Really trying to push those high end daps i see. For me i use it in places where even with closed backs the background leaks in. Trains, planes, car trips. I thought of selling my j3 because its small and the battery lasts but its now on yard work and mower duty.
I think this is what ticked the familiarity with me.
Lol it prob does seem like that, but honestly this is more just me getting overly excited about something that I hadnāt realized I wanted before lol
For sure, I used to travel with full size headphones and larger dac amps and it was a real hassle
So was bored today, decided to throw the guiderays and fh3 on the p6, and as expected it sounded excellent lol. Did it transform the iem into something crazy? No, but it did bring them to a new technical level from something like a m11 or xdsd, best Iāve heard them similar to using them on the desk, pretty much pushing everything you could ever get out of these iems. To be clear though, this didnāt make them compete in a new performance bracket or anything, they are still budget iems lol
Also for a stupid portable setup, I used the line out mode of the p6 into an analog squared paper tur-06es into some 003 mk2, and thatās a damn impressive combo lol, really gives the stax the dynamics they need, and really makes everything sound more spacious and holographic, also tones down the midrange bloat a slight bit which you can get depending on the dac which really helps. I will say that in this case though the lotoo paw gold still holds up well, I do end up preferring the p6 by a noticeable margin, but in this specific case the paw gold holds up better than I expected and I still like the experience the gold gives (the gold is also more forward as well which gives the stax a bit more oomph and also more bite which is nice)
Also I never commented on the single ended output, itās actually pretty good, but the balanced is just better, so use that. Chances are if you are considering this you would have plenty of budget to recable to balanced so no real loss here.
Ah I will say the kennerton gjallarhorn is a ton of fun on here, really super unique and engaging experience, and is powered really well. Itās super picky source wise, and with the really dead quiet noise floor on the dap itās really solid. Although it could use a tad more treble prominence with the kennerton but still really good experience.
But most of the other headphones I have around here are good but you can tell the amp can run out of steam or you might be left wanting a bit more lively sound on some of the more demanding cans. But generally still really good with most more not as demanding headphones and still a pretty satisfactory experience if you have to drive headphones from time to time. I just think this is closer to desktop class with iems compared to headphones
Edit: o shit how have I not tried ksc75 yet, gotta get to that later
Regardless of price this aesthetic is sick af
Itās good in that regard, usability wise I just wish they could have made a quicker way to navigate through tracks, itās quick and simple enough, but if you have a ton of music you spend a lot of time going through folders and such, another scroll wheel like the volume knob that was only for navigation would have been really nice, since on how I have mine set up the scroll wheel is only for volume since I want to make sure I can change it when I need to (you can also use the wheel for nav but then you canāt control volume at all times)
Ya I can def see the user problems, Iām just struck by the design, looks like a prototype youād see on Behance. Way out of my range but I hope this can trickle down
There are only a few other r2r daps out there, and I donāt think any others are discrete either, they are chip based, but I would like to see more if they can accomplish what this thing does
Steve Jobs is up there smiling. So whatās the big deal trading a little bit of sound quality for a whole heck of a lot of functionality. 
So is that the meaning of discrete, the rows of hand picked resistors? Instead of the differences being calculated on a chip?
Iāll let someone else who knows more explain the differences but basically yes itās meaning the rows of resistors. Other options like the hifiman r2r for example use a burr brown r2r chip, still r2r but in a little chip (the p6 def outperforms the hifiman from memory). If one of these sounds better or not (chip vs discrete), I canāt really say. Desktop dac wise I have both discrete and chip based that sound excellent, but for the p6 this has got to be some of the best Iāve heard dac wise in a portable and Iām not sure if thatās down to the design in there or an extremely good implementation (most likely both)
So I have a few more interesting daps in the house now, I have a questyle qpm as well as an ibasso dx220 max. I have mainly been listening to the qpm for the past few days and itās pretty great (imo step above the qp2r in mostly every way from a build/ui and technicality standpoint, but a bit of a more neutral signature thatās not as smooth as the qp2r, but a worthwhile trade off), but man the qpm somehow just makes me appreciate the p6 more lol, the p6 is somehow another solid step above the qpm.
I do think the dac in the qpm might be holding it back a bit almost (as I think thatās where the main improvement over the qp2r is coming from), the p6 just is much more spacious and accurate in the time domain, more dynamic, blacker background, more impactful, more detailed, just also more layered and textured. I will say the qpm is more neutral though were you can tell the p6 is a bit on the warmer leaning side of things (but itās neutral enough lol). Well anyways I still really like the qpm, but somehow itās just reinforced my enjoyment of the p6 lol (but itās not the most fair comparison)
I have yet to really try the ibasso, but I did try it on some headphones and it does really well with harder to drive headphones so far, although the ui is a bit slow and clunky.
So decided to spend some time with the 220 max (might as well just start posting some dap stuff here lol), and the thing is a beast for headphones, way more capable with harder to drive full size headphones. In terms of UI, itās fine, seems a bit slow but itās good enough, although the lack of buttons on the side for media controls is pretty disappointing for myself since I hate having to look at the player to change things. Volume knob is pretty nice though. Also this things got 2 batteries inside it which I wasnt expecting lol, 2 chargers as well (which I hope is good for sound and battery life). Sound signature wise, itās larger more spacious sounding, lots of drive, itās a fairly neutral signature thatās a bit more forward than neutral but need more time, no noise with really any of my iems even though itās got all that power on tap, so far headphone wise very impressed, this might end up replacing my idsd for headphones (although not as fun as the idsd but imo easily higher preforming so far). I think the hugo 2 is probably getting nervous now that imo I have a portable that ends up driving headphones better and another portable that might even outclass the hugo as a dac lol, but idk yet for sure
Is that with the AMP9 or AMP1?
Itās not the regular dx220, itās the 220 max, so no modules
I thought the regular dx220 was only ok, the max is a significant step up in sound imo
Cool I wondered why we had a couple of opened boxes of the DX220 going for Ā£599, that explains it 
Reckon Chord is working on a 3?..I know they cycle through their existing models when it comes to upgrades but the āmobileā Dac/amp/otg market is moving along at a rate of knots along with the IEM market so 
Yeah for sure, perhaps now is the right time to sell lol
Iāll happily wait a year for the 3 and as long as it stays circa Ā£2k then iām in likeā¦
So far, the 220 max is honestly driving my headphones better than the hugo 2, although the hugo 2 has a clearly better dac the 220 max is really pulling itās weight on the amp side of things, which is honestly making a bigger difference for the headphones. Iem wise, I might still prefer the hugo 2, but the 220 max actually does have a bit blacker background with more sensitive iems, and might have a signature that is more generally pleasing to me. Very positive with headphones so far, although the lack of buttons is killing me lol. I didnāt want to pick up another dap but damn is this compelling for headphones lol. Really should just sell the hugo 2 at this point lol
Also @Ohmboy are you really liking those sonys? If so, the wm1z is really worth a look tbh, really great dap with those iems
