Android phones and USB DACs - Page 60

I'm still unclear what 24/192 or 32bit does for me in my daily life.  What percent of your music collection is native in these higher bitrates. I can't see how upconverting at any stage in the digital transport adds any information to the music. Has somebody got a stash of studio masters, or are they extracting them from TrueHD BDs?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toe Tag 

I'm still unclear what 24/192 or 32bit does for me in my daily life.  What percent of your music collection is native in these higher bitrates. I can't see how upconverting at any stage in the digital transport adds any information to the music. Has somebody got a stash of studio masters, or are they extracting them from TrueHD BDs?

Do you like Caviar?

I do, I do not eat it daily, but I enjoy it.

Many hate or disgusted just mentioning "Caviar", and I notice almost the same when talking about HD and non HD tracks.

I agree that Ibasso will/might never catch with Samsung, and that's were I am putting my money.

What I am saying the option is there, and many have ripped their SACD or got/made a collection from HDtracks.

It is a bonus, placebo or non, at least this makes us/them happy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NZtechfreak 

 

Good analogy :)

 

That last sentence I think sums it up well for me. I even wonder whether my only listening to FLAC only provides psychological reassurance, rather than tangible benefit.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

My Brother : Hey look at my new Ip@d (newest model), and I have all my Songs on it, and sounds amazing.

Me: In what format are your songs?

My Brother: Heh, what do you mean, the best sound quality from itunes as they mentioned!

Me: Ok, aac you mean.

My Brother:Yeah, what else, the best..

Me:Please listen to the same songs that you already have  on your Ip@d using my Note 2 (no DAC or AMP)  with TF10.

.....after a while...

My Brother : This Poweramp sounds amazing, clarity,etc.....much much better, but Why?

Me: I will introduce you to something called flac/Alac......

I think its contagious....

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

 

Yeah, I know what you mean.

 

My Brother : Hey look at my new Ip@d (newest model), and I have all my Songs on it, and sounds amazing.

Me: In what format are your songs?

My Brother: Heh, what do you mean, the best sound quality from itunes as they mentioned!

Me: Ok, aac you mean.

My Brother:Yeah, what else, the best..

Me:Please listen to the same songs that you already have  on your Ip@d using my Note 2 (no DAC or AMP)  with TF10.

.....after a while...

My Brother : This Poweramp sounds amazing, clarity,etc.....much much better, but Why?

 

Me: I will introduce you to something called flac/Alac......

 

I think its contagious....

I went on a quest and tried about 10 different players, and power amp had clearly the WORST sound quality, but it had the most features and the best UI. 

The best players were Neutron for sound quality (and also worst for UI), by a fair margin, especially running the resampling and the 64bit version.

Overall the best was Player Pro, second best sound quality, and second best UI. 

For reference I design UI's. But this was about 6 months ago when I went on the crusade. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

 

Do you like Caviar?

I do, I do not eat it daily, but I enjoy it.

Many hate or disgusted just mentioning "Caviar", and I notice almost the same when talking about HD and non HD tracks.

I agree that Ibasso will/might never catch with Samsung, and that's were I am putting my money.

What I am saying the option is there, and many have ripped their SACD or got/made a collection from HDtracks.

It is a bonus, placebo or non, at least this makes us/them happy.

So here is a (year-old) list of 24/192 USB DACs. http://www.audiostream.com/content/24192-usb-dacs-list So from that I induce that the USB spec can handle higher bitrates, and that there are DACs that receive and process it. (trying to catch up to you guys) I'm not sure any of those are on DanBa's list. And maybe that's because Android is not outputting it yet? For want of (integration of) a driver? I'm guessing?

iBasso should look at taking the open source tree at cyanogenmod and making it work on their hardware. I don't want to be a hater, and I can cough up the $850, but its hard to do it knowing that for $600 and falling, I can get an S III... cutting edge OLED screen, makes phone calls, shoots movies, runs Jelly Bean, smaller, lighter... It just seems like the right thing, to let Samsung do what its best at, let iBasso and other DAC geeks do what they do best, and run a USB cable between them. I think thats what this thread is all about.

