Portable Audio situation

[Julian]

Given up on DAP. Will buy a LG phone and use it as DAP and a secondary phone.
Some folks @ YouTube made videos of using 250ohms Beyer cans with V30/40, should be adequate for my purpose.

My redmi 4s would barely output on the 770 Pro 80ohm. Asus 5z is ok, needed volume about 75% at least. They specify "24-bit/192kHz audio", so it probably has a decent audio chip. But can't imagine 250ohms being adequate on it.

Even on the usb x-fi, i think the amplification wasn't enough to bring out detail at low volume so i probably was increasing volume to compensate.

I would say use your existing phone and get a small inline amp.

LG G7+ ThinQ vs Asus ZenFone 5z vs Vivo Nex: the best phone for audiophiles? - Mr.Phone | DailyHunt

All product shots captured by Nitesh Guleria I know that a massive chunk of the music listening audience is moving towards a wireless future. But, as far as audiophiles are concerned, the headphone jack and wired audio is still the holy grail of good audio performance. While a Digital Audio...

m.dailyhunt.in

Asus Zenfone 5Z audio DAC performance?

Well it says that it supports Hi-Fi audio. But how Hi-Fi is it? What DAC is inside? In particular, I would like to know how the sound quality is from the 3.5mm audio jack compared to Hi-Fi mode of LG v30, my current phone. I simply cannot get a...

forum.xda-developers.com

 

[red dragon]

Availability is my problem. Everything is OOS everywhere. AliExpress is not shipping to czechia, amazon.de is not shipping to Praha.

 

[rdst_1]

Availability is my problem. Everything is OOS everywhere. AliExpress is not shipping to czechia, amazon.de is not shipping to Praha.

If you are interested in any of E1DA's offerings he also does direct sales via PayPal. Send them an email and see if they can ship to your place.

 

[red dragon]

Well, an ebay seller finally got convinced and shipped a M3 Pro, received it early this morning. Initial impression, Fiio has matured a lot over last couple of years, and this little thing has very clean output and can power HD6XX perfectly.

Post automatically merged: Jul 31, 2020

With lot of headroom. Same with HD598 ( love these cans more than the 6XX and some other much more expensive headphones). Can barely power DT990 (250 ohms), though can drive them VERY loud. SQ wise, somewhat better than the ancient X1 and X5.
What impressed me most are the absolutely clean HP and line out.

 

[Julian]

Can barely power DT990 (250 ohms), though can drive them VERY loud.

Not sure what you mean. Loudness without sound quality/fidelity ?

 

[rdst_1]

With lot of headroom. Same with HD598 ( love these cans more than the 6XX and some other much more expensive headphones). Can barely power DT990 (250 ohms), though can drive them VERY loud. SQ wise, somewhat better than the ancient X1 and X5.
What impressed me most are the absolutely clean HP and line out.

How can that be?
HD6xx is 300 ohm.

 

[red dragon]

Yes, strange, that's why posted. Somehow it's struggling with dynamics with high volume.
HD600 is also struggling, though the volume is very loud above 55 (60 being highest)
Can drive Sundara beautifully with superb synergy.

Post automatically merged: Jul 31, 2020

It's way more powerful compared to X1.

 

[red dragon]

Some old owls @ head-fi still think, at least for portable audio, it is all about synergy and they suggest never to deny your own experience . Last night, finally took some time to gather most of the cans scattered all around the house and tried them with the little DAP.
There were real heavyweights like Neumann 20 and the usual suspects from Beyer, Sennheiser, Hifiman even an old pair of Denon (7000), somehow the lowly HD598 sounded the sweetest of the lot. I do have a very good desktop DAC/amp setup (PSA Sprout 100) and a tube amp setup( the mighty fireflies from Woo Audio) but those are not used that much.
Thinking of selling everything and live with just 3 headphones (598, Sundara and the M40 for studio, tracking etc.), and possibly a single wireless one (PXC550, it is the best among the most overpriced garbage BTNC headphones) This cheap set-up is all I need on a daily basis

 

[dissel]

Hi.....Can you confirm this can be output USB Audio to an External DAC ?
Is it possible to play the stored track which is into the mSD Card of this device can be decoded by another USB DAC ?

