[jam130]

All audio comes through pinkish? Through iAudioGate and KaiserTone geeen through native player

Pinkish/Magenta means DF Red is outputting at 96000. That's a good thing. The hard part is that you have to have hi-res files FLAC (or equivalent) files to test it. Anything 44.1Khz or below will just be green.

Scroll down at this audioquest link to where it talks about the different colors

 

[jam130]

I too have been impressed with Hiby. From the screen/menu where you select the track that you want to play, tap the ">" to the right of the track name. Does it give you the option for details about the file and download? I noticed that I could use this to download tracks from Baidu cloud where I had been saving music to stream back thru the app. Maybe you could do the same to download music from your server???

 
I connected to my local upnp using Hiby and unless I'm missing something it does not appear to let you download tracks from your computer to the phone that way. Bummer...

 

[fatpooh]

I just looked at Kaisertone after your above post, but it looks like the only way to get music into it is by physically connecting it to the PC. Does it support playing and syncing from Dropbox/GDrive or upnp/DLNA? If so it looks good, but I'm not sure it's worth $10 without it.

Why does Foobar mobile only support 16/44?!? It makes no sense...

As far as I know - I don't think Kaisertone has dropbox/GDrive to drop songs in and all unlike ST-1. But to me it isn't that much of an issue since I don't use either and save all files physically on my phone and like it that way. However, if that is what you want then Kaiser isn't for you. Honestly I am very impressed with ST-1's sound and if they do some tweaks to allow me to scroll the songs and all I would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[headfry]

Just would like to re-iterate my love for the sound and features of Kaisertone -
listening with my Grado SR325e's , which benefit from a bit of eq to gently tone down the treble -
Kaisertone sounds outstandingly musical from my iPod Touch / AQ Jitterbug - Chord Mojo.

.....as good as (also into Mojo) - iTunes and regular FLAC sound great -
and hires sounds even better - you can feel the difference - more solid, better definition and better imaging
with rock solid stability. The eq works great and is best to tweak my Grado's tonality a bit.

....as good sounding as Audirvana Plus 3 or PM or AM4T from my Mac (also w/Mojo)!


Tried Onkyo a year ago and wasn't as impressed with the sound and features -
for me Kaisertone sounds better. Listening at home with the components on an ottoman .....
moving the Mojo or iPod can cause in the sound pausing or connection lost
so not really suitable for on-the-go - where a dedicated DAP would work better.



Anyway, lots of great sw players to choose from and it's fantastic that the tiny iPod Touch can
deliver such great audiophile sound!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I too have been impressed with Hiby. From the screen/menu where you select the track that you want to play, tap the ">" to the right of the track name. Does it give you the option for details about the file and download? I noticed that I could use this to download tracks from Baidu cloud where I had been saving music to stream back thru the app. Maybe you could do the same to download music from your server???

I connected to my local upnp using Hiby and unless I'm missing something it does not appear to let you download tracks from your computer to the phone that way. Bummer...

There's a separate music download interface you can open from the settings menu of Hiby and some early support for AirDrop (one file at a time for the moment). I recommend the dedicated download interface.

 

[jam130]

There's a separate music download interface you can open from the settings menu of Hiby and some early support for AirDrop (one file at a time for the moment). I recommend the dedicated download interface.

 
While those are plausible solutions, unfortunately they don't work for me as I have all of my music on a desktop PC - so no AirDrop and no wifi.
 
If you are looking for feedback on Hiby (which is otherwise a great product) - might I suggest supporting a more universal transfer and/or sync method like upnp or Dropbox/Google Drive?

 

[saintintn]

I've been following this thread and have tried many of the apps that y'all have recommended and I'm a bit surprised as to where I landed when all was said and done.  I have an iPhone 7/Dragonfly Red combination and use Apple Music and Tidal.  Headphones are Noble Sage's.  
 
