Sane-ish price, beautiful industrial design, good performance, and an interface that embarrasses most of the competition, the ZX300 is a phenomenal DAP. Like the Sony NW-WM1Z it hisses, but not horribly. And, it doesn't break the 16-bit ceiling in any meaningful way. But it nails DSD decode and playback, runs smoothly through albums/songs/artists, and with an artful UI to boot. I love this thing.
Read moreRMAA: Cowon Plenue J 24-bit
The Plenue J makes about as little line and hiss noise as the Plenue D. It sounds great, holds signal well across most metrics, and is easy to use. It is more responsive than the Plenue D, slimmer, and has a slightly better screen.
Read moreRMAA: Audirect Whistle 24-bit
Audirect's Whistle sounds great. I mean I love the sound of its name. And it sounds good. From an audio perspective, it is more than worth its 99$ price tag. It gets louder than an iPhone (even approaching high-end DAP territory), keeps THD and IMD to inaudible levels, and does so with amazing unloaded performance. Even loaded it does remarkably, again approaching high-end DAP territory.
Below you'll find charts comparing it to both an iPhone SE and other Lightning dongle DACs.
Read moreRMAA: Astell&Kern AK70 MKII 24-bit
I love the AK70 MKII’s new volume pot. I dig its new lines. I even dig the new colour accents. However, I’m not ecstatic about its measured performance, especially when compared back to back with that of its predecessor. I can confirm that the AK70 gets similarly loud, that its boot up screen is smooth, and that, like its predecessor, its signal is cleanest at a setting of 136, where stereo crosstalk, which tops out around -87 at max volume, breaks -100dB. Of course, the MKI measures -118dB without load, and -75dB connected to an Earsonics SM2. As far as I can tell, that is the only improvement the MKII brings.
Read moreRMAA: Fiio BTR1 24-bit
I get over 7 hours on a single charge, and notice very little hiss at all. It shows a certain amount of frequency oscillation, and moderate levels of jitter. Next to Astell&Kern's more expensive XB10, both are minimal. The BTR1 sounds, and measures, good.
Read moreRMAA: Sony NW-WM1Z 24-bit
Outside it's gold, inside it's a mix. On high gain, the NW-WM1Z's single-ended out measures better than an iPod nano 7G, but not by much. And, it doesn't appear to get much louder than an iPhone 6. On high gain and in balanced mode, it owns the nano, sounding crisper and clearer. Either out is the sort of sound that goes really well with JVC's HA-FW02 and Astell & Kern's AKT8iE MKII and less well with mid-bright earphones like the Grado GR8/e and Beyerdynamic Xelento.
Read moreRMAA: GloveAudio A1 24-bit
RMAA data preceding articles which rely on them is logical. Except as regards preparing articles for Headfonia, which always catch me up. Apologies. Please read this article in conjunction with and foundation today's Wayback Wednesday on Glove Audio's A1.
Read moreRMAA: HiFiman Megamini 24-bit
Relevant links:
RMAA: Onkyo DP-X1 24-bit single-ended and balanced — ohm image
RMAA: Fiio M3 24-bit
RMAA: iPhone 5 SE 24-bit
RMAA: iPhone 6 24-bit
RMAA: Fiio X3ii 24-bit
I love how Megamini sounds. I love its warm, bursting midrange. I love its texture and stereo detail. Its instrument positioning is excellent. At the best of times, it harks back to Fiio’s original X3- a player whose hellish UI left dents in my walls, but whose pleasing sound was then and still is a bookmark in what I consider perfect warmth. Unfortunately, Megamini hisses way more than the X3 ever did, and more in fact, than any player I’ve tested in about two years. In fact, its hiss is on par with an iPod video from 2005.
Read moreRMAA: Onkyo DP-S1 rubato 24-bit
Relevant links:
RMAA: Onkyo DP-X1 24-bit single-ended and balanced — ohm image
RMAA: Pioneer XDP-100R 24-bit — ohm image
RMAA: Astell&Kern AK70 24-bit — ohm image
RMAA: Astell & Kern AK70 Kai (Ryuzoh mod) 24-bit — ohm image
This thing sounds good. Real good. It really fits in a front pocket. I has a real hold switch. And a damn fine balanced output. That it costs just ~350$ in Japan and another Benjamin abroad is shocking.
Read moreRMAA: nextDrive Spectra 24-bit
129$. 32-bit 384kHz. DSD up to 11,2MHz. All thanks to a plug and play ESS 9018Q2C DAC, or what a smarter man than me hooted and hollered as high quality audio for the masses.
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