Hi please can some one advise me if it’s worth getting a hi res portable player, such as A&K or Sony, if you are going to connect it to head phones or a Muso via blue tooth? I’m asking because I’ve been advised that blue tooth is low resolution so the higher quality would be lost. Thanks. Best wishes Amer
I’m afraid that I use a wired connection between my A&K Kann Ultra and my Focal Clear MG headphones. You could try the wireless Focal Bathys which offer aptX Adaptive (backwards compatible with aptX HD). These are higher level codecs. This is perhaps not value for money. I had my wired headphones already.
Sony HD players are more expensive, but better supported in the longer run. Have you listened to HD streaming and can you discern a difference with wired headphones?
Bluetooth is getting better and better, but if you want aptX HD, you will want to ensure that your player can stream this and that your headphones are fully compatible. The high-end A&K players need to be matched with a suitable headphone.
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Thanks Stokie, I have listened to HD streaming, but not from a portable player. I’ll see if any of the local dealers have Focal Bathys that I can listen to. It does come down to value for money though, as I have great Sony wireless head phones that sound good, so I’ll stick with those for a bit longer. Best wishes Amer
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The title is an oxymoron surely.
I’ve used (and in fact regularly use) some BT headphones daily connected to hi res sources (not for music) and they all suffer the same. Especially low level details. BT has a tendency to decide if the level of a sound is below a threshold (that is well above hearing), it will just dump that data. You notice this watching TV with background sounds like distant chattering in a restaurant or birds tweeting in the distance cutting in and out entirely while main dialogue and things that are above the threshold are preserved. It saves battery. Some have a “game mode” which runs the battery more but discards less. But I’d never use BT for anything serious.
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There’s a good article on Bluetooth codecs on WhatHiFi. Search “What are the best Bluetooth codecs?”
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You will need to check that both player and receiver have aptx hd as a minimum. Aptx lossless is also available but is rare. Both ends have to have the hardware and the licence to use it.
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A few members posted about their experience with Digital Music Players in this closed thread from two years ago. [DAP thread]
The Sony Walkman signature series top player WM1ZM2 is expensive, but I’d use top quality wired IEMs or over ear headphones with them as why pay over £3k to use them with bluetooth? You could see if a dealer has the Sony Walkman range and would let you listen with the Sony earphones you own?
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When we are out and about on our Narrowboat, Streaming (if I can get a 4G signal) is the perfect medium as it takes up no space to store content. I use some Bluetooth headphones for my tablet and although if you listen critically it cannot be described as high-def audio the sound is good and I enjoy it.
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Thanks for all your replies, I must admit I was hoping I could justify spending money on a better portable because the sound would be so much better! No doubt it would be better, but I would have to use decent wired headphones to hear the difference. So need to wait to see what the future brings! Best wishes Amer
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