The All Purpose Advice Thread

I’m looking for a viable alternative to the apple AirPods. No seriously! The convenience is excellent, they sound barely ok for what I’ll use them for - office, phone calls, out in public. Not for any serious listening.

What I want is the functionality of the AirPods with a volume control option other than using Siri or the phone. Better sound would a bonus, but not required.

Is there anything out there that sucks less than the AirPods?

 

Then get ones that will be disposable or with a good warranty, cuz they will most likely have an issue with them (wreck them), I have two teenagers 16 and 19 and they ruin iems and headphones, (as well as phones) without prejudice. You can get the RHA iems from Amazon and they carry a 3 year warranty. Lots of horror stories on the $35 pair but mine are going just fine. A little bassy but not beats like and quite nice for indoors or out. Light and low fit fatigue, works well for smaller ears because the body is so small.

link: https://www.amazon.com/RHA-MA350-Ea...2272949&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=rha+ma-350+iems

or these I owned and bought on Amazon were very nice and smaller than you would think. Problem is you are buying from Japan and who knows what the warranty would be like.

https://www.amazon.com/JVC-canal-ty...qid=1512273075&sr=1-10&keywords=jvc+earphones

They may want a microphone in which case, I cannot help. But Shure and Koss both have very good warranty programs. Koss is lifetime and will cost about $10-$12 to replace something. Shure is also very good but not lifetime. Both replaced stuff that had faults with no issues.

 

Whats an Airpod? never mind, probably some kind of wireless or bt headphone, mic combo . I have no expereince with this type of device.

 

Yup. Wireless versions of the Apple ear buds. Over priced, sound crappy, but convenient and no wires. Essentially an overpriced, multifunction blue tooth hands free unit for my needs, with the added benefit of extremely mediocre music reproduction. The down side is having to say out loud “Siri set volume to.....” or dig the phone out of my pocket.

 

Jot with DAC module, good option for a work desktop setup? I use sensitive IEMs (hiss...) and a few easy to drive closed headphones (PM3,...). Current setup is Eitr + Mojo, happy enough with the sound but the battery issues are pissing me off.

 

1More Triple Driver is a solid performer, and great for a gift because it has very impressive packaging. Currently on sale for $60 at costco.com (also at Amazon, but higher price). The last time the price was this low was early this year, when I got a pair for myself to use at work. Costco membership not required to order online. Also available at some (not all) Costco physical stores.
https://www.costco.com/1More-Triple-Driver-In-Ear-Headphones.product.100296621.html

 

Thanks for this. I’m focusing on wireless Bluetooth for this use.

 

I was responding to @lm4der, not you.

As far as alternatives to Airpods (truly wireless earbuds), everybody else is trying to catch up with Apple. The new models from Sony and Samsung are promising but still have issues with reliable connection and battery life according to reviews.

 

You might consider the Sony WF-1000X, but only if you can demo. @zerodeefex mentioned* some improvement over the AirPods, but didn't seem sold on them. At least they probably suck less .

* "zerodeefex WF-1000X verdict: much better than airpods, but still sound flat and undetailed. Hard to live without the delicacy and resolution of andro." - Nov 1, 2017​

 

Sony MUC-M2BT1 and pair with your favourite MMCX-connector IEM. Actual battery life is around 6 hrs. Necklace is a bit clumsy, but I use it at the gym with MEE PX without much difficulty. Sound with standard BT is OK, almost lossless with a source supporting LDAC.

https://superbestaudiofriends.org/i...ony-muc-m2bt-and-campfire-andromeda-iem.4644/

 

I haven't heard the Mojo but I'd imagine that its DAC section is much better than the Jot's DAC, which is equivalent to the DAC in Schiit's low end products (Fulla 2, Modi 2). I happily used a Jot w/DAC for almost a year and recently updated to a Soekris dac1541 (also a DAC/amp combo). The Jot is a great amp and drives my HD650 very well, but the Soekris DAC is so much better than the Jot's that it would be hard to go back.

What battery issues are you having, and why does it matter in a desktop setup? The Mojo's battery is replaceable, if that's the issue.

 

Thanks for your input regarding Jot, appreciated.

My issues with Mojo battery:

• Can't really use it permantely plugged in, it's not meant for that use (see points below).
• Sometimes can hear coil wine when plugged in, not exactly confidence inducing
• I think the battery life has dropped almost to half in 1 year... I guess the constant daily charging doesn't help there.

 

Mojo was ok. Pretty good for a portable brick. I think you call out all the issues with using it as a desktop replacement. I’m using an eitr>Modi Multibit>Vali2, purchased used with the proceeds from my Mojo, plus $100 or so, maybe $150. I find it excellent given what it is (gives my main rig a fair run for the money for sure) I had considered but have not yet heard the Magni 3. I’m pretty sold on the Eitr>Modi mb combo. It’s pretty much a dead heat with my Bifrost MB and Eitr. I’m sure the jot may have a leg up on the Vali 2 and Mani 3 for some folks.

 

I'm trying to clarify something based on hearsay/bullshit. Ahem, Do SPDIF/AES interfaces have quality differences? meaning, is the SPDIF interface on a nice professional audio interface any different from say a cheap HDMI adapter with a toslink output? I've heard that the optical/toslink interface on older Apple notebooks are noisy.

I'd like to get a cheap hdmi adapter that has an optical out, but if it's noisy, then why bother.

 

Clocks, PCB layout routing care, etc, all differ, but how audible is it is up to the rest of the chain.

 

I imagine you wouldn't like, or even hate, the DAC on the Jot coming from Mojo. For me, it sounds a bit bloomy, sharp, smeared, and closed-in even compared to the one in Fulla 2. I think Modi Multibit and Magni 3/ Vali 2 would be better for less judging from I've read here so far, but of course YMMV.

Also, I'm using CA Orion with Fulla 2 as an office rig. I can't even turn the knob past 8 o'clock (barely past the channel imbalance) before it goes ear-shattering. Plugging it to Jot is worse.

 

Not sure what you are asking. I have used a number of usb to aes and spdif interfaces and yes there are "sound" quality differences. Never tested a spdif to aes converter though, which is what you wrote.

No opinion on hdmi adapter with optical out. Not sure why you would use an hdmi adapter on an Apple notebook if that is your source unless you are going into some strange dac that only uses hdmi. And yes there are better optical outputs than some apple notebooks, but you will not hear noise per say from them, just the effects of jitter on some apple notebooks. Want to know what jitter sounds like, be sure to google it, many folks have no idea. Many think ground type or other baseline s/n problems like hiss or hum are jitter.

 

I'm sorry for saying converter, I meant splitter.

https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Optic...2506572&sr=8-3&keywords=hdmi+optical+splitter

I'm thinking about using a small PC as a extra Roon zone. The PC has a shitty 1/8 audio jack and nothing else. I can send audio through HDMI, use the splitter, and then use spdif to a decent DAC.

 

WTF? I don't mean to be rude but why would you use HDMI on a pc to output digital to a dac (unless that is all it has)? Why not forget the $28 most likely piece of crap "converter" (or whatever you wish to call it) and use a decent usb dac?

There is no rule saying you have to add extra shit in the middle of the audio chain to get good sound. One just needs to not buy a shitty usb dac, that's all.