Old phones as streaming sources

My central point is that by stripping away as many of the non-essential functions of the phone as possible I perceive it to improve as a digital source and I wonder if others have similar experiences. The persuasive explanation for this would be the reduction of electrical noise improves clarity and coherence of the digital signal. After all, it  is generally accepted that one of the best and quietest power supplies possible is a battery. I believe that Audirvana claimed to do something similar for users of computers as digital sources. This is just doing the same but manually.

If anyone has measurement capabilities for this sort of thing it would be fascinating to know what you find.

@soix 

So, did you compare running the iPhone direct into the DAC8 versus going through your Aries?  If you don’t hear a significant improvement through the Aries, well, let’s  just say we greatly differ in our experiences.

The Auralic Aries is a source with no dac so no to that. I don't have the adapters to connect the phone to the Okto, but it is worth noting that the streaming source inside the Okto Dac8 is a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to the rest of the dac and preamp circuits though an I squared S connection. So a modest streaming source (cost about $100, maybe less now) can garner an  A+ rating from Stereophile when associated with the right electronic surroundings. Point being some devices not created for the audiophile world can still deliver world class performances and don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

Point being some devices not created for the audiophile world can still deliver world class performances and don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

World class performance?  Really???  I think not, but you believe what u wanna believe.  Your iPhone6s is streaming shite no matter how good you think it might be.  But u be u.  Peace out. 

I recently switched from Android to an iPhone but there is one streaming app that doesn’t run well in Macland so I did the exact thing the OP mentioned when I listen to this service.  It works well.  The caveat is the app is for Pristine Classical, a label the specializes in digital restoration of old classical recordings, some of which are a century old.  The digital restorations are amazing, and I have compared the android phone as a player to some of the same recordings that were downloaded to my server and played via my CA streamer and can detect no difference; however despite the quality of the restoration work they are perhaps not the best recordings to make sweeping generalizations from 

I stream Qobuz from my phone temporarily just to make playlists since there is no "Connect" function.

The SQ blows. You can not get decent sound without a "single purpose" built device. A simple Raspberry Pi blows your contraption away.