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Fairphone Fairbuds launch with replaceable batteries, titanium drivers and ANC
(www.notebookcheck.net)
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this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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As a DJ and audiophile in general, yeah I'm not thrilled on headphones using batteries and Bluetooth. I'll give up my hard-line when I'm dead.
Sure, some wireless for exercise or casual use is fine. Full deal breaker if I'm performing though.
You're doing DJ performance from a phone?
Towards the end of my DJ'ing career, I was to the point of showing up to a venue (that had an existing sound system) on my motorcycle with my controller, headphones, microphone (that didn't smell like beer breath) and laptop in a backpack. I'd just plug in and go. But even then the idea of DJ'ing from just a phone or tablet seemed weird to me. I understood the appeal of it but....
The sticking point for most people is stereo. When you throw on AC/DC, you expect to hear the guitar out of the just one speaker but when DJ'ing a large room that doesn't work. Half the room hears the guitar and the other half just hears high hat. So you end up flipping the mono switch, ya know, just for that one song. Then eventually you've done three gigs in a row and realize that it's been mono the whole time and no-one noticed, not even you.
Headphones jacks have two audio out channels. We typically think of them as left and right, but they aren't, that's just how most people use them. Once you get past the mono idea, you realize you have two distinct audio outputs on your phone or tablet. If the music software can do the mono summing instead of the mixer, then then you can hook the "left" output cable to mixer ch 1, and the "right" to ch 2, and play different songs out each. Make sure the same output of the mixer goes to both speakers and you're in business. You just need dj'ing software that can play two different songs at the same time on your phone and interface with a controller, probably via bluetooth.
Now you can show up to a party with just your phone that you were already carrying anyway, plug in to their controller, and make a surprise appearance.
It still weirds me out, but modern phones have the horsepower to do this. They certainly don't have the disk space for a terabyte library, so you aren't going to work a six hour wedding with an iphone, but there are TB SD cards so certain Androids could certainly do this.
There's probably also software that will do everything over bluetooth so a completely wireless phone could work.
I've been out of the game for over a decade. I can't imagine how far the controllers and software have come and don't want to find out because I'm sure my poor wallet can't handle it.
Excellent points, appreciate the write up. Better said than I could myself.
I will also note that in my personal experience phone was more of a hail mary when I'd be doing like a wedding reception or private party and needed a tune for client that wasn't already in my USBs. When the tip depends on it, yes, I absolutely DJ with the phone.
For a while, youtube was a life saver for new songs.
I agree modern phones have the horsepower to do a full on audio production; how does a 3.5mm jack help in this setup that a multi-bus USB-C DAC or mixer can't do a better job than a driver that's confined to 5mm of space?
A DAC is definitely the better option in my opinion, especially if your phone doesnt have great audio quality.
When the controllers first came out, they'd cheap out by making the computer process the audio. My first Bherringer controller would convert the mic input to digital and send it to the computer to mix on the sound card. If the computer was disconnected you couldnt use the mic or hook up a cd player.
Some people are just cheap and manufactures will make whatever people will buy. The phone already has audio, so the controller is just that: a bunch of buttons. You dont have speakers built into a keyboard or mouse. A controller is just an HID.
I'm not a DJ, but I can listen to high end audio from 3.5mm, even a phone, and you just can't over Bluetooth. Its lossy janky and barely a standard.
There is also the latency if you are playing games with audio cues.
Oh. Oh god ive never even tried that. That sounds horrible.
Rhythm game enthusiast use wired headphones & kernel+pipewire settings to further reduce latency—as do musicians for recording on playback. Pro gamers use wired peripherals too for inputs & some even go analog for monitors for lower latency. Is it a stretch to say “wireless” is shorthand for “casual”? 🤔
Musicians (at least in studio) tend to use wired for the quality, which just does not exist in wireless. Less a latency thing. Live performers tend to use a monitor (speaker pointed back at them) AFAIK.
I use Guitarix to emulate effects when jamming by myself & the latency matters quite a lot when trying to hear the audio in my in-ear monitors. I couldn’t image using wireless from the bass guitar back to the laptop back to ear buds… would be too much lag to where you wouldn’t be hearing exactly what you are playing & a lot of folks mention using JACK & different kernel parameters for the latency, but I am no expert in these topics.
AptX over Bluetooth is lossless and has been available since 2016. Android only though.
No, it isn't. It just has higher bitrates, but still not enough for lossless.
If that's true it seems like the name is fooling people
https://www.whathifi.com/advice/aptx-lossless-what-is-the-breakthrough-bluetooth-codec-how-can-you-get-it
Saying that AptX is lossless since 2016 is blatantly false. And yes, just like with HDMI and USB, AptX standard naming and Qualcomm feature naming schemes are a misleading mess.
There are 4 flavours of AptX (linked article states this as well), and only the latest supports lossless, but is available only on very few chipsets and devices so I even forget that it exists, because for all practical purposes it doesn't.
Denon Perl Pro, Bose earbuds and Cambridge Audio M100 are the only non-chinese earphones that I know of that support AptX lossless and the latter are not even listed by my local importer. Plus, you need a very specific (expensive) phone to use them because AptX Lossless is not available for all chipsets. Basically, Asus ROG 8 or Xiaomi Redmi K70 Pro for ones available to buy for me, and then it's not available at every retailer, either, and the b2b wholesalers I have access to through work only list ROG Phone 8 (~1200€ retail).
In conclusion, to make use of lossless AptX you have to jump through many hoops and spend a lot of money—700+€ phone and the 200+€ earphones. The standard is far from being, well, a standard; common and widespread. 99,9% of devices on sale and in use by people only support older AptX standards, mostly AptX HD (which is not lossless!).
My experience of Bluetooth has always been settings that I can't change, security issues, and devices that run different implementations on both ends. See 'barely a standard', even when the box for each reads the same standard number.
Which is why I'm so reluctant to call it a standard; it isnt standardized.