Here I mean this player used as Transport.

 

[red dragon]

Not 100 percent sure as I can not find a portable (battery powered) DAC/amp combo, but should work fine.I tried using a usb c earphone and it thought it`s an external DAC (showed the usb audio out sign beside battery logo)!! Will let you know if I can find one of those ancient FiiO DAC/Amp (E something), had a couple of those...

 

[rdst_1]

Any reason why you felt that a DAP like M3 Pro was better choice than a phone and a portable DAC/AMP like E1DA 9038S that I have. They are both similarly priced but the E1DA is so much more powerful than the M3 Pro.

 

[Julian]

Any reason why you felt that a DAP like M3 Pro was better choice than a phone and a portable DAC/AMP like E1DA 9038S that I have. They are both similarly priced but the E1DA is so much more powerful than the M3 Pro.

I think he mentioned that he couldn't get the ivan da there or something earlier...

 

[red dragon]

Yes, availability was the biggest issue for me. A DAP saves a lot of battery in the phone ( a big concern while on road, as I have to endure days in places with no electricity...yes, there are still places like that in eastern Europe)
Plus chance of loosing a dongle DAC on road is very very high. I've lost a lot of IEMs while traveling ( including 2 pairs of ie80s, which were pretty expensive)
The M3 Pro is very cheap and it won't hurt much to loose it. It can power up my travel headphones pretty well.
Got a question for you guys, is there any portable DAC Amp available with BT transmitter? If so, can use it with wireless cans.
BTW I am feeling slightly guilt free after sending the QC35 to a needy student in Kolkata who can use it while studying in his very small and overcrowded noisy home.
The XM3 is going to a Pakistani student of mine, doing post graduation here.
So I'm left with only the Bose 700 ( issued by WHO to all consultants, I shouldn't have enrolled myself in the first place, but curiosity got better of me) PXC 550 II ( the first gen one with a dead battery will go to Zeos for him to test the drivers properly)

 

[dissel]

Got a question for you guys, is there any portable DAC Amp available with BT transmitter? If so, can use it with wireless cans.

Start with Fiio M5 and Shangling M0 players - though transmitting BT codec is very very limited, read before purchase.

Fiio M6 also do BT transmit but it is a Strip Down version of Andriod.

 

[red dragon]

COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY- by the dirt cheap bl03s, had them for months, was using some old biflange eartips( possibly came with some Sennheiser iem) and they sound good..but by no means great.
Couple of days back found my old box of iem eartips ( there are at least 80-90 pairs all mixed up) and changed the tips with large olive shaped tips ( possibly came with those rubbish overpriced Shure 535s)
That completely changed the sound!! Those 30 bucks iem sound absolutely ****ing perfect. Of course I haven't heard many uber high-end TOTL iems but definitely wasted lot of money on big brands like Shure, Sennheiser, Etymotic, relatively expensive Chinese manufacturers like Dunu,FiiO, One more and very few cheap chi-fi like KZ.
The few KZs I have/ had, sound similar and I possibly will be able to pick up the badly tuned multiple BA IEMs ( specially the very poor and overpriced Fiio FA and hybrid FH series, all KZs) on blind testing.
But the bl03s are different, with a proper seal, they absolutely crush each and every iem I have ( excluding the custom pairs, but those are for stage use, they are not pleasant sounding at home or on the go, and a complete rip off) which includes ie80/ 800, Shure 535, the etys ( er4 possibly)
The detail retrieval ( etys) soundstage (ie 80), bass ( ie 800) mid (535) high ( etys) etc. may not be top notch individually, but the coherence and that vague thing called timbre by audiophiles are absolutely crazy.
For me, coherence is the most important thing in iem universe ( I'm not too familiar with IEMs compared to full sized headphones) and this little cheap, shiny unknown single dynamic driver unit is by far my best purchase in audio equipment.
Since it's cheap ( must be around 2-2.5k in India) will humbly request audio enthusiastics here to try it out.
If you love the sound of M50X, 1000XM3, these little things will change your perception of portable audio.
For the first time the audiophile hype train crossed all my expectations.
I'm pretty sure it was created accidentally, hope other manufacturers ( specially FiiO) take this gem as their standard and start improving it even further ( taking down few dB from midbass, find a way to widen the soundstage and make more ergonomic models) and Blon increases size of the nozzle by few millimetres.

