[s0ny]

On the serious side, I'm going to miss the device. It looks and sounds great, but I can't justify keeping it.

 

[s0ny]

update:
 
I got my Galaxy S7 today. It's a very nice smartphone, but the sound quality pales compared to the AK100 II. I'm using the SE846. Like others mentioned, the S7's amplifier is weak. The AK100 II completely annihilates the S7 in the sound quality department. The AK100 II is so far ahead in sound quality, it's pointless to even compare. Even my iPhone 5s has a far superior DAC/amp compared to the S7's Exynos 8890. Now, it's time to wait for the OPPO HA-2 DAC/amp that I ordered.

 

[olddude]

No current smartphone is close to the AK in sound quality.  

 

[subguy812]

I would agree. I have yet heard a cellphone to compare with the AK. I am currently sitting in the Dominican Republic with my AK 120ii and Rhapsodio Solar just engulfed in the whole scene, listening to Al DiMeola Flesh on Flesh. I wish the AK would stream Tidal directly without a workaround and I would never need to use my cellphone for music.

 

[olddude]

I have no music on my iPhone anymore.  But I don't stream, I'm all about the highest resolution I can get.  

 

[PinkyPowers]

I keep some of my favorite albums in 320 MP3 on my Galaxy S6. Very rarely does it get use, but when it does it's almost always streamed via BlueTooth to my car stereo.

99.8% of the time my listening is done with proper equipment in Lossless. Like right now: NFB-28>LCD-2.2F>FLAC Lady Gaga.

 

[olddude]

Hard media in my car (Acura), either DVD-A's I've burned (which can handle higher-res files) or CDs I've burned (16/44).  The Acura will play 5.1, so can handle easily whatever I throw at it.  Great sound.  

 

[M-13]

Only if Smart Phones and iBuds sounded like AK120ii driving the Angie... none of use would be on Head-Fi. I honestly wish they sounded like that so the masses can hear what we're hearing and we can all save money and time.
 
Btw... Angie in da House!

 

[olddude]

Some people say a smartphone with an amp and good iems sounds great even playing MP3s.  Not to start trouble (had enough of that on the Pono threads) but that was not my experience.  Each "better" DAP I purchased has sounded better than the last, and all of them sounded better than any iPhone I've ever had.  The same for iems as I've climbed the ladder.  At this point I am entirely happy with my 120ll and Angie/UERM.  If I had to go back to my iPhone and Apple earbuds I wouldn't bother.  
 
It also seems to me that it takes some time and practice and effort to be able to differentiate decent sound from good sound from great sound.  Just like learning what "good" art is (say, a Keane painting versus a Renoir paining), or "good" alcoholic beverages (say, a Bud Light versus an Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock), or anything else that we learn to quantify as "better" than something else very similar to it.  
 
One of these things is not like the other. 

 
 
 
          
 
 

 

[RebeccaSugar]

Yes, inebriate the children

 

[olddude]

The one on the left looks like she is already there.  

 

[threephi]

Originally Posted by olddude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
It also seems to me that it takes some time and practice and effort to be able to differentiate decent sound from good sound from great sound.  Just like learning what "good" art is (say, a Keane painting versus a Renoir paining), or "good" alcoholic beverages (say, a Bud Light versus an Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock), or anything else that we learn to quantify as "better" than something else very similar to it.  

At the risk of stirring an already well-roiled pot, this isn't quite the correct analogy.  More apt would be comparing a JPEG vs. a BMP of the same Renoir.  But then you'd also have to verify after a certain quality setting that the differences are still detectable by humans

 

[olddude]

No, actually my analogy was as I wanted it.  It takes time and "training" to be able to understand what good sound is.  It's not about bit rate or compression or whatever (though that later enters into it).  If I rip a store-bought CD into 16/44 and listen to the file on an iPhone and a 120ll, I (me) will hear a difference in sound.  It's not about the quality of the file, it's about the quality of the player and iems (or cans).  When my ears had an issue and I couldn't fit in my UERMs, I went to my backup iems, a FidueA83.  It had always sounded really good to me.  Well, now it didn't.  I had learned to identify better sound with the UERMs and now the Fidue sounded grainy.  So I got an Angie and everything sounded good again.  Training.
 
I really don't want this to go to a file compression/lossless debate, so let's just let that piece of it drop, please.  
 
My point was as above, that we (many of us) learn to identify better sound and then can hear it when we listen using better equipment.  If people don't take the time or energy to really listen to sound, they don't hear a difference, no matter what equipment they use.  
 
Training, time, and interest.  

 

[olddude]

Oh, and a copy of a Renoir and an actual Renoir both contain the beauty of Renoir.  Yes, the glow of the actual Renoir will be missing (his underpainting and application methods are to die for) in the copy, but it will still be superb (see my above post).   
 
A copy of a Keane and an actual Keane will still be...schlock. 

 

[PinkyPowers]

Indeed.

I spent a year listening to my GalaxyS4>Skullcandy IEMS. Thought it sounded good. Then I bought the Klipsch R6. A month later I upgraded to the X7i. A week or two with that and I could hear the limitations of my phone's DAC. So I bought the Dragonfly.

Now look at me. *hangs head in shame*