Rooster80
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2011
- Posts
- 10
- Likes
- 0
Dear Internet,
I've been following every thread on the V10 with great interest since I recently upgraded my Note 4 to a V10.
These days, there are very few "MUST HAVE" gadgets reaching the market as technology has leveled out from years of fast paced development. Every 6 month or so a new device hit the market, each one of them making any previous models seem obsolete and yesteryear... I MUST HAVE IT!..
But these days even with an almost 2 year old Note 4 , the brand spanking new devices have very little to offer in terms of upgrades and new features. Sure, you can get a camera with an aperture of 1.8 instead of 2,0. Or a slightly better screen, according to the manufacturer at least...
But I digress....
After years of having portable amps by Fiio, iBasso and other great companies that help me clench my thirst for HiFi nirvana, I grew tired of hauling a stack of electronic devices in my bag or worse - pockets. The constant charging and cable glitches made me long for a one device solution. I love listening to loud music. And there has yet to be device that could get a pair of decent IEMs to levels where I start nodding my head. The HTC M8 and M9 came close, but not enough to get my pants wet...
So when LG introduced the V10 I got all exited and giddy - could this be a MUST HAVE device?? Where you seek out a retailer just to have a look, and in case they happened to have the damn thing in stock, there aren't enough unpaid bills in the world that could stop you from maxing out your last credit card! I've been there... All too many times...
Then while waiting for the damn thing to show up here in Thailand where I'm currently living, BAD rumors started to spread. You can't use the ESS DAC with any other app than the stock music player... No Spotify, Tidal or other twenty-first century streaming service.
So perhaps it's not for me.
But now, behold Marshmallow goodness is here to melt in your mouth and with it comes HiFi goodness to any app your heart so desires.
I order an international version straight away. And so my prologue has reached it's end.
For what i must presume are of safety reasons - the DAC, or rather the amplifier part of the ESS package limits the gain depending on the impedance of the headphones you plug in... To stop idiots like myself from blowing my eardrums out which could very well happen one fine day.
But I found out - through this fine forum - that you could use an male to female adapter plug to trick the amp to enter AUX mode. A sort of half gain mode if you will, to power enough signal to use for car stereos and other AUX input situations.
This sort of created not only a higher gain and volume, but a ever so slightly better breathable stereo image and sound stage.
But it wasn't the high impedance mode that some of my headphones could trigger. That sounded miles better in terms of separation and clarity.
While digging through boxes of cables and old headsets, half of them from old phones and mp3 players from back when. I tried to find a male to female adapter but couldn't find one. What I did find though was a bunch of old volume attenuators you know, those things little volume controllers that Shure and other high end brands insist on including with all their IEMs and headphones.That no one ever uses...
And to my surprise, the restriction of the attenuator is enough to trigger the High Impedance mode on the V10.
So there you have it. If you think the AUX mode is not enough juice for you. And you really want to use the full potential of this wonderful little device. Go dig in your old drawers and boxes. I'm sure you got one lying around somewhere.
PS If you're in the same mindset as me, that the reason you never used a volume controller before has been that it adds another step in the search of the perfect signal chain. You're probably right. We both are.
But the huge increase in signal gain from the ESS amplifier must surely more than compensate for the additional step...
I've been following every thread on the V10 with great interest since I recently upgraded my Note 4 to a V10.
These days, there are very few "MUST HAVE" gadgets reaching the market as technology has leveled out from years of fast paced development. Every 6 month or so a new device hit the market, each one of them making any previous models seem obsolete and yesteryear... I MUST HAVE IT!..
But these days even with an almost 2 year old Note 4 , the brand spanking new devices have very little to offer in terms of upgrades and new features. Sure, you can get a camera with an aperture of 1.8 instead of 2,0. Or a slightly better screen, according to the manufacturer at least...
But I digress....
After years of having portable amps by Fiio, iBasso and other great companies that help me clench my thirst for HiFi nirvana, I grew tired of hauling a stack of electronic devices in my bag or worse - pockets. The constant charging and cable glitches made me long for a one device solution. I love listening to loud music. And there has yet to be device that could get a pair of decent IEMs to levels where I start nodding my head. The HTC M8 and M9 came close, but not enough to get my pants wet...
So when LG introduced the V10 I got all exited and giddy - could this be a MUST HAVE device?? Where you seek out a retailer just to have a look, and in case they happened to have the damn thing in stock, there aren't enough unpaid bills in the world that could stop you from maxing out your last credit card! I've been there... All too many times...
Then while waiting for the damn thing to show up here in Thailand where I'm currently living, BAD rumors started to spread. You can't use the ESS DAC with any other app than the stock music player... No Spotify, Tidal or other twenty-first century streaming service.
So perhaps it's not for me.
But now, behold Marshmallow goodness is here to melt in your mouth and with it comes HiFi goodness to any app your heart so desires.
I order an international version straight away. And so my prologue has reached it's end.
For what i must presume are of safety reasons - the DAC, or rather the amplifier part of the ESS package limits the gain depending on the impedance of the headphones you plug in... To stop idiots like myself from blowing my eardrums out which could very well happen one fine day.
But I found out - through this fine forum - that you could use an male to female adapter plug to trick the amp to enter AUX mode. A sort of half gain mode if you will, to power enough signal to use for car stereos and other AUX input situations.
This sort of created not only a higher gain and volume, but a ever so slightly better breathable stereo image and sound stage.
But it wasn't the high impedance mode that some of my headphones could trigger. That sounded miles better in terms of separation and clarity.
While digging through boxes of cables and old headsets, half of them from old phones and mp3 players from back when. I tried to find a male to female adapter but couldn't find one. What I did find though was a bunch of old volume attenuators you know, those things little volume controllers that Shure and other high end brands insist on including with all their IEMs and headphones.That no one ever uses...
And to my surprise, the restriction of the attenuator is enough to trigger the High Impedance mode on the V10.
So there you have it. If you think the AUX mode is not enough juice for you. And you really want to use the full potential of this wonderful little device. Go dig in your old drawers and boxes. I'm sure you got one lying around somewhere.
PS If you're in the same mindset as me, that the reason you never used a volume controller before has been that it adds another step in the search of the perfect signal chain. You're probably right. We both are.
But the huge increase in signal gain from the ESS amplifier must surely more than compensate for the additional step...
