New Ways to Pursue an Old Love

I have always loved music. As a teen I would never have dreamed of what is available now. Used to be a visit to a record store meant 'maybe' the purchase of one album. Today I can add as many albums to my streaming account as I want and listen to them as much as I want for about the price of one album per month. And I can carry around that ever growing collection in my pocket.

It seemed so simple. Streaming from YouTube music sounded ok but I kept reading about hi-res streaming and the many advantages. 

I researched a better set of headphones. I wanted the sound that I remember from a set of Toshiba, a very wide sound stage where different instruments can be heard in the various parts of your head. Drums bass and vocals down the middle with guitar mostly on one side and keyboards on the other. Listen to Hotel California on the Eagles Hell Freezes Over album as a great example.

My research brought me to the Philips Fidelio X2HR. Very comfortable and with a very wide sound stage. I found them on Ebay and paid half of the current Amazon price.

I tried a ddHifi DAC (digital audio converter) that plugged into the usb-c port on my phone. A big sarcastic thank you to Apple for starting the trend of dropping headphone jacks. 

I thought I could hear a difference but wasn't sure. I returned the small piece of hardware. I tried another with bluetooth and it failed to provide an uninterrupted stream of music. Returned. I tried another DAC and eventually sold it. DACs serve as both the device that converts the digital signal from the music stream to an analog signal that headphones can turn into music. They can also serve as a headphone amplifier because the phone does not have enough power to provide enough volume on many headphones.

I had given up but after another month and more research I found the answer. It was not the equipment but the source. An Android phone plays everything at the same bitrate, regardless of the external dac.

I purchased a Hidizs DH80s dac/amp with its own battery during a spring sale. I tried a hi-res Qobuz account which requires another app. It worked, I could finally hear the difference but the app was not great. I tried Tidal which recently underwent a price reduction! The app is terrific. It includes artist bios and track credits listing the musicians, engineers and producers. Lyrics, daily suggestions and very up to date. You can have Spotify, it has promised hi-res but not delivered.

Next a set of Hidizs MS3 iems and I was all set for every kind of listening. I'm spending lots of time just listening to music new and old, no distractions, eyes often closed, just listening. I'm trying artists I never would have considered and enjoying more and more of them. If I find a recommendation for an album that is well recorded, I'll give it a spin stream.