Is the return of wired headphones driven by a simple desire for better sound quality or is it part of a backlash against modern tech? Thomas Germain tries to find out.
I have the Innioasis Y1 which is regarded as a starter DAP. The Fiio Snow Sky Echo Mini is the go to DAP for new people. The HiBy R1 is high rated as well.
A lot of people will tell you “just use an old Android phone”, but am in the party that thinks having an app store takes away what a DAP delivers and that’s freedom FROM connectivity. No ads. No algorithms.
You don’t need to even have an appstore installed to make an old phone be a decent DAP. The real issue IMO is that while some of the older Android phones had some decent DACs, but they couldn’t power anything much more demanding than ear buds which any decent DAP can do just fine. Also a DAP battery will last many times longer.
Yeah, sometimes songs that I’ve labeled in MP3 tagger don’t show up with an artist. It’s just <UNKNOWN> but that’s only occasionally. I can fix it too. Turning it off can be a pain, you have to go through the menu to do it. Other than that it’s pretty easy. I put a theme on it that makes it looks like the iPod OS.
I grabbed an Echo Mini as others have mentioned. For the ~$50 or whatever it costs it does what I want. It’s small and weighs next to nothing. If your music library is gigantic you might need more than one micro sd card as it has a limit of 8,191 songs. If you’re one to constantly change your music the interface might not be the best. I mostly use it as background music while working on stuff. So shuffle suits me fine.
They exist, but they suck (I’ve bought so, so many). Ironically, the best one to use for Android is made by Apple and it still kinda sucks. Not to mention you can’t charge while using them.
I have a few for various headphone sizes and mine all seem fine. Wireless charging still works which my phone goes in a magnetic stand with it anyway. That all being said, I still just use a stand alone player for audio. That way I can still use my phone and don’t get the random phone noises on top of the music.
Only one of my headphones (I own a lot, it’s an expensive rabbit hole) that isn’t a pair of ear buds or IEMs can be powered by a phone or dongle, and I bought that pair specifically because the Nintendo Switch headphone output was super anemic. I have to use a stand alone DAP or stationary amp for everything else.
I own quite a few of those! I leaned a bit heavier into the higher end of the Beyer and Hifiman lines as I prefer their house sound. Many of those you mentioned won’t do well from any dongle I know of. They “work” technically, but they won’t sound right or loud. The Sonys, Focal, AKG K550, and Phillips X1 are probably OK. It’s odd just how well even the high end Focals do from low power output. The Q701, HD650, DT880-600 and HE-560 are all too demanding for any phone or dongle I have ever used, most DAPs too to be honest. Technically I have the AKG K712 not the Q701, but they are mostly just a tweaked later version of the Q701 with nicer pads.
I see that they make a bunch of lower end he-560’s now under a V2 or V4 model…
I have the original. Not my pic cause I don’t want to dig out the box but they’re these…
Those are usually powered by this(Schiit Mjolnir 1).
Obviously they’re recabled since that’s a balanced only amp. Which has plenty of power at 8W per channel at 32 ohm and 5W at 50ohm.
With those USB-C to Headphone jack dongle adapters, where’s the DAC? My (aging, days from replacement) S10e has a headphone jack, and thus a built-in DAC. Apple’s 30-pin connector had pins for stereo analog audio, it’s how speaker docks worked. Can’t say about the Lightning connector, but I know USB-C doesn’t have analog audio pins. Unless there’s some standard I don’t know about that repurposes some of them that all devices use. Or, is the dongle a USB sound card with a tiny little DAC and amp built in which is probably small, underpowered and very cheap?
It can actually be both ways, most USB-C to headphone jack dongles have a tiny DAC/amp circuit built in (they are really tiny and cheap), but there is actually a method for sending audio over USB-C that some phones can use. The latter method is usually fairly device or product line specific, I’m not sure if it is an actual standard or not.
I’m back to running a stand alone audio player again…welcome back early 2000s!
It turns out that my old iPod Nano still works perfectly.
Any advice on what’s good?
I have the Innioasis Y1 which is regarded as a starter DAP. The Fiio Snow Sky Echo Mini is the go to DAP for new people. The HiBy R1 is high rated as well.
A lot of people will tell you “just use an old Android phone”, but am in the party that thinks having an app store takes away what a DAP delivers and that’s freedom FROM connectivity. No ads. No algorithms.
