[joonas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky191 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Linux is something I've tried many times and just never ended up keeping.

I have chosen Mac OS X as my notebook OS. I hope Apple can get similar experience on mobile computers too. For me iPhone OS is too limiting, no multi-tasking and apps run in a very restricted environment, plus Apple gets to decide what runs on it and what doesn't. Totally different than Mac OS X. We'll just have to cope with compromises until technology develops far enough.

 

[Sparky191]

Maybe the new tablet from Apple will be the one we love?

 

[kulicuu]

joonas: Maybe the audio circuitry are wanting a burn-in period before becoming 'usable'? I hope so for your sake and everyone else who would benefit from its sonic potential. 48GB of music on a flash(with the extension card) is nothing to scoff at, and I wouldn't be shocked overwhelmingly to learn that someone at Nokia might have had the prescience to load an actual amp into the chassis, eliminating (for many) the situations demanding an outboard headamp. They could load a switch into the OS, with an option for letting the audio grab more of the current, allowing for higher voltage audio drive at the expense of battery.

 

[joonas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky191 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe the new tablet from Apple will be the one we love?

We both wish the same thing. But before that, I wish my Audiotailor Jade arrives!

 

[marckuypers]

I currently have the N900 and was thinking about buying the Sennheiser IE8 or the Ultimate Ears 700. Can anyone tell me which one would be better for the N900 or are they both overkill for it?
I listen to a wide variety of music from Britt Nicole to Evanescence to Hardcore
Help would be appreciated

 

[sadata]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marckuypers /img/forum/go_quote.gif I currently have the N900 and was thinking about buying the Sennheiser IE8 or the Ultimate Ears 700. Can anyone tell me which one would be better for the N900 or are they both overkill for it? I listen to a wide variety of music from Britt Nicole to Evanescence to Hardcore Help would be appreciated

I'm using the N900 with a pair of Westone 3s and it sounds fantastic. I mostly listen to FLAC. At any rate, I was pleased enough with the sound that I've just moved all my music over from my Cowon D2 to the N900. (The D2 has great audio but its UI sucks bad. Also, now I only need to carry around one device.)

Here's the audio portion of the N900 review on GSMArena that might help you decide what you need:

Nokia N900 review: A new hope - GSMArena.com

 

[RPHC]

The Nokia N900 works pretty well as a stand-in hockey puck for pickup games on the frozen pond in my backyard.

 

[sadata]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPHC /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Nokia N900 works pretty well as a stand-in hockey puck for pickup games on the frozen pond in my backyard.

Yes, most pocket-sized mobile devices do.

 

[marckuypers]

I went for the Sennheiser IE8 with an Ibasso D2+boa amp and I must say it sounds great

 

[sadata]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marckuypers /img/forum/go_quote.gif I went for the Sennheiser IE8 with an Ibasso D2+boa amp and I must say it sounds great

Just curious how the IE8s sound on the N900 without the 'middleware'? Is there enough power to drive them on its own?

With the D2+ boa are you using USB or just the analog headphone jack? I'm looking forward to the possibility of driving an external DAC and headphone amp (waiting for the Fiio E7) from the USB port on the N900.

 

[marckuypers]

The N900 actually sounds pretty good without an amp. Even with the sennheisers

 

[moophus]

a little late in the game but since I just landed into this thread thought I'd pipe up.
 
I've had this phone for a year now and I love it. I can crack wireless networks on the go! (kismet, aircrack) 

For the hacker, there is no other device this portable that packs the same amount of power.
For the user, it sucks, get an iPhone and go be happy.
 
well back on topic....
 
