[Lurk650]

Yeah, but how? I'm not doing anything special, it is connected to my iPhone via BT and that's it, there's not much I can configure there, is it? Unless I'm missing the obvious.

You are stuck with AAC which is decent but AptX and LDAC are much better IMO

 

[Ocelitgol]

Update on Fiio short cable...looks and feels wonderful and the length is just perfect like others stated. I always clip ES100 onto my necklace and the Fiio cable length is just enough to route the cable behind the ear so everything will be out of the way. Not too long, not too short. Just right (so happy! )


My portable setup now:
ES100
Morphie battery case
DotNet magnetic cable and adapter
Shure SE846 (trishd mod with Comply P series-trimmed off the top)
Fiio new tiny shiny cable
[bad camera]

 

[scotvl]

You are stuck with AAC which is decent but AptX and LDAC are much better IMO

I agree aptx hd is good but I find Ldac to be superior in every way to my ears. I hear a more spacious revealing present and dynamic sound signature pretty much on par with a wired connection.

 

[hsdrggr]

And I can't get over how much worse same content sounds via Bluetooth. It feels like a watered down coke that you'd get from a dispenser vs a genuine bottled product (I'm from Europe so no high fructose BS for us here).

I am not using the ES100 USB Dac connection, but I am transmitting from several different sources (iPhone 8, FiiO X7mkii, and a HiBy R3) to it via Bluetooth in LDAC, APTX and AAC modes, then using its 2.5mm balanced and 3.5mm SE outputs as a preamp into my Amps and it sounds incredibly good. In LDAC mode I can not tell any difference from being directly wired. Consequently I have totally abandoned using any hard wire connections from my phone or DAPs to my portable amps. I mainly use 2 different amps (RSA Intruder and a Topping NX3s) depending on the cans I’m using. I have an ES100 permanently attached to both of them. The RSA Intruder is one of the cleanest and most powerful portable amps made which drives my power hungry Planar headphones and I couldn’t be happier with the sound quality. The ES100 IMO is the best small Bluetooth amp being produced currently. I have tried several different BT amps including both FiiO units and the ES100 is definitely a better beast. I like the ES100 so much that I actually have purchased six of them. Four I have given away as gifts to family members and two I use. Everyone is quite pleased with them.

 

[LTDJ]

I agree aptx hd is good but I find Ldac to be superior in every way to my ears. I hear a more spacious revealing present and dynamic sound signature pretty much on par with a wired connection.

The way you described LDAC is exactly what is missing with BT on the iOS to me, i.e. it has a less spacious, less dynamic sound signature. Tunes that blew me away over USB do nothing for me on BT

People in this thread say that aptx hd is a gimmick and that Apple is right by not paying Qualcomm and sticking with AAC since the difference is negligible. AAC on it's own isn't horrible since this is what iTunes on macOS uses too and it sounds great over USB (and not so great over BT).

I guess LDAC is only to be found on Android and Sony branded players then?

 

[scotvl]

The way you described LDAC is exactly what is missing with BT on the iOS to me, i.e. it has a less spacious, less dynamic sound signature. Tunes that blew me away over USB do nothing for me on BT

People in this thread say that aptx hd is a gimmick and that Apple is right by not paying Qualcomm and sticking with AAC since the difference is negligible. AAC on it's own isn't horrible since this is what iTunes on macOS uses too and it sounds great over USB (and not so great over BT).

I guess LDAC is only to be found on Android and Sony branded players then?

Yeah while the es100 was an impressive upgrade to my Sony sbh50 Bluetooth receiver paired with my note 4 over apt x I didn't really hear what it was capable of until I paired it with an LG G6 with Oreo and the Ldac codec. I now have an LG G7 with the quad DAC and it sounds great directly wired but the es100s balanced output over Ldac slightly surpasses it
in space presence and micro details.
Apt x HD sounds good but I would pick Ldac over it easily.

 

[Ocelitgol]

@wslee would it be possible to add auto turn off when reaching full charge? or auto turn off when not playing?

