Pandora As A Digital Music Source

[jamaya15]

Before I get flamed by somebody I did search through the forums to try to find an answer to the following question and turned up empty. I have a small portable amp with a DAC built in that connects via usb to any windows computer. It is this one in particular RSA Predator There are several very nice USB DACs that would be nice to use with the pandora. My question is the following.

Is it possible to connect a DAC to the pandora via usb and have it function as a source for lossless music. If the answer cannot be determined just from the product description what would you need to be able to answer yes or no. I guess another way of saying it is can the pandora be made to output digital sound via usb.

I would appreciate any help twords answering this question. Im sure there is atleast a few people in the pandora community who love quality sound who have looked into this already. Thanks in advance.

 

[Etinin]

That depends on whether the USB DAC has Linux drivers (they also must already have been ported to ARM).

 

[lippy]

That depends on whether the USB DAC has Linux drivers (they also must already have been ported to ARM).

All USB audio devices are standardized, so if there are ARM USB DAC drivers, then it will work. As for that, there are indeed drivers (gp2x had them too), and so 99.9% sure that DAC will work.

Off-topic: what headphones you driving with that DAC? (used to be interested in them....)

 

[jamaya15]

That depends on whether the USB DAC has Linux drivers (they also must already have been ported to ARM).

All USB audio devices are standardized, so if there are ARM USB DAC drivers, then it will work. As for that, there are indeed drivers (gp2x had them too), and so 99.9% sure that DAC will work.

Off-topic: what headphones you driving with that DAC? (used to be interested in them....)

Im driving some IEMS with it. Shure E530s. I find that the DAC gives everything a cleaner crisper sound. I can also hear more details for some reason.

 

[mrpham]

Slightly off-topic but I have the same pair (labelled as E500's though). I'm curious to whether how much the Predator increases the SQ of the IEM's relative to it being unamped.

That aside, hail fellow Head'Fier!

 

[jamaya15]

Slightly off-topic but I have the same pair (labelled as E500's though). I'm curious to whether how much the Predator increases the SQ of the IEM's relative to it being unamped.

That aside, hail fellow Head'Fier!

Ya head-fi forums killed my wallet. E500 and E530 are identical. Only diffrence is the accesory kit they come with. Audio is a very subjective thing but I will gladly give you my observations. It sort of makes everything crisper and clearer. Brings everything forward a bit. Its like removing a vail like having a little cotton in your ear then removing it. Is it worth the huge sums of money well that depends on how much you love music. This is a good link for portable amps as it reviews lots of em. Portable Amp Roundup I know this is off topic.

 

[lippy]

Ya head-fi forums killed my wallet.

Mine too. Although if the Pandora could attract the head-fi community it'd be nice.... they tend to have suprisingly deep pockets!!!
However, I hope they don't go extreme on us... i can just imagine claims/topics like "charging with USB cable gives worse quality sound " or even "recabling my charger with $$$ cable gave me FAR better quality"... soon we'd have a no double-blind test discussion sticky on openpandora.org lol

 

[Azure]

It's great to see some fellow Head-Fiers on here! I, too, plan on using my Pandora as my digital music source and hope to eventually use it as a transport for my home DAC (or maybe also a portable one if/when I decide to get a Pico later down the road).

 

[AireTamStorm]

All USB audio devices are standardized, so if there are ARM USB DAC drivers, then it will work. As for that, there are indeed drivers (gp2x had them too), and so 99.9% sure that DAC will work.

Actually, the majority are, however some utilize proprietary means of communication. Don't ask me why, I didn't design them. Also, even the standardized ones may use nonstandard little extras (such as volume buttons). Still, your evaluation that 99.9% of the devices out there working is correct.

 

[jamaya15]

Ya head-fi forums killed my wallet.

