same category. Keep in mind, more power doesn't necessary mean a louder sound, but actually corresponds to having enough juice to drive speakers to their full “undistorted” potential.
And if that wasn't enough, RIVA includes two "override" modes with Trillium Surround which enhances separation of the sound with 3D imaging and TURBO with EQ mode boost of up to 100dB in loudness level. Surround enhancement is very noticeable and sounds rather natural, not a gimmicky DSP effect. This mode is perfect for watching movies or playing video games, though I also enjoyed it while playing music where a lot of the sound details got a new 3D placement in space. TURBO takes a sound into overdrive. It definitely is useful when you are at the max of the volume and need to squeeze out a few more dBs. RIVA does that with an extra 9dB kick without any distortion (thanks to its smart compressor). This Turbo effect might not be necessary at lower volume, especially since it drains battery quite significantly, but when you want to fill a bigger room with a more powerful sound – activate this TURBO overdrive for uninterrupted 6+ hours of sound bliss!!! Unfortunately, you will take a hefty battery penalty, so if possible – keep it plugged in.
Sound analysis.
I found RIVA Turbo X to have an impressive audiophile quality performance with a full body smooth balanced sound. Just like with any pro speaker, sound quality benefits greatly from a speaker placement to take advantage of the natural acoustics of the room. As a matter of fact, RIVA even includes suggestions with a speaker placement to maximize its performance.
After a closer listening, I found Turbo X to have an articulate low end with a fast mid-bass punch and a deep sub-bass texture. Bass is clear and detailed, well controlled with just a minimum spillage into lower mids. Mids are overall warm and clear. They are thicker in sound, especially lower mids, and it helps in building a foundation for a full body sound. Upper mids are clear and detailed, but not too bright or analytical. Vocals have a very powerful and organic delivery. Treble is smooth, warm, doesn't extend too far, but still captures enough details.
Soundstage is good, and with Surround Trillium mode you expand staging to a new 3D width/depth dimension. Layering and separation is typical for a speaker, which is not necessary the best and even a bit congested when you are standing too close. But once you take a few steps back - sound opens up and fills the room with a more detailed presentation. I think it's a very important factor in order to appreciate this speaker – the quality of its sound perception goes up as you take a few steps back, just like with a regular full size wired speaker.
Another interesting thing about RIVA Audio, they actually encourage you to compare Turbo X speaker against their competition. You know, such encouragement can only come when you have confidence in your product. And to tell the truth – they have every right to brag about it. I have tested a number of other HD speakers, and I feel that when it comes to sound quality and features – RIVA Turbo X stands ahead of its competition.
For example, Braven 855s HD sound is more colored, with a muddy bass, also loud and powerful but not the same level of clarity; heavier in weight, less battery endurance, but with an advantage of a more rugged design. UE Boom is still among my favorites, but it’s not in the same “power” class and when it comes to a sound it has a nice mid-bass punch but no sub-bass support, and sound is thinner where it can’t fill the whole room; battery with only 15hr (though a crazy standby when powered off, lasting months), limited app, though a better splash proof design. B&W T7 impressed me with a build quality, but sound was more colored with a greater level of distortion, and you have to be facing the speaker, otherwise sound gets muffled – not even a matter of which corner in the room you place it, but rather at what height level. Bose SoundLink III is another good candidate for comparison, though I find its bass to be deeper and more on a muddy side, not to mention more spillage into lower mids; in comparison it sounds warmer and lacks the same level of detail retrieval. Didn’t have a chance to test BeoPlay A2 yet, so that one will be an interesting comparison as well.
Summary.
Overall, I was very impressed with a performance of RIVA Turbo X and an audiophile quality design behind it. 7 speakers (3 active and 4 passive) inside of one compact enclosure, 45W 3-channel amp with DSP processing, Surround sound mode, TURBO boost mode, 26+ hours of battery life, aptX support, firmware upgradeable, charge out port to charge other devices, touch control buttons with proximity sensing LED indicators, and a very polished Ground Control remote app – that is a mouthful for a Bluetooth wireless speaker under $350. Is this an absolute perfection? Maybe if the exterior design would have been a little more rugged and there was a way to implement transport controls from a speaker itself. Aside from that, this speaker could be considered a perfection as long as you keep it indoors and careful in handling it. Actually, lack of transport controls no longer bothers me because Ground Control app is truly a fun to use! But the most important thing, once you pair it up with your source and hit Play – you’re no longer hearing the music, but actually feeling it! I don’t think I can say the same about any other Bluetooth wireless speaker I have tested so far.
This is a mini-review of RIVA Turbo X carry bag. http://shop.rivaaudio.com/dp/B00VMSXRWW#.VUeog5Oy4bs
In a conclusion of my RIVA Turbo X review I made a following statement: "... this speaker could be considered a perfection as long as you keep it indoors and careful in handling it." I still consider Turbo X to be the best BT wireless speaker I have tested to date, but the truth of the matter - its design is not rugged enough to carry outside. It has a splash protection cover for the ports on the back, so you can definitely keep it outside for outdoor entertainment, and believe me, it's loud enough! I just wasn't sure about the best way of handling it to take outside.
Well, lo and behold, RIVA guys came up with a solution for that as well - Turbo X carry bag. You might ask, what is a big deal? When you are dealing with a 3+ lb brick shaped slippery speaker, you can't just toss it in any bag or your back pack or wrap it around in a sweatshirt. I wouldn't call Turbo X to be fragile, but at the same time with a metal grill all around it and touch buttons on the top, you want to protect it from bumps and drops or sliding around in the bag. What RIVA came up with is a very nice form-fitting bag with an easy zipper access, a soft velvet padded interior, and a tough nylon exterior. It also has an outside zippered pocket for accessories, cables, or your wireless source (DAP or smartphone), and a stitched "RIVA" logo. It also has a nice handle with nylon exterior and soft interior, I mean these guys thought of every detail! This carry bag looks good and serves a great functionality to protect your RIVA Turbo X when on the go!
Here is how it looks:
Proud owner of this product and I must say great for outdoor activities no dull moment!!!