I do like TrueHD and DTS-HD ma, and watching/hearing a BD more than a DVD. Is the step up to 24/192 just as dramatic? Is the step up to balanced headphones?

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiR3D 

I went on a quest and tried about 10 different players, and power amp had clearly the WORST sound quality, but it had the most features and the best UI. 

 

The best players were Neutron for sound quality (and also worst for UI), by a fair margin, especially running the resampling and the 64bit version.

 

Overall the best was Player Pro, second best sound quality, and second best UI. 

 

For reference I design UI's. But this was about 6 months ago when I went on the crusade. 

I own 2 players in Android, Poweramp and Neutron and you are 100% right about your conclusion, but just the thought of me asking someone trying Neutron (Esp. coming from Apple's Apps Heaven), is out of the question (at least for his first introduction to Android).

Dimitri (The Neutron Developer) is interested in updating his player to fully support Ibasso's DX100 (I think he might have contacted them), so Imagine the possibilities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toe Tag 

 

So here is a (year-old) list of 24/192 USB DACs. http://www.audiostream.com/content/24192-usb-dacs-list So from that I induce that the USB spec can handle higher bitrates, and that there are DACs that receive and process it. (trying to catch up to you guys) I'm not sure any of those are on DanBa's list. And maybe that's because Android is not outputting it yet? For want of (integration of) a driver? I'm guessing?

 

iBasso should look at taking the open source tree at cyanogenmod and making it work on their hardware. I don't want to be a hater, and I can cough up the $850, but its hard to do it knowing that for $600 and falling, I can get an S III... cutting edge OLED screen, makes phone calls, shoots movies, runs Jelly Bean, smaller, lighter... It just seems like the right thing, to let Samsung do what its best at, let iBasso and other DAC geeks do what they do best, and run a USB cable between them. I think thats what this thread is all about.

 

I do like TrueHD and DTS-HD ma, and watching/hearing a BD more than a DVD. Is the step up to 24/192 just as dramatic? Is the step up to balanced headphones?

Its not that simple, as what I have understood , is that Rockship is responsible for developing the software for the DX100.

Now Where is my lovely Apex Glacier stuck?

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

 

 

I own 2 players in Android, Poweramp and Neutron and you are 100% right about your conclusion, but just the thought of me asking someone trying Neutron (Esp. coming from Apple's Apps Heaven), is out of the question (at least for his first introduction to Android).

Dimitri (The Neutron Developer) is interested in updating his player to fully support Ibasso's DX100 (I think he might have contacted them), so Imagine the possibilities.

I got so annoyed today that instead of studying I started sketching new interface concepts. Already have the now playing and main screen. Next to sort out the library inner screens.

Meizu MX 4-Core: an Android-powered smartphone with 24/192 SPDIF audio out capability

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/sound-smartphone-meizu-mx-4-core

"In the past, I've lamented how there are very few portable devices that can supply a digital signal to feed a quality portable DAC/amp unit like the Leckerton UHA-6S. Meizu comes to the rescue with support for SPDIF output. Unfortunately there is simply no room for a dedicated jack, so Meizu did the next best thing---MHL output through the microUSB port. MHL is actually an industry standard that supports HD video and digital audio out, and is typically used for connecting a smartphone to a display (using an MHL to HDMI cable). The Meizu MX is the first and only device I've seen that also does SPDIF audio. There's an option in the settings menu to enable this output, and it requires an adapter to interface with a coaxial SPDIF cable.

Meizu hasn't quite finalized their plans for this adapter. For now I'm using an engineering sample of a breakout board based on the Prolific PL-2303X USB to serial bridge controller. Keep in mind that this is not converting USB to SPDIF but rather controlling the native data that already exists in the MHL output. This sample board has a microUSB connection that plugs into the phone itself, 3 miniUSB ports, and a coaxial SPDIF port. It's small enough to where I have carried it around with the phone and the Leckerton as a portable rig, but of course there's room make it smaller by ditching a lot of those ports on the final version. I imagine Meizu could do a typical home dock with HDMI, SPDIF, and analog audio outputs, and then also a small inline cable with just SPDIF to be used in a portable setup.

