[Andricop]

Sorry to ask but what is the point to have a dedicated DAC if there is no jack? If you need to use an USB-C to jack adapter, it's the adapter's jack that will convert the sound.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Sorry to ask but what is the point to have a dedicated DAC if there is no jack? If you need to use an USB-C to jack adapter, it's the adapter's jack that will convert the sound.

I think you may be right. I'm listening to dongles using my Shanling M0 and Q1 and I swear the device and the dongle are splitting the SQ by what each of them want to do with it.

 

[drftr]

Sorry to ask but what is the point to have a dedicated DAC if there is no jack? If you need to use an USB-C to jack adapter, it's the adapter's jack that will convert the sound.

Remember that digital signals are far less prone to changes in sound by the the cable/connector used than analog signals.

drftr

 

[botmann]

... what is the point to have a dedicated DAC if there is no jack? If you need to use an USB-C to jack adapter, it's the adapter's jack that will convert the sound.

I'm no expert, but I would suspect that if the phone has a DAC, it may convert before going to the dongle. It's possible the adapter is literally changing from USB to 3.5mm or equivalent.

In addition, don't forget many people are using Bluetooth and not any kind of cable. Think of how popular Apple iPods, Samsung Galaxy Buds, Sony WF/WH...XM4s, and so forth. Because so many smartphones have ditched the 3.5mm jack, there are a number companies that sell headsets with USB C jacks instead of 3.5mm. Heck, I got set with a Galaxy Note 10+.

Granted, this forum is more niche compared to the general consumer.

 

[Andricop]

In addition, don't forget many people are using Bluetooth and not any kind of cable

Agreed, but in this case it's the built-in DAC of the BT earphone/headphone that is used

 

[botmann]

I totally skip my mind, smartphones have speakers too, which would definitely need a DAC. Considering the size of the phones and speakers, it's not like we're going to get some kind of reference level listening experience. Yes, some phones to have better audio than others. I think most people are happy if it can have some decent volume and clarity.

Nonetheless, for this group, the external dac--dongle, Bluetooth device, etc--is important. It's been a while since I saw the headline, apparently, there is a good number of the younger generation (whatever is after mennienials) are preferring wired connections over wireless for their headphones. I cannot dispute this one way or the other since I'm not around many people in that age group. Walking around the city, I don't see much of it; I do see some people who are using non-wireless headsets.

 

[unnamedplayer]

My hifiman sundaras are quite quiet on LG G7 thinq, should I buy a short extension cable and do the trick with impedance that way or is there any other sollution?

 

[botmann]

My hifiman sundaras are quite quiet on LG G7 thinq, should I buy a short extension cable and do the trick with impedance that way or is there any other sollution?

If they volume isn't loud enough for you, you're going to need a headphone amplifier. A simple USB C to 3.5mm dongle you pick up at Amazon for a few dollars probably isn't going to work since they're not going amplify (add power) to the signal.

Luckily that are plenty of amplifiers and DAC/amp combos to choose from. It's a matter of budget and what your needs/wants. The Chord Mojo is a few hundred dollars, but I believe it will have the power to run planar cans very well. There is a new version, Mojo 2, recently released too. There is a FiiO BTR5, significantly cheaper, and very small, that probably work. I think Sundras can run balanced. If correct, get the appropriate cord and some of those portable amp/dacs have more power to run the headsets, usually, better.

If you're not using the Sundras and LG G7 on the go, you can do with desktop setup and there is even more choices. Some units are $100US or less. Others, a few thousand (obviously the law of diminished returns will be in full effect at a certain point).

There are others with significantly more knowledge and experience than me who will be able to provide actual recommendations and better details.

 

[Results45]

My hifiman sundaras are quite quiet on LG G7 thinq, should I buy a short extension cable and do the trick with impedance that way or is there any other sollution?

Here's your problem: apparently the G7's 1-1.5 volt amplification circuitry outputs less than 5mW if a headphone with less than 50 ohms of impedance is plugged in (design flaw?)

