Changing my religion: Moving to Apple from Android

best of luck with "keeping her happy" kuya I had to make it clear last xmas that a laptop netbook tablet 2 smart phones land line are it the samsung s3/4 raised its head but i am not going there

The missus said she wants to learn to drive which I would love to happen but having said I would support it 3 months ago when she can pass the theory test online interest has dropped off to 0 lol

Hmm I'm actually looking at going the other way back to andriod as I find apple to constricting. Unfortunately I don't think it will be happening because non of the third party apps similiar to facetime work while I'm at work . So i'm stuck with apple for a while. I don't put music on my phone because I detest itunes and apple products arent the best sounding anyway (I'm a bit of an audiophile).

I'm looking at maybe moving across to a tablet to save carting my laptop to and from work and i'm undecided about what to go for. I do know that ti wont be apple though as I consider all their products very over priced and restrictive. I think I'll end up on a samsung of some sort.

Anyway Kuya take a look at this site:
http://www.head-fi.org/

Very good for all things portable audio. Because of this site I use a Cowon J3 player (absolutely fantastic and blows any apple out of the water) with V-sonic GR07 IEM's. Somewhere on the forum a chap has compiled a list of most of the available headphones and their characteristics.

Do you still feel this way?

Forums are the best, well some of them anyway!

I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to audio and TV stuff and I'm lucking my job allows me to get some fairly reasonable stuff. For your price range you'll still get something very reasonable, personally I'll allows avoid stuff like Skull candy and Dr Dre stuff as being over hyped and not that great in an audiophile sense but as with most things its down to the individual.

This is the comparison list I used that divides hesdphones into sound types.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/433318/sho...hones-reviewed-denon-dn-hp1000-added-09-07-13

Just found ound this one as well but I'm not sure how good it is.

http://theheadphonelist.com/headphone-list/

The FLAC thing is important to me, i've burned +200 Cd's in FLAC to my NAS drive now which I copy across to my Cowon J3 player. The SQ is amazing. If I'm honest its probably a bit better than my home setup but that probably due to the isolation effect of my IEM's.

I was getting into Sonos gear as well be fore we left for the phil's.
Facetime is important to me as well which is the only thing keep my using iphone's. Let me know which headphones you get. What Hifi is ok to use but its a bit mainstream these days and tend to apple fanboys.

I thought that FLAC was best for ripping vinyl,
Cd's don't have the same quality and dynamic range.
Can you differentiate between MP3 and FLAC on the Cowan?
Which headphones do you use?

FLAC is lossless, I rip at 1148Kps which is extreme but it is a complete mirror of the CD. You're right about what you say about vinyl, because it is analog it has a smooth sin wave form. CD's because its digital is like a bar graph and so you loose part of the signal. Hopefully the picture explains it better, its for a DAC but the principle is the same I believe



This is why vinyl is supposed to represent a purer reproduction of the recording over digital. Truth be told though that due to advancements in digital music few people can probably tell the difference. Plus all componants these days have their own sound signiture. Amps, Cd players, Record decks, tone arms and needles, DAC's, cables and speakers all have an effect. I've now learnt about diminishing returns with hifi equipment though and personally I'm at a level where I'd have to spend thousands on my hifi setup to gain a small increase in performance. Needless to say I'm not going to do that!!

Personally, with my ears, I think I can tell the difference between between a 328 and a lossless (FLAC) rip. There is more depth to sound stage, greater separation, detail. It just provides a more immersive experience to me.

Thing is if you're burning your CD's why would you not want to have an exact reproduction? You've spent money on them so why not enjoy the rips to their full potential? What you can do is do a lossless rip and also a lower quality rip for your portable rig because you'll be able to fit more on your portable player but you'll also have your "master copy".

My portable rig is a Cowon J3 64Gb (this can be expanded with a 64Gb micro SD card. There are rumours you can expand using a 128Gb micro card as well!). Headphones are are V-sonic GR-07 which suit how I like to listen to my music. Slightly warm with pleanty of detail, slightly forward mids, not too heavy on the bass.

Might have gone round the houses on this one!!!

I can tell you about my home rig if you want as well..............oh everyones gone!!!

Nice write up.

You obviously love quality Audio, something that I have never managed to sort out for myself.

Living in hotels / apartments for most of the year does not help as I need to remain portable.

Recently I spent some time comparing high quality FLAC and high quality MP3. The music was played on my laptop with foobar2000 software, a Fiio E10 dac, and Sennheiser HD 518's headphones.

OK, entry level setup, but I was surprised at how good the MP3 sounded, I had expected a slight difference, must try again...

btw, my portable rig is an Android MP3 player using Poweramp (full version) with Klipsch S4 in ear headphones. I export FLAC from my MediaMonkey Gold PC software, (which I use as my catalogue), as highest quality VBR MP3's.

Why not...

Sometimes the change of the look and feel of the software can be enough to put people off, ie it can be partly down to what one is used to. I personally find the iPhone size about right. It is a phone, first and formost.

Great discussion. On the Apple vs. PC argument, the facts are that if you compare like with like, then Apple pricing for laptops and PCs is reasonable. When I say like with like, I mean take a PC with similar build quality, premium branding and technical specification and the pricing always comes out about the same. I've had this discussion so many times on forums and mailing lists over the last few years, and every time it's the same. Like for like, Apple are competitive on pricing.

On iPhone sound quality, WhatHiFi recently voted the 5s as the best sounding Smartphone out there! Personally, I think Apple have the whole music thing perfectly positioned. Right now, I can download any music content I like from any source, and have Apple replace it with a completely legal, professionally ripped version for £25 a year using iTunes match. This is DRM free AAC content that will play on virtually every device nowadays.

