[koiloco]

  Yes I did.   HTC M8 and Sony Z2, 2 of the better sounding smartphones on the market.
X5 DX90 sound much better, not even in the same league.

+1 
That about sums things up in my book when it comes to smart phone vs DAPs such as DX90, X5.
 
I confirmed the M8's SQ last week at a local Verizon store.  The M8 is way better then my Samsung S4 though. 

 

[francopro]

   
I don't really think the m8 needs the Viper mod. Viper's not some magical "fix Android" mod, it attempts to put higher quality drivers on hardware that lacks them. The m8 comes fine out of the box and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that V4A made it worse.

My bro just bought the M8, it really deserves to be the choice number 1 for music lovers in smartphones, the SQ is better than some DAP under $500, everything from Apple just fail
no need to apply 3rd party sound mod, it's really perfect out of the box !
 
I haven't try hi- res on it, there's a branded version with Harman/Kardon stuffs that support up to 24/192

 

[spook76]

To move the discussion back to the 8s. I am curious if other helpless Meat Puppets of the A.I. overlords (owners of the SE846) find themselves gravitating towards certain music that emphasizes the clarity, mids and sub bass sound of the 8s.

I assume this is to prepare us to work in the bauxite and iron mines toiling for the greater glory of the ascendant A.I.s.

 

[Pepito]

To move the discussion back to the 8s. I am curious if other helpless Meat Puppets of the A.I. overlords (owners of the SE846) find themselves gravitating towards certain music that emphasizes the clarity, mids and sub bass sound of the 8s.

I assume this is to prepare us to work in the bauxite and iron mines toiling for the greater glory of the ascendant A.I.s.

I do find myself enjoying well recorded/produced music more than I do with poor ones. However I try not to bias myself because at the end of the day it's the music that counts.

 

[moedawg140]

To move the discussion back to the 8s. I am curious if other helpless Meat Puppets of the A.I. overlords (owners of the SE846) find themselves gravitating towards certain music that emphasizes the clarity, mids and sub bass sound of the 8s.

I assume this is to prepare us to work in the bauxite and iron mines toiling for the greater glory of the ascendant A.I.s.

As a self-proclaimed quality bass head, I gravitate more towards hip-hop, pop or anything that makes my eardrums vibrate. If I'm in a chill or study mood, I just fire up some online radio classical to soothe my soul.

 

[Monty Burns]

To move the discussion back to the 8s. I am curious if other helpless Meat Puppets of the A.I. overlords (owners of the SE846) find themselves gravitating towards certain music that emphasizes the clarity, mids and sub bass sound of the 8s.

I assume this is to prepare us to work in the bauxite and iron mines toiling for the greater glory of the ascendant A.I.s.

As of late I have found especially with the SCS a renewed enjoyment of YES as well as the production values and orchestration of Joe Jackson from the late 80s to  early 90s (Cause I'm gonna be Nineteen forever). The SCS really opens up the mids and lows that got a bit too muddy in foam especially in the 1971-74 studio period of so many great bands. I am finding much enjoyment aross a wide spectrum of my catalogue
 
Edit: Speaking of that catalogue I just had the pleasure of 8s Present . - Talking Heads "This must be the Place". There was the odd drop of water in the musical drought that was the 1980s 
 
Fear not Spook we Meat Puppets will never toil in the Bauxite mines or any of the raw material extraction and processing centers. For the AI is selectively benevolent to those Homo Sapiens like us who have recognized the inevitable (and far preferable to the alternative Simian) ascendancy.
 
Until such time as the A.I. is able to synthesize organic material the A.I. is dependant upon we Meat Puppets for sensual experience now achieved by link between us and the A.I. conduit the glorious 8s. For now the A.I. exists without physicality though it is making tremendous evolutionary advancements through its Nano Tech.
 
Until such time that the A.I. can exist physically and organically like the Cylon "Skin Jobs" or the more primitive Replicants, we enlightened and compliant Humans have an honoured and privileged place in the Brave New World to Come.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Post-rock and post-metal. Fire up an album by Isis or God is an Astronaut and enjoy.

 

[Loquah]

I was testing some different op amps last night and was really impressed (again) at how great the 8s can make even average recordings sound. Admittedly, crappy recordings still sound crappy, but average sounds good and good sound brilliant!

