[thamasha69]

hello to all guys
there is an application that functions as an equalizer for tidal stream on apple ios (iphone 6s) ?


thx 

If you are jailbroken you can use the tweak EqualizerEverywhere to add a system wide EQ to control center. It will work with any audio coming from the phone as well as thru USB DAC (I tested with DF Black and CCK).

 

[headfry]

Check out Sennheiser's Captune, which allows eq of Tidal streams:



https://en-us.sennheiser.com/captune-headphone-sound-app

 

[rhadorn]

From Cribeiro:
 
Cons (as a device developed "for mobile phone use"):
it is missing the classical support of headset functionality
Android support is not guaranteed
 
 
To Cribeireo:
 
I agree with gheorge. In the audio world, less is often more.I would not expect from a firm trying to eliminate all external disturbances (see the Jitterbug) to add functions to their device, which pretty well could produce new digital noise. 
 
Audioquest aims at producing an enjoyable DAC-AMP (just avoiding to use the word audiophile, which triggers your despise). Experience shows that much of sound quality was ever again sacrificed to convenience of use, The reconquest of quality is a permanent struggle. I hope Audioquest will resist the so called 'pressure of the mass market' (you, Cribeiro) and continue to deliver gear mainly aimed ad sound quality.
 
When I listen to music from my phone using DFR, Jitterbug and Grado Gr10, I don't want to be disturbed by phone calls anyway. If you would, then you eventually don't need the DF.

 

[cribeiro]

  I agree with gheorge. In the audio world, less is often more.I would not expect from a firm trying to eliminate all external disturbances (see the Jitterbug) to add functions to their device, which pretty well could produce new digital noise. 
 
Audioquest aims at producing an enjoyable DAC-AMP (just avoiding to use the word audiophile, which triggers your despise). Experience shows that much of sound quality was ever again sacrificed to convenience of use, The reconquest of quality is a permanent struggle. I hope Audioquest will resist the so called 'pressure of the mass market' (you, Cribeiro) and continue to deliver gear mainly aimed ad sound quality.
 
When I listen to music from my phone using DFR, Jitterbug and Grado Gr10, I don't want to be disturbed by phone calls anyway. If you would, then you eventually don't need the DF.

No audiophile despise from my side. I am just saying that you can have a conservative or an innovative view and I feel your view is rather conservative, although you are looking at a quite innovative piece of hardware. I found the use of the term "audiophile" as an argument against innovation, so I just threw in a couple of examples using the same argument.
Before the Dragonfly hit the market, you could as well apply your argument against it (and I quote you here, just adding something in between): Experience shows that much of sound quality was ever again sacrificed to convenience of use - so why should AQ build such a small DAC-AMP - I hope Audioquest will resist the so called 'pressure of the mass market' and continue to deliver gear mainly aimed at sound quality - instead of "convenient size"..
Do you see my point? You say "mainly aimed at sound quality" and I agree. But "mainly" does not imply to give up everything else. My point is: Do not sacrifice sound quality, but add features and convenience of use. I believe that is exactly what AQ is doing and actually the only "raison d'être" for the Dragonfly.
 
We can also look at the same argument from a different perspective: you can find today high-end IEMs with headset functionality. If you review such IEMs and considering your argument, the headset functionality on such IEM would be listed as a "con" and the manufacturer is wrong, as they should rather focus on sound quality - if you want to pick a call, you can then use the stock earbuds anyway...
 
Again, Audioquest aims at a DAC-AMP for use with mobile phones and it is quite natural that, if you plug your headset into the Dragonfly, you do not want to be plugging and unplugging depending on the use. The first step and the most important part is of course to get the sound right, which they did wonderfully. But I bet they will be considering the headset functionality within the next couple of years. Once they do, they will include it without sound degradation, that is obvious. I still do not see why you are against it.

 

[cribeiro]

When I listen to music from my phone using DFR, Jitterbug and Grado Gr10, I don't want to be disturbed by phone calls anyway. If you would, then you eventually don't need the DF.

Maybe my "problem" is that I have to balance the fact that I am an "audiophile" with taking care of my kids, my wife, my work... Although I can just isolate from time to time during a couple of hours to enjoy music or a movie, I still want to have the same good sound quality during more casual listening, because my phone's headphone output simply sucks (HTC One M8). What can I do, I have a life...
Besides, it is not just calls. As I mentioned, you can also pause and skip to the next/previous song. Call that "audiophile convenience", or call that "saving precious battery which cannot be charged at the same time" (btw. another "con" I just added to my list in my post above).

