Why are most bookshelf speakers made for analog?

[wwenze]

Most people aren't listening to music on record players or CD players anymore. They listen to digital playlists, whether through smartphone or computer.

I got the Neumi BS5P recently and it comes with a RCA to RCA cable instead of a RCA to 3.5mm cable. Why? The latter should be the norm.

3.5mm is analog

 

[JaccoW]

Old Bluetooth had more limitations. Afaik Apple is not supporting the most recent version. I could be wrong.

Classic Apple. They historically have a hard time adjusting to industry standards until they really can't get away with it anymore.

Unless they develop it themselves and can charge consumers through the nose for Apple branded accessories they won't do it.
Luckily we have the EU, even if they can be too slow sometimes.

 

[mhardy6647]

Classic Apple. They historically have a hard time adjusting to industry standards until they really can't get away with it anymore.

Unless they develop it themselves and can charge consumers through the nose for Apple branded accessories they won't do it.
Luckily we have the EU, even if they can be too slow sometimes.

DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA) was like that. (Almost) everything on their 'putes was proprietary.
Heck, the DEC 10 my college (JHU) had when I was an UG used a 20 bit word length (EDIT: IIIRC).

 

[JaccoW]

DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA) was like that. (Almost) everything on their 'putes was proprietary.
Heck, the DEC 10 my college (JHU) had when I was an UG used a 20 bit word length (EDIT: IIIRC).

Gazelle (Dutch bike manufacturer) had a similar way of doing things. Makes a lot of 10 year old bikes irrepairable once parts like bottom brackets wear out. And the don't even offer replacements!

 

[TonyJZX]

you will find that Apple have decided to use type-c but they have modified it so it has proprietary apple stuff in it:

iPhone 15 USB-C port may have some features limited to Apple certified cables and accessories - 9to5Mac

In compliance with EU law, Apple is widely expected to add a USB-C port to this year’s iPhone 15 lineup,...

9to5mac.com

beyond the scope of this thread but we have found out that a trillion dollar company wields considerable power even though the EU has 550 mil. people (minus the UK of course)

i would not personally use apple stuff in any situation... although I am looking at a 14 pro max right now...

 

[mhardy6647]

you will find that Apple have decided to use type-c but they have modified it so it has proprietary apple stuff in it:

iPhone 15 USB-C port may have some features limited to Apple certified cables and accessories - 9to5Mac

In compliance with EU law, Apple is widely expected to add a USB-C port to this year’s iPhone 15 lineup,...

9to5mac.com

beyond the scope of this thread but we have found out that a trillion dollar company wields considerable power even though the EU has 550 mil. people (minus the UK of course)

i would not personally use apple stuff in any situation... although I am looking at a 14 pro max right now...

good ol' Apple.

 

[TonyJZX]

apple, as the world's richest company would not take a 'loss' like type c lying down

they were always going to 'concede' and yet do something to muddy the waters in their benefit

the EU will probably complain about this and it'll be EU lawyers vs. Apple lawyers again

remember Apple is one of the few companies that are big enough to tell the FBI/NSA to get bent... while Google Microsoft Facebook hand over that data like as if they're on the government payroll...

 

[Hexspa]

you will find that Apple have decided to use type-c but they have modified it so it has proprietary apple stuff in it:

iPhone 15 USB-C port may have some features limited to Apple certified cables and accessories - 9to5Mac

In compliance with EU law, Apple is widely expected to add a USB-C port to this year’s iPhone 15 lineup,...

9to5mac.com

beyond the scope of this thread but we have found out that a trillion dollar company wields considerable power even though the EU has 550 mil. people (minus the UK of course)

i would not personally use apple stuff in any situation... although I am looking at a 14 pro max right now...

Apple stuff can be great as long as you don’t expect it to be Windows or Linux. I don’t want to debate it (you win!) but I use Win and Apple for their respective strengths.

 

[Hexspa]

apple, as the world's richest company would not take a 'loss' like type c lying down

they were always going to 'concede' and yet do something to muddy the waters in their benefit

the EU will probably complain about this and it'll be EU lawyers vs. Apple lawyers again

remember Apple is one of the few companies that are big enough to tell the FBI/NSA to get bent... while Google Microsoft Facebook hand over that data like as if they're on the government payroll...

Microsoft is on the government payroll. They develop weapons training systems for the military. Hololens, right? I recall reading they have at least one contract.

 

[Talisman]

BT still losses to wired, even with the latest 5.3.

It sure does. Nobody denies it. The wired signal is cleaner than even the best bluetooth codec (for now....) the point is can you hear it? can you sit in your quiet room in your armchair and recognize 18/20 a file transmitted in ldac 990 from one transmitted by cable?
I strongly doubt it, but I accept to be proved wrong by those who can prove it.
In any case, there remains an abysmal comfort gap between wireless and wired.
There are many purists who spit on bluetooth technology as if it were the evil of the hifi world, it is not, it is an extremely convenient possibility of being able to enjoy your music with a quality that is now absolutely acceptable even for audiophile parameters and a lot more comfort.

 

[Shorty]

you will find that Apple have decided to use type-c but they have modified it so it has proprietary apple stuff in it:

iPhone 15 USB-C port may have some features limited to Apple certified cables and accessories - 9to5Mac

In compliance with EU law, Apple is widely expected to add a USB-C port to this year’s iPhone 15 lineup,...

9to5mac.com

beyond the scope of this thread but we have found out that a trillion dollar company wields considerable power even though the EU has 550 mil. people (minus the UK of course)

i would not personally use apple stuff in any situation... although I am looking at a 14 pro max right now...

Apple had no choice but to comply to EU rules. It wants to stop manufacturers selling hardware with a million different power dongles.

