iBasso DX90 High Resolution Dual Sabre ES9018K2M DACs with Extreme Audio USB Charger [USA One Year Replacement Warranty Included]

I've been listening to my iBasso DX90 for several weeks and I'm extremely impressed by its sound, its ease of use and its firmware updates that are more than just cosmetic improvements. While I was deciding whether or not to purchase the iBasso DX90, I spent quite some time comparing it to the FiiO X5 and the wallet-busting Astrell & Kern AK240. In another life, when I return as a billionaire playboy, I will purchase the AK240 or its upgrade so the choice was effectively between the DX90 and the X5. My comparison eventually centered on the iBasso DX90's use of dual Sabre ES9018K2M DACs. I was also swayed by the DX90's apparently superior handling of micro SD cards in comparison to the FiiO DAP, which some reviews of the X5 had criticized as being problematic when using cards larger than 32GB. The DX90's sound can only be described as luscious and rich. The dual Sabre DACs produce a fullness and an elegance to music that makes lengthy listening sessions a pleasure if not an addiction. Owners of Sennheiser's audiophile grade HD650 headphones will recognize this comparison: the sound of the DX90 is the DAP equivalent of listening to music through a pair of 650s. There is a similar rich sound quality. Using the UI is simple and intuitive with just enough menu choices to make finding music easy and fast. One UI attribute I've found particularly helpful is the "directory" menu selection. which calls up all of the nested music choices in an easy to manipulate manner, breaking them down logically rather than in the hodge-podge mess you usually get. If you transfer a lot of music files from a box set, you will appreciate this feature's logical and intelligent presentation. The latest firmware update added several menu choices, The addition of a charge-only USB selection, added to the previous Storage and DAC choices, keeps all of the DX90's operations nicely compartmentalized. Gapless playback really is gapless, Play Modes are simple to manipulate. Music information is easy to call-up and fairly exhaustive. High resolution playback of up to 24/192 has been error-free except for one album which proved troublesome, causing the DAP to hang after a selection was played. I have reason to believe that the error lays in the album's hi-res encoding and not the player. I haven't been able to reproduce the problem with any other hi-res files. The DX90 plays FLAC, APE, MP3 and WAV files with equal facility. I've found no difference in performance. I haven't tried DSD or DSF files yet, though the twin Sabre DACs appear capable of playing them. However, DSD files are not listed as playable so failure won't be unexpected. One slightly annoying hardware problem that's cropped up is the headphone jack's selectivity when choosing which 3.5mm audio plug to accept and which to reject as being ever-so-slightly too wide. It becomes necessary to force the plug into the jack when this happens, something that makes me very uncomfortable. A couple of my portable headphones produce only a watered-down mono sound as a result of their rejection by the DX90. Since I own several pairs of portable headphones this is not a serious problem at the moment. Charging the DX90 takes about three hours when using an AC converter, six hours in a powered USB slot. The DX90 is a bit of a battery hog, with around 7-8 hours of usage at standard resolution and volume, 6-7 hours while playing high-resolution files at higher volume. There is a rudimentary EQ included which lowers the volume when in use so compensation will be required. I tend to avoid using EQ unless absolutely necessary. There are several other features, all of which I found simple and intuitive to use. I've been using 128GB microSD cards, which are necessary since the DX90 only has about 5GB of internal storage. This was an obvious trade-off to keep the price down. The DX90 is a superb sounding DAC, a great value at its sensible price point and quite easy to use. If you're searching for a reasonably priced DAP capable of playing high resolution music I think the DX90 is an excellent choice.

Really excellent sound quality. Difficult to say how much of that is due to the DAC relative to the built in amp, but nonetheless a crisp, clear full sound. Lots of power to drive both high impedence headphones as well as act as a digital source for plugging into a home theatre amp or car stereo. Easy to use. Excellent build quality. However, the firmware still does need some work: - gapless playback isn't very gapless - even after adjusting the digital filter I still find the highs a shade over-extended. - the custom EQ for some reason jumps from 30 hz to 180hz. 80 and 120 would be nice. - there is no continuous play function, so when the last song in a folder is done, it doesn't continue to the first song in the next folder. Odd. Most of these I expect to be fixed in future firmware upgrades. Also, battery life is pretty short at about 7 hours, which goes by quickly. Overall I'm happy with my purchase because the DX90 really does sound great.