This is pretty weird since more wattage should be delivered at lower levels of impedance.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-audio-measurement-of-lg-g7-thinq-smartphone.4468/

Compare that to the mW output from the ROG Phone 5's integrated AMP:

https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_rog_phone_5-review-2235p3.php

I'd like to point out that the ROG Phone 5 outputs 2 volts from the headphone jack when something with an impedance of 100 ohms or more is plugged in.

But under 100 ohms.........the ROG Phone 5 also seems to be outputting 1 volt as well with at least 31 milliwatts at 32 ohms.

Since impedance (ohms or Ω) scales proportionally to current (amperage) and inversely to power (watts, 1mW = 0.001W), your LG G7 should theoretically be able to output over 80 milliwatts to your pair of 37 ohm Hifiman Sundara. As to why it does not @armirm on the AudioScienceReview forums indeed confirms (they replicated your issue with the similar 35 ohm Hifiman HE-400i) that something like a power controller or trigger mechanism in the circuitry is behaving wonky and delivers less-than-optimal amounts of power to low-impedance headphones. Something like poor quality assurance or an actual design flaw might be the root cause, but given that this is a pretty niche issue that's just a guess.

If they volume isn't loud enough for you, you're going to need a headphone amplifier. A simple USB C to 3.5mm dongle you pick up at Amazon for a few dollars probably isn't going to work since they're not going amplify (add power) to the signal.

Luckily that are plenty of amplifiers and DAC/amp combos to choose from. It's a matter of budget and what your needs/wants. The Chord Mojo is a few hundred dollars, but I believe it will have the power to run planar cans very well. There is a new version, Mojo 2, recently released too. There is a FiiO BTR5, significantly cheaper, and very small, that probably work. I think Sundras can run balanced. If correct, get the appropriate cord and some of those portable amp/dacs have more power to run the headsets, usually, better.

There are others with significantly more knowledge and experience than me who will be able to provide actual recommendations and better details.

Yep nowadays there is at least a dozen thumb-drive sized options that output around 100mW out of a 3.5mm jack and around 200mW out of a balanced output. There is of course a ton of options of the fist-size, desktop, and lower price/quality/output power of which there are too many to count.

Here are four "dongle DAC-AMPs" that I can recommend:

1. Fiio KA3 ($69 to $90) [3.5mm: 130mW @ 32Ω, 4.4mm: 240mW @ 32Ω] ~ Should be pretty similar in functionality to the Hidizs S9 Pro. I might have bought this one for the price had I known that it existed last year. Besides the amplifier output the only physical difference here seems to be the integrated 4.4mm balanced output instead of the 2.5mm balanced output found on the S9 Pro. Aliexpress seems to have a sale almost every month when sellers mark down products anywhere between 10-25%. January, March, June, November, and December seems to be when the deepest discounts happen (for instance you can likely snag the KA3 for $62-$69 this coming Tuesday and likely on 3/28 as well with the "$7 off $50" coupon in the second hyperlink above).
2. Hidizs S9 Pro ($90 to $120) [3.5mm: 100mW @ 32Ω, 2.5mm: 200mW @ 32Ω] ~ I have one of these myself and it definitely amplifies all my headphones above what my LG V50 can do. It definitely gets almost too hot to touch after a minute with the volume turned up and the logo lights-up with RGB both of which probably contributes to how fast I notice it drains the battery on my phone. I don't have any extra sensitive or high-impedance cans, but I'm sure it would work great especially when paired with the Audioquest Jitterbug denoiser dongle I have on hand as well.
3. Fiio BTR5 2021 ($105 to $130) [3.5mm: 80mW @ 32Ω, 2.5mm: 240mW @ 32Ω] ~ Heard really great things about this one from Dankpods and all the enthusiast reviewers like myself that vomit hideously detailed thoughts about their respective quality (or not so quality) audio gear. Probably almost definitely one of the most versatile wireless adapter to wired DAC-AMP dongles on the market that happens to higher-bitrate Bluetooth codecs like aptX and LDAC. I'm going for the Fiio UTWS3 or UTWS5 instead since I have a bunch of IEMs, but this is the one I would snag if I wanted to enjoy music with my favorite wired over-ears across the living room.
4. Cayin RU6 ($250) [3.5mm: 138mW @ 32Ω, 4.4mm: 213mW @ 32Ω] ~ This one is more expensive not only because it sports physical volume/gain controls and a 1-inch OLED display, but the fact that the digital-audio-converter (DAC) is a custom designed & tuned 24-bit R2R resistor ladder circuit* that is more commonly found in pretty expensive desktop setups and digital audio players (DAPs) that can cost closer to a thousand if not few thousand dollars. Also sports a 4.4 balanced output.

