[The Walrus]

  I'm a little candid when it comes to the LO and imagine they wouldn't bother creating an output that had as only perk, to not even be as loud as the HO ^_^. so I hope we get a few DB here and there. crosstalk? distortion maybe? I don't have much hope for noise floor with the voltage going down.
 
anyway it's not an amazingly measuring DAP compared to some of the competition, so people who are really concerned by sound fidelity should use the digital out on a pretty nice DAC/amp. that's probably the best way to do it, and also probably the best way to go loud. I don't do it only to get more battery out of my DAC/amp(the DAC part really sucks the battery dry), I'm clearly not an audiophile and more of a "don'tbothermephile" so I appreciate 5more hours of battery more than anything

.

+1
I agree. Throw away my bellowed E12 and get a good DAC/AMP which means more money out of my pocket and less battery life? Really can't be bothered. How much S/N ratio do I need anyway... Is it really worth the cost and effort? 

 

[castleofargh]

 

 
You used it frequently? I don't use mine so frqeuntly, where it broke in the cable or the actual WM-connector?

I use it all the time at home with my amp. Actually I figured it didn't completely break down... It comes and goes. the wm port connector is too loose. when I first bought it this was not a problem. But now, I have to try a few times to get it right. Probably a few pins don't fit tight or something... 

I thought I was the hulk of cables, but I feel like I should call you master. you seem to destroy cables faster than I can. many tried before but I was still the cable killer king. or so I thought.

for the lods, I tend to brute force them into shape before I plug them, as a mean to reduce some bending forces on the plugs. do you think you break the plugs? the cable? or more likely the soldering point? cause maybe my way might actually help a little. I suggest you sacrifice the LOD and try to pry it open to see where the problem seems to be located. I thought I had one with some contact issue, but in fact it was one cable that had ... how do I say that? de-soldered? ^_^ from the little pcm board. the contact was good most of the time thanks to the plastic shell not giving much space, but bending the cable would just cut the contact making me thing it was a plug problem.
 
also do you live in a place that gets super cold or super hot? I've seen cables getting hard in the cold and not enjoying being bent much.

 

 

 I'm clearly not an audiophile and more of a "don'tbothermephile" so I appreciate 5more hours of battery more than anything

.

But your posts are very informative!

Guess I'm a Good Enough-phile

Anyone here use the ATH-IM02 with an A10? I watched a review that said they heard the A10's hiss with it, but I haven't (except for tracks which IM02 tends to expose). To my ears IM02 pairs great with it. Maybe the hiss is just out of my hearing range (though I can hear some other source's hiss like Clip Zip and my laptop's, and an old cheapo fiio ipod amp).

to test for the hiss is simple, turn it ON and OFF a few times. that way if you're in a calm place, you will most likely be able to notice it coming up or going away.

 

[god-bluff]

As I've said before but out of sheer frustration just have to say it again. What the hell is the point in buying a digital player, any digital player, never mind one as good as the A15 and then connected it digitally to a DAC/Amp ? Stick to mobile phones for this sort of tomfoolery.
 
You are just using it as a glorified USB stick. Why not pull it apart, rip out the amp and dac and fit a bigger battery. Sorry I'm at a loss with this concept.
 
Its like buying a small sports car with a sweet albeit slightly underpowered engine and precise gearbox and using it as a stylish trailer towed behind a great big ugly 4x4. Utter madness and surely some kind of joke from those with more money than sense

 

[Gals]

As I've said before but out of sheer frustration just have to say it again. What the hell is the point in buying a digital player, any digital player, never mind one as good as the A15 and then connected it digitally to a DAC/Amp ? Stick to mobile phones for this sort of tomfoolery.

You are just using it as a glorified USB stick. Why not pull it apart, rip out the amp and dac and fit a bigger battery. Sorry I'm at a loss with this concept.

Its like buying a small sports car with a sweet albeit slightly underpowered engine and precise gearbox and using it as a stylish trailer towed behind a great big ugly 4x4. Utter madness and surely some kind of joke from those with more money than sense

... he he.... True...