I gave one star just based on its quality. The one I got was dead in the second day. At first, the screen couldn't get back from the power save mode even I pushed the power button. Then the display was gone totally. Have to return it to Amazon. About the SQ, it is better than Rockbox Sansa Fuse and it does have more power. It sounds good with Er4p. So I would say the SQ is acceptable, but not impressive.. The build quality is not good, especially the buttons and the screen. I don't know how long it can last. The touch screen is very sensitive, which is annoying. Also the DAC drive installation under Windows 7 64 bit is tricky, but it can work. So for sound quality, I may give it 3/4 stars. And I may try luck again to re-order one since I like the replaceable battery. .

Purchased this due to all the raving reviews. Not wowed at all. I have been a cowon user for at least a decade now and thought I needed to give it a try and well it does perform but not for the money level it's at. Cowon models that are cheaper than this comes with radio! This in comparison to sound quality isn't even a huge difference in sound when comparing this model with various cowon models I own. I bet some people are just hearing it more believably due to the money they spend on this product. Would not spend this much money again for something that doesn't even come with all the features that cowon models do and but much larger screen sizes. Barely could tell the difference. Cowon's seem to be more dynamic! This product is overpriced!

New comments at bottom 11/16/2014. Better playlist functionality added. This player is better even better than I thought it would be. I have had seven Ipods, one Iphone, and two other brands of players. I started collecting lossless about two years ago. These can be converted to Ipod compatible formats, but it gets old after a while. I want to know that I never need to buy new formats again for better quality. Bad production aside, lots of downloaded music seems to have bad quality, not because mp3 is always inferior to lossless, but because the compression software sometimes seems to screw something up even at 320kbps. I sure do not want to get into a format war, this is just why I wanted a better player. I do not have to question quality of my tracks and do not have to fool around converting my FLAC and APE files just to play them. This player has its faults. It only shows the music sorted by name within folders, artist, album, or genre. So to rearrange it within a folder you need to insert something in front of each track like "01, 02, 03,..." There is software out there to make this easier, but obviously you cannot have a song in two directories without actually copying it twice. Directories aren't a great substitute for playlists. You cannot build playlists from your computer, only on the device. Klunky. And it looks like you can only name them "Playlist1, Playlist2, etc." For this reason I do not consider the playlist function useable. Maybe with a firmware upgrade? Navigation is not as good as an Ipod on the touchscreen, but it is ok, and you do not have to deal with Itunes. This is a big plus for someone like me who does not buy music from Itunes. The three physical buttons are great if you like to pause and switch back and forth without looking at a screen. Besides playlists the only function I really miss is the remote control via WiFi. Supposedly the DX90 has the capability to run as a USB DAC for your PC which of course could be controlled remotely through your home network. No Linux or Mac I think. I love having my music on micro SDcards. Cards are an additional expense for this player, but I am done trying to juggle music on a space limited player, especially with higher res files. It sounds great of course. I went from an Ipod (using mostly 320kbps MP3s or AIFF) with a FIIO E12 Mont Blanc, and can easily tell the DX90 is an upgrade. The E12 is a matched combo with the FIIO X5, which I would have tried next if the DX90 was not a keeper. What I did not expect was the power from the built in amp on the DX90. I have not needed the E12. I use PSBs, Grado 225i, midrange IEMs, and some vintage high impedance Sennheisers. Battery life is not as good as Ipod, but who cares? the battery is replaceable and cheap enough to have a couple of spares. I have not figured out the playlist structure to try to modify it from the computer. The regular index list which is built on the SD cards is a .db file which can be accessed with a mySQL viewer (free). Modifying this will probably not help the song order issue since the changes would disappear with a rescan of the card when songs are changed. The equalizer, which I only need for my sub $100 IEMs (to fix bass saturation and sibilance), is difficult to use with large hands because of the small screen size. For me the pluses definitely outweigh the negatives with this player. I love it and would definitely buy it again. 11/16/2014 - The latest firmware update (2.1.5) added better playlist functionality and a balance control. M3U playlists can be built on computers and copied to the player. No instructions on how to do this, so here is my way: 1.) use the export function on the player to get an existing playlist from the DX90. It will be visible on your PC when the connected DX90 is opened. 2.) There is a directory called M3U. Open the sample and note the song path. Mine is /mnt/external_sd 2.) create an M3U with software (or a word editor if you are masochist). 3.) Open your new m3U in a true text editor such as NOTEPAD. On Linux, GEDIT (saved with Win control characters) works great. 4.) replace your song paths to match what you found in #1. For me "/media/sam/3430-3965" became "/mnt/external_sd". I do not know if "\" also works if you are using Windows, but probably. 5.) copy your m3u file to the directory in #1. 6.) turn on the DX90 and do a scan - it is a quick one. Also use only letters and numbers in the M3U name. It will save you aggravation. Not a seamless solution, but very easy to do.

