Portable audio

[simplex]

A long time ago (almost seems like a different life ...) I owned a Sony Walkman and fed it with self-recorded audio cassettes. It was purple metallic and looked kind of cool, considering the era. Considering today's perspective, I think it sounded awful.

In a later life I had a classic iPod just because this was cool at its time. But I was a bit older then and hardly ever used it for its original purpose. I spent too much time in my car, so the best idea was to pair it with an FM transponder (a US product, not really legal in Germany because of its transmitting power). This was a good option for my long business trips.

My current car, a Citroen estate, has a decent midclass audio system and a partition on the on board computer hard disc reserved for mp3 audio files. Not really high fidelity, but sufficient for mobile use.

Apart from this I've got no real use for a mobile system anymore. When walking in the city I enjoy the life sound of the city, when walking by the river I enjoy the life sound of the river. That's about it. My Audio is mainly stationary now, and I'm happy with it.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Apart from this I've got no real use for a mobile system anymore. When walking in the city I enjoy the life sound of the city, when walking by the river I enjoy the life sound of the river. That's about it. My Audio is mainly stationary now, and I'm happy with it.

With the pandemic all but eliminating any real amount travel, especially business travel, I've got far less use for a portable setup than previously. I expect that will come full circle at some point, hopefully sooner than later, but for now the main use case scenario on planes and trains hasn't really been a thing for over two years now. My last business trip was in October 2019.

That said, while I do enjoy the quiet and sounds of the outdoors where I live, I don't like the sounds of the city and prefer to tune that out with music on many occasions, depending on the exact situation.

This time of year where I live there is often a symphony of leaf blowers in the neighborhood, so much so that like many other towns and counties, we are considering an ordinance that limits or even outlaws the use of gas powered leaf blowers, both because they pollute like crazy (especially the 2-cycle engine versions), and because they are a serious source of noise pollution. On some warmer weekend mornings in the fall I'll sit outside with a coffee in the morning, and my portable music setup driving Yamaha EPH-100 IEMs works wonders in drowning out the absolute cacophony of leaf blowers running rampant.

 

[Olson_jr]

This time of year where I live there is often a symphony of leaf blowers in the neighborhood, so much so that like many other towns and counties, we are considering an ordinance that limits or even outlaws the use of gas powered leaf blowers, both because they pollute like crazy (especially the 2-cycle engine versions), and because they are a serious source of noise pollution. On some warmer weekend mornings in the fall I'll sit outside with a coffee in the morning, and my portable music setup driving Yamaha EPH-100 IEMs works wonders in downing out the absolute cacophony of leaf blowers running rampant.

I am guilty of using a blower, but at least I wait until the majority of leaves are down. A couple of weeks back I could pick out six different sounding blowers, yard vacs, and the like, and we probably still had 60-70% of the foilage still hanging in the trees.

FIIO M-11 and Eyptomic IEMs for me, both while doing my yard work, and trying to block the sounds of others doing theirs.

 

[MikeyFresh]

I am guilty of using a blower, but at least I wait until the majority of leaves are down. A couple of weeks back I could pick out six different sounding blowers, yard vacs, and the like, and we probably still had 60-70% of the foilage still hanging in the trees.

FIIO M-11 and Eyptomic IEMs for me, both while doing my yard work, and trying to block the sounds of others doing theirs.

Me too, I have a 2-cycle backpack style blower, and an electric Black & Decker that can either blow or vac for smaller cleanups. I too wait for most everything to come down, which certainly makes for a longer bigger job in the end, but it also means I'm only breathing the noxious 2-cycle exhaust just that one time, and very much limiting my contribution to the noise pollution issue that has in recent years reached epic proportions where I live.

That said, I've gravitated to using this decidedly LoFi portable AM/FM hearing protection apparatus for my own leaf blowing activity, as the damn blower is so loud strapped right to my back that I can't really enjoy the portable HiFi rig too much anyway, even with IEMs:

 

[MikeyFresh]

First available in October 2001, today Apple discontinued the last remaining iPod model still in production, the 7th generation iPod touch. The end of an era in portable audio.

