Music Tech Questions

[JordanTrace]

Looking to give my lossless audio it's proper listening experience. Looking for either: A) a portable DAC with 4.4mm balanced port to be the middle man between my headphones and my ipod/phone (preferably ipod since all my music is already on there) or B) portable music player with 4.4mm balanced port thats not super expensive. I came across this on Sony's site, https://electronics.sony.com/audio/audio-components/hi-res-audio/p/nwwm1am2 , while doing a search and hoping there there were similar devices at lower price point. I know thats a big ask, from my previous music tech searches I learned audiophile grade stuff=high $$$. Open to any and all suggestions.

 

Note: I already own audiophile grade headphones with 4.4mm

[Motifator]

Uh huh, dongle + phone = problem solved for $30.

There's a Moondrop phone out there btw, it's a WASH but has a 4.4mm... for what it's worth.

To me, 4.4mm is a wash anyway... 3.5 and 6.3 are industry standards when you get inside an actual music studio. Leave 4.4 for audiofool snobs.

[ImWilly]

Agree with @Motifator, but if you insist on portable DAC, I would suggest FiiO brand DAC

It delivers great quality with low distortion and affordable price

Since most cheap DAC are basically OEM product, subcontracted with whatever label of brand the buyer request

For portable DAC, I would suggest FiiO KA13 or K3

[Cocococo]

DAP's aren't worth buying tbh, if you really feel like you need one there's the Sony ZX300, only DAP in it's price bracket that isn't just a downgraded smartphone, no options for music streaming which sucks. 4.4mm isn't very common on portable DAC's and ngl the only portable DAC that's actually good (Qudelix 5k) is more than good enough with just the 3.5mm for super power hungry planar magnetic headphones, Qudelix 5k + replacement cables for whatever headphones you want to use is better than any 4.4mm portable DAC you're gonna get. 

[saintlouisbagels]

So why does it specifically need to be portable?

Are you walking around town, closely listening to your music with your audiophile cans?

[JordanTrace]

On 4/27/2024 at 8:21 AM, ImWilly said:

Agree with @Motifator, but if you insist on portable DAC, I would suggest FiiO brand DAC

It delivers great quality with low distortion and affordable price

Since most cheap DAC are basically OEM product, subcontracted with whatever label of brand the buyer request

For portable DAC, I would suggest FiiO KA13 or K3

Or player, doesnt have to be a DAC.

[ImWilly]

37 minutes ago, JordanTrace said:

Or player, doesnt have to be a DAC.

It's kinda hard to find player since smartphone literally took over the portable music player 

There are still some smartphone with good quality headphone jack such as Asus Zenfone 10 or 11

 

You can try to check on these Short Circuit video about Sony's more affordable portable music player (USD350 for NW-A306 and USD900 for NW-ZX707)

Spoiler, when these "affordable" player paired with high end headphone, it doesn't live to expectation

 

 

[Omon_Ra]

IMO, hop on eBay and look for a used smartphone with a headphone jack and microSD slot. Throw VLC on it, dump your FLAC's onto a microSD card, and then you're done. If you use an iPod, last I knew iPod's don't support FLAC (maybe ALAC though?). No need for a balanced cable for headphones; the only time balanced cables really come into play are very long runs and/or if they are running parallel to power wires/cables.

[Phantasmagoria]

what headphones or iEms do you have cuz if u got a shitty headphone, that dap aint gonna do diddly. check out some of woo audios portable tube amps around the same price range.

[Psittac]

So it's somewhat controversial to say that lossless is any good, and I've done some testing but thinking back to one test that I did caused me realize, lossless is not a joke.  When I was scrutinizing a budget round up I followed with listening on YouTube, not YouTube music but just plain old YouTube.  And every last nuance which I had worked so hard to isolate, completely disappeared. Meaning that if you're just using a pleb source it really really doesn't matter what you have for a dac or amp, headphones are all that matter at that point.

 

So the past few weeks I've had an occasional thought, if lossless opens up the capabilities of budget equipment, perhaps higher end equipment is opened up even more.  I'm contemplating a big headphone purchase within the next year to really see what can be done, I have the dac amp and source material.

