No portable amp needed for HTC One?
Jun 27, 2016 at 5:18 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 3

MorrisL

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So I was at a store shopping for a new smartphone and mentioned that I'd want it to have great sound so I can use it with a Fiio amp and listen to music, without a need for a dedicated DAP. The shop assistant quickly identified himself as an audiophile and said I needed an HTC One, and with that, he claimed, I wouldn't need a portable amp for most portable headphones, since its on-board amp is so good.
 
Is HTC One really all that? 
 
Jun 28, 2016 at 1:19 AM Post #2 of 3
  So I was at a store shopping for a new smartphone and mentioned that I'd want it to have great sound so I can use it with a FiiO amp and listen to music, without a need for a dedicated DAP. The shop assistant quickly identified himself as an audiophile and said I needed an HTC One, and with that, he claimed, I wouldn't need a portable amp for most portable headphones, since its on-board amp is so good.
 
Is HTC One really all that? 

 
Luckily I bought a used HTC One M8 a few months back.
To drive my 32-Ohm Soundmagic HP200 to a decent volume (for my ears), the HTC needs to have the volume set to around 75%
To drive my 250-Ohm Beyer T90 to a decent volume, need to run volume setting to around 85%-90%.
Guess the HTC ONEs headphone jack amp is roughly about equal to a $24 FiiO E6 headphone amplifier.
I'm finding my HTC ONE to make a very decent music player.
 
I normally listen to music (256K mp3) on my PC, using Foobar2000 (w/WASAPI) and a ($300) Audio-GD NFB-15 external DAC/amp.
 
Lots of used HTC ONE M8 for sale on eBay.
Should be able to find one in decent/fair shape for around $150
 
You might(?) be able to improve the audio on the HTC ONE if you install a third party firmware, something like Cyanogenmod.
 
Or maybe just a third party music player
http://www.androidcentral.com/best-music-players-android#slide3
 
 

 
Jun 28, 2016 at 3:37 AM Post #3 of 3
Wow.That's pretty impressive if it drives the T90 to your satisfaction. And they say M9 and M10 are even better!
 
Might as well not bother with an amp then. So much more convenient.
 

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