Source for streaming audio to BT IEMs

[vkalia]

I have realised that I would rather trade off a minor drop in SQ and listen to music more often, and so am going wireless with all my IEMs (Shure 846, UM Mest Its). Got a pair

With that, I dont need a really expensive DAP - so am thinking of selling off my A&K and getting something simpler: a good UI and a BT system with LDAC/aptX. I could use a phone but I'd rather get a DAP - easier to switch off, longer battery life, etc. It also needs to be able to index a music library with about 600GB worth of music (Red Book to hi-res) - some of the cheaper Chi-fi DACs have issues with indexing more than a certain number of files (8000, etc).

Does anyone have a suggestion for a player that might fit the bill?

Thanks!

 

[chander]

and so am going wireless with all my IEMs (Shure 846, UM Mest Its). Got a pair

How are you going wireless with these? I know you get a Shure wireless kit (which if you haven't used before is cumbersome to say the least); didn't know UM made wireless kits .

a good UI and a BT system with LDAC/aptX.

It also needs to be able to index a music library with about 600GB worth of music

with these 2 constraints- Only 2 come to mind - FiiO & Sony Walkman. Now budget & feature/OS/android etc not withstanding.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a player that might fit the bill?

Not sure what exact budget you are looking at - but-
FiiO M11 - various iterations - come to mind for a complete but bulky setup
Sony - Walkman- maybe the pre-android version - the NWA55 or something - if you only want the local music capability.

Your budget may help!

 

[vkalia]

How are you going wireless with these? I know you get a Shure wireless kit (which if you haven't used before is cumbersome to say the least); didn't know UM made wireless kits .

with these 2 constraints- Only 2 come to mind - FiiO & Sony Walkman. Now budget & feature/OS/android etc not withstanding.

Not sure what exact budget you are looking at - but-
FiiO M11 - various iterations - come to mind for a complete but bulky setup
Sony - Walkman- maybe the pre-android version - the NWA55 or something - if you only want the local music capability.

Your budget may help!

I am getting the iFi Go Pods, which get really good reviews for the 2-pin Unique Melodies. The Shures are on the matching Shure adapter.

Budget - well, I already have an A&K player which has LDAC, which I can likely sell for 40-45k. In order to make the effort worth my time, I’d say 20-25k tops(else I might as well just keep the A&K)? Although price isn’t the driving factor - mainly, a smaller form factor would be nice and easier to slip into a pocket.

The Sony Walkman player is indeed at the top of my list. Trying to see if any of the more compact DAPs are able to index music correctly (it is unfreakingbelievable that so many of them still cannot!). I have a Hiby something or the other which can’t do more than 8000 songs.

 

[chander]

What do you use currently to manage your library - for Matadata tagging etc etc? If you go the Sony direction I would suggest stick to the SONY NW A55 kind of stuff, their Android DAPs are a bit buggy & the battery on these Non-android DAPs is just too much! If you have good metadata tagging program (I believe I used BeeMP3 or Media Monkey) then Sony should pick up about 90% all meta data + Album Art.

 

[vkalia]

Ah, good to know that the Android DAPs are buggy. I had 2 older Sony DAPs - NW something or the other, with their own software, and as you said, the battery life was fantastic. Wasn’t sure about Android and on general principle, the lack of a streamlined OS kinda annoys me. I dont want an effing browser and video player and social media on my DAP!

(The bulk of my music is from CDs that i spent 6-7 months ripping, tagging (with minimal tags because back then, the Fiio and even the A&K players i used would trip up with indexing albums with too many tags). This was done 7-8 years ago. Now, i have some ID3 tagging software i got off the Apple store - i dont buy too many new albums these days: maybe 1-2 a month from Presto or HDTracks).

 

[Prateek-Epitome]

iPhone 15 plus 1TB