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Having just undergone the second surgery to attempt to fix my leg/ankle/foot following a BIG motorcycle crash while I was on a US road trip (from the UK) back in 2014, I find myself laid up for a few months (on crutches anyway - no weight at all on the leg for 4 months!).
I use my trusty iPod Video (first gen, 60Gb HD model), with some cheap but decent Sennheiser PX100 on ear headphones to listen to an extremely wide and eclectic mix of musical genres - keeps me sane!
A friend has just long-term loaned me a set of Beyerdynamic T51i headphones - I've been reading up, and they get some stonking good reviews.
They have opened up the soundstage beyond measure, and they dynamic range is spectacular - but - the sibilants on vocals are really harsh at times.
Is this due to the quality of the amp in the iPod?
My music is all m4a compressed on this thing, at 160Kbps - is this enough to sound good on these headphones?
Should I be looking for some sort of small headphone amp (battery powered), that would take the digital audio from the iPod and do the DAC and amp stuff better?
TIA for advice. Cheers, Mark.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170210/8821241d16ea9bebcf5f3201ba2b628d.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170210/c1f6b1dad8a3a719dd6cd084da32ea2d.jpg
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
rigger67
10-02-2017, 17:19
:youtheman::youtheman::youtheman:
Love those zip tats, mate !
Sherwood
10-02-2017, 17:32
This might be of interest to you. Although designed as a plug in for the LG G5 phone it also works as a standard HiDef Dac with Android, PCs and Apple iOS devices.
http://www.lg.com/uk/lg-friends/lg-AFD-1200
It is tiny (smaller than a credit card) but performance is excellent. I received one as a Christmas gift for my LG G5 phone and tried it out. It is excellent. It worked with both the LG G5 and my other Android devices (via the cable). I do not use Apple devices but apparently it works with them too.
I am selling mine as I already have a high res Sony MP3 player with 128gb sd card, and prefer to use that rather than my phone. However, you can pick them up for less than their RRP.
Strongly recommended and surprising loud with proper headphones.
Geoff
Could be a mixture of things tbh. A dac amp would certainly help..always does, if its half decent. Mp3 as such shouldnt really give you that. I listen to spotify at 320 and its great through my dac amp and cans.
Hope your leg heals...son had a totally disintegrated ankle and it was rebuilt 2 twice plus a later break further up that they missed. So had cages on for 18 months... not easy... only advice is keep your moral and if you smoke...stop, itll heal a lot quicker
:youtheman::youtheman::youtheman:
Love those zip tats, mate !
Cheers Dude - yeah, I have a small scar to show off!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170210/89f9a6089b8c16accd0d94f8d075f39c.jpg
Got a pretty impressive collection of metalwork and screws in there, joining the multiple fragments together!!!
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This might be of interest to you. Although designed as a plug in for the LG G5 phone it also works as a standard HiDef Dac with Android, PCs and Apple iOS devices.
http://www.lg.com/uk/lg-friends/lg-AFD-1200
It is tiny (smaller than a credit card) but performance is excellent. I received one as a Christmas gift for my LG G5 phone and tried it out. It is excellent. It worked with both the LG G5 and my other Android devices (via the cable). I do not use Apple devices but apparently it works with them too.
I am selling mine as I already have a high res Sony MP3 player with 128gb sd card, and prefer to use that rather than my phone. However, you can pick them up for less than their RRP.
Strongly recommended and surprising loud with proper headphones.
Geoff
Thanks Geoff - I'll take a look...
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Sherwood
10-02-2017, 22:01
1931219313
This will give you a sense of scale
The sibilance may be the compression on the mp3s. Fiio makes some pretty good battery powered DAC/amps for the money too. Do those ipods have USB audio?
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The sibilance may be the compression on the mp3s. Fiio makes some pretty good battery powered DAC/amps for the money too. Do those ipods have USB audio?
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Thanks.
I believe so, I have a Klipsch iGroove SXT which docks my iPod and plays through that - I'm sure that must be USB?
Cheers...
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Could be a mixture of things tbh. A dac amp would certainly help..always does, if its half decent. Mp3 as such shouldnt really give you that. I listen to spotify at 320 and its great through my dac amp and cans.
Hope your leg heals...son had a totally disintegrated ankle and it was rebuilt 2 twice plus a later break further up that they missed. So had cages on for 18 months... not easy... only advice is keep your moral and if you smoke...stop, itll heal a lot quicker
Cheers.
How is your son now? OK I hope.
I got tangled up between my Triumph Tiger and an Armco Guard Rail along a twisty mountain road - turned my foot round 180 degrees, caused multiple segmental fractures of my Tibia and Fibula, and shattered my Tibial Plateau (knee joint) right through the joint.
The surgeon in the States was nothing short of a miracle worker (he told me before I went into theatre that he was almost certainly going to have to amputate) - he did an amazing job.
