reubensm
Well-Known Member
hey, nice thread this is actually 
I have also been an audio traditionalist and brand-addict (especially with Garrard, Technics, Nakamichi and NAD). They say, wisdom increases with age however the acceptance of change diminishes accordingly. I have made conscious attempts not to fall for being adverse to change as it was one of the key demands of my corporate life. Anyways coming back to the point, i have records, tapes and the relatively cumbersome equipment that is required to play them and then one has to clean styli, clean and demagnetize heads, clean records, store records and tapes carefully, calibrate equipment, there are weights, belts, plinths, interconnects....and the list seems to go on and on.
Then I started noticing friends listening to albums which I've been searching for unsuccessfully, on their phones. I was curious to know where they got these from, the answer - youtube. I then rather arrogantly wrote them off as users of poor quality digital files on low-end digital listening devices. Then one day i came across a Bengali Jugaad DIY video on how to make a low cost mp3 player. They were using a very low end Chinese board which had an in built FM radio and presented a stereo line output. It even had an aux input and a remote control. After doing some research at our local electronics market, I got to understand that they come in basically 4 varieties: (1) a straight forward audio mp3 board with radio, (2) an audio mp3 board with radio, but with blue tooth and (3) a video/audio board mp4/mp3 board with radio and (4) the Bluetooth version of the video/audio board. All these presented line outputs (no inbuilt amp) and came with remote controllers. An additional feature was an inbuilt pre-set equalizer.
Not being a movie guy, variety-3 and variety-4 were immediately out of the mix but i purchased one unit of variety-1 and variety-2, just to try it out. After putting together a regulated 5v powersupply (don't go with the 12v mentioned on the cardboard box unless the board has an inbuilt regulator, like the ones you'd find in Chinese car FM modulators), i connected the line outs to my NAD 3020 and had a listen using mp3 files ripped from a CD (Pink Floyd's division bell) and was quite surprised actually by the high quality of sound. I thought the simple mp3 audio board sounded much better than the blue tooth version but the blue tooth version was quite convenient actually, I could play stuff from my iPhone or internet radio via my phone, without having to invest in an expensive network audio player. If you don't use the equalizer on these boards, they actually sound quite nice. Now, at the time I was using a Marantz CD63 SE cd player and my limited listening capabilities, together with my ordinary BPL speakers, could not reveal much of a difference.
Then thought I'll try some of my friend's digital albums (they downloaded these from youtube and converted them to mp3). I was expecting to hear dull copies but was surprised to note that they sounded quite good. On enquiring I was told about how to search for HQ recordings on youtube and how to enhance the quality digitally using easily available software.
Of course, this experience did not divert me away from records and tapes but i find it very convenient. Just plug in a pen drive and let it play (all day and night). One does not have to turn over anything, change anything, clean anything or adjust anything. Quite convenient actually
I also figured out that the 'thin' sound which these boards are accused of producing, has a lot to do with using the inbuilt preset equalizer and the tonal quality of the equally low-end amplification that is normally used with them. If you use these mp3 boards with decent or audiophile amplification, they aren't that bad actually
some useful info:
i also figured out, try not to short the line outputs of these boards (can be caused by using them wired directly to an amp input, which faces the volume pot directly without a coupling capacitor, also can be caused by plugging and unplugging the interconnects while the board is functioning). If you do, you run the risk of the board going silent (everything seems to work but no output is delivered). Safe to use a small coupling network in between the board and the amplifier input, which should be carefully designed so that it does not impact the signal level or tonal quality
costs involved:
I have also been an audio traditionalist and brand-addict (especially with Garrard, Technics, Nakamichi and NAD). They say, wisdom increases with age however the acceptance of change diminishes accordingly. I have made conscious attempts not to fall for being adverse to change as it was one of the key demands of my corporate life. Anyways coming back to the point, i have records, tapes and the relatively cumbersome equipment that is required to play them and then one has to clean styli, clean and demagnetize heads, clean records, store records and tapes carefully, calibrate equipment, there are weights, belts, plinths, interconnects....and the list seems to go on and on.
Then I started noticing friends listening to albums which I've been searching for unsuccessfully, on their phones. I was curious to know where they got these from, the answer - youtube. I then rather arrogantly wrote them off as users of poor quality digital files on low-end digital listening devices. Then one day i came across a Bengali Jugaad DIY video on how to make a low cost mp3 player. They were using a very low end Chinese board which had an in built FM radio and presented a stereo line output. It even had an aux input
and a remote control. After doing some research at our local electronics market, I got to understand that they come in basically 4 varieties: (1) a straight forward audio mp3 board with radio, (2) an audio mp3 board with radio, but with blue tooth and (3) a video/audio board mp4/mp3 board with radio and (4) the Bluetooth version of the video/audio board. All these presented line outputs (no inbuilt amp) and came with remote controllers. An additional feature was an inbuilt pre-set equalizer.Not being a movie guy, variety-3 and variety-4 were immediately out of the mix but i purchased one unit of variety-1 and variety-2, just to try it out. After putting together a regulated 5v powersupply (don't go with the 12v mentioned on the cardboard box unless the board has an inbuilt regulator, like the ones you'd find in Chinese car FM modulators), i connected the line outs to my NAD 3020 and had a listen using mp3 files ripped from a CD (Pink Floyd's division bell) and was quite surprised actually by the high quality of sound. I thought the simple mp3 audio board sounded much better than the blue tooth version but the blue tooth version was quite convenient actually, I could play stuff from my iPhone or internet radio via my phone, without having to invest in an expensive network audio player. If you don't use the equalizer on these boards, they actually sound quite nice. Now, at the time I was using a Marantz CD63 SE cd player and my limited listening capabilities, together with my ordinary BPL speakers, could not reveal much of a difference.
Then thought I'll try some of my friend's digital albums (they downloaded these from youtube and converted them to mp3). I was expecting to hear dull copies but was surprised to note that they sounded quite good. On enquiring I was told about how to search for HQ recordings on youtube and how to enhance the quality digitally using easily available software.
Of course, this experience did not divert me away from records and tapes but i find it very convenient. Just plug in a pen drive and let it play (all day and night). One does not have to turn over anything, change anything, clean anything or adjust anything. Quite convenient actually
I also figured out that the 'thin' sound which these boards are accused of producing, has a lot to do with using the inbuilt preset equalizer and the tonal quality of the equally low-end amplification that is normally used with them. If you use these mp3 boards with decent or audiophile amplification, they aren't that bad actually
some useful info:
i also figured out, try not to short the line outputs of these boards (can be caused by using them wired directly to an amp input, which faces the volume pot directly without a coupling capacitor, also can be caused by plugging and unplugging the interconnects while the board is functioning). If you do, you run the risk of the board going silent (everything seems to work but no output is delivered). Safe to use a small coupling network in between the board and the amplifier input, which should be carefully designed so that it does not impact the signal level or tonal quality
costs involved:
- Variety-1 is around Rs.150
- Variety-2 is around Rs.180-220 depending on the seller (and whether the board is boxed individually or not)
- Variety-3 is around Rs.300
- Variety-4 is around Rs.350
- a small box metal box for mounting the board could cost under Rs.100 (you can repurpose any little box and drop this one )
- PSU - a 5 volt regular and a pair of 0.01 mfd caps and 1000mfd (12 v) caps will cost you Rs.15-20, the rest of the PSU can be salvaged from a mobile phone charger which is not in use
- RCA plugs, about Rs.10
- a 2-pin AC mains chord, about Rs.15
- assuming you'd already have a pen drive but if you want to buy one, go for the lower sized sandisk ones, they seem to last forever and cost under Rs.400
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