beeface
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I get that it's "The Headphones Show", but I still wouldn't want to be seen with a pair of Zus
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Luxsin X8 DAC & HP Amp Review
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Roland68
Master Contributor
What difference does it make if the measurement results are flawless, just like the sound quality?
Good integration is far more important than the DAC chip itself.
There are plenty of DACs on the market—even expensive ones—featuring ESS flagship chips like the ES9038x and ES9039x that perform significantly worse.
Why?
Which dacs are you referering to that perform ''significantly'' worse ?
Roland68
Master Contributor
The Musetec Audio MH-DA005, Audio-gd NFB-27.38, and Melokin DA9.1 ES9038PRO—to name just a few examples.
There are many DACs on the market featuring flagship chips that haven't yet been tested on ASR but deliver abysmal measurement results.
A friend once lent me three Chinese DACs based on the ES9038 Pro (priced between €550 and €1,800), and they sounded noticeably worse and noisier than the standard €10 ES9018K2M DAC board. He was extremely disappointed and frustrated after hearing the comparison himself, as all three DACs had been praised to the skies on Chinese audiophile forums.
I just realized it costs 699, damn that's good.
I thought it is more pricey, around 1k or even above.
Actually that's interesting option.
I thought it is more pricey, around 1k or even above.
Actually that's interesting option.
jasonhanjk
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The AP cannot capture properly when doing sweep. Other HP amp can perform better.
He's saying he can't afford it right now
Luxsin is very responsive when it comes to product defects, they'll even contact the authorize dealer that you purchased it from for you to get service, you can find that on their forum.
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Yeah, RME ADI-2 DAC FS, Luxsin X8 / X9, and JDS Labs Element IV are the only ones I could find with a Loudness feature. Although some active speakers with built-in DSP and some higher end wireless headphones are implementing it these days.
I looked up Eversolo DMP-A6, and it seems to be $120-$260 more (depending on sales), but more importantly, it doesn't seem to have any headphone amp or headphone outputs at all? So, quite different use case.
I got my X8 for €560 as a B-stock item with a "Men's Day" discount (the original packaging had a small dented corner, but the unit itself is brand new and in perfect condition).
I’ll definitely be getting the Windows kit as soon as it’s available. I’m coming from a Topping D90III—and before that, an ESS DAC plus Class A amp—and I find the X8 to be a far superior package in terms of features and usability; the AI function, in particular, is not only fast but works really well.
The AI has understood exactly what I wanted every time so far and executed it just as well. This is especially true when trying to match the sound signature of headphone "X" as closely as possible to headphone "Y" (within the same class, e.g., dynamic or planar); comparisons with the actual original headphones show the results are startlingly close,
and in doing so, one can retain the physical characteristics of the headphones, such as the orientation of the drivers toward the ear, which can create entirely new experiences. The AI can even factor in the use of different ear pads.
The adjustable stereo widening option available in NOS mode is a highlight; it ensures you don't miss the superior, airier separation usually associated with oversampling—something often lacking in most NOS setups.
The only thing that bothers me about the X8 so far is the auto-power-on feature (even from standby), as it always turns on whenever I switch on the power strip connected to my PC... where I’d actually prefer it to stay in standby mode. But that’s a personal preference I can live with.
In any case, with the X8, I’ve found my "endgame" all-in-one DAC/amp —and after selling off my other setups, I even have money left over to replenish my savings.
Edit, with the Windows, i plan to change all LEDs to the golden Ampere LEDs, ( more gold like color than orange ). It will looks phenomenal, especially in this black housing, and gives the electronics an extra special flair.
I’ll definitely be getting the Windows kit as soon as it’s available. I’m coming from a Topping D90III—and before that, an ESS DAC plus Class A amp—and I find the X8 to be a far superior package in terms of features and usability; the AI function, in particular, is not only fast but works really well.
The AI has understood exactly what I wanted every time so far and executed it just as well. This is especially true when trying to match the sound signature of headphone "X" as closely as possible to headphone "Y" (within the same class, e.g., dynamic or planar); comparisons with the actual original headphones show the results are startlingly close,
and in doing so, one can retain the physical characteristics of the headphones, such as the orientation of the drivers toward the ear, which can create entirely new experiences. The AI can even factor in the use of different ear pads.
