Can a Smartphone be turned into a decent DAP? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peyotero 

But where it realy shines is the analog gain control. He just turned this phone into a beast of a DAP. It can drive just about anything crystal clear and can compete with some of the best DAPs out there. I don't know where your iPhone stands on that regard :)

One of my coworkers  have an iphone 4. I should borrow it and do a comparison for sports.

 

I rarely post on head-fi, but I would like to add my 2c to this discussions.

I have owned all iPhone models except the 4S. I've used each for about a year (mostly unamped) to listen to music - about 4 hours per weekday on average. I tend to use relatively good headphones, ie. the Sennheiser IE-8i , the HD 650 and the HD 800 (ok, the last one probably does not fall in the 'relatively good' category  ). I should note that I only use lossless files, and that my hearing is quite good (oh, and I hate equalization of any kind  ) .

About a month ago, after reading about the Galaxy S and its sonic performance with Supercurio's Voodoo Sound patch, I decided to give that phone a go.

I was very surprised with the results, especially when used with Neutron Player for Android. The sound was _much_ better compared to the iPhone 4, more detail, dynamics and better imaging. I gave the iPhone 4 away and now my phone is the Galaxy S. 

I keep reading people's posts declaring 'the iPhone/iPod Touch is the best sounding mobile phone there is'. I've found out the hard way that, to my ears at least, this is definitely not the case.

I know that, on paper, the Galaxy's audio specs might not be that impressive. I would recommend to people, though, that they give the phone a go and that they trust their ears. The phone doesn't sound that good without the Voodoo modification + Neutron Player but its a whole different story with these two components.

Now if only I had Samsung's email address; I would really like to let them know about the appalling sound quality of the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Note..  

Maybe it's my hearing but I've never heard the "much superior" SQ between my Voodooed Galaxy S to a range of devices in my household and my headphones are hardly crap.  The problem I find is that it takes more work to get the Galaxy S to work well rather than the more simple in comparison iPhones and iPods.  The difference in the SQ wasn't enough to justify the fiddly nature of the device and software, my personal feeling here is if the operation and setting up of the equipment is getting in the way of my enjoyment then no matter how good it is it isn't worth the hassle.  

All in all though I think smartphones can and do make good DAPs, Apple devices are good to very good and it's much easier to pick a device, while Android has more variance and you have terrible to exceptionally well so you really have to do your research there. 

^ well put together for us

My boss owns two businesses - the one I work for and a Telstra shop. The latter has almost every smartphone currently on the market, and when I asked the girls which phones had the 'best sound', they seemed to be split between the iPhone and Nokia. None of them are 'audiophiles', so make of that what you will.