I absolutely love my Turbo X. I will say I was expecting it to be louder, don't get me wrong it cranks and sounds great but I don't think its putting out 100db of sound??
This is a review of Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless headphones. http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Headphones/Headphones/Headphones/P5-Wireless.html , also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bowers-Wilkins-Wireless-Headphone-Black/dp/B00Y0Q9LFU/
Today you can find a lot of headphones labeled as "premium", but not all of them could be considered as truly "luxurious". If you narrow it down to what one might consider as premium-luxurious, it still doesn’t guarantee a great sound. And if you prefer a wireless connection - you probably should brace yourself for more compromises and a very limited selection. Out of the blue (at least it caught me by surprise), B&W just released a new Bluetooth Wireless version of their latest P5 Series 2 model with a checkmark next to all of these requirements. Premium and luxurious is already synonymous with Bowers & Wilkins brand name. I reviewed a number of their headphones in the past, and was always impressed with a quality of leather material, sexy wavy curves of chrome frame attached to earcups, concealed cable attachment (clever, but a bit time consuming), and a sound quality which I found to mimic analog tuning of full size speakers. Their first entry into Bluetooth world with T7 speaker was quite impressive as well, thus Bluetooth wireless headphones made sense as the next logical step. Here is what I found after spending over a week testing B&W P5 Wireless (P5W).
Packaging a gear in a black sturdy box has been a common practice with a lot of companies who want to underline premium quality of what to expect inside. Often you are not going to see much on the cover of such "gift" box beside a company/product name, while in this case B&W put a bold picture of their P5W on both the front and the back sides. No marketing hype, no functionality description, no specification list - just an elegant image of their headphones with captivating curves that draw you right in. When you lift a cover, your unboxing experience is rewarded with a "jewelry" display presentation of P5W in its leather, metal, and chrome glory.
Unboxing.
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With headphones out of the way, I was looking at a set of familiar P5 accessories including a quilted soft case and two sets of cables, except this time it was an audio headphone cable and usb charging cable. Since smartphone controls are integrated as part of Bluetooth wireless functionality, you no longer need a cable with in-line remote/mic, thus only an audio cable was included (3.5mm side to your source and proprietary 2.5mm to a hidden jack inside of earcup). Typical of many other wireless headphones, P5W offers both wireless and wired connection if you run out of juice. Just keep in mind that you can get up to 17 hours of listening time from a single charge at moderate volume level.
The case is the same as the one included with P5 S2, except this one has a small inner pocket for cable storage. Personally, I’m still on a fence about it. Using it at home is convenient, though my wife keeps teasing me if she can borrow my “purse”. P5W has a nice fold flat design with earcups rotating 90 degrees, and a soft quilted case with a magnetic flip cover does a good job of cushioning and protecting it. But a soft case doesn’t offer the best protection when you are traveling and want to shelter your headphone investment. I just wish B&W would offer a hard shell storage case, even as an add-on accessory. If they can make their headphones look that good, I can only imagine what they can come up with for a case.
Accessories.
When it comes to a design, as I mentioned before, all B&W headphones stand out with a premium luxury details common across their different models, just scaled up or down depending on over-ear or on-ear design. You will find a genuine perforated leather material covering soft memory foam of earpads, as well as the back of earcups covered in leather around the sides with a black brushed aluminum plate in the middle with an etched “Bowers & Wilkins” name. Earcups are attached on one side to a solid curved chrome metal double wire that waves into the headband. Beside previously mentioned 90 deg rotation mechanism, earcups also have a degree of tilt to adjust to your ears/head shape. Earpads are attached magnetically to earcups, and I will cover more about it later when discussing cable attachment. But I do want to mention that after 20-30 minutes of continuous use, my ears did get warm - it wasn’t too uncomfortable, but still noticeable.
The headband is leather wrapped and has soft foam padding on the inner side. The whole construction felt very solid and lightweight with an evenly distributed 215 grams of weight. Also, headband height adjustment was buttery smooth while still requiring a little bit of force so it doesn't slide out loose. Similar to P5 Series 2, clamping force was a bit tight out of the box and required a short break in period. After a few days it felt more comfortable while still offering an acceptable sound isolation. Regarding sound isolation, you do have to be realistic this is on-ear design which can't be compared to over-ear, thus you should expect to hear outside noise but with a good attenuation while still being aware of surrounding. Also even at full height extension, I think P5W model is more appropriate for small and medium heads, while it could be a bit tight if you got a big one on your shoulders.
Design.
Unlike other headphones with a removable cable, P5W (exactly like P5 Series 2) has a proprietary cable with a standard 3.5mm on the side going to your audio source and 2.5mm angled connector hidden inside of the left earcup. It's really a clever design which makes a cable attachment to earcup look like it has a hardwired seamless connection. To get to the connector you need to remove magnetically attached left earpad to access internal 2.5mm plug. Right side earpad is magnetically attached as well for an easy replacement. I do want to comment about being careful if you have sharp nails so you don't damage the leather since these magnets are quite strong. The cable itself feels sturdy yet thin, has a round shape, and feels soft. Also, due to a connection with a removable cable inside of the earcup, I didn't sense any microphonics effect.
Without a doubt, that is one clever way to attach a cable, but it's not as efficient as just being able to plug in a cable directly, and fiddling with earpads is a bit time consuming.
Replacement pads and wired connection.
Before I proceed to sound quality analysis, let me talk about P5W Bluetooth wireless performance and the controls. I have reviewed a lot of wireless headphones in the past, everything from minimalistic controls or touch controls to controls with individual and exotic buttons. In my opinion P5W strikes a perfect balance between all of these with a multi-function spring-loaded power button that turns headphones on when you slide and hold it and goes into pair-up mode when you push it. And everything else is taken care of by 3 other conveniently located buttons. All these operation are accompanied by a pleasant chime tone, the same one used in T7 wireless speaker.
