[cehowardNote3]

Yo, RockStar2005, finally pulled the trigger.. 

 
I got the A17, the MDR 1ABT, and the Fiio X5 2nd Gen all coming by mid next week..
 
Going to check back over your instructional posts and get your update thread for the A17 to be compatible with LDAC..
 
I will be testing the A17 against the X5 2nd Gen, with the Sony MDR 1ABT, the Senn M2AEBT, and the Harman Kardon BTs..
 
I used all my cans out in the wild.. 

 
Picture a 75 year old man, with full gray nappy hair, with big cans, cowboy boots and jeans.. Heh, heh, we only pass this way one time.. 

 
Will let you know how things turn out.. What doesn't come up to par, will go back..

 

[RockStar2005]

ce, 
 
Haha........that's QUITE a picture you described there!
 
Sound awesome man! I really hope the 1ABTs can measure up. I lost some of my original confidence in them b/c of the stupid "forcing" by Sony of DSEE HX and ClearAudio+, but maybe it won't matter as much? I dunno. 
 
It will be interesting to hear about your take on all of those devices. I've noticed that Media Go can be give or take with regards to album cover art vs transferring the songs manually to the A17. In some cases, transferring manually will make the cover art go through, but in other, Media Go does the job instead. So now and then you may wanna try both methods if one isn't working. This one factor makes me think buying an amp/DAC is maybe better b/c although you won't have LDAC or wireless capability, you will only be dealing with your phone and not 2 playing devices (A17 & phone for example). The one I'd perhaps consider buying right now is the Sony PHA-2. It sounds like it would be just as great if not greater than the A17. There are pros and cons to both really, so it depends on the person. But since I have the A17 I have no plans to buy this, though I would if I didn't own the A17 already. The PHA-2 was $600 but now it's been marked down to only $454. 
 
I got my mom the Harman Kardon CL headphones last year for X-Mas. She seems to really like them. I think their design is really nice (very similar to Bowers and Wilkins), and sound quality is really good too. I had the Harman Kardon module (mod) on my last phone last year (the HTC One M8) too. It improved the sound quality of the phone in a pretty noticeable way, so I got respect for H/K too. Sennheiser as well (I had the HD 598s before my 1A as you may recall). 
 
In other audio news.............
 
Just yesterday I got wind of a new underground audio format that's already being called the next big thing. It's called Master Quality Authenticated, or MQA. They're saying that it's both better than high-resolution and small enough to download and stream quickly too. Will be interesting to see what happens if it takes off. May put mp3s and FLAC/ALAC out of business? lol (DEF wouldn't mind mp3 going out of business. Yuck. lol) 
 
RockStar2005

 

[Headmusic]

My A15 doesnt seem to be getting to 30 hrs battery life people go on about, it seems im only getting 3 hours! How do i know if i have a dud unit? I mainly listen to flac, and shuffle a bit...i also notice my. Init doesnt seem to turn off! I power it down , the screen says powered off, but as soon as you touch a button it seems like its still powered on, simply went to sleep? Is this part of the problem?

 

[cehowardNote3]

  ce, 
 
Haha........that's QUITE a picture you described there!
 
Sound awesome man! I really hope the 1ABTs can measure up. I lost some of my original confidence in them b/c of the stupid "forcing" by Sony of DSEE HX and ClearAudio+, but maybe it won't matter as much? I dunno. 
 
It will be interesting to hear about your take on all of those devices. I've noticed that Media Go can be give or take with regards to album cover art vs transferring the songs manually to the A17. In some cases, transferring manually will make the cover art go through, but in other, Media Go does the job instead. So now and then you may wanna try both methods if one isn't working. This one factor makes me think buying an amp/DAC is maybe better b/c although you won't have LDAC or wireless capability, you will only be dealing with your phone and not 2 playing devices (A17 & phone for example). The one I'd perhaps consider buying right now is the Sony PHA-2. It sounds like it would be just as great if not greater than the A17. There are pros and cons to both really, so it depends on the person. But since I have the A17 I have no plans to buy this, though I would if I didn't own the A17 already. The PHA-2 was $600 but now it's been marked down to only $454. 
 
