[snugglykindness]

hi i'm looking to get a smartphone and i want to get one that is capable of playing and decoding 24 bit with out down sampling to 16 bit. r there any phones like this it seems hard to find a straight answer anywhere.
 
also i read in one of the forums an idea to use a USB portable DAC on a smartphone which to me sounds like a really good idea and probably what i would like to do. so if i hooked up a Samsung Galaxy ACE to a Behringer USA202 Audio Interface i could play back 24 bit audio? (i use a Behringer FCA202 to encode my vinyl and tapes it doesn't have to be Behringer and it doesn't have to be a Samsung Galaxy Ace either but i'm not looking to spend a lot of money).
 
what about these HTC phones with Beats Audio r they 24 bit? Jimmy Iovine seems to talk a lot about 24 bit but again i can't seem to find a definitve answer.
 
any help would be appreciated. thanx!

 

[skamp]

It is doubtful that any smartphone would sport more than 16 bits of dynamic range…

 

[KT66]

Beginning to think 24bit is a con, 16bit done well is almost perfect
Ie the dac in my 16bit hm-801 sounds MUCH better than 24bit on E17

 

[DrSheep]

Don't quote me on this, but I think the iPad + AudioQuest DragonFly combo might work.  However, phone wise I don't think it's doable...

 

[snugglykindness]

Quote:

Don't quote me on this, but I think the iPad + AudioQuest DragonFly combo might work.  However, phone wise I don't think it's doable...

well iPad is kind of big i want something that can fit in my pocket.
 
Quote:

Beginning to think 24bit is a con, 16bit done well is almost perfect
Ie the dac in my 16bit hm-801 sounds MUCH better than 24bit on E17

that's cool and all but i wasn't asking opinions about 24 bit vs 16 bit so that's not relevant to my questions.

 

[DrSheep]

Quote:

well iPad is kind of big i want something that can fit in my pocket.

Very true, but I am not aware any other way of doing 24bits on a mobile setup...

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

Beginning to think 24bit is a con, 16bit done well is almost perfect

 

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[size=1.1em] When does 24 bit matter?[/size]

[size=1.1em]  [/size]

Professionals use 24 bit samples in recording and production [14] for headroom, noise floor, and convenience reasons.
16 bits is enough to span the real hearing range with room to spare. It does not span the entire possible signal range of audio equipment. The primary reason to use 24 bits when recording is to prevent mistakes; rather than being careful to center 16 bit recording-- risking clipping if you guess too high and adding noise if you guess too low-- 24 bits allows an operator to set an approximate level and not worry too much about it. Missing the optimal gain setting by a few bits has no consequences, and effects that dynamically compress the recorded range have a deep floor to work with.
An engineer also requires more than 16 bits during mixing and mastering. Modern work flows may involve literally thousands of effects and operations. The quantization noise and noise floor of a 16 bit sample may be undetectable during playback, but multiplying that noise by a few thousand times eventually becomes noticeable. 24 bits keeps the accumulated noise at a very low level. Once the music is ready to distribute, there's no reason to keep more than 16 bits.

 
 
 
http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

 

[KT66]

"
When does 24 bit matter?

Professionals use 24 bit samples in recording and production for headroom, noise floor, and convenience reasons.

16 bits is enough to span the real hearing range with room to spare. It does not span the entire possible signal range of audio equipment. The primary reason to use 24 bits when recording is to prevent mistakes; rather than being careful to center 16 bit recording-- risking clipping if you guess too high and adding noise if you guess too low-- 24 bits allows an operator to set an approximate level and not worry too much about it. Missing the optimal gain setting by a few bits has no consequences, and effects that dynamically compress the recorded range have a deep floor to work with.

An engineer also requires more than 16 bits during mixing and mastering. Modern work flows may involve literally thousands of effects and operations. The quantization noise and noise floor of a 16 bit sample may be undetectable during playback, but multiplying that noise by a few thousand times eventually becomes noticeable. 24 bits keeps the accumulated noise at a very low level. Once the music is ready to distribute, there's no reason to keep more than 16 bits."

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

hi i'm looking to get a smartphone and i want to get one that is capable of playing and decoding 24 bit with out down sampling to 16 bit. r there any phones like this it seems hard to find a straight answer anywhere.
 
also i read in one of the forums an idea to use a USB portable DAC on a smartphone which to me sounds like a really good idea and probably what i would like to do. so if i hooked up a Samsung Galaxy ACE to a Behringer USA202 Audio Interface i could play back 24 bit audio? (i use a Behringer FCA202 to encode my vinyl and tapes it doesn't have to be Behringer and it doesn't have to be a Samsung Galaxy Ace either but i'm not looking to spend a lot of money).
 
what about these HTC phones with Beats Audio r they 24 bit? Jimmy Iovine seems to talk a lot about 24 bit but again i can't seem to find a definitve answer.
 
any help would be appreciated. thanx!

Check the Android DAC/amp thread, as there are huge lists of whether or not different Android phones work with different DACs.  I have used my Galaxy Note II to play a 24/96 flac through my ODAC a while back.  What I am not sure of is whether or not it was downsampled by my audio player Poweramp (it showed the bitrate as 24/96).  Also look into USB Audio Recorder Pro.  Many Android phones need to have that program to output to a USB DAC properly.  It also allows for bitperfect streaming of up to 24/192 flac or wav files.
 
You can check the threads for the the various digital dacs for Apple products for more 24/96 info as well (CEntrance Hifim8, HP-P1, Algorhythm solo, etc.).
 
I have a 24/96 capable dac/amp being delivered today that is supposed to be compatible with Android and will see if I can confirm 24/96 playback on my Note II

 

[brhfl]

iPhone supports playing 24 bit files, I haven't heard definitively what goes on during playback. Obviously they play, but do we know that they're dithered down to 16 bit first? Would that genuinely take less overhead than outputting 24? (Of course, the onboard DAC would need to support 24 to avoid dithering down).

 

[Jpfe8851]

Be good to get an answer to the downsampling question. My Sony Xperia Z plays up to 24/96 in the Walkman app but without a digital output connection I can't receive a digital signal to my DAC/Amp to know what's actually playing.

That said, while the SQ of the XZ is pretty good, I use it mostly for streaming services and leave HD playback to my DX and RWAK100.

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

Be good to get an answer to the downsampling question. My Sony Xperia Z plays up to 24/96 in the Walkman app but without a digital output connection I can't receive a digital signal to my DAC/Amp to know what's actually playing.

That said, while the SQ of the XZ is pretty good, I use it mostly for streaming services and leave HD playback to my DX and RWAK100.

Try the trial verson of usb audio recorder pro.  If your phone can support usb audio, then the app ought to allow you to play HD audio.  

 

[Ashenwelt]

The LG G2 has hardware 24bit audio. I believe it was the first phone with it. It also natively plays flac.