 

[Raketen]

Its like buying a small sports car with a sweet albeit slightly underpowered engine and precise gearbox and using it as a stylish trailer towed behind a great big ugly 4x4. Utter madness and surely some kind of joke from those with more money than sense

300 dollar UI lol. Maybe more like putting the dashboard from a convertible into a semi-truck?
 
Personally, i just leave my mobile amp with my laptop (it's not that great anyway), but I think there's some utility for the digital out- maybe an amp pairs up well with the analog out, or a portable library without having to lug your whole PC (mabye you go to a friends house or a store to try out their amps?), or people who just like being able to rotate between different amp/dac signatures including the a10's own, or just have some difficult to drive headphones they like to use portably. I guess there are cheaper DAPs/phones/tablets that can do the same, but if you like the a10 as well, or have deep pockets why not use it as an all purpose source.

 

[The Walrus]

I thought I was the hulk of cables, but I feel like I should call you master. you seem to destroy cables faster than I can. many tried before but I was still the cable killer king. or so I thought. 

for the lods, I tend to brute force them into shape before I plug them, as a mean to reduce some bending forces on the plugs. do you think you break the plugs? the cable? or more likely the soldering point? cause maybe my way might actually help a little. I suggest you sacrifice the LOD and try to pry it open to see where the problem seems to be located. I thought I had one with some contact issue, but in fact it was one cable that had ... how do I say that? de-soldered? ^_^ from the little pcm board. the contact was good most of the time thanks to the plastic shell not giving much space, but bending the cable would just cut the contact making me thing it was a plug problem.
 
also do you live in a place that gets super cold or super hot? I've seen cables getting hard in the cold and not enjoying being bent much. 

 
I've devoured just the two cables. I have a feeling you are still the hulk 

   

I don't any longer think it is the cable.  It's probably a soldering problem in the wm port connector which I cannot open. (I would completely wreck it anyway 

) 
Normal room temperature all year long, around 72F. But sometimes it gets really hot in summer. Do you think that might cause damage? 

 

[Sonic Defender]

  As I've said before but out of sheer frustration just have to say it again. What the hell is the point in buying a digital player, any digital player, never mind one as good as the A15 and then connected it digitally to a DAC/Amp ? Stick to mobile phones for this sort of tomfoolery.
 
You are just using it as a glorified USB stick. Why not pull it apart, rip out the amp and dac and fit a bigger battery. Sorry I'm at a loss with this concept.
 
Its like buying a small sports car with a sweet albeit slightly underpowered engine and precise gearbox and using it as a stylish trailer towed behind a great big ugly 4x4. Utter madness and surely some kind of joke from those with more money than sense

As much as I like the A17, and I do, the amplifier section is only adequate, it really isn't that good I find. For one, it seems to have a moderately high noise floor that I can hear. When I use the E12, which is a decent enough amp, nothing stunning, I feel the bass becomes better controlled, but perhaps that is the placebo effect? I don't test this rigorously so your results may vary, but while the a series are musical and pretty damn good sounding, neither the DAC or amp sections are amazing, and it is easy enough to improve on them if you so desire. For somebody like me who wants louder playback with headphones, more juice helps in an audible way.
 
It is also possible to improve on the DAC, but will that be a significant difference? Who knows, very personal. So if you need to/want to change either of those things you need another DAC amp, and just having a DAC/amp won't help you without the digital transport so I think it can be a perfectly valid thing to do. I have a PHA 3 coming in soon. I picked that up to have a small form factor option for my Z7s at home when I don't feel like firing up my main rig, but I will happily use it with the a17 on the go. Why not I figure.

 

[Raptor34]

   Does anyone know what the A17 amp specs are?   Can't seem to find them, even on the spec sheet that came with the A17. 

  
Thx

 

[Sonic Defender]

Beyond power 10 mw + 10 mw I'm not sure of any other specs. Perhaps somebody does. Are you thinking signal to noise, slew rate, that type of thing? As I said, for sure the A series sound nice on their own, perhaps very nice, but you certainly can enhance the sound significantly with some external help. If you are considering the A series, don't be scared off, they sound very nice, and great even for some people. See what you think first, and if you feel there is room for improvement for me even adding in the E12 from the headphone out improves the sound, plus you can then drive quite a range of headphones and even some IEMs, but I'm not an IEM user so I could be wrong.
 
