[GDuss]

No offense taken. I'm not doubting that it's a great sounding earphone, I just think that the great sound was achieved at the expense of other design considerations; specifically, usability with a wide range of amplifiers and DACs.

I'm really not trying to instigate, or condescend, or even convince, necessarily; my intent is simply to point out another line of thinking and another set of options.

Anyway, I think we should let this thread get back to being about the DFC.

I'm obviously not a regular contributor here, but recently acquired both the SE846 and the DFC. I've actually been surprised at how little the 846 hiss on any of my sources (Mojo, Hugo2, DFC, iPhone dongle). I expected the 846 to be hissing on everything based on what I read about them, but had wanted to try them for years anyway. There was a good deal on the 846 on Prime Day (directly from Shure through Amazon) so I picked them up. I have been way more impressed with them than I thought, and this is compared to Campfire Lyra II, Custom Art FIBAE ME, iSine 20, Massdrop Plus. I also have the SE535 and think the 846 is a significant step up. It's even caused me to go searching on the 846 forum to see if there may have been an unannounced change in the 846 somewhere along the line. My impression of them is different enough from what I read that I wouldn't be surprised if there was. The closest I could find anywhere is that they may be shipping the 846 with different filter configurations inside the filter tubes now. The caveat is that I have only listened to the 846 with the default filter tubes it ships with, not the others yet. But from what I have read, they should hiss even with these filter tubes.

As for the DFC, I bought the DFR a few years ago but returned it as I could not warm up to it. It's been too long to do any comparisons between the DFR and DFC, but I like the DFC (maybe I'm older now, with different hearing, who knows). Does it beat Mojo? I don't think so, but for anyone wanting to spend more money and who doesn't care about the extra bulk/cables of Mojo, they should get Mojo. It's just better all around. But that's not why I have DFC. Sometimes I don't want to carry the Mojo. Sometimes I just want to quickly plug something into the laptop/phone and be ready to go quickly. Sometimes the extra cables/bulk of Mojo are not convenient (e.g. on a plane). That's why I have DFC. I won't argue it's a better device than Mojo, I don't think it is.

To be honest, I think there is more background noise with DFC and the Massdrop Plus than with 846. Not sure why that is.

 

[ElectricL]

Agree, and the comment that DFC with UAPP is silent is a nice point to continue...

@ElectricL,

so it seems DFC is capable of changing the gain with UAPP. Could you please elaborate a bit more on that? What happens e.g. after you set the volume in UAPP and then use another app to play music? Does it keep the gain that was set with UAPP previously, or is the gain changing?

I'll do some more testing later this evening. I use the DFC in bit perfect mode so I can the only change the volume with the onscreen volume toggle. If I use the regular Tidal app after UAPP the hiss is back.

 

[Steve Wilcox]

Using DFC with the LG V30 I'm getting some terrible squeeking distortion every 20 mins or so. It lasts for about 10 secs and then returns to normal. This is using Qobuz and Radio Paradise apps (I just don't get on with UAPP) and into any headphone or IEM.

No problem using it from my Asus tablet.

Any thoughts?

I also have Mojo and I think the DFC runs it very close but, for me, the organic naturalness of Mojo just wins out. However, I don't think it's a fair comparison as the Mojo isn't truly portable in the same way as the DFC. The DFC is a remarkable piece of equipment. I write this sitting on my holiday apartment balcony overlooking Fiskardo harbour in Cephalonia, Greece, listening to amazing sound from my tablet, via DFC, to HE560s (which are pretty hard to drive put no problem for the DFC).

 

[Devodonaldson]

Hi everyone, I need help to chose between xDSD and DFC.

I can get both for the same price. previously I sold my mojo and hoped mojo 2 will come soon but nothing until now

Have mojo and xDSD and DFR. AUDIO quality in that order. DFR best treble sparkle, but the other 2 definitely sound better overall

 

[Deftone]

My Cobalt is around 20% louder

 

[118900]

My Cobalt is around 20% louder

Very weird goings on with this little cobalt. Are all other parameters and equipment the same? (Sorry if that sounds condescending, I’m genuinely not trying to be rude) The measurement of 2.3V gave a much lower volume increase than 20% and I honestly hear no difference whatsoever and nor did ElectricL from his post but who knows whether there are issues for the first production run

 

[ElectricL]

Very weird goings on with this little cobalt. Are all other parameters and equipment the same? (Sorry if that sounds condescending, I’m genuinely not trying to be rude) The measurement of 2.3V gave a much lower volume increase than 20% and I honestly hear no difference whatsoever and nor did ElectricL from his post but who knows whether there are issues for the first production run

The low volume issue using Tidal is driving me crazy. I have to crank the volume all the way up to hear anything with the Cobalt. It's fine listening to through Tidal via UAPP though. I contacted the the store I got it from and they think it's a weird issue but they have barely tried the Cobalt themselves yet. The problem used to be solved by a phone reboot but not anymore. The issue is not present with the red.

