Phone as source

[Toothdoc]

Hey I read somewhere, maybe here, the phone is not a good source for music even if u have a dac amp connected. 

Sorry if it's a stupid question but I don't quite understand why that's the case. 

[BATMAQN]

Plenty of people use them as sources they aren't ideal for "ease of connecting" I've found that anyway, but as a source sure why not whatever works. 

[Toothdoc]

Oh right. That makes sense. That's why I didn't quite understand 

[eman]

yeah, I looked into it.  Got too fiddly to get high quality easily.

 

Might depend exactly which 'phone' you have and what it can do.

[Addicted to music]

Very obvious there are some here who doubt that a phone isn’t very good have absolutely no idea:

 

http://bgr.com/2016/09/20/iphone-7-headphones-jack-sound-test/

 

https://kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-quality.htm

 

That $12 Apple 3.5mm dongle has a DAC inside....and like someone said, Apple has a team who would have huge budgets to produce something that’s way more than just OK compared to some audiophile accepted brands....

 

 

[crisis]

I bought my Sony Xperia mostly because it handled FLAC files and had a removable mini SD. It is intended to replace my bloated IPod Classic. I haven't got a proper interface to use it with my system yet however.

[Al.M]

The old iPhone 4 and 4s have almost as good sound using the same inbuilt Wolfson DAC as the renowned iPhone 5.5 Classic 30-80gb devices and music recorded at the highest settings 325kbps or flac can be as good as a budget CD player.

 

http://au.pcmag.com/audio-reviews/24181/news/farewell-apple-ipod-classic-we-audiophiles-will-miss-you

 

http://macintoshhowto.com/ipod/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/expert-audio-quality-test-5th-gen-ipod-vs-ipod-classic/

 

When iPods were the main thing around Red Wine Audio we’re tricking these up and comparing them to $1500 CD players and all that with thousands of songs in the palm of the hand used for $50-100 is not bad. The iPod Classic has been reaching collector status.

 

Ultimatley won’t be as good as over $1500 CD players but I wouldn’t scoff at these devices. Fiio and similar high Rez devices can be even better.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Al.M

[Batty]

17 hours ago, crisis said:

I bought my Sony Xperia mostly because it handled FLAC files and had a removable mini SD. It is intended to replace my bloated IPod Classic. I haven't got a proper interface to use it with my system yet however.

I used the supplied short usb cable to go directly into a DAC and foobar 2000, not pretty but it works.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Batty
Fat Finger Syndrome (FFS).

[Toothdoc]

Thanks guys u have put my mind at ease 

[aussievintage]

Some phones have decent audio right out of the headphone socket. My samsung sounds ok through a decent pair of headphones.   Otherwise, very easy to add a cheap DAC.  I have cheap FIIO DACs, and E10K and a Q1, and both produce fine music when attached to my phone via an OTG cable.

[crisis]

10 hours ago, Batty said:

I used the supplied short usb cable to go directly into a DAC and foobar 2000, not pretty but it works.

Yep. The DAC is the missing link ATM.

[eman]

7 hours ago, aussievintage said:

Some phones have decent audio right out of the headphone socket. My samsung sounds ok through a decent pair of headphones.   Otherwise, very easy to add a cheap DAC.  I have cheap FIIO DACs, and E10K and a Q1, and both produce fine music when attached to my phone via an OTG cable.

yeh, get a DAC and an OTG and work out which model Samsung has what inbuilt processor.  Maybe even download an App.

Personally it wasn't worth the hassle to have mobile music given how rarely I'm mobile.

[Irek]

It's a good question. Can the phone's HDD be as good as laptop's HDD when connected by USB to external DAC $500 - $3000 and than by RCA to integrate amp? I mean a good phone , not Apple toys. 

[Al.M]

On iPhones or iPods use a LOD connector from the charger port, not the head phone jack and it can get about 20% clearer.

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

20 hours ago, Irek said:

It's a good question. Can the phone's HDD be as good as laptop's HDD when connected by USB to external DAC $500 - $3000 and than by RCA to integrate amp? I mean a good phone , not Apple toys. 

I can only speak for the Apple toy, but on at least one occasion I've heard, yes. The answer depends on the setup of each device in practice.

[Raffinator]

I use the Onkyo app for iPhone. Better than using standard. Plays file formats like DSD and FLAC.

But my plan is to go Android next phone changeover in Sep.

[Bunno77]

My moto z play phone works brilliantly via its usb-c. Compared a chord Hugo tt via my phone with a cheap usb cable and otg connector to a ps audio dsd with bridge 2. The difference was minimal and definitely not like there was a huge problem with the Hugo. 

[Irek]

8 minutes ago, Bunno77 said:

My moto z play phone works brilliantly via its usb-c. Compared a chord Hugo tt via my phone with a cheap usb cable and otg connector to a ps audio dsd with bridge 2. The difference was minimal and definitely not like there was a huge problem with the Hugo. 

Can I ask have you try to compare Motorola vs laptop using the same DAC ?  

[aussievintage]

17 minutes ago, Irek said:

Can I ask have you try to compare Motorola vs laptop using the same DAC ?  

What difference do you expect?      I have tried this between a Samsung phone and an Asus laptop using 2 cheaper Fiio DACs mentioned above, and although I have not conducted extensive listening tests,  I noticed no difference - and this is pretty much as I expected.

Edited May 12, 2018 by aussievintage

[Bunno77]

Can I ask have you try to compare Motorola vs laptop using the same DAC ?  

I haven't yet but I can in a few days and will post here.
There definitely are differences between digital sources. My laptop sounds different to my Microsoft surface pro tablet. My modified sonos connect sound better than both and my microrendu sounds better again.

[Irek]

Of course there is a difference between digital sources when using optical or coaxial cable . Asynchronous usb is a different situation. 

 

"ASYNCHRONOUS USB transfer mode simply means that a "downstream" audio device controls when the computer sends data through its USB interface and how much at a time. The external dac becomes the bus "master", and no longer has to rely upon noisy clocks generated by the computer or its USB interface logic. Products using synchronous or adaptive USB transfer are inherently "slaved" to the computer; clocking information has to be extracted from USB packet and frame timing signals, which are seldom accurate enough for high-end audio purposes."

 

 

[Bunno77]

Of course there is a difference between digital sources when using optical or coaxial cable . Asynchronous usb is a different situation. 
 
"ASYNCHRONOUS USB transfer mode simply means that a "downstream" audio device controls when the computer sends data through its USB interface and how much at a time. The external dac becomes the bus "master", and no longer has to rely upon noisy clocks generated by the computer or its USB interface logic. Products using synchronous or adaptive USB transfer are inherently "slaved" to the computer; clocking information has to be extracted from USB packet and frame timing signals, which are seldom accurate enough for high-end audio purposes."

 

 

There's a difference in usb too.