[ricthaman]

Hi guys,

Since I work in an Electronics Retailer I tend to keep an eye on everyting new that comes out. Now I'm an so-called audiophile (as in I like good quality sound) and long time Head-fier, so I couldn't help it noticing how the mobile phones of today are significantly changing. Phones used to focus on Camera's and operating systems as main selling points but now they are even more focusing on multimedia and many are actually getting good at it *finally*.

If I look back a year there was almost no phone that had a simple 3,5mm headphone jack, and if they did it sounded rubbish.
Nowadays more and more phones get 3,5mm and even surpass modern media players in functionality and featureset. And on top of that they pack in a decent audio quality too.

So I keep wondering if I should buy a new DAP in the near future or just look at some phone to replace them all??

If I look at the modern day offer in phones on the market I see a few examples that make my point maybe somehow clearer:

- Nokia: They tend to put 3,5mm in most of their phones (N, E series) and sound is quite good. Some of them have even more media capabilities such as the N97, N96, N95 N85, 5800 etc etc

- Sonyericsson: They where so stubborn in the 3,5mm area but they managed it at last! With the newest Walkman branded hones and the X1

- Samsung: They never where my favorit music phones, but with the Innov8 and the Serenate they really went up! And now with the Omnia HD, the Jet and the Beat they are really putting themselves in the spotlights.

- Apple: 'nuff said

- Palm: are getting there, but I've read that music quality isn't top notch (yet)

- LG: With The arena they are getting up ther with the big ones, especially with Dolby Mobile bundled!

So how do you guys think about it. Phones are getting dedicated music chips (5800, iPhone, ??) and great multimedia features. So are phones blowing away the DAP market?? I mean, even memory is going up with a 32GB iPhone now?

Please leave your opinion!

Rgds

 

[bba1973]

Smartphones replacing DAPs? I sure hope not. The last thing I need while enjoying some Deep Purple is a freakin' phone call. I'm sure there will be more smartphones with better built-in DAPs, but I don't know about a replacement for a high-capacity DAP. I'm sure it would work for the average person, but definitely not for me.

Smartphones have pretty much killed off standalone PDAs. The closest thing I know of to a standalone PDA that's readily available in stores is the iPod Touch. It's possible that they could do the same to DAPs, but I wouldn't bet on it just yet. Maybe they'd kill off tiny flash players (less than 8GB), but I don't see them killing 120 GB+ hard drive players.

Very interesting topic, BTW.

 

[Bojamijams]

A jack of all trades will never replace a dedicated device completely, but for a lot of people it will.

So yes, for the majority of people, 2 years from now, the portable music player will be in the form of a 'combo' unit.. phone, camera, gps, music player, video player, web, etc.

Of course there will still be those of us who want something better in the same size, but we're a minority.

 

[zeroibis]

Unless that jack of all trades is very big, heavy and expensive.

 

[Earwax]

Not for me. I want my phone to be my phone. period, end of sentance. If I need to make a call I want the battery to be charged, not run down because I spent all afternoon listening to music, watching movies, playing games, taking pictures, etc.

 

[3X0]

For me, yes. Ends up being cheaper for me too. I love technological convergence!

Many companies need to improve though. The XPERIA X1 output is mediocre. Samsung's i8510 INNOV8 and i8910 OmniaHD sound stellar though. The recent Nokia N-series units (N79, N85, N86, N97) sound awesome as well (as well as their 5800XM), but the E-series is pretty awful.

None of these quite compare to the iPhone 3G S in terms of audio quality, though (this is having owned many of these units). With that said, many mobile phone companies really have to play catch-up with Apple in order to cater a product suitable for audiophiles.

And then again, many people are uncomfortable with their media players also being phones, potentially interrupting their music (and moreover Airplane mode would not be a suitable option).

But for my needs my iPhone is my 32GB DAP.

 

[toughnut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bojamijams /img/forum/go_quote.gif So yes, for the majority of people, 2 years from now, the portable music player will be in the form of a 'combo' unit.. phone, camera, gps, music player, video player, web, etc.

Most smartphones capable of that, since 2+ years ago

And yes, my Sony dap already replaced by 5800XM hahaha

 

[ricthaman]

nice to see so many reactions!

I see where you'r going at. The iPhone is the one to beat in terms of audio quality. But there are other devices that do other things better. For example, the Omnia HD has stellar video performance which is clearly superior to that of the iPhone. What I'm trying to say is that at some point in time, there will be a phone that has it all; stellar audio, superb video and pictures, stellar battery, easy usable GPS etc etc... just like 5 years ago *some* of the very advanced phones had a camera, nowadays a phone without a camera is considered special.

See, there will be some day when all these features are packed in one phone and considered ''standard'' while manufacturers are concentrating on different features. For us audio enthousiasts the big question imho is whether the phones can catch up with the standalone DAP's in terms of audio quality? Or is there so much more to be developed in audio technology that there will always be a gap between the two??

Rgds

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earwax /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not for me. I want my phone to be my phone. period, end of sentance. If I need to make a call I want the battery to be charged, not run down because I spent all afternoon listening to music, watching movies, playing games, taking pictures, etc.

