DAC means instant blue screen of death. What to do?

[Mental Gear Reduction]

Sure, but, I know I sound like a shill, this device does what it can to avoid that. Built into the software/firmware is a setting to never charge the battery over 80%, which I use. Also, it is a simple plastic case, easy to open up. I believe it was made that way on purpose. I haven't tried, but I expect the battery is easily user-replaceable.

Finding an actual new battery may be difficult, unless they used a standard size. (I'm not too clear on what those are, beyond whatever gets used in e-cigs.) What often happens is that a bunch of batteries get made, and most go into products, while the remainder sit on the shelves. So even if you buy a 'new' battery, it may have years of sitting in storage.

Example: I tried to replace a Kindle battery once. That did not go well. I tried three "new" batteries, and all of them were bad.

My ancient DAC/amp should still work, because it just uses AAs, but anything with lithium-ion may be troublesome. Lithium polymer batteries have much longer storage lives, so they stretch longevity to like ten years, but then you're possibly stuck again if they used a custom pack. It's a damn shame to have to throw out a perfectly good device because of battery problems.

edit: and with audio being mostly a solved problem, electronics can last a long time.

 

[continuum]

Finding an actual new battery may be difficult, unless they used a standard size.

Quick Google for "topping g5 battery replacement" turned up this thread right away.

This device uses a generic battery that can be found easily.
This is a standardized 3.7V 4000mAh 14.8Wh Lipo battery with the size of 80mm x 50mm x 5mm.
You can find a lot of "805080 battery" on AliExpress, eBay, and even Amazon.

 

[Mental Gear Reduction]

Quick Google for "topping g5 battery replacement" turned up this thread right away.

Oh, good idea.

So that looks mostly okay: it's LiPo, so 10 years, and then a standard size. In ten years, if the connectors have changed, it might take a bit of soldering to replace the battery (or wire nuts if there's room, though it looks tightly packed), but OP shouldn't end up with a device that's unusable before its time. And soldering wires is the easiest possible task, taking little skill.

And that's worst-case; if that connector is still the standard, it'll be plug-and-go.

 

[Vooglaid]

I'd be ~concerned that the battery would go bad and swell, and then you have a serious fire hazard on your hands you need to dispose of.

This is just getting better and better ...

 

[pauli]

The solution is to not buy a headphone amp with a built in battery unless you explicitly need that functionality. If you're plugging it into a laptop, you probably don't.

 

[Mental Gear Reduction]

The solution is to not buy a headphone amp with a built in battery unless you explicitly need that functionality. If you're plugging it into a laptop, you probably don't.

My suggestion was the Schiit Fulla; the DAC isn't as advanced, but it'll be fine for any normal playback, it should have a nice amp, there's no battery, and it's $110. The only downside I see to it is that it uses the big headphone jack instead of the small one.

 

[ant1pathy]

My suggestion was the Schiit Fulla; the DAC isn't as advanced, but it'll be fine for any normal playback, it should have a nice amp, there's no battery, and it's $110. The only downside I see to it is that it uses the big headphone jack instead of the small one.

I have one, it's perfectly cromulent. I also have a FiiO unit that I bought from a Slickdeals link for... probably not $30, and it's 100% as good for audio quality. I like the volume pot on the Fulla more (it has nice action). I believe it comes with the 1/4 -> 1/8 adapter, and if not they're cheap. Has some silver lining though; if you're frequently plugging and unplugging you transfer the wear to a replaceable adapter instead of the one on the unit .

 

[ACinn]

I recently got a SoundBlaster G8 and apart from the software being a bit iffy (it does not always load the EQ unless I toggle EQ on and off) I quite like it. It's USB powered with combined data/power on one port and has a second USB input plus optical in/out and line level/in out and HDMI ARC (not eARC).

I have the main power/data port connected to the USB hub on my monitor so it stays powered when the PC is off when I am using the Xbox (one x) connected to the optical. I have my Nvidia Shield hooked up to the second USB input which I use for streaming movies or music while gaming on the PC or Xbox - the inputs can be listened to at the same time and there is a separate volume control to adjust the mix level. I also have a line out going to a tiny SMSL speaker amp for when I don't want to wear headphones.

I spent ages looking at various desktop DAC/Amps from the brands mentioned up thread and more. I settled on this because of the multitude of inputs and I don't regret it.

 

[Vooglaid]

The G5 has arrived now, and I can confirm that it only runs on battery. I'm travelling, and I won't be able to listen to it until I'm back home, where my headphones are.

 

[cogwheel]

My suggestion was the Schiit Fulla; the DAC isn't as advanced

It's as advanced in the ways that matter, though. The 9068 (Topping G5) offers basically two things over the 9018 (Schiit Fulla):

1. MQA support. We don't give a shit because MQA is dead, and because MQA wasn't useful compared to 24-bit, and in theory could even be harmful quality-wise if you tuned it wrong. Not that 24-bit is useful for end user listening anyway.
2. Mic support. This is entirely theoretical because the G5 doesn't have a mic jack anyway, so that part of the 9068 silicon just remains unused 100% of the time.

 

[Paladin]

I recently got a SoundBlaster G8 and apart from the software being a bit iffy (it does not always load the EQ unless I toggle EQ on and off) I quite like it. It's USB powered with combined data/power on one port and has a second USB input plus optical in/out and line level/in out and HDMI ARC (not eARC).

I have the main power/data port connected to the USB hub on my monitor so it stays powered when the PC is off when I am using the Xbox (one x) connected to the optical. I have my Nvidia Shield hooked up to the second USB input which I use for streaming movies or music while gaming on the PC or Xbox - the inputs can be listened to at the same time and there is a separate volume control to adjust the mix level. I also have a line out going to a tiny SMSL speaker amp for when I don't want to wear headphones.

I spent ages looking at various desktop DAC/Amps from the brands mentioned up thread and more. I settled on this because of the multitude of inputs and I don't regret it.

Yeah I have a G6 that I use at home and a G7 at work. Both are great. More options than I ever use but it's nice to have options.

The super cheap one I got on Amazon is great too, surprisingly good but I wanted the more complex output ports and options from the bigger devices. Having speaker, mic and headphone all available on one device is nice.