For me, the A17 driving the MDR 1A which are very efficient and are only 24ohms I can easily desire more drive then the a17 produces. Plus, I'm not a fan of having any circuit at full as I'm sure the performance suffers up there. Not sure what others think, and I'm no expert in digital amplifiers so perhaps you can open the A17 on full with no ill effects to the sound, but I do wonder.

 

[castleofargh]

  As I've said before but out of sheer frustration just have to say it again. What the hell is the point in buying a digital player, any digital player, never mind one as good as the A15 and then connected it digitally to a DAC/Amp ? Stick to mobile phones for this sort of tomfoolery.
 
You are just using it as a glorified USB stick. Why not pull it apart, rip out the amp and dac and fit a bigger battery. Sorry I'm at a loss with this concept.
 
Its like buying a small sports car with a sweet albeit slightly underpowered engine and precise gearbox and using it as a stylish trailer towed behind a great big ugly 4x4. Utter madness and surely some kind of joke from those with more money than sense

I can just talk for myself, I don't have a smartphone because I find them too small for a cool web browsing, but too big for anything else. so while I'm an internet junky(not even trying to be cured), I own a crappy old phone that is small and lasts sooooo long with one charge.
I was tempted to get a samsung S3(smaller one) and do exactly as you say while using it only as a DAP. but then from time to time, the stupid thing would block some apps I paid for like hey how about poweramp I was using to play music?  and nothing until I connected it back to the net... it made me so mad! you pay for an app, and then must contact your parole officer on a regular basis to be mercifully allowed to use what you already paid for?

 
and that's how I don't use the USB of a phone ^_^. (also battery!)
else I don't think the actual sound quality is so different. a DAC is a DAC an amp is an amp, if you have something nice for both you'll have good sound most likely.
I do feel like you when I read about guys using a DAC/amp on an ak240. it does feel like the ak240 was just a way to waste money. but on the A10 I find it more rational to feel the need for an outside DAC.
 
 
 
 
 
Quote:

I've devoured just the two cables. I have a feeling you are still the hulk 

   

I don't any longer think it is the cable.  It's probably a soldering problem in the wm port connector which I cannot open. (I would completely wreck it anyway 

) 
Normal room temperature all year long, around 72F. But sometimes it gets really hot in summer. Do you think that might cause damage? 

 I doubt it's easy with hot temperature alone.
can't you open it with precision and skill like some great surgeon?

 
 

     Does anyone know what the A17 amp specs are?   Can't seem to find them, even on the spec sheet that came with the A17. 

  
Thx

10mw into 16ohm supposedly (sony isn't even clear on that).
you might find something you like here instead http://headphoniaks.com/blog/sony-walkman-a15-analisis-tecnico-y-review/

 

[Raketen]

 
to test for the hiss is simple, turn it ON and OFF a few times. that way if you're in a calm place, you will most likely be able to notice it coming up or going away.

 OK. Now I can't stop noticing it. D'oh.
 Thankfully music is very distracting.

 

[Raptor34]

  Beyond power 10 mw + 10 mw I'm not sure of any other specs. Perhaps somebody does. Are you thinking signal to noise, slew rate, that type of thing? As I said, for sure the A series sound nice on their own, perhaps very nice, but you certainly can enhance the sound significantly with some external help. If you are considering the A series, don't be scared off, they sound very nice, and great even for some people. See what you think first, and if you feel there is room for improvement for me even adding in the E12 from the headphone out improves the sound, plus you can then drive quite a range of headphones and even some IEMs, but I'm not an IEM user so I could be wrong.
 
For me, the A17 driving the MDR 1A which are very efficient and are only 24ohms I can easily desire more drive then the a17 produces. Plus, I'm not a fan of having any circuit at full as I'm sure the performance suffers up there. Not sure what others think, and I'm no expert in digital amplifiers so perhaps you can open the A17 on full with no ill effects to the sound, but I do wonder.

