[int_architect]

I've been watching this thread to see how this would develop.  Was really hoping US variants would have the Wolfson DAC, but no dice.
 
Supercurio confirms no Wolfson in US variants:
https://twitter.com/supercurio/status/217631114334973952

TechRepublic lists this same component in their teardown:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/cracking-open/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-teardown-reveals-easy-open-case-difficult-to-fix-display/666?tag=content;blog-list-river
 

 

[WakiDabeast]

Quote:

Well I havent read anything on the Xperia S directly but I have read that Sony´s SQ in their smartphones is no wear near as good as thier dedicated DAP´s like the Sony Walkman Z which I did have (and is better than the iPhone 4 IMO) but if I was to go back a few weeks and make the decision if i should sell my Walkman Z and Galaxy SII and get teh S3 then I would 100% nothing else compares in a complete package but for £500 I was expecting a little more...dont know what but you know when you just get that feeling...
 
Im just trying to put out a rational opinion, and if your expecting some crazy unbelievable improvements that justify the extra $$$ in getting the S3 I just think you will be dissapointed, although I can almost certainly say that when Voodoo comes out it will have better SQ than the Xperia, and probably stock going by the slight difference in the Walkman Z and S3 and what people were saying there was BIG improvements in Walkman Z and sony smartphones! I know its not a direct A/B but its better than nothing in trying to put thinks in perspective
 
I know I havent really helped in making your decision...but I hope you will be a bit better informed in what your hard earned cash will get you! 

Hehe, still in High School, and all my job money is being saved for college (and laptop) ^^. Still, yeah I'm thinking I will go with the Xperia S, I will wait to see if the GS3 goes down in price because in the last week it has gone down by about 60 for the pebble blue and 30 for white... if they can bring it down to 600$ US I think I will take it, otherwise I think I will get the Xperia S.
 
Thanks though, I really wanted to know how someone personally felt about the value of the GS3, especially an audiophile ^^

 

[danny93]

Quote:

Hehe, still in High School, and all my job money is being saved for college (and laptop) ^^. Still, yeah I'm thinking I will go with the Xperia S, I will wait to see if the GS3 goes down in price because in the last week it has gone down by about 60 for the pebble blue and 30 for white... if they can bring it down to 600$ US I think I will take it, otherwise I think I will get the Xperia S.
 
Thanks though, I really wanted to know how someone personally felt about the value of the GS3, especially an audiophile ^^

I am far from an audiophile...I too have just left sixth form (yeh Im British 

) and going to uni and I have no job...so basically im broke too LOL, but I sold allot of stuff to afford it 

 (phone, DAP, subwoofer, earphones) so I know how you feel haha 
 
AS I say give it a week or so and Voodoo will be out and youll have many more valid opinions on the SQ capabilities of the S3 and if it can compete with the best...Supercurio mentioned it had potential to sound better than the Fiio E17!!! But as it sounds now its quite a bit off
 
Price will come down...new flagship phone will always use price skimming, give it a while and price will drop a fair bit...especially with the influx of newer phones from HTC and Sony etc 

 

[garysohn]

No Wolfson.  No LTE in my area. Contract on up for over two months.  I think I will take a pass on this phone.
 

 

[Randomdudex]

Hey everybody, this is my first post and I decided since I have nobody else to ask for an educated opinion on the matter that I'd just go ahead and make an account here to get some help.

So here's what's bothering me. I recently had my Galaxy S I9000 stolen, the culprit was not caught however, nor my phone returned to me, so I went ahead and ordered the newer version, the S3. I originally bought the I9000 for its sound quality, same for the S3 now.

