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Digital Audio Player question

KR500

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Nov 18, 2019
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I am moving from my Sony minidisc decks and portable player to a Samsung J galaxy android smartphone and galaxy tablet for music playback in certain supplementary situations.

Is there any good reason to not use the 1/8th phone/tablet headphone jack ; and instead use the phone's micro usb out to a dongle DAC or portable DAC ?

In a casual A B listen I was surprised my old android phone playing a 320 kbps music file sounded better or smoother than the Sony minidisc top atrac coding setting.

Thanks
 
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Count Arthur

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I think the quality of the sound from phones and tablets varies considerably from model to model, some being far better than others. I haven't tried any myself, but some of the iPhones are supposed to sound OK and there are some phones that are marketed as having better sound and better DACs, like the LG V20 and V30 and maybe some of the later "V" models.

On my current phone, the sound is pretty dire; it's flat and lifeless and doesn't go very loud on some of my less sensitive, higher impedence heaphones. Whereas it sounds pretty good when I use an Audioquest Dragonfly dongle together with USB player pro: https://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/products/usb-audio-player-pro, to play uncompressed .wav files.
 

Cahudson42

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@amirm 's review of the LG G7 was the game changer for me on using the 3.5mm. Went for an LG V20 H910 Quad DAC for $120. Replaced a bulky D10 / Fire tablet OTG setup. It's subjective of course, but listening to my Liquid Spark (into which the V20 feeds) HE400i is a pleasure for me.

If there is a downside to the 3.5mm, it's likely to be a lack of power. Not enough voltage for high impedance phones, or current for low. Add a $100 Heresy, Atom, Magni 3+, or even Liquid Spark (underrated, imo) and you will be Golden..

If portability is essential, and you have Planar Magnetic or other HP that don't change impedance with frequency, a NX3s is well built and provides sufficient power. (400mw). Anything a lot less -es100, BTR3 - for me, not so much. (Were sent back)..

I would look for Qualcom Snapdragon -based devices for the best likelihood of a decent 3.5mm..
 

Loonabae

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In a casual A B listen I was surprised my old android phone playing a 320 kbps music file sounded better or smoother than the Sony minidisc top atrac coding setting.

Well lame mp3 always rated higher than Atrac or WMA even at vbr 192kbps let alone 320kbps.
 
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