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

[Sebastian Cobb]

I used to use PowerAmp but ended up moving to Rocketplayer for chromecast support, it seems a bit less bloated than PowerAmp (on my phone) but the free version does have annoying ads.

[touchingcloth]

Adventures on the Chi-Fi Wheels Of Steel

Interesting review, thanks. A lot of what you like about this thing sounds similar to what I like about the Boox I posted about in the E-ink Tablets thread (https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=91716.0), namely that its very inadequacy turns into a virtue because you're not tempted to fuck about with and get distracted by the whole wide internet on it. Sure it's Android-based and can theoretically access the whole web, but it's a poor enough experience when you're using it for anything other than reading that you quickly decide not to bother trying.

- 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.

My digital camera has a ridiculously sensitive on/off toggle switch and it was always turning on in my bag and running the battery down. I originally solved that by just turning the battery backwards in its slots, but I would always end up forgetting to do that in advance of being particularly keen to take pictures of something only to find the camera dead. I've fixed it more properly by sticking a gobbet of Sugru in front of the switch that prevents it from being easily knocked.

[QDRPHNC]

Yes, cheers for that review, @studpuppet. The Fiio M7 was the one I had my eye on that got me started down the Chi-fi rabbithole in the first place, it's a great-looking device.

[studpuppet]

- 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.

This may also be down to me being left-handed, although I've learned over the years to hold stuff like a right-hander would so I don't think it's that

[touchingcloth]

This may also be down to me being left-handed, although I've learned over the years to hold stuff like a right-hander would so I don't think it's that

Feet shoulder-width apart, back straight, hands on hip, eyeing the horizon with narrow, satisfied eyes, master of all you survey.

[touchingcloth]

Any recommendations for bluetooth modules to use wit IEMs?

I had a set of TRN BT3Ses which have just given up the ghost in one ear. I suspect a dodgy connection rather than a software issue because wiggling it doesn't cause any crackling or anything. Of course with things being Chi-Fi there's no real after-sales support, so I'm in the market for something else.

There's a TRN BT3S Pro available, which on the plus side has modular cables which might make fixing similar issues in future easier, but on the down side has a smaller battery (100mAh/10hrs vs. 240mAh/20hrs).

I could do a straight swap for another BT3S, but given that the last set broke in 15 months and the newer Pro version being modular I question whether the issue I've had is just an inherent design flaw.

Anything involving a wired connection is out for me, because I always snag them. Anyone with experience of those hearing-aid-style modules which come in pairs and get hung behind the ear? They look pretty uncomfortable to me and I'd probably end up losing half a set...

[Sebastian Cobb]

I had the hearing aid ones. They lasted from the end of 2019 up until fairly recently (although I had to replace the battery in one of them). I didn't find them uncomfortable, but they do exert a fair bit of force on the connections on the iems and eventually cracked the plastic that covers the socket causing it to flake away, I bodge fixed this with a bit of hot glue a couple of times.

I've since replaced them with these
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/4000558614189.html?spm=a2g0n.order_detail.0.0.5328f19cvcwwMf

I wanted the TRN ones, but they didn't seem to have them in the correct pin size I didn't want the pro as it seemed to have significantly worse battery life. These ones I got have very good live (did fine for an overnight bus to London recently with 60% left). I don't think they sound as lively as the previous trn's but they by no means sound bad. They're fine, a bit plasticy and I figured they'd do until the TRN's reappear but I reckon I'll just keep them.

[touchingcloth]

I'll persevere with wires for the moment as there doesn't seem anything as much as a no-brainer as the BT3Ss were when I first got them - they were £16 at the time, but have gone to closer to £30 in most stores now, and since summer last year I've not had success receiving stuff from Aliexpress due to customs changes in Europe. I might pop to the local Chinese store and see if they keep any of this gear in stock, as I can basically only find them from Amazon if I want them to be shipped from within Europe, and the kind design to take modular IEMs aren't very common on there.

I'll probably just buy the same things again if the wires fuck me off too much - the set I got with my IEMs have ear guides and I hadn't used them before the bluetooth set crapped out, and they get tangled up on themselves as soon as I pick them up.

Mad that the "pro" version has halved the battery. 20 hours was good enough for just about anything, but balls to charging them twice as often.