The iPod touch and 'iPod' brand are officially dead - 9to5Mac

Apple has officially discontinued the iPod touch and the entire "iPod" brand. This marks the end of a 20-year run for the music player.

9to5mac.com

 

[Limberpine]

First available in October 2001, today Apple discontinued the last remaining iPod model still in production, the 7th generation iPod touch. The end of an era in portable audio.

The iPod touch and 'iPod' brand are officially dead - 9to5Mac

Apple has officially discontinued the iPod touch and the entire "iPod" brand. This marks the end of a 20-year run for the music player.

9to5mac.com

Yeah, great! Now used prices are going to be crazy and someone just stole my 120g out of my car. 🤣

 

[Thermionics]

While I still have my two Zunes, I've become rather enamored with a Pioneer XDP-30R, partially because of its excellent sound quality, expandable storage, and support for DSD, but also because I managed to get one for ~ $100 from someone who moved up to its big brother.

I'm listening to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue right now in nearfield (well off-to-the-left-of-me-field) via the Pioneer, through a Get*SET*Go amp, and finally a pair of Pioneer PIM-8 duplexes. The sound is distractingly good.



(that's the XDP-30R off to the right on the other end of those Mogami cables)

 

[Audionut]

First available in October 2001, today Apple discontinued the last remaining iPod model still in production, the 7th generation iPod touch. The end of an era in portable audio.

The iPod touch and 'iPod' brand are officially dead - 9to5Mac

Apple has officially discontinued the iPod touch and the entire "iPod" brand. This marks the end of a 20-year run for the music player.

9to5mac.com

Here's where you can still buy an iPod touch - 9to5Mac

While we don’t have exact inventory counts, here’s where you can buy an iPod touch. We’ll update periodically as inventory changes.

9to5mac.com

RIP.
To think that something like a phone, which became everything it wasn’t, has put out of business so many devices that we once enjoyed. Convenient? Yes, but sad at the same time. It’s called a smart phone, but it seems to make people dummer by their utter dependency on it. And it has kind of taken us backwards with technology in some respects; one would once send paper mail to communicate with people afar, until the home phone came along. Then the cell phone was invented! But now people would rather text or message through social media apps, in a lengthy and somewhat emotionless communication (where a message can be misconstrued), versus wait for it…picking up the phone and calling someone!😅
Rant over, and get off my lawn darn whipper snappers!

And to bring this full circle, I use my phone for 90% of my music listening (portable and stationary)!🤷‍♂️

 

[MikeyFresh]

Yeah, great! Now used prices are going to be crazy and someone just stole my 120g out of my car. 🤣

That sucks, maybe you can find a used one that is a little beat up and then refurbish it?

I'd be happy to walk you through how to do that, the parts are probably not as easy to get anymore, but they are still sold on eBay, you'd just have to wait for them to ship from Asia.

 

[MikeyFresh]

RIP.
To think that something like a phone, which became everything it wasn’t, has put out of business so many devices that we once enjoyed. Convenient? Yes, but sad at the same time. It’s called a smart phone, but it seems to make people dummer by their utter dependency on it. And it has kind of taken us backwards with technology in some respects; one would once send paper mail to communicate with people afar, until the home phone came along. Then the cell phone was invented! But now people would rather text or message through social media apps, in a lengthy and somewhat emotionless communication (where a message can be misconstrued), versus wait for it…picking up the phone and calling someone!😅
Rant over, and get off my lawn darn whipper snappers!

And to bring this full circle, I use my phone for 90% of my music listening (portable and stationary)!🤷‍♂️

In another example of poor restraint on my part, I just bought an iPod touch 7th Generation at Best Buy for old times' sake (and because I needed another iPod like I need a hole in my head).

The 256GB unit is indeed sold out everywhere from what I can tell, so I grabbed a Space Gray 128GB model that I should probably leave sealed/new in box on a collector basis. It likely won't take too long before I could sell it for more than I paid as discontinued Apple products typically appreciate in value, however that wouldn't be much fun, I'm gonna crack it open and set her up.

 

[Limberpine]

That sucks, maybe you can find a used one that is a little beat up and then refurbish it?

I'd be happy to walk you through how to do that, the parts are probably not as easy to get anymore, but they are still sold on eBay, you'd just have to wait for them to ship from Asia.

