[Somnambulist]

Probably missed it in this thread, but I take it you still have to use the iOS device's volume controls once connected. If so, does the Skyn offer a greater degree of control over the volume in the native Music app? One thing I've never liked about the few times I've plugged my IEMs into my iPhones is it's literally one step between 'not quite loud enough' and 'too loud'.

 

[DrSheep]

  Probably missed it in this thread, but I take it you still have to use the iOS device's volume controls once connected. If so, does the Skyn offer a greater degree of control over the volume in the native Music app? One thing I've never liked about the few times I've plugged my IEMs into my iPhones is it's literally one step between 'not quite loud enough' and 'too loud'.

The thing is that if you are using the stock music app with the Skyn, then you are doing something wrong.  And again, you are not going to change how iOS behaves with the Skyn.

 

[Somnambulist]

I don't see why if using ALAC/Apple Lossless, since it's just a file being instructed to be played, which is then sent to the external DAC/amp. I'm not a big believer in software making any meaningful difference if there's no EQ'ing involved. I'd want to use Apple Music too for streaming

 

[sheldaze]

@DrSheep, I too am quite curious what you mean by native playback being wrong? I have become quite a believer in alternate software for music playback on the MacOS. I thought the intent in aftermarket software for music playback MacOS was to bypass all the other "junk" happening in the OS and that this would not be as much of an issue in iOS. Other than high resolution file playback, I thought there was nothing wrong with using the default software for playback on iOS. And I would be using Tidal much of the time from iOS, so I am unclear how to improve streaming playback.
 
Any deeper insights you have would be very welcome. I am still waiting for my 6+ version of Skyn, so I have not experimented with it (I plan to A/B it against my DACport HD). But I have an iPad on order, and planned to start to utilize it for playback through a PURE i-20 dock. I assumed the i-20 dock would be basically behaving the same as the Skyn, allowing me to bypass the operating system and get straight to the original data. And I still though iOS was better at music playback than MacOS, for things like Tidal.
 
Call me confused

 I would much appreciate any enlightenment on the right way to playback music on iOS 

 

 

[DrSheep]

  @DrSheep, I too am quite curious what you mean by native playback being wrong? I have become quite a believer in alternate software for music playback on the MacOS. I thought the intent in aftermarket software for music playback MacOS was to bypass all the other "junk" happening in the OS and that this would not be as much of an issue in iOS. Other than high resolution file playback, I thought there was nothing wrong with using the default software for playback on iOS. And I would be using Tidal much of the time from iOS, so I am unclear how to improve streaming playback.
 
Any deeper insights you have would be very welcome. I am still waiting for my 6+ version of Skyn, so I have not experimented with it (I plan to A/B it against my DACport HD). But I have an iPad on order, and planned to start to utilize it for playback through a PURE i-20 dock. I assumed the i-20 dock would be basically behaving the same as the Skyn, allowing me to bypass the operating system and get straight to the original data. And I still though iOS was better at music playback than MacOS, for things like Tidal.
 
Call me confused

 I would much appreciate any enlightenment on the right way to playback music on iOS 

 

No, I mean if you use the Skyn with the stock app, which doesn't do FLAC/DSD or anything else matter to us, then you are cheating yourselves out of half the functions of the Skyn.  So by extension the stock volume problem is moot, as you will be likely to get around that problem with 3rd party app.  For Tidal, I suggest you do download the FLACs instead of streaming, then use FLAC Streamer, Onkyo HF Player, or other app for payback with up sampling and better control.

 

[DrSheep]

  I don't see why if using ALAC/Apple Lossless, since it's just a file being instructed to be played, which is then sent to the external DAC/amp. I'm not a big believer in software making any meaningful difference if there's no EQ'ing involved. I'd want to use Apple Music too for streaming

Like I have said above, if you have the Skyn and only use it for AAC/ALAC and not FLAC or DSD, then you are cheating yourselves out of some key features.

 

[sheldaze]

  No, I mean if you use the Skyn with the stock app, which doesn't do FLAC/DSD or anything else matter to us, then you are cheating yourselves out of half the functions of the Skyn.  So by extension the stock volume problem is moot, as you will be likely to get around that problem with 3rd party app.  For Tidal, I suggest you do download the FLACs instead of streaming, then use FLAC Streamer, Onkyo HF Player, or other app for payback with up sampling and better control.

Thanks for the recommendations!
I will do FLAC downloads, which I haven't been able to do on my desktop, and get the Onkyo HF Player - I have non-Apple formatted music that I will want to play.

 

[walbum4262]

No, I mean if you use the Skyn with the stock app, which doesn't do FLAC/DSD or anything else matter to us, then you are cheating yourselves out of half the functions of the Skyn.  So by extension the stock volume problem is moot, as you will be likely to get around that problem with 3rd party app.  For Tidal, I suggest you do download the FLACs instead of streaming, then use FLAC Streamer, Onkyo HF Player, or other app for payback with up sampling and better control.

I'm a bit confused a about this message.

I use tidal mostly in offline mode where I download in hifi quality as I'm off grid at work and i can then rearrange my library doing the night.

Are you saying that onkyo HF player can access those offline files in tidal ?

 

[Somnambulist]

  Mine arrived today and I'm listening to Tidal on a 64GB iPod Touch.  My first impression was skepticism about using the iPods volume control keys, but it works very well compared to the stock iPod.  Between the two gain settings, Finally, I have fine-grained volume control over a wide range on an Apple device. Hallelujah!
 
I have a very large set of IEMs and headphones that I want to test with it.  First off is the Sennheiser HD598SE.  This is a new headphone, so I don't have a lot of experience with it, but so far, the bass is powerful but very controlled. 

 
Ah - found what I was looking for. ^^^ Cool.

 

[DrSheep]

I'm a bit confused a about this message.

I use tidal mostly in offline mode where I download in hifi quality as I'm off grid at work and i can then rearrange my library doing the night.

Are you saying that onkyo HF player can access those offline files in tidal ?

Of course, as Tidal is just FLAC, which other apps can up sample for the Skyn to 24/192 for better SQ.

 

[walbum4262]

Of course, as Tidal is just FLAC, which other apps can up sample for the Skyn to 24/192 for better SQ.

I don't think it's possible to access TIDAL files when you download them offline as part of the streaming service.

 

[DrSheep]

Maybe things has changes since the buy out.  I only tried it for a month at the beginning.

 

[JerseyD]

I have both the  Onkyo HF player and the Tidal app on my iPhone 6. The albums I have downloaded in "HiFi" on Tidal are not found by the Onkyo player.  And as far as I can tell, the Tidal app for PC (or Mac) does not offer downloading for offline listening.

 

[DrSheep]

Try Neutron Player and see if it can locate the files.

 

[crazydeep]

Hi - very interesting discussion! I'm currently using the Skyn primarily with Spotify (320 kbps).
 
I had Tidal previously, but found it quite difficult to differentiate between the 2 (Tidal vs. Spotify) cause of my hearing I suppose 

 
So I'm just using Spotify now. I haven't tried FLAC using Skyn, but had using the Hi-Fi M8. I personally, wasn't able to differentiate and hence reverted back to Spotify due to the ease of use.
 
Question - is there any difference between ALAC and FLAC? Since iOS doesn't place FLAC, shouldn't ALAC be sufficient instead of downloading and managing a new FLAC player?