Pair up was easy and seamless, and headphones were connected to phone and media audio without any problem. All the controls were within easy reach on the back of the right earcup, using 3 buttons with volume up/down assigned to the upper and the lower one, and a raised button in the middle for Play/Pause/Call with a single click, Skip Next with a double click, Skip Back with a triple click, and long press to start Google NOW. The location of buttons on the back of earcup was very convenient and easy to ID by sliding a finger to find a button in the middle. The same right earcup has micro-usb charging port at the bottom next to power button, a bi-color led, and two mic pinhole vents contributing to an excellent voice pick up. Sound quality during calls was noted to be excellent.
With a support of the latest BT4.1, wireless performance was quite good covering a stutter free distance of 40 feet in open space. Also, during a testing with my Note 4 in a pocket and while covering earcups with my hands, the wireless connection was still solid. And of course, with a support of apt-X, AAC, and SBC audio codecs – I was able to confirm a really good audio performance as well. If you are using Android based devices, apt-X support is a must. Btw, one interesting thing that I did notice - as soon as you plug in the cable, wireless connection was automatically disabled.
Wireless operation.
When it comes to a sound quality, we are still dealing with a pair of 40mm drivers used in P5 Series 2 with a full dynamic range tuning. As a result, wired performance was very similar to P5 S2, but slightly different in comparison to Wireless which now depends on internal D/A audio decoding of digital stream and analog conversion to pump the drivers. As a matter of fact, I actually enjoyed wireless sound a little more than wired. Wired was close in comparison, but had just a little more depth in soundstage and a little more sub-bass. But retrieval of details wasn't exactly on the same level as wireless. Also due to lower sensitivity in wired mode, it needed a little volume boost. In comparison, Wireless sound was more balanced and with a better separation and layering effect.
In more details, I found Wireless audio performance to be nicely balanced with a full body sound and excellent extension at both ends of frequency spectrum. It had a nice soundstage with slightly above the average width and an average depth with a more intimate feeling. I found layering and separation of instruments and vocals to be just perfect.
Low end has a deep meaty sub-bass extension which adds a nice level of rumble without overpowering the bass, mid-bass punch is fast and well controlled without crossing
lower-mids threshold. The balance between sub-bass and mid-bass quantity was just perfect and also the reason why I preferred wireless sound over wired.
Lower-mids have a nice body without adding extra "weight" to the sound, and upper mids have a great level of smooth clarity with excellent retrieval of details. This is noticeable especially with vocals, male or female, that sound smooth and organic. Overall mids have a perfect balance of smooth and detailed sound.
Treble has a good extension, also with a clear, crisp, and smooth sound. No sibilance or ear fatigue during extended listening. I was actually very pleased with upper mids/treble performance which often gets neglected in wireless headphones.
And speaking of other wireless headphones, here is a comparison with some other on-ear and over-ear models (Meelec Touch, Meelec Matrix 2, Stance S1+, and Momentum 2 Wireless).
P5W vs Touch - Touch has less sub-bass and a touch more aggressive mid-bass, lower mids are a bit thinner and upper mids are a little brighter and a bit more forward, treble is a bit crispier. For 1/4 of the price Touch is a great value, though build/design is not as luxurious, and touch controls could be a bit confusing. Overall, P5W sounds smoother and more organic.
P5W vs M2W - M2W has a wider/deeper soundstage, a bit less sub-bass and a similar mid-bass, also similar lower mids, but upper mids are more recessed, darker, and a little less detailed, treble is also a bit darker and has less quantity in comparison. M2W full size over-ear is more comfortable and added sound isolation of ANC is a plus. P5W controls are straight forward and easier to reach, sound tuning is smoother and more detailed, and Bluetooth performance is more stable.
P5W vs Matrix 2 - M2 has less sub-bass and slower mid-bass, thinner lower-mids and less detailed upper mids (not the same level of clarity), similar treble. P5W controls are more minimalistic and straight forward, and it has a more luxurious build/design.
P5W vs S1+ - S1 has a lot less sub-bass and mid-bass is less aggressive, lower mids are a little thinner and upper mids are a little brighter and slightly more detailed, treble has a better extension and a little brighter and crispier. Soundstage in S1+ is a little wider. Also, S1+ controls are a little more confusing.
Conclusion.
B&W P5 Wireless came out of the blue and knocked one right out of the park! I would be very curious if they ever decide to convert P7 into wireless, or perhaps B&W thinks that wireless is more appropriate when traveling thus P5 footprint is compact enough. But either way, I found P5W to hit the right mark in design quality, selection of premium materials, ergonomics of controls, battery life, and audio performance. Even with a support of BT4.x and apt-X codec you can either get a muddy performance or a sterile clean lifeless sound. Here, B&W was able to tune their drivers on a level of quality wired performance with a nicely balanced sound signature. At the same time, fitment might not be for everyone, and even with my medium size head I had to adjust earcups a bit until I find a sweet spot. In general, on-ear fitment could be a hit or a miss, and as I mentioned before – don’t expect super isolation. But if you are looking for premium luxurious headphones and craving high quality wireless audio performance – P5 Wireless sounds as good as it looks!
This is a Review of iBasso DX80 Digital Audio Player (DAP) with touch screen. http://www.ibasso.com/cp_xq_dy.php?id=304.
Apparently I have been living under a rock since this is my first encounter with iBasso DAP. In the past I have heard of their DX50, DX90, and DX100 audio players and quite often been asked to compare iBasso and FiiO DAPs, but I never had a hands-on experience with any of their products until now. It’s hard to judge where DX80 fits in their models lineup because it’s indexed below DX90 yet has an updated design. One thing for sure – DX80 offers a very impressive amount of features at an affordable price which elevates it close to the top of price/performance ratio in mid-fi DAP category, even challenging some summit-fi models. I don’t want to give away too much ahead of the review, so let’s just proceed to read what I’ve found.
Unboxing.
