Jump to content

Marshall makes first smartphone for Hifi lovers


gubu

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Apologies if this is old news, but it's definitely relevant to many of the recent discussions on here.

 

A sign of things to come, in the marketplace as a whole?

 

The device will have dedicated hi-res DAC, and dual headphone outputs, among other features.

No sign of a -10dBu line-out, but full specs are due up on the Marshall website in the next few hours, apparently.

 

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/marshal...mbid=social_fb

 

marshalls-STORY.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Not interested if it doesn't have tubes in it. :)

 

Ha! A friend of mine said exactly the same thing :)

 

It's hard to shake the feeling that this is a little gimmicky - unless the DAC really is a cut above everything else out there. Hard or soft switchable -10dBu on the output might seal the deal though, if it has it :idea:

 

Or else wait for Sony to put the same spec into a less expensive package...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • CMS Author
I saw someone post that on Facebook this morning. Seems purty good......I do think having two stereo headphone jacks is fantastic.

 

The idea really isn't new. There were a few portable (Walkman-style) cassette players that had a second headphone jack for a listening buddy. And at the CEWeek Show a few weeks ago, I saw a $4,000 portable high resolution audio player with two headphone jacks.

 

But now, a dual headphone jack is more important than ever since we don't have a Radio Shack around every corner, where you could buy a headphone Y adapter for a few bucks.

 

55063168_00.jpg?sw=350&sh=350&sm=fit

 

"CONNECTS TWO 3.5MM MINI STEREO PLUGS TO ONE 3.5MM MINI STEREO JACK USE TO HOOK 2 SETS OF HEADPHONES INTO 1 DEVICE CORROSION-RESISTANT CONNECTORS RELIABLE and PRECISE CONNECTION 6" "

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

There's also more to the story, I think...amps are not the business they once were. Fender continues to dominate the amp biz, and I think Blackstar may have siphoned off a fair amount of Marshall's business. OTOH Smartphones selling in the gazillions, and Apple is about to reach saturation. So I'm sure Marshall saw an opportunity...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The idea really isn't new. There were a few portable (Walkman-style) cassette players that had a second headphone jack for a listening buddy. And at the CEWeek Show a few weeks ago, I saw a $4,000 portable high resolution audio player with two headphone jacks.

 

But now, a dual headphone jack is more important than ever since we don't have a Radio Shack around every corner, where you could buy a headphone Y adapter for a few bucks.

 

 

The nice thing IMHO is that on the Marshall, the second jack is built-in. While it's not a new idea, it certainly is a useful one that I wish more mobile devices offered.

 

How often do you carry around a Y adapter? I know some people do, but I usually don't. I try to carry around the minimum amount of "stuff" possible. If my phone had a second jack built-in, it might make it easier to share the music listening experience with someone else, or play them something without having to be excluded from the listening experience myself. By doing it where we were both able to listen simultaneously, I could not only see their reactions, but also know what part of the song they were reacting to, since I'd be hearing it too - and all without having to carry an adapter around in my pocket when I'm out and about. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • CMS Author

 

The nice thing IMHO is that on the Marshall, the second jack is built-in. While it's not a new idea, it certainly is a useful one that I wish more mobile devices offered.

 

How often do you carry around a Y adapter?

 

How often are you walking around with someone with whom you want to share recorded music? I'd rather talk to my companion. If I wanted to share music with somoene, I'd go someplace comfortable like my living room, make some tea or open a couple of beers, and crank up the speakers. We could listen together and then talk about what we heard without having to pull out our earbuds. Or are you suggesting that we should text each other from our phones while we're listening? ;)

 

I guess having two jacks might be useful when the kids are riding in the back of the van on a road trip, but then they'd probably just fight about what to listen to. But if you didn't have your new Marshall phone along with you, you could just pull the Y adapter out of the glove compartment.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...