"Nokia N8" and "feeding a (portable) DAC with USB on-the-go"

[prone2phone]

strange topics here, imo most interesting feature of N8 for head-fiers should be it's 'usb on the go' feature. you can connect large external hard drives to this multimedia monster

 . like Samsung
 
S1 mini . currently i could find 160gb version for 50$. tthese S1 minis have 1.8'' drives and weight under 100g - not bad . it seems 2.5'' hard drives do not work with N8 though as far as i could find
 
out...

 

[mcmalden]

 
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I currently own a N97 it looks like the N8 is using the same chip as it has exactly the same frequence responce etc as the older n97, the n97 sounds fantasic but needs a amp to drive anything 12ohm it's really weak, but the quality of the sound is fantasic, the sound is really crisp/clear it has the crisp and clearness of a £200 amp, it's also very netruel and like the graph suggests lacks a bit of low bass the soundstage is quite wide and you can clearly pick out individual sounds easily with a decent set of cans, once you pair it with a amp to bring out the bass and give the sound more power/fullness it sounds really very good, i use my n97 with my fiio E7, the E7 brings out bass and gives a slightly more fuller/powerful sound while retaining the oringal crisp/clearness.
I would highly recommend the N97/N8 as a portable player if you enjoy a really crisp/clean netruel sound but if you plan to use anything above 12ohm with it you would definitly need a amp.
 

I understand this part, Thanks for your instruction!

The Nokia 5800 uses the same amp as the fiio E7 so it would be better than either the N8 or N97. If I compare the 5800 to the N97 the 5800 is indeed way better IMHO. If you are looking for a good sounding phone you might want to wait for a new express music or get an iphone.
 

 

[ckchan526]

anyone compare 5800 vs W995 before?

 

[juha]

Hi,
 
Really nice combination: Nokia N8 with akg K-702. I can call this HiFi.
 
Output power is not enough in every condition and connector in Nokia is bit loose. But sound quality generally, really, is unexpected!

 

[Sardonyx]

 
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I was wondering if you could use nokia n8 s USB on the go feature or HDMI output to somehow digitally output sound to usb dac?

That would be great, wouldn't it? But unfortunately the anwser is no: unless you buy a receiver with HDMI input and usb digital output, I am not sure if they exist. Moreover a receiver probably has better sound quality than your usb dac(if it's a portable one). Which speakers(your avatar) are those btw? I might buy the monitor audio BX2's

. 

N8 > HDMI > receiver > speakers should work.  I wouldn't set up my home theater with smartphone-as-source, but it might be a good way to share tunes when visiting friends.  I suppose, if you didn't like the receiver's headphone stage, and it had S/PDIF out, then N8 > HDMI > receiver > S/PDIF > DAC/AMP > headphones would be an option.
 
I would like to know if the N8 > USB OTG > portable DAC/AMP > headphones will work.  I mean, just about all DACs are plug & play with Windows, Mac, & Linux, but Symbian???  My money says the necessary audio drivers aren't there.
 
On a related note, since most smartphones are going with HDMI output, I wonder if a portable DAC/AMP with HDMI would be viable for some company to develop?
 

 

[mcmalden]

I don't know if a portable hdmi input dac/amp could be useful. For a phone to output a hdmi signal might be power draining.

 

[Demiourgos]

Have anyone tried to connect Nokia N8 with Fiio E7 via USB On The Go?
 
 

 

[mcmalden]

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Have anyone tried to connect Nokia N8 with Fiio E7 via USB On The Go?
 
 

 
The N8 doesn't have a digital audio output through usb, usb on the go allows the N8 to read usb drives.

 

[Very Legal]

Have anyone both the N8 and the E7? If someone have is there any difference between the headphone out on the N8 vs E7. I suspect the headphone out on the N8 is better than the headphone out on the E7. But i havent heard either of them. so if someone have pleace tell.

 
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Have anyone tried to connect Nokia N8 with Fiio E7 via USB On The Go?
 
