Best player <$400 can buy?

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I am not sure what it is for everyone else but for me it has to be the Fiio X5. It is the best $359.99 before tax I have ever spend on any audio gear. I A/B'ed it with my CA DAC Magic XS, thought they sounded the same. I just changed my mind fter listening to it for a couple more hours. I now realized I have never enjoyed Anne-Sophie Mutter's Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major that much, not even when the Oppo 105 was playing the original SACD but that's just going by my subjective auditory memory. What I am listening to with the Fiio is just the 44.1kHz/16 bit version ripped from the SACD. I am using the line out to the preamp's RCA input whereas the Oppo was connected to the same system but via the balanced input. This little DAP is really amazing, I have not tried its Asynchronous USB DAC function yet, hopefully it will sound just as good.

I don't typically waste my time on subjective reviews, but I have to admit one of the fluff word I hated when professional reviewer used it in their reviews, could actually be real. It is the word "intoxicating", that's how Anne-Sophie's violin sounds to me right this moment with the Fiio reproducing it. I am going back to focus on listening, the second time..

 

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Found one review FiiO X5 – New portable standard - Sound News that compared the X5 with a reference class unit that costs 4 to 5X more. I look forward to comparing it with the HA-1 hopefully soon.

ADTG: If you think hooking up the iPad is good enough, try hooking one of this to your Salon2 based setup.

Not too many people here seem interested in portable DAP or even headphone amps. I am guessing that most are happy with the iPad/pod/phones solutions. Me too, until now..... They are as convenient as the iPod/pad stuff, much more affordable than the desktop units such as those from CA and Oppo yet totally portable. Now this little X5 offers sound quality so good that it will not likely be the bottleneck of many home systems, not in mine anyway. I had it attached to my preamp and listened for hours yesterday, no fatige and was able to simply enjoy the music.