Mink
Headphoneus Supremus
I never owned a portable device (apart from a Sony Walkman in the 80's) because I never felt the use of it.
Just out of curiosity, not expecting much, I plugged my Sony MDR-Z7 in my newly bought Lumia 640 and started listening to Youtube videos and Spotify. "Pretty good sound", I was thinking and I decided to import some music to my phone. I bought an 64GB Micro SD card and soon regretted I hadn't bought a 128GB card right away, because simply put the sound I get is superior to any CD-player/ amp combo I ever had or auditioned.
The sound is neutral, open and very natural, not a hint of grain or distortion and because the MDR-Z7 is very sensitive I never have to up the volume to the extreme, the highest volume level I ever set was 17 (out of 30 max).
The Lumia 640 is able to play every format out there, including FLAC and OGG. The standard music app XBOX music does not, but there are excellent apps out there than can without compromise. There even is an app "Teh Jukebox" that plays gapless (something Windows 8.1 does not do natively) and does this flawless with FLAC, OGG and most MP3's, unfortunately not Apple's AAC (M4a), only a few tracks play gapless, most not. But realistically there are very few albums I have that desperately need gapless playback, so this is not an issue for me. But it is nice to know that it is confirmed that Windows Phone 10 OS gets gapless playback natively. It is about time!
Although the Xbox music app plays just fine there are better music apps out there, with better interface, better handling of metadeta/tags and more features. I'll end this short review with four great music players
Teh Jukebox ($2,99)
For the music enthusiast that demands gapless playback.
Although the user interface isn't as polished as some competitors it obviously plays FLAC and Ogg gapless, but also most of the MP3's and some AAC's. That's all you need, isn't it? The app is fast and stable. it doesn't build its own library but uses the music folder of the phone and SD card, which is fine because it will always play tracks of multi disc albums in the correct order.
You can make playlists and even rename and delete files.
Core Music Player ($1,99)
My favorite player.It does not support FLAC, It also supports FLAC but although 256 KB/ps AAC is good enough for me, I cannot hear differences between this and a lossless file.
The interface is slick, the app is fast and stable, You can make use of the music folder only or you can make use of a library if you want which is build pretty quickly. It then organizes the files in the usual groups album, artist, genre etc. And also adds mini albums in the lists, which is nice. A downside is that it sorts the complete library alphabetically, including the album tracks. I prefer the tracks of an album to be sorted in the order of the album. Especially with multi-disc classical albums (like operas). It however plays the tracks in the correct order if you not open the album fist to select a track, but directly click the album to play. It then also plays multi-disc albums in the right order. (Something XBOX music and many other app do not do, they will sort the files numeric, disregarding the disc tag/metadata, so it will play track 1 of the three discs first, followed by track 2 of disc 1, 2 and three. You do not want this to happen with an opera!)
You may as well disregard the library all together and just make use of the music folder (phone or SD), which has no issues with wrong sorting.
There are many customizations, like different color themes. You can make playlists. Make use of a timer. Things I don't use btw.
ModernMusic. ($1,99)
Another slick player.
This would be my number one player if it would be quicker in building its library. A serious annoyance is re-syncing the library, while adding only a few new tracks it completely syncs from scratch again, rebuilding the damn library track for track. Core Music Player when re-syncing only searches for new tracks and is so much faster.
And ModernMusic only makes use of a library, you cannot directly browse the music folder on the SD card or phone.
But having said that, the player is gorgeous. Also fast and stable once the library is build. The player plays multi-disc albums in the correct order
Loco Music Player (Free)
Great player. Makes use of a library and Music folder of phone, SD card and you can even choose the One Drive music folder.
Again fast and stable and the player itself is nice looking. But the library is pretty awful. When selecting artist it not only shows the artists in alphabetical order, but it directly shows every track by that artist. If you have a large library prepare yourself for endless scrolling. Yes you can select a letter for a quicker access, but still you find yourself scrolling a lot longer than with every other app out there.