I got my mom the Harman Kardon CL headphones last year for X-Mas. She seems to really like them. I think their design is really nice (very similar to Bowers and Wilkins), and sound quality is really good too. I had the Harman Kardon module (mod) on my last phone last year (the HTC One M8) too. It improved the sound quality of the phone in a pretty noticeable way, so I got respect for H/K too. Sennheiser as well (I had the HD 598s before my 1A as you may recall). 
 
In other audio news.............
 
Just yesterday I got wind of a new underground audio format that's already being called the next big thing. It's called Master Quality Authenticated, or MQA. They're saying that it's both better than high-resolution and small enough to download and stream quickly too. Will be interesting to see what happens if it takes off. May put mp3s and FLAC/ALAC out of business? lol (DEF wouldn't mind mp3 going out of business. Yuck. lol) 
 
RockStar2005

 
Cool on all that.. Right now, I am loaded with flac files.. Wow.. I got a 128 gb in my Note 4, plus I ordered another 128gb plus a 64gb sd cards..They be going in the two DAPs..On the MQA format, I think it will aslo depend on w hat the DAPs can play/decode too.Right now the FLAC is good to go for me, will be looking into the DSD too.
 
Everytime I go out, I got a set of headphones on... 

 

 

[RockStar2005]

I notice on my A17 that it does the same thing regarding it seeming to be off but then you push a button and it turns on. I believe it's about timing. If the unit's been off for a day or two, I think it powers down all the way. But less than that, it seems to just be on "standby". So that part is normal. 
 
I've never actually listened to music for 3 hours straight, but I've been told by people like this one truck driver on Amazon who bought the A17.......... he said he drives across the country and the 30 hour time is for real. So I believe it IS true. Thing is though, I don't think he lets the screen stay on very long. I do 1 minute myself, but I would suggest you do like 15 or 30 seconds or something of screen on time. I also enabled the battery saver option ("Battery Care", under Common Settings). It won't let the unit charge past 90%, but doing so they say increases the long-term battery life. Check too that NFC Settings is Off. Not sure if it matters, but I know if I leave it enabled on my phone, it uses up more power. 
 
So it sounds like to me that you need to check on these factors. If the screen on time is already under 1 minute, then I think you may have a dud unit, and should get it replaced ASAP. 
 
 
Let us know what happens. 
 
 
RockStar2005

 

[RockStar2005]

ce, 
 
Yeah me too. FLAC, ALAC, but mostly AAC and MP3s. Despite being lossy, the higher grade AAC files (aka mp4, the next generation of mp3) have NO difference in sound vs FLAC/ALAC, and take up less space (though a bit more than mp3). So great for storage. But the good thing about backing up everything in lossless FLAC & ALAC is that if I wanted to convert them to say, MQA (if it turns out to be what they say it is), I can do so without potential distortion issues. Converting from a lossy file like mp3 or AAC they say can produce artifacts or distortion that you may or may not hear. I'm not taking any chances, esp since I PAID for my Hi-Res files. lol
 
I think FLAC/ALAC is just great and even if MQA doesn't measure up, I'll always be MORE than satisfied with how they sound (and AAC, since can't hear a difference anyway vs FLAC/ALAC). 
 
Nice on the micro-sd cards. 128 GBs is plenty. My A17 is getting close to the max already for internal storage. I only got about 5-10 GBs left. So looks like at some point very soon I may invest in a 64 GB or else 128 GB card. Prob 64 GBs but we'll see. That is one downside of having the A17 vs a portable amp/DAC like that PHA-2 I told you about......... you have to worry about storage space on TWO devices instead of 1. Oh well. I may at some point just sell my A17 and get that PHA-2. Yeah you have to always connect it to your phone and headphones, but don't have to worry about storage space on it and transferring songs to 2 devices. It's something that just really come to my attention now, so I have to see. The plus side though is not having to charge my phone as much since I'm not using it for music at home (only in car). But my phone has like the best battery life for a current smartphone (Sony Xperia Z3), so I dunno. Either way, the A17 is great and I'll always recommend it to people, esp those like you who love wireless listening (LDAC). 
 
