Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 11:43:49 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Like a few kilometers of deep sea: A Chi-fi Thread

Started by QDRPHNC, September 03, 2020, 04:20:15 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Sebastian Cobb

Had these on in the park and it was quite windy and I could barely tell even if I listened out for it.

touchingcloth

Ace, I might look into a set once my current Ali Express backlog has arrived. I've built up too much of a habit.

Sebastian Cobb

Yeah it's pretty amazing the price difference between it and Amazon if you're prepared to wait, I guess mostly because of it passing through fewer hands.

Just today I had a 4 port KVM arrive (got fed up of moving cables around between my own and work laptop) and a pack of loofahs for scrubbing dishes, which it turns out look very much like sanitary towels once they've expanded in water.

Dex Sawash

May have the answer to phones that don't go in/over ears. $15 on amazon. The range/sound quality not great  but sound stage/presence/whatever the term is just amazing with the 4 speakers.

Can't see it with my blue collar uniform shirt on.


QDRPHNC

Don't know it's bad form to bump this or not, just wanted to highlight a couple of really nice new DAPs.

First is the Acmee MF02, the bigger brother of the beautiful little Acmee MF01 I talked about at length in the OP.



It's $400, but given Acmee's ability to get amazing sound out of even the $99 MF01, this one must be stunning. Sorely tempted just for the classic silver body, to be honest.

Next is the $4000 Shanling M30:


And check this out. It's modular. Yes, it is sick.


Ferris

There's something satisfying about this kind of well-engineered thing isn't there? I bought another mechanical watch at the weekend, it's just so nicely put together!

Stupid monkey brain I suspect.

QDRPHNC

Quote from: Ferris on April 06, 2022, 01:54:18 PMStupid monkey brain I suspect.

It's true, if there's one thing almost guaranteed to separate me from my money it's some lovely bit of engineering like that. Maybe why I'm so into analog formats and players, in a weird way they seem more miraculous than like, an Xbox, despite the fact that the latter is objectively more amazing.

Sebastian Cobb

I bought a £10 neotek headphone amplifier with bluetooth for listening to my big headphones on phone/laptop as some devices struggle to drive them and have been very impressed given the cost and saves me having to have a big extension cable trailing across the floor to my amp, I'm even tempted to get a bluetooth transmitter to shove in the tape-out of my amp so I can listen to LP's on it as well.

Ferris

Brother in law has something similar for his record player and loves it. Listen to music at work, but with a built in reason to get up and stretch your legs/flip the record every 30 mins or so.

studpuppet

You bastards. Wish I'd never looked at this thread.

Went down the rabbit hole and discovered that it's a rich man's game; I couldn't justify the expense of that Xeulin H6, as lovely as it looked. Ended up springing for a much more affordable used Fiio M7. From what I've seen online it's a solid little beast, and I love that square look - reminds me of my rich kid mate's Aiwa walkman from the eighties. From what I can see it comes with Android pretty much disabled but the firmware is mod-able to allow Play Store downloads via Wifi, so Spotify/Tidal/PowerAmp become available.

My problem now is that I only have a pair of lower-tier Grados, so headphones will be the next thing to save up for, and then there are headphone amps to stack it to...


Sebastian Cobb

If you're spending big money on chifi I respectfully reckon you're doing it wrong. I recently just 'fixed' the two pin socket of my cca iems by putting some hot glue around the terminals and whapping some heat shrink around them to constrict it.

studpuppet

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 16, 2022, 11:22:20 PMIf you're spending big money on chifi I respectfully reckon you're doing it wrong.

Agree with that - in my mind it should be 'same price as an iPod but way better spec and sound' or 'same quality as an iPod but way cheaper'. I made myself a dankPods 256GB iPod Mini but totting up the cost it was about £60 to do one from scratch, and you're left with fifteen year-old tech and screen, and not great battery life. The Fiio was £100 second-hand.

Ferris

I've started ogling Chinese watches and was reminded of this thread. Look at this lovely thing, yours for ~£150



Solar powered automatic movement too. Sorry, I'm derailing a bit.

studpuppet

Quote from: Ferris on June 17, 2022, 02:15:46 PMI've started ogling Chinese watches and was reminded of this thread. Look at this lovely thing, yours for ~£150

Solar powered automatic movement too. Sorry, I'm derailing a bit.

To heave that boxcar back onto the rails, I wish they'd use that technology to make something truly individual, instead of a TAG-Heuer/Omega knock-off. That's what I like about the chi-fi stuff: it's startlingly better industrial design than you might expect for those sort of items.