After awhile of reviewing multiple products from the same manufacturers, you get used to their packaging style and unboxing experience becomes rather predictable. Upon discovery of a new product brand, you get a hope for something different, and iBasso doesn't disappoint. Once you remove the outer sleeve, the main box opens up along the diagonal split on a side, in a setting reminiscent of a designer watch display. I know some people don’t care as much about unboxing, but I always appreciate it because of the time and the effort spent by manufacturer to make their product enjoyable from the moment you get that box into your hands. In my personal opinion, iBasso created a very elegant box setting with a practical storage and display functionality.
Once you remove the top portion where DX80 resides in a secure foam cutout, you get an accessories box in a shape of a wedge and the rest of the goodies inside of it.
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Accessories.
The included accessories cover the basic essentials and then some surprises. Since we are dealing with a large 3.2” touch screen surface, screen protector is a must-have to keep scratches away, especially when in your pocket, and 2x film protectors are included. With such large display I wouldn’t mind a tempered glass for extra protection, so hopefully some aftermarket company will offer it one day. Also included is a high quality usb to micro-usb charging/data cable, and I really mean – high quality! The same with included coaxial short interconnect cable, a high quality thick shielding cable with a durable build. Optical cable would have been nice, but I know that not too many people have an external DAC to support it, thus probably a reason why it wasn’t included.
You will also find a soft silicone skin case which enhances the grip, adds scratch protection, and offers a minimum bump/drop protection by cushioning the DAP. Plus, all the physical buttons (playback control and power/volume) are covered to prevent dust accumulation, the same with Coax/Optical port. Overall, the case is OK, but due to static it becomes a lint magnet which is very noticeable on a black silicone finish. Personally, I’m waiting for Dignis leather case since I'm aware they are working on one to be available soon. I wouldn’t say DX80 is slippery in your hand, but the grip enhancement never hurts as long as it complements the style of the product. And speaking of style, I also liked how warranty card and manual was printed “in style” on a quality black paper with silver letters – almost like a fancy event invitation.
Now, here comes a surprise. Prior to receiving DX80, I read through a list of accessories and stumbled across “burn in cable”. I have reviewed a lot of audio gear, but never heard of such thing. Due to the nature of analog electrical components, DAPs need to have a burn in before evaluating a sound. Turning it on and hitting play button only exercises the screen/display, not the internal circuit driving headphones. Thus, you typically need a headphone connected to HO for a full burn in – a load for a current to start “circulating” through internal circuit. You also would want to drive it at different gains and higher volume, all of which going to be limited by your headphone driver and convenience of where you can burn in without disturbing others with sound leakage. Here, iBasso came up with a brilliant solution of a short cable with a passive load in a small box to simulate a speaker driver. There is no sound, but it loads the output of HO to get the juices going. And just like that you can have it running anywhere for days, going through a quiet burn in of internal circuit.
Silicone case.
Design.
Though I’m not a fan of using my smartphone as a dedicated DAP, touch screen interface is the most intuitive way to navigate through music files and to control the playback. I don’t have hands-on experience with DX50/DX90 models, but have seen a resemblance to the original AK100/AK120 DAPs with a similar compact footprint and a small touch screen, except iBasso took it to a whole different level with their 3 playback buttons. DX80 evolved into something brand new and original with a large touch screen, solid all metal body and elongated “smartphone” bar shape, while still keeping their unique front panel hardware playback buttons.
When you look at the top panel of the DX80, approximately 3/4 of the space is occupied by a smooth 3.2" screen. Below it you have 3 identical size/shape large hardware buttons with Play/Pause in the middle and Prev/Next on the left/right sides of it. Personally, I would have loved to see their functionality symbols etched into the buttons. The combination of a large touch screen and physical playback buttons is not uncommon, but iBasso front panel placement is unique. The dimensions of the player are 4.7" x 2.5" x 0.66" with 178g of weight, making it very comfortable to hold in one hand. As long as it's not too wide, in my opinion the extra length is not as critical. The narrow width, tapered corners, and 3.2" screen is a perfect combination for a slide navigation with a thumb, even if your hand is not that big. Power button is easily accessible on the left side and volume +/- buttons are on the right side. But once the screen is off or in your pocket, you have a convenient access to three large control buttons with a nice tactile response. I have a number of touch screen DAPs with hardware playback controls, and those buttons are always on the side, small, and often not as easy to locate. Here you have the best of both worlds, like in the past when we used to have touch screen phones with a slide-out physical keyboard
The bottom of the DAP has 3.5mm metal reinforced Headphone Output (HO) and 3.5mm reinforced Line Out (LO) ports. I know they’re within a close proximity, but having HO closer to the corner makes it easy to ID so you don’t stick your headphone in LO. Both of these ports have a rather tight fit, and I actually I had to apply some force removing headphone plugs, in one case (w/UE600) I had to apply an excessive force since the plug almost got stuck. I assume the connector will loosen up after some use. I already mentioned the volume +/- buttons are on the right size, made from plastic with a clear marking on top, and nicely spaced for easy access. The left side has a power button which also turns the screen on/off with a short press.
The top of the unit has multi-function micro-usb port for charging, data transfer, and usb/usb-otg dac operation. You can set the port as Charge only when connected to your laptop, or normal charging with data transfer. You can also use DX80 as USB DAC connected to your computer. No drivers required for MAC/Linux, and Windows driver available for download. For some reason the provided driver didn’t work with my Win7 laptop. Since I read others had a success, I need to figure out what’s going on with my machine. But USB OTG works without a problem. I was able to use DX80 with my usb-otg thumb drive, and also connected it as USB DAC to my Note 4 – works flawless!
Next to micro-usb port there is a dual microSD card slot, which can accommodate 2x 128GB cards and most likely the latest 200GB cards for a combined storage space of up to 400GB. I like how the card slots are stacked in parallel which saves room, and there is also a protective dust cover which tightly seals the opening. Last, but not least, is SPDIF Coax port which also has an Optical out – enabling output of up to 24b/192k signal.
