A flagship worthy of iBasso Audio's 10th anniversary manufacturing DAPs, and 16 years as a pillar of personal audio. DX320 gets reborn in the form of the limited-edition DX320X, its chassis machined from titanium-based liquid metal alloy.
An actual patented design of soft lines and intersecting curves, an excruciating machining process of the superbly hard and durable liquid metal yielded 500 pieces globally at great cost.
Making DX320X yet more prestigious are the fascinating electrical properties of its titanium liquid metal chassis. Acting as the device's ground, this intriguing material is inadvertently bound to colour the sound of DX320 – already a Head-Fi favourite.
With X exquisitely liquid in the highs, packing a deep sense of inner resolution, composure and confidence in making out music, owners will thus not only be able to count on the flagship sound quality of a DX320, but one unique unto itself even in the realm of iBasso players. [See Product Desc. For More]
The Android 11 DX320X makes full use of its massive power supply and circuit board real-estate for an extreme discrete analog circuit, to give two new ROHM BD34301EKV DAC chips the platform to perform.
iBasso's latest and greatest rewards those who don't look only for the obvious – those who appreciate that a wonderful music player starts with its DAC chips but arrives at the finish line with their implementation.
Crucially, DX320X's BD34301EKVs output analog in current, as demanded by a DAP that claims to be of flagship status. iBasso are therefore afforded the opportunity to tailor the DAP's sonic profile as they wish with a current-to-voltage I/V converter, and the added measure of ensuring that small-signal is of the lowest distortion to begin with.
Volume is controlled via a proprietary iBasso solution, specially developed for these ROHM DACs. So begins DX320X's fully-balanced, true differential analog circuit that runs at a massive 8 volt operating voltage for linear open-loop operation. Its power stage is fully discrete and boasts buffers capable of putting out 2 amperes of current.
DX320X's bridge-tied load operation halves impedance per output phase, but the potent output transistors comprising the power stage mean it's never fazed driving low impedances.
Happily use DX320X with anything ranging from the 3ohm Empire Ears Odin, up to the 300ohm ZMF Headphones Atrium on stock Amp11 module, or switch out the modular analog card for the yet-more potent Amp12 or tube Amp13.
With 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced outputs removing need for cheaply-built, signal degrading adapters for connections to make something fit, your flagships can be juiced to the max potential, signal integrity guaranteed via direct sockets soldered to PCB.
The quantity of output power has been discussed, but the quality's not yet mentioned. DX320X's total 6,000mAh power supply component is split into a 4,000mAh battery for the digital sub-system, and separate 2,000mAh unit for the afore-mentioned analog circuit.
Doing so cleans up the lifeblood for clean, quiet audio available system-wide, iBasso touting their custom-made bypass capacitors as a DC filter for purer power yet.
All the above would mean little if DX320X wasn't built with the future of music consumption in mind. But thankfully Android 11 makes its appearance to be at the cutting-edge of DAP UI, processed by the speedy Snapdragon 660 SOC plus 6GB of RAM for smooth operation.
16X Tidal MQA and Apple Music will be streamed at bit-perfect level via Direct Transport Authority (DTA), bypassing otherwise mandatory and detrimental Android re-sampling.
Thus is DX320X – iBasso's most complete and most advanced line music player – released, designed to tackle every one of the modern audiophile's needs. Also shop iBasso's other releases here, or all our other music players here.