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Marshall releases their own phone?

twister6 said:
Wolfson was acquired by Cirrus Logic last year, and the rest is history. Used to be high end a few years back[...]
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I suggest that you check out the current product lineup. Wolfson R&D is still alive and well - CL didn't spend millions just to acquire a name.

Incidentally, not all audiophiles (dictionary definition: music lovers) are either made of money or fond of complication. A one-box solution that offers a CD-quality (or better) listening experience for 500 notes is sure to be attractive.

EarlyMon said:
If the Mi Note is better, it's because of the amplifiers - something that we haven't heard about with the London.
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A "two-stage amplifier" sound much like the hifi-standard power/pre combo, no?

All I can find on the WM8281's amplifier stage is:
  • Speaker Amplifier Features
    • Digital input via multi-bit Delta-Sigma mono DAC
    • Advanced ΔΣ closed-loop architecture
    • 4.4 W into 8 Ω @ 10% THD+N
    • 3.5 W into 8 Ω @ 1% THD+N
  • Boost Converter Features
    • Programmable boost voltages of up to 8.0 V
    • Integrated boost and commutation FETs
    • High bandwidth allows Class H tracking of audio signal
  • Monitoring and Reporting Features
    • VP and VBST supply voltage monitoring and reporting
    • Amplifier output voltage monitoring
    • Integrated amplifier output current monitoring
    • Monitoring data output via audio/data serial port
  • Protection Features
    • Master clock (MCLK) and external “keep alive” watchdog
    • IC over-temperature foldback and protection
    • Amplifier short-circuit protection
  • System Features
    • Programmable and maskable interrupts
    • Supports both audio-based MCLK rates and USB-based MCLK rates
    • Supports a wide range of sample rates, from 8 kHz to 48 kHz, including 44.100 kHz
    • Dual-mode audio/data serial port (ADSP)
    • I²C control port
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This assumes the WM8281 codec is paired with the recommended CS35L33 amp IC, which isn't a given.
 
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I have no idea how either Marshall or Mi Note going to sound. Not making a judgment or comparison, m8s. Not even commenting on phone performance. Just a pure audio speculation based on reading a spec. Neither of them can compete with a dedicate hi-res DAP.

In pro-audio, Wolfson used to be popular a few years back (AK Jr just recycled this old DACs, used in their old AK models 2 year ago). Right now ESS and AKM are the top audiophile DACs, and you are right - amp section makes or breaks the sound. With an exception of AK Jr, I'm not aware of any audio manufacturer releasing anything new in the last year using Wolfson DAC.

Talking about audiophile quality is very subjective. As one of the Contributor/Reviewers on Head-fi.org I receive and review dozens of headphones, amps, dac, and DAPs every month, and also post my detailed reviews on AF (and mirror on XDA): http://androidforums.com/threads/twister-reviews-of-android-accessories-and-gadgets.796475/ - and I can tell you that average or even above average consumer is not going to hear a difference between Note 4 or Marshall phone or $3.5k AK380 while playing regular 320kbps mp3s or even streaming hi-res files from Tidal. Audiophiles are a snobby breed that listens to DSD files with 600 ohm cans through tube amps :p With trained ears you can hear a difference.

I just look at this from a different perspective, and that was an intention of my comment. At one point Wolfson was the top DAC and was used across EU phone releases (here in US we never had Sammy version with Wolfson). It's still a great DAC, but not a top dog anymore. Would anybody on AF or XDA care about it? Not really. But in audio communities, like head-fi and others - they wouldn't take it seriously ;)
 
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Personally I think the debates over high end DACs is snake oil on par with thousand dollar power cables on amps. Many "audiophiles" hear what their wallet and online forums tell them to hear. It's a bragging rights based hobby.
 
Gmash said:
Personally I think the debates over high end DACs is snake oil on par with thousand dollar power cables on amps. Many "audiophiles" hear what their wallet and online forums tell them to hear. It's a bragging rights based hobby.
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I loll'ed when I saw this post & had to share this:
 
Gmash said:
Personally I think the debates over high end DACs is snake oil on par with thousand dollar power cables on amps. Many "audiophiles" hear what their wallet and online forums tell them to hear. It's a bragging rights based hobby.
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Yeah, that's the anti-audiophile battle cry.