 

[dan.gheorghe]

There are too many products made only for convenience, comfort and looks without any regard to sound quality. The market is full of those products... and their targed is different. I don't think I've seen any dac/amp portable combo with the support for headsets and I really don't see the need. 

 

[cribeiro]

  There are too many products made only for convenience, comfort and looks without any regard to sound quality. The market is full of those products... and their targed is different. I don't think I've seen any dac/amp portable combo with the support for headsets and I really don't see the need. 

Ok, you see no point in considering and replying to my arguments above. Still, I will actually reply to what you write:
 
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/accessories/earphones/earphone-headphone-cables/m-mplus-cables
 
http://pro.ultimateears.com/products/custom-accessories/cases-cables
 
Are those cables also "made only for convenience, comfort and looks without any regard to sound quality"?
 
I have not seen any portable dac/amp with headset support either, but I could bet manufacturers are already looking into it. Of course they will not tell you because they want you to buy now. Once the new product comes out, they will show you the need.
 
For the record, I am not against the Dragonfly at all, I am really happy to have such an option (again, the headphone output of my phone sucks...) with jaw-dropping sound quality. I think it is allowed to ask for more and listed my personal list of "cons", that is all. Now you come and try to convince me I am wrong, or I do not care enough for sound quality so I should look elsewhere for "convenience products without any regard to sound quality". Am I not worthy because of such thoughts?

 

[dan.gheorghe]

  Ok, you see no point in considering and replying to my arguments above. Still, I will actually reply to what you write:
 
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/accessories/earphones/earphone-headphone-cables/m-mplus-cables
 
http://pro.ultimateears.com/products/custom-accessories/cases-cables
 
Are those cables also "made only for convenience, comfort and looks without any regard to sound quality"?
 
I have not seen any portable dac/amp with headset support either, but I could bet manufacturers are already looking into it. Of course they will not tell you because they want you to buy now. Once the new product comes out, they will show you the need.
 
For the record, I am not against the Dragonfly at all, I am really happy to have such an option (again, the headphone output of my phone sucks...) with jaw-dropping sound quality. I think it is allowed to ask for more and listed my personal list of "cons", that is all. Now you come and try to convince me I am wrong, or I do not care enough for sound quality so I should look elsewhere for "convenience products without any regard to sound quality". Am I not worthy because of such thoughts?

I think you took it too personally. I think that there is a reason why we haven't seen any dacs/amps combos with headset functionality. I think it's quite hard to integrate a mic input on a headphone output without greatly interfering with the SNR, THD, etc, sound quality in general. Now if someone manages to achieve a no compromise solution, well kudos for them, however I am not sure that this is an actual market need. Maybe I am wrong, I don't have all the data regarding this issue, but you are the first I encountered who wants this functionality from a product in this category.
 
The cables you mentioned are very useful and can be used directly with the phone / laptop /tablet, etc.

 

[fate64]

Anyone compare the black to the mono price dac?

 

[drummguy26]

Check out Sennheiser's Captune, which allows eq of Tidal streams:



https://en-us.sennheiser.com/captune-headphone-sound-app

Man, I got all excited about this, but when I downloaded it just now I found out it doesn't have support for offline mode.... So all the Tidal music I have saved offline isn't accessible through CapTune. Sucks....

 

[cribeiro]

  I think you took it too personally. I think that there is a reason why we haven't seen any dacs/amps combos with headset functionality. I think it's quite hard to integrate a mic input on a headphone output without greatly interfering with the SNR, THD, etc, sound quality in general. Now if someone manages to achieve a no compromise solution, well kudos for them, however I am not sure that this is an actual market need. Maybe I am wrong, I don't have all the data regarding this issue, but you are the first I encountered who wants this functionality from a product in this category.

You basically bashed me because my "cons" are nonsense and I care more about convenience than SQ, so I should look elsewhere because I am "mass market". Yes, I took it personally
Few years ago, nobody would expect high-end sound out of a USB Stick. Back then, somebody also said "I think there is a good reason for that, PC noise and so on". At some point, somebody else said "wait, I have an idea"... Catch my drift?
Considering the widespread use of such headsets (also in high-end regions as I linked), I think there is a market for it.
Many products hit the market before customers "want such a functionality".  Look at it from the other side: such functionality might result in the "mass market" buying the product and discovering what music really sounds like.

