Is there a loss in audio quality by directly connecting aux + phone to amp?

[otakii901]

Currently my phone is my source of music, and with no Bluetooth/USB recieved on my amp (running arcam a85) and am forced to connect directly with a cheap aux cable.
Is there a loss of quality? I'm running lossless flies due to hi res support on the Xperia z3 but I want to know if the cheap cable is reducing the quality or the fact I'm using an aux in general.
Is there a better alternative or is there no quality loss using an aux?
Cheers

 

[otakii901]

It's unlikely the cable will be a weak link unless it's especially thin and poorly made. The input on your amp won't be a weak link, all the inputs should sound as good as each other. The limiting factor will be the sound quality from the headphone socket on your phone.

Hmm is there any alternative to a physical connection? Such as a bluetooth connection? I know the a85 doesn't have a USB port so is that out of the question?

 

[MajorFubar]

It's unlikely the cable will be a weak link unless it's especially thin and poorly made. The input on your amp won't be a weak link, all the inputs should sound as good as each other. The limiting factor will be the sound quality from the headphone socket on your phone. I'm not saying your phone sounds bad, but that's the limiting factor not the cable or which line-input you use on an amp.

 

[Vladimir]

Y Adaptor cable

 

[otakii901]

Chromecast Audio

Thanks! That's what I was looking for, though wouldn't that have the same problem? The output jack of the chromecast would face the same issue as the output jack of the phone or am I missing something?

 

[MajorFubar]

Hmm is there any alternative to a physical connection? Such as a bluetooth connection? I know the a85 doesn't have a USB port so is that out of the question?

Not at all, you can buy bluetooth adaptors such as the Arcam rBlink, or if that's scared your wallet you can buy the Project Bluetooth Box or even this one from Maplin's, which of course isn't going to win sound quality awards at that price but the reviews suggest it at least works. Vlad's suggestion not a bad idea either.

 

[otakii901]

Chromecast Audio

Thanks! That's what I was looking for, though wouldn't that have the same problem? The output jack of the chromecast would face the same issue as the output jack of the phone or am I missing something?

 

[Vladimir]

If you insist on Bluetooth, make sure the receiver and your phone are BT 4.0 and Apt-X capable. That will ensure good sound quality of at least 354kbps.

As per Major's suggestions, the Arcam and Project have BT 4.0 with Apt-X, the Philips only BT 2.1 and wont sound as good.

 

[otakii901]

From the looks of it wifi is the way to go, I think I'll go with the chromecast, though as I stated earlier is there still the loss of quality from the chromecast jack as with the phone jack

 

[Vladimir]

From the looks of it wifi is the way to go, I think I'll go with the chromecast, though as I stated earlier is there still the loss of quality from the chromecast jack as with the phone jack

I don't have one, so I can't confirm.

To make the best of what you have right now, don't keep the phone output at 100%. Feel free to turn up your Arcam more.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Think your cable is the problem...

 

[spiny norman]

Is there a better alternative?

The better alternative, though not a cheap one, would be to use the phone with an offboard DAC between it and the amp, connecting using an Android On The Go (OTG) cable. There's a number of pocket-sized DACs designed for just this purpose, including models from Denon, Onkyo and Teac, as well as the favourably reviewed Chord Mojo, and this web-page will give you more info on how it's done.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Depends on phone? Some have good dacs...

 

[Al ears]

Depends on phone? Some have good dacs...

Best not, the phones DAC is not brilliant.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Are all phone dacs poor? I put my ipod touch 4 thru my kit..sounded good wolfson dac in ipod. Im going to assume iphone similar.think new apple stuff has cirrus dac? And these special dacs for phones how do they work? Is it usb? My dac magic only takes co ax or optical..so i cant play ipod thru dac magic..if theres a gizmo out there that enables me to hook up ipod to dac magic? Think i would try it out.

 

[Vladimir]

The DAC inside your phone is absolutely no issue at all. The problem is the analogue section that follows it. Even if they are done as a single IC, they are two different things.