[QDRPHNC]

Thought I might as well put this here. Teenage Engineering announced their new digital audio recorder and fuuuuuck me. I look at it and I feel like I'm 5 years old again staring at the Kenner X-Wing in the Trafford catalogue, trying to will it into existence.



The platter spins as it records. You can touch the platter to stop it and it pauses recording. Take your finger off again and it starts. Use the platter to scrub. Send your recordings to the TE app for conversion to text.



Eye-watering price (about $1500) for what it is. Still though, I would imagine Teenage Engineering stuff holds its value.

Will someone please reassure me it holds its value? I have a flutter in my tummy that I think is the future reaching back to tell me I've done something stupid. Thank you.

[falafel]

It's a £1500 dictaphone that looks like a hard drive. I say go for it, the possibilities are endless several

[QDRPHNC]

I LIKE RECORDING NOISES OK???

[QDRPHNC]

Actually though, now you mention it does look like a hard drive. Think you've cured me, cheers.

[Ferris]

If you were in the market for an external recording type device like that, preferably for old cassette tapes - where would you look?

My son is fascinated with my recording equipment* and loves the idea that you can play (for example) the banjo when a button on the recorder is pressed, and sing, then press a second button and hear it again. I was going to buy a cheap dictaphone on Amazon but I'd spend $100 on it if I thought it would be anything more useful than a novelty.

_{*28 years old Etc}

[QDRPHNC]

If you were in the market for an external recording type device like that, preferably for old cassette tapes - where would you look?

My son is fascinated with my recording equipment* and loves the idea that you can play (for example) the banjo when a button on the recorder is pressed, and sing, then press a second button and hear it again. I was going to buy a cheap dictaphone on Amazon but I'd spend $100 on it if I thought it would be anything more useful than a novelty.

_{*28 years old Etc}

I've a drawer full of microcassette recorders, message me your address and I'll bung one over for the boy. I've also got a sweet old Philips digital voice recorder if you'd prefer he doesn't get into analogue.

[Ferris]

I've a drawer full of microcassette recorders, message me your address and I'll bung one over for the boy. I've also got a sweet old Philips digital voice recorder if you'd prefer he doesn't get into analogue.

Well that's very kind! PM'd.

[falafel]

Actually though, now you mention it does look like a hard drive. Think you've cured me, cheers.

I do actually think you should buy it. But it also is possibly the sort of thing used by the the kind of doctor that prescribed the drugs that killed Prince and Michael Jackson, to dictate missives for his secretary to write, who then returns them transcribed so he can sign them off with his Mont Blanc.

[QDRPHNC]

so he can sign them off with his Mont Blanc.

Never heard it called that.

[touchingcloth]

I don't know if it's worth £1,500, but it looks like you could cosh some cunts with it.

[QDRPHNC]

It's not worth $1500, no, and unless I want to explain to my landlord why he's not getting next month's rent, I won't actually be buying one. Just makes me wish there were more lovely mechanical things out there aimed at your average consumer.

[touchingcloth]

If it's any consolation, the front and back views of the thing look great photographed (/rendered) on grey, but the isometric, in-hand view is more meh when you zoom in. The buttons look cheap (they're not following the design language of the chunky 70s switches), and the RoHS or whatever compliance guff on the side takes the sheen off. Or takes the trendy satin-matte off.

I bet it's a loss less nice in person than it looks in those first two pics.

On a related note, if anyone knows how to make an Olympus OM-1 digital...

[Sebastian Cobb]

Finally got around to successfully getting some moulded sleeves for some KZ ZS10 Pro iems.

Mostly happy and fit well, although I know I've got them in. They stick out a bit though as they're effectively sitting in a little silicone basket with the rest of the moulding in and around your ear.

[Endicott]

How are the moulded sleeves working out?

I had some IEMs (Smabat X1) connected to FIIO UTWS3 bluetooth units, but it didn't matter what tips I selected, I couldn't get them to stay in. Even just on their wires they wouldn't stay in. I tried all the silicone shapes, various sizes, and the memory foam tips. I reckon I've got more of these tips in a draw than @QDRPHNC has dictaphones.