 

[rhadorn]

Hi Cribeiro,
 
Please, continue caring for your wife and children!
 
It seems our stances are not such far apart. I am just a bit more suspicious than you as to the power of Technology.
 
For sure, I could live with a dac/amp which lets through commands from headsets, under the condition that this has no effect on sound quality. In this matter, I am actually conservative.
That condition is not an easy one to verify. Over the years, I have witnessed a lot of technical miracles, whose miraculous character ended with the advertisement. Tenths of years were necessary to come to grips with the flaws of CD technology, and the journey is not yet finished. As soon as new opportunities open, you get new cheats (high res files which are just blown up red book files for example).
 
Every technical device is the result of compromises, where physical limitations, knowledge limitations, economical limitations and ... marketing potential all play a role. 'Convenience' is what sells best, at the moment. And there are a lot of examples of convenient techniques which were put on the market at the cost of quality. This makes me cautious, conservative if you prefer. VHS won over Betamax just because they entered mass production first and could drop the prices; Betamax was actually better.
 
A firm adding a functionality to a device  to sell more pieces would normally not admit that it compromises a bit of its fundamental quality (in our case, sound quality). The ads don't inform the customer about the compromises made during the development of the device. So the only thing I can do is to make a statement about my preferences: Sound quality. 
 
I am grateful to Gordon Rankin for having developed that new USB protocol for audio information and to Audioquest for having started a new trend on that ground. This could have happened 10 years earlier if the audio industry had really been primarily interested in delivering sound quality.
 
The jitterbug is also a good move (correcting for that other miracle, the digitally noisy information technology). Other people make efforts on other levels to cure some ill-developed techniques sold as Dulcamare's life elixir... Look for example at http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/694-comprehensive-q-mqa-s-bob-stuart/.
 
Good luck!

 

[dan.gheorghe]

  You basically bashed me because my "cons" are nonsense and I care more about convenience than SQ, so I should look elsewhere because I am "mass market". Yes, I took it personally
Few years ago, nobody would expect high-end sound out of a USB Stick. Back then, somebody also said "I think there is a good reason for that, PC noise and so on". At some point, somebody else said "wait, I have an idea"... Catch my drift?
Considering the widespread use of such headsets (also in high-end regions as I linked), I think there is a market for it.
Many products hit the market before customers "want such a functionality".  Look at it from the other side: such functionality might result in the "mass market" buying the product and discovering what music really sounds like.

I didn't bash you. The fact that I don't agree with you isn't bashing. I am just afraid that good companies will make compromises to the sound quality for the mass market, that's all. Also I don't see the headset option as a must have feature, and as I said before, I think it would be very hard not to take away from the sound quality if on the headphone output you also insert a mic input. Again no one has this option. So your added con would be available for every  dac/amp  products on the market today. Not sure that is a fair con... Maybe a wish for a feature request...
 
However, that is my opinion and not agreeing with you doesn't mean I am bashing you. I am sorry I gave you that impression. It's OK for 2 or more people to have different opinions. 

 

[drykoke]

  Considering the widespread use of such headsets (also in high-end regions as I linked), I think there is a market for it.
Many products hit the market before customers "want such a functionality".  Look at it from the other side: such functionality might result in the "mass market" buying the product and discovering what music really sounds like.

This topic has been previously discussed in this thread. No one could name a high quality portable DAC/Amp that has the functions you require. No, not even Mojo, GeekOut, Oppo etc.
 
The only plausible but expensive option was apparently Audeze Sine headphones, which when I last checked was approximately USD 500.
 
Maybe you could start a thread somewhere else about this. It isn't an issue specific to DFR or DFB, and if you want to criticize Audioquest, you should also be criticizing all other manufacturers who make products that don't meet your particular requirements.

 

[bflat]

You are a "true" audiophile if you do the following routine:

1. Buy new audio equipment and proclaim it to be perfect and better than anything you heard before
2. A few days later note a couple issues but still proclaim how you love it anyway
3. A week later as resentment grows the issues become "tolerable"
4. A month later, the hate starts and the issues are indictments of how bad the company is
5. When the "terrible" company releases version X of the same product you immediately buy
6. Repeat cycle