Hello,
I've had my head in the sand when it comes to DAPs because I only listen to music at home and in the car and thought all DAPs where compressed.
Actually even iDevices and Androids can play uncompressed music, and if anything, the circuits aren't made of discrete components with a proper analog output stage and an integrated driver circuit that sometimes can't deal with very low impedance IEMs or very high impedance/very low sensitivity headphones. You can always hook these up to an external DAC, maybe with a headphone amp built into it,
but if you're using these as portables they add too much bulk. For some, having a DAP in one pocket and a phone in the other is better than two devices strapped together that need to be in the same space (pocket, etc).
Of course, a general purpose device that one would need to spend on anyway for other uses but is more focused/boots up faster than a computer, and also a touchscreen, is great if you're only using it as a digital audio transport at home.
Originally Posted by Koukol /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I listen to CDs at home with my Marantz Player running through a Little Do III Amp pushing AKG 601's.
Now with the introduction of Pono it's got me thinking if I'm stuck in something like the DVD era while everyone else is buying BluRays.
It depends on what you need really. If you won't be listening to your music on a bring-anywhere portable rig, you're better off getting a music server - I think Marantz has one for around $700 and you can store all your music in an NAS HDD hooked up to your home network (I think you can get one from Western Digital for just over $200).
Even if for listening in a car I wouldn't advice getting a DAP specifically just for that purpose. A lot of people have asked about that and it's not even just because they already have a serious DAP, but because they expect its DAC and output stage to sound better in a car. I always say the same thing: a better DAC on that isn't going to correct the fact that you don't own a Mclaren F1 (and even if you did, why install a sound system in it?). Many of the award-winning IASCA and EMMA cars (yes, they have competitions for these precisely because it's a challenge to get it right in a car) use integration processors that take the analog speaker amp output out of a stock receiver (not voiding warranties, still have OnStar/GPS, etc), convert it to digital, apply processing most important of which is time alignment on each and every tweeter, midrange, woofer and subwoofer, plus the crossover network to assign what frequencies each of them gets. GIGO barely matters when the main problem is that each tweeter, midrange, midwoofer, and subwoofer aren't equidistant to you, sitting closest to the driver's side tweeter+midrange, driver's side woofer. Not to mention a test tone can help it correct any problems in the response coming off the stock amplifier and also, given that a perfectly flat response can still be screwed up by the cabin anyway, making EQ and time alignment more important than a fancy DAC and output stage. Lastly, why have a DAP with a cable on the passenger seat or on holder when the stereo controls are essetially in the right place where it's easy to hit buttons (by feel, without looking) in slow traffic without compromising safety?
Also, where can this better than red book music be found?
I checked out the Linn site and couldn't find much of the music I like.
HDTracks.com has music that aren't of the stereotypical audiophile variety (most of which are basically remakes of pop songs by audiophile vocalists with better recording and mastering) in high resolution. As to whether 24-bit 96khz is actually better, that's still an ongoing debate. Personally I'd love to shift given a lot of metal albums are now in 24bit/96khz FLAC, but I haven't found a DAC that can decode that format that has a discrete analog output stage, isn't too expensive, works with an Android, and is actually better than the built-in USB DAC on my amplifier (which is surprisingly good, at least it doesn't screw up trying to do a huge soundstage on a headphone, or messing around with the frequency response, which a lot of CDPs I've tried do).