Luckily you can access the music folder as well and although visually not as nice as Core Player and ModernMusic, it just works. Multi disc albums are also played in the correct order.
Just out of curiosity, not expecting much, I plugged my Sony MDR-Z7 in my newly bought Lumia 640 and started listening to Youtube videos and Spotify. "Pretty good sound", I was thinking and I decided to import some music to my phone. I bought an 64GB Micro SD card and soon regretted I hadn't bought a 128GB card right away, because simply put the sound I get is superior to any CD-player/ amp combo I ever had or auditioned.
The sound is neutral, open and very natural, not a hint of grain or distortion and because the MDR-Z7 is very sensitive I never have to up the volume to the extreme, the highest volume level I ever set was 17 (out of 30 max).
The Lumia 640 is able to play every format out there, including FLAC and OGG. The standard music app XBOX music does not, but there are excellent apps out there than can without compromise. There even is an app "Teh Jukebox" that plays gapless (something Windows 8.1 does not do natively) and does this flawless with FLAC, OGG and most MP3's, unfortunately not Apple's AAC (M4a), only a few tracks play gapless, most not. But realistically there are very few albums I have that desperately need gapless playback, so this is not an issue for me. But it is nice to know that it is confirmed that Windows Phone 10 OS gets gapless playback natively. It is about time!
Although the Xbox music app plays just fine there are better music apps out there, with better interface, better handling of metadeta/tags and more features. I'll end this short review with four great music players
Teh Jukebox ($2,99)
For the music enthusiast that demands gapless playback.
Although the user interface isn't as polished as some competitors it obviously plays FLAC and Ogg gapless, but also most of the MP3's and some AAC's. That's all you need, isn't it? The app is fast and stable. it doesn't build its own library but uses the music folder of the phone and SD card, which is fine because it will always play tracks of multi disc albums in the correct order.
You can make playlists and even rename and delete files.
Core Music Player ($1,99)
My favorite player.
The interface is slick, the app is fast and stable, You can make use of the music folder only or you can make use of a library if you want which is build pretty quickly. It then organizes the files in the usual groups album, artist, genre etc. And also adds mini albums in the lists, which is nice. A downside is that it sorts the complete library alphabetically, including the album tracks. I prefer the tracks of an album to be sorted in the order of the album. Especially with multi-disc classical albums (like operas). It however plays the tracks in the correct order if you not open the album fist to select a track, but directly click the album to play. It then also plays multi-disc albums in the right order. (Something XBOX music and many other app do not do, they will sort the files numeric, disregarding the disc tag/metadata, so it will play track 1 of the three discs first, followed by track 2 of disc 1, 2 and three. You do not want this to happen with an opera!)
You may as well disregard the library all together and just make use of the music folder (phone or SD), which has no issues with wrong sorting.
There are many customizations, like different color themes. You can make playlists. Make use of a timer. Things I don't use btw.
ModernMusic. ($1,99)
Another slick player.
This would be my number one player if it would be quicker in building its library. A serious annoyance is re-syncing the library, while adding only a few new tracks it completely syncs from scratch again, rebuilding the damn library track for track. Core Music Player when re-syncing only searches for new tracks and is so much faster.
And ModernMusic only makes use of a library, you cannot directly browse the music folder on the SD card or phone.
But having said that, the player is gorgeous. Also fast and stable once the library is build. The player plays multi-disc albums in the correct order
Loco Music Player (Free)
Great player. Makes use of a library and Music folder of phone, SD card and you can even choose the One Drive music folder.
Again fast and stable and the player itself is nice looking. But the library is pretty awful. When selecting artist it not only shows the artists in alphabetical order, but it directly shows every track by that artist. If you have a large library prepare yourself for endless scrolling. Yes you can select a letter for a quicker access, but still you find yourself scrolling a lot longer than with every other app out there.
Luckily you can access the music folder as well and although visually not as nice as Core Player and ModernMusic, it just works. Multi disc albums are also played in the correct order.
