iBasso DX50: listening with three buttons and a sense of style today. Sounds good

Hi all! Today I would like to talk about one of the most comfortable portable players – iBasso DX50. iBasso is a small Chinese company that specializes in the production of portable amplifiers and DACs. At the end of 2012, the Chinese guys released their first portable player Ibasso dx100, which in a moment conquered the hearts of music lovers all over the world. After something like a year, the hero of today’s review was born.

Audio player iBasso DX50

Appearance and package

The player comes in a small brown box. The outside of the box is encircled by black embossed paper tape. Inside is the player itself, a USB cable, a cable for digital output coaxial , a case and two protective films on the screen.

The device itself is made of metal with textured surface. On the front panel is located a touch screen IPS/320×240 and three buttons. The left one is for switching “back”, the middle one is for “start/pause” and the right one gives full “forward.

The keys are quite large and soft. Ergonomics are comfortable and simple, the buttons are within one finger: navigation under the screen and on the touch screen. Coaxial output, microSD card slot and micro usb connector for cable/charger are on the top.

On the left side is the on/off key and the switch responsible for locking the control of the unit.

On the right side are the buttons that control volume. On the bottom face has a headphone jack 3,5 mm, 3,5 mm line jack, and switch amplifier modes gain . Under the back cover there is a replaceable battery, the same used in Samsung GALAXY S3 smartphone.

All done very well. No backlash, no gaps and nothing sticks out. In general, as I promised at the beginning of the review, the device is very comfortable. Size, workmanship, everything is top notch!

In my opinion, it’s one of the most comfortable and nice-looking HI FI players.

In the menu had to fumble, but within an hour the height was taken – the menu befriended me.

The interface is pretty straightforward. Here you can find music playback, playback mode selection from directory internal/external memory/USB-OTG , playlist selection, sorting by artists, albums and genres. There’s an eight-band equalizer with presets.

By the way, DX50 can work in USB DAC mode, ie as a sound card by connecting to the USB-interface to a PC, which for many a huge plus.

Sound

To listen to the following headphones were used: Etymotic ER-4p, Westone UM3X, Beyerdynamic dt 1350.

I would characterize the sound of DX50 as smooth, soft, without obvious tonal distortion. The musical material is served leisurely, smoothly, but also quite detailed. No brightness in the treble, they are smooth and a little restrained.

The midrange is well worked out and has decent detail. The woofer is not booming, but a little too soft for my ears. In general, the sound of DX50 lacks emotionality, elaborated bass and anger, or something like that. Otherwise, everything is pretty good, the device is very pleasant to listen to.

Conclusions

Well, I think the player is a success. In terms of ergonomics and usability this is a tough act to follow. It has a sense of style and comfort and that’s it! The device disposes to long-lasting listening to your favorite music and all its disadvantages in terms of sound for someone might even be an advantage. Even more so because musical preferences and listening habits differ from one person to another.

When this article was published, the average price for iBasso DX50 was 14 500 RUB, which is quite reasonable considering the level of the device and very high ruble to dollar exchange rate.

Appearance, usability, replaceable battery, price, battery life, sound. Capable of working in DAC mode.

Again, some may not like the sound.

Thank you Mycroft store.su for the technology provided

Specifications

DAC: Wolfson WM8740

Resolution: Up to 24 bits 192 kHz

Display: 2.4′, touch screen, IPS, 320 × 240

Line out:

Frequency range: 20 Hz ~ 20 kHz ± 0.2 dB

Signal to noise ratio: -109dB ± 3dB

Non-linear distortion/noise figure: 0,003%

Output level: 1.5 V rms 1kHz, 0 dB

Headphone output:

Frequency range: 20Hz ~ 20kHz ± 1dB

Linear distortion/noise figure: 0.004% at 32 &Omega

Output level: 1.2 V Low gain , 1.7 V Mid gain , 3.1 V High gain

Signal to noise ratio: -103 dB ± 3dB Low gain , -106 dB ± 3dB Mid gain , -108 dB ± 3dB High gain with 32 &Omega

Output impedance: 0,5 &Omega

RCA coaxial output 24 bit 192 kHz

Outputs: 3.5mm headphone output, 3.5mm line output, 3.5mm coaxial output

Internal memory: 8 GB

Supports microSDHC and microSDXC cards up to 2TB

Supports APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, OGG, MP3

Replaceable battery: 2100 mAh compatible with that of the Samsung GALAXY S3

Total battery life: 12-14 hours.

Dimensions: 99 × 68 × 17 mm

Weight 140g