It has for a headphone amp:
Texas Instruments TPA6130a2 (from http://natisbad.org/N900/n900-commented-hardware-specs.html)
some specifications found online: [http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tpa6130a2.html]
 
"The TPA6130A2 is a stereo DirectPath™ headphone amplifier with I²C digital volume control. The TPA6130A2 has minimal quiescent current consumption, with a typical I_DD of 4 mA, making it optimal for portable applications. The I²C control allows maximum flexibility with a 64 step audio taper volume control, channel independent enables and mutes, and the ability to configure the outputs into stereo, dual mono, or a single receiver speaker BTL amplifier that drives 300 mW of power into 16 

 loads
The TPA6130A2 is a high fidelity amplifier with an SNR of 98 dB. A PSRR greater than 100 dB enables direct-to-battery connections without compromising the listening experience. The output noise of 9 µVrms (typical A-weighted) provides a minimal noise background during periods of silence."
 
so:
DirectPath Ground-Referenced Outputs -- e.g. no output DC blocking capacitors {NICE!!}
SNR of 98 dB  {not shabby at all!}
300mw at 16 ohms is not bad at all. It looks like Nokia didn't overlook the music community too much. The TPA6130A2 is a respectable headphone amplifier, at least on paper.
 
I have an HD600 / TF10 / AHD1001 and they all drive them direct no problem, albeit the HD600's at 85% volume and sounds great for music on the go.

 

[Albedo]

Have you tried the rockbox ported to n900 moophus?
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=66896

 

[moophus]

no way...going to look into it now.
I gotta say. the n900 looks dated, it's simply massive and clunky. plus a resistive touch screen in 2010? BUT, it just keeps impressing me.
It's stably overclocked to 900mhz for the past year. I was out on vacation last week and sniffed and cracked a wep network in about an hour

 

[koolas]

I own N900 plus HD215, HD570 and CX300B Precision.
 
N900 drives all of these headphones very well. Actually I've read a review here about HD215, and it was said they have quite weak bass.
I checked that with Audigy in my desktop, Intel HD audio in Y580 laptop, Sony Bravia (through HDMI), Xperia X8 (my gf phone) and N900.
The results were, that Audigy was not too good, X8 was complete disaster, Bravia was brilliant (but I can't occupy TV all the time...for music), and eventually final two Y580 and N900.
I must say that sound from both Y580 and N900 was astonishing. Even though both run Linux and Pulse Audio, which in both cases resamples everything to 48kHz.
 
I did an experiment on N900 and used MPlayer telling it to bypass Pulse Audio and use directly DAC (via ALSA), and set sample rate to 44.1kHz same as music material (FLAC ripped from CD with Foobar2K). I spent two days now trying to hear the difference, and after all I'm almost convinced that I'm having placebo effect here - I just keep telling my-self that native 44.1kHz sounds better just because, but I think I don't actually hear the difference.
 
What I do appreciate in N900 + HD215 setup is that I get proper bass here, not boomy one (and this is not what I would like to get), but proper bass, i.e. one that has same volume as other frequencies. The electronic music is very rich in sounds, they tend to appear in very wide rage of frequencies, and then the intensities also vary from almost quiet to very loud tones. I can hear this whole richness on my setup.
 
There is also a thread on Maemo forum about USB host as feature that one could use to connect external DAC on USB to N900.
I think there were some successfull tries. If that works then N900 would be the first portable pocket-sized player with sound output though USB.
 
 
Below are some facts about hardware on board of N900:
 
The N900 has contains quite decent components (as for portable device):
 
TPA6130A2
 
The TPA6130A2 is a high fidelity amplifier with an SNR of 98 dB
 
http://www.ti.com/product/tpa6130a2
 
TLV320AIC3x
 
The TLV320AIC3106 contains four high-power output drivers as well as three fully differential output drivers.
 
http://www.ti.com/product/tlv320aic3106-q1

The TLV320AIC3106 includes a stereo audio DAC supporting sampling rates from 8 kHz to 96 kHz. Each
channel of the stereo audio DAC consists of a digital audio processing block, a digital interpolation filter, multi-bit
digital delta-sigma modulator, and an analog reconstruction filter. The DAC is designed to provide enhanced
performance at low sampling rates through increased oversampling and image filtering, thereby keeping
quantization noise generated within the delta-sigma modulator and signal images strongly suppressed within the
audio band to beyond 20 kHz.
 
http://www.ti.com/general/docs/lit/getliterature.tsp?genericPartNumber=tlv320aic3106-q1&fileType=pdf