In my personal opinion, exterior design and ergonomics of controls in DX80 is top notch! Ideally you want to be able to use your DAP with one hand, thus a reason why so many manufacturers shrink their design so you can reach all the controls. But shrinking the design means less room for inside circuits (analog components, especially power/filter caps) and compromise of features. Plus, small size results in hard to see screen, and the lack of touch controls. Making screen bigger pushes hardware controls off the top panel to the side/top, making them smaller and hard to reach. With DX80, iBasso struck a good balance between touch screen size, large easy to use hardware control buttons, and a lot of ports, except for the balanced wired one (perhaps they are saving this one for their next flagship model).
Under the hood.
In the heart of DX80 you will find a dual Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC, just like in AK120ii. I know, some might question why bother using this DAC since it's no longer a flavor of the month or the last 6 months. Based on a dozen of DAPs which I have recently reviewed, I can tell you with certainty that it’s not just about the building blocks of the design but also how you implement them. At the end of the day, any DAP is like a black box which should be judged primarily by its sound, and from my sound analysis later in the review you will get an idea of how it compares to other DAPs with different chipsets.
The amplifier section is powerful enough to provide 260mW, though iBasso didn’t specify at what impedance. The headphone amp used in the design runs off 10V rail-to-rail supply, yielding an impressive 2.9Vrms (32ohm load). Also, it’s great to see output impedance of less than 0.1 ohm which should make a lot of multi-driver IEM/CIEM users happy. Even in low gain it performed very well driving all of my sensitive and some other demanding headphones with authority.
I already mentioned about 3.2” IPS screen with an excellent viewing angle and resolution of 480x800. Not the highest resolution, but albums/songs cover art was crisp and detailed. Although it supports 2 external micro-SD cards, the Android based OS is stored on internal eMMC memory - an embedded flash memory/controller for a faster access and more efficient operation.
Also, it worth mentioning about 3600 mAh non-replaceable 3.8V LiPo battery, tested to provide about 12+ hrs of playtime with display off. The benefit of playback hardware buttons is that you don’t need to constantly keep your display on to navigate through the songs. That helps a lot with a battery life.
Overall, it looks like DX80 component selection has a perfect balance between performance and power saving to give you a decent battery life even with a large touch screen. And the hardware is powerful enough to support playback of up to 24bit/192kHz and native DSD decoding up to 128x, including every lossy and lossless audio format from APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, OGG, MP3, DFF, DSF, and DXD. I was also able to read and play CUE files, skipping within from track to track without a problem. It takes a lot of processing power to support native decoding and touch scrolling without stuttering or glitch. Plus, I was also impressed with gapless playback which typically requires buffering for a smooth uninterrupted transition – it was executed flawless in DX80.
GUI/Interface.
When you are dealing with a touch screen, GUI becomes a very important aspect of DAP operation and everyday use. Even so with a screen off you have full control of the playback with physical buttons, I don't think too many people would turn down an experience of a smooth gliding glass with a responsive touch control similar to a smartphone.
Once you power up DX80 you are greeted with a main Playback screen where more than half of it at the top is occupied with a song/album art or a default image. Above that you have a notification bar where in the upper left corner you will see EQ preset name (if enabled), in the middle - volume level, and in the right corner - battery % and corresponding icon. Below artwork window, you can read Song and Artist name, Album name, and see the Play Mode.
Next is a playback bar with a current song position, total time, and bit/sample rate in the middle. Playback bar is touch swipeable to fast forward through the song, and while you're doing that a little popup window in the middle of the song art window will show you the position of a time marker as you swipe it left/right - great idea so you know exactly where you are within a song. At the bottom of the screen you have Play/Pause button and Skip next/previous next to it. Tapping on the artwork brings up a choice of adding a song to an existing playlist or a new playlist, and also you get a Song Info icon with details about the track.
When you swipe a screen down from notification bar, you are greeted with a quick access to all the essential settings such as Gapless on/off, USB Mode (reader/DAC, charge only), Digital Filter (sharp/slow roll off), Gain (high/low), and Play mode (order, loop, shuffle, and repeat). For those familiar with A&K DAPs, you will quickly realize similarity, and yet again - iBasso made it clearer and easier to read and to tap switches. All these settings could be also accessed from a dedicated Settings pages, but having access from within Notification bar is a lot more convenient.
Swiping the screen to the Right brings up My Music menu screen with a selection of Now Playing (the list of the songs in the current directory/sub-directory/root), All Music (with every single song), Directory (where you can access micro SD1 and SD2 and view all the directories in the root to navigate from there), and then display by Artist, Genre, and Album. I have to be honest that I don't have a large and properly tagged library of music, so these sorting results are not always consistent with my files. Typically I use Directory view. Last on this screen is Playlist generated from songs tagged during playback where you can find links to your different playlists.
Swiping the screen to the Left brings up Settings Menu. In there you have access to 10-band graphic Equalizer with 5 editable presets and one Custom preset, L/R Balance (which is reversed, unless if you interpret sliding left/right with "-" value as reduction instead of direction of sound balance), Gapless (on/off), Gain (high/low), Music Info, USB Setting (reader, DAC, charger only), Play Mode (order, loop, shuffle, repeat), Digital Filter (slow and sharp roll-off), and Advanced setting. In Advance setting you have selection of Language, Display brightness and selection of wallpapers (3 choices), Power Management (backlight off, auto power off, and sleep timer), Rescan library (choice of individual card or both micro sd cards), System Info, and Factory reset.
Though swiping Left/Right brings up these two menu pages, when you click within it to get to other pages, you have to touch an arrow in the upper left corner of notification bar to go back. My proposal in here is that it would be nice to have a shortcut to get back to Playback screen, for example holding Play/Pause physical button for a few seconds like a home key would work quite well in this case.
Sound Analysis.
In the past it was really easy to tell apart DAPs in mid-fi and summit-fi category. Now, the gap of separation between mid and high level sources is not always clear while the price difference is significant, suggesting diminishing returns. DX80 positioned itself with a solid audio performance closer to that separation threshold, while being priced well below it.