Where I landed was that Apple Music/iTunes on the iPhone 7 consistently sounds the best to me.  No Eq.  A lot of the assessments that have been made here are correct.  While I like the SQ of Kaisertone, CanOpener, Relisten Player, and Onkyo HF, I can't help but feel that they are digitally altering the original music.  Some songs sound great, but others sound too sibilant, too bassy or just clouded.  Granted, I'm playing 256 AAC files and some ALAC, but overall just using the Apple Music app provides the best version of the sound to me.  
 
My conclusion is that Apple built the phone and the app.  I have to believe that their intention was to make their app sound the best on their hardware as compared to any other software that exists out there.  From what I can tell with my own ears, that is the case.
 
Just my two cents.  Great thread, btw.

 

[peter2]

 
I've been following this thread and have tried many of the apps that y'all have recommended and I'm a bit surprised as to where I landed when all was said and done.  I have an iPhone 7/Dragonfly Red combination and use Apple Music and Tidal.  Headphones are Noble Sage's.  
 
Where I landed was that Apple Music/iTunes on the iPhone 7 consistently sounds the best to me.  No Eq.  A lot of the assessments that have been made here are correct.  While I like the SQ of Kaisertone, CanOpener, Relisten Player, and Onkyo HF, I can't help but feel that they are digitally altering the original music.  Some songs sound great, but others sound too sibilant, too bassy or just clouded.  Granted, I'm playing 256 AAC files and some ALAC, but overall just using the Apple Music app provides the best version of the sound to me.  
 
My conclusion is that Apple built the phone and the app.  I have to believe that their intention was to make their app sound the best on their hardware as compared to any other software that exists out there.  From what I can tell with my own ears, that is the case.
 
Just my two cents.  Great thread, btw.

I use iAudiogate, ST-1 and so on because I use FLAC and DSF files. With AAC and a few Apple lossless, I do not see the point. I would be completely happy with iTunes Match. But iTunes Match does not do high-res so I have to look for other apps to play those files - and most of them is a hassle compared to the smoothness of iTunes Match. I found Vox Loop which is an alternative. It shares some characteristics with Match, but can handle high-res files at least up to 24-96.

 

[saintintn]

Right.  
 
So, in the past year I used Onkyo HF along with iFI DSD nano and Geek Out V2+ to play back my dsd files (Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Genesis, the Police, etc...) and other Hi-Res songs.  
 
Now, I will fully admit that on my home system, I can hear a discernible difference between these files and AAC.  Where it breaks down for me is when I listen to my AAC versions versus DSD versions via headphones and DAC.  By the way, the AAC versions are the same songs converted from the DSD versions via XLD.  We all know that mastering version really makes the most difference in these recordings.  Using the Nobles, same DAC and best I can do of volume leveling, I really struggle to hear a difference.  
 
It all comes down to personal preference, gang.  If you love it and can tell a difference, then do what you love.

 

[peter2]

  Right.  
 
So, in the past year I used Onkyo HF along with iFI DSD nano and Geek Out V2+ to play back my dsd files (Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Genesis, the Police, etc...) and other Hi-Res songs.  
 
Now, I will fully admit that on my home system, I can hear a discernible difference between these files and AAC.  Where it breaks down for me is when I listen to my AAC versions versus DSD versions via headphones and DAC.  By the way, the AAC versions are the same songs converted from the DSD versions via XLD.  We all know that mastering version really makes the most difference in these recordings.  Using the Nobles, same DAC and best I can do of volume leveling, I really struggle to hear a difference.  
 
It all comes down to personal preference, gang.  If you love it and can tell a difference, then do what you love.

I agree Mastering and everything related to music production has, in most cases, a lot more to do with perceived quality than codecs, bitrate and so on - if the music is not overly compressed. I would also say music genre, but not everyone would agree. I think iTunes Match is superb and AAC sounds very good with the right recording. I use Chord Mojo with the iPhone and the DAC makes a big differences, even with AAC-files in iTunes. I love music! But sadly - in some way - I also love music technology

 

[sling5s]

Went from Neutron to KaiserTone and than to NEplayer. NEplayer level layering and detail beat all the rest. Now listening to Relisten Lite. It's like NEplayer in detail and layering but things sound more lively and real. I prefer the Relisten. I using the Relisten Lite which is a trial version of Relisten. I like it the best but not sure about the $49 price.

