[Mickice]

Blame the file, mine are 100% gap less with .flac

 

[castleofargh]

he was quoting the non gapless experience on a Z3. not on the A10.

 

[lastethica]

anyone here compared note4 (exynos) with walkman a15 sound? i have walkman a15 and i also need 2nd phone, my friend is selling his note4, i m curious if i could sell my a15 and replaced it with note4 so i got a phone and music player.
thanks
(my friend is at another city so i couldnt check the quality)

 

[Mickice]

Most generic Android phones are pretty weak sounding, even from name brands.

Keep the 15, you'll only regret it.

 

[robiceli]

anyone here compared note4 (exynos) with walkman a15 sound? i have walkman a15 and i also need 2nd phone, my friend is selling his note4, i m curious if i could sell my a15 and replaced it with note4 so i got a phone and music player.
thanks
(my friend is at another city so i couldnt check the quality)

I've owned a few smartphones in my life (still have the Xperia Z2 and Z3 but no note 4 though) and IMO, a smartphone (any brand) can't replace a dedicated DAP. Firstly, there's something just missing in terms of sonics. And secondly, battery life would be an issue. Smartphones last for about 2 days with normal usage so if you use your phone as your personal DAP on a daily basis, you can expect to charge it twice as much.
 
SMartphones have a place in our lives these days as we're enthusiasts, but it cannot replace a personal DAP.

 

[Raketen]

  I've owned a few smartphones in my life (still have the Xperia Z2 and Z3 but no note 4 though) and IMO, a smartphone (any brand) can't replace a dedicated DAP. Firstly, there's something just missing in terms of sonics. And secondly, battery life would be an issue. Smartphones last for about 2 days with normal usage so if you use your phone as your personal DAP on a daily basis, you can expect to charge it twice as much.
 
SMartphones have a place in our lives these days as we're enthusiasts, but it cannot replace a personal DAP.

Though if you don't mind doing the pocket-stack thing, an android OTG dac/amp will also act as a backup battery to your phone

. Have you read about the LG V10... has been getting a lot of attention/hype on that giant smartphone thread as dapworthy.

 

[robiceli]

  Though if you don't mind doing the pocket-stack thing, an android OTG dac/amp will also act as a backup battery to your phone

. Have you read about the LG V10... has been getting a lot of attention/hype on that giant smartphone thread as dapworthy.

I don't need an amp as my A10 (hk version) is loud enough for me and sounds great paired my Z5. Size is a very important factor for me, that's why I decided to stick with my slim and very pocket friendly A15 

 
Haven't read about the V10 - not interested really as I'll never replace a DAP with a phone (it's a personal thing I guess). Maybe, if one day Sony decides to implement a dedicated audio chip in their future Xperia line (see: S-Master), then, maybe then I'll consider using a phone as a DAP every now and then even though it won't replace my persomal DAP which I use daily.
 
You know, the second most annoying thing when you listen to music via smartphone (first would be, distortion) is getting interrupted by a notification and/or an not_so important phone call. It  breaks that chilling moment and it just isn't right. I could give you some more reasons why a regular DAP is better than a phone but I'm very tired. Haven't slept for the last 34hrs and I really need to get some sleep. 

 

[Raketen]

You know, the second most annoying thing when you listen to music via smartphone (first would be, distortion) is getting interrupted by a notification and/or an not_so important phone call. It  breaks that chilling moment and it just isn't right. I could give you some more reasons why a regular DAP is better than a phone but I'm very tired. Haven't slept for the last 34hrs and I really need to get some sleep. 

I too strongly prefer a dedicated DAP, especially a slim/pocketable one with buttons like the A10 (not to mention my phone is crap), but there are a lot of good reasons for wanting to use a phone as a player- the pocket stack solves the audio problems and helps with the battery issue, (there are also even some phone cases with integrated battery/amp combos) but a lot of phones have made pretty big improvements in that area, from what I understand. Good luck with the sleep!
 
I can't attest to the quality of the note 4, @lastethica as it happens there's a pretty big dedicated thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/735575/samsung-galaxy-note-4-sound-quality

 

[MonkeyKingBar]

Decided to spoil myself for Xmas and pick up one of these, a hefty microSD card, & a new pair of headphones (B&O H2's). Started transfering music, but after the first album (Air's "Moon Safari"), I decided I'd just give it a quick listen to make sure everything moved over OK... That was about half an hour ago, and I'm now on "You Make It Easy"

Whoops... But a good whoops!
 
Build quality doesn't seem to be as premium as the NWZ-A845 it's replacing, but if the A15 can serve me for the 4/5 years the NWZ-A845 has, then hey, I'll have bought myself a bargain.

 

[Mickice]

I hope they sound better than they look, the B&O H2's I mean

 

[MonkeyKingBar]

Hey, I think they look pretty cool

They sound quite a bit nicer than my MDR-10RC's which have been my go-to cheap & cheerful portable headphones this year, but I'm going to give them time to get played in before putting them against the HD598's for my home setup (and also through the A15, just because I'm curious to compare the pair).
 
The Hi-res audio samples on the A15 aren't too mindblowing, honestly.
(Edit: That "Don't Drift Too Far" is actually quite good).

 

[Mickice]

You are correct, simply playing a 24/192 file isn't that ground breaking specially considering the power output. If you buy the L5 Fiio cable and use a dedicated amp it can be a little more impressive.
Small clean ui with upto 200GB+ internal storage.

I find the best case out of the box is 16/44 1414kbps .flac CD rips. 
I have 16GB internal + 128GB with nothing but .flac rips, So good. 

 

[god-bluff]

I hope they sound better than they look, the B&O H2's I mean

If that's the case they must sound amazing because they look great imo!

 

[DaejeonCitizen]

This post relates to the A20 series but since it's own thread gets very little traffic, I might as well post it here, especially considering the DAPs are supposedly so similar.
 
I just for the first time listened to my 100AAPs through my Audinst DAC/amp and I was shocked. They sounded muddy and extremely bass heavy in a Beats-ish sort of way. I thought that I was going crazy so I switched back to my Walkman and, thank goodness, the incredible sound that I have been used to returned. I suppose that this is the synergy that people speak of. I'm amazed that the Walkman sounds so good. It's entirely replaced my home system. 
 
NW-A/10/20 series + 100AAP = audio nirvana. 

 

[MonkeyKingBar]

  You are correct, simply playing a 24/192 file isn't that ground breaking specially considering the power output. If you buy the L5 Fiio cable and use a dedicated amp it can be a little more impressive.
Small clean ui with upto 200GB+ internal storage.

I find the best case out of the box is 16/44 1414kbps .flac CD rips. 
I have 16GB internal + 128GB with nothing but .flac rips, So good. 

 
I'm looking at the FiiO E12 (with the L5 cable from the WM out port). Think that would be a good pairing for the device & B&O's?
 
I gotta admit, I use ALAC. No difference in sound quality, but I just find iTunes so easy to use & hard to abandon, even if I never buy anything from Apple directly.
 
Just upgraded to FW 1.21... All up to date & ready to go! Time to fill this card up.