Your ears are phenomenally advanced sensors - your eyes are primitive and need a huge wetware processor to decode things and are easily fooled.

Yet everyone just accepts how great vision is and how audiophiles are whacked.

You can hear more than you think, but you have to remove the psychological bias against it to do so.

And quite a bit can really disturb audio signals.

Not everything expensive in the audio world is worth it.

Just quite a bit.
 
What I know regarding all-things-audio could fit on a thimble for an infants thumb.
But,I appreciate the expertise & opinions from those better versed on the subject.
That's why I'm following this thread,that & no doubt,no coincidence, a cool & familiar crowd make for great conversation & comraderie.
Oh,on the I don't know squat proclamation,I do know Viper4Android does make a difference vs any stock on phones I've come across.....
 
KOLIO said:
What I know regarding all-things-audio could fit on a thimble for an infants thumb.
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whew! I'm not the only one! I know less than that! :D

KOLIO said:
But,I appreciate the expertise & opinions from those better versed on the subject..
That's why I'm following this thread,that & no doubt,no coincidence, a cool & familiar crowd make for great conversation & comraderie.
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Me too!

KOLIO said:
..the rest is snipped :D
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Not anti-audiophile, I love good sound. Some use common sense, some like to throw money into microscopic changes that may or may not be an improvement. At this point in the technology any good DAC should be able to do the job it's asked to do.
 
mikedt said:
Debates and arguments involving audiophile matters are often the best and most passionate. :D
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Very true. I've seen threads on AVS forum with arguments about snake oil speaker wire that go on for pages and pages. They often make the Android vs iPhone debates look downright civil by comparison. :p
 
Gmash said:
Very true. I've seen threads on AVS forum with arguments about snake oil speaker wire that go on for pages and pages. They often make the Android vs iPhone debates look downright civil by comparison. [emoji14]
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Probably because with audiophile matters the stakes can be much higher, Frankly there's only so much you can spend on a smart-phone....LOL That snake oil speaker wire might be costing you $200 or more a yard.
 
I was AES-certified and a certified Yamaha Pro Audio specialist, back in the mid-to-late 1990s. In 1998, I went to an AES convention in SF, CA at the Moscone Center - you could see the movement of digital audio moving to HD, instead of the ADAT VHS-tape format.

Now, with solid state data storage, and the increase in memory size in memory cards, digital audio - without latency - can be achieved, especially if your recording is at 24-bit wordlength, 48 kHz sampling rate.

The Nyquist limit at that setting, with all audio being input at +4 dbU or higher, at 0 db (at unity gain) should still yield a very crisp audio reproduction - with a Nyquist Limit of around 24 kHz. It's still a theorem, but, it's been proven to be accurate.

It would be great for demos, et cetera. How much things have grown, in the digital audio field! I'm still playing catch-up.

To have the ability to achieve good recordings on an Android smartphone would be absolutely wonderful!

@mikedt, I know that you've heard of Fast Tech. My lady and I ordered some vaping mods from them July 3; they arrived on the 14th, and what was mentioned in this thread (and others) happened to us. It took nearly two weeks to get a return merchandise authorization... I should've consulted you, when it comes to the Chinese language. Everyone, be happy. :)
LW
 
LOveWerks said:
Now, with solid state data storage, and the increase in memory size in memory cards, digital audio - without latency - can be achieved, especially if your recording is at 24-bit wordlength, 48 kHz sampling rate.
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You need to try 24-bit @ 192kHz through the new breed of HD-capable smartphones. :D
 
LOveWerks said:

@mikedt, I know that you've heard of Fast Tech. My lady and I ordered some vaping mods from them July 3; they arrived on the 14th, and what was mentioned in this thread (and others) happened to us. It took nearly two weeks to get a return merchandise authorization... I should've consulted you, when it comes to the Chinese language. Everyone, be happy. :)
LW
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Frankly I don't know much about vaping and e-cig products. But if it's Chinese wholesalers, could be as off-brand and cheapo as the tablets and phones they sell. However this is something you're inhaling and putting nicotine into your body with them, are e-cig products bought on-line from China regulated and approved by the FDA?

I know this is OT in this thread of course.