Ps. Where are the solar panels? Or does it have a glass back with a Solex Agitator in it?


Ferris

No idea, might just be a bad translation.

Definitely see the appeal of something designed in a completely different ecosystem, it's what drew me to collecting old Soviet mechanical wristwatches.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: Ferris on June 17, 2022, 02:15:46 PMI've started ogling Chinese watches and was reminded of this thread. Look at this lovely thing, yours for ~£150



Solar powered automatic movement too. Sorry, I'm derailing a bit.

Looks like a fucked off owl

Ferris


touchingcloth

Love the shit in this thread. I can't use most of it, but it's lovely gadget porn and I'm wanking.

bgmnts

Had a looksie at that Acmee MF-01 in the original post because the volume wheel gave me a boner but read there were some issues with the folders and the like so i'll wait til I can get it on the cheap.

Would love to go back to having a watch, an MP3 player and a phone for phoning people but just dont think it's possible now.

Ferris

It definitely is.

I have a friend who bought a flip phone just a month or two ago, and she is much happier without any social media networking/internet browsing (but can be reached by phone/text if needed).

There's a pretty solid watch thread on here and I'm wearing a Poljot skeleton mechanical wristwatch as I type this. Add in the chi-fi MP3 player and you're laughing.

It's a really good idea, I'm glad you raised it because I might seek it out and all.

touchingcloth

I still love the iPod, the phone, and the internet communications device I bought in 2007.

An iPod.
A phone.
An internet communications device.

An iPod.
A phone.
An internet communications device.

An iPod.
A phone.
An internet communications device.

An iPod.
A phone...are you getting it yet?

Guess what? They're not three separate devices!!!


QDRPHNC

Quote from: bgmnts on June 19, 2022, 08:53:44 PMHad a looksie at that Acmee MF-01 in the original post because the volume wheel gave me a boner but read there were some issues with the folders and the like so i'll wait til I can get it on the cheap.

Mine is still on the table if you want it. It does have some issues with folders, as I mentioned a page back:

Quote from: QDRPHNC on February 09, 2021, 09:02:08 PMThe Acmee MF-01, which caused me to start this thread, is a fantastic little player for the price, but given how often I listen to it, its idiosyncrasies are wearing on me a little. I'd like to give it a good home though, so if someone here would like it, PM your address and I'll get it in the mail. It takes a regular micro SD and needs a USB-C cable to charge.

Here are my issues with it, in the interests of full disclosure:

- Won't read more than one folder level deep, so you need to reorganize your library on the card. They released a firmware update that does it, but it's implemented in such an odd way, it actually made browsing more difficult and I went back to the previous firmware.

- Has trouble putting files in the correct order, doesn't seem to order by filename. This issue is dealt with, on Mac at least, by running a little program called Fatsort on the card after I've added some new music to it. Takes only a few seconds.

That's it really, if you can deal with those things, the MF-01 is beyond reproach in the sound department, and it's a weird and loveable little device. I'd sell it on Facebook or something, but I don't want to spend the next week trying to explain all this to a buyer.

bgmnts

Yeah possibly i'll let you know. Going to have a bit of a look around for a bit I think.

My budget is probably going to be like 75 quid or so.  Possibly even something that has bluetooth.

studpuppet

Quote from: bgmnts on June 20, 2022, 01:40:20 AMMy budget is probably going to be like 75 quid or so.  Possibly even something that has bluetooth.

If you can stretch to it, there's a used Fiio mate on eBay for about £110 at the moment. Would have gone for it myself but it's not much of an upgrade from the M7.

studpuppet

Quote from: studpuppet on June 20, 2022, 09:54:14 AMIf you can stretch to it, there's a used Fiio mate on eBay for about £110 at the moment. Would have gone for it myself but it's not much of an upgrade from the M7.

Obviously 'mate' should have been 'M-9'.

Mate...

Sebastian Cobb

Bear in mind the dac and possibly overall "sound quality" probably isn't that relevant if you plan to use it mostly with bluetooth headphones as they're the one that'll be decoding it - all the dap will be doing is converting .mp3/flac/etc to whatever codec in the A2DP spec both devices can manage and maybe at a push adding some dsp's (bass boost, equaliser etc) although many players don't seem to do dsp-stuff over bluetooth.

bgmnts

Okay I don't know what any of that means so i'll just invest in some decent wired earphones.

touchingcloth

Quote from: bgmnts on June 20, 2022, 11:04:42 AMOkay I don't know what any of that means so i'll just invest in some decent wired earphones.

