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Marshall London - Audiophile smartphone
Jul 16, 2015 at 9:42 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 139
spickerish

spickerish

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Marshall's website just leaked their plans to release an audiophile smartphone running on android, looks pretty interesting. From what I've managed to find out it is likely to launch somewhere in August for about $600. 
 
It's specs are pretty mid-tier for a smartphone, 4.7-inch, 720p display, 2GB of RAM, a 2500 mAh (removable) battery, and a Snapdragon 410 processor*.
 
It will have a couple of "audiophile" features, such as two headphone-outs on the top of the device, a dedicated music button and a fancy golden volume scroll wheel. The most interesting piece of news has to be that it will utilise a Wolfson WM8281 Audio Hub, which will be able to play high res audio. Looks pretty interesting, but I'm not too sure about the styling, not really digging all the gold.
 



 
* Source: The Verge 
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 1:23 PM Post #3 of 139
For some reason there is more detail here
 
http://www.gsmarena.com/marshalls_new_smartphone_is_every_audiophiles_dream-news-13087.php
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 2:16 PM Post #4 of 139
Snapdragon 410 is hardly cutting edge these days although I suppose if fit a couple of decent headphone amps it will be good.
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 2:34 PM Post #6 of 139
They do specialise in amplifiers that go all the way to 11 though....
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 2:35 PM Post #7 of 139
interpolate said:
  Snapdragon 410 is hardly cutting edge these days although I suppose if fit a couple of decent headphone amps it will be good.
Click to expand...

It is hardly acceptable. I mean, it will not be top tier audio, neither top tier smartphone, and is neither cheap. You can have an Alcatel idol 3 5.5" with better hardware and software, better DAC, and better amplification at 250$.... I sometimes ask myself why are companies still producing smartphones smaller than 5"..
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 2:37 PM Post #8 of 139
interpolate said:
  They do specialise in amplifiers that go all the way to 11 though....
Click to expand...

I know that they make very nice guitar amplifiers, but nothing else. The marshall headphones I tried were a few levels under ath m50, as far as clarity and every characteristic of sound goes, except for a pretty natural presentation in mids, mids were sounding natural, kind of ish but very veiled. 
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 2:51 PM Post #10 of 139
What would be the ultimate portable audio player?
 
Possibly if two companies at the top of their game teamed up with each other, then you could have sell something which because it was developed by two companies it could keep the cost down.
 
Say something like Denon/Harman and Astell & Kern. I know independent companies like FiiO, iBasso and iRiver are giving the boys a run for their money such as Sony or Phillips.
 
Ultimately if SACD and other traditional forms of music could be replaced by one device then the industry would be changed making current technologies retro.
 
I was going to try some BluRay audio discs if I could find some.
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 6:42 PM Post #12 of 139
dobrescu george said:
It is hardly acceptable. I mean, it will not be top tier audio, neither top tier smartphone, and is neither cheap. You can have an Alcatel idol 3 5.5" with better hardware and software, better DAC, and better amplification at 250$.... I sometimes ask myself why are companies still producing smartphones smaller than 5"..
Click to expand...


The Idol 3 has a better DAC? Please explain.

Wolfson typically bests the one's Qualcomm uses
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 7:00 PM Post #13 of 139
Dac's can be implemented anyway. It's up to the manufacturer to pair up other components as desired. If the signal path is spoiled by cheaper components it won't really matter how good it is.
 
Jul 16, 2015 at 9:59 PM Post #15 of 139

Just emailed Marshall to find out if there will be any balanced output mode. Hopefully they didn't miss an opportunity there.
 
So far the dual speakers and global EQ look promising. Not that I'd actually use the EQ but it sounds like the London could be one of the first "music" phones to run all audio through its specialized hardware. Up til now, most devices bypassed such circuitry when running other apps.
 
 
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