Personal Audio

iPhone I don't listen to a lot, but IPad Air as a transport I think is superb, especially when I drive my Senn 650s via a little dot III fed by the iPad...and yes I listen to Tidal FLACs a lot this way... hope this MQA melarkey comes to iOS  

I've auditioned in a hifishop some combinations of Dac + headphones.

The Dac was the thing what made the most difference, if you takes in-ear headphones of Euro 100 or more.

So I bought the Dragonfly Black and a set of RHA MA750i headphones. Solidly build in-ears.

This combination costs around Euro 200 in total which is very low for the quality it gives.

Disadvantage of the Dragonfly Black is that it drains my phones battery much faster. I think 4x as fast once plugged in.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

I like my original Dragonfly 1.2 - although it does need to warm up to sound its best by being powered up for a while - its great for computer music and listening in the office - but if I am honest its poles apart from a Hugo or even a Naim DAC - the Dragonfly sounds clean and articulate but also a bit hifi - not that analogue sort of flowyou get from the other two DACs mentioned and certainly not the immersive feel from the Hugo

Ok the Dragonfly Red is supposed to be an upgrade on the original Dragonfly and the Mojo is supposed to have have a lesser performance that the Hugo - but even so its quite impressive if those two are sounding quite close in your setup?

Yes - even though I have not demoed the Dragonfly's or Chord DAC's I am surprised to find that some think the Dragonfly is competitive to the Chord's.

Simon I am quite sure the Mojo plays second fiddle to the Hugo and other Chord DAC's further up the line.  That makes sense as we know in both the Naim and Linn worlds the same holds true.  That is why my home system has a Klimax DS instead of an Akurate or Majik 

For the way I want to use things - sitting in my chair with a pair of headphones listening to Tidal streams - I have no need to go up the Chord ladder.  A Mojo would suffice.

When it comes to Mojo vs. Dragonfly the incremental cost is not that much.  I also think that, now more than ever, the DAC part of these DAC/Amplifiers is the most important part.  Source first obviously.  Now that Apple has removed the headphone jack the lightning port of the iPhone 7+ outputs a digital signal.  The DAC is thus very important - more so than the amplifier component.  It seems like the Mojo might be the right cup of tea  - and quite a few Naim users seem to have Chord DAC's.  There must be some Salisbury PRAT that people are detecting?

Have not heard from anyone regarding headphone preferences.  Anyone using the B&W's?  Heard the Focal Elear?

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

iPhone I don't listen to a lot, but IPad Air as a transport I think is superb, especially when I drive my Senn 650s via a little dot III fed by the iPad...and yes I listen to Tidal FLACs a lot this way... hope this MQA melarkey comes to iOS  

I saw the little dot III mentioned quite a bit on the headfi forums.  I am not familiar with it.  Time to ask Larry and Sergei and do some research

I have an Apple iPod modified by Red Wine Audio; the so-called iMod.

Has anyone heard of these?

I know of people who have dropped their iPod into a glass of red wine. I guess that's different. 

But how does it sound?

Splash!

No problem as long as it is Merlot. Merlot deserves to be spoiled on iPods. Not intended for human consumption.

glevethan posted:

nj451 posted:

Santa got me an AK 100II HCC DAP for Xmas. 200Gb capacity easily holds my 4,500 rips, including lengthy 2 hour Radio 1 Essentials mixes (MP3s).

While I wouldn't say it has a Naim sound, there is detail in my music (even in MP3) that I have not heard before. Of course the 'phones you use will make a difference. I use AKG Y50s for commuting and Grado 225s when at home.

The thing I especially like about this DAP is the fact that it can connect to my home network via wifi and stream my entire music collection without a single track being saved on the SD card.

Have not gone the balanced route yet, where I imagine there is even more detail to be had!

For a fleeting moment I contemplated looking into DAP's.  In the end I decided that my phone is always in my pocket - even while at home.  I am going to use this primarily at home - and I want to also be able to run the TIDAL app so I can stream music I do not have.  I believe that some of the Sony DAP's run Android and thus can run Tidal.

Are people not enamored with the iPhone as a "transport" - i.e. housing FLAC files and streaming from Tidal?

That was the point of my earlier post - a separate DAP avoids chewing your phone battery, and you can play both stored music and Tidal etc on the Sonys.

