My publish order is totally off. Yesterday, Headfonia published my review of the Astell&Kern AK380. The AK380 is a sometimes-awesome, sometime-awful DAP, chock full of hardware potential which is wrecked only by its painfully angular design, poor marketing copy, and comparatively poor lazy amp design.
Read moreRMAA: Astell&Kern AK Jr 16-bit & 24-bit
Astell & Kern's daft copywriting strikes again, this time belittling the performance of its AK Jr. Jr, which goes for 499$ USD -- or about a fifth the price of AK's biggest mindshare devices -- is, in many metrics, able to stand toe-to-toe with the AK240 and AK380; in some arenas, it blows them out of the water. I will be reviewing it at Headfonia sometime next week. Until then, let the following impressions stand in:
Read moreRMAA: Fiio X3 2nd gen 16-bit & 24-bit loaded/unloaded
While Fiio's X3ii isn't as poorly designed as is the original X3 (which I reviewed here), it still isn't great to use. Seriously, what's with portable hi-fi manufacturers trying to re-tool the classic up-down-left-rigth cross pattern into X, Z, Y, or other unintelligible designs? If you don't agree with me, I have no hope for the mid-range Hi-Fi DAP. However, I reckon that you'll agree with me that the X3ii performs brilliantly. In fact, at least in 16-bit, it even marginally outperforms my favourite DAP, the iPod nano 7G, of which I posted these RMAA results.
Read moreRMAA: Shozy Alien 16-bit & 24-bit loaded/unloaded
Using the Shozy Alien is like being sentenced to opening child-proof bottles for life, but it sounds pretty good. Here are its RMAA results:
Read moreRMAA: iPod nano 7G various loads
The following are the results of Rightmark Audio Analyzer tests.
Source: iPod nano 7G
ADC: Lynx Studio HILO LT-TB
Computer: 2012 27" iMac
Cables: 1,5m Hosa Pro 3,5mm stereo to dual 3-pin XLR (around 8$)
Loads:
Earsonics SM2
Audio Technica ES7
Beyerdynamic DT880/600