Hmmmm. Honestly you are likely fine either way, the burn in is a one time thing, if you were doing this for it’s entire life cycle then I’d be concerned about the health of the battery, but honestly it’s likely not going to do damage if you leave it plugged in and playing for a few days at a time (perhaps give it a break every day for some time? So like every 24-48 hours unplug and turn it off for some time to cool off, then continue after). Modern battery designs and charging regulation should really minimize any unneeded wear on the battery (it will cycle things itself to prevent wear), I’d be more concerned about potential heat than the actual wear on the battery (since you are both using it and charging at the same time which can make more heat).
Just letting it to get around 20% and charging up (while not playing) would work well too, although more hassle but would likely be the least worrisome. But I think whatever way you feel more comfortable with, both accomplish the same goal, just depends on how much you want to hassle with it
But I think if you start from the battery at full state and keep it plugged in from there, there won’t be any appreciable damage or harm to the battery, but I’d watch how hot it gets depending on how hard you are driving it for burn in. But make sure to start when the battery is already charged, don’t push it hard and force it to recharge from a low state at the same time. Also don’t just leave it charging doing nothing, make sure it’s actually burning in or is drawing some power, not sitting idle
This is at least coming from the perspective of how most modern devices like phones handle charging and modern battery tech, I don’t know how ibasso implemented their battery charging circuits and what they may have changed
Yup, also had heat in mind. Playing + charging = a lot of heat.
Okay, I will see what works out for me. Currently it has been burning in for 5 hours (Mango OS, Dekoni Blue plugged in), it’s at 38% right now. If I am awake long enough, I will see how the temperature is while its charging and playing at the same time.
I plan to do 24h with headphones plugged in, 24h with the burn-in cable plugged in. But I’ll see if I can hold my sanity while doing that, or if I’ll just give up and stick to just the burn-in cable.
iBasso recommended switching up between IEMs/headphones and the burn-in cable. They also mentioned that I should turn it off every 24h for a couple of hours. iBasso themselves (Paul) do the burn-in process while the DAP is charging…
Got it. So you are suggesting to only play and charge at the same time once its fully charged.
My plan was to let it cool off by turning it off and letting it charge to 80% (or fully just during the burn-in process) and then continue the process and stop charging. The plan sounds great, but could take forever… an eternity.
Ah no sorry for the confusion. Charge to 100%, keep it plugged in at 100%, then while it’s still charging start burn in. Basically the only reason I have that space in there is to let the battery cool down from more intensive charging
I enjoyed it, was a more fun leaning can that was a bit more midrange focused overall with a bit extra warmth (although could use a bit more low low end), great punchiness and impact, good presentation, never harsh, more spacious, solid timbre. Think of a more relaxed, more open, and more rich sounding x00 almost. I do think they can get a bit hazy and lack some technical ability (not the most controlled, lacking some resolution, and depth is meh) but it’s not enough to really distract from the experience in this case. Fairly dynamic as well which is pretty enjoyable
Lol, just been downsizing and selling off things I didn’t use as much, and with other headphones I had I admittedly wasn’t using it very much anymore. Although they did go to a coworker and he does really enjoy them
Some interesting findings during the burn-in process (btw, I’m tracking the whole burn-in process, writing everything down):
The very first day I started the burn-in (Oct 7th), I actually managed to get the analog and the digital batteries to be around the same %. This was even after using both Android and Mango OS for some time.
The second time (Oct 8th, morning), the battery levels were uneven, with the analog section having roughly 10% more.
The third time was also today (Oct 8th, afternoon), the battery levels were even more uneven, 15% difference currently. However, I did switch from headphones to the included balanced burn-in cable… but shouldn’t the analog section be draining more instead of the digital section? The burn-in cable has a constant load, so shouldn’t it be draining the analog section faster? Also, this time I didn’t use the screen at all (maybe twice or thrice in 5 hours, for only <10 seconds).
