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Which Smartphone has great sound quality? Moto Droid, Nexus 1, HTC Desire

post #1 of 40
3/12/10 at 2:07am
Thread Starter 
I wanted to know if the newer smartphones have caught up to the DAPs in sound quality. I know the Iphone 3gs is popular in this forum, but how do the Android phones compare? I am mainly interested in the Motorola Droid, HTC Desire, and the Nexus One.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

HTC A8181 Desire Quad-Band GSM Phone
post #2 of 40
3/12/10 at 11:10am
I have to say that my Blackberry Bold 9700 has a good SQ. Though the lack of a decent EQ is a NoGo for me ... but from the phones i own and owned it has the best SQ easy.

Quote:
I wanted to know if the newer smartphones have caught up to the DAPs in sound quality.
seeing that daps get better from year to year too .. it´s pretty hard to close the gap

neopac
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post #3 of 40
3/12/10 at 11:41am
The Droid sounds good, but no EQ sux. And the Storm I had was great as well, but the EQ presets left something to be desired,.... but it was a slight step up from my Droid.
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post #4 of 40
3/12/10 at 2:31pm
I have the Milestone (same as Droid) and would say that I would not take Audio quality into account while choosing one of the phones you want. I would look at the features, specs etc.,since SQ is not going to be great on any of them.

I would go for it again because it has a physical keyboard, gorgeous screen and very good build quality.

BTW, I love the Milestone and even coming from WinMo I think Android is a great OS.
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post #5 of 40
3/16/10 at 6:54am

The d-mod

I've read that the droid/milestone has been hacked to allow it to be a usb host.

You can read about it here : USB Host mode on Motorola Droid « Chris Paget's Blog

So I think we just need to get someone to write a driver for it, and then we'll be able to plug the droid into a dac/amp like an ibasso and then we'll have the best sq since an IRiver 140 with optical out.

Martin
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post #6 of 40
3/16/10 at 7:00am
Not to be a party-pooper, but ATM nothing really seems to beat a dedicated source. The exception is still the iPhone, as it's a close as we can get right now.
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post #7 of 40
3/17/10 at 7:28pm
but iphone is still married to that unholy bloatware called itunes. not to mention still without flac support.....
also android is also without flac support.....
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post #8 of 40
3/21/10 at 2:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by baijxz View Post
but iphone is still married to that unholy bloatware called itunes. not to mention still without flac support.....
also android is also without flac support.....
1. Root your android phone
2. Flash the custom Rom CyanogenMod
2a. Discover that this custom Rom has FLAC support!
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post #9 of 40
3/22/10 at 6:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by wobberly1 View Post
I've read that the droid/milestone has been hacked to allow it to be a usb host.

You can read about it here : USB Host mode on Motorola Droid « Chris Paget's Blog

So I think we just need to get someone to write a driver for it, and then we'll be able to plug the droid into a dac/amp like an ibasso and then we'll have the best sq since an IRiver 140 with optical out.

Martin
That sounds promising. I know the Iphone is supposed to be the best sounding, but I hate Itunes and I hate how the app store is a closed environment. I like being able to mess around with my devices and get more distinct features. Palm is about to die it seems, but the pre is really a nice phone that could do alot of amazing things. I was amazed last week when my friend showed me how the pre could act as a portable wifi hotspot and give access to 5 other devices. Im not a fan of browsing on a tiny 3.5 inch screen, but a feature like the pre would let me use my laptop anywhere i go.
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post #10 of 40
3/22/10 at 7:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by smachine View Post
I was amazed last week when my friend showed me how the pre could act as a portable wifi hotspot and give access to 5 other devices.
Welcome to 2005! This kind of feature has been around for a long while.

I'm probably going to try the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 after seeing how it measures from gsmarena's review. I don't have high expectations.
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post #11 of 40
3/22/10 at 7:07pm
The Nexus One sucks for music, I'll tell you that much. It handles bass really really badly. On the other hand, it has decent clarity and separation.
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post #12 of 40
4/4/10 at 11:50am
Hmm can someone comment on the SQ of the Milestone? Especially compared to iPhone?

I'm currently an iPod Touch user, ampless. And when i change my phone i'm going to look for an all-in-one solution, so i won't have to carry 2 devices around.

If i get the iPhone i will wait for the 4G because the rumours seem to give the 4G pretty good features. However the Milestone seems equally attractive and i don't have to wait...
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post #13 of 40
4/5/10 at 6:05pm
I'm rockin the Motorola Droid and it's got an insane hiss, nevetheless a great DAP. I don't mind the no-flac on the generic ROM, and I will try the cyanogenMod when I get the time (Thanks for the heads up!)

edit: BTW I'm running 2.0.1 with UE Triple. Fi 10's and Soundmagic PL30's.
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post #14 of 40
4/5/10 at 6:49pm
Get your manual 2.1 update!
How to manually update your Droid to Android 2.1 | Android Central
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post #15 of 40
4/6/10 at 12:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Benaiir View Post
I'm rockin the Motorola Droid and it's got an insane hiss, nevetheless a great DAP. I don't mind the no-flac on the generic ROM, and I will try the cyanogenMod when I get the time (Thanks for the heads up!)

edit: BTW I'm running 2.0.1 with UE Triple. Fi 10's and Soundmagic PL30's.
Sound quality improved for me after updating from 2.0 to 2.1.

I currently run CyanogenMod and have FLAC support on my phone. I use it as my main source, just because it cuts down on the number of devices I have to keep on my person and it is easier for me to worry about one device rather than the phone and another DAP.

SQ is good, but not as good as my Zune.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

HTC A8181 Desire Quad-Band GSM Phone
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