Initially there won't be too many DAPs that can decode MQA probably, but if it takes off, people will demand it and companies will make sure their devices can do it. If it can somehow make my AAC and FLAC/ALAC files sound better (which is what it CLAIMS to do), and it doesn't take up much room, then I will definitely be converting all my Hi-Res files using it. Assuming you can "convert" to it? It's actually NOT a new format, b/c the files will still be FLAC, ALAC, AAC, mp3, etc. It's just a coding process I guess. I have to find out if you can "convert" to it or if you have to buy the files that way. I really hope you don't have to buy them again. That would suck, esp if it does sound better. lol Maybe even mp3s too? But they're lossy so I don't think it will matter since you can't UPSCALE/UPGRADE your audio files, only laterally convert or downsample them. I'm e-mailing them to see if you need to buy the files in MQA or if you can convert them post-purchase. If it's buy only, then F MQA. lol I'll find out and let you guys know. 
 
Cool on DSD. Yeah make sure to skim through my posts in this thread about them as well. I think I gave a pretty short but good description about them and what you must get/do to properly downsample them. It's not a big deal if a player like the A17 can't play DSD because you wouldn't want to keep them "as is" anyway. A typical Hi-Res album can take up maybe half a gig? A typical DSD album can be anywhere from 1-2 GBs! lol So downsampling is a must unless you have BOAT LOADS of space. And again, downsampling to anything ABOVE mp3 (even 256 kbps AAC, though I do 320 to be extra safe lol) won't alter the sound quality at all. Maybe to a dog lol, but not to us humans. 
 
Ha! Nice on the headphones! 
 
Keep us posted in the coming weeks ce!
 
P.S. And have a Happy 4th everyone!!
 
 
RockStar2005

 

[dsouza]

There are already some MQA critics, such as this: http://www.metal-fi.com/meridian-audios-mqa/
 
Personally, I cannot tell the difference between a 16bit@44.1KHz and a 24bit@88.2KHz FLAC.

Most people erroneously compare a 16bit FLAC from a CD with a 24bit from an SACD, and the thruth is that they are different *mixes* (then enterning the loudness war and the loss of dynamic range).
 
I personally took a DSD and converted to 24bit@88.2 KHz and 16bit@44.1KHz FLACs. Then I compared (listened to) the two FLACS with NWZ-A15, Fiio X1 and Fiio E10K. I did not hear any difference at all. With this I was convinced that what this guy demonstrated is truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM
 
So, until someone convinces me the opposite, 16bit@44.1Khz lossless formats are more than good enough. I would rather prefer the music industry to invest in better mixes with better dynamic ranges.
 

 

 

[RockStar2005]

dsouza, 
 
I can't either, and believe me, I've tried. lol I've even tried 16/44.1 vs 24/192............. same thing. Can't tell. 
 
Yeah that's what I've been trying to convey in this thread, as well as other places too. I didn't wanna believe that when I first heard it............ I wanted to believe that resolution did matter, but the truth is, once you go beyond mp3s (that's where I draw the line, b/c I CAN tell a difference), the human ear simply can't tell the difference if the 2 songs being compared are from the SAME master. But the allure that comes with Hi-Res & DSD is that the studios (for WHATEVER reason) always seem to put the most care and attention to detail in those releases over the compressed and lower quality sound of mp3 and CD releases. 
 
I really hate the "loudness war" b/c it's just so stupid. Raising the volume to TRICK people into thinking the music sounds better than it really does (to cover up its shortcomings, especially mp3s') and also to get people's attention more is pretty cheap to me. It shouldn't be that way, but that's how they're released most of the time. 
 
