dqwong
High Supremacy Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2002
- Messages
- 34,868
- Reaction score
- 7,930
Apple Music Player:
Subjective impressions:
Apple Music Player sounds okay-ish. It doesn't consume much resources. Subjectively from an Audiophile listener stand point, with certain types of music or instruments(violins) can sound "unrefined" with abit of graininess or jagged like a saw tooth.
Sound Check Function:
I find that it's a double edge sword with this function. Although It helps with keeping all music in my library sound some what volume matched, however it tends to soften dynamic range and fast loud transients.
Korg IAudiogate:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iaudiogate-high-resolution/id997209451?mt=8
Subjective Impressions(High Quality Mode):
Good:
Thicker and Smoother sounding. That are the two words I will use describe the sound reproduction of this player. With High Quality mode, your IOS device will heat up more than usual, but you will get a more thicker(more bass slam, more warmer and analogue/tube like) sound as well as a buttery smooth mid and treble although it seems to lose abit of high frequency.
Bad:
Warms up the device quite abit on high quality mode. Probably consumes more cpu and battery life than other players.
Fast transients sounds abit slower than other players. Missing High frequnecy(Hiss)
Onkyo HF Player
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/onkyo-hf-player/id704139896?mt=8
Subjective impressions:
Good:
It's Free. The upsampling function does sounds better than the Apple music player interms of less grainy and resolution. High Frequency retained.
Bad:
There seems to be some kind of time smearing(blurriness) to the sound that makes the sound stage sounds more closed-in. Also sound "glassy" with certain music.
Hibiki 3.6 Player:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hibiki/id592396897?mt=8
Subjective Impressions:
Good:
Fast and Transparent. Just two words I would use to describe the sound. Fast Transients sound just right without any kind of delay. Bass isn't as deep as Iaudiogate, however Hibiki sounds much more transparent and neutral than Iaudiogate with less loss of high frequency.
Bad:
The player doesn't allow for output sampling rate selection, it will always just default to the highest output sampling rate supported by your device. e.g. My Yggdrasil DAC will always output at 192KHz even though my musc source file is sampled at 44.1KHz. I have spoken with the developer and he mentioned that in March, he will release a new version which allows for output sampling rate selection.
Conclusions:
If you want something that colours the sound(warm and smooth), do give Korg Iaudiogate a try. Coupled with external dac/amp combo, you might just use this player and probably skip buying portable DAPs all together.
Hibiki 3.6 although with it's current bugs, still sounds the best to me in terms of sounding the most real/natural to my ears. Fast music Transients seems to be more accurate than Korg as they sound more cleaner with any kind of delay.
Onkyo HF player sound better than Apple Music player but it is not as good as the above paid players.
Subjective impressions:
Apple Music Player sounds okay-ish. It doesn't consume much resources. Subjectively from an Audiophile listener stand point, with certain types of music or instruments(violins) can sound "unrefined" with abit of graininess or jagged like a saw tooth.
Sound Check Function:
I find that it's a double edge sword with this function. Although It helps with keeping all music in my library sound some what volume matched, however it tends to soften dynamic range and fast loud transients.
Korg IAudiogate:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iaudiogate-high-resolution/id997209451?mt=8
Subjective Impressions(High Quality Mode):
Good:
Thicker and Smoother sounding. That are the two words I will use describe the sound reproduction of this player. With High Quality mode, your IOS device will heat up more than usual, but you will get a more thicker(more bass slam, more warmer and analogue/tube like) sound as well as a buttery smooth mid and treble although it seems to lose abit of high frequency.
Bad:
Warms up the device quite abit on high quality mode. Probably consumes more cpu and battery life than other players.
Fast transients sounds abit slower than other players. Missing High frequnecy(Hiss)
Onkyo HF Player
https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/onkyo-hf-player/id704139896?mt=8
Subjective impressions:
Good:
It's Free. The upsampling function does sounds better than the Apple music player interms of less grainy and resolution. High Frequency retained.
Bad:
There seems to be some kind of time smearing(blurriness) to the sound that makes the sound stage sounds more closed-in. Also sound "glassy" with certain music.
Hibiki 3.6 Player:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hibiki/id592396897?mt=8
Subjective Impressions:
Good:
Fast and Transparent. Just two words I would use to describe the sound. Fast Transients sound just right without any kind of delay. Bass isn't as deep as Iaudiogate, however Hibiki sounds much more transparent and neutral than Iaudiogate with less loss of high frequency.
Bad:
The player doesn't allow for output sampling rate selection, it will always just default to the highest output sampling rate supported by your device. e.g. My Yggdrasil DAC will always output at 192KHz even though my musc source file is sampled at 44.1KHz. I have spoken with the developer and he mentioned that in March, he will release a new version which allows for output sampling rate selection.
Conclusions:
If you want something that colours the sound(warm and smooth), do give Korg Iaudiogate a try. Coupled with external dac/amp combo, you might just use this player and probably skip buying portable DAPs all together.
Hibiki 3.6 although with it's current bugs, still sounds the best to me in terms of sounding the most real/natural to my ears. Fast music Transients seems to be more accurate than Korg as they sound more cleaner with any kind of delay.
Onkyo HF player sound better than Apple Music player but it is not as good as the above paid players.
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