[darveniza]

Jellofund, just to check is the offline issues the blips with Tidal??. Did you use the on board memory and external memory and had the same issues??

Just trying to see how pervasive the situation with Android and Tidal. Sporting works no issue

 

[mokocchi]

If it sounds good then great. The long-burning question is whether these 3rd party music apps utilize the ESS DAC or just the default Onkyo/Pioneer music player does.

At least there is one sure thing : in the current state of Poweramp (without modding), the Android audio mixer is not being bypassed and everything is resampled to 48KHz.
Also it sounds tinny and will have distorsion issues when enabling EQ with some presets/setups if DVC is set to Off.

 

[jellofund]

Jellofund, just to check is the offline issues the blips with Tidal??. Did you use the on board memory and external memory and had the same issues??

Just trying to see how pervasive the situation with Android and Tidal. Sporting works no issue

​I usually tend to use Qobuz's Hi Fi streaming service (16/44) but when I hit problems with it and the XDP-100R I signed up for the 30 day Tidal trial to see if that behaved any better. By that time my Micro SDXC (class 10 up to 80MB/s) card had arrived so I only tried Tidal with the external memory.
 
The biggest issue I had was indeed blips during offline playback. Didn't happen too often (every track or two) but I found it to be quite jarring.
 
Unfortunately I've now also seen similar reports of these blips from Onkyo DP-X1, Cayin I5 and Pioneer XDP-300R owners so finding a DAP that plays nicely with Tidal in offline mode would seem to be quite a challenge. What did surprise me is that when I later stuck the same card into a budget mobile phone (Moto E 3rd 2nd gen) and tested a number of Tidal (Hi Fi) tracks in offline mode and I didn't experience a single blip during my time listening. 
 
So card speed doesn't seem to be the issue nor does hardware spec. I'm stumped!

 

[snip3r77]

Is this able to power up Audeze Sine?

 

[swanlee]

How is DLNA wifi playback on this? Does the EQ and other DSP options reduce bit rate to 48k?

 

[migasson]

Ok.

I might not be a super specific guy when it comes to the features, but I basically wanted a DAP that could stream and play my library.

Things to note

-Variable output not on mine, but I don't really care, as it sounds perfect with Campfire Lyra's, and gets plenty loud at 115 on the volume
-As far as using the Pioneer app, I don't need to EQ as the sound balance is spot on with every track I have (with the Lyra's)
-When I want to play a track on the Pioneer app, I go Artist > Album and play the album - works for me..
-Size of this is not an issue- sits well in the hand, and I have a small palm. Volume on the left? I don't see a problem, I hold it in my left hand, so my thumb is perfectly positioned to adjust. The beveled edge allows comfort whilst adjusting.
-It sounds amazing! There's been a lot on the thread working out the issues with the DAP, but no one offering info as to what   earphones/headphones work well, but I can recommend the Lyras!!!

 

[ReptilynSamurai]

I don't know the answer to that.

All I do know is the Poweramp sounds way better than the default music app.

When I switch between the Pioneer & my Note 4 using poweramp the pioneer sounds way way better. So maybe it is using the built in dac.

Coincidentally, I bought the Pioneer because my Note 4 sounds like garbage on my nice Empire Ears Spartan IEMs. They're sensitive, so I hear all the hiss and distortion and electrical nose, and in soft moments at lower volumes music sounds artificial and terrible, even if it's flac.

I prefer Poweramp to the default player, but in my experience only the default player is using the better dac/amp in the Pioneer. When I use Poweramp, it sounds like garbage, the same as on my Note 4. The black background is replaced with hiss, volume 1 becomes silent, 2-59 are then incredibly loud and identical, the distortion is there. So I'm positive it's not using the ESS dac/amp.

This is very frustrating. The built in music player has terrible playlist management, and won't load playlists saved from other apps for some reason (it recognizes them, but they come up empty).

Anyone have any suggestions for third party players that actually work properly?

 

[home44]

I have to say Poweramp doesn't sound garbage on my Pioneer. No hiss either.
 
I had the Note 4 Exynos & it sounded fantastic with poweramp.
 
I don't know why your getting any hiss on your Pioneer & poweramp?

 

[ReptilynSamurai]

I have to say Poweramp doesn't sound garbage on my Pioneer. No hiss either.

I had the Note 4 Exynos & it sounded fantastic with poweramp.

I don't know why your getting any hiss on your Pioneer & poweramp?

I'm going to try the Poweramp beta, which is supposedly adding some hifi support. Hopefully it helps!

 

[home44]

I'm going to try the Poweramp beta, which is supposedly adding some hifi support. Hopefully it helps!

That's the one I use,
 
Hope it works for you.
 
Do let us know.

 

[mokocchi]

@ReptilynSamurai : Don't forget to turn off musicFX (stock Android sound effects, but produces significant hiss if enabled) and enable DVC (Settings Menu > Audio > Advanced Tweaks) to remove distorsion.

 

[Borja Henninger]

Sorry but I cannot imagine how different apps could use a DAC/AMP other than the Sabre.
To my understanding the Pioneer just has the Sabre, and to get any sound everything need to go through it. If while playing music with any app you go to Settings-> Sound and modify DAC parameters, you will notice sound changes.
 
If Poweramp sounds loud/distorted then disable DVC, you'll get the same sound as default player.

 

[ReptilynSamurai]

@ReptilynSamurai : Don't forget to turn off musicFX (stock Android sound effects, but produces significant hiss if enabled) and enable DVC (Settings Menu > Audio > Advanced Tweaks) to remove distorsion.

Tried those settings on the v3 beta, sadly no luck. The poor sounds is especially noticeable at low volumes. Oddly if I open poweramp and then switch to the default player, that one sounds just as bad. I need to restart for the sound quality to go back to normal.

I imagine it's powering off the dac/amp and using the one built in to the Android's chip, but I'm not up on all the technical details. All I know is sound quality is severely diminished to the point I might as well use my cell phone if I use Poweramp.

 

[mokocchi]

It is surely using the DAC, but it may change the operating mode when switching to a third party app. It kinda remind me of the former Plenue line of Android DAPs, which runs on degraded mode outside the stock Music app unless a trick is used. Only a logcat will confirm it (or not).
But the thing that puzzles me is the fact that degradation persists when switching back to stock music app...
Maybe it is because I'm not using an iem to notice static noise at low volume.

Edit : noticed low sound quality at low volume on Stock Music app. But no need to reboot, just toggle and switch back Upsampling mode on the stock app and the noise is gone.
On Poweramp it looks like we have to choose between distorsion vs broken volume scaling...

 

[home44]

Tried those settings on the v3 beta, sadly no luck. The poor sounds is especially noticeable at low volumes. Oddly if I open poweramp and then switch to the default player, that one sounds just as bad. I need to restart for the sound quality to go back to normal.

I imagine it's powering off the dac/amp and using the one built in to the Android's chip, but I'm not up on all the technical details. All I know is sound quality is severely diminished to the point I might as well use my cell phone if I use Poweramp.

Sorry to here your having problems with Poweramp.
 
I have none of those issues using poweramp. No Hiss, No bad sound.
 
I don't think the fault lies with poweramp as I have superb sound, way better than my note 4 & that was fab with Poweramp.