So with load shedding a constant thorn in everybody's backside, i was on the lookout to make my life easier for the instances when it happened, and it seems like its not going to go away soon :facepalm: :ticked:
the process started when i decided to sell my flat and move into my sisters place because she had a room spare and spending on two properties did not make financial sense, so we consolidated to the one smaller place and i will share the expenses there. But I still do not want to spend loads of money going off grid and having expensive inverters and generators installed so i was going to have to make a plan for all the electronic equipment - so i sold as much as i could and i started from scratch.
Step one happened when i decided to get into headphones and i purchased a Hifiman HE4xx as a beginner Planar Magnetic Headphone. The idea was to eventually supplement it with a good dynamic headphone so eventually i will get something decent along the lines of a HD600 or an HD6xx whichever i can afford at the time. In the meantime i also experimented with IEMS and the net result it that I now have a pair of KZ AS16 which is the top of the KZ range as well.
Then the next step happened when i decided to get a DAP and this is where it gets interesting because i only needed electricity to charge this little device - and when load shedding happened I could still listen to music in a comparatively serious manner, even though the staging and imaging is not as large and expansive as with speakers, I soon got used to this but it was a boon to be still listening to music with a battery powered device. So i had negotiated a discount with C-Plan and was going to pull the trigger on a Fiio M11, but out of the blue GLer (Guy) offered me his 4 month old M11 and i was suddenly in a position to save a few grand so i gratefully grabbed his pre-owned and much loved M11 ..... thanks very much Guy i wll post some impressions of my listening experiences in the DAP section of the forum
Pic of the M11 with the HiFiMan HE4xx
Pic of the M11 with the KZ AS16 IEMs
So now i was getting a taste of using a device with a battery and it also came with a 256Gig Hikvision SD card which allowed me to store a fair amount of music for music on the move or for load shedding times. Inbetween all of this i also had gotten an ifi iDSD black label which i was using with my PC and wanted to use with my phone, but sadly my phone was one of the models that could not use my favorite Android music playback app due to incompatibilities between the phone and DAC only with this specific app .... Universal Audio Player Pro (UAPP) and it could not be resolved but now that i had the DAP i sold the portable DAC and i decided to also use the DAP as a DAC for the PC too.
Pic of the SD card (the Samsung one is in the phone and the other one is in the DAP)
Then disaster struck I had a fire in the kitchen and the sale of my flat could not complete until the lockdown was over and also until i fixed the flat. A pretty hectic side effect of the fire was that my PC got totally covered in Soot and also Fire Extinguisher dust and upon testing it seemed like the entire graphics subsystem as well the Ram were toast so i included a claim for the PC in my claim for the household contents. Due to the fact that we were over-insured for the actual value of the household contents the insurance paid out the claim so i would be able to get a new computer. At this juncture i decided to get a decent laptop and also invest in some pretty decent capacity portable USB powered Hard drives too
Laptop and all the associated paraphernalia
So now when i wanted to browse through my entire music collection i could use the DAP as a DAC and I also have a portable carry around Router for internet connectivity on the move (will get fibre in the new place and will sacrifice DSTV for funding this move ie spend the money on decent internet instead of wasting time with DSTV) then i have a 4TB hard drive for music only and a 4TB drive for movies only and a 2TB drive for software and miscellaneous files that one would keep on a PC .... all USB powered. I also have a 20 000MAH power bank for the times when the battery capacity cannot keep the DAP or router going for long enough, though when the battery on the laptop is depleted i have to stick to music from the DAP direct .... but i was now ready to do whatever i normally do with my PC without needing electricity .... besides for when i needed to recharge the depleted items
explanation of how the system would be configured when the lights went off
DAP working in DAC mode
Initially the sound from the laptop into the DAP did not sound the same as the sound direct from the DAP into headphones did, but i managed to get them sounding remarkably similar eventually with a bit of playing around with settings and tweaking things here and there. so if i want to use the entire library and use the 4TB drive of Music i just needed to connect up the laptop to the DAP
I also purchased a rucksack bag so i could carry the entire kit and caboodle around, for example if i attend a forum get together i can have the entire setup in one bag ..... yes all of it because the bag has enough pockets to accept all the accessories and cables and also large pockets for the ancillary devices and hard-drives and routers and even the bigass power bank
and as an interesting aside i was rummaging around in the cupboards while emptying them out in preparation for my move and i found this little bag that can use to protect the DAP while using it on the move - plus if i hook it up to my belt no-one can snatch the DAP and run
So with all of the above i think i'm pretty prepared for a decent music and movie experience on the move and also when the load shedding hits .... and trust me its going to keep hitting for a few years more - so i will just keep using this setup while saving up for my proper desktop setup and possibly a silent desktop PC if i need one though IMHO my G8 Microserver that i still have is probably adequate for that task - but the desktop stuff is a matter for another (later) discussion since the financial situation has gone to hell because of the lockdown .... i mean food or audio equipment :stop: Hmmmm .... pretty easy choice BUT when the finances stabilize then i can begin with my Project Desktop which is next in line :thumbs: and thereafter look at rebuilding a nice stereo system for the desktop setup and a small HT setup in the main lounge but with lots of very small speakers and one large subwoofer
the process started when i decided to sell my flat and move into my sisters place because she had a room spare and spending on two properties did not make financial sense, so we consolidated to the one smaller place and i will share the expenses there. But I still do not want to spend loads of money going off grid and having expensive inverters and generators installed so i was going to have to make a plan for all the electronic equipment - so i sold as much as i could and i started from scratch.
