FiiO X5: Pono Killer?

[Solstice380]

2) How does one play hi-res on an iPhone (or an iPad, or an android device, for that matter)? I would love to know. I've been looking for months without success.

 

Onkyo HF Player for iPhone in the iTunes store. US$10, plays FLAC-PCM and DSD and it's awesome! I use it on an iPad into an Oppo HA-2 DAC / Headphone amp with my Etymotic 4P IEMs. I really like it.

[gmgraves]

Onkyo HF Player for iPhone in the iTunes store. US$10, plays FLAC-PCM and DSD and it's awesome! I use it on an iPad into an Oppo HA-2 DAC / Headphone amp with my Etymotic 4P IEMs. I really like it.

 

 

Yes, I downloaded the app yesterday. Will let you know how I like it when I've had a chance to listen. I'll be using it without the external DAC/amp.

[JSWolf]

Onkyo HF Player for iPhone in the iTunes store. US$10, plays FLAC-PCM and DSD and it's awesome! I use it on an iPad into an Oppo HA-2 DAC / Headphone amp with my Etymotic 4P IEMs. I really like it.

 

 

Does it allow download from one of the popular could services such as Dropbox or Onedrive?

[gmgraves]

Yes, it is obviously the internet, where truth and comprehension seems to be a variable thing. I did reference that there are other plans that can provide an iPhone for low or no cost. Most people do have plans with the carrier of their choice, in which case, yeah- you can pick up an iPhone for $0. Which is what you asked. The sameis basically true of any comparable Android phone, as spectacular as it sounds.

 

I was joking about you being dishonest (hence the smiley-face), but it is true that the $0 is actually $0-down. Over the two years that one is locked into some plan, one does pay for the phone, the payments are just disguised as plan fees. I guess the "free" part depends upon how one looks at it. To me free is NO cost, NO commitments, and the freedom to choose carriers, and pay-as-you-go, with the ability to cancel, or change carriers at will. Of course, there is no such thing, but my unlocked Android phone at less than US$71 with no contract and pay-as-I-go comes close!

 

And in terms of per minute costs, except for international calls to Europe, I expect I pay a lot less than you do. Of course, I do pay for phones for myself, my wife, my kids, my mother in law, and a cell for business use. All of which have unlimited minutes, messaging, LD, and a shared 40gb of data per month, with rollover on the data. I do pay about $210 month for that. But then, I could get about the sme service for myself alone, and an iPhone, for $50/month or so.

 

Less if I were using limited data. $.10/min seems outrageous to me.

 

I use my cell phone so seldom that my monthly charge (at $0.10/minute) is usually less than US$5.00 (that's 50 minutes which is plenty for the way I use the phone). I don't have a data plan because I use only wi-fi. Almost everywhere that one goes has wi-fi these days; the supermarket, drug store, and most restaurants. Even my single-chair barber shop has wi-fi as does my local doctor's and dentist's offices. Since I AM my entire family, the Android phone a pretty cheap proposition for me.

 

I did not fail to answer - neither of the headphones I use reguarly have balanced connections. I assumed you would recognize that, but I certainly could have been clearer.

 

That's fine. As I said, I was able to glean from the context of your response that you only listened single-ended.

 

As for not hearing the Pono at it's best, perhaps. But then, you have not heard an iPhone at it's best.

 

Like I said before, I have a new iPad, and from what I've read, the audio circuitry is the same as for an iPhone 5/6. So, with that and my pair of HiFiMan HE-1000s, I think I get the idea of what an iPhone sounds like. Not bad, but not in the same league as a Pono in balanced-output mode (in single-ended mode, the Pono (IMHO) still sounds better than the Apple device, but not as much better as in balanced mode. With 16/44.1 material, they sound pretty much the same although in the treble region, the Pono still has a slight advantage).

 

BTW, I was able to find that Onkyo hi-res app that your pointed me towards for Androidas well as for iDevices (my phone is where I need it, not my iPad, because that's my portable music player). The reason why I couldn't find it before is because I was searching for "high-res music player" which yielded no results. When I searched under "24 bit music player", I found a whole bunch of them, but the Onkyo seemed the best of the lot. I downloaded the full, unlocked version (US$8.99)and am looking forward to trying it out with some of Mr. Martinez' free 24/96 downloads!

 

By the way, an iPhone driving an iFi iDSD Nano sounds extraordinary, and is about as clunky as carrying around a phone and a Pono. That's without using balanced headphones.

 

You are probably right there. The reason that I do not own a Pono (in spite of it's marvelous sound quality) is the form factor, and the fact that it would look really silly sitting in the barber shop's waiting area (or some such) with a Pono in my hand and a US$3,000 pair of balanced headphones on my head (along with the home-made adapter to adapt the XLR terminated HiFiMan balanced cable to the dual 3.5mm stereo mini-plugs required to put the Pono in balanced output mode)!

[Paul R]

I use my cell phone so seldom that my monthly charge (at $0.10/minute) is usually less than US$5.00 (that's 50 minutes which is plenty for the way I use the phone). I don't have a data plan because I use only wi-fi. Almost everywhere that one goes has wi-fi these days; the supermarket, drug store, and most restaurants. Even my single-chair barber shop has wi-fi as does my local doctor's and dentist's offices. Since I AM my entire family, the Android phone a pretty cheap proposition for me.

