kevlar397
New Head-Fier
Hi,
I’m new here so I wanted to say “Hi”.
I’ve been browsing through a lot of posts to learn as much as I can. I’d like to reach out and see what I can learn from each of you regarding my specific audio “needs”.
I’m going to share a little background on the music I like and the quality of files I’m interested in, but if you’d prefer you can skip down to the questions section.
As for the type of music I like my absolute favorite is the Dave Matthews Band. Second would be The Beatles, but of course their place in music history dwarfs any other group or solo artist I listen to. After that I would say U2, whose longevity and consistent relevance might be unmatched.
I do like a little rap with Eminem as my favorite followed by Macklemore.
I enjoy and own a decent number of pop singles, but the music that truly moves me is much more stripped down. I am the happiest listening to a singer or two, if they harmonize well, and a guitar or two. I’ve stumbled upon different musicians and fell in love with their sound. Sadly when I find their studio album what I had enjoyed so much had been muddied up by “other” sounds.
One of my favorite groups is a husband and wife duo who I am pleased to have met. Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish for the Folk/Americana group The Honey Dewdrops. Knowing that I have a lot of ancestry in the British Isles I can feel a unique draw to their folk music which through migration served as the one of the roots of American folk music. I was fortunate enough to enjoy a very small and intimate performance of The Honey Dewdrops and felt such peace listening to them play.
Here is a video of them performing one of my favorites.
A nice example of the stripped down performances I like here is a video of Ed Sheeran singing a Scottish folk song.
I do listen to a lot of pop and some rock, but usually not super popular songs. I like Sia’s music, but that started with the performance below singing Chandelier with only a piano accompanying her. Such a powerful performance!
The Weepies is another big favorite of mine. They have great harmonies with some instrumentation but it isn’t the focus.
A pretty eclectic group I like was Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, which have a collective hippie sound like Section 12 (Hold Me Now) by The Polyphonic Spree.
As for the quality of audio files I want to collect I decided that reading about Hi-Res music can only tell you so much. About a week ago I came across a song that I decided to use as my comparison between MP3 and 24-bit Hi-Res. The song is called Once Upon A Time by Sara Bareills. I first heard this live version on YouTube with Ben Folds and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. I really like whole song, but the first half (up to 2:35) where it is just her voice filling up the music hall is simply breathtaking!
I bought the MP3 on Amazon and the 24-bit/44.1 kHz and listened to them from my laptop using my 1more Quad Driver IEM’s. I was really impressed by the Hi-Res track with the little, but amazing things I could hear. I could hear Sara Bareilles’ breath before she sang with great clarity. I could get a sense of the size of the space in which she was singing. There were parts of the song where the MP3 made her vocals a little bit harsh. With the Hi-Res FLAC file the same notes became softer and more melodious. I’m definitely hooked!
I am very intrigued by the MQA codec and need to figure out what music Tidal has to offer. I just heard about Qobuz which just became available in the US last month. They have a very impressive library of Hi-Res albums for download, but also offer a streaming service. I’m not really interested in streaming, but it would be nice at least until I can build up a decent collection of my own. What was really attractive to me was a subscription level called Sublime which is $25 a month, but paid annually. What makes this such a great deal is that while you can stream all of their Hi-Res music you also get BIG discounts on the purchase of Hi-Res albums! For example Onkyo Music is selling the Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Heats Club Band Super Deluxe Edition at 16/44.1 for $67.49 whereas if you have Sublime Qobuz will drop their price of $56.99 for 24/96 to $28.49 or 50% off!
With that background of the music I like and the quality of files I want to buy and listen to I’m trying to figure out the best equipment.
QUESTIONS
———————————————————————————————————-
I discovered external DAC’s about three weeks ago. I started thinking I’d like to get a Dragonfly Red to use with my iPhone, but the more I think about trying to stuff a ton of FLAC files in my iPhone the more I think a DAP is the way to go for me. I’m trying to keep the cost at about $700. My first question is whether a $400 DAP and a $300 external DAC/Amp are better than a $700 DAP?
Next is about what I’m going to use to listen to the DAP. I will primarily be using 1more’s Quad Driver IEM’s at work and every now and then I’ll listen to them with my Audio-Technica ATH-50s/LE’s at home. Will the Quad Divers be enough to hear all that a DAP offers? Granted I understand that a really good IEM is going to improve the sound quality, but I’m wondering if I’d really be hurting my set up at the $700 price point using the Quad Drivers. Hi-Fi+’s Chris Martens wrote this review of the Quad Drivers listening with two DAP’s above my budget (the Questyle QP1r and Lotoo PAW Gold). It makes me feel like I wouldn’t be throwing money away using these IEM’s.
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/1more-quad-driver-universal-fit-earphones/
Two highly rated DAP’s are the Onkyo DP-X1a and the Astell & Kern A&norma SR 15. In The Absolute Sound’s Buyer’s Guide to Affordable High-End Audio 2017 the review of the Onkyo is glowing! I’m starting to wonder though if this DAP is at the end of it’s life and being replaced. You can no longer buy on Onkyo’s own store, but the site still lists it as one of its current DAP’s. The Onkyo’s compatibility with MQA was a big draw, but at the end of 2018 the Astell & Kern added MQA compatibility with a firmware update. The A&norma seems to have a little bit better DAC’s, but I feel like it is hampered by not having a less customized version of Android and be able to install apps from the Google Play store.
Do any of you have experience with either of these DAP’s and what did you like and dislike? Or are the other DAP’s you think would work better for me?
