Old phones as streaming sources


   I'm curious how many  of you have converted old phones to streamers. I have found  that when I remove the sim card and shut off blue tooth and wire the phone to a dac with an appropriate USB adapter cable, my old iphone 6s makes a pretty good streamer. Just wondering what others experiance has been. It is a really economical way to source digital to a 2nd or 3rd system. You can even cut electronic noise further by running on battery power when listening and shutting off the screen once the music is rolling. Going one step further would be to transfer local files to the phones memory and turn off wireless altogether. I have not done this but theoretically it should help. I usually just run the Qobuz app and stream from that to my Chord Mojo. What's your experiance?

 

Ag insider logo xs@2xbruce19

though I would never recommend an Aurender or its ilk as I think they are dramatically overpriced for what you get

@mdalton Yeah, that’s just absurd IMHO.

You also didn’t spend a bunch on a streamer, opting for the zen, which seems smart to me

Yeah, I didn’t but even without the DDC I heard a huge improvement over an iPhone/iPad.  Hey, but if you think an iPhone is a great streamer then you do you.  If you can’t hear the difference I feel pretty sorry for you.

@soix 

of course you heard the difference without the ddc!  that was precisely my point!  your dac is not immune to noise.  so there was an obvious difference between the phone and the zen.  that’s what I would have predicted!

@soix I respect your contributions to other threads but frankly in this one you have not brought much to the table other than relying on cost and other peoples opinions to support your view. I was already aware of those items before I started the thread. You said you used an iphone and did not like it, did you try some of the things mentioned in this thread to optimize it before you wrote it off?

You are right noise is an issue but if you shut down un-needed services on the phone you are left with a capable battery powered streamer. You can't get a more quiet power supply than a battery. I'm not saying it is the ultimate streamer but I suspect it may be better than many.  You made an earlier comment

the iPhone is not a great streamer — in fact it pretty much sucks IME.  It’s functional but so is a Toyota Corolla — doesn’t make it a great car.

That's a pretty good analogy because I think the Corolla is a great car if you are looking for reliable, economical transportation. It does everything a Lexus does for a lot less and allows you to put your remaining money to use on something you consider more worthwhile. You do know that frequently more than half of the materials cost of a piece of hifi gear is in the case, right? For some that is worth it ,for others there are better uses of the dough.

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@soix 

You seem very angry.  I’ve complimented your decisions about your system, and i meant it!  But you’ve accused me of bad judgment, called me a fool, and described my well-supported opinions as absurd.  I’m pretty sure that we would find each other’s systems to be awesome.  So I’d recommend that you ratchet back the acrimony, and try to find the love of the hobby that we share.