 

Ah, there is the prime difference. I use my cell phone a *lot* - as does the rest of my family. Indeed, we do not even have any land lines anymore. $0.10/min would be scary expensive to me.

 

As for data usage, we have never exceeded 20GB month, because our phones automatically switch to WiFi if it is available, and as you point out, it is available almost everywhere. On the other hand, if we are in one of the Jeeps, Wireless data lets us navigate, check for local resources, manage money in the bank, and also, play music.

 

-Paul

[gmgraves]

Yes, I downloaded the app yesterday. Will let you know how I like it when I've had a chance to listen. I'll be using it without the external DAC/amp.

 

 

OK, today, I loaded my Android phone with several 24/96 albums and was very gratified at how well it worked. Listening via my HiFIMan HE400S (planar headphones designed to work with phones and tablets and dedicated music players) the sound was excellent. Not Pono (balanced) great mind you, but for <US$10 (for the Onkyo player app) very good. Next I'm going to try to play through my USB DAC and see how well that works. If it sounds good, this phone, via USB, might end-up being my primary storage device for my high-res music. Replacing my hated Windows 7 laptop.

[Jimmypowder]

When I compared the Pono to my 5s, the better the recording the more I preferred the Pono. On poor or compressed recordings it was more difficult to tell them apart, but the 5s never sounded better than the Pono. I've yet to compare my 6s to the Pono.

 

When it comes to really well recorded DSD or high res PCM, the sound quality on the Pono exceeds even the best I heard on the 5s.

 

I really didn't want to like the Pono as I didn't want to carry around another device. But I was hooked after hearing it.

 

The 6s audio quality is much better than the 5 . It's not close .

[Jimmypowder]

I compared the Fiio X3II (2nd gen) to the iPhone 6s. There is no way the iPhone is better. The Fiio X3II costs less than the iPhone 6s or an iPod. I bought the Fiio X3II for $199 (Amazon.com). You do need to buy microSD card(s) for it. I got a 64GB card for it. So if you have multiple cards, you can swap out what music you want to listen to very easily.

 

One thing you may like with the Fiio vs the Pono is the shape of the X3II is a normal rectangular shape.

 

Sadly the Fiio can't play Tidal or other music services

[wdw]

Onkyo HF Player for iPhone in the iTunes store. US$10, plays FLAC-PCM and DSD and it's awesome! I use it on an iPad into an Oppo HA-2 DAC / Headphone amp with my Etymotic 4P IEMs. I really like it.

so how does this work...I understand the "free" player but am confused by the "HDPlayer". Inference is that the software is outputting 24/96 or better but surely this is limited by the internal DAC of the iPhone..always suspected the internal DAC of most apple products could do 24/96 but without much to base this on

[jhwalker]

so how does this work...I understand the "free" player but am confused by the "HDPlayer". Inference is that the software is outputting 24/96 or better but surely this is limited by the internal DAC of the iPhone..always suspected the internal DAC of most apple products could do 24/96 but without much to base this on

 

Onkyo's player (and others like it) will play back just about any file (e.g., 32/384, DSD256, etc.) but the iPhone DAC > headphone interface will output only up to 24/48. Use the Camera Connection Kit to output to a USB DAC, though, and you get the full digital "stream" at the original bitrate / depth.

[wdw]

Onkyo's player (and others like it) will play back just about any file (e.g., 32/384, DSD256, etc.) but the iPhone DAC > headphone interface will output only up to 24/48. Use the Camera Connection Kit to output to a USB DAC, though, and you get the full digital "stream" at the original bitrate / depth.

 

Aha....Thanks, WW

[JSWolf]

Sadly the Fiio can't play Tidal or other music services

 

True, but for your own music, it's no comparison.

[gmgraves]

so how does this work...I understand the "free" player but am confused by the "HDPlayer". Inference is that the software is outputting 24/96 or better but surely this is limited by the internal DAC of the iPhone..always suspected the internal DAC of most apple products could do 24/96 but without much to base this on

 

Whether or not the Onkyo app will output 24/96 or 24/192 will depend upon the phone's DAC. Some will do only 24/48, some will do up to 24/96 and some will do up to 24/192. If you play 24/96 or higher on a phone that will only do 24/48, it will down-sample to that sampling rate, but it will play it.

 

What is less clear is outputting the file via USB to an external DAC on an Android phone. Your Android phone must be "On-The-Go" capable and, of course, you need a phone USB connector to Type-A USB connector adaptor. These are called "OTG" or on-the-go cables. Don't be fooled by the nomenclature. These are just cable adapters, to my knowledge, they have no circuitry in them! If your Android phone is not OTG compatible, it will not function as a host and you will not be able to output the Onkyo app's audio via USB. If you have an Apple iDevice, all you need in order to use the Onkyo App's digital output to your outboard DAC is an Apple "Camera Connection Kit" (t's a cable); either the original or the "lightening" type, depending on your model. I believe that Generation 2 and above iPads are OTG compatible, I don't know about the phones.