Yes, I have an A17.   Should have mentioned that.   My current portables are the mdr-1r and they sound very good out of the A17 but they isolate poorly.   I just purchased oppo's pm-3's and was wondering what the specs were and how the A17 would perform driving planars.  Well, I know how actually, as I tried it with my pm-1 and was surprised at how good they sounded with just a little more volume from the A17.  I have an old headroom air head portable amp I haven't used in a few years I could strap on to the A17 but that combo would be quite heavy and bulky.  I'm hoping I can use the A17 alone.   10mw doesn't sound like very much though, I was hoping for around 300mw

 

[Kvud]

I bought a memory card micro SD, the file transfer rate of 3 MB but when I insert it in the player it does half of the albums, how to solve this problem? give a link to the program to authenticate micro SD!

 

[Sonic Defender]

 
Yes, I have an A17.   Should have mentioned that.   My current portables are the mdr-1r and they sound very good out of the A17 but they isolate poorly.   I just purchased oppo's pm-3's and was wondering what the specs were and how the A17 would perform driving planars.  Well, I know how actually, as I tried it with my pm-1 and was surprised at how good they sounded with just a little more volume from the A17.  I have an old headroom air head portable amp I haven't used in a few years I could strap on to the A17 but that combo would be quite heavy and bulky.  I'm hoping I can use the A17 alone.   10mw doesn't sound like very much though, I was hoping for around 300mw

well, I'm sure you can use it, and depending on what you expect from the A17, it might work. If you like what you heard with the PM 1 if the PM 3 is as sensitive and with similar enough resistance you should also like the results. Test with your amp that you have and see if you find at similar volume levels if you think the results are better or the same as with the A17 alone. As well, if the playback volume is acceptable to you then great, the A17 works for you. I like the A17 with the 1As, but they improve with better amping in my opinion. No, 10 mw isn't much power, but in many cases it is enough so rather than focus on a number focus on the results you hear, if it sounds good and you are pleased then what else matters? You can always enjoy both approaches and use an amp when and if you feel it is helpful and other times when you prefer the really light rig just use the a17 alone.

 

[castleofargh]

  Yes, I have an A17.   Should have mentioned that.   My current portables are the mdr-1r and they sound very good out of the A17 but they isolate poorly.   I just purchased oppo's pm-3's and was wondering what the specs were and how the A17 would perform driving planars.  Well, I know how actually, as I tried it with my pm-1 and was surprised at how good they sounded with just a little more volume from the A17.  I have an old headroom air head portable amp I haven't used in a few years I could strap on to the A17 but that combo would be quite heavy and bulky.  I'm hoping I can use the A17 alone.   10mw doesn't sound like very much though, I was hoping for around 300mw

10mw isn't much, but thankfully the pm-3 is a wonder of sensitivity for a planar.
google tells me 102db and 26ohm (check if I'm right maybe?) that should give you close to 112db with the volume maxed out(that's for peak RMS not for music actually sounding like 112db loud). to clear an amp I'm used to look if it can do 115db so it's not good, but very close still so it's hard to really call that a fail in driving power. if you don't listen loudly or have mostly modern music, it will work.
 
now from http://headphoniaks.com/blog/sony-walkman-a15-analisis-tecnico-y-review/   they show that distortion goes up to 0.17% into 32ohm and 0.11% into 16ohm, so I would expect maybe 0.15%? at full volume into the oppo. it's not really great TBH. probably because the poor sony is giving up all it can at full volume in that situation.
 
the mdr1r we talked about it but I still don't know the actual specs. one website give 105db 24ohm, another one 105db 48ohm so it's hard to know. still that should be between 113 and 115db(into 48ohm, voltage would be the limit first). so you can expect about the same loudness or slightly less with the oppo(10db difference feels like twice as loud). if I had an impedance curve for the mdr1r I could be sure of this but I couldn't find one. so it's only about right. 
 
my answer to you is , yes it will work, yes it should be loud enough, but yes it would deserve a good little amp to get the best sound possible because having to use the DAP almost at max volume isn't an ideal situation. I hope that gives you a clear idea.