I have an onkyo dp x1A, and the ibasso dx90. Truthfully they sound exactly fantastic. While the onkyo has android and the ability to use apps, it's a larger unit. Very beautiful with a great UI experience. The ibasso dx90 is much more pocketable, small screen that you need to get use to. No app store, but that's Ok. It is cheaper, so if you're looking for a lesser expensive dap, that sounds awesome, the dx90 will fit the bill. I MUST DIWNGRADE TO 4 STARS. THE DX90 WILL NOT DISPLAY ALL ALBUM ARTWORK. I'VE RESCANNED THE SD CARD A FEW TIMES. THE MUSIC PLAYS FINE AND IT IDENTIFIES THE ARTIST, BUT WILL NOT SHOW ARTWORK. IT IS THERE BECAUSE WHEN I PUT THE SAME CARD INTO MY ONKYO DPX1A, OR MY LG V30, THE ALBUM ARTWORK SHOWS UP. VERY STRANGE.

For those of you who want as simple an answer as possible, here you go: this player is worth every penny, or more, and I am completely happy with it in every way: sound quality, build construction, usability (admittedly it did take me a short amount of time to get used to it, plus I have Fred-Flintstony hands and fingers so it's like trying to dial a phone with a Christmas ham, but this is not the device's fault), and battery life (I don't expect a device this small with such amazing performance to last an eon and don't mind plugging it in or buying a backup battery). The rest of this is for those who want more detail. I use this player with my new Sennheiser IE800 IEMs/earbuds, both I bought to use at work, and it's incredibly tough to imagine how my music could sound better (frankly, my wife and wallet are begging me not to try imaging it). I haven't tried this player with any other headphones, but I have tried the earbuds with other players; which is to say there was a substantial and dramatic improvement in sound using the IE800 when I switched from my Samsung S5 to the DX90, but your mileage may vary. Every song on every album I've listened to so far (aside from bad recordings/mixes or scratched up CD sources) came alive and danced across the imaginary sound stage I hear audiophiles talk about. Music I've listened to hundreds of times (maybe thousands for the older albums) found new life and is reborn. I find myself fascinated and riveted to each song. I repeatedly say, "ok, I'll just listen to part of this song and then skip to the next." Then 30 seconds later, I'm thinking, "ok, I'm not going to skip it because it just sounds sooooo good; I'll skip through the next one." And then the process repeats. I'm listening as I write this, and intended to just peruse a couple songs... that was 3 hours ago. One of the most incredible things is that this player sounds amazing with any genre of music that I listen to: classical/orchestral, jazz, standards/vocals (Frank Sinatra for example), rock, pop, heavy metal, or just simple instrumental (I have a 12 string guitar CD that's dazzling on this player). I think a good way to sum it up is to say this player takes good quality digital music and puts it back on a brand new vinal LP like no other player I've heard... smooth, non-digitized-sounding, rich, clear, beautiful. I'm no audiophile, just FYI. So the most technical info I can give you are my simple impressions: the bass is deep and perfectly punchy without being muddy or overpowering, the midrange is clear and blends beautifully with the bass and the higher end without loss of separation, and the high end is wonderfully crisp and detailed without being harsh. Since I'm not the best judge of sound quality except to say that I know what I like, I gave this little powerhouse setup to my wife to see what her impression would be... given that I asked her to listen to her own album, I figured I'd get a very realistic review of how closely a musician would feel the sound compares to what she intended to be heard. She said it's amazingly close to how she meant it to sound: the separation and clarity were spot-on, the detail is breathtaking; the only difference was that she thought the bass was a just a tiny bit light. We always disagree on the bass subject... I thought her album sounded more balanced, hauntingly beautiful, pure and impactful than I have ever heard it before. But I suppose, if you like more bass, there's always the EQ built into the DX90 for that purpose. Review details: - The above review is based on all music being captured from audio CDs in FLAC format, or from HDTracks also in FLAC format. - All music is playing from the 128Gb SD card I put in it, not the internal memory. - The DX90 is in factory-delivered configuration: no EQ, no filters, no changes at all, (I prefer no artificial flavors in my tunes), with the latest firmware installed (2.1.5 as of this writing). - I haven't the foggiest clue if the "burn-in" phenomena is real or not, and I don't really care. It didn't hurt to let it play for 48 hours with the little burn-in dongle provided with the player, so I did. I don't really hear a difference... it sounded amazing right out of the box. I hope this helps someone. Oh, and on a side note, if you have the need for a truly incredible set of earbuds (IEMs), you seriously can't go wrong with the IE800s; but that's a different review. :)

Very good sound quality but poor battery life and non-existent customer support.