Mine too. Although if the Pandora could attract the head-fi community it'd be nice.... they tend to have suprisingly deep pockets!!!
However, I hope they don't go extreme on us... i can just imagine claims/topics like "charging with USB cable gives worse quality sound " or even "recabling my charger with $$$ cable gave me FAR better quality"... soon we'd have a no double-blind test discussion sticky on openpandora.org lol


This is very true but I think we should be alright as long as people realize it is a gaming machine first. The pandora should do a great job as a music player once it gets released. Im thinking more like pandora vs ipod touch in terms of discussion stickys. Not sound quality but functionality. Touch screen vs touch screen browser vs browser etc etc.

 

[Vorporeal]

It's designed to do everything, not just gaming. They had audiophiles in mind when they designed it - I remember there being a thread about audio quality a while ago, and they mentioned a lot of stuff that I don't remember (many things sounded impressive). The one bit I remember is that they're using a Burr Brown DAC.

 

[jamaya15]

I just wanted to know if I had the option to bypass the internal DAC completely. Ill see how the internal DAC sounds but I think once you go amped its hard to go back. Im all for not carrying around one more thing regardless of how small the amp is though.

 

[eksasol]

However, I hope they don't go extreme on us... i can just imagine claims/topics like "charging with USB cable gives worse quality sound " or even "recabling my charger with $$$ cable gave me FAR better quality"... soon we'd have a no double-blind test discussion sticky on openpandora.org lol

rofl. actaully the sound quality of pandora is one thing that will partly interest me. if it has decent sound output and it seem it will have a strong internal amp so i don't have to use a headphone amp. i build my own cables, rather than buying those overpriced cables.

 

[Etinin]

I'm quite sure the Pandora will have a good enough sound when paired with my AudioTechnica CK-7 headphones (not a Shure that costs hundreds but it's probly the best thing you can find for around $100).

 

[lippy]

I'm quite sure the Pandora will have a good enough sound when paired with my AudioTechnica CK-7 headphones (not a Shure that costs hundreds but it's probly the best thing you can find for around $100).

And I'm sure they'll be fine for my Koss ksc-75! Best thing you can find for about $15... lol

In all seriousness, pretty awesome value for money though...

 

[mrpham]

QUOTE

rofl. actaully the sound quality of pandora is one thing that will partly interest me. if it has decent sound output and it seem it will have a strong internal amp so i don't have to use a headphone amp. i build my own cables, rather than buying those overpriced cables.



How small (in terms of cable width) can you construct your own cables? My E500's unfortunately snapped where the cable goes into the drivers. The caveat is that there are four wires (two sets of two wires for each driver, being a dual-driver IEM) that goes into each driver so the construction must be really fine for it to fit properly. I'm willing to pay ya if you're up for it!

Now to not derail the topic so much, the beauty of the Pandora is that it has the facility to use USB devices. In the event the internal DAC is not up to par with the expectations of the more demanding listener, I'm sure a synergy can be made with external DACs via a USB connection to another device to act as the sound host.

 

[eksasol]

Off Topic, ignore

How small (in terms of cable width) can you construct your own cables? My E500's unfortunately snapped where the cable goes into the drivers. The caveat is that there are four wires (two sets of two wires for each driver, being a dual-driver IEM) that goes into each driver so the construction must be really fine for it to fit properly. I'm willing to pay ya if you're up for it!

Now to not derail the topic so much, the beauty of the Pandora is that it has the facility to use USB devices. In the event the internal DAC is not up to par with the expectations of the more demanding listener, I'm sure a synergy can be made with external DACs via a USB connection to another device to act as the sound host.

The wire that probably will work is Mogami 26g starquad link. Why don't you ask at the headfi forum, there are many builders there. You can strip of the rubber and copper braiding layer to leave just the four internal wires. I am kind of really busy with changes in my life right now so I'm not really up for it.

 

[trendy]

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=45982

audiophile class app?
I don't like no application that much atm and it really should have something done professionally. well some part of the coding like touchscreen, library ...
any audiophile devs?

I'm very interested on this but I don't have enough experience to do it. also not much time