With the release of MAX, a product from Ibasso line up, which has taken the flagship DX220 and pushed it further. It consists of all the favorite features from Ibasso flagship platform, including an upgraded Amp8 and Amp7 architectures. Then topping it off with independent charging circuitries, individual batteries packs, pure and direct voltage without being converted/regulated/bucked up/down voltages feeding the Amplification stages
I have the pleasure to have gotten a MAX to play with, and when I am enjoying it immensely. I always play my favorite albums.
One of the main reason why I love Ibasso so much is that it has a huge Supporting community together with Ibasso being so enthusiastic and friendly toward the modifications community, firmware and hardware alike.
Coming from my own experiences and tinkering with EX modifications, incoming MAX-EX or simply calling it MAXEX
Before we begin with MAXEX, let me just rephrase some questions and answers from my point of views regarding MAX
1/ Do you have to Modify your MAX ?
No, you do not have to. No one is forcing you to do anything
2/ What about the performances of Stock MAX ?
It is Extremely good, as good as at $1899 pricing, I can not find anything to outperform it Stock to Stock, and that includes WM1Z/SP2K, with both devices easily 1.5-2X the prices. That is no easy feast
3/ Why do you Modify your MAX ?
Well, because everyone has a different point of views, personal preferences, experiences, and point of references. I will have to Emphasize the word “Personal Preferences”, and because of that, it is the reason why I publish my modifications and BOM (Bills of Materials), where to buy, so you can follow it and perform it yourself, hence I am a fan of DIY projects. If you are technically inclined, and understand your own preferences very well, then you should be able to modify your own, or tweak your own tuning. If that is the case, please don’t be shy, post it up and share with us all.
An additional point of references is that I use Sony DMP-Z1 as the point of references and tuning, also coming from my personal experiences with tinkering about stuff as well
Moooaarrr!!!!
During the time I am modifying the device, I am very surprised to see the quality of the boards And the rest of the components. It is very good
The back is a thick Corning Glass, and you will need to have proper tools to take it off. Similar to how you would work on it from repairing smartphones screens, only that this is easier
Disclaimers: You are assuming all risks and responsibilities for your own device. Tampering with your device will void the warranty by any manufacturers standards, and I can not be held responsible for whatever damages your device
So, here we go. The primary reasons to modify the MAX for me is simply to get more “meat” :wink:. There are 2 parts that I am going to do
A/ Hardware tunings and upgrades
B/ Heat dissipation
Within the part [A/] we will have 2 parts: Main and Amp. The main is following Dx220 Main EX, and so the pictures is borrowed from @EggofSound . My thanks to you!
Hardware
MaxEX
You will need
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/80-T543B107K010TE150
3x of those
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/80-T543B227K6AHW35
2X of those
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/80-T520A226M10ANE080
2X of those
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/80-T520A107M006AT
4x of those
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/80-T527I476M06ATE200
4x of those
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Rubycon/10ZLG100MEFC63X7?qs=T3oQrply3y9/QyWNcdIfTA==
2X
This is done similarly to the portable little brother Dx220, with the exception of 2 extra electrolytic capacitors. Please be sure to have battery clearances (picture shown the E-CAPs being upgraded before the rest due to progressing, I recommend to do it all at once)
The AmpMax will receive the Upgraded and improved buffering stages together with a different tuning to bring about the characteristics that in my own opinions and experiences are to be good. This buffer is upgraded for the amp-out parts only
It will improve 2 sections that I observed
Linearity which results in thinner timbres density, also the sub bass is too fast and fall down on it faces.
You will need
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/584-LT6203XS8PBF
2X
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/80-T543B107K010TE150
8x
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Elna/RFS-10V470ME35?qs=/ha2pyFaduhr6IZ36xIzc1lr8hMSeC0PLnuOibKLJ/8264tYSkWq1b9mUTm6it%2B%2B
4x
https://www.hificollective.co.uk/catalog/330uf-16v-toshin-jovial.html
3x
https://www.hificollective.co.uk/catalog/neotech-gp-oag-26-gold-plated-silver-wire.html
1m
Small Tantalum caps are removed like Amp8EX at green lines
Purple lines are New Buffers for Amp Out
Blue wires are Power supplies and will be upgraded by Silver Goldplated wires with 2 wires per terminals. Please check continuity and make sure to have not messed up polarity
Black wires are Bus for charging, batteries informations to be displayed in the system. It will remain the same


To further improve the pitch black background.
Noises are radiated from the screen and directed back into the main board throughout, using copper foils with conductive adhesive and make sure to have a good grounding onto the chassis to shunt the interferences. Clear electrical tape on top for safety insulation
Batteries packs will also need TDK sheets to applied on in order to absorb strays noises, and shielded over with copper foils which is grounded to the chassis back plate, following with clear insulation tapes. The Black batteries body doesnt allow me to take clear picture, but it is underneath the copper foils
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/810-IFM10M25BB300200
1 sheet


Heat dissipation
The next steps are to properly dissipate the heat generated from the DAC Chips ES9028Pros and the main CPU chip. I noticed while I was working on the Dx220EX, and also from collective firmwares inputs, the Dx220 Rockchip is capable, but because it gets hot, so it got the firmware to downclock it and make it slower. So helping to dissipate the heat will help, and possibly support the future more aggressive firmwares.
I used the thermal sheets 1000W/m-K After the applications, heats are being distributed toward the main big Chassis more even throughout
https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=P14473-nd
These sheets were cuts carefully (it is easily damaged) with insulation on top of the components on the board to prevent “short” Kapton tapes would do. I used the one that comes with the main boards.
Please be careful that these sheets Remnants are conductive, make sure you don’t leave any debris around



The Line out are using dual DAC at all time and if using it as Single Ended toward SE Line input For SE amplifiers, the MAX is unique and will allow that to be possible due to an extra differential stage
This will also confirm a few questions that people have been asking about the Dual DAC being implemented inside the MAX/220. Is the dual DAC active at all time ? The answer is Yes, only the Amp module are using differential stages to output SE or stay true to the balanced architectures
So that also means that in order to fully enjoy your DAP, Balanced is the best way to go on MAX/220 as it stay true to the Original designs without extra conversions.
The Line Out can only be effected by the DAC volumes and won’t be effected by analog volumes

I would say that I achieved the primary goals and some more: Definitely better tonal body density or Meats, some very nice sub-bass too
The overall presentation is just like DX220EX and Amp8EX but is on a higher level with more controls, separations, imagines, staging. The scale of performances is the same scale up as moving from DX220 Stock and Amp8 stock Into DX220EX and Amp8EX
Please note that MAX is very good, the AMP section is hugely improved Amp7 and Amp8 all in one with upgraded capacitors and designs architecture together with the improved power rails from it independent batteries, and it isn’t necessary to modify the AMPMAX. But definitely the main DAC would need it
Then again, we all have very different point of views, experiences and preferences
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