I think my iPhone 6 has half decent sound quality compared to earlier models, and I would be tempted to try it with a Dragonfly Red out of curiosity, but as I have a Sony NW-ZX2 I doubt I'll bother, as it sounds fantastic.

[@mention:1566878604032931]: I have iModded iPod, feeding Ray Samuel's SR71 thats why I postponed buying Pono  

Pono in balanced mode sounds better to my ears. Even with its crazy shape it is still more convenient "on the go" than SR71 dangling on its LOD from iPod

ChrisSU posted:

glevethan posted:

nj451 posted:

Santa got me an AK 100II HCC DAP for Xmas. 200Gb capacity easily holds my 4,500 rips, including lengthy 2 hour Radio 1 Essentials mixes (MP3s).

While I wouldn't say it has a Naim sound, there is detail in my music (even in MP3) that I have not heard before. Of course the 'phones you use will make a difference. I use AKG Y50s for commuting and Grado 225s when at home.

The thing I especially like about this DAP is the fact that it can connect to my home network via wifi and stream my entire music collection without a single track being saved on the SD card.

Have not gone the balanced route yet, where I imagine there is even more detail to be had!

For a fleeting moment I contemplated looking into DAP's.  In the end I decided that my phone is always in my pocket - even while at home.  I am going to use this primarily at home - and I want to also be able to run the TIDAL app so I can stream music I do not have.  I believe that some of the Sony DAP's run Android and thus can run Tidal.

Are people not enamored with the iPhone as a "transport" - i.e. housing FLAC files and streaming from Tidal?

That was the point of my earlier post - a separate DAP avoids chewing your phone battery, and you can play both stored music and Tidal etc on the Sonys.

I think my iPhone 6 has half decent sound quality compared to earlier models, and I would be tempted to try it with a Dragonfly Red out of curiosity, but as I have a Sony NW-ZX2 I doubt I'll bother, as it sounds fantastic.

The AK100ii and up has the ability to play Tidal. Reasonably certain that the AK Jr does not, but I don't know for sure. Unsure about the AK70 also.

Ardbeg10y posted:

I've auditioned in a hifishop some combinations of Dac + headphones.

The Dac was the thing what made the most difference, if you takes in-ear headphones of Euro 100 or more.

So I bought the Dragonfly Black and a set of RHA MA750i headphones. Solidly build in-ears.

This combination costs around Euro 200 in total which is very low for the quality it gives.

Disadvantage of the Dragonfly Black is that it drains my phones battery much faster. I think 4x as fast once plugged in.

Also there is a memory issue with iPhone... you can not travel with that combo, a dap is always better in my opinion

nj451 posted:

ChrisSU posted:

glevethan posted:

nj451 posted:

Santa got me an AK 100II HCC DAP for Xmas. 200Gb capacity easily holds my 4,500 rips, including lengthy 2 hour Radio 1 Essentials mixes (MP3s).

While I wouldn't say it has a Naim sound, there is detail in my music (even in MP3) that I have not heard before. Of course the 'phones you use will make a difference. I use AKG Y50s for commuting and Grado 225s when at home.

The thing I especially like about this DAP is the fact that it can connect to my home network via wifi and stream my entire music collection without a single track being saved on the SD card.

Have not gone the balanced route yet, where I imagine there is even more detail to be had!

For a fleeting moment I contemplated looking into DAP's.  In the end I decided that my phone is always in my pocket - even while at home.  I am going to use this primarily at home - and I want to also be able to run the TIDAL app so I can stream music I do not have.  I believe that some of the Sony DAP's run Android and thus can run Tidal.

Are people not enamored with the iPhone as a "transport" - i.e. housing FLAC files and streaming from Tidal?

That was the point of my earlier post - a separate DAP avoids chewing your phone battery, and you can play both stored music and Tidal etc on the Sonys.

I think my iPhone 6 has half decent sound quality compared to earlier models, and I would be tempted to try it with a Dragonfly Red out of curiosity, but as I have a Sony NW-ZX2 I doubt I'll bother, as it sounds fantastic.

The AK100ii and up has the ability to play Tidal. Reasonably certain that the AK Jr does not, but I don't know for sure. Unsure about the AK70 also.

They stream but not download which kills the practical use, check out new fiio x5 

No problem with iPhone memory- mine is 256 gig so plenty of room. 