Step one happened when i decided to get into headphones and i purchased a Hifiman HE4xx as a beginner Planar Magnetic Headphone. The idea was to eventually supplement it with a good dynamic headphone so eventually i will get something decent along the lines of a HD600 or an HD6xx whichever i can afford at the time. In the meantime i also experimented with IEMS and the net result it that I now have a pair of KZ AS16 which is the top of the KZ range as well.
Then the next step happened when i decided to get a DAP and this is where it gets interesting because i only needed electricity to charge this little device - and when load shedding happened I could still listen to music in a comparatively serious manner, even though the staging and imaging is not as large and expansive as with speakers, I soon got used to this but it was a boon to be still listening to music with a battery powered device. So i had negotiated a discount with C-Plan and was going to pull the trigger on a Fiio M11, but out of the blue GLer (Guy) offered me his 4 month old M11 and i was suddenly in a position to save a few grand so i gratefully grabbed his pre-owned and much loved M11 ..... thanks very much Guy i wll post some impressions of my listening experiences in the DAP section of the forum
Pic of the M11 with the HiFiMan HE4xx
Pic of the M11 with the KZ AS16 IEMs
So now i was getting a taste of using a device with a battery and it also came with a 256Gig Hikvision SD card which allowed me to store a fair amount of music for music on the move or for load shedding times. Inbetween all of this i also had gotten an ifi iDSD black label which i was using with my PC and wanted to use with my phone, but sadly my phone was one of the models that could not use my favorite Android music playback app due to incompatibilities between the phone and DAC only with this specific app .... Universal Audio Player Pro (UAPP) and it could not be resolved but now that i had the DAP i sold the portable DAC and i decided to also use the DAP as a DAC for the PC too.
Pic of the SD card (the Samsung one is in the phone and the other one is in the DAP)
Then disaster struck I had a fire in the kitchen and the sale of my flat could not complete until the lockdown was over and also until i fixed the flat. A pretty hectic side effect of the fire was that my PC got totally covered in Soot and also Fire Extinguisher dust and upon testing it seemed like the entire graphics subsystem as well the Ram were toast so i included a claim for the PC in my claim for the household contents. Due to the fact that we were over-insured for the actual value of the household contents the insurance paid out the claim so i would be able to get a new computer. At this juncture i decided to get a decent laptop and also invest in some pretty decent capacity portable USB powered Hard drives too
Laptop and all the associated paraphernalia
So now when i wanted to browse through my entire music collection i could use the DAP as a DAC and I also have a portable carry around Router for internet connectivity on the move (will get fibre in the new place and will sacrifice DSTV for funding this move ie spend the money on decent internet instead of wasting time with DSTV) then i have a 4TB hard drive for music only and a 4TB drive for movies only and a 2TB drive for software and miscellaneous files that one would keep on a PC .... all USB powered. I also have a 20 000MAH power bank for the times when the battery capacity cannot keep the DAP or router going for long enough, though when the battery on the laptop is depleted i have to stick to music from the DAP direct .... but i was now ready to do whatever i normally do with my PC without needing electricity .... besides for when i needed to recharge the depleted items
explanation of how the system would be configured when the lights went off
DAP working in DAC mode
Initially the sound from the laptop into the DAP did not sound the same as the sound direct from the DAP into headphones did, but i managed to get them sounding remarkably similar eventually with a bit of playing around with settings and tweaking things here and there. so if i want to use the entire library and use the 4TB drive of Music i just needed to connect up the laptop to the DAP
I also purchased a rucksack bag so i could carry the entire kit and caboodle around, for example if i attend a forum get together i can have the entire setup in one bag ..... yes all of it because the bag has enough pockets to accept all the accessories and cables and also large pockets for the ancillary devices and hard-drives and routers and even the bigass power bank
and as an interesting aside i was rummaging around in the cupboards while emptying them out in preparation for my move and i found this little bag that can use to protect the DAP while using it on the move - plus if i hook it up to my belt no-one can snatch the DAP and run
So with all of the above i think i'm pretty prepared for a decent music and movie experience on the move and also when the load shedding hits .... and trust me its going to keep hitting for a few years more - so i will just keep using this setup while saving up for my proper desktop setup and possibly a silent desktop PC if i need one though IMHO my G8 Microserver that i still have is probably adequate for that task - but the desktop stuff is a matter for another (later) discussion since the financial situation has gone to hell because of the lockdown .... i mean food or audio equipment :stop: Hmmmm .... pretty easy choice BUT when the finances stabilize then i can begin with my Project Desktop which is next in line :thumbs: and thereafter look at rebuilding a nice stereo system for the desktop setup and a small HT setup in the main lounge but with lots of very small speakers and one large subwoofer
