iBasso DX220 High Resolution Referent Digital Audio Player with 5.0" 1080P LCD Dual ES9028PRO, 8-core CPU, Two-Way Bluetooth 5.0 (Titanium)

Pros and cons:Pros:1) Sound quality. Its just amazing, its like you music is reborn. I have 12,500 Flacs and DSD files and the sound this thing generates is GREAT. If you want superb sound quality buy this player2) Bluetooth is rock solid. I sold a A and K SR-15 because the Bluetooth conductivity sucked. BT 5.0 is great, doesn't quite have the range I hoped for but much more than you really want or need.3) APK installs are great, I found the installed music software a bit lacking (Mango) and after trying a few I really like HiBy Music software player.. I also have streamed Qobuz, Tidal and Spotify without issue.4) Has built in casting for Chromecast or you can download and use BubbleUp. The streaming sound to my home system was eye opening and a VERY pleasant surprise- I did not (at all) expect this to sound as good as it did through my system. It was NOTICEABLE better than it has been through an other previous source other than Blu-ray.5) You can download the apps for your headphones to update their firmware if need be.6) Display is super sharp and clear - and bright. And if you keep it on all the time you will kill your battery REAL fast. If you can keep your eyes off it (hard, it is really nice) and be smart and dim the display you can easily get 10-12 hours out of it - and it partially recharges fast. You just cant keep the display on all the time, just like an IPhone or a Galaxy. Be smart and the battery concerns go away.7) Did I mention the sound....It is SUPERB. I couldn't be happier.Cons:1) Not having Google Play and having to use the APK's is a very minor annoyance - if you download software that is a trial and want to license it to get rid of ads, etc it's a bit of a PITA but can be done. Since this, for me, only really applies to music playing software and the HiBy Music works great, its a minor issue. I also have VLC, Foobar and Onkyo's HF player installed so lots of great options.2) The display is so nice you want to keep it on...but again, its a battery killer so you have to show some restraint, something I am not good at.3) The setup software is not super intuitive - takes a while to get in a groove using the DX220 but once you get used to it it's fine.My setup is this player, a 1TB MicroSD card (no issues) and my current "go to" are the new MW07 Plus earbuds. I have also used the Sennheisers Momentum's and PX550 (Two long plain flights) and the B and W's PX's (My favorite full size headset) and lastly, the Audeze Sine 20's. All sound so much better is pretty amazing.Lastly, this unit does need a burn in. They provide a special cable that goes into the 2.5 input and they want you to use it for burn in for 200 hours. Real pain in the ass first 10 days and you can use either Bluetooth or the standard 3.5 output while burning in to listen and since I mostly use BT it was just annoying. Initial impressions were that this unit was a bit to bright but it settles down very nicely as it burns in.If you can afford it (its not cheap), run, don't walk to buy this unit, you will NOT regret it !!!!!

1: App stores: it comes with ApkPure and CoolApk, but not Google Play. Unless you can read Chinese, go ahead and delete CoolApk; it hasn't been localized to other languages. ApkPure can also be confusing for English speakers. It's mostly globalised, but it recently made me click through... something... in Chinese. I hope I didn't agree to anything weird when I dismissed it. I supplemented them by side loading F-Droid and Amazon App Store from Chrome. F-Droid worked without issue, but Amazon crashed several times before I could log in. It seems to be running fine after I entered my password, so persevere!2: Sound quality: in a word, amazing! Since this is the whole reason this device exists, it's great to hear it deliver!3: Music Apps: it comes with something called Mango. It seems pretty generic; get something better. I got VLC from F-Droid, and it's great for local files. I also downloaded Amazon Music from the Amazon App Store, and it streams just fine. I've also had good luck with YouTube.com (not the App, not supported). I haven't tried any others, but I see Tidal us available on ApkPure; maybe I'll try it next.4: Amplifier modules: I regularly switch between the stock module and an AMP8. The stock amplifier runs my Sennheiser HD1 headset for commuting, and the AMP8 runs my Grado 3000 headset at home. Both are excellent.June 2020 update: I'm still loving this. The AMP8 runs great, and I use it enough that I bought the dedicated 4.4mm cord for the Sennheiser HD800S headphones. I often switch between the Grados and Sennys from time to time. They both work great!The Amazon ecosystem has remained stable once I got past the initial login. It claims to play hir-es, and all displays indicate it is, but I just don't hear an improvement. To be fair, and never hear an improvement in hi-res music, so that's probably a limitation in my ears.The only issue I ran into was when I connected it to my stereo. OH MY GOD, THE HUM!!! I guess that's an issue with my stereo, because the hum stayed when I unplugged the iBasso.Jan 2021 update: I recently got Qobuz and Roon. Qobuz runs great. Roon, however, doesn't run well on the iBasso. I also tried hooking it up to my stereo again, it doesn't hum anymore.

I wanted to love this, but it left me unimpressed. I transferred by collection of lossless files that were ripped from my own CDs and also listened to the highest quality MQA files from Tidal. I listen to classical music. I have been an audiophile for decades and own many sets of headphones as well as a $30k+ home audio system. The headphones I paired this with were sennheiser IE800s.I tried low medium and high gain but the sound remained flat and just sort of blah. The bass was way too polite. There was no comparison between the DX220/IE800 and my Mytek Brooklyn+ DAC/Sennheiser HD580/HD600.For a combination that costs $2k I was expecting more.One other huge downside -- battery life!! On a 2 hr plane flight the battery went from 100% to 40%. This was in airplane mode playing lossless files from an SD card.Disappointed. Gave it 4 stars for build quality and the packaging and also maybe because the IE800s just weren't the right match for the DX220.