Without further ado, here's my dilemma: Do you guys think it's worth it to buy expensive IEMs to use with a mobile phone such as the Galaxy S3? Even with Voodoo Sound (I did not use Voodoo on my original phone, such a waste). I was thinking of buying the Westone W4s http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M4RTUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A31ZJYFFBZJHQC since they've scored some great reviews out there. In any case, will I notice a -significant- sound quality improvement over the stock headphones included with the S3, or my current 30$ monitors to justify the cost? I'm a big fan of sound quality, just haven't ever had the courage to pull the trigger and find out for myself whether or not it's something I won't regret.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any and all replies! Cheers ^_^

 

[Gladzilla]

what USB dac should i but then since the US variant will not have the wolfson DAC

 

[danny93]

Quote:

Hey everybody, this is my first post and I decided since I have nobody else to ask for an educated opinion on the matter that I'd just go ahead and make an account here to get some help.

So here's what's bothering me. I recently had my Galaxy S I9000 stolen, the culprit was not caught however, nor my phone returned to me, so I went ahead and ordered the newer version, the S3. I originally bought the I9000 for its sound quality, same for the S3 now.

Without further ado, here's my dilemma: Do you guys think it's worth it to buy expensive IEMs to use with a mobile phone such as the Galaxy S3? Even with Voodoo Sound (I did not use Voodoo on my original phone, such a waste). I was thinking of buying the Westone W4s http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004M4RTUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A31ZJYFFBZJHQC since they've scored some great reviews out there. In any case, will I notice a -significant- sound quality improvement over the stock headphones included with the S3, or my current 30$ monitors to justify the cost? I'm a big fan of sound quality, just haven't ever had the courage to pull the trigger and find out for myself whether or not it's something I won't regret.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any and all replies! Cheers ^_^

First off what sort of music to you listen to, would you consider yourself a basshead? I think you may want to build up gradually as your first pair of IEM´s shouldnt be  > $200 you would probably be just as satisfies with $100 IEM´s as you woulnt have heard music any better! IEM´s arent the most robust things in the world so dont expect them to last forever! 
 
If your a fan of bass check out CKS77, if your not though and prefer the flat monitor sound then go for something else! 

 

[analogue 3]

Quote:

what USB dac should i but then since the US variant will not have the wolfson DAC

http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs-how-to-increase-the-issues-priority-with-google/75#post_8469189
 
List of working DACs with S3 in that post. Please check the first post of the thread for more info and vote for usb audio if you have a google account:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24614&sort=-stars&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars

 

[Duncan]

I'll happily throw $50 to the first dev who gets the S3 to work with the E17
 
...Not saying that the E7 is bad, but - I wanna use my new toy

 

[Kendoji]

Yeah I'm REALLY hoping the USB DAC support can be extended, with this phone it feels like we're close for the first time (I want to use my TubeDAC 11!).  Unfortunately, I have the impression that none of the top kernel developers are particularly interested in this topic.  Hopefully once Supercurio publishes his audio findings and releases Voodoo there'll be some more focus on this.
 
Oh well, in the meantime I'm quite happy with both the phone's headphone out (the clicks don't really bother me too much) and the E7.

 

[sanity8me]

Perhaps Jellybean will be the answer to our prayers, especially for the unlucky non-wolfson gs3 owners.
 
Quote from http://developer.android.com/about/versions/jelly-bean.html:
 

USB Audio

USB audio output support allows hardware vendors to build hardware such as audio docks that interface with Android devices. This functionality is also exposed with the Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) to give all developers the chance to create their own hardware.

 

[WakiDabeast]

Hey quick questions, does the us carrier version of the GS3 have a Wolfson, because I can pick an unlocked one up for 500 ^^

 

[analogue 3]

^Check the first post (406) of this page. Prob some other relevant info on this thread and the other SGS3 threads on here. Seems to be mixed info though

 

[Elythor]

Quote:

Hey quick questions, does the us carrier version of the GS3 have a Wolfson, because I can pick an unlocked one up for 500 ^^

As per previous posts in the thread....no. All US variance of GS3 does NOT have Wolfson. They use a build-in dac from Qualcomm

 

[googleli]

Any news from SuperMario?