Thank you all!
I’m new here so I wanted to say “Hi”.
I’ve been browsing through a lot of posts to learn as much as I can. I’d like to reach out and see what I can learn from each of you regarding my specific audio “needs”.
I’m going to share a little background on the music I like and the quality of files I’m interested in, but if you’d prefer you can skip down to the questions section.
As for the type of music I like my absolute favorite is the Dave Matthews Band. Second would be The Beatles, but of course their place in music history dwarfs any other group or solo artist I listen to. After that I would say U2, whose longevity and consistent relevance might be unmatched.
I do like a little rap with Eminem as my favorite followed by Macklemore.
I enjoy and own a decent number of pop singles, but the music that truly moves me is much more stripped down. I am the happiest listening to a singer or two, if they harmonize well, and a guitar or two. I’ve stumbled upon different musicians and fell in love with their sound. Sadly when I find their studio album what I had enjoyed so much had been muddied up by “other” sounds.
One of my favorite groups is a husband and wife duo who I am pleased to have met. Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish for the Folk/Americana group The Honey Dewdrops. Knowing that I have a lot of ancestry in the British Isles I can feel a unique draw to their folk music which through migration served as the one of the roots of American folk music. I was fortunate enough to enjoy a very small and intimate performance of The Honey Dewdrops and felt such peace listening to them play.
Here is a video of them performing one of my favorites.
A nice example of the stripped down performances I like here is a video of Ed Sheeran singing a Scottish folk song.
I do listen to a lot of pop and some rock, but usually not super popular songs. I like Sia’s music, but that started with the performance below singing Chandelier with only a piano accompanying her. Such a powerful performance!
The Weepies is another big favorite of mine. They have great harmonies with some instrumentation but it isn’t the focus.
A pretty eclectic group I like was Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, which have a collective hippie sound like Section 12 (Hold Me Now) by The Polyphonic Spree.
As for the quality of audio files I want to collect I decided that reading about Hi-Res music can only tell you so much. About a week ago I came across a song that I decided to use as my comparison between MP3 and 24-bit Hi-Res. The song is called Once Upon A Time by Sara Bareills. I first heard this live version on YouTube with Ben Folds and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. I really like whole song, but the first half (up to 2:35) where it is just her voice filling up the music hall is simply breathtaking!
I bought the MP3 on Amazon and the 24-bit/44.1 kHz and listened to them from my laptop using my 1more Quad Driver IEM’s. I was really impressed by the Hi-Res track with the little, but amazing things I could hear. I could hear Sara Bareilles’ breath before she sang with great clarity. I could get a sense of the size of the space in which she was singing. There were parts of the song where the MP3 made her vocals a little bit harsh. With the Hi-Res FLAC file the same notes became softer and more melodious. I’m definitely hooked!
I am very intrigued by the MQA codec and need to figure out what music Tidal has to offer. I just heard about Qobuz which just became available in the US last month. They have a very impressive library of Hi-Res albums for download, but also offer a streaming service. I’m not really interested in streaming, but it would be nice at least until I can build up a decent collection of my own. What was really attractive to me was a subscription level called Sublime which is $25 a month, but paid annually. What makes this such a great deal is that while you can stream all of their Hi-Res music you also get BIG discounts on the purchase of Hi-Res albums! For example Onkyo Music is selling the Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Heats Club Band Super Deluxe Edition at 16/44.1 for $67.49 whereas if you have Sublime Qobuz will drop their price of $56.99 for 24/96 to $28.49 or 50% off!
With that background of the music I like and the quality of files I want to buy and listen to I’m trying to figure out the best equipment.
QUESTIONS
———————————————————————————————————-
I discovered external DAC’s about three weeks ago. I started thinking I’d like to get a Dragonfly Red to use with my iPhone, but the more I think about trying to stuff a ton of FLAC files in my iPhone the more I think a DAP is the way to go for me. I’m trying to keep the cost at about $700. My first question is whether a $400 DAP and a $300 external DAC/Amp are better than a $700 DAP?
Next is about what I’m going to use to listen to the DAP. I will primarily be using 1more’s Quad Driver IEM’s at work and every now and then I’ll listen to them with my Audio-Technica ATH-50s/LE’s at home. Will the Quad Divers be enough to hear all that a DAP offers? Granted I understand that a really good IEM is going to improve the sound quality, but I’m wondering if I’d really be hurting my set up at the $700 price point using the Quad Drivers. Hi-Fi+’s Chris Martens wrote this review of the Quad Drivers listening with two DAP’s above my budget (the Questyle QP1r and Lotoo PAW Gold). It makes me feel like I wouldn’t be throwing money away using these IEM’s.
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/1more-quad-driver-universal-fit-earphones/
Two highly rated DAP’s are the Onkyo DP-X1a and the Astell & Kern A&norma SR 15. In The Absolute Sound’s Buyer’s Guide to Affordable High-End Audio 2017 the review of the Onkyo is glowing! I’m starting to wonder though if this DAP is at the end of it’s life and being replaced. You can no longer buy on Onkyo’s own store, but the site still lists it as one of its current DAP’s. The Onkyo’s compatibility with MQA was a big draw, but at the end of 2018 the Astell & Kern added MQA compatibility with a firmware update. The A&norma seems to have a little bit better DAC’s, but I feel like it is hampered by not having a less customized version of Android and be able to install apps from the Google Play store.
Do any of you have experience with either of these DAP’s and what did you like and dislike? Or are the other DAP’s you think would work better for me?
Thank you all!
Last edited:
