Thanks for the ideas!
1 Like
A different General Purchase Advice question
I am looking for an Android tablet to use for mostly audio - related stuff
Years ago, I used to project manage developers, and had to keep a range of systems around to reality-check the engineers. Even now, I like to maintain some familiarity with electrónica outside my Apple eco-system. Make no mistake, my daily drivers are Apple. Except for an old Windows laptop and work Windows, my personal computing is MacBook Pro, 3 iPads, iPhone. I also put Linux on my old computer(s).
I had a Motorola ZOOM, which is stuck on Honeycomb, I think, then I bought an Android 8 cheap generic phablet, and found that updates were lacking, even with hacking,
SO…
I run ROON. I’ve paid for UAPP. I want to see what’s on the Android side, how it works, looks, and if there is anything that is must have.
My requirements:
Not too big, not too small. Don’t want a 12 inch screen, 8, 9 or 10 is fine. Must be modern and supported, not repeating the above mistake. Prefer Android 12 now with promise of 13 or 13 now.
I don’t need/want to pay for an extra phone line, wi-fi OK.
Desireable: Did they ever fix any of the droid system so UAPP isn’t needed? Actual headphone port is useful. Enough storage for some local songs.
Concern- Is Samsung - an obvious choice - too proprietary? Is it better to wait until the new PIXEL tablet is ready? Google/Pixel’s history with tables and support is questionable.
Price Range - $800 or less preferred.
Curious: Are there any specific Apps or hardware for Droid that I should look into for headphone/audio because it’s been 2-3 years since I really looked.
Thank You: in advance for responses. Apologies: if this is too far from the general thread, @SenyorC @Torq feel free to move and/or create new thread if needed.
I don’t think Samsung is too proprietary by any means.
I work in that industry, so I’m quite familiar with the range of choices. Samsung is pretty much it on the Android side.
What Samsung (and others) do is put their own semi-proprietary skin or overlay on top of Android to “improve” the user experience. In Samsung’s case it’s called “One UI”, but underlying it is stock Android.
I generally strip away as much of their crap as I can, and use stock Android apps, e.g. Google Assistant instead of Bixby, Chrome or Firefox instead of the Samsung browser, etc. Samsung seems to feel the need to reinvent the wheel with most of their add-ons, which in many cases are either inferior or add little of benefit.
For music apps I honestly mostly use Apple Music (ha!), which is available for Android. I’ve also used VLC and Rocket Player (a paid app) for local playback with good results.
I can’t really recommend a specific model, but something in the Tab S series is a better tablet than the A series, which are more entry level.
I hope this helps some!
2 Likes
Welcome to the forum! Can I ask what the headphones will be plugged into? If it’s just a phone or a laptop, you might want to factor in a dongle or portable dac/amp into your £500 budget, in addition to headphones.
Agreed. It’s odd that Google hasn’t invested in the tablet market the same way Apple has with their iPad. A consistent pure Android Nexus/Pixel tablet released every so often would be great! There’s supposedly one due out next year.
Good point! I’d rec the DCA Aeon X, but it really benefits from decent power.
1 Like
From what I recall reading several years back, Google received substantial pushback upon wading into the phone/tablet/notebook market. Their partners (i.e., Samsung, LG, etc.) didn’t want to compete against Google as a quasi Apple. They might have, but the other vendors would have taken the public portions of Linux/Android and walked away from Google. It’s not unlike the situation facing Microsoft in the 1990s: they were the king of the desktop market but with 1,000 hardware brands. High volume, low profit, nothing unique or special about Windoze.
At that time Apple then danced around it’s its Mac walled garden sniffing flowers and counting the ways they would not conform.
There really isn’t much choice in the 8" market (I prefer the 8"), most options are 10" and above.
I am personally not a huge fan of Samsung, they do make some good stuff but they also (IMO) overcharge for it. They also seem to add more bloatware every day.
A decent value for money tablet is the Xiaomi Mi Pad 5, less than half your budget (even less when picked up on sale) and decent specs. For the use you are planning on giving it, it should be more than enough performance wise.
But you know me, I’m a cheap skate 
1 Like
Nice looking. Does it have a headphone jack and a microSD storage slot?
That could very well be. If only they manufactured their own SoCs and processors…
If it’s going to be Android, why not just get a DAP.
I use an older Fiio that I can connect and use with all DACs, amps and dongles in my portfolio, or just as a standalone playback device.
This is Roon compatible, extremely flexible and also specially designed for musical specification.
Just a thought 
That looks like a killer pad for the money. But it runs on MIUI for Pad, which is not obviously Android of any particular flavor. I do want to stay more current with Android.
It looks like the Lenovo tables are about a revision behind Samsung when it comes to OS. Samsung says they have a 4 year OS update guarantee for the S series and 2 for the A series, so for my use the S seems better, even though 11 inches is the smallest. I would prefer 8 or 9 inches, but that’s not a deal-breaker.
Still looking. Google Pixel is supposed to come out with a tablet this spring.
The fact that I have a FIIO K9 Pro DAC/Amp does slightly influence, although I could see if their controller software works on my old off-brand Droid 8 (Toffee Crunch) tablet.
I think a DAP would be a different use case. Primary is just staying familiar with the latest Android. Secondary is audio. Tertiary is running ROON and perhaps the FiiO control app.
I was browsing Amazon, and saw an off-brand Android 12 tablet that seems to have no bloatware, a 10 inch screen, and USB-C connectivity (WiFi) for $79, marked down from $99.
Regardless of having been burned on upgrades a few years ago, for $79, that’s so cheap, I pulled the trigger, and if I don’t like it I can give or throw it away. This will fill the gap for now, and in a few months if I want an S8 or the S9 is announced from Samsung, or the Google Pixel Tab comes out (May is possible) I will be able to decide on something else.
I learned that Tracfone does not require cell activation to use offline features. I got a $35 LG burner phone for situations where I need a headphone wire from an independent source. The sound quality is ‘fine,’ and it might serve for any unexpected Breaking Bad scenarios too.
1 Like
All good choices! I’d lean toward the Playmate 2, as it’s Class A and has plenty of power, even for the 6XX. The recommended Schiit products seem solid as well, albeit using an older DAC chip.
2 Likes
Looking for some advice from this esteemed collective. I’m currently rocking Abyss AB1266 Phi TC & ZMF Caldera headphones hooked up to the XIAudio Formula S to XIAudio Sagra DAC to Mac Pro (2019).
I’m interested to hear thoughts on two areas:
-
A DAC and/or Amp that can give me a different (or elevated) taste of what the headphones are capable of
-
Where I should go from here as far as headphones go? I really do enjoy both headphones tremendously on my set up, but as all of you undoubtably could have guessed, I am always searching for whats next.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
2 Likes
The DAC I can’t really comment on. I would suggest the D-8000 for a headphone to complement the 1266TC.
The D-8000 has completely different tuning and still provides that visceral bass experience that you probably by now have fallen in love with your 1266 TC’s.
Your tastes are very high end. Go with the D-8000. Not the pro. They have better mid range than 1266. You’ll appreciate that. Cheers man.
5 Likes
Some DACs that are both technically superior, and that will have a slightly to quite noticeably different flavor, to your Sagra DAC*:
- Matrix X-SABRE Pro 3
- Holo Audio MAY DAC (w/ HQPlayer)
- Chord Hugo TT2
- Rockna WaveDream
- Linn Selekt DSM (w/ dual Mono Organik DACs)**
I also really liked the Yggdrasil LIM, which I hadn’t spent much time with previously. Musically it gives the above a good run for their money, and I found it very involving and emotive, but is not quite on the same plane in terms of raw technicalities.
Both the Matrix and Linn units are full-blown network-capable streamers, with direct support for all of the important streaming options, including Roon.
*The core of which is, I believe, based on a modified version of the Soekris DAM-1941, with XIAudio's own PSU, output buffers, etc. **This is huge jump in price, however.
3 Likes
@Nephilim_81 Thank you for the suggestions! I will definitely check out the D8000. I’m glad I asked for some advice on this. I probably would have defaulted to the Pro if I didn’t know better!
@Torq These are incredible suggestions. The Linn Selekt DSM is super interesting to me. I am amazed there’s an option that taps into AirPlay 2 as well. I don’t use any music service other than Apple Music, so I’m not as familiar with advantages to a network streamer. That said, amazingly there’s an authorized Linn retailer 5 minutes from my home! Thank you for the suggestions!
2 Likes
Yeah it would be phone/pc so I will need to look at that. Also not sure how much this matters but I’ll mostly be using Spotify not sure if their sound quality (320kbit/s) caps how much it makes sense to spend on headphones?