[Malthus101]

Howdy

So I'm new to DAPs and IEMs.

I've bought a handful of good IEMs recently and yes, they certainly reveal more detail than the $10 ear-buds I got off amazon, probably more than the $60 Sony ear-buds I had for ages... But I'm wondering, are they really THAT amazing? And is that actually down to the fact that my source is still my crappy smartphone with Blackplayer playing compressed 192kbps AACs?

Will I get the "aha!" moment when I'm playing CD quality files off a dedicated high-end DAP?

Is it 50% IEM - 50% DAP?
Or 80% IEM - 20% DAP?
Something else?

Curious to hear your thoughts! Thanks.

 

[baskingshark]

In general, upgrading the transducer (IEM/headphone) first, will usually give the best sonic returns, up till maybe when you go to TOTL range gear.

I would rate in increasing priority to upgrade in the chain for most sonic benefits:
1) Transducer (IEM/headphone)
2) Eartips/earpads
3) Source file eg Mp3 128 versus FLAC/WAV
4) Amp
5) DAC
6) last priority - cables, interconnects etc

 

[Malthus101]

Right....

So with my current high end Campfire Audio IEMs, and my source being my phone playing 192kbps AACs files.. I'm really not going to notice much change if I go to CD quality FLACS and a quality DAP?

It's crazy that the eartips affect the sound more than the compression of the file!

Kind of makes a mockery of all this HiFi level audio being touted about the place, no?

 

[baskingshark]

Right....

So with my current high end Campfire Audio IEMs, and my source being my phone playing 192kbps AACs files.. I'm really not going to notice much change if I go to CD quality FLACS and a quality DAP?

It's crazy that the eartips affect the sound more than the compression of the file!

Kind of makes a mockery of all this HiFi level audio being touted about the place, no?

Here's a post I made about how eartips affect the sound and frequency response:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-discovery-thread.586909/page-5412#post-17607459


If you are already using high-end campfire stuff like the Andromeda and Solaris, then there are arguably other areas in the chain to fiddle with to eke out that last % of audio goodness. You might appreciate some differences in sound going from 192 Mp3 to well mastered FLAC/WAV actually.

 

[Sonic Defender]

AAC is actually a very good codec. The odds of you hearing any difference versus even the lossless master the AAC was converted from is very, very low. There has been quite a bit of evidence that people think they can hear those differences, but in properly designed and implemented blind listening tests that very, very, very rarely proves to be the case.

There have been some people who spend significant time training to be able to catch the occasional audible difference that may reach the audibility threshold, but these audible occurrences are not at all constant so again probably fairly uncommon moments anyway. Who listens to music like that? So in practical terms, unless you are going to spend your time attempting to pierce into the music, no longer enjoying it, trying to detect the possible audible differences a lossy file may contain, your 192 AAC files will sound absolutely fine. If you want to worry about it, and already bias your mind ahead of time, of course you will convince yourself that there are differences.

Years ago, and with very good equipment, including very nice speakers I have simply moved over to using Bluetooth to my systems. My phone is my music server, both with local files and streaming from Tidal, and despite having access to USB and bitperfect playback through JRiver easily available, I have been converted to Bluetooth for years now. I have never for a moment, not a millisecond felt that the music sounded any different than when I used a wired connection, and my music listening goes back into the very start of the 1980s so vinyl into the digital revolution, and now from wired to wireless. I should be biased towards wired connections, but I am not.

There is no reason not to have lossless files if you have the storage and don't need to repurchase all your music, or upgrade your streaming package, otherwise I would just continue to enjoy your 192AAC and concentrate on the transducers as the point of focus. Personally. DACs and amps have also been solved to the point of audible transparency for years now so you will have a plethora of capable choices from budget to mega-buck. Forget cables always. IMO.

 

[Malthus101]

There have been some people who spend significant time training to be able to catch the occasional audible difference that may reach the audibility threshold, but these audible occurrences are not at all constant so again probably fairly uncommon moments anyway. Who listens to music like that? So in practical terms, unless you are going to spend your time attempting to pierce into the music, no longer enjoying it, trying to detect the possible audible differences a lossy file may contain, your 192 AAC files will sound absolutely fine. If you want to worry about it, and already bias your mind ahead of time, of course you will convince yourself that there are differences.

Yeah exactly. Well... what actually started me on this journey was looking for dedicated music players so I don't have to carry my phone with me every time I go walking outside, so the DAP is actually my priority but then I went down the path of IEMs etc etc.

I'll probably keep my fancy IEMs and buy a nice A&K DAP and load it with ripped CD files converted to FLACs.

And that will be that!

Thanks for help.

 

[earmonger]

You may not even need something as fancy as an A&K. IMHO their design sense has gone from clever to ugly.

I've got a grudge against them since they shrugged off updating my AK70 -- $600 at the time -- to deal with a software update to Tidal. Sorry, we promised Tidal but now you're screwed.

https://theinvixion.com/blogs/news/update-on-issues-with-embedded-tidal-app-on-astell-kern-players

Hiby, Shanling, iBasso...lots of other brands of DAPs to consider.

 

[Malthus101]

You may not even need something as fancy as an A&K. IMHO their design sense has gone from clever to ugly.

I've got a grudge against them since they shrugged off updating my AK70 -- $600 at the time -- to deal with a software update to Tidal. Sorry, we promised Tidal but now you're screwed.

https://theinvixion.com/blogs/news/update-on-issues-with-embedded-tidal-app-on-astell-kern-players

Hiby, Shanling, iBasso...lots of other brands of DAPs to consider.

Yeah that sounds frustrating - I just love how their Kann Max looks - sort of an 80s idea of what the future would look like! And it has lots of power to power the most resistant headphones so... guess it's ok.

 

[earmonger]

Make sure that obsolescence isn't also built into the Kann Max -- my link also shows some other Kanns.

 

[Malthus101]

Make sure your that obsolescence isn't also built into the Kann Max -- my link also shows some other Kanns.

Oh yes I see - well, I won't be using streaming with this DAP. I just want to load FLACs from my PC onto it. Hopefully that makes it foolproof (unless the hardware itself dies)

 

[RF330]

it's amazing how much the tips make a difference. was a big fan of the Shure silicone triple flanges for their isolation and resulting sound quality, now discovered the westone star silicone in large orange size and think this is the one. similar isolation but way more comfortable.

 

[CharlieHugh]

I have Kann Alpha DAP, I have ordered craft ears omnium, is there likely to be a big differenc if I bought the A&K se 3000?