Nice review! I was going to purchase DX180 yesterday but ended up going all out for DX260. I agree with you regarding the rule of diminishing returns, DX180 was already a great device. DX260 pushes everything a little further
Thanks Andy. Excellent Review. I also noted some albums from this video. Requesting you to put a video only for songs / albums good to listen using IEMs / Headphones. 👍
Great review Andy, obviously a wonderful DAP. Do you have any plans to review the Sennheiser HD490 Pro headphones. I have a set and they seem like they would be right in your wheelhouse. Cheers my friend.
Thanks my friend, DX260 is wonderful indeed and I am loving every singe moment using it. HD490 is hot on my radar and hopefully I will land one very soon haha
I would like to see a comparison between dongles and DAPs, start with like Shanling m1s, which dongle beats it, and go up from there, until dongles don't keep up.. You would just plug dongles into the actual unit, in this case an m1s, until the dongle sounds better. Something like that. This would be very good info for a lot of us when making major decisions about our primary gear for everyday use, we can make better cost benefit decisions. We would also know, at what point we actually need a DAP.
I have both with me now and since the arrival of DX260, I literally have stopped using M23. Both being musical but DX260 just objectively more resolving. That Octa core DAC is not gimmick, iBasso pulled some wonder here
Thank you for your great and honest reviews! I'm probably never buying this DAP (too expensive) but I'm learning a lot from your videos, today my Onix Alpha is arriving :D And soon I might have a Stax S5, what is your opinion on that, or bluetooth headphones in general? Greetings from the Netherlands ;)
Great review but one important (to me) aspect was not addressed...I think the DX260 has the option to boot up in Mango OS (I mean Mango OS, not Mango Player), while the DX180 has only Android. I don't like Android on my audio devices because I don't need a computer OS, with all the unnecessary smartphone-like functions. I am a purist and want ONLY functions that deal with audio. That said, I also wanted to know if the Mango OS has all the options/settings that can take advantage of the DX260 hardware?
I forgot to show that in my video and yes you can easily switch to pure offline Mango OS which will only show Mango player and options which are accessible to Mango. Super useful for pure offline playback. I guess I don't use that one much because I need my DX260 to play Tidal 70% of the time. Same functionality as when Android mode which already maximise the capabilities of DX260 but simpler and more straightforward
I am a purist, too, and have the DX260. The Mango player is OK, but is very minimalistic: it won't even do ReplayGain (at least not that I can find), so that makes it a no-go for me. For purist playback, I would not choose an Android player at all, but instead a specialist player like Cayin N3, Dethonray DTR, or Onix Overture.
Can I ask: if I play from Apple Music or other streaming apps via Android - does the DX260 override the Android down sampling process so that you can play hi-res files from streaming apps without any Android interference?
10:59 I covered this subject. M23 is already a great DAP and while DX260 does appear superior with overall sound, the gaps are not big. True for many other things in audio at this level, usually the differences are marginal from one to another, because the reality is, there's no bad devices anymore especially if you look into releases for the last 3 years
I have both and I agree with Andy's take. There is a small difference, but it's small, and I can see some preferring the M23 (depending on transducers and music genre/quality) and others the DX260. I would say the difference is small enough to not worry about: choose based on form factor/ergonomics, price, and features.
You want to focus on Bass? the problem is most good DAC do not add coloration or boost. What you need is EQ to boost the lows, perhaps the new JA11 might work for you since it supports EQ
Would DX260 give fun when playing music like rock (pop rock, J pop, etc.)? I heard many comments which said it is very good at detail retrieval but just worry it is less musical or fun.
Yes of course, I love DZ260 because it does not sacrifice the element of musicality while being exceedingly technical, I did mention this in the video especially when comparing it with the highly analytical Cayin N6ii ES9038
There are only two types of DAPs that make sense: a full-featured DAP with filters etc. and a DAP that is dead neutral (flat-measuring) at any resistance and frequency. Also he, Android 11 is disappointing. I want a DAP, that will be still relevant 2 years from now.
While the Prime DAC + RA2BFE offers outright more power, DX260 offers better overall dynamic refinement and resolution due to that amazing Octa core implementation. It is hard for me to admit this because I love Prime DAC + RA2BFE, but I am being objective here
Hi! Thank you for your video. I’m new to daps since I don’t travel a lot. And when travelling I have the iphone wired to fiio btr7 and the Fiio fh9 or the Meze 99 Classics on balanced cables. At home I have the Fiio k9 pro ess with node x and the Meze Empyrean, also balanced. And Tidal, cds from time to time. I was wondering if the dx260 will offer better sound from the two setups mentioned. Taking in consideration a home usage mostly. Thank you so much!
Thanks too. I use FA19 a lot with DX260 and that's probably the best combo I can hope for because DX260 has the depth and richness to fully exhibit what FA19 capable of. So if you want to maximize the potential of your highly resolving IEMs, DX260 is one of them that can do that exceedingly well
How does it compare to DX180 and Hiby R4 which has quad dac setup. Does double the dac really mean double the performance or is it diminishing return. Is it worth the price diff by price to performance ratio
It is evident DX260 is superior than R4 sound wise, but R4 does scale up really close which makes it the best for anything under $250. To me what DX260 offers is worth the price if you are chasing for perfection
Nice Review : Does the DX260, with its Octa DAC, produce the same sound quality as the DX180 with a Quad DAC when connected to the DC07Pro, which also has a Quad DAC?
Thanks. When you connect any external DAC to any DAPs be it DX180 or DX260, all audio processing will be done at the external DAC now, the host DAP will only serve as transport to feed the sources. So, what this means, you will only get the performance of DC07Pro which is consistent regardless of you connect it to DX180 or DX260 or any Android hosts for that matter
I have both. The DX260 wins on ergonomics and technical prowess. The M23 is chunkier and harder to operate, but wins on features, especially Roon Ready mode. The M23 also offers a smoother, bassier sound. Sound wise, I think it comes down to preference.
Andy, should i buy ONIX XL1 and using smartphone or should i buy DAP instead or perhaps i buy ONIX XL1 and using at a dap? This is make me confuse everytime i want start to join this hobby. Or it just enough with headphones or iems. Will it change everything either had 1 of it category or i need to have it all?
The two items serves different needs on form factor and usage. If you have a DAP, you don't need a dongle because a dongle was designed to provide DAP level quality to your ordinary USB equipped phones. ONIX Alpha XI offers the sort of sound quality comparable to DAPs like iBasso DX180 or FiiO M23 but with limited functions that only DAPs can offer. People use DAPs mainly because DAP gives freedom to your phone from being attached to anything that can be cumbersome. I am more inclined to use DAPs now because I like the idea of keeping my phone lightweight, I don't mind putting a dedicated DAP on my other pockets. No, you don't need to have them all, you just need to understand which usage scenario makes more sense to you
DX260 offers slightly better dynamism and overall resolution vs DC-Elite, I like both a lot and I do feel that DX260 offer richer and denser sound with more vertical depth to imaging and resolution
