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Post by badsarge on Jan 3, 2019 22:31:18 GMT -5
Greetings All, I hope this request finds you all enjoying a wondrous start to our New Year! In a knee jerk response to the demise of Oppo as the front runner in universal physical media playback and the mainstreaming of streaming as the current penultimate pathway to sonic nirvana, I recently penned a heartfelt letter to Santa Claus. Ol' Saint Nick was kind enough to deposit a sparkling new Bluesound Vault 2i beneath my Christmas Tree. HoHoHo's all around! Over the past few evenings, I have ripped approximately 120 GBs of CD's into FLAC. Several hundred CDs to go oh joy! I sincerely doubt I will reach the Vault 2i's full 2TB capacity, but I digress. Quite often, my military responsibilities require me to travel. Some of the less luxurious vacation destinations Uncle Sam sees fit to deposit my aching bones in are often lacking in the finer touches. Refrigerators, flush toilets and wi-fi are not always what one might expect from most 4-star establishments. However, electricity is normally available. Thus my query. Post ripping, I intend to back-up my endeavors on a 2TB+ portable hard drive (thanx chicagorspec). I would appreciate any input from the Emotiva family as to suggestions concerning a simple, robust and somewhat portable solution. What might be the easiest way to combine a hard drive, player and headphones in a compact, effective package? The Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): What PLAYER can effectively tie these components together to create sonic nirvana that isn't a laptop? Please forgive my lack of brevity. I wish to thank all who have had the patience to make it this far. Double thanks to those who deem a reply appropriate! Steve
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Post by Loop 7 on Jan 3, 2019 23:22:37 GMT -5
A really Interesting question. I know this is not likely an option since it involves a potentially huge change but here goes. As dsonyay and others have remarked, the LG V30 phone is considered to be the gold standard in terms of the sonic nirvana you seek. It has what people claim is the best DAC/analog output combo available in a mobile phone (there are DMPs and DAPs that equal or surpass it but let's play this scenario out). 1. Get an LG V30 phone 2. Get a 512 GB SD card (largest card supported by the LG V30) 3. Load the albums onto the SD card and off you go. - Some of the top-end DAPs (Digital Music Players) from Sony and others have SD card capability but some have really extended battery life - like 30+ hours. John Darko's reviews of the LG V30:
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Post by MusicHead on Jan 3, 2019 23:27:40 GMT -5
Why use lossy compression? Better keep the music in FLAC format and use multiple SD cards.
Or, if the USB port of the LG phone supports USB OTG, just connect the HDD to the phone 🙂
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Post by Loop 7 on Jan 3, 2019 23:39:00 GMT -5
MusicHead Multiple SD cards is a good idea. I guess it introduces an extra step in terms of finding music but would accommodate an entirely lossless library in this case.
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novisnick
EmoPhile
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Post by novisnick on Jan 4, 2019 0:27:20 GMT -5
MusicHead Multiple SD cards is a good idea. I guess it introduces an extra step in terms of finding music but would accommodate an entirely lossless library in this case. SD card data size keeps growing and you can tote a ton of flack music on just a small handful. Don’t degrade the quality just because you’re mobile. Enjoy the music!
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Post by Loop 7 on Jan 4, 2019 0:51:05 GMT -5
I misread a detail in the thread start. badsarge posted he has a mere 120 gb of music ripped to FLAC so a 512GB SD card would handily accommodate that. No need for multiple cards nor transcoding (I stupidly interpreted the 2TB number as the library size). I rarely listen to lossy music so please don't turn this into a thread about the pitfalls of lossy music - I made an error and have amended by initial suggestion. Again, I am in no way praising lossy formats and I apologize to MusicHead and novisnick for the mistake. Also, I posted two videos by John Darko, one of which mentions that the LG V30 supports MQA. I am in no way recommending MQA - it just happens to be in the feature set of the device.