The adjustable stereo widening option available in NOS mode is a highlight; it ensures you don't miss the superior, airier separation usually associated with oversampling—something often lacking in most NOS setups.
The only thing that bothers me about the X8 so far is the auto-power-on feature (even from standby), as it always turns on whenever I switch on the power strip connected to my PC... where I’d actually prefer it to stay in standby mode. But that’s a personal preference I can live with.
In any case, with the X8, I’ve found my "endgame" all-in-one DAC/amp —and after selling off my other setups, I even have money left over to replenish my savings.
Edit, with the Windows, i plan to change all LEDs to the golden Ampere LEDs, ( more gold like color than orange ). It will looks phenomenal, especially in this black housing, and gives the electronics an extra special flair.
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It's a very attractive unit, particularly with the window on top. Alas, my Sabaj A20d and Topping DX5-II are performing perfectly well, so I'll have to wait until one of them bites the dust before splashing out, which hopefully won't be any time soon.
Eldus
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Any similar products but with subwoofer crossover management? Not just a lowpass on the sub/RCA outputs?
It's a lovely product, I think it might be my best audio product purchase and I loved my RME ADI-2 DAC FS when I first bought it and thought also FiiO K17 was quite decent purchase but now I prefer using the Luxsin X8 despite it is the cheapest of the 3 (paid 699€ compared to 999€ for both the ADI-2 DAC fs and FiiO K17).
I think it sounds the best of the 3 when comparing out of headphone out and I have set up them with a RCA switcher so it makes it easy to compare by instantly switch the device in use. I think FiiO K17 has slight edge if you're comparing line out to some other amp though. But the built-in amp part is fantastic and nicely pairing with the DAC and I'd imagine you'd have to step up considerably in price to get something that would perform better depending on synergies and tastes and what not. Things that stand out compared to both RME and the FiiO dacs are the more holographic stage which is a particular strength of it, there's seemingly more depth and space between instruments, FiiO has decent width but not so much depth in comparison and RME overall sounds more intimate as a whole. Dynamics are also very good (when used out of headphone out, using line out and only using its DAC part it takes quite a hit there both in dynamics where bass sounds significantly less punchy and impactful and also the stage sounds more closed-in).
The "width" setting especially makes it especially useful and the primary reason I went for it, I need to use closed headphones at home but I always missed the more open soundstage typically with open-back headphones and this device lets me get my favorite closed headphones sounding more similarly to typical open-backs when it comes to soundstaging. Especially should be using NOS filter, I think it sounds clearly the best with X8. It's so nice to be able to dial in the ideal soundstage width for every headphone, one less bottleneck that holds back a headphone. With some headphones I used a slight amount of loudness with the RME dac and it also works great here but this depends on headphone and whether I listen more loudly or silently, with some headphones I don't find any benefit in enabling it. The PEQ works great as well especially now that they added A/B options so it's easier to compare and improve settings for a headphone. Obviously it also comes with AI EQing but for someone that has mastered music for 14 years now as a hobby, I just prefer to do it myself. Even the "crossfeed" settings deserve a mention, typically I belong to the camp that never turn on crossfeed despite tested a bunch of different crossfeed settings in various players and DACs as it narrows the soundstage which typically isn't to my liking but X8 since it has the "width" setting I can like compensate by increasing it say 2 steps and that will usually take care of that. It sounds especially useful with live music, most often I don't use it but I may turn it on for live performances because it makes it sound more alive and holographic like you're there with the crowd putting more space around instruments and sounds overall less "2D". I mean even if the device performs superb without any effects on, for me it becomes rather difficult to replace WHEN you factor in the useful adjustments on top of that, in fact it's totally cured my upgradeitis and don't see myself moving on from here for quite a while. I might give the upcoming RME ADI-3 DAC a try as I like devices that are feature packed that the mastering/tweaker guy in me appreciates and can make good use of but that's about it.
