[Br777]

just to play devils advocate.. bias and placebo work both ways.. given that i have not blind tested anything, i am just as suceptable as anyone else - that said i stick with what i said.

 

[Robn13]

WOW again Deltaechoe. I sent DanBa a PM last night because he has been flogging this all over the internet. I thanked him and offered to help and he sent me about a 2 page reply with a dozen links! The guy is over in France and English is his second language which makes his efforts that much more impressive.
 
Everything you say is:
1) WAY over my head. Don't understand kernel except that it is absolute core of OS. 
2) I absolutely believe effing HARD!
 
The point is, why do I have to go to Verizon to buy a $300 Droid Razr Maxx and then depend on the charity and uncompensated hard work of people like you to make it do the same thing any PC/laptop can do. Also, like Br777 says, is it worth it. Maybe I (we) should **** and get a Sansa or Cowon?
 
IF you guys do crack it, and believe it is worthwhile in terms of SQ, I wouldn't just give it away. I know it is open source, but you guys should band together and LICENSE it. Or, is that legal with an open source?
Anyway, thanks for your efforts and please keep me (us) posted on this.

 

[Robn13]

Understand bias and placebo very well, trip7. Also think NwAvGuy is a bit ahead of his time and a genius as well. I can see why advertisers/maufacturers would hate him.  I loved his "spats" with NuForce and Benchmark. SO funny, you couldn't make this stuff up!
 
Delta, I found this link that helped me understand  what you were talking about. Talk about a MINEFIELD!
 
http://forums.androidcentral.com/hacking/4654-what-does-rooting-your-phone-actually-mean.htmlnti
 
Still, I'm becoming enough of a pissed off anti-corporate dev myself that I would be willing to try it!

 

[Deltaechoe]

Quote:

I thought that just like getting a DIGITAL signal out of a computer so that the internal electrics would not pollute/corrupt it AFTER the dac converted it to analog, a smart phone, now essentially a mini computer, would be the same. Besides, every smart phone I have ever owned has already had SOME kind of usb connection for charging. So why couldn't my phone be configured just like my netbook, just a software/driver change to enable the hardware that is already there. Am I missing something? 

 
All I can say to Br777 is, "WOW!" I seem to be coming to the same place that you, with a lot more EXPENSIVE experience, have already arrived at. I'm looking at at a Cowon J3 and a good set of closed phones, the new Senn Amperior for now, maybe an Ultrasone Sig Pro down the road. It is a shame, because I always thought the basic principle of higher quality electronics producing a nice accurate, smooth, powerful analog signal from  a digital source was sound. Your real life testing is compelling. JDS Labs will soon be combining NwAvGuys O2 amp with his dac in a single unit and I might try that for my desktop. But I'm going to take what you say to heart. I have heard a lot of people praise the Sansa products and that Cowon as well. Thanks! 

The issues with getting a clean digital signal out of a smartphone is that there is no driver support for it right now.  The 3rd party devs have to hack it into the kernel and enable it in the ROM, I believe there are a couple phones that allow for USB digital audio out like the Galaxy S II and the Nexus One.  They do have to be rooted to enable this feature
 

 

[mrcuccuou]

i read about nokia having the usb on the go feature with some of their symbian phones... also read about a guy here at head-fi who bought a nokia N8 to use it with an ibasso d-zero. didnt followup with that thread though...

 

[KT66]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/517432/nokia-n8-and-feeding-a-portable-dac-with-usb-on-the-go/15

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

franlky i have become mostly fed up with most gear and reviewers on the audiophile market.  People underestimate the effects of placebo and bias, and are shanked out of thousands of dollars.
 
i have owned lots of gear that is considered the end all be all only to sell it after i could hear literally zero difference with it.
 
i have come to the conclusion that headphones are truly the only important piece of gear.  - for example - Own $1000 Customs by westome - ES5's.
they sound fantastic.. Way better than anything i've owned.
 
however the pressure from head-fi to get all kinds of crazy gear to "make them sound their best" is silly.
 
