[kvik]

Anyway, if you use your internal DAC only and you're making no use of EQ and DSP effects, why don't you simply use built in iPhone/iPad app? Just asking.
I mean: purchasing apps made for supporting external DACs, Mojo being just one, for usage with internal DAC which is 48/24 (or 96 at the very best) is to me a waste of money.
I.e.: should I listen to a 44/16 cd track converted to PCM I would take care of feeding it at least with 44/24 tracks carefully checked as free from any flaw before before judging an app. And I do NOT make use of MP3.

Fair question.. As mentioned earlier I use iPhone+inears for convenience and not for superior audio quality. I use KaiserTone simply because I like the sound, more than Apple’s app or the others apps I have tried (Neutron, HiBy, Hibiki, EQu, Equalizer, NePlayer, Onkyo, Starling, Radsone, jetAudio, Flacbox, SigmaTunes). I don't mind paying for the subjectively perceived better sound, and $10 is actually cheap considering the long term benefit to me.

 

[daberti]

Fair question.. As mentioned earlier I use iPhone+inears for convenience and not for superior audio quality. I use KaiserTone simply because I like the sound, more than Apple’s app or the others apps I have tried (Neutron, HiBy, Hibiki, EQu, Equalizer, NePlayer, Onkyo, Starling, Radsone, jetAudio, Flacbox, SigmaTunes). I don't mind paying for the subjectively perceived better sound, and $10 is actually cheap considering the long term benefit to me.

Fair answer, I do acknowledge!
May I ask which kind of files do you use? mp3? PCM?
If you wish you can choose a track, PCM 44/16 . I'll rework it for free into a 44/24 which is supported by iPhone BTW.

 

[kvik]

All files are 44/16 ripped from CD into AIFF. Thanks for the offer to rework a file, should be interesting to compare. Not sure how practically to do it?

 

[donunus]

Daberti, to give you an idea, my files are mostly flac and display album art perfectly on foobar2000 and Jriver as well as the foobar ios app even without the art embedded on each track. All my albums are in separate folders in their corresponding artist folders. All tags are complete and cleaned up to only have artist/ album/ album artist for compilations/ track/ year/ genre/ and disc number for multidisc compilations. All art on folders are named folder.jpg as well.

 

[daberti]

All files are 44/16 ripped from CD into AIFF. Thanks for the offer to rework a file, should be interesting to compare. Not sure how practically to do it?

You send a PM to me, and the file of choice as an attachment. 44/24 is way better than 44/16 (yet the steep brickwall problem will be there nonetheless) . Just send me the file and then you'll listen to it when done.

 

[daberti]

Daberti, to give you an idea, my files are mostly flac and display album art perfectly on foobar2000 and Jriver as well as the foobar ios app even without the art embedded on each track. All my albums are in separate folders in their corresponding artist folders. All tags are complete and cleaned up to only have artist/ album/ album artist for compilations/ track/ year/ genre/ and disc number for multidisc compilations. All art on folders are named folder.jpg as well.

Never used Foobar. I used JRiver and eventually disabled any operation of indexing/album art etc etc. I simply found it way less messing to give the task to MusicBrainz with Album Art Downloader and MP3Tag https://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html sometimes to help.

EDIT:
By copying into another dir all dirs and subdirs of music files and importing them into MusicBrainz one by one you'll crosscheck possible indexing errors. Just give it a try with a single album. What to lose?

 

[donunus]

I've tried the latest version of Neutron in a cross-comparison with Kaisertone.
I still find the first too much thin, bright and forward. Let's say it is lacking in the 100-600Hz region.
Mojo and RHA T20i reference filter.

Is the latest version of neutron still thinner sounding than Kaisertone?

 

[daberti]

Is the latest version of neutron still thinner sounding than Kaisertone?

I didn't experience that any longer with my rig (headphones included).

 

[daberti]

All files are 44/16 ripped from CD into AIFF. Thanks for the offer to rework a file, should be interesting to compare. Not sure how practically to do it?

Lil gift in a while
PM sent
Details will follow after your listening

 

[donunus]

so now it boils down to kaisertone and neutron. Only questions left is battery consumption differences between them and whether apple music songs will bog down the battery more on neutron etc...

 

[daberti]

so now it boils down to kaisertone and neutron. Only questions left is battery consumption differences between them and whether apple music songs will bog down the battery more on neutron etc...

Exactly that

 

[donunus]

For proof I made a Frequency Response by RMAA with VOX, iAudioGate, Onkyo HF, Onkyo HF + Centrance Mini-M8, Stock Apple Music player, Relisten in different modes.

Here is all files from RMAA - https://www.dropbox.com/s/s50dh24f4n051m0/iphone.zip?dl=0 and with load - https://www.dropbox.com/s/cr34unibztv35ez/load_iphone.zip?dl=0
upd: add iAudioGate
upd2: add Neutron
upd3: add FLAC Player & consumption
upd4: add Foobar2000 & graph with load (Weston UM3x)

Power consumption:
Onkyo HF (iPod libr) ~ 18mA, HD mode ~ 18mA
Foobar2000 ~22mA
FLAC player ~ 23mA
Stock ~ 24mA
iAudioGate ~ 29mA
Relisten ~ 43mA
Neutron (iPod libr) ~ 90mA

Can you check neutron with music in its native folder and no effects/eq/upsampling on with 16/44 flacs whether it still takes 90mA?

 

[donunus]

I just tried kaisertones trial app that shuffles music and it's a no go for album art. Good thing I didn't buy the full version. I got neutron and I'm a happy camper so far. Now to buy a DAC for my iphone and Ipad

 

[daberti]

I just tried kaisertones trial app that shuffles music and it's a no go for album art. Good thing I didn't buy the full version. I got neutron and I'm a happy camper so far. Now to buy a DAC for my iphone and Ipad

Which DACs are you considering ATM ?

 

[donunus]

either just a DF Red, Mojo, or maybe even a pro audio model if there is one that will work with an ipad for recording and playback.