 

[mhoopes]

@wslee would it be possible to add auto turn off when reaching full charge? or auto turn off when not playing?

+1 for these combined.

 

[LTDJ]

@wslee would it be possible to add auto turn off when reaching full charge? or auto turn off when not playing?

+10000 but auto turn off when reaching full charge is an average idea, it should stay switched off if plugged in switched off or switched off during charging by the user or stay switched on if it was switched on when it got plugged in. Like 99.999% devices out there.
As for inactivity, my ES100 switches off itself every now and then when not used. Not like there's any pattern in it. It might be faulty, it might be by design. Who knows.

 

[IrishAudio]

Yeah while the es100 was an impressive upgrade to my Sony sbh50 Bluetooth receiver paired with my note 4 over apt x I didn't really hear what it was capable of until I paired it with an LG G6 with Oreo and the Ldac codec. I now have an LG G7 with the quad DAC and it sounds great directly wired but the es100s balanced output over Ldac slightly surpasses it
in space presence and micro details.
Apt x HD sounds good but I would pick Ldac over it easily.

I’ve gone through a similar transition with still one wrinkle to solve. I had an iPhone and ES100 pumped into HD650s balanced at x2 voltage. Got Tidal HiFi and then Masters via mConnect but it’s still transcoding into AAC. Found an old Nexus 6 and flashed an Oreo ROM and am now listening to Tidal Masters via LDAC. Sounds great. The one remaining wrinkle is that LDAC has four settings in the Developer settings: 330, 660, 990 and Best Effort which just picks the most stable connection from the three options. If you switch it to 990 it won’t stick. It always flips back to Best Effort which is quite annoying. Other than that, it’s a great affordable solution until Radsone introduces the ES200 and we see what this non-Bluetooth solution will be like.

 

[Ocelitgol]

+10000 but auto turn off when reaching full charge is an average idea, it should stay switched off if plugged in switched off or switched off during charging by the user or stay switched on if it was switched on when it got plugged in. Like 99.999% devices out there.
As for inactivity, my ES100 switches off itself every now and then when not used. Not like there's any pattern in it. It might be faulty, it might be by design. Who knows.

strange...my ES100 got full charge and I left it connected to my phone overnight (no music playing or any alarm), it stays on and drain like 15%

 

[LTDJ]

strange...my ES100 got full charge and I left it connected to my phone overnight (no music playing or any alarm), it stays on and drain like 15%

Mine does that too. But during the day it will randomly switch itself off when not used (but connected to my laptop and my phone, which is when it shouldn't switch itself off). Luckily it doesn't switch off during playback.

 

[smorgar]

A

Yeah while the es100 was an impressive upgrade to my Sony sbh50 Bluetooth receiver paired with my note 4 over apt x I didn't really hear what it was capable of until I paired it with an LG G6 with Oreo and the Ldac codec. I now have an LG G7 with the quad DAC and it sounds great directly wired but the es100s balanced output over Ldac slightly surpasses it
in space presence and micro details.
Apt x HD sounds good but I would pick Ldac over it easily.

According to my ears and gear (Etymotic er4sr) AptxHD is more true to the recording. Sure LDAC sounds nice and all but it adds room and space I am unable to hear with usb. It "colors" the sound, but it does sound good

 

[chinmie]

A

According to my ears and gear (Etymotic er4sr) AptxHD is more true to the recording. Sure LDAC sounds nice and all but it adds room and space I am unable to hear with usb. It "colors" the sound, but it does sound good

are you comparing the LDAC with the USB output of the ES100 itself? because if I'm not mistaken the USB output of the ES100 is limited in bit rate/SQ in general

 

[smorgar]

are you comparing the LDAC with the USB output of the ES100 itself? because if I'm not mistaken the USB output of the ES100 is limited in bit rate/SQ in general

Yes and no. LDAC vs AptxHD, es100 usb, nad d3020. Yamaha rx-v1800 (from PC). None of those amps gives room and space to songs like LDAC does.
If you read about Sonys audio stuff they have something called Dseex or aomesomet like that that gives you the roomy sound. I suspect they use it LDAC in some way.