[rovo]

Hi all,
 
Just wanted to give a heads up as I couldn't find anything about it on the forums here (nor anywhere else for that matter).
 
Last week, I bought me a BlackBerry Passport... I'm not much of a review author so I will keep it short.
 
I am VERY impressed! The Build quality is excellent, the screen is nothing short of awesome, the keyboard such a relief compared to the on screen keyboards that I somehow never got used to no matter how hard I tried... It runs BlackBerry AND Android apps... The phone has a quad core processor that just doesn't seem to break in a sweat no matter how hard I try.
 
It truly is a productivity monster that is very intuitive to work with... and, best of all, it plays High Resolution FLAC music files! I've tested it with files up to 192KHz/24Bit.
The Passport comes with an expansion MicroSD slot that will fit up to 128GB (with 32GB internal storage on the Passport. 
 
It comes with premium in ear headphones. While they didn't impress me too much (being used to BeyerDynamics in ears), they sure are WAY better than the ones Apple delivers with its gear.
 
Ron.

 

[OsminC]

Nice! I have a Passport as well and was yet to try any of my high-res music. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[alpha421]

Does the passport play hi-rez natively?  I've always liked that the later BB devices supported FLAC natively, like when I had the Z10, but I thought I read somewhere that despite the hirez FLAC playback, the files were getting downsampled.  Still sounded pretty good, though.

 

[rovo]

alpha421, I don't know if it's actually outputting high rez or downsampling. I'm using the standard BB music player that's installed by default.
 
What I can tell is that the BB's sound quality beats my iPod hands down. Even if I were to find out the BB does in fact downsample, my 49 y.o. ears are more than happy to hear a remarkable sq difference with said iPod. 
 
I've been waiting to buy a high rez capable music player to upgrade my 160G ipod classic but been putting it off for months...none of the currently available devices seemed to offer 'best of all worlds'... plus I dreaded still having to carry a cell phone AND a music player
 
Like I said, I've been comparing high rez portable players for quite a while but when I read stuff like 8hrs battery life playing high rez music I'm like, What?!
Right now I'm glad I waited. Battery life is VERY solid... in multiples of said high rez mobile player's batteries... It has a quad core cpu, bluetooth, cifs file sharing, can run BB and Android apps, E-Mail, sms, calling, fb, twitter, whatsapp etc etc etc
 
So...compared to the one trick pony media players, it really is a no brainer. Build quality is also VERY solid. To be honest, it makes the Apple iPhone look like some cheap Chinese product.
 
Ron.

 

[jring]

Hi,
 
so does the Z30... I got mine yesterday at work and put in a micro sd with some 24/196 flacs and have to say - wow, this sounds quite good on my eties... even from the stock player...
 
Joachim

 

[LuckyNat]

So has anyone figured if either play back high rez natively or if they are downsampling?
 
Am looking to get a Passport soon, perhaps (would have been sooner but I discovered how cheap it was to get my Z10's screen replaced). Best OS out there for my personal way of thinking/using a phone.

 

[Alphanewb]

Is anyone using their bb10 device with an external dac? I'm trying to get my passport to work with my ha-1. Cheers

 

[LuckyNat]

By the way, I did see that the audio chip is fully capable of 24/192 and is the same chip as used in the LG g2 which promoted itself as an audiophile's smartphone a couple of years ago.

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

I use mine with one as it's super thin and small and awesome with trance music.

Is anyone using their bb10 device with an external dac? I'm trying to get my passport to work with my ha-1. Cheers

 

[karloil]

now i use my passport as my dap...might consider selling my other daps

 

 

[LuckyNat]

  now i use my passport as my dap...might consider selling my other daps

 

 
Which DAPs would you be selling? I'm thinking of upgrading to a Passport yet also thinking I need a DAP.... but I can't really afford both! So what is the Passport outperforming in your view?

 

[karloil]

  Which DAPs would you be selling? I'm thinking of upgrading to a Passport yet also thinking I need a DAP.... but I can't really afford both! So what is the Passport outperforming in your view?

 
well let me answer that question once my "customed" customs arrive so that i can do a side by side with all of my daps.

 

[LuckyNat]

Cool. Take your time listening well.

 

[LuckyNat]

Have you got your custom CEIMS yet? I'm still wondering if to move to a Passport as combined Phone/DAP or keep using my old Z10 and save for a good DAP.

 

[RedJohn456]

  Hi all,
 
Just wanted to give a heads up as I couldn't find anything about it on the forums here (nor anywhere else for that matter).
 
Last week, I bought me a BlackBerry Passport... I'm not much of a review author so I will keep it short.
 
I am VERY impressed! The Build quality is excellent, the screen is nothing short of awesome, the keyboard such a relief compared to the on screen keyboards that I somehow never got used to no matter how hard I tried... It runs BlackBerry AND Android apps... The phone has a quad core processor that just doesn't seem to break in a sweat no matter how hard I try.
 
It truly is a productivity monster that is very intuitive to work with... and, best of all, it plays High Resolution FLAC music files! I've tested it with files up to 192KHz/24Bit.
The Passport comes with an expansion MicroSD slot that will fit up to 128GB (with 32GB internal storage on the Passport. 
 
It comes with premium in ear headphones. While they didn't impress me too much (being used to BeyerDynamics in ears), they sure are WAY better than the ones Apple delivers with its gear.
 
Ron.

 
 
Sweet, its rare to find another blackberry user on here! Its funny I actually never tried playing FLAC files natively, I always use neutron player on my Z30. Glad you're enjoying the passport. I bought their premium earbuds as well and they are surprisingly capable and perfect for phone calls as they use several microphones to cancel surrounding noise.
 

  Does the passport play hi-rez natively?  I've always liked that the later BB devices supported FLAC natively, like when I had the Z10, but I thought I read somewhere that despite the hirez FLAC playback, the files were getting downsampled.  Still sounded pretty good, though.

 
I had no idea they played it natively as well. 
 
 

  Hi,
 
so does the Z30... I got mine yesterday at work and put in a micro sd with some 24/196 flacs and have to say - wow, this sounds quite good on my eties... even from the stock player...
 
Joachim

 
 
Yup, I love the sound I get from my Z30. I love that I can use USB Audio out to use my Fiio e17 as dac, only problem is that neutron player doesn't seem to want to work in this mode but everything else works fine.
 

  So has anyone figured if either play back high rez natively or if they are downsampling?
 
Am looking to get a Passport soon, perhaps (would have been sooner but I discovered how cheap it was to get my Z10's screen replaced). Best OS out there for my personal way of thinking/using a phone.

 
 
Hey funny running into you here  Didn't realize you're a bbry user as well! I agree, blackberries rock and with USB audio out you can always use an external amp/dac to use it as a DAP. 
 

Is anyone using their bb10 device with an external dac? I'm trying to get my passport to work with my ha-1. Cheers

 
 
 
which device to you have? As far as I know, only Z30 and onward the devices support OTG (this is an older pic, i know have a cable that directly connects to the E17)