I found this new iBasso DAP to have a spacious, neutral-smooth, musical sound signature. The sound is dynamic with a nice layering and separation, average transparency and retrieval of details. Basically, sound is very clear and well defined without going into analytical details, not too much airiness between layers, and a little hint of warmth. Low end is tight, articulate, well controlled, even though I hear a slight boost in mid-bass region. Lower mids have a nice body, not too thick, adding slight warmth which is not contributed from mid-bass, and upper mids/vocals are clear, smooth, a little neutral-brightish but not pushing it too far. Treble is extended and smooth and has some hints of brightness. Soundstage is big with a nice holographic effect, definitely having an above the average width and a nice spacious depth and height.
In comparison to my other DAPs, here is what I found:
DX80 vs X5ii: X soundstage is narrower while depth/height are similar, X sound is a little warmer, thicker, and a bit less transparent in comparison, low end is not as tight and a little slower, lower mids and upper mids are similar, and treble is similar as well. X background is darker during playback.
DX80 vs N5: very similar soundstage expansion except N5 is a touch narrower, but they have a similar level of transparency and similar layering and separation of a sound, DX might be a touch smoother, but other than that - a lot of similarities. N low end is a little tighter, a bit faster, and has slightly more sub-bass, while lower/upper mids are nearly identical, and the same with a treble. Same background noise level when paused, and slight hissing when playing (relative to my sensitive iems/ciems).
DX80 vs PAW5k: PW soundstage is scaled down in width/depth/height, sound is flatter, definitely doesn't have the same level of dynamics and layering/separation as DX, and also PW sounds a bit more congested and warmer in comparison to DX. PW has a little more sub-bass and low end is a bit less articulate and slower, PW lower mids are thicker and upper mids are not as detailed, treble not as bright and has less airiness.
DX80 vs AP100: AP has more hissing (due to higher power, and relative to sensitive iems/ciems), similar soundstage (though DX is a little wider), DX sound is a little tighter, more controlled. Sound sig is similar, bass is similar, lower mids in DX have a little more body, upper mids in DX are smoother and not as splashy. Treble extension is similar. DX sound is a little more dynamic.
DX80 vs N6: N has a little more transparency and slightly better layering/separation, similar height but N soundstage width is narrower while depth is deeper. N low end is tighter and faster, with sub-bass going a little deeper, and overall being a little more articulate; lower mids in N are a bit leaner and upper mids have a little better retrieval of details. Also, N treble is brighter and has more airiness. In comparison DX is smoother and more organic.
DX80 vs X7: X7 soundstage is wider, sound is more transparent with a better layering/separation, overall X7 sounds more neutral, tighter and more detailed. Considering both utilize a full touch screen, I prefer DX current interface better and find touch screen to be more responsive. But in terms of sound quality, X7 definitely stands above it.
DX80 vs L5Pro: very similar soundstage and neutral-smooth with a touch of warmth tonality. L5Pro sound has more transparency and better layering/separation, with a little better retrieval of details.
DX80 vs AK120ii: AK has nearly the same soundstage (maybe a touch wider), same neutral-smooth with a touch of warmth tonality. AK has a little more transparency and a slightly better layering/separation, and a little more airiness in treble, but DX has a higher quantity and more articulate low end, definitely prefer DX for the bass.
As mentioned before, I couldn't get it to work as USB DAC with my Win7 laptop, but it worked perfectly as USB-OTG DAC with my Galaxy Note 4 - where I found sound to be a little warmer/darker, not as transparent, with more lower mids body and slightly less details in upper mids/lower treble. It wasn't a good pair up.
External Amp pair-up (from DX80 LO).
w/E12A - a touch brighter in lower treble, and slightly narrower soundstage
w/C5 - adds more transparency and a little more depth to a sound
w/RunAbout - adds more transparency and slightly better retrieval of details
w/HA-2 - not as smooth, and slightly narrower staging
Pair up with different headphones.
On low-gain with Sharp roll-off (volume setting noted below):
ES60 (63/150) - detailed smooth sound, great soundstage expansion, tight articulate low end, detailed balanced mids, well defined treble with a moderate level of airiness - excellent bass texture.
W60 (85/150) - very smooth balanced sound, surprisingly I hear better control of low end in comparison to other DAPs, lower mids are not as thick (makes sound less congested), very detailed organic upper mids, treble is smooth but lacking airiness. Nice expanded sound.
Savant (84/150) - very transparent detailed sound with an excellent layering/separation, tight articulate low end with a nice sub-bass texture (not elevated but brings up a nice flavor), lower mids are a little on a leaner side but still contribute with a nice body to the sound, upper mids are very detailed, bright, but not sibilant or harsh, treble is airy, with a great definition and excellent extension - perfect combination if you want analytical quality sound which is still smooth.
ZEN (111/150) - very spacious sound with an excellent transparency, great retrieval of details, bass is tight but lost a bit of rumble - switching to high gain gets some of it back, mids are more on a leaner side and very detailed, airy well defined treble. Overall sound is a little leaner (surprisingly).
UE600 (74/150) - absolutely NO hissing, totally black background, clear transparent detailed sound, a little more on a leaner side, tight low end, detailed mids, extended treble - never crossed threshold of sibilance or harshness.
DN2kJ (81/150) - excellent soundstage depth, lean detailed sound, never crosses threshold of sibilance or harshness like I found it with other DAPs, low end is tight, nice punchy mid-bass while sub-bass is a little rolled off, mids are lean and very detailed on analytical level, but not grainy or harsh, treble is airy, well defined, extended, but not sibilant. Sound does misses some body.
EL-8C (111/150) - not the best pair up, upper mids/treble have a bit of metallic sheen, sound is thinner than I expected; in high gain you get more body and even some sub-bass texture, but this metallic sheen is still noticeable.
PM-3 (104/150) - excellent pair with an expanded soundstage, tight articulate low end, textured sub-bass, fast mid-bass punch, perfectly balanced lower mids (not too lean or too thick), detailed organic upper mids, and crisp well defined treble.
R70x (123/150) - amazing pair up - super expanded sound, high level of transparency, layering/separation, smooth retrieval of details, tight textured bass, detailed organic mids, airy extended treble. Very impressive!
Conclusion.
