Not Really a fair fight is it? But then again, iBasso's take no prisoners when it comes to raw performance.
NOTE: never should RMAA results from different sources be directly compared. Anomalies are returned due to myriad variations in setup and test methodology. Data trends, however, reflect actual performance. And in this case, the AK240 isn't able to best the much less expensive DX90.
All tests were volume matched to within 0,1 dB using the same cables and input device, an Edirol FA-66. NL stands for no load; SM2 stands for the Earsonics SM2. Trust me, the SM2 is a bugger of an earphone to drive for all but the cleverest of equipment.
ohmage to the iBasso DX50
Last weekend I enjoyed the thrills and soul-numbing cacophony of my first Japanese funeral. I’ve started to think different. It wasn’t just watching a man in white taxi driver gloves and train conductor garb bashing my aunt’s skull and pelvis bones with cooking chopsticks that did it; it was just as much the trip back, when my iPhone’s battery went out. You never know when your time is up.
Read moreiBasso DX50 porridge at cymbacavum
The always-trustworthy cymbacavum has published a telling review essaying why the DX50 may not be the player in which we should place our hope. (For a second opinion, check out Ω's review of the DX50, or head on over to headfonia for a third op.)
On the face of it, I agree with many of the interface issues cymba decry. However, the bar for audiophile players has already been set. It needs to be raised before we can judge audiophile players like the DX50 or the Fiio X3 to the same build and interface standards on which we judge mass market players.
The DX50 will not play or browse your music as flawlessly as an iPod will. But it is a good-sounding player. The question that both cymbal and Ω is asking is this: why can't the two be reconciled into a single package?