Hi there everyone… sorry if this has been covered before, but I’ve not seen any answers yet.
My problem is, I am looking for a way to feed music into my ifi micro black label, which is portable.
I just want something to have when I go for walks.
I don’t own a phone (I know… probably the only person in UK), I dont want to pay for an expensive DAP, as I will be using the Black Label’s dac and amp (with HD650’s)… I won’t be streaming via internet etc… I can put everything I want on Flac onto a micro sd card.
I just want a portable player to send a clean signal to the Black Label.
So to sum it up.
I need the player to play hi res.
I don’t want to pay for stuff I don’t need - good dac, amp, internet streaming or anything fancy etc.
I need the player to have an output which goes into my Black Lable.
I need the player to have a reasonable battery life.
I need the player to be able to take sd card.
And that’s it.
I don’t mind paying more for a cleaner signal… but beyond that, I begrudge shelling out money for something which my Black Label will already do.
I even don’t mind buying an old phone just to use as a player, as long as it meets the above criteria.
Anyway, I’d be grateful for any help.
Thanks everyone
Something from Fiio will always work, M5 or M6 perhaps.
or even a cheap android. I’ve bought many cheap androids that work perfectly. my mother has a samsung galaxy 10a i believe is the name. costed 100 and have seen it at 80 bucks too. crazy good speed, good interface it’s just really nice. You can for sure find many cheap androids with large screens if the small fiio screen bothers you
Thanks for the replies.
I’ve been looking at Fiio’s you mentioned. The cheapest - M3K - has a phenomenal battery by the look of it, and takes an sd card… so that is a possibility. I’m struggling to find out how it’ll connect to my Black Label though. I know I could use the headphone out, but I wanted to bypass the player’s dac altogether.
As for android.
I’ve had a brief look, but as there are tons of them and I’ve no idea of different models… I don’t know if there’s any that do what I want, and have good battery life, take sd card, and have an output which bypasses their own dacs.
Any models you know which would fit the bill?
I have no experience at all with phones, and know people who’re always grumbling about them not charging properly, or holding less and less of a charge in a stupidly short amount of time… so that’s something I’d be worried about. I’m sure if I spent a ton of money I’d get one with a good charge - but I want to avoid that obviously.
Anyway, thanks again for all the help.
Sorry Jose_G… didn’t realise you’d actually mentioned a model of phone. I’ll go check that out now.
Thanks.
Pretty much any Android will work, find the one with the highest support for the OS in your budget with a microSD card as you will have more Bluetooth code options. LDAC was only added in Android 8.0 and up. The Samsung mentioned would be new enough for you.
Turn wifi off on the phone if you go that route and save some juice, usb-c out to your DAC/Amp
To connect to the BL, you’d use an OTL cable that has the Female USB-A on the end that plugs into the BL, and whatever USB type that’s compatible with the player you get on the other end, likely either USB-C or micro USB. That would send the digital signal directly to the BL to use the integrated DAC.
Well thanks for all your help sten, Jose_G, sgtdap, and FiCurious.
I think however, I’ve decided on a dap called Shanling q1… I’m afraid phones frighten me too much lol
I find them too stressful, as when I’ve had to make a call on a friend’s, I start pressing numbers on their dialling pad, and next second I’m stuck in their facebook page or something, with no idea how to get out.
The Shanling q1 plays hi-res, has good battery life, takes sd card, and connects to my Black Label via usb.
Reviews seem to suggest it is very robust and has a good user interface.
Can anyone give me a reason not to get it?
If not, I’ll probably order it later tonight.
Thanks again everyone
Cool, as long as you’ve heard from others with the Shanling USB to the Black Label sounds perfect for you! The only thing you’d really be missing on is possibly music streaming if you ever decided to do that. Otherwise enjoy!
I have no idea how to find out if anyone uses Shanling with Black Label via usb. I have searched and searched on google - typing the question in various ways, but I never seem to get any search results which relate to my inquiry.
There was one dap someone mentioned, which was about 100 us dollars that they recommended for micro black label, but over here in uk the same dap was going for around £200… which I can’t justify - not when there are cheaper options, which will hopefully be just as good, as I only want the dap as a transporter.
Anyway, the reviews I’ve read so far are all very positive about the Shanling Q1… and they all say you can use it as a digital transport via usb to an external dac… so I think I’m going to bite the bullet and just order it.
And as for streaming music, well I’m almost certain that’s not something I’m ever going to even think about. I’ve just got my albums in flac which I’ve put on a micro sd card.
Thanks Sgtdap.