Also a honorable mention is the support Luxsin has given to the products so far, it has had a few bugs here and there but most have very quickly been resolved, I'm talking about solved in matter of days with new firmware update after it's been reported and not months! The only bug I can think of that I've personally faced still once in a while is when using auto-shutdown after x mins of idle, it seems the wifi connectivity can mess up and might require a manual reboot in order to be able to connect to the WebUI but that's not a big deal to me as I don't end up adjusting it after I've found the ideal settings for a headphone eitherway.
I think it sounds the best of the 3 when comparing out of headphone out and I have set up them with a RCA switcher so it makes it easy to compare by instantly switch the device in use. I think FiiO K17 has slight edge if you're comparing line out to some other amp though. But the built-in amp part is fantastic and nicely pairing with the DAC and I'd imagine you'd have to step up considerably in price to get something that would perform better depending on synergies and tastes and what not. Things that stand out compared to both RME and the FiiO dacs are the more holographic stage which is a particular strength of it, there's seemingly more depth and space between instruments, FiiO has decent width but not so much depth in comparison and RME overall sounds more intimate as a whole. Dynamics are also very good (when used out of headphone out, using line out and only using its DAC part it takes quite a hit there both in dynamics where bass sounds significantly less punchy and impactful and also the stage sounds more closed-in).
The "width" setting especially makes it especially useful and the primary reason I went for it, I need to use closed headphones at home but I always missed the more open soundstage typically with open-back headphones and this device lets me get my favorite closed headphones sounding more similarly to typical open-backs when it comes to soundstaging. Especially should be using NOS filter, I think it sounds clearly the best with X8. It's so nice to be able to dial in the ideal soundstage width for every headphone, one less bottleneck that holds back a headphone. With some headphones I used a slight amount of loudness with the RME dac and it also works great here but this depends on headphone and whether I listen more loudly or silently, with some headphones I don't find any benefit in enabling it. The PEQ works great as well especially now that they added A/B options so it's easier to compare and improve settings for a headphone. Obviously it also comes with AI EQing but for someone that has mastered music for 14 years now as a hobby, I just prefer to do it myself. Even the "crossfeed" settings deserve a mention, typically I belong to the camp that never turn on crossfeed despite tested a bunch of different crossfeed settings in various players and DACs as it narrows the soundstage which typically isn't to my liking but X8 since it has the "width" setting I can like compensate by increasing it say 2 steps and that will usually take care of that. It sounds especially useful with live music, most often I don't use it but I may turn it on for live performances because it makes it sound more alive and holographic like you're there with the crowd putting more space around instruments and sounds overall less "2D". I mean even if the device performs superb without any effects on, for me it becomes rather difficult to replace WHEN you factor in the useful adjustments on top of that, in fact it's totally cured my upgradeitis and don't see myself moving on from here for quite a while. I might give the upcoming RME ADI-3 DAC a try as I like devices that are feature packed that the mastering/tweaker guy in me appreciates and can make good use of but that's about it.
Also a honorable mention is the support Luxsin has given to the products so far, it has had a few bugs here and there but most have very quickly been resolved, I'm talking about solved in matter of days with new firmware update after it's been reported and not months! The only bug I can think of that I've personally faced still once in a while is when using auto-shutdown after x mins of idle, it seems the wifi connectivity can mess up and might require a manual reboot in order to be able to connect to the WebUI but that's not a big deal to me as I don't end up adjusting it after I've found the ideal settings for a headphone eitherway.
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The RCA soundstage is more closer than the XLR out, so if you've only used line out via RCA then you're missing out on some dynamics in how sound is presented for sure with both Luxsins which have excellent holographic balanced outputs at the back.
Balanced out was always going to have the edge though of course .
My direct testing of this was feeding a Topping A90 Discrete with the X8 and running headphones through the Topping which then fed the power amp too.
Balanced out was always going to have the edge though of course .
My direct testing of this was feeding a Topping A90 Discrete with the X8 and running headphones through the Topping which then fed the power amp too.
I still found the same result when testing specifically for that with an SMSL H400 amp (both using XLR or RCA) that has XLR input that the gap between using X8's XLR out or line out still lags slightly behind the result of using headphone out of the X8 to me. Maybe Topping A90D works that much better with the X8's DAC but that was what I personally found. Eitherway that's not much of a con if you're getting a good DAC + AMP combo that there's no need to thinker with a different amp.
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