I noticed a lot of ignorance and shilling on Head-Fi, I'd avoid that forum for obtaining any usefull information. Most members (who are admitedly of the younger population) don't differentiate between DACs and amplifiers.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Hi.the analogue section? Is that still within the phone or in pre amp...my phone sounds not so good thru hifi yet ipod sounds quite acceptable? My phone is a windows one.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Slightly off topic, i have a sony hi res walkman and put thru hifi it seems quiet even with walkman volume on full...is there a mini amp that could bring up the volume? Would my phono stage do the job?

 

[MeanandGreen]

There are Arcam docking stations specifically for Apple iOS products such as iPhone & iPod which docs your device and has an RCA output for connection to a hi fi system. They are the Arcam irdock and the drdock. The drdock also docks iPads and it extracts the digital signal from your docked device hence bypassing it's internal DAC/analogue section completely.

The drdock also has a coaxial digital out as well as it's RCA output, so you have the option of using the docks DAC or an external DAC of your choice.

My iTunes libarary is played back through my main system via an iPod touch docked through an Arcam drdock which then feeds the DAC in my Pioneer CD-R which in my hi fi gives the best results.

The limiting factor of using the 3.5mm jack on your phone for hi fi use is only the quality of the amplifier section in your phone and any eq setting you may have activated in the phones music software.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Does the arcam dock amplify the signal to amp? Is your pioneer dac better than the arcam? Im assuming it is coz your using the pioneer dac..is yours a touch 4? Did you try thru mini to rca into pre amp? With eq off...is it a massive difference? With the arcam to pioneer..sorry for all the questions but im very interested as i use my ipod touch thru my hifi...one last question? How was arcam dac thru your kit?

 

[MeanandGreen]

Does the arcam dock amplify the signal to amp? Is your pioneer dac better than the arcam? Im assuming it is coz your using the pioneer dac..is yours a touch 4? Did you try thru mini to rca into pre amp? With eq off...is it a massive difference? With the arcam to pioneer..sorry for all the questions but im very interested as i use my ipod touch thru my hifi...one last question? How was arcam dac thru your kit?

The volume of the docked device can be altered if you are using the RCA output of the dock, so the dock does have a preamp section yes. However I feel that this isn't as good as just bypassing that altogether and feeding the digital signal to my Pioneer, it takes all unnecessary circuits out of the chain.

The Arcam drdock sounds incredibly good when using it's own DAC. It just sounds slightly duller than my Pioneer (I am talking slightly) but it's enough to be able to tell the difference and I prefer the sound of the Pioneer.

I am am using a 4th gen touch yes, previously I had it connected up with the Arcam irdock which doesn't bypass the iPods DAC, it's just a fancy pre amp for your device with RCA outputs. It was in my head that the drdock must be better because it bypasses all analogue sections of the iPod. So I bought the digital drdock. The reality was the drdock sounded no better than the irdock (both sound incredibly good). I experimented a little and concluded that the digital drdock connected to a digital input on my Pioneer CD-R sounded the best.

Given that my CD-R, my CD Player & my Blu Ray Player all sound the same with CD quality music I gather that they are all pretty accurate to the source material. Hence my conclusion that the CD-R DAC is better than the DAC/pre amp in the Arcam drdock, given that there is a subtle drop in top end clarity with the dock on it's own.

I've never tried the 3.5mm to RCA leads. My amp has a 3.5mm input jack for portables and I've never tried that either.

Hope my long winded post makes sence? 🙂

 

[drummerman]

+1 Chromecast Audio.

For a start you are wireless. Further down the line you could add a DAC if you are unhappy with the SQ but at £30 a pop I don't think you could really go wrong.

 

[Vladimir]

Hi.the analogue section? Is that still within the phone or in pre amp...my phone sounds not so good thru hifi yet ipod sounds quite acceptable? My phone is a windows one.

DAC (Digital Audio Converter) as the name suggests, merely does the conversion. Further the analogue signal passes filters and gain stages. On a phone it is very unlikely the analogue stage is up to snuff compared to hi-fi separates, but some manage to sound decent.

 

[keeper of the quays]

Thanks for the response..yes perfect sense.cheers.

 

[spiny norman]

DAC (Digital Audio Converter) as the name suggests

Digital to Analogue Converter, but almost right.