The best part about this output is that it spits out bit-perfect data. I've tested it with various DACs and they all confirm that the Meizu plays back an unaltered stream, ranging from 16-bit/44.1kHz CD standard tracks to 24-bit/192kHz hi-res material and everything in between."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanBa 

Meizu MX 4-Core: an Android-powered smartphone with 24/192 SPDIF audio out capability

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/sound-smartphone-meizu-mx-4-core

 

"In the past, I've lamented how there are very few portable devices that can supply a digital signal to feed a quality portable DAC/amp unit like the Leckerton UHA-6S. Meizu comes to the rescue with support for SPDIF output. Unfortunately there is simply no room for a dedicated jack, so Meizu did the next best thing---MHL output through the microUSB port. MHL is actually an industry standard that supports HD video and digital audio out, and is typically used for connecting a smartphone to a display (using an MHL to HDMI cable). The Meizu MX is the first and only device I've seen that also does SPDIF audio. There's an option in the settings menu to enable this output, and it requires an adapter to interface with a coaxial SPDIF cable.

 

Meizu hasn't quite finalized their plans for this adapter. For now I'm using an engineering sample of a breakout board based on the Prolific PL-2303X USB to serial bridge controller. Keep in mind that this is not converting USB to SPDIF but rather controlling the native data that already exists in the MHL output. This sample board has a microUSB connection that plugs into the phone itself, 3 miniUSB ports, and a coaxial SPDIF port. It's small enough to where I have carried it around with the phone and the Leckerton as a portable rig, but of course there's room make it smaller by ditching a lot of those ports on the final version. I imagine Meizu could do a typical home dock with HDMI, SPDIF, and analog audio outputs, and then also a small inline cable with just SPDIF to be used in a portable setup.

 

The best part about this output is that it spits out bit-perfect data. I've tested it with various DACs and they all confirm that the Meizu plays back an unaltered stream, ranging from 16-bit/44.1kHz CD standard tracks to 24-bit/192kHz hi-res material and everything in between."

 

 

 

This is not a portable solution! and even the adapter does not exist, but thank you for the headsup, we have to wait and see if others will follow.

Hey guys,

I don't know what the heck happened, but my S3 is kinda messed up. I just updated to the new Jelly Bean firmware and now I get "android.process.media has stopped" and can't access any of my files. ZPlayer and Player Pro won't load and give em this error message. When connecting my phone to the PC, it shows that I have nothing in my Music or Video folders, but I know I have stuff there.

I'll be walking to Sprint tomorrow to see what they can do...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zombie_X 

Hey guys,

 

I don't know what the heck happened, but my S3 is kinda messed up. I just updated to the new Jelly Bean firmware and now I get "android.process.media has stopped" and can't access any of my files. ZPlayer and Player Pro won't load and give em this error message. When connecting my phone to the PC, it shows that I have nothing in my Music or Video folders, but I know I have stuff there.

 

I'll be walking to Sprint tomorrow to see what they can do...

I knew there was a reason I havent updated

Quote:

Originally Posted by turokrocks 

This is not a portable solution! and even the adapter does not exist, but thank you for the headsup, we have to wait and see if others will follow.

Once my Matrix USB-SPDIF adapter gets here, I can confirm whether it will work with the FiiO E17 (which takes SPDIF input). If it works then I can commission a one cable solution for the MX and E17: micro USB on one end, coaxial on the other, USB-SPDIF converter in the middle. Cable would probably be about 3-4" long, but would theoretically feed bit-perfect data into the E17, which can then output to your headphones or line out to another amp and then to headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBEG 

 

Once my Matrix USB-SPDIF adapter gets here, I can confirm whether it will work with the FiiO E17 (which takes SPDIF input). If it works then I can commission a one cable solution for the MX and E17: micro USB on one end, coaxial on the other, USB-SPDIF converter in the middle. Cable would probably be about 3-4" long, but would theoretically feed bit-perfect data into the E17, which can then output to your headphones or line out to another amp and then to headphones.

very curious about this, but isn't the Matrix XMOS based? which AFAIK needs 3rd party drivers?