 

[dissel]

This Chi-Fi IEM’s are really the gem Like,

TIN Hi-Fi T2, Blon BL - 03, TRN V90 etc

Recently ordered Blon BL- 05 from Ali-Express lets see if it come or not ?

 

[red dragon]

Couldn't find the original T2, ordered a T2 plus or something like that. Eagerly waiting for them. How are they tuning these drivers to compete with 500, even close to 1000 USD iems!!
Absolutely insane. KZ is different, they are very good for their price, but not that great in the tonality. But considering the price, they are very good.
Fiio FH7 disappointed me a lot. They are not cheap,but the bl03s are significantly better in the entire sound presentation.
I bought 5 pairs of bl03s. Will send a couple to a local custom manufacturer, they have promised to try to re-shell them in a custom without ****ing up the driver tuning. According to them, it shouldn't be a difficult job with a single DD.
bl03 with custom fit....if it works, I will sell all the iems and use it for stage also.

 

[Rezep]

The chi fi IEMs are really incredible i have to give it that. Last year i was thinking of getting the T2 and the blons that you have said actually but in the end decided to get the kz zsn pros from a person who was selling it on erodov for around 1k (bought it from aliexpress and had no use for it once it actually arrived) but these actually competed with my byrons which had died before. The only difference was that the bass was more lower on the kz's and treble was much higher but to my nonaudiophile ears, i couldn't tell anything more. Once these kzs die (and by no means do they look like they might any time soon, build quality is very good) i will definitely try out the blons in the future. I just don't like how if the ear seal and the tips aren't perfect in your ears, it can change the way everything sounds. How do you tell if the eartips are a perfect fit when you actually hear the IEMs for the first time? Like how do you know "yes this is it". Warranty is another problem again with chifi though, because there's always a chance you might just get a crap unit, and trying to get a replacement for that,haha good luck.

 

[dissel]

Couldn't find the original T2, ordered a T2 plus or something like that. Eagerly waiting for them. How are they tuning these drivers to compete with 500, even close to 1000 USD iems!!
Absolutely insane. KZ is different, they are very good for their price, but not that great in the tonality. But considering the price, they are very good.
Fiio FH7 disappointed me a lot. They are not cheap,but the bl03s are significantly better in the entire sound presentation.
I bought 5 pairs of bl03s. Will send a couple to a local custom manufacturer, they have promised to try to re-shell them in a custom without ****ing up the driver tuning. According to them, it shouldn't be a difficult job with a single DD.
bl03 with custom fit....if it works, I will sell all the iems and use it for stage also.

(1) Original T2 is the first IEM of Chi - Fi who start this trend i,e Great Sound Quality comes in a pocket friendly budget. Their recent offering T2 Plus is not the same, but non th less it is an interesting IEM - Anyhow Post your impression once you have them.

(2) It is great to see you switch to IEM from your 250ohm headphone collection, In this way you can do very well when you are on the road - You can use any DAP.....Anyhow IEM is the way to go for any tropical place like ours Kolkata / India.

(3) I’m extremely Lucky that stock tips and shape of the Blon BL-03 Fit perfectly with my ears, I just bought a balance 2.5mm cable to go with my existing gear to use BAL option (Fiio X5-3,BTR 5 and Q5s).

(4) It is sad to know Fiio FH7 is not worked for you, As per reviews it is a great one of it’s kind.

 

[red dragon]

FH7 is technically fine, but they are not as pleasant as bl03, but that's entirely my perspective.
@ Rezep, if the tip is not sealing perfectly, if you push in the iems a little bit or pull them down slightly, they sound will change for better. With a perfect fit, if you push it slightly, the sound will get worse and the volume will drop considerably.
Since the nozzle is really small in bl03s, getting a tip to fit your ear perfectly is difficult.
Headphones are still my first love, that's not going to change. But got really excited with the sounds of bl03s.