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Been blown away by my least expensive hi-res offering from Amazon. Layers and layers of fresh insight.
A complete game-changer, especially when playing Alice in Chains. Layne does a very convincing night club diva.
If the original master isn’t very good, then it shows up, warts and all.
You’ll want to hang on to your cd’s for the time being…
So, what is great in the world of (portable) hi-res audio, and which cd’s have turned out to be complete gems?
(Extra points if it’s a bargain cd from eBay, etc).
Lossless/Hi-rez Lossless in Apple Music. Unlike Spotify, it doesn’t cost any more. Listening via Fiio KA5 DAC and Røde NTH-100 studio spec wired headphones. <br />And I still buy CD’s from artists, but listen to the downloads, mainly because my CD/DVD player lacks a headphone socket, and my computer is having some issues.
That combo is perfectly capable of showing up flaws in recordings that haven’t been particularly well mastered.
And there are lots.
Maybe an inappropriate artist, but the production on this is some of the best I've ever heard, It'll stretch any sound system to breaking point if you pump up the volume, in terms of clarity, control, dynamics and frequency range.
Needs to be the propper CD though, not streamed from spotify or apple or whatever.
https://www.discogs.com/master/8517-Michael-Jackson-Bad
EDIT, it's also a really good website for picking up strange and rare CD's.... recently picked up a few obscure dutch trance/hard house CD's from there.
I just chucked a bunch of money at my turntable, new stylus, turntable mat and cleaning brush. The difference is really noticeable and I now find it hard to listen to streamed music through my stereo so only do that now in my van or when it's just background sounds. I'd rather pay for CDs or vinyl than pay even more for streaming.
CountZero
Røde NTH-100 studio spec wired headphones.
I'm contemplating getting some of those at moment as in black friday sale?
Do you rate them? Not sure if I'm better off with my Bose QC35ii which are bluetooth
Not sure if I’m better off with my Bose QC35ii which are bluetooth
I can tell a big difference from a high res audio feed and a Bluetooth one, even with a high res codec.
I went back to wired ear buds after problems with various Bluetooth ones, the difference was obvious.
I did go back to Bluetooth ones as the wires were a pain in the arse.
Try one of these if you can https://www.richersounds.com/audioquest-dragonfly-cobalt.html they make a big difference to the sound - good for a line in feed into an amp from a phone/laptop or wired headphones (I still use BT earbuds walking the dog, mostly for convenience)
The difference is really noticeable and I now find it hard to listen to streamed music through my stereo
What difference have you found? Can you describe it?
Friends are encouraging me to get a turntable (again, I had my Technics one stolen back in the mid 90s and haven’t had one since) but it seems a lot of faff.
Without wishing to divert the thread, and apologies for my stupidity but I've not really come across headphone amps - what are the key advantages?
Are there any decent lower budget ones?
It just sounds better in every way. the improvement is two fold, new compared to something that was nearly twenty years old and upgrade from Ortofon 5e to 10. I'm not an audio journalist so I'm not going to waffle about it but I just really enjoy taking some time out and putting a record on. Yes it's more faff but it's good to slow down and take time to enjoy something. Maybe it's partly psychological. But I do wonder if people who don't like vinyl or think it's not worth it just haven't listened to a good quality system with a good clean record. My set up is fairly entry level, Project Debut, Marantz amp and Kef Cresta speakers but it sounds so much better than my neighbours retro suitcase style players.
What difference have you found? Can you describe it?
It just sounds "better"!
The highs are higher, the lows are lower. You can pick out individual instruments and the lyrics are clearer.
For beginners looking for cheap Dacs and headphone amps I'd go here:
https://www.youtube.com/@cheapaudioman
For those looking to find out about hi-res, and how you probably aren't actually listening to it even when you think you are and how dynamic range is far more important then Darko is your man:
https://darko.audio/2023/08/when-hi-res-audio-stops-making-sense/
https://darko.audio/2023/10/apple-airplay-isnt-always-lossless-sometimes-its-lossy/
I warn you, its a slippery slope though. Before long you'll even stop laughing at the pretentious nonsense spouted here and being buying your directional cables!
Old setup:
Yamaha AS500 amp, average separates.
Denon DM39, etc.
New setup:
HIFI WALKER H2, Hifi MP3 Player with Bluetooth, High Resolution Music Player DAC DSD, Hi Res Lossless DAP Player with Line out Function, 64GB Memory Card, Support up to 256GB https://amzn.eu/d/e9tQwHz
eSynic Portable Headphone... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GGPP72V?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Still rockin the Marshall major iv headphones.
Audio quest 3.5mm cable to audition too…
Quite frankly, I didn’t expect the high res to knock everything else out of the park.
The extra insight offered on even really dense guitar work is simply amazing.
Maybe they’ll incorporate this level of technology to smartphones, but not for another couple of years.
In the meantime, I’ve got this to rip…
You really need a quiet listening environment or noise cancelling headphones to appreciate the new setup.
Sooo much background noise!
I’m trying out Sonys 720* over-ear headphones, and this took me into richersounds £10 off vip level;
https://www.richersounds.com/audioquest-tower-3-5mm-3-5mm-1m.html
*still not as good as the Marshalls.
But they do offer noise cancellation and seem to excell with spoken word stuff. Super comfy, too.
Despite their proprietary app, maybe still too bassy for anyone age 40+
That Darko article is talking about something completely different from what I’m talking about; I’m talking about using wired headphones/earphones plugged into a DAC, or a decent 3.5mm>USB-C adapter which has a built-in DAC, plugged into the phone. There’s no Airplay, my music is all in my phone. Well, most is, I can tell what is just in my library and not downloaded when tracks just stop dead when I’m listening while walking into town and back, because there’s no 5G, and the 4G barely has two bars. 🙄😕
Anyway, isn’t AirPlay just wifi based?