Those of You That Listen to Music on the Go...

For anyone who listens to music on the go, in the car, while doing work or any other activity, obviously, you may not be listening as critically as you would at home, or where ever your primary set up is. However, does anyone else find themselves constantly comparing their "on the go" setups with their primary system? I run my Sennheiser HD380s from my iPhone, the files are burned straight from CDs I own, at the highest bit rate available for iTunes. It's quite sibilant, and sometimes has really messy highs with sloppy lows. I'm not expecting the same, or a comparable experience from my home system, obviously, but I do start to feel that my listening outside of the home, and on the go may be robbing me of a proper experience; simply due to my constant attempt at critical listening. Just wondering what everyone's else experiences are, does anyone else feel they struggle with anything similar, or perhaps something different altogether. Of course, I still love the opportunity to listen to some music in the middle of the day and am just mad at myself for not being able to simply listen and enjoy.

 

The iPhone always sounded like crap to me. Tried 3 models and gave up. Get yourself a real media player with superior sound or at least a headphone amp as the iPhone wasn' d to drive headphones like the Sennheiser you have.

Bought myself a Cowon player after years of testing different kinds and being unsatisfied. Now, I'm happy.

 

I'm definitely eyeing a few "DAPs", some of the Fiios and others. Glad to know you had a good experience outside the iPhone, that's something to keep in mind for sure.

 

I don't consider the on-the-go experience to be a negative.

On the contrary, it's important because it's where I can become familiar with an album given that I spend more time in that mode, than in a dedicated listening mode. I manage to keep the two separate and with specific reasons for each.

 

That's interesting, I generally just base my selection on my mood, either way.

 

Have an iPhone 5 that I'm been messing around with recently for repair work, and it actually sounds better than I expected it to. But it has to be paired with the right headphones and of course finding the "right" phones is the real challenge. As @Strat-Mangler mentioned, Cowon's are historically very good. Had a FiiO X1 about a year or so back and simply did not like the sound, at least with my headphones....home setup are my Sennheiser 650's + A FiiO A3 amp, ironically.

 

Yeah, it’s an iPhone 5 I’ve been using, the X1 was one of the ones I was looking at... how would you compare it’s sound to that of the iPhone? I also use the 650 (6XX) at home, but with a Bottlehead Crack.

 

I don't have the X1 anymore, but I recall that on my 650's it had a pretty dull sound. Very disappointing at the time.

So I pulled out the iPhone 5 just now and, with the same 650 / A3 setup it's also a bit muddy and not very engaging - although the EQ can help a bit. My daughter's Samsung Avant is a little better than the iPhone with this setup and my ZuneHD (yes, I still own one of these) are better than both of these these.

Then I pulled out an old Cowon D2 sitting on my shelf and that beats all three, even the ZuneHD by a hair. Then lastly the big guns - my Alcatel 4S (Windows 10) running YAMP music player....recent addition and this thing just smokes with my setup.

The iPhone, and to a certain extent that Samsung, actually sound better with decent earbuds and I have no idea why that is. Maybe it's a purposeful firmware decision on the part of the vendor.

 

I've been very happy with my last few Android phones (Moto X Pure, Moto G4Plus, One+ 5) and the Audioquest Dragonfly Red on my Etymotic ER4-SRs

 

That’s good to know. I will ask you, since you obviously have some deal of knowledge in this field, how much does the actual player effect the sound? I would imagine the primary factor would be the built in DAC? If I’m player the same file burned off a CD that would be the only factor (besides the headphones, obviously)?

 

...Bought a used Pono just for the quality of the DAC...
I am willing to put up with its other minor quirks in favor of sound quality...

 

Player is a significant factor - not only the chipset used but also the headphone jack itself (versus a line-out). EQ, if available, plays a part (YAMP player btw I use an EQ) but stressing again that the headphones themselves are important where sometimes the synergy between the hardware is just not there.

The iPhone 5 I believe uses a Cirrus Logic chip, the Samsung, Zune and the Cowon use a Wolfson chip and I still haven't figured out what the Alcatel uses.

 

On the go is where I check out new music, for the most part. I have some familiar stuff of course, but I try to load up my Pixel with new-to-me albums and Tidal and such. I just use Onkyo HF player and some JBL earbuds. I don't "compare" it to my main system at all, but by not listening critically I don't do anything but focus on whether I'm into the album or not.

 

Haha, got ya's all beat! I use a vintage Sony Walkman WM-FX28 I got years ago from a friend for $5. I use high quality NOS type II and IV tapes made on my nice decks. The earbuds are pretty decent, nothing like the sound of my main rig though. It has the belt clip, cool to have people stop and say "is that a Walkman"? I hand them the buds and the look on their face is priceless

I'm afraid to use my prized TDK-MAXG's in it, they sound superb for what they're playing on but, it's an old machine, if it munches one . So it's a good recording on a great source transfer to a great tape, no Dolby NR. Near bliss for me

 

I'm thinking about getting the Etymotic ER4-SRs.
Can you tell me if an Android Phone like Samsung S7 can drive them well from the jack?