But there was unseen damage in my ankle - I broke a bone in my Subtalar Joint that went undiagnosed for over a year - a bone that never healed. This was tearing up my Subtalar Joint every time I stood or walked.
They operated a little over a week ago, removed this piece of bone, scraped out the degenerative arthritis it had caused, and fused my Subtalar Joint with another big Titanium screw through from the back of the heel right through the joint.
I don't smoke, never have.
Another long road of recovery, but when I get there I'll be as good as I'm ever going to be again!!!
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1931219313
This will give you a sense of scale
That's a real neat little thing - hard to get my Luddite head round how the amplifier part can be any good!
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Thats a lot of work.. good your upbeat... yes the boy is not bad. His ankle is fused and the other break that they missed about 15 times in xrays has been fixed. They told him it was his imagination.. had to cut a chunk of bone that was infected out and regrow it. He walks pretty goo considering. He fell from a bridge about 35 ft onto it mostly, hence the disintegration. Had the top professor on it who said at time if it had been a couple of years ealier they would have cut it off.
Thanks.
I believe so, I have a Klipsch iGroove SXT which docks my iPod and plays through that - I'm sure that must be USB?
Cheers...
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I know they all had a line output in their plugs. I'm not sure they all had the digital output you would need for a DAC. The iPods actually had decent DACs built in.
I know they all had a line output in their plugs. I'm not sure they all had the digital output you would need for a DAC. The iPods actually had decent DACs built in.
Ah. Right. Better do some research then!!!
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Thats a lot of work.. good your upbeat... yes the boy is not bad. His ankle is fused and the other break that they missed about 15 times in xrays has been fixed. They told him it was his imagination.. had to cut a chunk of bone that was infected out and regrow it. He walks pretty goo considering. He fell from a bridge about 35 ft onto it mostly, hence the disintegration. Had the top professor on it who said at time if it had been a couple of years ealier they would have cut it off.
I used to jump off a disused railway bridge into a pile of old tyres with a bunch of mates when I was that sort of age - I remember kneeing myself in the jaw, and biting part way through my tongue!
Boys will be Boys!!!
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Sherwood
11-02-2017, 17:02
For some inexplicable reason I jumped off a London bus between stops at the age of seven. My adult front teeth had come through and they went right through my lower lip. Half of the right tooth came away and was part embedded in the tarmac road surface!
I used to jump off a disused railway bridge into a pile of old tyres with a bunch of mates when I was that sort of age - I remember kneeing myself in the jaw, and biting part way through my tongue!
Boys will be Boys!!!
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Aye, but he was 23 at time lol. Silly boy but at least he lived. Oldest lad had an accident with a noose and thought i,d lost a second. Got him a house near me so i can help him, not that im of much use these days. You look after yirsel lad.. you only get one life.:)
For some inexplicable reason I jumped off a London bus between stops at the age of seven. My adult front teeth had come through and they went right through my lower lip. Half of the right tooth came away and was part embedded in the tarmac road surface!
Jeeeeeeeeeez!
Well, I've been looking into the digital out from my iPod, and I think I'm scuppered. Apparently Apple don't support digital out on the iPod Classic, or the iPod Nano that I have.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170211/00ce62b7ab27b772ea77c9fd3e7c82e0.jpg
Not sure what to do now - look for a hi-res portable audio player of some sort maybe.
Thanks for the offer of the LG DAC/Amp, but it looks like it won't work for me...
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Cheers struth!
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Yes the camera pack lets you use the plug to get to the digital. There are dac amps made for ios. I looked at it for some time and ended up using a chromecast dongle , in my case, powered by a battery, and plugged headphones into the chromecast. Sounded very good i have to say. Or you can take the optical out of chromecast into a dac amp that handles optical toslink. As i do now as i bought a smsl m6 dac amp. Its terrific and sound im getting is fabulous. So good i hardly use my system now. I also pull music off my pc to this so i get radio, pc stuff, spotify etc without getting off my ass.
For some inexplicable reason I jumped off a London bus between stops at the age of seven. My adult front teeth had come through and they went right through my lower lip. Half of the right tooth came away and was part embedded in the tarmac road surface!
Sounds painful. I remember breaking my fairly newly out front teeth playing a footy match for school team. Got tripped and banged into the post..that was a sore one too, although didnt feel it at time. Had to get both cut down to points like a vampire and then capped. Still got one which isnt bad going.
Yes the camera pack lets you use the plug to get to the digital. There are dac amps made for ios. I looked at it for some time and ended up using a chromecast dongle , in my case, powered by a battery, and plugged headphones into the chromecast. Sounded very good i have to say. Or you can take the optical out of chromecast into a dac amp that handles optical toslink. As i do now as i bought a smsl m6 dac amp. Its terrific and sound im getting is fabulous. So good i hardly use my system now. I also pull music off my pc to this so i get radio, pc stuff, spotify etc without getting off my ass.
