Just did an a/b test
Playing via the case USB C into iPad Pro
Vs iPad Pro
vs iPhone
The case is better by far, night and day difference. Louder, thicker sound, actually just what I was looking for in terms of an increase in overall impact. It’s pretty darn impressive via the case imo.
Does anyone know exactly why this might be? If I was to use a phone or source with Aptx, like the Xperia 1 ii, do you think i’d get a similar result as going via the case?
Also I decided to quickly a/b airpods pro vs PI7 through the case, and damn...it’s hard to go back to the Airpods Pro. Listening to Grimes so Heavy I fell through the Earth, bass, impact, everything was so much more cohesive and powerful on the B&W. It’s a serious upgrade in SQ, and APP sounds thin, rattly and not fully present at all frequencies in comparison.
I have an xperia 1 ii and I am very impressed with the sound, I like it better than with the case, I guess you tried the jack to usb-c. I guess the DAC in the case does a better signal translation before pushing it through bluetooth. I am waiting the spinfit that everyone here has been talking about, to see if that improves even more the sound.
- While using Tidal you can use the "Dolby Atmos" implementation of Sony, so you can equalize your music directly in the source before the sound get pushed to the PI7, which I find very nice as there is no eq in the BW app.
- While using USB Audio Player Pro you can use its "Hifi Driver". There shouldnt be much of a difference but it is nice to have (I will try to test it more in detail). Still you'll have aptx-adaptative instead of aptx-hd, but I don't think there should make much of a difference in terms of sound, but would help with latency and bluetooth connectivity.