Even so I didn’t have any previous experience with iBasso DAPs, I have read some of the comments referring to their initial introduction and was a bit anxious how the firmware/interface will turn out in this new model. To my pleasant surprise, it was a lot better than I’ve expected. And within first couple weeks of its introduction, a few updates were already released, demonstrating active development and support of the product. I absolutely love slick design of DX80 and combination of large hw buttons and touch screen interface with a smooth response I’m used to from my Galaxy smartphones. The sound tuning is excellent, pushing it closer to a bracket of summit-fi category, and as a matter of fact I was getting a bit frustrated thinking to myself “oh, wish there would be a little more transparency, a little more airiness, a slightly better layering”, until I realized that I’m holding a $359 DAP, not $1k-$2k flagship design. It almost feels like iBasso intentionally held it a little back to be able to introduce soon a true flagship TOTL DAP which I have no doubt is a work in progress. But looking at what they offer now and based on its sound performance, audio quality, build quality, and a very impressive list of features – DX80 punches above a lot of the mid-fi DAPs and challenges some summit-fi players. I can definitely recommend it as one of the top price/performance ratio contenders.
Thank you for the review! Based, in part, on this review I'm purchasing a DX80. Looking at the latest firmware the iBasso uses a stripped down version of Android 5.1.1. Like some other DAPs the iBasso uses a Rockchip SOC.
This is a review of Superlux HD668B studio semi-open headphones. Manufacturer website: Superlux. Seems that the best prices for these are on Mod Edit: Affiliate referral sales link removed. where you can find it on sale between $30-$35.
It has been awhile since I posted my audio reviews in android communities. But I finally have a new discovery to share with everybody. Even so I have been focusing lately on testing and reviewing flagship IEMs and CIEMs, majority of which cost north of $1k, in this write-up I’m going back to my roots and will talk about sone of the cheapest pairs of headphones I’ve tested to date. Keep in mind these are full size semi-open cans, not another budget pair of in-ears or earbuds where I have seen even lower prices ($5 Monk being the prime example). But still, at $35 or sometime even down to $30, I haven’t heard full size headphones that cheap with a sound that good! Don’t mistake this level of excitement for “OMG, this kills any $500-$1k pair of headphones”, let’s be realistic. But I have no problem saying these $30-$35 headphones have a build quality of other $60-$70 pairs and sound quality that can go head-to-head with a number of full size cans up to $200.
3+ years ago when I started writing my audio gear reviews, my focus was solely on budget earphones, trying to find the next Giant Killer. But you can’t judge something to be a “giant killer” without experience of testing more expensive mid-tier and flagship “giants”. Now, I made a full circle which gives me a more objective point of reference for comparison. I also made an interesting observation about this HD668B model while reading various impressions since its release in 2011. Many of the negative comments I read about it are no longer applicable to this 2016 version, which makes me wonder if Superlux already implemented some of the fixes and improvements based on the received feedback.
The ironic part of this write-up is that I wasn’t even planning to review these headphones and was asked to take a listen to them in addition to something else I requested to review from Gearbest. I probably would have dismissed them just on the basis of how much they cost, expecting the usual of “you get what you paid for”. But I was proven wrong, and now would like to share with you about my experience with Superlux HD668B after spending the last few weeks testing them.
Unboxing and accessories.
Unboxing experience of HD668B didn’t feel at all like I was dealing with a cheap pair of budget headphones. A sturdy cardboard box with a nice cover image, a very detailed spec and a description of the design, and a complete list of accessories with corresponding pictures – the packaging box exterior already carried a message of the product being too good to be true for $35 price tag. But as you know, the writing on the box could be just a part of the overhyped marketing, so without further hesitation I proceeded to lift the cover.
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I was greeted with a set of full size cans neatly packed inside of a cardboard insert and other accessories around it. With everything out, I was looking at a generous size soft nylon carrying pouch/bag, two extension cables, 6.3mm adapter, a peculiar cable clip, and a printed manual/guide. The nylon pouch felt neat and durable, branded with Superlux name. I consider adapter to be a filler, but it could come handy with full size headphones when used in a desktop setup. The clip made sense once I attached the cable to HD668B, realizing it does a great job securing the joint if you pull on the wires.
Regarding the cable, it was actually an extension cord. First of all, the whole idea of a removable cable in $35 pair of full size headphones is impressive. But it’s not a traditional cable with 3.5mm male plug on each side. To keep HD668B earcups slim, Superlux brought out the connector to the outside with a male 3.5mm plug and a very short extension cable. As a result, you attach the provided “extension” cable to this external connector. Included was 1m short cable, perfect for a portable use, and 3m long cable for other applications. You can also combine them together to form 4m extra long cable to give you more traveling room around the desk.
This "extension" cable idea was quite unique, though it would not be easy to find an extension cable with in-line remote if you need to. But you can also argue that majority of people would prefer not to carry a phone conversation with these on. With connector placed on outside, the earcup housing was definitely slimmer. Also, the attached earcup connector cable is very short with a heavy duty shielding and impressive strain relief. Not 100% sure if the cable clip was really necessary since the mating of the cable was already secure, but it never hurts to add another level of protection.
Design & build.
The first look at HD668B brought back the memory of my recent review of ATH-A2000Z with a similar wire-headband design and 3D-wings. Honestly, I was expecting a flimsy plastic construction, but surprisingly found it to be not bad at all. Starting with a headband, you have minimalistic design with a support of 2 steel spring-wires, assuming one carries a cable going to the connector on the left side. I have an average size head, and it was a bit tight at first but loosened up after a short time of being stretched over the soccer ball.
There is no height adjustment like in traditional full size headphones, and instead you have soft foam “wings” on a spring metal wire which self-adjusts as you put headphones on. This could be hit-or-miss with some people who have big head or curly hair (the last comment actually came from my wife). For me personally, it works quite well since I’m already accustomed to ATH-R70x and ATH-A2000Z, both of which have a similar “wings” headband support.
