[csglinux]

Hi @james444, I found your track - it's available as a Master on Tidal. I listened to "Empty White House" through my V30 with the standard Tidal app to the XB10 in most stable (AAC) and best sound quality (aptX HD) modes using the balanced output to my SE846. I hear a distinct improvement with aptX HD, but not for the reasons I expected. Using the AAC codec I hear what sounds like the usual re-sampling artifacts at the bridges between the string instruments and the silence. It's pretty bad. AptX HD is better, but not consistent, and substitutes the nasty re-sampling artifacts for a consistent noise floor. I also tried the non-MQA version via the XB10 and the results sounded identical to my ears. Using single-ended output has a similar effect, but with a higher noise floor. Of course, plugging the SE846 directly into the V30, all these issues go away and it sounds great

I did the same tests with Focal Utopias (balanced and single-ended into the XB10) and then the AAC and AptX HD were much closer - I struggle to hear any re-sampling artifacts on higher-impedance/lower-sensitivity headphones.

Whatever weird things the XB10 is doing may be manifesting itself slightly differently in your headphones, but what I hear in AAC mode is the amp on the XB10 completely cuts out in those moments of silence, and then turns back on again when the music kicks in again. The clicks are quite audible at those points, so we're probably hearing the same effect.

I went back to my Samsung S8 (aptX support, but not aptX HD) and played the same track through the Tidal app on that. It sounded similar to that of the V30 at its best when using aptX HD - but overall the S8 was more consistent, so I'd have the say the S8 was the winner. (I have no option to change the connection type on my S8.) It seems the designer of the V30's audio never listened very carefully with sensitive IEMs. I'm afraid I don't know of a work-around for this BT issue, other than keeping the receiver really close to the V30 so that the connection quality doesn't drop and degrade. When it works, it sounds similar to the S8, but I suspect the V30 has the weaker BT radio.

P.S. It's bizarre how quickly Tidal are now filling out their MQA catalogue. One could become cynical seeing how apparently easy it is to create MQA equivalents!

 

[james444]

Whatever weird things the XB10 is doing may be manifesting itself slightly differently in your headphones, but what I hear in AAC mode is the amp on the XB10 completely cuts out in those moments of silence, and then turns back on again when the music kicks in again. The clicks are quite audible at those points, so we're probably hearing the same effect.

Ha, that's probably it! I actually thought there might be some kind of "auto-mute" going on in these extremely quiet passages, but then dismissed the possibility when I could neither replicate the clicks with aptX HD, nor with aptX from my Galaxy S3. How weird that the XB10 would only do this in AAC mode?

Anyway, thanks a lot for your time and effort, it really helped shedding some light on these strange things I heard!

 

[csglinux]

Hey, @james444 - if you get the opportunity, check out the iEMatch: https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-iematch/

I was about to write this product off as the most over-priced pair of resistors ever sold, but then went back and tested it (the 2.5 mm balanced version) with the XB10+V30 combo. Even on "Most stable" BT connection setting, those nasty little artifacts you noticed are almost entirely gone once you put the iEMatch into "Ultra" mode. It's still not as good as a wired connection, but it's massively better than without the iEMatch. Just beware that the iEMatch can change the FR slightly, because it presents a slightly different impedance (~16 Ohm) to your source, while pretending to be ~ 1 Ohm z-out to your headphones.

 

[491326]

hello @csglinux I'm new to dsd and android, dsd playback via both stock music app and neutron player have right and left channels flipped. how do i fix this? (this is with the DoP on in neutron)

 

[csglinux]

hello @csglinux I'm new to dsd and android, dsd playback via both stock music app and neutron player have right and left channels flipped. how do i fix this? (this is with the DoP on in neutron)

In Neutron's settings, under the "Audio Hardware" menu, there's an option to "Reverse Stereo". I don't know of way to do this with the stock LG music app.

Curious that this happened at all? What was your source for these DSD tracks?

 

[491326]

In Neutron's settings, under the "Audio Hardware" menu, there's an option to "Reverse Stereo". I don't know of way to do this with the stock LG music app.

Curious that this happened at all? What was your source for these DSD tracks?

thx! i got them at acoustic sounds, they play fine on my computer though. if i do the reverse stereo thing, will it affect my nondsd music (i assume yes)?

I've confirmed that the reverse stereo does affect my non dsd music that didn't have the flipped problem. turning off DoP gets rid of the flipped sound for dsd, but i'm guessing the quality is gonna be worse?

Final edit: i have no idea what i did, but everything is fine now, the dsd isnt flipped and my normal music isn't flipped either.

 

[csglinux]

Are you able to share a sample file that has this problem?

Ok, just read your update. Hopefully everything ok now. I've never experienced that problem, and am not sure what might have caused it.

 

[james444]

Hey, @james444 - if you get the opportunity, check out the iEMatch: https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-iematch/

I was about to write this product off as the most over-priced pair of resistors ever sold, but then went back and tested it (the 2.5 mm balanced version) with the XB10+V30 combo. Even on "Most stable" BT connection setting, those nasty little artifacts you noticed are almost entirely gone once you put the iEMatch into "Ultra" mode. It's still not as good as a wired connection, but it's massively better than without the iEMatch. Just beware that the iEMatch can change the FR slightly, because it presents a slightly different impedance (~16 Ohm) to your source, while pretending to be ~ 1 Ohm z-out to your headphones.

Strangely enough, the LG G6 I'm currently using doesn't cause the same artifacts on my XB10. But I'll remember your tip next time I try the V30 again, thanks!

 

[491326]

so i ignored a track on the neutron player a while ago, but i want to restore it now, does anyone know how to restore?

 

[csglinux]

Just curious to know how many of you folks out there are using Android 8 (Oreo)?

I'm not having any luck with my tests. On Oreo, with both Neutron and the latest official UAPP update, my 44/16 files are again being re-sampled to 48 kHz, and all the nasty re-sampling artifacts are back

 

[tbritton]

Just curious to know how many of you folks out there are using Android 8 (Oreo)?

I'm not having any luck with my tests. On Oreo, with both Neutron and the latest official UAPP update, my 44/16 files are again being re-sampled to 48 kHz, and all the nasty re-sampling artifacts are back

Oh, gadzooks. As you know, I have an HTC 10 and not the LG 30, but I expect this will affect my players as well. Guess I'd better disable any auto-updates till I hear more! Thanks for the heads-up!

Terry

 

[csglinux]

Oh, gadzooks. As you know, I have an HTC 10 and not the LG 30, but I expect this will affect my players as well. Guess I'd better disable any auto-updates till I hear more! Thanks for the heads-up!

Terry

I've found a work-around for Neutron (updated in the first post), but still no luck so far with UAPP. Oreo has also broken hi-res on the OnePlus devices.
More work to do!....

 

[oyobass]

Oh, gadzooks. As you know, I have an HTC 10 and not the LG 30, but I expect this will affect my players as well. Guess I'd better disable any auto-updates till I hear more! Thanks for the heads-up!

Terry

I'll be careful before doing the update on my phone too, if it ever comes to my phone.
By the way, what is the gadget in your profile pic? Modular synth? Tube tester, lol?

 

[tbritton]

By the way, what is the gadget in your profile pic? Modular synth? Tube tester, lol?

First guess was right - that was my very first synthesizer I had regular access to, the EMS "Putney" VCS3. Way back in 1972!

Terry

 

[james444]

so i ignored a track on the neutron player a while ago, but i want to restore it now, does anyone know how to restore?

I don't know how to "un-ignore" a track using Neutron, but if you arbitrarily rename that track in file manager, it will become visible again in Neutron after the next refresh.