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novisnick
EmoPhile
CEO Secret Monoblock Society
Posts: 27,213
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Post by novisnick on Jan 4, 2019 1:09:53 GMT -5
I misread a detail in the thread start. badsarge posted he has a mere 120 gb of music ripped to FLAC so a 512GB SD card would handily accommodate that. No need for multiple cards nor transcoding (I stupidly interpreted the 2TB number as the library size). I rarely listen to lossy music so please don't turn this into a thread about the pitfalls of lossy music - I made an error and have amended by initial suggestion. Again, I am in no way praising lossy formats and I apologize to MusicHead and novisnick for the mistake. Also, I posted two videos by John Darko, one of which mentions that the LG V30 supports MQA. I am in no way recommending MQA - it just happens to be in the feature set of the device. No need to apologize my friend, over time there may be a need for more SD cards. MQA isn’t everyones cup of tea, I like most teas so I’m good with MQA. It seems to be polarizing, oneeither loves it or hates it. I don’t really care either way how somebody feels about it. Doesn’t bother me. 😁 Like its said so often, enjoy the music!🎶🎶🎶🎶
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Post by MusicHead on Jan 4, 2019 5:33:26 GMT -5
Loop 7, no worries! We are among friends here, no need for apologies. The OP mentioned that 120GB is what he has ripped so far and he has "Several hundred CDs to go". Thus, your observation has merit. He may end up needing those 2TB after all.
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Post by Gary Cook on Jan 4, 2019 6:42:13 GMT -5
My music is on iCloud, I can stream whatever tracks I want to listen to via my iPhone. There’s an Ego DAC with external USB power and a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones (race tracks are noisy places). Plus the noise cancelling is handy for the flights. No hard drives to fail, no back ups required, it’s all small, light and portable.
Cheers Gary
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Post by brubacca on Jan 4, 2019 6:43:53 GMT -5
I have the LG V30 phone. It is excellent. I have a 256GB MicroSD Card in it. Plenty of music in there.
A note about the MicroSD card. It is not easy to insert and remove. You will not want to be removing and inserting multiple cards. There is a small tray in the side of the phone that requires an included tool to eject. This also ejects your SIM card. Its really the kind of thing you do once or at worst case not very often.
That being said I was blown away at how good the DAC sounds. My headphones are the AKG 550 , nothing crazy expensive. I also have a A&K Jr portable player and the V30 is better.
This product is 2 generations old now so it may be harder to find.
You could also look at some of the Astell & Kern portable players although I don't know their product line.
For me having the Phone with my music on it is very convenient. As a side note I always scoffed at this idea, but was proven wrong. I got the V30 primarily as a phone thinking that the dac may end up being acceptable.
Nope.. its really quite good.
Last note- it is recommended to use a class 3 micro sd card for music/photos.
Good Luck
PS- Being an android phone there is a way to add a normal USB port via an OTG cable (so I am told). I haven't done this. This would be a way to add an external hard drive to the phone. I have a friend who does this with his Samsung phone.
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Post by indyscammer on Jan 4, 2019 9:23:02 GMT -5
I too have an LG V30+ and have just a 128GB card. Everything is in FLAC and I still get a couple of DAYS worth of music. Storage capacity determines how much management is required. I do plan on getting a larger card some day when I get in a situation where I don't have something I can't play. That hasn't happened yet (got the phone early in 2018). I manage the phone through JRiver and works great. I don't know if Roon (others) can do the same but imagine it is a no brainer. The Android system is direct memory access so you can drag files via Windows/iOS if desired.
You cannot beat the portability. I highly recommend.
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Post by Loop 7 on Jan 4, 2019 18:39:01 GMT -5
As I noted, DAPs are also an option. Acoustic Research, Astell & Kern, Cayin, Cowon, FiiO. HiFiMan, iBasso, Lotoo, Questyle, Pioneer, Shanling, Sony and others make DAPs. Here are the Astell and Kern players - as you can see, they are not cheap for a uni-tasker. Astell and Kern Portable Players
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Post by Gary Cook on Jan 4, 2019 19:42:10 GMT -5
I gave up on "hardware" solutions a few years back, It just became too time consuming to maintain the hardware and software, plus the cost just became even more lumpy. Spinning disc partial file retrieval failures just turned into total solid state drive failures. With cloud services I can pull down any music that I want to listen to any time using any of my iDevices, so can the rest of the family, at any time and any place in the world. No more backups to worry about, no more hardware to carry around, or forget and leave in the hotel. For $9.95 a month it pays for itself many times over in my time saved, and results in more time listening to music and less time maintaining the hardware.