It means you're paying a premium for the player to give the best audio possible, and then the bluetooth headphones would downgrade the audio meaning you may as well have started with a cheap player.

Wired headphones are the way to go, as I think you'd need to pay a lot more for bluetooth headphones that could match the sound quality of something like the Acmee.

studpuppet

As a compromise, you could attach some wired headphones via a hi-fi bluetooth headphone amp (I've got a used Fiio BTR1K but there are other newer ones out there). Leaves you with headphone wire to stow, but allows you to keep your player elsewhere in a bag or something.

studpuppet

Adventures on the Chi-Fi Wheels Of Steel




I thought I'd come back, and in true X-Factor style, tell you about my 'journey'. As posted above, I bought a second-hand Fiio M7 for just under £100. It had a couple of surface scratches but was fully working. While it was on its way I upgraded all the files that I wanted to put onto it to Apple Lossless (I still use iTunes for storage/maintenance).

Here it is (next to my DankPods iPod Mini that I've nicked the microSD card from):



Anyway, when it arrived I shoved in the pre-loaded microSD and it worked like a charm. The system is severely cut-down Android and the Fiio player app is an extremely cut-down player app because the chip in it is so slow. There's an FM Radio app that only works when you have wired headphones plugged in as the aerial, and Settings, Gallery and File Management apps but that's it - the screen doesn't scroll because there are no more apps so its appearance stays simple:



At this point you'd give it about 7-8 out of 10.
 
- sound is BRILLIANT with my Grados, and the Bluetooth connects with aptX to my AKG N60s.
- build quality is outstanding - extruded aluminium that feels like a gentleman's accessory, like a pocket lighter. It also feels really solid.
- UI is simple, nothing outstanding
- controls feel great, but there's a tendency to accidentally push the buttons and skip the track if you don't hold it right. I also accidentally hit the play button while it was in my pocket and not attached to any headphones, and it just played until the battery ran down. There are controls in the settings to disable one or all of the buttons, but I actually like having them to use, so I just need to be careful.
- the volume dial works okay, but if you scroll it too quick, it doesn't register the volume jumps, so you need to be slower and more definite.
- battery gives about what it says; I did a nine hours drive with it playing in the car and not charging, and it was at about 35% at the end - I think it's supposed to last 15 hours, but it's also three years old.


Unfortunately, I then got reading up on it and discovered that if you flash the system with this guy's software, it allows you to sideload other apps and enables the WIFI that apparently FiiO built into the unit, but didn't activate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FiiO/comments/lesux4/aroma_for_fiio_m7_rom_mod/


Fascinating you say, but what does that mean in real terms? Well, my unit now has:

Poweramp - seems to work okay and fairly snappily. Took me a few rescans and some tag editing before it decided to start recognising some files though.
Musicolet - this is useful for editing tags that aren't working in Poweramp, and also has another use that I'll come to in a minute.
Pocket Casts - podcasts are now downloadable as well.
Google Play Store - to download these all from, natch.





Great you say, you now basically have a WIFI enabled Android device don't you?

Well, not exactly.

You see the WIFI only works (and I personally think this is a BRILLIANT thing) if you hold it about 1m away from your router. The whole point of buying a DAP was so that I wouldn't be sidetracked like I would be on a phone, and on this WIFI is disabled unless you're right next to your router. The chip inside is also too slow to run anything except your music app so there's no temptation to try and get it to do other more exciting things.

So - what do I think of it now? A solid 9 out of 10 for the following reasons:

- you can add Spotify or Tidal (although I don't use either of these), then leave it next to the router while it downloads tracks for you to listen to offline.
- same for podcasts with Pocket Cast, or I imagine whatever you use would work as well. My nine hours in the car was spent listening to 18 episodes of The History Of Rock 'n' Roll in 500 Songs.
- it's surprisingly good at picking up typing on he tiny keyboard that pops up - captures my fingers and thumbs better than my large Nokia Android work phone.
- a Poweramp specific problem I had was that if the unit resets itself, Poweramp then goes looking for the licence again, and if you're not close enough to your router, you suddenly have no music player. This is why I originally downloaded Musicolet - it's free, simple, has multiple queues, and it's my back up if Poweramp buggers up. The tag editing bit was a bonus, especially as you can bulk change multiple tracks.
- for some reason I have two Pocket Cast buttons. They both go to the same app - not sure why there are two. I'll have a fiddle and see if I can disable one.

I've just been away on holiday and used it with my NC60s, and also with some JBL bluetooth earbuds and a bluetooth speaker; it's performed marvellously. Would recommend.