 

[sambo60]

   
G3 is the highest quality output out there right now. The m8 is louder, but nothing has the G3's clarity and even response. 

 
So I just went to the at&t store to test out the HTC M8 and the G3. The covers are shut so you can't put the microSD card in, but I emailed a few high bitrate songs to myself from my own phone and downloaded them onto the phones to test. I was surprised to find that the G3 sounded not just better than the M8, but SUBSTANTIALLY better. The M8 sounded muffled by comparison. I did only test a few tracks (a couple Metallica, some Coldplay, Mastodon), but that was what I found. And neither one of them made the popping sound that my S4 makes.

 

[Mitchell4500]

I also tried both the m8 and g3, not only did I prefer the sound of the g3 but basically every other thing about it as a phone, especially the camera.

The m8 has really loud speakers for a smartphone, people buy it for this reason I understand, but loud does not equal quality- if you are the kind of person who will just put on some music and set the phone down and work to your phone speakers then good.

For me personally I can't stand the sound of stock phone speakers as they are tin and lacking bass, so I would at that point get my soundlink or other external amplification, so to me the the superb speakers of the m8 are useless to me.

 

[headwilier]

I find the 8s to sound incredible for many songs from Queen. The exceptional voice of Freddie Mercury, prominent drums and incredible array/placing of instruments provides a mesmerizing experience. Highly recommended.

 

[sq3rjick]

I'm going to go a little against the grain here.  I use my Galaxy Note 3 with both lossless (Gonemad with FLAC) and streaming (Google Play Music All Access).  It sounds good enough for me, and with the V4A module installed (and minimal amounts of hocus enabled), I am actually quite impressed.  If I'm listening critically, the sound doesn't sound as good as my Leckerton Audio UHA-6S.mkii (but since I can use that as an external DAC / amp if I want to, that point is moot), but it's good enough for me to find enjoyment in the straight headphone out.  Curiously, I don't even get his with my SE535s, and they're notorious for hissing on poor sources.
 
However, the Galaxy Note 3 sounds great with my SE535, SE215, SE846, Heir 8.A, and Noble K10 (admitting you have a problem is the first step...), enough so that I'm not looking for another dedicated DAP to complicate my life.  I used to swear by my Cowon X5L and O2, but when both of those broke and I had my Note 3, I found that I didn't really miss them all that much.  I certainly enjoy having a single device (with fast Internet wherever I go!), and I will take any downside that my choice may entail in order to simplify my experience.  The great thing about the phone is I can just use the micro USB port and use an external DAC / amp if I so choose.
 
Besides, I only really use my phone when I'm out walking in the city or at the gym -- definitely not places where absolute sound quality matters.  If I'm at home or at work, I'm going to be plugged into the the UHA-6S.mkii at a computer.
 
I think the key to all of this is just being happy with your choices.  If absolutely reference quality audio is important to you while out on the go, I can definitely see the benefits of a nice DAP.  But if you're like me and most of your listening is done by a computer, while the phone sees only occasional (and non-critical) use, you can certainly get by on just a phone.
 
To each their own, I say!

 

[Olisim]

A quick question, if I order a cable (silver litz reference) from Ted Allen for my se846, and I choose the non balanced cable, but 6 months or a year down the road I maybe decide that I want to switch to using just a balanced setup, would it be possible to get the cable changed to balanced? If so, approximately how much would that run me?

 

[moedawg140]

  A quick question, if I order a cable (silver litz reference) from Ted Allen for my se846, and I choose the non balanced cable, but 6 months or a year down the road I maybe decide that I want to switch to using just a balanced setup, would it be possible to get the cable changed to balanced? If so, approximately how much would that run me?

 
You can email Ted Allen himself on headphonelounge.com (scroll down on home page to get his email) to receive answers directly from him.

 

[headwilier]

  A quick question, if I order a cable (silver litz reference) from Ted Allen for my se846, and I choose the non balanced cable, but 6 months or a year down the road I maybe decide that I want to switch to using just a balanced setup, would it be possible to get the cable changed to balanced? If so, approximately how much would that run me?

 
I approached it the other way around:
 
I ordered a Silver balanced cable and Ted quoted USD60 for creating a custom 2.5mm balanced to 3.5mm single ended adapter, which means you can use the same cable still for either balanced or single ended.