You don’t need to even have an appstore installed to make an old phone be a decent DAP. The real issue IMO is that while some of the older Android phones had some decent DACs, but they couldn’t power anything much more demanding than ear buds which any decent DAP can do just fine. Also a DAP battery will last many times longer.
Thanks! Both Snowsky Echo/Echo Mini and Innioasis Y1 are on my list of potential buys. Do you find any minor annoyances with it?
Yeah I want something dedicated to music, without anything else.
Yeah, sometimes songs that I’ve labeled in MP3 tagger don’t show up with an artist. It’s just <UNKNOWN> but that’s only occasionally. I can fix it too. Turning it off can be a pain, you have to go through the menu to do it. Other than that it’s pretty easy. I put a theme on it that makes it looks like the iPod OS.
I can attest to the Echo Mini. Most people will never need a better player in terms of sound quality.
How’s the music management? I heard it got some updates making it better to scroll bigger libraries lately
I grabbed an Echo Mini as others have mentioned. For the ~$50 or whatever it costs it does what I want. It’s small and weighs next to nothing. If your music library is gigantic you might need more than one micro sd card as it has a limit of 8,191 songs. If you’re one to constantly change your music the interface might not be the best. I mostly use it as background music while working on stuff. So shuffle suits me fine.
Me too, but only because the fuckers stopped putting jacks on decent phones.
I’m not a huge fan of adapters but USB-C to headphone(2.5mm, 3.5mm, 4.4mm, etc) exist.
They exist, but they suck (I’ve bought so, so many). Ironically, the best one to use for Android is made by Apple and it still kinda sucks. Not to mention you can’t charge while using them.
I have a few for various headphone sizes and mine all seem fine. Wireless charging still works which my phone goes in a magnetic stand with it anyway. That all being said, I still just use a stand alone player for audio. That way I can still use my phone and don’t get the random phone noises on top of the music.
Only one of my headphones (I own a lot, it’s an expensive rabbit hole) that isn’t a pair of ear buds or IEMs can be powered by a phone or dongle, and I bought that pair specifically because the Nintendo Switch headphone output was super anemic. I have to use a stand alone DAP or stationary amp for everything else.
I own a few myself…
AKG Q701, K550
Audeze EL-8(closed), Mobius
Hifiman HE-560
Sennheiser HD-650
Phillips Fedelio X1
Beyerdynamics DT880(600ohm)
Sony 1000XM2, MDR-V700DJ
Focal Spirit Classic
I own quite a few of those! I leaned a bit heavier into the higher end of the Beyer and Hifiman lines as I prefer their house sound. Many of those you mentioned won’t do well from any dongle I know of. They “work” technically, but they won’t sound right or loud. The Sonys, Focal, AKG K550, and Phillips X1 are probably OK. It’s odd just how well even the high end Focals do from low power output. The Q701, HD650, DT880-600 and HE-560 are all too demanding for any phone or dongle I have ever used, most DAPs too to be honest. Technically I have the AKG K712 not the Q701, but they are mostly just a tweaked later version of the Q701 with nicer pads.
I see that they make a bunch of lower end he-560’s now under a V2 or V4 model… I have the original. Not my pic cause I don’t want to dig out the box but they’re these…
Those are usually powered by this(Schiit Mjolnir 1). Obviously they’re recabled since that’s a balanced only amp. Which has plenty of power at 8W per channel at 32 ohm and 5W at 50ohm.
With those USB-C to Headphone jack dongle adapters, where’s the DAC? My (aging, days from replacement) S10e has a headphone jack, and thus a built-in DAC. Apple’s 30-pin connector had pins for stereo analog audio, it’s how speaker docks worked. Can’t say about the Lightning connector, but I know USB-C doesn’t have analog audio pins. Unless there’s some standard I don’t know about that repurposes some of them that all devices use. Or, is the dongle a USB sound card with a tiny little DAC and amp built in which is probably small, underpowered and very cheap?
It can actually be both ways, most USB-C to headphone jack dongles have a tiny DAC/amp circuit built in (they are really tiny and cheap), but there is actually a method for sending audio over USB-C that some phones can use. The latter method is usually fairly device or product line specific, I’m not sure if it is an actual standard or not.
man i don’t know where these luddites are buying their headphones. you can get very reasonably priced buds and mobile phone and live in the future
i think this is more a fashion and audio “hifi” wankery