Old phones as streaming sources

I hope you don’t mean the processor power is the fault. The SGC sonicTransporter i5 you have runs on an Intel i5 processor at 3.6 GHz. The Ifi ZS runs at 1.4 GHz, and the Raspberry Pi is becoming more powerful, with the Pi-5 at 2.4 GHz. Several mid-end streamers like Innuos, hi-end like Aurender also use increasingly powerful CPUs such as Intel quad-core processors running at 2.5 GHz. As a comparison, the CPU speed on iPhones, ranging from 1.8 GHz on the iPhone 6s to 3.5 GHz on the iPhone 14, is by no means an overkill. A more powerful CPU is not a fault; how the circuit is optimized and implemented to achieve better sound quality is the key. I would wager that the trend among higher-end streamers will lean towards processors that are more powerful yet low in power consumption with better energy efficiency etc...

@mdalton I myself would never use a phone as my streamer because a modern IPhone is overkill for what is actually a very simple process ... Current iPhones run at 3.5 ghz, the Raspberry Pi is 1.5 ghz, and the Apollo 11 computer ran at .043 mhz (lol!)

@lanx0003 

Not really my main point, but the sonictransporter, acting as my Roon core, is doing a lot more processing than the streamer.  But the fact that it runs at about the same speed as a phone is actually telling, isn’t it?  Nonetheless, I also agree that speed isn’t everything.  

@lanx0003 

reread your post again. I think you misunderstood my point.  “Overkill” as in unnecessary, but not necessarily detrimental.  iPhones are powerful and pretty sophisticated, with all sorts of capabilities, and their prices reflect that.  So unless I were so cash-constrained that the only device I could afford was an extra phone lying around, I wouldn’t use a phone as my streamer.  I’d just buy an RPi or a Wiim product.  In a couple of my systems, I went a little beyond that for form function reasons, and because they were paired with DACs that I wasn’t sure how well they’d handle noise - I bought the Zen Stream and now have it paired with an iFi Zen dac, and I bought an open-box Pro-Ject S2 Ultra Stream to pair with a Topping DAC (that one still felt a little pricey even at $600, but it’s very cool, and almost as small as a Pi).  In both those systems, I experimented with the Pi, and was pleasantly surprised how good they sounded.  But the Pi is a little kludgy, so I gave it to my son-in-law, who has repurposed it in his home security system - gotta love the Pi!

So I went to the Apple Store and bought the lightning to USB A connector and hooked up an old iPhone 8 that I had lying around.  I thought it sounded alright.  Can it be bettered?  Yes by a lot, but it was better than decent.  There was a noticeable drop in soundstage depth and width, as well as a decrease in detail, imaging and transients compared to my Pontus II and Hermes setup.  But for a secondary system it would be serviceable especially if money was tight and it was intended for background music or something similar and not for critical listening.

@mdalton All the ’phone’ conversations we’ve exchanged, including those with Op, are not an attempt to substitute the cell phone as the main streamer. Instead, it’s an open discussion on the ’possibility.’ I have Ifi ZS myself, two of them, with one fed by Ifi iPower X and the other on a 25 VA LPS by Lhy. Both serve me well, but I find my iPhone 13 is no slouch either. Whether it is used as a backup is strictly up to you, but I want to emphasize that it should be a personal choice rather than a prejudice. I want to give the iPhone a fair trial and do it justice.

How you like your D70 Pro Octo? I have tried couple of sub. $500 Topping dac and return / sell all of them due to basically flat SS (lack of depth). Curious about Octo given all the rave reviews.