 

On 4/27/2024 at 6:21 AM, ImWilly said:

Agree with @Motifator, but if you insist on portable DAC, I would suggest FiiO brand DAC

It delivers great quality with low distortion and affordable price

Since most cheap DAC are basically OEM product, subcontracted with whatever label of brand the buyer request

For portable DAC, I would suggest FiiO KA13 or K3

I agree that for IEM's Fiio is a top brand

 

On 4/27/2024 at 6:57 AM, Cocococo said:

DAP's aren't worth buying tbh, if you really feel like you need one there's the Sony ZX300, only DAP in it's price bracket that isn't just a downgraded smartphone, no options for music streaming which sucks. 4.4mm isn't very common on portable DAC's and ngl the only portable DAC that's actually good (Qudelix 5k) is more than good enough with just the 3.5mm for super power hungry planar magnetic headphones, Qudelix 5k + replacement cables for whatever headphones you want to use is better than any 4.4mm portable DAC you're gonna get. 

I almost want to buy this dac just to see if it's as good as you say.  I've been putting off headphone adventures until I got moved into my basement and I'm finally here.  Just have to pay off the KEF's and the Sony TV/Monitor and I may get back into the hobby.  Only problem is my planned listening area doesn't work as good for headphones as I had imagined..... so I need to do some thinking.

 

On 4/27/2024 at 11:09 AM, saintlouisbagels said:

So why does it specifically need to be portable?

Are you walking around town, closely listening to your music with your audiophile cans?

Which brings me to bagels idea, environment is so important to critical listening.  If you are "walking around town" you might as well have some beats on playing from a phone, at that point it's about the experience.  However if you find that your comfortable listening locations can vary or aren't easily tied down to cables, I can understand.

 

On 5/1/2024 at 6:41 AM, JordanTrace said:

Or player, doesnt have to be a DAC.

I know nothing about DAP's, infact even though I have an ok library of FLAC's I rarely find myself doing anything but streaming tidal.  When looking for a solution remember that BT can be rather limited in bitrate.  Tidal used to keep me from the highest end files because of a BT connection at times.  I know very little about BT but I do know that there are protocols that may overcome this.  Keep this in mind if getting a BT dac/amp.  I will say that I LOVE my xDuoo XP-2pro however I mainly use it in bed zoning out to ASMR and haven't put it through the paces.  It does offer a 3.5mm input which could bypass the wireless issues.

 

On 5/1/2024 at 7:33 AM, ImWilly said:

It's kinda hard to find player since smartphone literally took over the portable music player 

There are still some smartphone with good quality headphone jack such as Asus Zenfone 10 or 11

 

You can try to check on these Short Circuit video about Sony's more affordable portable music player (USD350 for NW-A306 and USD900 for NW-ZX707)

Spoiler, when these "affordable" player paired with high end headphone, it doesn't live to expectation

 

 

This is probably where the stacks of equipment come into play, I've seen stacks of 3 or 4 portable devices with custom cables and fine cloth between them.  I'm certain that this sub genre would be let down by a simple round up.  DAP's to my knowledge need to be paired with an AMP, but again not my wheelhouse.

 

On 5/3/2024 at 2:18 PM, Omon_Ra said:

IMO, hop on eBay and look for a used smartphone with a headphone jack and microSD slot. Throw VLC on it, dump your FLAC's onto a microSD card, and then you're done. If you use an iPod, last I knew iPod's don't support FLAC (maybe ALAC though?). No need for a balanced cable for headphones; the only time balanced cables really come into play are very long runs and/or if they are running parallel to power wires/cables.

My S7 Edge and Pixel 4a had built in headphone jacks, and while I adored them for the convenience, they were for nothing more than general media consumption.  I did a little A/B testing and they were so dramatically colored it was mind blowing.

 

On 5/7/2024 at 10:05 PM, Phantasmagoria said:

what headphones or iEms do you have cuz if u got a shitty headphone, that dap aint gonna do diddly. check out some of woo audios portable tube amps around the same price range.

woo audio makes something that isn't in the "arm and/or leg" category?!?!  Anyways I agree.