The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Mather said:
I cannot wait to drop Tidal, the app crashes CONSTANTLY.
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Yeah, sadly their app is about the worst of the bunch. Believe it or not, it has actually come a long way. Qobuz isn’t without its quirks either, and I think if algorithm/radio is important to you, Tidal is most certainly worth considering keeping. That said, I am a lunatic with 3 current steaming service subscriptions and I really do use them all.
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
Yeah, sadly their app is about the worst of the bunch. Believe it or not, it has actually come a long way. Qobuz isn’t without its quirks either, and I think if algorithm/radio is important to you, Tidal is most certainly worth considering keeping. That said, I am a lunatic with 3 current steaming service subscriptions and I really do use them all.
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If I allow an album to reach the end and stop on it's own, app crashes.
If I scrub through a song or two, app crashes.
If I skip too many tracks, app crashes.

I don't know if it's my phone or the new Android OS but it's almost unusable unless you just want to pick an entire album and listen to it. Any adjusting on the fly and it crashes.
 
Mather said:
If I allow an album to reach the end and stop on it's own, app crashes.
If I scrub through a song or two, app crashes.
If I skip too many tracks, app crashes.

I don't know if it's my phone or the new Android OS but it's almost unusable unless you just want to pick an entire album and listen to it. Any adjusting on the fly and it crashes.
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Yikes!!! That is truly awful. I haven’t had any experience with Android, only Mac OS and iOS.
 
The only issue I have with Qobuz is it would be ideal to have all Hi Res options listed first and CD quality behind that when you're searching for an artist or looking through the catalog of things like new releases or genres. It would be great just to have a toggle for Hi Res only.
 
mdmost said:
The only issue I have with Qobuz is it would be ideal to have all Hi Res options listed first and CD quality behind that when you're searching for an artist or looking through the catalog of things like new releases or genres. It would be great just to have a toggle for Hi Res only.
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That’s a feature in Roon I like a lot. Usually defaults to the highest res version available
 
mdmost said:
A little over a month into this PS Audio DAC and I really love it. Paired it with Qobuz and was streaming holiday music the entire month of December. One area I've found myself very deficient in is listening to new music. With this service, I'm already going back and listening to albums I had some interest in but never picked up on vinyl, my previously preferred method for listening to all my music. Very happy I took the plunge as this is really going to simplify how I listen to music now.
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It’s so nice to have a good digital setup. I’m in the same boat as you—rarely buy new music on vinyl nowadays since I stream high res unless it’s a band I love. I’ll also buy high res streaming on bandcamp for newer bands instead of the vinyl.

I’m a big fan of Qobuz and I think Roon does a nice job with its algorithm to recommend similar music. Don’t really use the Qobuz app on its own much unless I’m traveling and want to download some high res music (which Roon now does too).

Still love the ritual of putting a record on but I think my digital setup is fairly close to a similar sound quality with the right digital sources. I’ve gone more to a 60/40 split on digital vs vinyl listening probably nowadays.
 
I got to a point where I just realized I have way too much vinyl. Of this way too much vinyl, I'm only listening to 20% of it. I definitely don't need to add to it. I plan to go through it and either PIF or take to the local buying outlet all the ones I no longer listen to. Qobuz is great in that I can replicate most of my collection in good sound quality. I think if I can't get something on Qobuz then I'll get the vinyl if I'm really into it. I just needed to break the collecting cycle which the PS Audio and Qobuz definitely helps with.
 
Mather said:
If I allow an album to reach the end and stop on it's own, app crashes.
If I scrub through a song or two, app crashes.
If I skip too many tracks, app crashes.

I don't know if it's my phone or the new Android OS but it's almost unusable unless you just want to pick an entire album and listen to it. Any adjusting on the fly and it crashes.
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Oh wow, that's worse than me. Mine just hangs. If it's in a mood, it's unusable. But the worst is on my PC/laptop. It's actually decent on the iphone. But I haven't delved into MQA yet...
 
....which brings me to the reason I came here. My brother in law inspired me with his IFI DAC last week. He has the hip flask looking one. Sounded really great with MQA Tidal.

But I didn't want something so big for being on the go with the iphone. I looked into the IFI Go Bar, but I got scared away with the price (double the hip flask) and various reviews saying it's iffy (pun intended) with the iphone. So i picked up a Helm Audio Dongle. Using it now with the iphone (needed two adapters though) and the laptop and it's amazing how much an improvement I get just with the CD-quality files from Tidal. This thing is going to be permanently attached to the iphone. Curious to see how it'll perform in the car.

I'm also thinking about adding one of the IFI hip flasks to the laptop too.

And thinking about upgrading the Tidal to MQA. But damn the buggy app.
 
Turbo said:
....which brings me to the reason I came here. My brother in law inspired me with his IFI DAC last week. He has the hip flask looking one. Sounded really great with MQA Tidal.

But I didn't want something so big for being on the go with the iphone. I looked into the IFI Go Bar, but I got scared away with the price (double the hip flask) and various reviews saying it's iffy (pun intended) with the iphone. So i picked up a Helm Audio Dongle. Using it now with the iphone (needed two adapters though) and the laptop and it's amazing how much an improvement I get just with the CD-quality files from Tidal. This thing is going to be permanently attached to the iphone. Curious to see how it'll perform in the car.

I'm also thinking about adding one of the IFI hip flasks to the laptop too.

And thinking about upgrading the Tidal to MQA. But damn the buggy app.
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I've got the Samsung Flip 4 Tidal High Res running to a Questyle M15 DAC and then going to Campfire Andromeda 2020 IEMs. Honestly the sound blows me away. But the app is the most frustrating thing ever.
 
Mather said:
I've got the Samsung Flip 4 Tidal High Res running to a Questyle M15 DAC and then going to Campfire Andromeda 2020 IEMs. Honestly the sound blows me away. But the app is the most frustrating thing ever.
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Does the Questyle work with the iphone? I imagine I'd need the same adaptors, but I have them in hand now. The price is quite good.

For portable headphones I've been using Shure 425s for almost 10 years. I've had no complaints in terms of sound, portability and such. That said, I tried the 425's earlier with the Helm but I'm mostly driving the Meze 99's off the laptop for now.
 
mdmost said:
I got to a point where I just realized I have way too much vinyl. Of this way too much vinyl, I'm only listening to 20% of it. I definitely don't need to add to it. I plan to go through it and either PIF or take to the local buying outlet all the ones I no longer listen to. Qobuz is great in that I can replicate most of my collection in good sound quality. I think if I can't get something on Qobuz then I'll get the vinyl if I'm really into it. I just needed to break the collecting cycle which the PS Audio and Qobuz definitely helps with.
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I think we’re all headed for a spring cleaning!
 
Turbo said:
Does the Questyle work with the iphone? I imagine I'd need the same adaptors, but I have them in hand now. The price is quite good.

For portable headphones I've been using Shure 425s for almost 10 years. I've had no complaints in terms of sound, portability and such. That said, I tried the 425's earlier with the Helm but I'm mostly driving the Meze 99's off the laptop for now.
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It should work with any phone. The only thing to test would be whether you get any 4 and 5G interference with it. I think it's more on the phone side than the DAC side but I will occasionally get clicks and pops due to high amounts of signals in the area. But I'm fairly certain it's my improperly shielded phone to blame for that.
 
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