Article: An Audiophile Switches From iOS to Android

[mansr]

I have a Pixel phone. If there's interest, I can do some measurements after the holidays.

 

Can someone suggest a free/demo player with support for high-res files?

[labjr]

Can someone suggest a free/demo player with support for high-res files?

 

Hiby Music works great for me. And it's free.

[bogi]

Can someone suggest a free/demo player with support for high-res files?

 

ONKYO HF Player is almost free, can upsample PCM, is able to do PCM to DSD on the fly, understands DSF tagging. Nice audiophile player.

[tomsinclair]

Mostly technobabble. It also doesn't exist.

 

You should check out their beta version - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=intellogic.synchrotone

 

It's pretty good IMHO.

[labjr]

You should check out their beta version - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=intellogic.synchrotone

 

It's pretty good IMHO.

 

I think it sucks! Doesn't work with hi-res on my DAC. Can't close the damn thing! Had to uninstall it because I couldn't use any other player with my DAC while it was installed. NEXT!

 

Onkyo costs money if you want to play anything above 48khz. No demo trial period?

 

 

I'll stick to Hiby for now because it's free and does what it's supposed to. Works with all sample rates I use including DSF files. Sample rate displays properly on the DAC.

[chjan]

Comparing Dragonfly black to red, red (with 9016 ess sabre DAC), wins. Comparing LG V10 (with the newer 9018 ess sabre DAC + a companion analog headphone amplifier), then LG V10 wins with a margin on a pair of Focal Elear, and on various speakers. This High Fidelity PRODIGY of a smartphone is just something very special for audiophiles. In addition to offering true hifi on headphones, it is also a wireless HighRes DAC when connected to a preamplifier, and it automatically detects an AUX input and adjust to input impedance etc.

Anyone here that had the chance to compare LG V10 and V20?

[DarwinOSX]

On 12/22/2016 at 6:18 PM, Ran said:

Chris,

 

Try the following on your iPhone:

 

1. Access your "Music" folder via file system and drag your music files into it

2. Transfer music files via Bluetooth

3. Play Ogg and FLAC

4. Get a decent UPnP controller app

 

These are very basic tasks that users expect from their devices. You can do all of the above in Android since version 1.0. You cannot perform these basic tasks in iOS due to Apple's restrictions.

 

 

There are apps that allow this very thing on iPhones. 

[chjan]

I purchased one new, then several used LG v10. As its newer brother lg v20 this is a true hifi phone. Read the spec and see the fantastic DAC and headamp section. The sound is amazing and will dance backwards around my son's iPhone of latest model. It drives Focal Elear as if it was destiny, not to mention Audiofly AF1120 and Shure SE846 (which are other models used in the family)

 

I use one phone as my traditional multipurpose portable smartphone and the 2 others as wireless DACs in a Roon multiroom setup. I repeat: It is a wireless audiophile grade hifi DAC (not on the grid, even!). It is amazing that these hifi phones are not on everybody's lips, so let me give that as a suggestion to ComputerAudiophile: Write a long article on these emerging phones and help bring awareness. It is much more fun when we are crowd.

 

I wrote a blog on this here: http://www.noach.one/blog/lg-v10-the-smartphone-prodigy/

[musicfan145]

My experiences trying to switch from iPhone to Android were very similar, but there is one thing you didn't mention: Playing music in the car. This is a whole 'nother level of hell for anyone trying to use an Android phone as a high-quality audio source. 

 

Many OEM and aftermarket car head-units have a USB connection that, when connected to an iPhone, will talk to the phone as if it is an iPod. It will instantly read the music library, display album art and other data on the head unit, and respond to transport commands from the steering wheel controls. When you switch to another app such as Tidal, everything still works the same. And your battery gets charged while you drive.

 

When using Android you have several options:

1) Connect through Bluetooth. It's convenient, and the metadata and steering wheel controls work as expected. But the sound quality is awful. Meanwhile, the battery is drained, not charged.

2) Connect through 3.5mm Aux input. This improves the sound quality compared to Bluetooth (and is probably amazing if you have an LG v-series phone), but there is no metadata display, no steering wheel control, and no charging.

3) Connect through USB as a media device. Wait an interminable amount of time waiting for your library to load, and even then, your playlists probably won't work. Other applications like Tidal definitely won't work.

 

Hopefully Android Auto solves some of these issues, but installing a whole new head unit is (even by Android standards) asking a lot of the user just to get back up to par with the iPhone as an audio player.

[Hilton]

To throw my 2 cents in. 

Here's my portable 2TB setup that works perfectly!