Cheers Gary
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Post by badsarge on Jan 4, 2019 21:55:52 GMT -5
A warm thank you to All! I was not aware of the capabilities of the LG V30. Very Interesting and definitely worth a look.(Listen I can honestly say I did not anticipate the lion's share of the answers to sway so quickly towards a phone nor did I realize the potential negatives of SD insertion/removal. I have been leaning towards some sort of DAP, primarily in reference to the accursed lack of wifi in some locales. But $3500 for the diamond encrusted A&K seems a tad steep! Excellent food for thought! Thank you all again! If any kind soul has additional experience with other DAP's, I'd love to learn! Steve
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Post by brubacca on Jan 4, 2019 22:09:46 GMT -5
I never wanted a dual purpose device. In fact I got scammed by LH Labs like 4 years ago on their Geek Wave campaign. (I'm only out $350, grrrrrrr).
Its just so convenient with the V30 because I have my phone on me all the time.
The A&k stuff seems to start at $700 now, FYI.
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Post by Ex_Vintage on Jan 4, 2019 22:54:43 GMT -5
The Cowon Plenue D DAP looks pretty good for $300. Check it out.
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Post by dsonyay on Jan 5, 2019 0:24:35 GMT -5
The LG V30 was why I sold my Little Ego.. the LG phone with headphones is perfect while I'm on the road. I stream mostly Tidal, and I'm stunned at the quality.
I've loaded up some MQA songs and tons of higher res files on micro SD cards and they sound super as well ..
Yeah, it may not be the Best out there, but it is such a terrific compact option. In my case, it's perfect. When I'm on the road (usually on a boat for a few days), space is a premium.. so I dont want to have a lot of things to carry around. Everything has to fit in a Tom Bihn Western Flyer. So, with the V30 and headphones, it's perfect.
Happy New Year everyone!
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novisnick
EmoPhile
CEO Secret Monoblock Society
Posts: 27,213
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Post by novisnick on Jan 5, 2019 1:16:55 GMT -5
The LG V30 was why I sold my Little Ego.. the LG phone with headphones is perfect while I'm on the road. I stream mostly Tidal, and I'm stunned at the quality. I've loaded up some MQA songs and tons of higher res files on micro SD cards and they sound super as well .. Yeah, it may not be the Best out there, but it is such a terrific compact option. In my case, it's perfect. When I'm on the road (usually on a boat for a few days), space is a premium.. so I dont want to have a lot of things to carry around. Everything has to fit in a Tom Bihn Western Flyer. So, with the V30 and headphones, it's perfect. Happy New Year everyone! I've listened to David’s rig and its very sweet sounding! I highly recommend it!
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Post by dsonyay on Jan 5, 2019 8:27:41 GMT -5
The LG V30 was why I sold my Little Ego.. the LG phone with headphones is perfect while I'm on the road. I stream mostly Tidal, and I'm stunned at the quality. I've loaded up some MQA songs and tons of higher res files on micro SD cards and they sound super as well .. Yeah, it may not be the Best out there, but it is such a terrific compact option. In my case, it's perfect. When I'm on the road (usually on a boat for a few days), space is a premium.. so I dont want to have a lot of things to carry around. Everything has to fit in a Tom Bihn Western Flyer. So, with the V30 and headphones, it's perfect. Happy New Year everyone! I've listened to David’s rig and its very sweet sounding! I highly recommend it! Nick.. I'd be curious how the v30 would handle those new cans of yours.. they are capable of detecting headphone impedence and adjusting power to drive them.. up to 300 ohms... I've only used headphones at up to about 60ohms. So not sure how higher ones do.
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Post by dsonyay on Jan 5, 2019 8:48:20 GMT -5
Also.. came across this youtube video of someone's headphone recommendations for the V30 quad DAC.. his favorite was a 250 ohm Behr Dynamic set.. youtu.be/fkTYGQYqfusSo apparently the dac can push pretty good
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