Best Smartphone for audiophile Part II (Updated: Jan 2020)

[Gee Simpson]

Xperia+ BTR5 will also be a fantastic combination

It would, but then that kinda defeats the purpose of the Xperia having the 3.5mm headphone jack, lol.

 

[Barusu Lamperouge]

It would, but then that kinda defeats the purpose of the Xperia having the 3.5mm headphone jack, lol.

Umm not really. You still have two excellent options to hear music. BTR5 gives you freedom of BT making a great portable solution. It's like a huge upgrade on Sony's SBH series. Also, if you aren't satisfied with inbuilt DAC of Xperia then you have a tiny portable DAC that's kickass. Either way it's a win win for you.

 

[emilsoft]

the new Xiaomi Black Shark 4 also has a headphone jack - i can't find any information on it's 3.5mm quality, i thought it's using the higher quality qualcom dac but i'm probably wrong

 

[kislaykaushal]

No more dongles

Rog phone 5


Don’t know if it’s native or not, but it can play DSD file.


Sound quality wise it’s excellent for driving IEMs. I’m ahappy camper indeed.

The best way to know whether a device is capable of playing native DSD or not is to pick a FLAC audio file. And then, convert that flac file to DSD64 (with file extension .dsf). DSD64 is the lowest level DSD and the channel selected should be stereo. Now, listen to flac and dsd versions one by one. If you don't find any noticeable difference between the two, native dsd is not supported. You can even use an mp3 file instead of flac, if you don't have one.

OR

If you have a dsd file, you can convert it to flac and then compare the two. Though I think in this case, dsd file will be slightly better than flac even with non-native dsd playback. In the case of native dsd playback, there will be a noticeable sound difference.

 

[OklahKekW]

Out of curiosity, what would be the absolute cheapest Android phones around that support LDAC and are widely available in Europe?

xiaomi poco x3 pro (around €200)

 

[arar]

xiaomi poco x3 pro (around €200)

That's perfect, thanks! I've actually been thinking of getting a big, cheap Android phone for emulation purposes too and this one looks like it'd do that very well also. Two birds with one phone.

 

[zeinharis]

The best way to know whether a device is capable of playing native DSD or not is to pick a FLAC audio file. And then, convert that flac file to DSD64 (with file extension .dsf). DSD64 is the lowest level DSD and the channel selected should be stereo. Now, listen to flac and dsd versions one by one. If you don't find any noticeable difference between the two, native dsd is not supported. You can even use an mp3 file instead of flac, if you don't have one.

OR

If you have a dsd file, you can convert it to flac and then compare the two. Though I think in this case, dsd file will be slightly better than flac even with non-native dsd playback. In the case of native dsd playback, there will be a noticeable sound difference.

I don't have to convert it, as you can see on my screenshot the Rog phone 5 can't play DSD natively, it converted to PCM, but I can definitely hear difference in volume, the DSD file have lower volumes than the flac version so I need to crank up it up.

Here is the DSD version

And here is the flac version

 

[kislaykaushal]

I don't have to convert it, as you can see on my screenshot the Rog phone 5 can't play DSD natively, it converted to PCM, but I can definitely hear difference in volume, the DSD file have lower volumes than the flac version so I need to crank up it up.

Here is the DSD version


And here is the flac version

How did you conclude from metadata that it cannot play native DSD? Also, it is dsd128. It is possible for a phone to play both DSD64 and DSD128 but natively only DSD64.

 

[zeinharis]

How did you conclude from metadata that it cannot play native DSD? Also, it is dsd128. It is possible for a phone to play both DSD64 and DSD128 but natively only DSD64.

Cause Android killed the DSD on Android 10, and the rog phone 5 is on android 11

 

[mainguy]

It would, but then that kinda defeats the purpose of the Xperia having the 3.5mm headphone jack, lol.

My xperia 1 ii jack is woefully weak, iPhone + Dongle goes way louder. So maybe the 3.5mm is pretty useless anyway lol

 

[Gee Simpson]

My xperia 1 ii jack is woefully weak, iPhone + Dongle goes way louder. So maybe the 3.5mm is pretty useless anyway lol

Hmm... can't quite decide between the Sony Xperia I III and Samsung S21 Ultra.

 

[vver]

Hmm... can't quite decide between the Sony Xperia I III and Samsung S21 Ultra.

S21 ultra + THX Onyx dongle is cheaper than Xperia 1 iii.

The only audiophile phone in 2021 is the Asus ROG 5.Xperia 1 iii and Asus Zenfone 8 have a 3.5 mm jack with okayish output but you would need a high end dongle to fully experience lossless streaming.

I was seriously thinking of getting Asus zenfone 8 and maybe will still get it because I hate using Bluetooth for calls and find BT ear buds to be a complete waste of money but I think we all have to resign to buying dongles in the future for quality sound.

LG basically was ahead of its time with the G5 phone with the B&O audio module way back in 2015..It thought that the 5% of people who appreciate quality music on their phones will part with $100-150 for a dedicated audio module..well dongles today are basically this vision realized on all phones.

 

[Gee Simpson]

S21 ultra + THX Onyx dongle is cheaper than Xperia 1 iii.

The only audiophile phone in 2021 is the Asus ROG 5.Xperia 1 iii and Asus Zenfone 8 have a 3.5 mm jack with okayish output but you would need a high end dongle to fully experience lossless streaming.

I was seriously thinking of getting Asus zenfone 8 and maybe will still get it because I hate using Bluetooth for calls and find BT ear buds to be a complete waste of money but I think we all have to resign to buying dongles in the future for quality sound.

LG basically was ahead of its time with the G5 phone with the B&O audio module way back in 2015..It thought that the 5% of people who appreciate quality music on their phones will part with $100-150 for a dedicated audio module..well dongles today are basically this vision realized on all phones.

S21 Ultra 256GB version is the same price as the Xperia I III here. I'm leaning towards the S21 Ultra because the Xperia I III has bad battery life apparently. Although the S21 Ultra has that camera punch hole

If I was getting the S21 Ultra I would also purchase the FiiO BTR5.

Also, I use Spotify and not sure I would want to switch to anything else. 320kbps is enough for me personally.

 

[Gee Simpson]

My xperia 1 ii jack is woefully weak, iPhone + Dongle goes way louder. So maybe the 3.5mm is pretty useless anyway lol

I almost exclusively use IEM's though and my current S7 Edge is fine at driving them, the only thing it struggles with is my 32 ohm Fidelio X2HR, and I only really use them for gaming now. I would imagine the Xperia 1 III will drive my IEM's sufficiently. If I go for the S21 Ultra then I will also purchase the FiiO BTR5, if I go for the Xperia 1 III I probably won't bother as I don't think I'd need it.

 

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