 

[spook76]

Went from Neutron to KaiserTone and than to NEplayer. NEplayer level layering and detail beat all the rest. Now listening to Relisten Lite. It's like NEplayer in detail and layering but things sound more lively and real. I prefer the Relisten. I using the Relisten Lite which is a trial version of Relisten. I like it the best but not sure about the $49 price.

If you look back in this thread, about two years ago I tested every application that would play high resolution music and came to the conclusion that NePLAYER was the best for my set up. Relisten I avoided not because of the cost but the claim of a "proven recovery algorithm". Unless the 8MB file size of the app is a link to a group of super computers running in parallel I do not understand how it can recover what is not there in the first place. Upsampling?

 

[fatpooh]

If you look back in this thread, about two years ago I tested every application that would play high resolution music and came to the conclusion that NePLAYER was the best for my set up. Relisten I avoided not because of the cost but the claim of a "proven recovery algorithm". Unless the 8MB file size of the app is a link to a group of super computers running in parallel I do not understand how it can recover what is not there in the first place. Upsampling?

I just got a chance to try NE Player and god am I sold. This is a love hate relationship that I have with this player. Honestly I dont like the interface. Coming from Kaisertone, which allows for customization of the color tone, fadeout, showing the now playing list and subsequent songs, swiping left and right to swap songs, its the little things I really enjoy about Kaiser. But.. I love the sound of NE Player. I just really dont like how it looks and how the UI works. I mean its not a bad UI. Its a decent one. But I just find it so hard not to be able to tweak the little things and for there to be seamless transition between songs. But since we are in Headfi, I guess sound rules. I just hope they do an update to allow for more customizations on the NE Player and get rid of some of the weird looking fonts in the player. A cleaner look and I would be more than happy to pay more than double for this in a heartbeat. Anyway, just a quick question. the difference between the lite and full version is just to play High Res songs? Are there any other differences? I'm happy to go for the full version but if its just for high res i dont think i need it since I dont keep any high rest on my phone. 

 

[spook76]

I just got a chance to try NE Player and god am I sold. This is a love hate relationship that I have with this player. Honestly I dont like the interface. Coming from Kaisertone, which allows for customization of the color tone, fadeout, showing the now playing list and subsequent songs, swiping left and right to swap songs, its the little things I really enjoy about Kaiser. But.. I love the sound of NE Player. I just really dont like how it looks and how the UI works. I mean its not a bad UI. Its a decent one. But I just find it so hard not to be able to tweak the little things and for there to be seamless transition between songs. But since we are in Headfi, I guess sound rules. I just hope they do an update to allow for more customizations on the NE Player and get rid of some of the weird looking fonts in the player. A cleaner look and I would be more than happy to pay more than double for this in a heartbeat. Anyway, just a quick question. the difference between the lite and full version is just to play High Res songs? Are there any other differences? I'm happy to go for the full version but if its just for high res i dont think i need it since I dont keep any high rest on my phone. 

To my knowledge, yes the full version allows you to play high resolution music. Unfortunately, I agree with everything you said about the UI but the sound is impeccable so I am stuck with it as you are right this is Head-Fi.

 

[plsvn]

 
I just got a chance to try NE Player and god am I sold. This is a love hate relationship that I have with this player. Honestly I dont like the interface.

 
Issue I have with NEPlayer is not about the UI but...
 
- does not read AIFF files (well... it actually does, reports these as WAV and... doesn't show cover art. plus, afair, some other tags)
 
though what really drives me mad is...
- doesn't read "Disc #" tag so multi disc albums are sorted (actually mixed) by "Track #" only
 
tried it two times and two times it went to trash