[Stetsonsteve]

I've had it for a long time and it kills the native player. Slightly better than neutron. Colossally different? No. But 1 time crazy purchase different? I thought so. I don't have super expensive headphones. This and the e12a opened up my beats studios and my rbh ep2 to a level I thought wasn't possible. Just do it.

I'm using a pair off AKG. K451's. £40 off Amazon. Best phones I have had so far, and very portable for over ears.

 

[Stetsonsteve]

Relisten does have a nice sound. I'm looking forward to the next big update. When I was using Neutron on my Android phone it was quirky, but like most apps it works better on the iPhone. The coolest part about Neutron is you can use it to play podcasts. Anybody try HPEX PLAY?

Just tried it. Not a patch on relisten. And free version only allows 30sec's of evaluation for each track.

 

[davescleveland]

So I have been praising register player for $50 on iTunes. I have to admit they have been outdone by iaudiogate. Better clarity volume and bass, and an equalizer. I love it with my rbh epsb or nuforce be6. People say Bluetooth sucks, not with either of these, this app, and the Ed below. Best I've found yet!

 

[davescleveland]

Relisten

 

[davescleveland]

And eq not Ed

 

[cloudkicker]

Good call on iAudioGate. Nice open and clean sound. Also has gapless and upsampling to DSD. It's now my top player.

 

[brent75]

I just bought iAudiogate based off this thread -- had not even heard of it before. But I think highly of Korg, so it was a no-brainer.
 
Seems pretty great so far. Much more slick presentation than Onkyo HF Player.

 

[brent75]

Update: I don't like iAudioGate as much as I initially did for one reason: it down-converts everything to 48 kHz when you play straight from iPod or iPhone, even if you have files higher (I have up to 192). The reason? Apparently my DAC/AMP is not on the compatibility list (scroll down). Right now it's just a Korg DAC, a few from iFi and Sony, the Oppo HA-2 and the Mojo. I'm using the Sine with the Cipher cable, so I know it can handle it --- it does just fine w/ Onkyo HF Player.
 
So I transferred all my songs from iAudioGate back to Onkyo, and then will hope in the future Korg does an update to support Cipher cable (because I do prefer the interface and everything of iAudioGate to HF Player).

 

[cloudkicker]

I got lucky and didn't notice the compatibility list before purchasing. I've been able to upsample to DSD 5.6 MHz to a Mojo from iPhone 6S Plus. If there is one thing I notice, iAudioGate drains the battery more than other players.

 

[davescleveland]

For me it's mostly iTunes and a-bing the two, I audiotape sounds a bit better than onkyo especially in vocals

 

[Stetsonsteve]

Ok, can any one tell me if iAudiogate is better than relisten? I'm currently using relisten, but would consider buying iAudiogate if it produced a better sound quality.

 

[Slaphead]

I got lucky and didn't notice the compatibility list before purchasing. I've been able to upsample to DSD 5.6 MHz to a Mojo from iPhone 6S Plus. If there is one thing I notice, iAudioGate drains the battery more than other players.

Of course it'll drain the battery faster if you're upsampling everything to DSD, and even more if you're using EQ, especially if the EQ is a linear phase type (The Onkyo app springs to mind as one that uses a linear phase EQ) - you're making the processor work a hell of a lot harder than it would if you were just playing the files in their native resolution, and this will kill the battery. Incidently if you're upsampling PCM to DSD then you're wasting your time and battery life.

The whole point about DSD is that to get the benefits of it (not that I actually believe there are any) the entire production workflow from recording to end product has to remain in DSD. This is very difficult as DSD in it's native form cannot really be mixed or edited: it'll need to be converted to PCM before you can do any of that. This limits true DSD productions to basically one shot recording sessions where any mixing has to be done live and through an analogue desk. Pretty much any studio album bearing the DSD moniker, outside of classical, jazz or acoustic, will almost certainly been produced with PCM and then converted to DSD therefore losing any potential adavantage that DSD may have over PCM. From my point of view, as somebody who does music production as a hobby, DSD is an awful format, with severe limitations, and absolutely no benefits.

While we're on the subject of upsampling on mobile devices then I have only one thing to say - Just don't. Leave any upsampling to whatever DAC you've got connected. The DAC is going to be way more efficient and effective at this than whatever music player you're using. Most upsampling algorithms in music playing apps are not that great and may even degrade the audio quality, as a few Head-Fi android users are finding with android's forced upsampling in some cases

In fact if the truth be told there is only one real reason to upsample, and that is if you're going to process the audio in some manner as this will allow for more adjustment latitude before introducing audable quantization noise. You'll also need something decent such as Izotope's MBIT+ to do it well.

 

[davescleveland]

Steve yes I have amidst every player you can buy and I loved relisten for a long time. While the detail is great on relisten, sibilance is grating and clipping occurs without getting loud enough for my ears. Someone said I audiotape sounds like a warm tube amp. I think that's a great description. It's louder and clearer louder than relisten but a bit bass heavy too. And it eats your battery but I plug in my xba z5 and it's an amazing experience. Just boost the table a bit and tame the bass and you're good. I can't reccomend it enough, however I'm also looking for a flatter more transparent player too. Hibiki seems to sound pretty good but you can't advance to the next track and it crashes when I try to shuffle. I'm trying en player soon and I'll report. So far audio hate seems to beat relisten interns of volume and clarity. Not by a huge margin, but yeah enough to spend 20 on it.

 

[Stetsonsteve]

Thanks Dave. I might give it go. Although I love Relisten,I'm always looking for that something extra.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

I'm still on Flacplayer (by Dan Leehr) It seems the most uncolored and pure.