I think people have the perception that Apple is far more of a closed shop than they actually are. For example, many people don't realise that iTunes music has been DRM free for years. Another conversation I've had time and again online and offline with various folk. People hate iTunes, and true enough, early versions on the PC were horrid, but I think it's an excellent media management app nowadays and vastly improved over earlier version.

iPhones are certainly not for "tinkerers" or those who like a phone that is highly configurable. But they are for people who want a phone to last as long on battery as the manufacturer claims, and for phones that just work. Honestly, I think for the vast majority of people, the smartphone market is swings and roundabouts. You could choose any phone and be reasonably happy. Where Apple do win is with integrated eco system. If you have an Apple investment elsewhere in your technology portfolio, you can be sure it's all going to work together pretty much flawlessly. That has a great deal of value for a lot of people.

Finally... I confess, I love Apple stuff. I worked for Apple in the late '90s and excepting a hiatus in the early noughties, I have a plethora of Apple gear

Earphones... I have too many sets, but I always end up returning to my UE TripleFi 10s, which I think are excellent.

You forgot to add reliable, stable, holds value.

Hijacking this thread a little! Nice rig Dave and a bit above entry level. I toyed with getting a Filo DAC but apparently its not really worth it with the Cowon. Bet it makes a difference when used with a laptop and the foobar program though. Not used foobar either.

I did look at the Klipsch S4 after my old Shures gave up the ghost because they are very highly recommended on what hifi. After reading other reviews though I thought they maybe a little analitical for me though. How do you find them? My GR-07's where lean at forst but have altered as times gone, everyone seems to think +100hours is needed to burn them in! I use EAC for ripping my CD's and get my album artwork else where.

I do like the look of your set up's Dave. That the thing I find with audio and TV etc. So amny avenues open to people and there is always something for everyone.

My Uk home rig is:
Dali Royal Tower speakers
Black Rhodium Jive Biwire speaker cable
Roksan Kandy K2 amp
Can't remember what interconnect I've got
Jolida Glass FX DACII
Sonos Connect
Synology DS213j NAS with x2 3Tb WD red hard drives in raid
Atacama hifi stand.

I'll try to remember what I've got for my TV set up later. I like i say I'm, lucky in my work because I can go for this type of thing but I think I've found the level I'm happy at now with out going mental and breaking the bank for a small improvement in SQ.

Mark but with itunes is it still the case that once you've download / ripped a cd you cant share it with anyone else outside the 5 registared apple products? With window or android is all a matter of drop and drop. When I had an ipod touch I effectively had to have two copies of my music, which in lossless takes up quite alot of room. Basically so I could have a folder for people to take copies of music I had and for me to get copies of theirs. Plus there was issues with what formats you had to use to play music and video.

I've actually stopped buying what hifi as they do seem to turning into apple fanboys to the extent they seem to ignore alot of other products. That said i'm sure the iphone is a capable music playing phone, i just prefer a dedicated source and there are far better on the market for the same if not less money.

Apple is a premium product no doubt but would I pay £800 for a basic apple laptop when I can get one for £350 or so with similiar memeory etc off the shelf at dixons? No. I generally feel apple is about 20-25% over priced compared to other window or andriod products. One thing I will say though is their computer screens are excellant, the picture they produce on the desktops is amazing.

I'm still thinking about replacing my 4 year old 13inch Asus laptop with a 10inch tablet for using at work. To be honest I keep leaning towards samsung but I'm open to an ipad if someone can justify how the price difference is justified.

Nice IEM's Mark by the way Mark. I'll have to have a closer look at them, I like the idea of being able to change the cables if need be. Do you find the mids recessed when using them?

You can share iTunes libraries. They are just artist/album folders with music files inside. No DRM. You don't need to keep two copies, you can just share the neatly organised library that iTunes keeps for you using any normal file sharing method, or indeed sharing in iTunes itself. The music files will play anywhere on any number of devices - no DRM. For music, the 5 device limit doesn't matter. They still use that for movies, which do have DRM.

Apple fanboys or perhaps the products are actually very good. I have some pretty high end audio at home, including class A amp, Sugden transport, Mordaunt Short Mezzo 6s in a 2 channel dedicated the listening room. Onkyo 9.2 cinema amp, full 7.1 Mission Elegante surround, etc, in the living room, with bi-amped fronts. Apple provides unbeatable ease of use and integration, and also supports raw uncompressed multi-channel WAV streaming over wireless. I can't actually tell the difference between Apple's AAC rips and the headphone output on my DAC with a CD source though :/

Think of total cost of ownership. After 3 or 4 years, that Apple laptop will still be worth what you paid for the PC laptop. The PC laptop will be junk. So you have had 3 or 4 years ownership of a higher quality product for basically the same price. No use if you can't stretch in the first place, I realise that. There is a good market for lower cost products, but if you look at Apple stuff in the round, it's a compelling proposition.

Look at eBay resale values for iPads and you have your answer Admittedly, there's less in it for you if you don't have other Apple stuff (an iPhone and a portfolio of apps that you can use on the iPad for no extra cost for example).

Yeah, they're really good. Lows are well controlled, so both highs and mids have a chance to shine. They are great for all kinds of media See regular use at the gym, on planes and general listening when I don't fancy sitting in the listening room. I actually have the S4s as well, but the cables got chewed by the cat :/ I should look at getting them repaired really. The Triple Fi 10s are nothing like as compact as the S4s.

I did! And you're so right. A quick surf of eBay reveals that resale values on Apple gear is incredible. I actually bought a high spec Mac Pro and 2 x 24 LED Cinema displays with the 17% Higher Ed discount. I recovered all the money I paid on eBay 2 years later. Didn't lose a single penny!

And I forgot "durable" which they are. My boss / employer runs his Mac workstations and laptops for years. They seem to last longer.