Other ones:

Spoiler: all the links

>https://hifigo.com/products/fiio-ka3
>https://audio46.com/products/fiio-ka3-usb-amp-dac?currency=USD&variant=40891299561662
>https://www.ebay.com/sch/293/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=fiio+KA3&_udlo=50&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2
>https://www.aliexpress.com/af/fiio-...pe=total_tranpro_desc&minPrice=65&maxPrice=81
https://headfonics.com/fiio-ka3-review/
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-jade-audio-ka3-dac-amp.25575/reviews

>https://www.hidizs.net/products/hidizs-s9-pro-balanced-single-ended-mini-hifi-dac-amp
>https://hifigo.com/products/hidizs-s9-pro-balanced-single-ended-portable-heapphone-dac-amp
>https://www.linsoul.com/collections/amp-dacs/products/hidizs-s9-pro
>https://www.ebay.com/sch/293/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=hidizs+s9+pro&_udlo=50&_sop=15&LH_PrefLoc=2
>https://www.aliexpress.com/af/hidiz...chText=hidizs+s9+pro&minPrice=90&maxPrice=105
https://headfonics.com/hidizs-s9-pro-review/
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/hidizs-s9pro.25175/

>https://www.newegg.com/p/0TH-009Z-000Z9?item=9SIAEH0GMJ7161
>https://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-mp...er-bluetooth-5-0-headphone-amp-hi-res-regular
>https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-BTR5-2021-Bluetooth-Headphone-Resolution/dp/B09G9TNB2R
>https://www.ebay.com/sch/293/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=btr5&_sop=15&LH_PrefLoc=2&_udlo=70&rt=nc
https://headfonics.com/fiio-btr5-2021-review/1/
https://headfonics.com/fiio-btr5-2021-review/2/
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-btr5-2021.25558/reviews

>https://shop.musicteck.com/products/cayin-ru6-r-2r-usb-c-dac-amp-dongle?variant=39638791618622
https://headfonics.com/cayin-ru6-review/1/
https://headfonics.com/cayin-ru6-review/2/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cayin-ru6-r-2r-usb-dongle-dac-with-head-amp.960113/

>https://web.archive.org/web/20220131000840/https://promossale.com/aliexpress-sale-dates-2022/
>https://www.alipromo.codes/store/aliexpress/?dealcategory=general
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta-sigma_modulation
https://sw1xad.co.uk/delta-sigma-vs-nos-r2r-dac-designs/

*as opposed to DAC chips with delta-sigma circuits commonly found in the vast majority of devices like phones and affordable audio enthusiast gear that include some sort of integrated DAC that encodes the input signal and processes it through various corrective filters before sampling and resolving the output signal. Here's a good analogy by Dr. Slawa Roschkow that illustrates this well:

comparing how a photograph is taken by either "a) a camera equipped with proper optical lens (non-oversampling R2R DAC) and b) with a camera taken with a digital zoom and a lot of DSP post-processing, done by the software and hardware of a camera (DS DAC). Pictures taken with a) have sense of depth, are more natural in their textures and are smoother in their transients. There is no post-processing and all original data is presented more or less as captured. Pictures taken with b) are flatter, textures are more synthetic and are edgier in the transients as post-processing was applied to interpolate the missing data and all results heavily depends on post-processing algorithm chosen."​

What Dr, Roschkow describes above is the basic idea that any process that takes a more organic and direct approach to converting a given input into the desired output -- if designed, built, and optimized properly -- will produce/display/resolve a final result that is more natural and preserves the raw input data at a higher fidelity.

