Guys, these phones (LG V30, Xplay 6, Onkyo) are very costly almost the price of a 50" LED TV. Are there any cheaper phones which are still audiophile grade? Dont need other high end features like 2 cameras, 2k display, curved screen etc. Just need normal phone with high end dac/amp. Budget: 250 USD.
You can find a V20 NEW for under 300 USD now. And a V10 of course cheaper. I still like both of them : both are on android 7, both have screen size of 5.7 inches, 4GB RAM, and both are fast enough for a good experience. Each has its own sound qualities (dynamics, bass and warm sound with V10, more details and MIDs with V20). Not to mention the rest (second display for music player shortcuts, removable battery, SD card, excellent recording capabilities...). For the European people, the G5 and the HiFi Plus DAC module are also dirt cheap now. H990DS (V20 dual sim from Asia, B&O tuned) is around 300 euros new (and it has all LTE bands that you need, that is not the case with most chinese phones).
When you see the prices requested by Astell&Kern, Cowon, and many DAP vendors for their devices (except Fiio and some minor chinese vendors), that's tremendous value !
i take advantage of your experience: meizu pro7 uses cs43130(with internal amp i think). i don´t know this chip.it´s good?
my only experience with cs dac is with a wolfson dac of audio-gd dac/amp. i remeber that sound was very good
CS DAC is from Cirrus Logic, not from Wolfson. Anyway, even if Wolfson chips are generally on the warmer/musical side, and ESS Sabre chips on the analytical side, you really have to test : the V10 with ESS 9018 DAC results in a really warm and dynamic sound. Not cold or analytical. Of course the amp stage is also important and can colour/alter the sound.
I have not heard Meizu Pro 7 or CS43130 DAC yet though.