 

The perfect audiophile tablet setup! 
Lenovo yoga tab 3 LTE - with Lineage Android 7.1 Rom
2TB WD my passport wireless pro HDD (runs Twonky server)
Sony MDR-1ADAC digital headphones (aka USB Audio bit perfect)
Satechi type-C USB pass through hub. (Supports charging and USB Audio simultaneously!)
USB Audio Player Pro using DLNA (or Neutron if you have the patience to configure it)

Audio nirvana at last!

 

This setup plays back DSF and DFF SACD files too over DLNA direct to the Sony headphone DAC which has built-in DSD support!
 

 

[AGB]

I'll make it simple. I went from the iPhones to the LG v10 to the LG v20 to the LG v30.

 

USB Player Pro set to Internal DAC, bought the Parametric EQ module.

 

The V30 drives my Audeze LCDx and the Beyer Dynamics Xelento Remote headphones well.

 

I also have a Chord MOJO. Don't need it any more.

Does the LG v30's DAC sound different from the MOJO?

 

Yes, I like both of them - the MOJO is relegated to the desktop with iMac, USB Regen and Curious USB cable.

 

The V30 is quite possibly the best sounding mobile phone with its B&O designed DAC extant.

 

Oh, before I forget, it is MQA enabled.

 

 

[labjr]

Isn't Oppo making a smartphone?

[Ralf11]

Yes, they've been big in China for quite a while - may be what they started with

[tmitchmd]

On 11/24/2017 at 3:24 PM, AGB said:

I'll make it simple. I went from the iPhones to the LG v10 to the LG v20 to the LG v30.

 

USB Player Pro set to Internal DAC, bought the Parametric EQ module.

 

The V30 drives my Audeze LCDx and the Beyer Dynamics Xelento Remote headphones well.

 

I also have a Chord MOJO. Don't need it any more.

Does the LG v30's DAC sound different from the MOJO?

 

Yes, I like both of them - the MOJO is relegated to the desktop with iMac, USB Regen and Curious USB cable.

 

The V30 is quite possibly the best sounding mobile phone with its B&O designed DAC extant.

 

Oh, before I forget, it is MQA enabled.

 

 

Do you use uapp with the V30? Can uapp connect with the ES9018 chip in the V30 to allow full Hi-Rez output to the headphone port? Will the V30 stream Tidal MQA Masters with uapp or is an outboard dac still a necessity?

[Ranan]

Thanks for the article. I was looking around for a solution to make my new Dragonfly Red work on my old android (Sony Z3C) and after few different options, the pixel 2 tweak on XDA seems to work fine and significantly increased the gain. The volume has to be selected everytime the Red is attached but it can be sorted by Tasker or IFTT.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/themes/pixel-2-usb-audio-control-t3704024

[AGB]

Sorry about my absence for over a year not having been notified of comments on this thread - and not answering any of you. Since my original remarks for on the road I went to the LGV40 and it's upgraded Quad DAC by B&O. Using with it the Beyer-Dynamic Xelento IEMs which solidly beat the Audeze LCD-Xes I was using back then. More recently I bought the Audeze LCDi4s which solidly beat the Xelentos. And everything else I am aware of.

 

I am keeping both earphones, for the Beyer is ideal for traveling, shutting out most noise too, it is a fantastic IEM, and the Audeze is ideal for serious listening at both my home in Europe and here. In the States on my desktop I use Audirvana with some parametric EQ with the Audeze-written DPS software plugin. Hardwarewise I added the iFiUSB3.0 conditioner and power supply for the Mojo, a terrific gizmo too, with the Curious USB wire from Australia...all used with the iMac. Simple and remarkably good.

 

An aside: The Chord Mojo is a terrific DAC that is also portable. It is hardly dated. Its virtues compare favorably with over $1000 DACs. With the iFiUSB3.0 added, we can raise the Mojo's performance to compare with multi-thousand dollar DACs.

 

How come it's so inexpensive? Well, the power of large number of sales -- and it has no AC-DC power supply. The power supply in many components arguably represents up to 80% of the retail price. From another angle, the Mojo - and I am NOT advertising it - is the front end of another good brand's $3-4000 DAC. Photos attached.

[raysay]

Hi,

 

I need your help. I want to play Tidal Hifi through the USB C port of my Android phone to an external DAC. This should be done so that the mobile phone is charged simultaneously while playing music. I have an OTG-C cable, a USB A-A cable, a USB cable from the external DAC, and a powered USB hub. I can get so far that I can play music for my external DAC. But the mobile phone doesn't charge ...

 

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Is there anyone who can help me?! The important thing is that phones get charged while playing Tidal Hifi. I want to avoid the Android phone running flat with the batteries.

 

Do you have a solution? Is the USB hub supposed to be of a certain type ...?!

 

With best regards
Sergei Vestergaard - Denmark