Yeah, I downsample ALL my Hi-Res purchases to 16/44.1 or CD-Quality (aka Redbook). I actually back them up that way, then downsample them further to high quality (320 kbps) AAC, since I can't tell the difference from FLAC anyway. And yes, the studios need to quit screwing around already. I feel like the only reason why they do a better job with the masters used on the Hi-Res and DSD releases is that they want an excuse to charge more. What do you think? Or is it possible they just don't know that having a higher resolution doesn't matter? (I find that hard to believe. lol)
 
RockStar2005

 

[Headmusic]

  I notice on my A17 that it does the same thing regarding it seeming to be off but then you push a button and it turns on. I believe it's about timing. If the unit's been off for a day or two, I think it powers down all the way. But less than that, it seems to just be on "standby". So that part is normal. 
 
I've never actually listened to music for 3 hours straight, but I've been told by people like this one truck driver on Amazon who bought the A17.......... he said he drives across the country and the 30 hour time is for real. So I believe it IS true. Thing is though, I don't think he lets the screen stay on very long. I do 1 minute myself, but I would suggest you do like 15 or 30 seconds or something of screen on time. I also enabled the battery saver option ("Battery Care", under Common Settings). It won't let the unit charge past 90%, but doing so they say increases the long-term battery life. Check too that NFC Settings is Off. Not sure if it matters, but I know if I leave it enabled on my phone, it uses up more power. 
 
So it sounds like to me that you need to check on these factors. If the screen on time is already under 1 minute, then I think you may have a dud unit, and should get it replaced ASAP. 
 
 
Let us know what happens. 
 
 
RockStar2005

yeah I've got NFC 'off, brightness '1', , screen off 30 sec and battery save 'on'...

 

[RockStar2005]

Head, 
 
Do you leave your screen on a lot while playing? Or do you typically not mess with it too much? 
 
If it's the latter, then it sounds like you need to replace your device for a new one. 
 
 
RockStar2005

 

[dsouza]

  dsouza, (...) I feel like the only reason why they do a better job with the masters used on the Hi-Res and DSD releases is that they want an excuse to charge more. What do you think? Or is it possible they just don't know that having a higher resolution doesn't matter? (I find that hard to believe. lol)
 
RockStar2005

 
I have the same feeling, it seems that they (the music labels) use better masters for the DSDs just to justify that impression "HD audio is better", when in reality the same master would produce an equally good sound at CD resolution.
 
I remember the early CD days where all CDs were marked as "AAD", "ADD" and "DDD". I wish they could have a smilar label today to indicate the dynamic range of the album, such as "DR10", "DR15" and so on instead of 16vs24bit...
 

 

[RockStar2005]

Yeah, exactly. I just want better sounding music, but it's BS that they push this false marketing on people in order for us to get it. 
 
I remember that too. That would be awesome! Although, I don't put FULL stock in the DRD site's reviews, but I do put a lot of stock into them. I tend to see them say vinyl is better than even SACD/DSD sometimes, but I've listened to samples of albums in both formats, and vinyl usually falls short for me. Not b/c it doesn't sound as good or MAYBE better sometimes, but because most people who transfer vinyl to digital don't do a great job of removing the clicks and "rough vinyl sound" from the final mix. The George Harrison "All Things Must Pass" Japanese "Toshiba Red Vinyl" edition for example is damn good, but other vinyl albums were not vs DSD/SACD. I know some people like the "warm vinyl sound", but I don't when it's transferred poorly to digital. Clarity to me is just as important as "warmth". I only really got that Toshiba edition b/c there wasn't an SACD/DSD version listed. If there was, it probably would've sounded better. I just got lucky that it sounded so great. 
 
RockStar2005

 

[cehowardNote3]

RockStar2005, the A17 came today, on the 4th of July..Hot Dog!! 