Battery life is the big factor for me, too. I already have enough trouble keeping my BlackBerry Pearl charged without tapping into any of its (admittedly mediocre) multimedia capabilities. Unless battery technology takes a tremendous leap in the near future, I'll be sticking with my tried-and-true pairing of (1) a feature-rich DAP for music on the go and (2) a feature-rich smartphone to handle my calls, texts, and on-the-go emailing.

 

[rajeevsid]

Well I think for most people it will ad rightly so.We all have to face it . Its just more convinient to have lets say a good 8MP camera with a great sound music player and orgainiser together..Convinience .. Thats the key word.. However there will always be a market for a DAP for those who prefer
a) more storage
b) want their phone and DAP separate to prevent battery problems
c) prefer a particular sound signature . Eg. Zune lovers would not have a phone matching the sound signature of the Zune. Same for Cowon, iriver etc. I am sure you guys get the point.
d) For one, people like me would not want to take an expensive do-it-all cellphone on a jog, biking trip or trek. Thats where a Sansa clip or a D2+ is really useful.

At least now , not speculating about the future, Its a question of premium audiophile sound quality , feature, storage of a DAP etc vs everyday convenience of a do-it-all product..

 

[Joelby]

I just got the iPhone 3G S and am very happy with it as my new DAP. In fact, I just sold my 160gb iPod on here!

I can defintely see that the battery issue may be the primary drawback with this. However, I noticed that there are cases available at the Apple store with a built in battery that doubles the life of the iPhone. Adds a bit of bulk but nothing major. I'll likely get that in the future...

 

[.coco]

My iPhone 3G works great for my DAP, riding along with my TF10s.

 

[Head-Case]

I admit that when I was using my AT&T Nokia 6340i, it would run five or six days at home (DC suburbs) without being recharged, and seven to TEN days when I was working in Dallas or Las Vegas, and that was nice. Of course, when I was in rural areas, it might burn through two batteries a day, like in West Virginia or Pahrump, Nevada, but at least it worked. No other phones worked, other than my Motorola Micro-TAC Elite on Verizon, which needed to be recharged EVERY DAY.

Now, I am using an iPhone. It doesn't work in the rural areas, because it isn't analog. Not matter what you have read, there are analog only areas, even now.

Still my iPhone will work for an entire day of playing music and making calls. I have NEVER run it down. I have come close about three times in over two years, but it keeps going. My wife carries a car charger for her iPhone, but she has never needed it. I carry a sync cord. It is still in its box. I have never opened it, but if I need to I can charge my iPhone from my computer or from any USB type charger.

I love listening to my iPhone for music. It isn't NEARLY as bit as my iPods, but it gets me through long airline flights.

As far as the music being interrupted, I don't mind as it goes back to music after the call. HOWEVER, if you don't want that, just put it in "airplane mode." That turns off the RF connections, both Cell and WiFi.

 

[b35ty]

I've got an n95 8gb that I used as a DAP for a while. I switched back to my Zen Vision M and couldn't believe the difference it made. The sound output on the Nokia did not do it at all, very poor. Storage was also too small.

The smartphone will definitely overtake DAPs at some point. Even now, the largest flash-based players are 32gb, which is the same as the largest phone capacities. Yes, you can get an ipod classic or something, but hard drives are becoming an old technology and soon enough you'll have flash players with 128gb anyway. The touchscreen UIs are just as intuitive on a phone as they are on a DAP, and the only thing remaining is SQ. If the phone companies can take care of this, they'll eat the mp3 player market. I'm expecting big things of Samsung since they already produce DAPs. Nokia and the rest have some catching up to do, I guess.

Probably within a year or two we'll see something with 64 or 128gb of flash storage, a large touchscreen and excellent audio quality. Hopefully it won't be tied to iTunes and then I'll be set. To be honest if it had the extra storage I'd probably be lining up for the recently announced Samsung Jet. That thing looks hot.

 

[jbarbier]

you know, if you would have asked me this question about a year ago, i would have said "YES, DEFINITELY." but that was before i know that it was possible to get very good quality sound in such a portable size. i have a pretty nice dedicated home system with an awesome turntable, high-end speakers, amps, connects, etc, but when it came to portable music... i thought "iPod." i used to have a minidisc player, and while i REALLY liked it, the convenience factor of the iPod trumped it. now that i know what is possible for about $500 (less than what i paid for interconnects for my home system,) i'm not so sure that my iPod is so great after all.

a $75 sansa clip, $100 grados, $50-100 amp of your choice, plus ICs... that puts you in the game for mere pocket change, really. my system in my room cost about $4,000 and i can get nearly identical sound with a $300 dollar portable!? the killer though is that i can listen to my portable rig with headphones at ANY TIME. this is key since i like listening to music at night. wish i had known that a few years ago.

back to the topic though, when it comes to music, i'd like my DAP to do one thing and do it well instead of doing a lot of things decently. the iTouch is very close to doing everything great, but for simply enjoying music, it's overkill. a $50 sansa clip would sound better for like a fifth of the price.