I have run them through a very capable full desktop rig - optical out of computer via foobar/wasapi, schiit bifrost dac optical in running to a objective 2 amp (an absolutely perfect amp for both transportable and desktop that costs $150 by the way) and out to my es5's -   Then i compared the best i could to my customs out of my clip zip... for the life of me i heard no difference..   so i have a $50 player that does me just fine. 
 
i had a similar experience with my desktop rig and my LCD-2's comparing my $150 O2 amp and desktop rig to a TOTL legendary desktop amp, and finding i preferred the O2
I even sold my dac in favor of a simple ipod with LOD - again, no difference..
 
i also owned a algorhythym solo and found it made ZERO difference from my clip zip headphone out.
 
the ignorance of many top reviewers, and audio companies who dont test their gear, and truly believe they are putting out solid products, and just arent is just endless.
 
i feel your pain.  i say invest in quality headphones, subscribe to NwAvGuy's blog, and get educated.  He is one of the few people in this business who truly knows what he is talking about, and he is creating products that cost next to nothing that are trumping "TOTL" gear.
 
In the end I have saved myself multiple thousands of dollars, and feel i have a rig that can compete with our outclass  equipment that people spend their life savings on.

 
 

 

[truckdriver]

Quote:

Here - knock yourself out - plenty of reading http://www.head-fi.org/t/374155/leaving-portable-hifi-its-too-silly
 
Personally - I'm no audiophile - I just love my music.
 
iPhone 4 / iPod Touch 4 with SE535 LE (reds) covers all my bases - for true portability.  I have an Arrow on the way for my higher impedance cans - so I can take them with me if I'm going to be away for a while.  The Arrow + a LOD is all I need.  The dac in the iP4 is fine - clean, low impedance - what more could I want.  I see no point in a CLAS or HP-P1 for me - I value portability too much.
 
TBH - I couldn't really see where OP's post above is going.  Vote with your wallet.  If people aren't buying - the manufacturers/designers will change.  And if you don't like something - talk to the designers.  The good ones listen.

It's been a while since I first read that thought provoking thread. I remembered how good my Sennheiser PX100s sounded connected to my Dell Axim X51V (7 years ago). It's good to maintain perspective and that old frame of reference. I guess that's one of the reasons I keep old gear around. Anyway.....
 
I once considered buying one (of the two) DAC/Amp (CLAS or HP P1) for portable use with my woefully inadequate Apple DAPs. Good thing for me, I serendipitously stumbled upon a better source (my smartphone) after my HTC HD2 died last year.
 
I, for one, don't really want yet another device to carry around (via USB) or lineout. I'm fine with my Samsung Galaxy S2 (for portable use) until something better comes along (that I can hear for myself). You'd think I'd be a prime suspect for a multi-rubberband big rig. I can simply set it on top of my cooler in the truck for a long HIFI ride. Plus, I've got the money (several thousand) trying to burn a hole in my pocket. I'm just so skeptical about a lot of what I've read. A lot of “reviews” are so illogical.
 
I want better than what I have. I don't just need more stuff though. I'm not going to buy something because someone wrote a thousand words about it here.
 
Some reviews remind me of my ex-girlfriend from nearly two decades ago. She came to me with a puzzling dilemma. She wondered why my auto stereo had vastly less bass when she drove the car than when I drove it. She knew there were two Kicker 12s in the trunk (in a 20in deep wood/plexiglass box). If she were writing a user review here for Head-Fi, she would list the source as an Eclipse radio. She would then complain that the Kickers lacked bass. Little did she know, the button to turn-on the amps was in the trunk of the car.
 
Some people spend hundreds on earphones and then try to drive them with some little underpowered (mid-centric) popular player. Then they come on this forum and complain that the headphones lack bass, sound flat, and lack sound-stage width/depth/transparency. I don't get it. Do they really think all headphones/earphones are suppose to sound good no matter the source. Using one source to berate headphones/earphones is nonsensical.

 

[mrcuccuou]

^imho every review should clearly state their source..