This is also the very principle that contributes to improving the quality of all sorts of things:

• why R2R DACs may produce audio quality that is subtly more natural, spacious, and detailed than DS DAC chips​
• why path/ray-traced 3D rendering, photogrammetric 3D models/textures, motion capture, and practical effects often contributes to more realistic and immersive video games and movies -- as opposed to rasterized lighting which relies on approximation-sharpening-imitation effects, manually crafting 3D geometries from imagination or reference material, manually building a sequence of animations, and trying pass off a nearly 100% digitally crafted universe as one that that feels grounded and organic.​
• why a diet comprised of fruits, veggies, and meat fresh from the farm tastes and feels so much more wholesome and maintains long-term health.​
• why Elon Musk overhauls manufacturing processes and rocket engine designs by stripping or redesigning components to vastly reduce overall complexity and improve efficiency & functionality aspects by multiple orders of magnitude.​
• why simple, functional, and wholistic design may not come intuitively, but is worth pursuing​

.........and music is definitely a way to express such ideals

 

[352178]

Well, having owned LG G7 and V10, I am glad that I bought the DUNU impedance adapter from Aliexpress. After breaking some cheap adapters... It screams quality, metal body... I have an OFC cable with mic, that does not trigger high impedance mode with Sennheiser HD599 SE (the original cable does trigger it). The difference, not only in volume, but in everything, is so jaw-dropping, it is a world of difference. I opted for the 75OHM one, and LG G7 drives the combo quite easily. I doubt that you need anything else. I compared it with my NAD D3020 (CS dac inside), and while the bass was fuller, tighter with more impact...everything else was easily a win with the LG. I used 24/96 hi-res audio. Do not let anybody fool you that there is no difference between Normal and High impedance mode, as some people seriously need to check their hearing (yes, I studied medicine).

 

[Nailzs]

DAMN IT! T-Mobile upgraded my LG G8 ThinQ to Android 11 this week. If I knew that was going to happen I probably would have held off getting my Samsung Z Fold3!

 

[andrewski]

DAMN IT! T-Mobile upgraded my LG G8 ThinQ to Android 11 this week. If I knew that was going to happen I probably would have held off getting my Samsung Z Fold3!

I mentioned mine did. And have since received a January security patch (on Rogers in Canada)

 

[Results45]

DAMN IT! T-Mobile upgraded my LG G8 ThinQ to Android 11 this week. If I knew that was going to happen I probably would have held off getting my Samsung Z Fold3!

I still have my Huawei P20 Pro on Android 8 so that it will be easier to unlock the bootloader :D

I'm holding off on foldables until 2024 or 2025. Hopefully by then the inner display won't feel as plasticy and the phone can unfurl further from 7-inches to 10 or maybe even 12-inches.

Though repairability on the foldables sucks so I might get one as a laptop replacement when traveling and still use a slab phone (probably the Fairphone 5+) as my daily.

 

[botmann]

I'm not a fan of the foldable format. It's another weak on the phone. I'd rather have a bigger phone. I think 7" is probably the sweet spot. Then again, I liked when phones did have 3.5mm ports, SD memory expansion, and removable batteries (I tend to go through the battery in about 12-18 months). I also like flagship phones, which is what the foldable are now versus the candy bars.

If it wasn't because of some applications I have to use needs Windows, I would ditch my home PC and only use my smartphone. I would connect to a monitor/tv with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. In fact, I have a lapdock for on the go, which is nothing more than screen, keyboard and touchpad; there's no storage, CPU,etc. With Samsung, LG (I think), and Google creating desktop environments for connecting to external docks, it's getting closer and closer.

 

[Lionlian]

Used LG V30 V40 V50 is absolutely a steal,

'Srereophile Recommended Class A' sounds quality dap, in just $100 price range!!!