 

[Leporello]

Because bookshelf only accept audio analog. Also people enjoying listen on sofa.

Depends on the sofa. Bookshelfs are inherently digital while most sofas are mainly analog. But it is a completely different ballgame with sofa loudspeakers, of course.

 

[JaccoW]

The EU will probably complain about this and it'll be EU lawyers vs. Apple lawyers again

The EU is more likely to heavily penalize Apple or completely ban them from selling their new devices for not being compliant with local laws.
If I had to take an educated guess about 25% of their revenue comes from Europe. That's a lot of unhappy shareholders if they let it get that far.

 

[jasonhanjk]

It sure does. Nobody denies it. The wired signal is cleaner than even the best bluetooth codec (for now....) the point is can you hear it? can you sit in your quiet room in your armchair and recognize 18/20 a file transmitted in ldac 990 from one transmitted by cable?
I strongly doubt it, but I accept to be proved wrong by those who can prove it.
In any case, there remains an abysmal comfort gap between wireless and wired.
There are many purists who spit on bluetooth technology as if it were the evil of the hifi world, it is not, it is an extremely convenient possibility of being able to enjoy your music with a quality that is now absolutely acceptable even for audiophile parameters and a lot more comfort.

Let's compare price.
A good wired dongle via usb C cost less than $50.
My preference would be base on AK4377 DAC; if design properly it is possible with SINAD 108 at 10mW with 32 ohm load.
A quick search will show $35 from 7Hz.
My favourite IEM is the 7Hz Salnotes Zero costing $23.

Now, tell me the cost of upgrading to wireless, example a TWS.
It must have the same sound signature of AK4377 and the sounding of Zero IEM.

 

[Deleted member 58865]

Bluetooth chipset in an audio device tends to raise noise floor so much that I can hear hiss from my speakers.

Hiss from my speakers is not acceptable. I sit close to my speakers.

I avoid anything that has bluetooth.

Bluetooth chipset adds a lot of noise to audio.

 

[unpluggged]

Bluetooth chipset in an audio device tends to raise noise floor so much that I can hear hiss from my speakers.

I now have done a test of your claim with my Qudelix 5K. I connected it to the analog input of my ADI-2 Pro with a basic 3.5-mm to 2×TS unbalanced cable setting high gain (2 V) on the 5K and lowest input ref level (highest sensitivity) on the ADI-2 Pro, +4dBu. I got -111 dBFS noise floor at the analog input as indicated on the ADI-2 Pro's level meter when idle and -105 dBFS noise floor with 5K's output active. I then set the volume on the ADI-2 Pro to 0 dB at +4dBu and played some music over Bluetooth with LDAC codec. Of course, I could not hear any noise in each case, and the sound was very good. I then stopped the playback and checked if I could hear the noise floor at the maximum volume (at +24 dBu). And I still could not hear any noise at my listening position (about 90 cm from the speakers), and nothing that exceeded the excellent noise floor of my KH 120's when I put my ear against the tweeter.

So your experience does not reflect all such cases.

 

[kemmler3D]

you're assuming wrong, you probably wouldn't be able to hear the difference even at low average bitrates, And in any case it's possible that some smartphone dac implementations are an even worse evil

Personally disagree, SBC is pretty obviously bad and AptX isn't that hard to hear either IME. I would say LDAC and AptX HD are pretty close to transparent, or actually transparent, though.

 

[jasonhanjk]

Bluetooth chipset in an audio device tends to raise noise floor so much that I can hear hiss from my speakers.

Hiss from my speakers is not acceptable. I sit close to my speakers.

I avoid anything that has bluetooth.

Bluetooth chipset adds a lot of noise to audio.

That's not true with good LDAC analog out product.

 

[TonyJZX]

problem will be that to have LDAC on your phone and your receiver is a task... its not hard but if you have ldac you're usually not asking elementary questions here...

 

[Talisman]

Personally disagree, SBC is pretty obviously bad and AptX isn't that hard to hear either IME. I would say LDAC and AptX HD are pretty close to transparent, or actually transparent, though.

I agree, Ldac above any other codec offers an audiophile level listening experience. sbc and aptx are not on an equal footing (even in the HD version), but if you use them for non-critical listening they are still fine for most cases.
But if the OP's original idea was to have two speakers to be connected to the smartphone with the 3.5 mm cable, I doubt that he has needs for audiophile purity, and therefore probably for his case, bluetooth is more than enough.

Let's compare price.
A good wired dongle via usb C cost less than $50.
My preference would be base on AK4377 DAC; if design properly it is possible with SINAD 108 at 10mW with 32 ohm load.
A quick search will show $35 from 7Hz.
My favourite IEM is the 7Hz Salnotes Zero costing $23.

Now, tell me the cost of upgrading to wireless, example a TWS.
It must have the same sound signature of AK4377 and the sounding of Zero IEM.

Personally I do exactly what you say, I use my own thrutear zero with a bluetooth receiver aptxHD is about 20 euros and I can combine the comfort of bluetooth with the quality of iem di buon levello, plus I can change iem and keep the receiver

But if you want something on the level of a good dongle I believe a product like the topoing bc3 can do the job, with a quality analogue output, volume controls and internal battery for around 70 euros.
For a few euros less there is the Hidizs with similar functionality

Bluetooth chipset in an audio device tends to raise noise floor so much that I can hear hiss from my speakers.

Hiss from my speakers is not acceptable. I sit close to my speakers.

I avoid anything that has bluetooth.

Bluetooth chipset adds a lot of noise to audio.

This may be true with cheap receivers (the one I have shown in the picture for example has a background noise that can be heard at low volume) but with better receivers and with ldac codecs it is no longer the case, my xDuoo x50 pro doesn't have the minimum background noise connected with the optical cable to my dac