BTW It's great that this Marshall phone seems to have had much more interesting and lively discussion than any new Samsung phone seems to get these days.
 
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To the OT reply: I don't buy e-liquid from Fast Tech; only the clearomizer mods, and power mods that are also sold (and approved) over here, but, at near-wholesale prices. For example, my e-liquid comes from Miamisburg, OH - it's called NicQuid, and my flavor of choice is 'Daybreak'.

@Slug, I would love to try it (192 kHz) in the 'real' recording realm, not just 2-track program
audio.

Like I said, I'm still
playing catch-up... I love
recording music live, but
the last computer setup I
had from PreSonus
didn't work well with
MIDI (in a PC, running
Winblows 8.1) - which, is
pushing me into finding another way of recording. If I could run audio in and out of the Marshall phone, digitally via USB > mini Android USB, and a have a mixer with inputs and a control surface (faders) - I'd be thrilled.

LW :)
 
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Some one needs to invent headphones with a pair of stereo speakers in each housing and individual plugs for left and right. Combined with the Marshall London (innit?) It would be the return of Quadrophonic Sound but for your head. Do I need a prototype to secure a patent?
 
Prototypes aren't required for patents.

Your biggest problem is prior art -

92df9e6ae9dd2c2e2622650f55036d86.jpg


180px-SigmaPro.jpg


Stax SR-Sigma (semi panoramic), 1977 - a phased array of electrostatics whose primary elements fired from in front of your ears, at an angle directed at the outer ears, with separate ambiance elements that fired from the rear (sorta from the rear, sorta direct but not really), across a chamber - not firing directly into your ear canal.

They ushered in the modern era of binaural (not stereo) listening, and today includes binaural recordings.

I had a pair of those as well.

Compared to a properly set up quadraphonic system, the quadraphonics generally sucked. They were more like the Bang and Olufsen 4 speaker ambiance system than anything else at the time.

Definitely not like listening to a pair of conventional stereo headphones.
 
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Please tell me you didn't wear them outside. I know it was the 70's but D...! I had a system from SOUNDDESIGN back then that was quadrophonic. It looked a lot like this one shown in the first 15 seconds of this repair video. Frankly a regular Pioneer Stereo receiver sounded better. I think it had something to do with the speakers. I don't think Marshall was making speakers back then other than for their instrument amplifiers. I'd love to try one of Marshall London things out. I wonder if T-mobile will have them?
 
That kind of stuff was way out of my pay grade. Heck back then I was still in high school and a part-time usher in a movie theater at $1.25 an hour. I didn't even see a real stereo until I got into college. The kid next door to me had BOSE 501's on the wall and something like your picture driving them. I think it was by McCintosh IIRC. At least I have a chance at getting this Marshall phone. It seems very affordable.
 
Back then I worked in audiophile design and manufacturing. I have copies of the schematics for all of Saul Marantz's original tube (valve) equipment. One he didn't have, so he Xeroxed the original hand-drawn one and gave me that. Truly one of my treasures from my up and coming days. :) And I was able to cheat - I got buddy or dealer discounts on a lot of what I owned back then. ;) :p
 
EarlyMon said:
Music lovers and audiophiles thrive on root mods.

Transported-by-root audio mods I have seen - Beats, Sony Bravia, DSP Manager, M8 HK, Project ERA, Dragon-FI, Dolby.

If Marshall is stupid, they'll lock it down for fear that people will take their audio software libraries.

If they understand their market, the bootloader will be easily unlocked, making a proper root very easy, so people can mix and match favorite audio software components.

I predict that if it's locked down, it'll be a high profile target as soon as devs get on to it.

If not locked down, it's going to be open season for audio devs.
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That's what I was thinking. Like Sony, you can root, but at first (and still now if you don't backup) unlocking the bootloader breaks DRM keys and you lose Bravia etc :(
 
SavageRobot said:
That's what I was thinking. Like Sony, you can root, but at first (and still now if you don't backup) unlocking the bootloader breaks DRM keys and you lose Bravia etc :(
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That's such a silly, artificial use of DRM.

Which - Sony Entertainment wrote the book on. :rolleyes:

Only Sony does that AFAIK, so I don't expect that particular move by Marshall. Would certainly hope not!
 
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