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as a source input against laptops from Lenovo, HP, Toshiba et al. Is Apple's laptop much better than all these?
Cheers
Bill
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iPad is more like a tablet. Compare laptops to laptops.
Thanks everybody. I will go for a Lenovo.
Cheers
Bill
I have all Apple products.....one thing I love about them is if there is trouble, I take it to my Apple store, and they fix it. Very patient, very friendly place...just make an appointment. Unless I needed new equipment, there was never a charge.
IMHO, you will be better off with just about any laptop brand whether it be Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, Apple, etc., vs the iPad or another tablet as your main source.
I have used my iPad as a source with the camera connection kit (USB adapter to DAC) and it sounds fine but my Mac Mini to DAC sounds better and is much more flexible.
I use the iPad (or iPhone or iPod Touch) primarily as a visual remote control for my music library on the Mac Mini. I will sometimes use my iPhone or iPod Touch as a primary source in the car.
iPad as visual remote control. Usually at my side as I listen and control my music library on the Mac Mini
As PAR stated, this may be difficult to get truly objective answers.
I would also posit: what is the final solution are you aiming at?
to clarify: iPad as controller?, source?, DAC?
I have used an OLD iPad as a source for a 'traveling system(w/ AudioEngine2 speakers) and also as the source for a second/bedroom system and been quite happy. I have ripped all the CDs into the iPad at RedBook specs, and I have not tried to get a Digital out from the iPad.
I emphasis OLD because I am not happy with some of the changes to iTunes that have occured over the past few years - there is also a thread that goes into more problematic practices from Apple over on 'PCAudio'- linked below.
My reluctance to get deeper into this side of the system is I hate all the software upgrades.
I think that some - again over at PCAudio have chosen NASs or some of the new 'music servers' which is more appealing - though I miss the gate-fold album cover - so the iPad/pc tablet screen is appealing...
As to a Sound Quality comparison between the formats- what is your DAC?, what is the File Format?, whose cables?, etc.
Happy Listening
My query is simple. I gave away my old Toshiba laptop, a very good one, to a village school where the headmistress was desperately looking for one but had no money to buy one. My son in law is buying me an iPad. I can ask him to buy me a Lenovo instead. I was looking at the iPad and wondering how I would connect my Dragonfly DAC. And I was wondering about the relative quality of iPad wrt non Apple laptops. Sorry for making a simple post so complex!
Cheers
Bill
I get it-
In that you have a Dragon Fly- I'd go for the Lenovo
Happy Listening
It all depends upon your objectives. Just as I leverage my home server for music and video storage, you can likewise use iOS devices you already have for music playback and control.
I too, use both an iPhone 6S and an iPad Air2 in conjunction with my LMS based music systems both as remotes and players via iPeng.
I'm now using the pad as the primary source for the garage system. I'm able to play 24/96 content although that gets downsampled to 24/48 at playback.
Not clear whether you want to compare iPads to laptops (as the title says), or Apple laptops to other laptops, but in any case...
So, I"ve tried my iPad as a source in a number of ways: wireless streaming (convenient, sound is just ok) and HDMI out to an OPPO DAC via the "camera connector" kit (a step up in sound quality). Neither really compares to playing directly from my Mac laptop via USB to my Ayre DAC, or directly from my Win7 system via USB.
If my many years following the Digital and Computer Audio asylums here have taught me anything, it is that you can get "really good" sound out all of these sources with just a little bit of care. Getting "superb" sound... ah, that's a little trickier, becomes much more system (and goal) dependent, and can be as much work as you care to put into it. But then for some it is about the journey, not the destination. :)
Cerebrate!
This is a great question but I wonder how objective the answers will be.There seems to be a sort of cultural preference that defines Apple v. Windows users and those with a predisposition to one or the other will choose it irrespective of what a neutral observer may feel are more objective criteria.
So I will expect users of iPads to say that they are superior and vice versa for Windows guys. In all likelihood few will have had extensive experience of using both alternatives so as to reach an informed opinion.
The matter is complicated by the different generations of OS and variations of player software used, let alone variables introduced by arguable subjects like cabling or USB gadgets.
For my part I find that a Dell Win 10 laptop with SSD storage running JRiver MC21 gives results equal to or, perhaps, superior to, replay from my dCS transport ( both using the same dCS DAC). That is my marker for comparison. Whether an iPad is superior or inferior is unknown as I have no experience of Apple.
Edits: 05/12/16
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