 
I also got the Sony MDR 1ABTs too.  Along with 2 micro sd cards, one a 128gb and a 64 gb.. BTW, Amazon got the Samsung class 10 64gb micro sd for $19.95 with prime free shipping.
 
On the A17, man, there is learning curve here!  For me a big one..Might take me 2 weeks to learn this thing..Headphones will have to wait for a couple days. I got to laarn how to navigate around with the A17.. I just transfered a put together folder of some of my favorite music on the A17.. I did the old fashion way of copying and pasting..I am going to take a couple days and read the manual and see where I can go..You got ot remember, I am a 75 year old close to senile old man.. I think fast on some things and slow on others. I am slow here.. 

 

 

[cehowardNote3]

RockStar2005, I hear a DIFFERENCE already!! 

 
I manage to put a folder with some of my favorite music in flac on the A17.. Took my Sony MDR 1RBTMK2, wired to the A17, and I am hearing things that I didn't hear before, and the clarity is crystal.. Haven't even fired up the Sony 1ABT yet.. Oh boy...

 

[RockStar2005]

howard, 
 
Well that's awesome that it came in on a holiday no less! Thanks for letting me know about that Samsung micro sd deal. I'm honestly debating buying it or maybe just selling my A17 and getting that Sony PHA-2 amp/DAC. Then I wouldn't need to buy a micro sd card for my player AND phone (already have one for phone, and that plus internal phone memory gives me like 30-34 GBs of memory over what I've used already on and in addition to my phone's sd card. I only got just under 12 GBs left on my Walkman's internal memory.). And I wouldn't have to put all my songs on two devices, just one. And I could use it in my car where with the Walkman I'd have to use 2 devices at once. Pros and cons my friend. lol 
 
Yeah but once you learn it all it will seem super easy. Again, copying and pasting is fine, but you may not get all your files' album cover info when you do that. I hope you updated your Walkman before putting any files on it, because if you didn't, you may have to take those songs off. They said on the updates page that when you do updates, the data (songs) on your Walkman should be removed. A minor inconvenience, but how often are they gonna release updates? I'd be surprised if it was more than once a year, if even that. I think maybe why my Media Go wasn't doing so great after a while with album covers was b/c I didn't know all that initially. But since doing the update right, Media Go has been great with transferring the album covers right. But up to you to use it or not. 
 
Yeah just go through the manual, but honestly, everything you really need to know is here (including things like my EQ/sound settings suggestions). 
 
That's awesome!! Glad you're hearing a difference already. Make sure to follow my sound settings suggestions too. It WILL make a difference. I too have noticed little guitar and vocal fills, etc, that I hadn't before buying the A17. It really IS a fantastic device!
 
Before buying any Hi-Res albums, you may wanna check the DRD (Dynamic Range Database) too. I don't always agree with it, but it acts as a very good guide though. Like sometimes it rates vinyl even higher than like Hi-Res or SACD/DSD, but vinyl has that scratchy "rough" sound that they don't usually do a good job of removing when transferring to digital, so even if it does sound better, that can be annoying after a while. For me anyway. I have mentioned the DRD recently. It's a good idea to check on there to see how well Hi-Res releases on HDTracks, Pono, and Acoustic Sounds are rated. You may see them also labeled like "24/96" or "24/192", "24/176.4", "24/88.2", etc. They should say lossless at least. I would say 90-95% of the time, the Hi-Res releases will be more than worth it. A few times though, I've seen them not rated so well, sometimes AFTER I'd bought them which sux b/c u can't return them. lol Oh well. If it's a new release, you may have to wait to see it posted on there. 
 
I've bought several Hi-Res albums (pretty much all rock of different kinds) already at this point, so if you plan to as well, you can private message me through here and if it's something I have I can tell you if it's worth buying or not. But check DRD first (bookmark it too). It may save you $$ over time by letting you know if an album isn't worth spending money on. 
 
Keep us posted!
 
RockStar2005