Yeah, I've been looking. I always thought it would be cool to upgrade one to a SSD.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Yeah, I've been looking. I always thought it would be cool to upgrade one to a SSD.

Definitely a cool little project, last I checked you could find decent condition Generation 5.5 (iPod Video) units for around $65 on eBay, but that was several years ago, they might be more (or less) now.

Another reason I just splurged on the Gen. 7 touch is Best Buy was bundling it with the following:

3 Months free Apple TV+
5 months free Apple Music
6 months free Apple News+

I've already set my calendar reminders for when to cancel them, though who knows, maybe I'll actually keep one or more of the above if I end up liking/using them more than I thought I would.

 

[gable]

So, I'm looking for a decent portable headphone amp to power my DT-770's, 880's or 990's. I mostly use my 770's (250ohm) when I travel. My current portable headphone amp died on me, and I don't have time to build a new one before some work travel coming up.

I would like to keep it under 100, but a bit over is cool.

I stream Tidal hifi or master from my iPhone. I don't need bluetooth, I don't need MQA, etc.

I found this:

https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Hip-dac-Portable-Headphone-Balanced/dp/B0842W67F1/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1MYCY5EXTWJC2&keywords=iFi+Audio+Hip+DAC&qid=1655153679&sprefix=ifi+audio+hip+dac+%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-4

Are there any others near that price point I should be considering?

Thank you in advance!

Cheers,
Gable

 

[MikeyFresh]

So, I'm looking for a decent portable headphone amp to power my DT-770's, 880's or 990's. I mostly use my 770's (250ohm) when I travel. My current portable headphone amp died on me, and I don't have time to build a new one before some work travel coming up.

I would like to keep it under 100, but a bit over is cool.

I stream Tidal hifi or master from my iPhone. I don't need bluetooth, I don't need MQA, etc.

I found this:

https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Hip-dac-Portable-Headphone-Balanced/dp/B0842W67F1/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1MYCY5EXTWJC2&keywords=iFi+Audio+Hip+DAC&qid=1655153679&sprefix=ifi+audio+hip+dac+%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-4

Are there any others near that price point I should be considering?

Thank you in advance!

Cheers,
Gable

The FiiO Q3 looks pretty nice, though a little more spendy at $149.

The Topping NX7 is really nice, 20 hour battery and 1.4 watts, albeit somewhat over budget at $179.

Certified/refurbed it's $152... their older NX4 appears to be all sold out.

 

[MikeyFresh]

If you don't mind the battery drain on the phone, a bus powered DAC/amp comes in well under budget and is tiny to tote too:

FiiO KA3

 

[billfort]

Don't we end up back at the problem of getting digital output from the phone to feed these dac/amps Mike?

I would like to add a small amp for portable use, even upgraded DAC if I could, but for content like locally stored Spotify or radio paradise (I assume Tidal too but I don't do that anymore) you couldn't stream digital output, only the analog from the headphone jack.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Don't we end up back at the problem of getting digital output from the phone to feed these dac/amps Mike?

I would like to add a small amp for portable use, even upgraded DAC if I could, but for content like locally stored Spotify or radio paradise (I assume Tidal too but I don't do that anymore) you couldn't stream digital output, only the analog from the headphone jack.

It all depends... on the exact phone in use. However the old problem of many phones simply being incompatible due to no OTG support is pretty much a thing of the past, all modern phones I've tested were OTG compatible, if you have the correct adapter/cable of course.

In Gable's case he uses an iPhone, and so will also need whatever Lightning → USB "CCK" type adapter is appropriate for his specific phone. The newest iPhones for example have now graduated to use of a USB Type C port and ditched the Lightning port if I'm not mistaken, and a similar consideration will exist on the DAC side as most older portable DACs had a microUSB input, but the newest ones have adopted USB Type C.

So the devil is in the details of the specific device port types involved, and having the right OTG cable for that, but the phones themselves are pretty much all compatible now with USB digital output.

The other aspect to this wasn't OTG or phone compatibility per se, but app compatibility (or lack thereof) with regard to bitperfect output, as opposed to Android or iOS forced resampling. Most apps don't have their own custom driver that bypasses the Android or iOS audio stack, and so the output is resampled to the phone's native sample rate, typically 48kHz.

