I spent an enjoyable Sunday attending CanJam NYC. Quite a nice collection of toys and I had the chance to demo several headphone amplifiers which I want to plug into my 552 as well as a few different headphones etc.
The consensus in the HeadFi community remains that the 1Z is pretty much at the pinnacle of portable playback. Several posters on the forum even commented that many manufacturers booths had multiple 1Z’s on the table to use for demo of their headphones, IEM’s etc.
I think we all did quite the job selecting our “poison”!
IBASSO DX200,…(limited edition of IBASSO DX200 TITANIUM),…and soon comes IBASSO DX220.
Many have changed from 1Z to IBASSO DX200,…I Am One Of Them.
Ibasso has been several years ahead of other competitors with different options.
Among other things,patents on interchangeable AMP-modules.
Now there are five,…three have been discontinued.
Amp 1,… Comes with purchase. Amp 3,… Balanced. Amp 5,… Single ended. Amp 7,… Single ended. Amp 8,… Balanced.
It is rumored that AMP 9 is in the making.
It is a thread on HeadFi,…that is way over 1500 pages long about this DAP.
For me that would be a non-starter, as the whole point of a portable player is to use it when away from home, and the chances of being able to stream 16/44 reliably are slim.
Chris
Most hotels, AirBnB etc. have fairly decent Wifi so I never have had a problem streaming when away from home. Here in the States most Cellular plans also have many places blanketed with Wifi. As long as you are a Cellular customer you receive free access.
Streaming full res music is less bandwidth intensive than what my kids continually use when streaming Netflix as they are out and about!
Peder
I am familiar with the iBasso. Despite it many continue to remain with the 1Z. Variety and alternatives are good though. I believe Emre is running the totl A&K.
Each of these players definitely has a different sound character
Oh by the way - I’ll take your 1500 page iBasso thread on Headfi and raise you! The Sony 1Z thread has over 1800 pages
My experience in the UK is not so good, sometimes it’s fine, but often it isn’t, and it is way too unreliable to be a viable alternative to local storage for me.
After couple of trials of ibasso, Fiio, shangling I ended up with Sony and AK due to error free OS
AK SP1000 is a very good sounding device and a steamer as well with tidal offline capability and soon Roon, very solid feel device like Sony 1z, I use both
And the new model SP1000M got smaller and cheaper relatively, still is very expensive, the gold one looks very good:) I can not believe I said that, I am not a gold chain and rings guy at all
Ibasso is got a very good range as well with amp modules etc
New dx220 might be a hit… but there is a problem with this too many models too fast, like german cars vs Japanese ones little bit
IBASSO DX200,…(limited edition of IBASSO DX200 TITANIUM),…and soon comes IBASSO DX220.
Many have changed from 1Z to IBASSO DX200,…I Am One Of Them.