HD668B next to ATH-A2000Z
Though the headband spring-wire felt solid, these wings felt a bit flimsy in comparison, especially a thinner wire attachment - just have to be more careful when taking these headphones off you head. Closer to earcups, the headband wires are held together with a plastic joint piece on each side, kind of reminding me of “y-splitter”. These pieces look to be replaceable, if needed, and made of a solid plastic material. I found HD668B to be relatively comfortable to wear, and with evenly distributed 220g of weight it felt feather light.
Moving on to earcups, here Superlux took a page right out of AKG240. I have no doubt that Superlux engineers were inspired by AKG design, even bringing the connector to outside, though keeping a standard 3.5mm TRS plug for “extension” cable attachment. The back of earcups also has a similar to AKG circular vents, intended for a semi-open back performance. The inner middle part of earcups does pivots to adjust around your head, and it works quite well. The pleather earpads are easy to remove and to replace, especially if you want something softer. Since the earpads look universal and stretch over the top of earcups, I’m sure replacement alternatives won’t be hard to find.
The included original pleather pads are OK, but they do get a little hot after extended use. It definitely makes sense to experiment with different earpads to hear how they affect the sound. Just like eartips of in-ear monitors, you can fine tune the level of low end extension and impact as well as being able to control the top end. In addition, once you remove the earpads, you can also experiment with different dampening foam materials to figure out how it affects the sound. Here you will find plenty of room for modding experiments.
The fit.
Sound analysis.
Before jumping into sound analysis, I left HD668B on burn in for about 100hrs, making sure their dynamic drivers are properly conditioned. Honestly, I didn’t have too high expectations for these, still being a bit skeptical due to the low price. As a result, my surprise was more shocking when I discovered HD668B to be tuned with a tasteful V-shaped full body sound signature and warm detailed tonality.
In more details, I hear a deep low end impact, down to a textured sub-bass rumble and a tight mid-bass which has a bit of a hollow punch. The bass is rather well controlled, articulate, and there is no spillage into lower mids. The lower mids have a nice full body, but there is no muddiness or congestion, while upper mids are clear and detailed with an organic presentation of vocals - not too much upfront, just pushed a little back due to an elevated low end. Treble is surprisingly crisp and detailed, with a good extension, and some nice airiness which helps with layering and separation of instruments and vocals and contributes to higher resolution of the sound. If I have to nitpick, perhaps upper frequencies have a little shade of metallic sheen, but it wasn’t that bad especially when you pair up with different sources.
Soundstage has a good expansion in width, not super wide but definitely way above the average. The depth is not too far out, but you still feel like a few rows in front of the stage, giving a soundstage perception of spreading left/right around you without going too deep. Layering and separation was surprisingly good due to well controlled low end which keeps the sound clean from muddiness without spilling into mids and extra sparkle in treble which adds some air between the layers of the sound.
If you are looking for a good isolation, these are definitely not the best for listening on the bus or in the library, after all - this is a semi-open design. But it wasn’t leaking as bad when you step away 2-3ft. I’m sure some will find this semi-open design even beneficial since it could raise the surround awareness without losing too much of the sound details.
Sound comparison.
Considering 98dB sensitivity and 56 ohm impedance, I found HD668B to be a little less efficient in comparison to my other headphones, and as a result I had to push the volume a little higher. Also, it’s clear that more expensive headphones have an edge in build quality and material selection.
HD668B vs ATH-MSR7 - HD soundstage is wider, while MSR7 has more depth. HD has a deeper sub-bass and a little stronger mid-bass, while MSR7 has a more balanced low end. I also noticed that HD has a little faster attack of the mid-bass while MSR7 is a tad slower. Lower mids are similar, while MSR7 upper mids are more forward, balanced, and a little brighter in comparison to HD. I hear treble as being similarly crisp and well defined, though MSR7 has a little more airiness and a better extension. Overall, the biggest difference here is a more balanced signature of MSR7 versus lifted low end and slightly recessed mids of HD.
HD668B vs ATH-M50x - HD soundstage is wider, while M50x has more depth. HD has a deeper sub-bass while mid-bass is similar, perhaps with HD having a bit stronger impact. Mid-bass speed is also similar. Lower mids are very similar, while upper mids in M50x are more balanced and more forward in comparison. Also, M50x upper mids are a little smoother and a touch warmer. HD treble is crispier and has more airiness in comparison to a smoother M50x treble. While I enjoy M50x comfortable fit for extended listening on my laptop, here I actually preferred the sound of HD.
HD668B vs SoundMagic HP150 - HP150 soundstage comes closer to HD width, but not quite there, and HP150 has a little more depth. Also, HP150 sub-bass reaches deeper to the same level as HD, but a little shy of HD quantity, and mid-bass in HP150 is a bit lower in quantity as well. HP150 lower mids are leaner and upper mids are a little more upfront and brighter with an advantage of slightly improved retrieval of details. Treble is rather similar, being crisp, bright, snappy, and with enough extension and airiness to make the sound more resolving and layered. Actually, after closer listening I hear HP150 being a little brighter in upper mids/treble.
HD668B vs Oppo PM3 - HD has more width and both have a similar depth. HD has a deeper sub-bass extension and faster mid-bass punch with more impact. PM3 mids sound more congested in comparison to HD, though they are more forward in presentation. Actually HD upper mids are brighter and more detailed and the treble is crisper, better defined, and with more airiness. PM3 has a very smooth laid back sound while HD has a faster punchier brighter and more detailed sound.
Conclusion.
I’m starting to notice a pattern where many of my “giant killer” discoveries happen by accident, when I’m not even looking for another budget pair of headphones and instead just asked to try something new for fun. Did I get spoiled by flagships? It’s hard not to, and I’m being honest about it. But sometime it’s refreshing to take a step back and to listen to these amazing gems that cost so little. From $5 Monks to $10 KZs and now $35 HD668B – these are all amazing discoveries that show you how creative a manufacture can get by challenging themselves to squeeze every ounce of performance and sound tuning on such a small budget. HD668B is a real deal Giant Killer, and either if you are on a budget or just want to humor yourself with another budget discovery – I have no problem recommending these semi-open full size headphones because they don’t just look cool and ready for modding, but they also sound great!