Portable Bluetooth Receiver Dac/Amps Discussion Thread

I noticed these too. Too expensive, I think.
Even Sony does not have LDAC on their WF-1000XM3 buds, so I guess it due to battery life?

 

So I was curious on the Portable Bluetooth DAC/Amp stuff as of late, mostly due to I don't want to bring around the brick that is the Sony WM1A locally with my IEMs. Also, I feel we got to the point that a higher Bluetooth standard like LDAC is more than sufficient for casual listening needs whenever I go. Do I really need to listen to 24/192 lossless crap when I'm outside at a cafe? Most of the time when I'm at the cafe or outside I'm just reading junk on my phone or on my Kindle. Would be nice to reduce the crap in my pants.

Made a post in the IEM General thread, and I was told to read this thread. I saw the Shanling UP4 as getting good impressions. Musicteck had the UP4 for $10 off and the optional leather case (not included with the UP4) was only ten bucks. Got free shipping too, nice. All for just slightly north of a Benjamin.

First thing when getting it is how small this thing is. I thought it was going to be a size of half a DAP, but not even close here. The width is like two of my thumbs, the thickness is one of my thumbs, and the height is half my thumbs. The thing is glossy, so unless you hate your fingerprints getting all over the device better get that Leather case.

The stock clip case that came with the unit is alright, nothing crazy. The Leather case makes it easier to hold and it comes with a strap. A little better, but not going to use it.

Thing using USB-C for charging and DAC duty, which I don't have a need for it. Furthermore, it defeats the whole point of me getting it since I wanna use it for wireless. 3.5mm + 2.5mm jacks, a Mode button that is super important, and a scroll wheel on the right side of the unit that does basic functions besides the volume like Play/Pause/Track Skipping/etc. by variations of pressing on it.

So about the Mode feature. By pressing it twice you can change the Mode of the headphone out to Low/High/Boost. To get to the point Boost unlock the full power of the UP4, but at the cost of battery life. Low output sucks, but it gives you the best battery life. High is better but still being gimped. If you are always near a charger, just use Boost. Even with that in Boost I'm getting about what, 8-10 hours of battery life on LDAC playing non-stop? I dunno, something like that.

Since I said LDAC, I am on Android since I refuse to play with the Apple tax. However, we know that any sound mostly goes through the Android Sound System within the OS. It isn't ideal, but it is what it is. However, if your Android device runs USB Audio Player Pro then see if it can run Bit-Perfect through its DAC chips. If yes, then the sound will be better. I say this with importance since there's a feature on USB Audio Player Pro that it can send music directly to the Bluetooth Receiver and avoid the Android OS screwing around with the sound. Not all devices supports this feature, but my Sony Xperia 1 does and I can confirm that playing Qobuz through USB Audio Player Pro with the Bluetooth Receiver option on is cleaner and better than using the Qobuz own App. This is the best method (if your phone/tablet supports it within USB Audio Player Pro) currently on regular Android OS for best Bluetooth sound. If you wanna use Bandcamp (which I do) on this method, you can't with USB Audio Player Pro. Back to the Android OS for Bandcamp I go on that one...

LDAC is currently the best BT format for sound in my experience for Android OS at this time. However, for best quality here also make sure your Android phone/tablet (Starting Android Oreo 8.0 and up) is outputting in LDAC in Best Sound Quality setting. Running it in the best connection setting will lower the bit-rate transfer.

On the sound part this sounds more than it should for the price. Warm-Neutral I would call it, with good extension in the highs, very solid mid-range, and great bass response for this type of hardware and wireless standard. Does work best for DD IEMs. When using my BA IEMs like the Gaudio Nair and the Sony IER-M9, the treble was becoming too much thanks to their BA drivers. If you don't like BA on the highs, don't use the UP4 with it. Really enjoying the JVC FDX1 on these, and same for the Moondrop Starfield. While it is Warm-Natural, the presentation is more on the non-analytical side of things. Great for casual listening or perhaps a little more serious at times. Low latency on LDAC, so youtube videos on this works great. There's even a basic microphone in the UP4 for Google Voice or talk to some other people about junk.

It won me over on the size, at least supporting LDAC for Android, sound is good for the price, and can be useful for other things besides listening to music.

This is going to be great for me when I feel like going outside. Less weight than a DAP when I have other junk in my pocket.

 

I have a Qudelix and it does in fact have a bump on one of the switches, so thanks!

 

share my stack ES100/Nickle Amp (on sale atm for £99 Hifiheadphones)

Removed clip and put clear tape in between, little lanyard attachment so i can switch between ZX2 and this with 1x strap

hmm..there is no feature for me to attach a photo

 

Upload on Imgur (or similar) and put a link here.

 

yeah i tried tinypic but looks like they charge these days
https://imgur.com/a/n5R1Ty6

 

Yes, mainly power I had iSine20 at the time, I am using them with Verum 1.0 now and I adjusted the ES setting to increase power (pre-amp option) and I am very happy with it as a portable option- I even nearly had a sleeve made for them which looked dope (I am reminded of this now.)

I found the interconnect builder through ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/onest11

 

Wasn't sure if you saw the 'new' Shanling M0 Pro, but it is a nice improvement over the M0. GUI still is whack, but feels smoother operating it.

Also - the Qudelix T71 (8 channel usb dsp thingy) is also on pre-order and if you purchased a 5k in the past, you'll get a $30 rebate. I'm already locked in on it - sounds like it could be another miniDSP type device.

The 5K has made two of my new in-ears complete new animals. The Ucotec RE-2 and JVC HA-FWX1. UERM didn't respond well and I haven't tried more sensitive IEM's.