Are mobile phone going to replace DAP's eventually??

[3X0]

Well AFAIK the iPhone is the ONLY phone currently that has a "true" line-out, which should leave a lot of headroom for audiophile sound improvement should one choose to go that route.

IMHO after trying "them all" I think the technological convergence device to beat in the coming years will be made by either Apple or Palm (if the latter manages to improve and perfect their presently mediocre sound quality). The rest have their share of serious flaws in key areas.

 

[Bojamijams]

I'm hoping samsung takes the lead with the omnia HD but thats just wishfull thinking

Line out support on the smartphone is a must though... its a shame only apple has figured that out

 

[estreeter]

As attractive as the thought of having everything in one device - PDA. phone, camera, video and music player - is to many of us, its equal parts terrifying. Lose that device and you've lost the lot.

The technology is getting better every year, but I still cant see the majority of manufacturers giving SQ the kind of priority that someone like Cowon puts into their DAPs. They have to cut a corner or two somewhere to compete in such a crowded market.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bba1973 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure it would work for the average person, but definitely not for me.

Phones are, of necessity, targeted to that average person. And that average person doesn't give a rat's patootie about sound. That average person wants two things: fashion and convenience. When it comes to functions that were previously handled well by separate devices, the phone version simply has to be "good enough." And to me, the bar for "good enough" is set depressingly low.

Let's face it: in terms of pure sound, a middling PCDP from 2000 kicks most current DAPs up and down the block. If that DAP is playing low bit-rate lossy files, sound quality suffers even more. Which is fine with the average consumer. Read a typical product review of a typical DAP on a typical consumer electronics website, and you are likely to find a single sentence devoted to what the device sounds like, if you are lucky.

Given that the market for good portable sound is vanishingly small, phone designs are going to place very, very little emphasis on sound quality. I think people looking for good portable sound are going to find very slim pickins in the future.


Quote:

Originally Posted by bba1973 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Very interesting topic, BTW.

No doubt. I sincerely hope that I am wrong about all this, but I ain't optimistic.

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif Let's face it: in terms of pure sound, a middling PCDP from 2000 kicks most current DAPs up and down the block. If that DAP is playing low bit-rate lossy files, sound quality suffers even more. Which is fine with the average consumer. Read a typical product review of a typical DAP on a typical consumer electronics website, and you are likely to find a single sentence devoted to what the device sounds like, if you are lucky. Given that the market for good portable sound is vanishingly small, phone designs are going to place very, very little emphasis on sound quality. I think people looking for good portable sound are going to find very slim pickins in the future.

Naturally. In general, the standard of what is good portable sound will diminish over time as the "best" of a newer generation approaches the level of excellence in what was mediocre in an older age.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Naturally. In general, the standard of what is good portable sound will diminish over time as the "best" of a newer generation approaches the level of excellence in what was mediocre in an older age.

Y'know, at the time (1978), I thought DEVO's message (we're devolving) was snotty silliness from a bunch of smartasses. How wrong I was. How right they have turned out to be. Heavy sigh.

 

[prone2phone]

Are mobile phone going to replace DAP's eventually

well, mobile phones have already replaced daps, nokia 5310xpressmusic is the best selling mp3 player in the world. just like digital cameras on mobiles replaced canons for most average users

 

[bba1973]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif Phones are, of necessity, targeted to that average person. And that average person doesn't give a rat's patootie about sound. That average person wants two things: fashion and convenience. When it comes to functions that were previously handled well by separate devices, the phone version simply has to be "good enough." And to me, the bar for "good enough" is set depressingly low.

You can't even get a phone that's "just a phone" anymore. Instead of getting one device that does one thing great, we're getting one device that does a bunch of stuff halfway decent at best. One thing that comes to mind is the lack of a flash for cameras. I'm pretty sure that even the geniuses at Apple didn't put that on the iPhone. Wasn't video unavailable for the iPhone camera for a while when it first came out?

Quote:

Let's face it: in terms of pure sound, a middling PCDP from 2000 kicks most current DAPs up and down the block. If that DAP is playing low bit-rate lossy files, sound quality suffers even more. Which is fine with the average consumer. Read a typical product review of a typical DAP on a typical consumer electronics website, and you are likely to find a single sentence devoted to what the device sounds like, if you are lucky.

It depends on which DAP and PCDP you compare, but you're right overall. The only stuff I find about sound quality on DAP reviews most of the time is just "The player has good sound," or "It has plenty of bass for our tests." It's never anything like "The player has an excellent soundstage with good instrument separation."

Quote:

I think people looking for good portable sound are going to find very slim pickins in the future.

I hope not, but you're probably right.

 

[3X0]

Yeah, once you think about it the comparison is with like cameraphones, compact point & shoot cameras, and digital SLRs. The camera aspect of phones is approaching the level of a good point & shoot camera, but is nowhere near the level of a DSLR and likely never will be.

Similarly, the music quality aspect of phones is approaching the level of a good standalone digital audio player, but is nowhere near the level of the venerable HiMD and PCDP of yesteryear and likely never will be.

While I believe these comparisons are analogous and necessary in light of the compromises made in technological convergence, I think there are notable exceptions.

For example, two or three years ago Samsung debuted a 10.1 megapixel Anycall compact camera (with optical zoom!) with a cell phone aspect shoehorned in.

Similarly, Apple made an iPod that just happens to make calls!

The difference is in where the focus is.

 

[prosound]

How good is the SQ of iPhone 3G's headphone out? I'm thinking of getting one to replace my old video.

 

[3X0]

3G is great! It was clearer than the 5.5G 80GB Video I had (the Video sounds congested and nasally in comparison IMO). The 3G S seems to be even a little better with OS 3.0 and all, but the difference might be in my head or splitting hairs.

 

[Uncle Erik]

For me, it'll happen when the iPhone gets to 64GB or more. I don't see any reason not to use it as my DAP - sound quality is the same as an iPod and they're both easy to use.

 

[Bojamijams]

iphone's crippling factor is no expandability.. 32gb is not enough yet to not have that feature.. at 64gb maybe, but even then, it stupid not to have expandability. However, it would make it thicker.. or longer.. either way increase surface area and apple I'm sure wants to avoid that at all costs.

I'm curious though.. with a 32gb iphone (for example) how much free space to you actually have? I imagine the GPS map alone is a gig.. plus the OS/apps.. or is the 32gb number actual FREE space?

 

[3X0]

My 3G S is formatted to 29.33 GB.

The phone with the largest potential capacity is the N97. It has 32GB onboard and a microSD slot so you can get 48GB now or 64GB down the line. The downside is the poor operating system and that the sound quality is not quite on par with the iPhone.

Apple will never embrace expandable storage because it is not in their design philosophy. They really don't embrace removeable or moving pieces in their portable designs, which expandable storage requires.

 

[shigzeo]

i have so many apps - literally hundreds: some that take up 300 MB of space (e.g. oxford deluxe, mantis bible, etc.) and if i put then all on my ipod touch 2g, i still have about 8 or 9 GB of space (i have the 16GB version).

the rest i use to shuffle music in and out. i don't care to carry all of my music around ever. in fact, my main out and about music player is a 512 MB shuffle!

the 3G sounds great actually, but i've not heard the 3GS nor any iPhone with OS 3.0 as i is in korea where the only phones sold are cheap korean phones.