I read that the iPod Classic and iPod Nano (the two I have - told you I was a Luddite!) don't support iOS7, and hence don't support digital out.
Gonna look at a Sony Hi Res Walkman I think...
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Jeeeeeeeeeez!
Well, I've been looking into the digital out from my iPod, and I think I'm scuppered. Apparently Apple don't support digital out on the iPod Classic, or the iPod Nano that I have.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170211/00ce62b7ab27b772ea77c9fd3e7c82e0.jpg
Not sure what to do now - look for a hi-res portable audio player of some sort maybe.
Thanks for the offer of the LG DAC/Amp, but it looks like it won't work for me...
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This just might be what you want if your ipod uses the older long 30 pin plug. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?48072-NuForce-Icon-iDo-iPod-iPad-iPhone-DAC-Headphone-Amp
In that case ignore last post lol.
In that case ignore last post lol.
;-)
Thanks for your input and help.
I'm looking at Fiio, and Sony Hi Res Walkman now - what have I started..!!..
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You can use the line out into a regular headphone amp with no DAC.
Your iPad will work as a digital source. Most phones will too.
You can use the line out into a regular headphone amp with no DAC.
Your iPad will work as a digital source. Most phones will too.
Thanks Dude - but I don't think that'll help. I want a better DAC and Amp to improve the quality of what is being fed to the cans. The line out is likely not much (if any) better than the headphone out?
The iPad will indeed likely have digital out though, but doesn't fit easily in my pocket...
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
Thanks Dude - but I don't think that'll help. I want a better DAC and Amp to improve the quality of what is being fed to the cans. The line out is likely not much (if any) better than the headphone out?
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
The line out is better than plugging the headphone jack into an amp. You're still using the DAC in the iPod that way. It would be a big improvement. Using an external DAC as well would make it even better.
The headphone jack in the iPod isn't designed for the impedance of a good pair of headphones.
I use an old Android phone with a 128 gig SD card plugged into DAC and headphone amp at work.
:-)
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Lawrence001
13-02-2017, 19:39
If you haven't bought anything yet then wait a minute! Your compression is too high to get decent sound and an insightful pair of cans like these will make it worse. I bought a fiio e12k and preferred the sound of my ipod direct with several cans including planars. Options are, rip the music again at a higher rate, use warmer cans that work on an ipod or get a cheapish tube headphone amp to drive the cans and warm up the digital files.
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Lawrence001
13-02-2017, 19:40
(Amp using the line out with an adaptor of course).
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If you haven't bought anything yet then wait a minute! Your compression is too high to get decent sound and an insightful pair of cans like these will make it worse. I bought a fiio e12k and preferred the sound of my ipod direct with several cans including planars. Options are, rip the music again at a higher rate, use warmer cans that work on an ipod or get a cheapish tube headphone amp to drive the cans and warm up the digital files.
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Thanks.
I'll rip a couple of fave CDs in Apple Lossless, and see what it gives me!
Cheers...
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
Well, balls.
Just discovered these lovely new (used) cans have a fault. When you move/wiggle the wiring coming out of the inline control doobry, the right channel cuts out.
Dammit dammit dammit..
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Well, balls.
Just discovered these lovely new (used) cans have a fault. When you move/wiggle the wiring coming out of the inline control doobry, the right channel cuts out.
Dammit dammit dammit..
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Does it only do it on your iPod, or does it happen on everything? It could just be the jack.
If it's the cable, rewiring them isn't really that hard. Putting a new end on it is really easy if that's all that is wrong. That's usually where they break.
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Does it only do it on your iPod, or does it happen on everything? It could just be the jack.
If it's the cable, rewiring them isn't really that hard. Putting a new end on it is really easy if that's all that is wrong. That's usually where they break.
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It's where the cable exits the inline volume control toward the right headphone.
They are presently on their way back to.the eBay seller for a refund - I'm not putting up with that!
Thanks for the tips though.
I'm watching another pair now!
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
If you haven't bought anything yet then wait a minute! Your compression is too high to get decent sound and an insightful pair of cans like these will make it worse. I bought a fiio e12k and preferred the sound of my ipod direct with several cans including planars. Options are, rip the music again at a higher rate, use warmer cans that work on an ipod or get a cheapish tube headphone amp to drive the cans and warm up the digital files.
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Hi Lawrence,
Do you have any suggestions WRT cans that might better suit my needs at all?
Cheers...