RE AK - offline downloading from TIDAL is mandatory for me. I think I would rather remain with my iPhone as it is for casual listening when away from my big system. 

People should check out what B&W are doing with wireless headphones. The new P7 wireless is amazing. Incredible sounds coming via Bluetooth and it supports Aptx and AAC (for iDevices)

glevethan posted:

No problem with iPhone memory- mine is 256 gig so plenty of room. 

RE AK - offline downloading from TIDAL is mandatory for me. I think I would rather remain with my iPhone as it is for casual listening when away from my big system. 

I can't see why the AK wouldn't be able to store offline Tidal music? My Sony can, and of course the iPhone can. Perhaps it would be nice if Naim players could too, I would have thought it would be feasible for the new Unitis. 

i thought the p7 wireless was distinctly "meh"

jon honeyball posted:

i thought the p7 wireless was distinctly "meh"

imho it needs to be taken in the context of "wireless bluetooth" headphones - not wired.

Is there another wireless bluetooth headphone you rate highly?  Please let me know as I am in the hunt.

Also  - you are referring to the P7 wireless?? - as many have said that it is a significant improvement over the older P7 wired (which I have not demoed)

I have demoed the following wireless:

- new Bose QC35 (anc)

- new Sony MDX1000 (anc)

- Sennheiser Momentum 2 (anc) however no AAC codec for bluetooth wireless so a no go with idevices 

- new B&O H9 (anc) and AAC codec so good for idevices

The new B&O is the best of the lot for wireless and anc imho so it is good for airline travel.  With that said I find the B&W P7 wireless preferable for an entertaining and engaging sound with some PRAT.  The only drawback to the P7 - no anc for the airplane so really better used where wireless is wanted and anc not required

bluetooth is more about convenience than sound quality. Given that, the new airpods are utterly stupendously clever when used in their correct environment (which is not long haul flight if my trialling last week was anything to go by)

Agree with "bluetooth is more about convenience than sound quality"

With that said I think every blue tooth headphone I mentioned in my post above significantly trumps the performance of Apples new AirPods - they are simply in a different league.  Many feel the new AirPods don't even match up to the same quality level as the wired EarPods which Apple included in the tin.

Bluetooth has come quite a way with the Aptx codec, the new HD Aptx codec, and Sony's new proprietary LDAC codec.  I for one am quite impressed with what is out there - something which could not be said even one year ago

Well I've bought a Dragonfly Red today to use with my iPhone/Shure425s  as I'm going to be away for the next week or so . I very very nearly bought a Mojo but I went for portability in the end and I already have a Hugo . I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I'm looking forward to trying it out on my travels . 

Let me know how you make out with the Dragonfly Red.  I like the simplicity as I would prefer headphones directly plugged into my iPhone.  Obviously the Mojo is very high on my list due to the Chord/Hugo acclaim amongst fellow Naim users.  The Dragonfly is definitely smaller and lower profile.

glevethan posted:

Let me know how you make out with the Dragonfly Red.  I like the simplicity as I would prefer headphones directly plugged into my iPhone.  Obviously the Mojo is very high on my list due to the Chord/Hugo acclaim amongst fellow Naim users.  The Dragonfly is definitely smaller and lower profile.

I will do , I'm uploading lots of music onto my phone this evening so can't really test . I'll try and post while I'm away . I only ever really use personal stereo whilst on holiday or on the tube so I'm sure its the best choice for me . 

After saying my positive piece about Pono, I was overtaken by a moment of CC lunacy and bought a Sony NW-WM1A. This very expensive gizmo does nothing but play music files, has no wifi capability. Does have Bluetooth for pairing with phones. While I'd prefer to be recommending a bargain I have to say the sound quality is astonishing and puts the Pono way into the shade. It's also a beautiful piece of industrial design, fits nicely in the hand with all controls accessible, and with excellent software design. It's heavier than the Pono though, about half a pound which doesn't sound much but for a small device feels a bit of a brick. I have a US version without EC volume limiting and I have read some criticism of the limited version when it comes to difficult-to-drive phones. Now I'm waiting for a balanced connector to arrive, but meanwhile I'm blown away by the sound with Shure IEMs, and Fostex TH900s. If your ambition is best sound quality and you don't need streaming, you can't do better.