Thats still a thing, for example streaming Qobuz to an Android device connected to an external DAC requires the UAPP app for bit perfect output at the track's native sample rate, same as it ever was. Ditto any locally stored tracks on the phone's internal storage or microSD card, either UAPP or Onkyo HF player in the case of iOS, and now also a couple of others too such as Neutron, or Poweramp are required to avoid having the Android or iOS audio stack automatically resample everything to 48kHz (some Android phones actually resample to either 96 or 192kHz, but it's still resampling all the same).

So back to your specific use case, I'd have to try it with Spotify, or Radio Paradise to know for sure. I'm a bit of a luddite in terms of taking advantage of the "stored for offline use" aspect of these apps, and I use Qobuz not Spotify. However assuming Spotify offers that offline listening feature to non-Premium subscribers I could test it, and I can definitely test it for Radio Paradise. But in both cases the output to the external DAC will be resampled to the phone's native sample rate, typically 48kHz, because those apps lack the custom driver that UAPP, Onkyo HF, Neutron, and Poweramp have, and I'm not aware of any 3rd party phone app that streams Spotify, you must use the Spotify app if I'm not mistaken.

 

[prime minister]

I just shook hands across the distance on my new, at least new for me, portable audio toy!

Details to follow!

 

[prime minister]

As always, I’m heading in a different direction from all the rest of you guys.

 

[MikeyFresh]

I would like to add a small amp for portable use, even upgraded DAC if I could, but for content like locally stored Spotify or radio paradise (I assume Tidal too but I don't do that anymore) you couldn't stream digital output, only the analog from the headphone jack.

I just connected my decommissioned Galaxy S7 phone (SIM card deactivated so no longer really a phone) to the Oppo HA-2 amp/DAC and the first thing I had to do was deny the UAPP app exclusive access/control of that device.

This request comes in the form of a notification the moment you turn the DAC on, and if the permission had been granted previously, it needs to be undone in app permissions, otherwise no other app can use the connected external DAC.

Once that permission was denied, I launched the Spotify app and rather than futz with whether or not I can even store offline content without a Spotify Premium subscription, I just went straight to their cloud library and started a playlist. Spotify immediately plays through the Oppo HA-2 connected via the appropriate OTG USB cable, bearing in mind you've also now got two volume controls, the hardware volume on the HA-2, and the software volume of Spotify thats controlled by the S7's up/down volume keys.

I can't imagine stored offline content would be any different, however YMMV, and if UAPP had been granted exclusive access to the DAC previously, getting that undone might even require a phone restart after that setting is changed.

Related to all of this is the fact that one simply should not have multiple music playing apps open at the same time, all with simultaneous access to the connected DAC. That's often just not a thing depending on the exact phone in use, it's one at a time and you can still run into the same issue as above when having two different apps battle each other for access to the DAC. You really need to be in the habit of close/force killing the first app before launching the second app for everything to always go smoothly.

That said, with the above phone/DAC combo, I just paused the Spotify stream and without even closing the app, I then launched Radio Paradise and pressed play. The Radio Paradise stream is now playing through the HA-2 and headphones. Not recommended best practice, but it works with my particular (decommissioned) phone and external DAC with those two apps (any mixing in of UAPP, Neutron, or Poweramp would not be as user friendly as they always hog exclusive access to the DAC).

I also then paused Radio Paradise and toggled back over to the still open Spotify app and pressed play, and that is now playing.

So at least on my old phone, with my specific version of Android (8 or "Oreo"), connected to the Oppo HA-2 amp/DAC, you can freely switch between Spotify and Radio Paradise without closing either one, assuming you had not given UAPP that exclusive access permission previously, as that screws everything up.

Lastly, I know you are an Android guy Bill, so you've also then potentially got the Developer Options menu to tackle, and what's called USB configuration in that menu on Android 8 Oreo:



Then make the following selection:



Some Developer Options menus look a bit different, especially if they aren't the same version of Android, however the above setting is another that can completely block USB digital output to an external DAC if set incorrectly, and the drop down options are fairly confusing. MTP is the correct setting.