[Paul Dolden]

I love this forum and have been reading it for years. My set up right now is HiFiman Arya and ibasso dx220. (amp one). I love it. I am an old Stax guy before. My question is: how do you people get audio files stored on your Mac onto a DAP like the Ibasso? ibasso operates on Android. I have tried several programs, for going from Android to Mac, ( Coolmuster, SynMate, Wondershare Tunes Go) and they do not see the ibasso. These programs are designed to synchronize your phone to your Mac. The only one that sees the ibasso, and therefore works, is called "Android File Transfer", it has not been updated in 8 years and constantly crashes. I do not want to get into clouds, or other servers. Indeed on my ibasso i do not have the internet on and i do not stream music. I am older, so perhaps there is something I do not understand about our new digital world. I would really appreciate being pointed in the right direction. There is no information on Goggle searches of topic. I have a collection of 8,000 cds i want to transfer some of them to my ibasso, how does this work?

 

[zerogun]

Could you not transfer your music from the Mac to a microSD? That might be your best bet without tinkering with the APK

 

[Paul Dolden]

Thank you Zerogun for you help. I really appreciate it. If it does not take too much of your time, could i ask for some clarification. Take the microSD out my DAP, and have it talk to my Mac how? What is there some sort of "holder" or device in which i would place my microSD and it would have a USB out I would plug into my Mac? Secondly perhaps less important, by APK you mean Android? As you can guess from my new questions, I am an older gentleman, so the digital age is a big mystery. Yes I grew up on vinyl and reel to reel tape recorders...A sound I do not miss, unlike many my age. I think they all need to hear surface noise of vinyl and tape hiss on their modern hyper detailed headphones to kill analogue nostalgia!

 

[boost3d]

Thank you Zerogun for you help. I really appreciate it. If it does not take too much of your time, could i ask for some clarification. Take the microSD out my DAP, and have it talk to my Mac how? What is there some sort of "holder" or device in which i would place my microSD and it would have a USB out I would plug into my Mac? Secondly perhaps less important, by APK you mean Android? As you can guess from my new questions, I am an older gentleman, so the digital age is a big mystery. Yes I grew up on vinyl and reel to reel tape recorders...A sound I do not miss, unlike many my age. I think they all need to hear surface noise of vinyl and tape hiss on their modern hyper detailed headphones to kill analogue nostalgia!

When you are referring to Mac, it's the desktop and not laptop? If desktop, it should have a SD slot. See the connections and expansions section here (it's the SDXC card slot):https://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

You will need a microSD to SD card adaptor. They are cheap and can be found on Amazon. See here for more information and how to use:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204384

 

[Paul Dolden]

Thank you boost3d. Both my Macs, a laptop and a desktop are old (2012), so no SD slot. But i am looking on Amazon and see the product i need. I figured there was an easy solution! Your information is what i was missing. But it still strikes me as strange that a major company like ibasso would make talking to a Mac so convulted. Or at least have a tip for Mac users at their site.. My 6 year old Fiio product shows up on every computer i have ever plugged into, both Mac and PC. I guess we can say an "Android is taking over the world" ( a joke) Thanks once again and I am on my way.

 

[boost3d]

Thank you boost3d. Both my Macs, a laptop and a desktop are old (2012), so no SD slot. But i am looking on Amazon and see the product i need. I figured there was an easy solution! Your information is what i was missing. But it still strikes me as strange that a major company like ibasso would make talking to a Mac so convulted. Or at least have a tip for Mac users at their site.. My 6 year old Fiio product shows up on every computer i have ever plugged into, both Mac and PC. I guess we can say an "Android is taking over the world" ( a joke) Thanks once again and I am on my way.

No problem. It's more a Mac issue than ibasso imo. I don't have an ibasso but it runs Android and I'm very familiar with that. With Android and say Windows, it's a simple drag and drop.

 

[Paul Dolden]

yes, I think you are right, Mac has always been very proprietary....but for most of us in music production, Mac is the standard. Once you have spent 25 years perfecting your Logic Audio skills you are willing to pay for an overpriced computer and have a studio with adapters hanging around to talk to the rest of the digital world. oh well. n.b. speaking of studio gear, i would think readers here, would like to know that the ibasso's sound came very very close to my $3,000 studio A to D, in demanding A to B tests. Indeed for music listening, the ibasso was preferable. For anayltical , a bit cold, listening the the studio A to D still had an edge. So for me the ibasso is impressive to have such quality sound and be portable! I can check my mixes and other peoples mixes in the forest, in my garden, while cooking. wow. what an age for high quality listening! The Arya headphones are beyond glowing comments. such clarity and portable .also the spatial aspect of these headphones, defy headphone listening "limitations" historically. of course in my opinion(imo).....

 

[zerogun]

No worries! Happy to clarify!

So the microSD will require you get a reader that talks to your Mac via the USB port. Getting a USB hub and a microSD adapter should solve your troubles.

While you’re researching, I suggest looking up how big of a microSD card you can get for the ibasso.

once you have that sorted, you won’t need to really tinker with the Android transfer for the Mac.

 

[Paul Dolden]

yes i have just order on amazon the right reader and sd card.....so onto happy listening.