New member...and a question re portable audio storage
Nov 19, 2017 at 11:01 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 13
Faintandfuzzy

Faintandfuzzy

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Greetings all. I'm a music lover from the west coast of Canada. Love all formats be they analog or digital. I do have a question relating to portable audio. I do a lot of photographic work, and sometimes I like to have my old iPod Classic 160 with me with Jazz CDs I've converted to full rez ALAC format. Because of storage, I'm looking at options to use my iPhone 6 Plus instead.

As it only has 64gb, I was wondering....is there a way I can store my ALAC music files on the latest 512gb or 1tb portable SSD drives...some that run off USB power? Whether I need battery power for the drive or not, I'm not really concerned....it is more about connecting the drive to the phone and using it for my muskc collection.

Thanks!

Dave
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 11:04 AM Post #2 of 13
I know Android phones do that, but I can't be sure about Apple. I would assume they can, but I've been wrong in that sense many times (hence why I use the S7 and not the newest iPhone). Is it out of your budget to buy an inexpensive player like the FiiO X3 instead of an SSD?
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 11:08 AM Post #3 of 13
cossix said:
I know Android phones do that, but I can't be sure about Apple. I would assume they can, but I've been wrong in that sense many times (hence why I use the S7 and not the newest iPhone). Is it out of your budget to buy an inexpensive player like the FiiO X3 instead of an SSD?
Click to expand...

While the FiiO X3 is nice, it is limited to 128gb. I have looked at the Onkyp DPX1A and the new Sony A46 player as options. But I thought if it is easy to connect a drive, I'd go that way.
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 11:19 AM Post #4 of 13
Faintandfuzzy said:
Greetings all. I'm a music lover from the west coast of Canada. Love all formats be they analog or digital. I do have a question relating to portable audio. I do a lot of photographic work, and sometimes I like to have my old iPod Classic 160 with me with Jazz CDs I've converted to full rez ALAC format. Because of storage, I'm looking at options to use my iPhone 6 Plus instead.

As it only has 64gb, I was wondering....is there a way I can store my ALAC music files on the latest 512gb or 1tb portable SSD drives...some that run off USB power? Whether I need battery power for the drive or not, I'm not really concerned....it is more about connecting the drive to the phone and using it for my muskc collection.

Thanks!

Dave
Click to expand...

My two cents.
Knowing Apple, I'm guessing Apple does not design their portable audio plays to work with a portable storage device, or add-on storage cards, unless it's something that Apple themselves can sell to you.
Apple would rather have you buy a newer DAP (digital audio player), from them, that comes with a bigger built in storage.

I would try and talk you into buying a FiiO X3 or X5 DAP.
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 11:53 AM Post #7 of 13
Faintandfuzzy said:
Is it easy to swap out microSD cards without confusing the players? Could I have cards for different genres for example?
Click to expand...

Should be able to just turn off the DAP (FiiO or other) swap out the SD card, for a different SD card and turn the player back on.
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 12:13 PM Post #8 of 13
PurpleAngel said:
Should be able to just turn off the DAP (FiiO or other) swap out the SD card, for a different SD card and turn the player back on.
Click to expand...
The FiiO players just update the library for a few seconds after switching cards. Very easy
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 1:39 PM Post #10 of 13
Faintandfuzzy said:
As it only has 64gb, I was wondering....is there a way I can store my ALAC music files on the latest 512gb or 1tb portable SSD drives...some that run off USB power? Whether I need battery power for the drive or not, I'm not really concerned....it is more about connecting the drive to the phone and using it for my muskc collection.
Click to expand...

Two huge problems here. First, that portable storage will suck a lot of power while adding bulk to that phone.

Second, how do you plan on using that set up when your iPhone 6 gets slower in a couple of years or so? You'll have the sync port occupied by the storage then...what? You can't use USB audio nor wired headphones, because you'll be in jack-less dongle-dependent hell. You can use wireless earphones, but since the transmission over BT isn't absolutely lossless if you're using a lossless format (ie it's lossles if you're streaming 320kbps) you might as well just use Spotify and a wired earphone.

What you need to use is wireless storage. Not sure if it uses compression algorithms that don't work like how FLAC makes WAV smaller, but if it doesn't have any problems with high res vids I'm going to assume it doesn't compress ALAC.
https://www.seagate.com/as/en/consumer/backup/wireless-plus/
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 1:45 PM Post #11 of 13
ProtegeManiac said:
Two huge problems here. First, that portable storage will suck a lot of power while adding bulk to that phone.

Second, how do you plan on using that set up when your iPhone 6 gets slower in a couple of years or so? You'll have the sync port occupied by the storage then...what? You can't use USB audio nor wired headphones, because you'll be in jack-less dongle-dependent hell. You can use wireless earphones, but since the transmission over BT isn't absolutely lossless if you're using a lossless format (ie it's lossles if you're streaming 320kbps) you might as well just use Spotify and a wired earphone.

What you need to use is wireless storage. Not sure if it uses compression algorithms that don't work like how FLAC makes WAV smaller, but if it doesn't have any problems with high res vids I'm going to assume it doesn't compress ALAC.
https://www.seagate.com/as/en/consumer/backup/wireless-plus/
Click to expand...

Good points to consider. No perfect solution I guess. May be best to just bite the bullet and spend the coin on a proper player with good expansion options. That Onkyo I mentioned earlier is pushing 600gb with the two mirco slots filled. Not sure if firmaware will allow for the latest 400gb cards to be used.
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 1:54 PM Post #12 of 13
Faintandfuzzy said:
Good points to consider. No perfect solution I guess. May be best to just bite the bullet and spend the coin on a proper player with good expansion options. That Onkyo I mentioned earlier is pushing 600gb with the two mirco slots filled. Not sure if firmaware will allow for the latest 400gb cards to be used.
Click to expand...

Just note that if you like using the iPod and your iPhone chances are you'll pull your hair out dealing with anything that isn't iOS/iTunes. The only reason I can't point to examples is because people who did that and had it end up that way post angrily, which riles up the people who specifically, at the start of this wave of non-mainstream players, asked that Fiio make sure they don't work like the iPod, and everything degenerates until a mod steps in and deletes several flaming pages.
 
Nov 19, 2017 at 2:19 PM Post #13 of 13
Yes, I guess some people are rigid. While I am used to the iPod, I dont really care to much as long as I can see the album covers, etc, and flow through artists. I'm not really concerned much about hi tez audio, ie; 24/96, etc, as it is hard enough to spot the minute differences through my main system with $30k in gear. I'll do some homework and see what I can come up with. That FiiO may get the job done for me.
 
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