 

I listen to music pretty much everywhere I go but I have separate sound systems for home, car and office at work, so I don't have much use for my portable player. It's a Pioneer XDP-100R with Sennheiser ie800 earphones so it's not a bad combination by itself, it's just that I don't have a lot of opportunities to use it. In Ear earphones will never sound like regular headphones and of course won't even present the same sound as a home setup so there's no point making a comparison.

At work I tried to emulate as much as possible the sound of home so for me it was a set of HD380 pro headphones connected to an Apogee DAC/AMP. The HD380 are not bad at what they were supposed to do - mainly blocking the office chatter while pumping a sound that is acceptably "Sennheisery" so I don't miss my HD600 at home too much. I tried other headphones but either they were uncomfortable, didn't sound close enough to home or where just plain irritating (ATH-M50x).

Playing music in the car is a mixed experience, firstly because I'm driving and need to pay attention to the traffic. Also there is no way to replicate the home sound stage in a car, even with carefully balancing and EQ the car audio experience remains a compromise. OTOH I can stream to the head unit directly from the music server at home so I'm not exactly suffering, but I do occasionally remark to myself that some songs sounds completely different at home.

 

If you have balanced inputs on your home preamp it also doubles as an amazing sounding alternative to a disc spinner.

John K.

 

I would imagine so.. I have them (they're a lot more efficient than the ER4-S they replaced) and they get plenty loud with my OnePlus 5's output. They're more than good enough to benefit from also using an Audioquest Dragon Red, as I do, but to answer your question.. yes, you'll get plenty of volume out of your S7.

 

I have an iPhone 7 and it sounds pretty darned good with both Grado SR60 and NAD Viso HP50 headphones with DragonFly Black USB DAC. Careful headphone or ear monitor matching is obviously important.

 

No

my car IS my primary set up.

We do have a great sounding vintage stereo in the living room, set up for vinyl.... but we seldom find time to listen. It is a good experience when we do, but, busy family, kid, hard to find time. Most of my free time is spent rehearsing guitar stuff for the band I'm in, or writing stuff for said band.

Basically the only time I have to just listen, is driving in to my office.

 

In the car, I listen to my Pono; at work, I stream from my NAS. I'm just happy to have music to listen to on the go, and realize the environment isn't optimal, nor is the system. On my home system, I listen to vinyl 99.9% of the time.

 

I have an iphone 6 plus, i travel a lot and use the Philips Fidelio M2L headphones...they have a lightning adapter and a built in dac which seems pretty warm and nice...i have a Dragonfly but can't be bothered with the hassle of the camera connector lead etc (it will get left in a hotel somewhere for sure), plus i generally use Tidal HIFI so the quality is good too, but yeah its not a patch on my home set up....i miss it almost as much as my dog when i'm away

 

All the time. Crookwood DAC to ATC active monitors in the studio that I do all my work and home listening on, vs. Fiio X5 DAC/headphone amp to Etymotic ER4-XR for on the go. I get a nice 40dB attenuation with the Etys, so it's easy to compare sound quality even when I'm walking across the Seine or on the Metro.

They both sound excellent, but obviously different. I love the wide sound stage with the mobile rig, and the visceral impact of the monitors. Apples and Oranges...

 

For cheap thrills check out the zero audio carbon tenore and basso. I have pm-3s, ultimate ears ciems, and a dragonfly red, but lately I can’t be bothered. The zero audios are relaxed and engaging and of you lose them it’s no stress because you’re only out $40. I especially love the basso for running and the gym. Best deal I ever came across in audio.

 

The vast majority of my listening is done on the go, cycling, walking, hiking (retired now). Mostly on Sansa ClipZips with Rockbox firmware, with a variety of cheap in-ear earbuds, mostly Sony/Philips/JVC. (I regularly destroy earbuds by doing things like catching the cable in my helmet clip. Learned my lesson with a pair of B&O things that cost more than £100 and lasted abot 2 months before I'd broken a wire.)

Don't care too much about the quality, because road traffic noise is so intrusive and unbelievably loud. Sometimes; like today, when I get home I'm terrified by how loud I've had the thing on. Mostly MP3 files that I ripped from CDs, vinyl and casette.

Functionality is a higher priority to me than audio quality. The Sansas coupled with Rockbx allow easy creation of playlists, which I can play randomised, with Replaygain volume equalisation and fade in/fade out merged track transitions DJ style with Crossfade. And their tiny size,support for micro SD up to 64GB, decent battery life and large font display options (thanks again Rockbox) makes me as happy as the proverbial pig in muck, at least until the rain starts again.