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
Lawrence001
25-02-2017, 15:33
Sorry just saw this if you can stretch to £300 and don't mind heavy cans then the hifiman he500 are awesome. They will need an amp in the long run but I drive mine with a cheap t-amp direct from the speaker outs and it sounds better than £1-200 headphone amps. (Note for anyone reading, a t amp mustn't drive a common ground so there have to be separate +/- from each side.) A cheaper planar alternative and easier to drive is the fostex TxxRP variants, I will probably be selling mine shortly, if you buy new they benefit from a few basic mods.
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Thanks for the advice Sir, but I'm looking for super portable compromise, best sound I can get. I'm actually about to change my phone for an LG G5 with the plug in DAC and Amp (gets strong reviews, and is now a freebie with the phone). So, I was thinking B&W P3 Series 2???
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Sorry just saw this if you can stretch to £300 and don't mind heavy cans then the hifiman he500 are awesome. They will need an amp in the long run but I drive mine with a cheap t-amp direct from the speaker outs and it sounds better than £1-200 headphone amps. (Note for anyone reading, a t amp mustn't drive a common ground so there have to be separate +/- from each side.) A cheaper planar alternative and easier to drive is the fostex TxxRP variants, I will probably be selling mine shortly, if you buy new they benefit from a few basic mods.
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Whats the fostex like Lawrence
Lawrence001
25-02-2017, 17:35
Got them on right now as I dug them out after posting (they were put away when I bought the HE500s as I preferred the hifimans in a quick A/B. However, listening to them now they are a great pair of cans. The top end is smooth and totally non-fatiguing (possibly rolled off but not in a negative way other than a lack of air compared with the hifiman). Mids do not stand out so pretty neutral, bass is pretty strong but not as powerful as I remember (in an almost overpowering way) I think my new amp is driving them better and tightening up the low end. Despite being the "open" variety (T20RP) they sound more like closed cans. The issue here is they are not really open, I think the open description refers to an open vent that makes the bass stronger. Although they don't vent into the ear as far as I know, somehow the external venting gives the bass a signature like a ported pair of speakers. Despite the smooth response I'm hearing details I haven't noticed before. Overall a very nice pair of cans and great value if you don't mind a closed pair and deep bass. Mine have been modded with a comfort band, velour pads and better cable. Stock they are a bit uncomfortable and the cable ain't great.
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Lawrence001
25-02-2017, 17:38
Actually being isodynamic, the treble reminds me of the leak/wharfedale "ribbon" tweeter so if you like that you'll love these.
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Thanks lawrence. I like closed fine so not an issue. Another set for the list
I prefer the open back ones for most situations. Grados for rock and Sennheisers for everything else. The Hifimans are excellent too. They are like a cross between Grados and Sennheisers, they would probably be a better all purpose set.
Lawrence001
28-02-2017, 10:26
Thanks lawrence. I like closed fine so not an issue. Another set for the list
I'll be selling them in the classifieds soon if you're interested Grant, £95 plus shipping but they are in excellent condition and have got improved cable, velour earpads (maybe brainwaivz not sure) and a diy puleather comfort headband (an addition not a replacement and easily removed). Ie the easily reversible mods. But the previous (first) owner who did the mods didn't keep the original cable and pads, apparently they were so rubbish it wasn't worth it. I'll even leave the sellotape on the slot ports I put on to turn down the bass! [emoji4]
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http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170306/2f6233315fcc5313fa45896b81a9ebd1.jpgOld and New - my 60Gb iPod Video (now referred to as Classic!), and my new B&W P5 Series 2 cans - sounding bloody lovely together!
Now I'm starting to rip my CDs to FLAC, and I'm getting an LG G5 phone with the plug-in DAC and Amp to play these FLAC rips!
Any recommendations on the best Android audio player???
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
Sherwood
06-03-2017, 12:38
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170306/2f6233315fcc5313fa45896b81a9ebd1.jpgOld and New - my 60Gb iPod Video (now referred to as Classic!), and my new B&W P5 Series 2 cans - sounding bloody lovely together!
Now I'm starting to rip my CDs to FLAC, and I'm getting an LG G5 phone with the plug-in DAC and Amp to play these FLAC rips!
Any recommendations on the best Android audio player???
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
VLC player
VLC player
Ah, have that on my iMac for video files - wasn't aware it was an audio player too. I'll check it out, thanks...
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Sherwood
06-03-2017, 15:49
Plays virtually any file!
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willbewill
06-03-2017, 15:53
VLC player
Yes that's my choice as well.
walpurgis
06-03-2017, 17:28
Plays virtually any file!
Virtually being the word. I have had it refuse to work once or twice. It's pretty good though.
Jriver has some nice setting for cans. Its a pretty good program along with the remote for the money. Its only failure for me is it doesnt cast chromecast unfortunately. Still if you can run a long repater cable from pc to your dac/headamp your laughing.
Thanks for the second, and third! This is for an Android phone yes?
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Sherwood (Geoff),
Trying to message you, but your inbox is full Sir!
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