 

 

 

[mcmalden]

The HO of the FiiO E7 is most likely better.

 

[Very Legal]

Can anyone that have heard both confirm this?
 
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The HO of the FiiO E7 is most likely better.

 

 

[scottiebabie]

pardon me for pulling out this thread from the grave but thought i pass this 'discovery' to my fellow gear heads. i just got a N8 to play with lastweek & to be honest, i was a tad underwhelmed after reading how much it promised but was not impressed when it kept crashing on me - screen freezes, auto reboots & watnot! anyhoos, i finally decided to risk a restore but was a bit worried all of my tunes & assorted apps/games (all 18gb worth) would be wiped out. 
 
well thx god for having the option to restore WHILE keeping all installed apps & data - worked like a charm. all my crashing issues seems to be solved (for now)& the N8s been running just fine for the last coupla days sans crashes. while i was at it, i looked at the (useless til now) USB2GO cable & decided on a whim, to hook it up to my mod MF V-DAC (that was usually fed by the lappy USB). gotta say...WOW everything worked even when it wasnt touted!
 
could be wrong here but i think i just turned my N8 into a digi-transport feeding my V-DAC>amp>headphones(or speakers too for that matter). havnt done much of a comparo with the lappy USB out but if by audio memory alone, they both sound quite similar. now i dont know how well the N8 would work with a porty DACamp unit (dont own any) if at all but nevertheless, this has to be a major discovery to rival those istream devices - only this isnt a standalone unit but a fully functional smartphone with a great 12mp digicam & HD vidcam too boot (which was the primary reason for ownership in the 1st pls).
 
& oya the N8 still works for calls too using the N8s mic! LOL

. dont know how functional the N8 would be in an all porty enviroment feeding something like....say the new JH3a. for sure the cabling would surely be messy but if someone was to make a micro USB to 3.5mm TRRS plug...? regardless, as is, its quite a nice proposition to think of feeding the N8 to small porty DACamp units so prevalent nowadays.
 
just a bit of info, used N8s can be gotton quite cheap nowadays. i picked up my minty used unit for $150 & with 16gb built-in &with 32gb microSD capable, it'll make quite a fine DAP, nevermind being a fon & a decent media player & a mini computer & a darn fine digicam & HD vid cam. hell the HDMI out is jus icing on the cake!
 
i think im a gonna like my 'new' toy...for now

 

[Very Legal]

Wow. Thats interesting didnt know that.

 

[bsee]

Hi guys,
 
This is my first post, i m also newbie into head fi. Currently using the UE tf10 pro.
 
I previously have nokia 5800, n97. Both of these phone died on me due to the age of the phones.
 
I m using now using the n8,E7 and 5230 as spare phone.
 
From what i remember is that 5800 has a very loud sound or bass. I could not comment much on the clarity because that i m still using the stock earphones.
 
N8 (own by my gf) and E7 are identical, i think they share the same build in amplifier and sound chip.
 
I have compare iphone 4 with e7 with my tf10 pro, Iphone 4 is actually a very loud phone, but in term of clarity, soundstage and vocal, i can say e7 wins heads down by a very far margin.
 
I have tested a 80ohm headphone before on my e7 without a problem which they iphone 4 failing to drive.
 
N8 and e7 is a very decent phone for mp3 playing. I had a go vibes portable amp but i gave it my friend with the iphone 4 because in my opinion that the n8 and e7 does not need any portable amp to help like the iphone 4.
 
I m still searching for another earphones for myself since my gf took my tf10 for her own use on the n8 now adays, still no luck getting what i want other than the tf10 pro. I had audition shure 535, westone 3 and westone 4, sm3, Dba-02, eq-5,eq-7 and FAD heaven-S ( my dads).
 
Any other recommendations?

 

[Sparky191]

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anyone compare 5800 vs W995 before?

I've not heard the 5800 but I tried a W995 for a week or two, and though it was just average. Not bad, not amazing either.