Eventually settled on different style buds (Smabat M2 Pro) connected to the FIIOs, now works a dream.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Pretty well. It took a bit of faff to get them in the first two times and they can be a bit noisy if you put them in after a shower (WFH got me doing this before a lunchtime walk), but generally sound good and are a good fit.

The hardest part was finding a company that'd be able to see the process through end-to-end.

Getting a pair of moulds taken is easy enough, you can more or less book an appointment at Specsavers and have that done, but then finding a place that'll take them and turn them into the sleeves is harder. Likewise getting custom IEMs as a single unit seems easy enough but I didn't want that as they're bloody expensive and many didn't even have removable cables so I was concerned about longevity. I tried one place that took moulds and and would send to a lab for building, but the lab then claimed they couldn't design a tip that'd work. I found a place in the US that'd take moulds from anyone but couldn't post to the UK thanks to brexit. Eventually I went with UltimateEar, which required buying new IEMS that I don't think are quite as good as the ones I had, but at least were able to do everything.

[touchingcloth]

Is "IEM sleeve" safe to google at work?

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'd been looking at updating my Chromecast Audio for something a bit posher, for the money they're great devices and don't sound terrible at all, but on a nice system I found they sounded a bit squashed compared to some other digital sources. I did lots of research, and was torn between some expensive Cambridge, Bluesound (NAD) and Wiim, they all looked promising but all seemed to have a feature missing. Although the Wiim looked a good cheap candidate the DAC seemed to be criticised and even Wiim said 'yeah we reckon our niche users will use their own anyway. So when looking at that I saw a lot of people recommended the Khadas Tone board, and I realised the Chromecast didn't need replacing, as I can use those two together anyway.

It does require an optical to coaxial converter box (although you can also use it as a USB DAC, which also allows it to do DSD and stuff I think), so the wiring is messy. And I'll need to see about getting a case 3d printed at work.



But it sounds great. It definitely seems to have opened things out and made things a bit less squashed, I can hear things in the background a bit more. I'm certainly skeptical about how much difference can be made, and I think there are diminishing returns, but let's face it the CC Audio was only a 20 quid device that offers comparable functionality to devices costing hundreds, so adding a £60 upgrade to improve it still makes it a bargain imo.

[touchingcloth]

What is Chromecast? Is it linked to the browser?

[Sebastian Cobb]

It's a protocol for beaming video or audio to a playout device (chromecast) . A bit like Miracast or Apple Airplay. It's mostly for video from phones and tablets although from a chromium based browser you can cast either video/audio content, an entire screen or browser tab (making it handy for presentations).

Depending on how you use it, the device often just gets sent a url to do the streaming itself, rather than your phone fetching the chunks of video to be streamed then forwarding it.

The chromecast audio is now discontinued but was about £20, and allowed you to plug into existing amplifier(s) and get Sonos like capabilities including syncing between rooms. I actually found it nicer to use than Sonos as the cast button is just embedded in apps (Tidal, Spotify, Mixcloud, BBC Sounds etc) rather than the Sonos (and other streaming dacs) way of having you access the services through their app, which either has worse ui or missing features.

You can also throw urls at it yourself, when an app I used to send internet radio url's to it went from ad supported to charging (while getting flakier) I binned it off and wrote a few lines of Python to beam internet radio url's to it instead:

Code Select Expand

import pychromecast
import sys
from uuid import UUID
uuid = 'edit this'

STATIONS = {
    'rinse': {
        'url': 'https://streamer-uk.rinse.fm:8443/stream',
        'content_type': 'audio/mp4; codecs="mp4a.40.2"'
    },
    'balamii':{
        'url': 'https://balamii.out.airtime.pro/balamii_a',
        'content_type': 'audio/mpeg; codecs="mp3"'
    },
    'nts':{
        'url':'https://stream-relay-geo.ntslive.net/stream',
        'content_type': 'audio/mpeg; codecs="mp3"'
    }
}

def main(station: str):
    cc = pychromecast.get_listed_chromecasts(uuids=[UUID(uuid)])[0][0]
    print(cc)
    cc.wait()
    cc.media_controller.play_media(**STATIONS[station])
    cc.media_controller.block_until_active()

if __name__=='__main__':
    main(sys.argv[1])