Are there no modern portables for Audiophiles!

[indysmith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do you need digital out? Real audiophiles know analog is the only way to go:

What the hell is that? That was NEVER going to catch on...

 

[ronnielee54]

Quote:

What the hell is that? That was NEVER going to catch on...

Well actually they did. I went to a collectors show in Austin a few years ago with a buddy to sell some vinyl. This is one of the largest shows in the world. Saw quite a few of these being carried around. Makes it easier to get a buyer to turn loose of large bucks if they can here the record play.

 

[toxicsweet]

Btw, Q5W has an USB port too. I suppose it can be hooked up with a DAC through the USB too.

 

[musicmaker]

Interesting. It says USB host on the spec which as you describe can feed a dac. The A3s spec also says USB host.

 

[manaox2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamess71 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are they out yet? looks awesome, how is the sound quality?

They are out now, just got released. No one I have heard of has one yet, they are kind of prohibatively expensive; something like $800.

 

[Shauntell47]

archos 605 also has SPDIF out...

 

[jamess71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaox2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif They are out now, just got released. No one I have heard of has one yet, they are kind of prohibatively expensive; something like $800.

OUCH

 

[antonyfirst]

They cost like a Vcap iMod.

 

[jet87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicmaker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting. It says USB host on the spec which as you describe can feed a dac. The A3s spec also says USB host.

While I'd be glad to be proven wrong, no portable player can take advantage of a USB DAC. Maybe a software/firmware change could fix this, but no PMPs (or whatever the acronym is now) know how to communicate with a USB DAC. The USB host feature, sometimes known as USB On-the-Go, is meant to transfer files from a camera or similar device.

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jet87 /img/forum/go_quote.gif While I'd be glad to be proven wrong, no portable player can take advantage of a USB DAC. Maybe a software/firmware change could fix this, but no PMPs (or whatever the acronym is now) know how to communicate with a USB DAC. The USB host feature, sometimes known as USB On-the-Go, is meant to transfer files from a camera or similar device.

You are quite correct sir. They cannot output to a USB DAC. I also believe that limitation is more than just a firmware situation.

 

[musicmaker]

ok. The term "usb host" on the spec is why i thought they can o/p to the dac. Now i understand.

 

[jet87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by morphsci /img/forum/go_quote.gif You are quite correct sir. They cannot output to a USB DAC. I also believe that limitation is more than just a firmware situation.

While I don't have a PMP with the capability nor the programming experience, I would be interested in seeing what would be needed. A player running embedded Linux should, in theory, be able to do it given some software changes, seeing as most (all?) USB DACs don't need any extra software in a default regular Linux setup. Alas, I don't think any PMP runs Linux, though at least one of the new Cowon models runs WinCE.

 

[monolith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamess71 /img/forum/go_quote.gif OUCH

As was said, they cost about as much as an iMod with a VCap Dock. They're both about the size of a small car (calling an iMod/Vcap setup "portable" is laughable), but the Pacemaker naturally has the ability to sound better, since you can use whatever DAC you want with it. It also has neat DJ features for when you're bored, and more memory.

 

[manaox2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jet87 /img/forum/go_quote.gif While I'd be glad to be proven wrong, no portable player can take advantage of a USB DAC. Maybe a software/firmware change could fix this, but no PMPs (or whatever the acronym is now) know how to communicate with a USB DAC. The USB host feature, sometimes known as USB On-the-Go, is meant to transfer files from a camera or similar device.

I think your looking for an ultraportable PC, closest thing I know of.

Its not that I'm not interested in the Pacemaker and would consider paying for it. I have no clue how it sounds. They have said everything imaginable about it having a strong enough amp to power 300 ohm phones, coaxial out adaptibility, native flac support, etc., etc., but no one reviews anything but the features and skip the sound quality so far. They also seem to be really marketing it towards DJs, who probably aren't even that interested.

 

[StanRex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shauntell47 /img/forum/go_quote.gif archos 605 also has SPDIF out...

archos products dont support any lossless codec though (well, apart from wav ofc, but it s not really a codec since there is no compression in the maths sense)

and you ll have to deal with a bulky dock. Plus, on gen4, there was a rumor that said the spdif output was in fact an analog signal reconverted to digital