 

[a-LeXx]

The low volume issue using Tidal is driving me crazy. I have to crank the volume all the way up to hear anything with the Cobalt. It's fine listening to through Tidal via UAPP though. I contacted the the store I got it from and they think it's a weird issue but they have barely tried the Cobalt themselves yet. The problem used to be solved by a phone reboot but not anymore. The issue is not present with the red.

That's an android issue, DFR had the same one, it has been solved for most android devices via a FW update on DFR, but not for all. There are basically 2 volume settings with android: one which actually changes the volume in the HW, and one purely sw-based. Your volume control in most android apps that is relying on android sound subsystem would actually change the sw-based volume. This has 3 negative aspects:

1. The volume can at highest get only as loud, as the hw-volume setting permits. If hw-volume is set low, your highest sw-volume will be also low (that's your issue with tidal)
2. Too big volume steps (there are usually only 16 of them)
3. By changing the sw-volume, you are actually changing the dynamic range. The lower the sw-volume, the worse the dynamic range, hence sound quality degradation

That's a reason you should actually only use UAPP with android and external wired DACs. That's also a reason I don't use android with external DACs very often, because I don't want to be limited to UAPP only.

 

[ElectricL]

That's an android issue, DFR had the same one, it has been solved for most android devices via a FW update on DFR, but not for all. There are basically 2 volume settings with android: one which actually changes the volume in the HW, and one purely sw-based. Your volume control in most android apps that is relying on android sound subsystem would actually change the sw-based volume. This has 3 negative aspects:

1. The volume can at highest get only as loud, as the hw-volume setting permits. If hw-volume is set low, your highest sw-volume will be also low (that's your issue with tidal)
2. Too big volume steps (there are usually only 16 of them)
3. By changing the sw-volume, you are actually changing the dynamic range. The lower the sw-volume, the worse the dynamic range, hence sound quality degradation

That's a reason you should actually only use UAPP with android and external wired DACs. That's also a reason I don't use android with external DACs very often, because I don't want to be limited to UAPP only.

I figured it might be something to do with Android and I'm glad to hear it might get resolved via FW. I had all this in mind but the problem is that the Cobalt worked initially so that makes me think it might be something else or something to do with UAPP hijacking the volume control?

 

[a-LeXx]

I figured it might be something to do with Android and I'm glad to hear it might get resolved via FW. I had all this in mind but the problem is that the Cobalt worked initially so that makes me think it might be something else or something to do with UAPP hijacking the volume control?

Can easily have to do with UAPP hijacking the volume control. UAPP would actually change the hw-volume (that can be implemented differently in a dac, e.g. in an analog way by adjustable gain, or in a digital way). It might differ a lot from the original setting without UAPP. So if it worked without UAPP - then indeed most probablyUAPP is a root cause of your issue. In this case no FW update will fix it. You probably have that option activated that starts UAPP every time you attach a DAC. Disable that one, restart your phone - the issue then should be gone...

 

[ElectricL]

Can easily have to do with UAPP hijacking the volume control. UAPP would actually change the hw-volume (that can be implemented differently in a dac, e.g. in an analog way by adjustable gain, or in a digital way). It might differ a lot from the original setting without UAPP. So if it worked without UAPP - then indeed most probablyUAPP is a root cause of your issue. In this case no FW update will fix it. You probably have that option activated that starts UAPP every time you attach a DAC. Disable that one, restart your phone - the issue then should be gone...

Yeah, if it's UAPP then it's a n easy fix. I'll look into it when I get home.

 

[joshnor713]

The low volume issue using Tidal is driving me crazy. I have to crank the volume all the way up to hear anything with the Cobalt. It's fine listening to through Tidal via UAPP though. I contacted the the store I got it from and they think it's a weird issue but they have barely tried the Cobalt themselves yet. The problem used to be solved by a phone reboot but not anymore. The issue is not present with the red.

And turning off "Loudness normalization" in Tidal's settings doesn't help?

 

[wwyjoe]

I too have lower volume when Loudess Normalization in Tidal is turned on.
Turning it off helps...

 

[ElectricL]

I too have lower volume when Loudess Normalization in Tidal is turned on.
Turning it off helps...

I had it turned off. It's most likely a UAPP issue

 

[wwyjoe]

I had it turned off. It's most likely a UAPP issue

Not UAPP or Cobalt issue. Be it my Vivo Nex S or LG V50, turning on Loudness Normalization in Tidal's own app reduces the volume.