Regardless, I think that I might need to leave the DX300 MAX an hour or so more once it reaches 100%. Because, what I have been doing now is that I’ve just been unplugging the charger as soon as the batteries reached 100%. I think I might’ve “overcharged” it the first time I charged it, maybe that’s why I was able to get the analog and digital sections to be on-par in terms of %.
Interesting findings (imo). Curious to see more results in the future.
Edit: It turns out that the percentages evened out right around 60%. Currently (Oct 9th, evening) they are still evened out at 42% analog, 43% digital.
What other DAPs on the market can compare to the DX300 MAX?
Most of them are like the DX300, phone-like, slimmer, don’t weigh as much. However, I’d like to put it up against some “direct competitors”.
So far, this is what I’ve got:
A&K KANN Cube
A&K AK380SS
Both of these are closer to the chunky nature of the DX300 MAX, but both are quite “outdated”. Also, KANN Cube isn’t quite in the same price range as the DX300 MAX.
Comparing it to something like the upcoming M19 would feel wrong. I think that’s more of a competitor to the DX300.
I’m thinking of Fiio’s upcoming M17. It looks thicker and bigger, might be worth mentioning.
What do you guys say? I know I’m overly focusing on size, but DX300 MAX certainly takes advantage of its large size. This is why I want to make it a fair comparison.
Cause in sound it’s really not that many for full size headphones outside of the a&k designed for headphones or daps with portable amps strapped on the back. I guess more direct compeditors for driving headphones would be something more like a LP6Ti or gold, dmp-z1, shanling m30, with all three being in a different price class and the last 2 being a different size class to where I wouldn’t consider them a dap anymore. Imo it holds a somewhat newer place in the market for daps more focused on headphones than iems (but if you take the focus away from headphone performance the amount of daps that compete or exceed sonically increases such as the p6 pro, lpgt/ti, qpm, wm1z, sp2000, hm1000)
So I’m not really sure what would be the most fair comparison here if you are going to make a headphone focus, kinda sits alone for it’s combined price + performance with headphones currently imo, at least based on what I’ve tried
I would guess both, because both of those are important.
In any case, I am focusing on a single device from the same manufacturer. Think the A&K AK380SS package with the exclusively designed AMP accessory. That’s valid, but if I was to include mix & matching with a DAP + a portable amp, the comparisons would be never ending.
I see LP6 getting mentioned a lot, so I’m certainly thinking of including it. DMP-Z1 is quite pricey, but will think about including it. Had my eye on the Shanling M30, might be worth mentioning.
What I noticed is that people specifically like to use the DX300 MAX with more demanding headphones/IEMs. But like you said, it is more likely that the DX300 MAX is more headphone focused. I did hear people mentioning that they heard noise on some IEMs, so it all depends ig.
Gotcha. Since you could start adding some real nice portable amps that boost the performance quite well
Have a comparison of some of said amps here somewhat lol (although there’s more than that out there)
Yeah and imo that’s what it really excels at. It can be used for some iem’s no problem, but others have noise issues, or lack the level of lower level control/capability than other daps can provide. IMO the dx300 max is pretty carried by it’s amp section when used with headphones, but using iems levels the playing fields and exposes more flaws/shortcomings compared to other daps. But for headphones it really does just perform really really well lol
Since I’ve gotten the DX300 MAX, I’ve really been thinking of how perfect it would be for Tyll or someone like him.
From what others are saying, DX300 MAX has a performance close to desktop-sized DACs/amps. Now, imagine having a desktop sized amp that you can bring with you.
Travelling? Pop it in the backpack, bring along your favorite headphones, and you’re set to go.
Is it pocketable? Erghhh, depends how insane you are.
Overall, I’m very impressed with it. Can’t wait to dig into enjoying it (it’s still going through the burn-in process).
In terms of IEMs, I think DX300 is much more suitable for more sensitive pairings, and it also gives you the option to switch out the amp modules. DX300 MAX is the choice when you need to power some juice-hungry IEMs/cans. That’s how I see it.
