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

[MixMasterMan]

Well s9 plus sound exactly the same like s8plus

I'm sure it does. It is only so slightly different (5% sharper treble) than my Note5 which it replaced.

Btw, I got to compare the s9+ and Lg g7 side by side yesterday with 2 test headphones (hd650 & m40x). The g7 sounds nice, but the quad dac is useless on my 650's. Still too quiet. With lower impedance HP's, the g7 is also too quiet, and the s9 gets more than enough volume. I was thinking about switching from the s9+ over to the g7, but decided to stay with the s9+. The low volume of the g7 is no good.

 

[lordaine]

I'm sure it does. It is only so slightly different (5% sharper treble) than my Note5 which it replaced.

Btw, I got to compare the s9+ and Lg g7 side by side yesterday with 2 test headphones (hd650 & m40x). The g7 sounds nice, but the quad dac is useless on my 650's. Still too quiet. With lower impedance HP's, the g7 is also too quiet, and the s9 gets more than enough volume. I was thinking about switching from the s9+ over to the g7, but decided to stay with the s9+. The low volume of the g7 is no good.

It seems that most likely for over the ear headphones will really benefit from DAP or onkyo granbeat? And for LG phones that has quad dac only IEMs shines?

 

[newbalance55]

Hi, now that Meizu has announced the new Meizu 16 as their flagship for 2018 to be released in August, I guess that Meizu 15´s price will go down in the short-medium term.

I love the design and size of this Meizu 15 which is being under the radar IMHO.
Any opinions/experiences regarding sound of Meizu 15? Normally I hear music with wired IEMs (Fiio 9 Pro and Mee Audio P1)
Not much information on dedicated hardware (if any) on Internet. According to some Russian websites or blogs, it has:

SmarPA Cirrus Logic CS35L35, “noise” Qualcomm Fluence, audio chip Hexagon 680, stereo sound from speakers, mEngine

Coming from a HTC 10 I guess that, soundwise, you all think that getting a Meizu 15 is a downgrade. But very noticeable?
And believe me: HTC 10, after Oreo´s update, is driving me crazy in terms of battery life and performance

Thank you very much in advance

 

[lordaine]

Doesn't have sd card which concerns me for FLAC files.

 

[artpiggo]

Soomal review on vivo nex s compared to vivo xplay6.

http://eng.soomal.com/edoc/10100000237.htm

 

[waveSounds]

It seems that most likely for over the ear headphones will really benefit from DAP or onkyo granbeat? And for LG phones that has quad dac only IEMs shines?

Not true. There's not a chance that the S9 or plus variant can drive headphones of any size more capably than the V30. It doesn't have the audio circuitry for it to even be a possibility. If a V30 is having more difficulty driving headphones than the S9, the LG is either faulty or not being used correctly.

The V30 drives my Focal Elear easily at volume 40 of 75. Check the V30 thread, there are folk in there who have no trouble driving their HD650, or any dynamic driver headphone. The only area it can stuggle is with demanding planars. It also has zero background hiss with my SE846.

 

[stenog]

Not true. There's not a chance that the S9 or plus variant can drive headphones of any size more capably than the V30. It doesn't have the audio circuitry for it to even be a possibility. If a V30 is having more difficulty driving headphones than the S9, the LG is either faulty or not being used correctly.

The V30 drives my Focal Elear easily at volume 40 of 75. Check the V30 thread, there are folk in there who have no trouble driving their HD650, or any dynamic driver headphone. The only area it can stuggle is with demanding planars. It also has zero background hiss with my SE846.

You need to take into consideration that LG smartphones have 3 modes, normal, AUX and high impedance. Not all people know about this. If you just plug an iem/headphone in the jack stick with less than 50 ohms you only trigger normal mode. And normal mode don't have a lot of power compared to many smartphones.

Normal mode is about the same power as an average Sony smartphone = no power.
AUX mode is about the same as the HTC 10/older IPhone = plenty of power for most iems /headphones.
High impedance is more power than any smartphone and equal or more than many daps = a lot of power.

 

[MixMasterMan]

Not true. There's not a chance that the S9 or plus variant can drive headphones of any size more capably than the V30. It doesn't have the audio circuitry for it to even be a possibility. If a V30 is having more difficulty driving headphones than the S9, the LG is either faulty or not being used correctly.

The V30 drives my Focal Elear easily at volume 40 of 75. Check the V30 thread, there are folk in there who have no trouble driving their HD650, or any dynamic driver headphone. The only area it can stuggle is with demanding planars. It also has zero background hiss with my SE846.

You need to take into consideration that LG smartphones have 3 modes, normal, AUX and high impedance. Not all people know about this. If you just plug an iem/headphone in the jack stick with less than 50 ohms you only trigger normal mode. And normal mode don't have a lot of power compared to many smartphones.

Normal mode is about the same power as an average Sony smartphone = no power.
AUX mode is about the same as the HTC 10/older IPhone = plenty of power for most iems /headphones.
High impedance is more power than any smartphone and equal or more than many daps = a lot of power.

I was at the verizon store, and just plugged into the jack of a on display LGG7, and compared using a YT music video. I went into the DAC settings, and played around with whatever was in there. I did NOT see any option to change the input impedance. Where is this setting located?

[edit: I'm a tech head, and know my way around computers and android smartphones. If there is no setting to adjust the impedance mode, then the device does it automatically. The 650's I compared on the G7 DID change between normal and quad dac mode. The m40x DID NOT. Based on that observation, and from what I understand/know about the phone, it was working correctly. So with that experience, the s9+ is better with <50 headphones than the LGG7. Maybe lighter 80-150ohm HP's will be cool with the quad dac of the G7. For me, it was underwhelming on my 650's. Still not loud enough, but louder than the s9+.

There's a reason why I used the m40x & hd650. They are both the hardest to drive in their impedance range (well, the dt880's are harder to drive than 650's, but I rarely use the 880's anymore), and the best HP's to use to test the capabilities of the device with quad dac on or off. 80 ohm HP's? Of course they are going to benefit from the quad dac. 300 ohms? THAT is the test. Same with my m40x's. 35 ohms, but hardest to drive of my stable in the range that won't use the quad dac.

 

[MixMasterMan]

Where is the setting?

 

[Gusse]

Soomal review on vivo nex s compared to vivo xplay6.

http://eng.soomal.com/edoc/10100000237.htm

I am looking forward for your opinion soomal seems to like it.

 

[garysohn]

https://darko.audio/2018/06/the-dap-days-are-over-part-3-lg-v30/

 

[MixMasterMan]

I'm still waiting for @waveSounds to enlighten me, with a real world comparison or instruction on how to get quad dac mode for <50 ohm HP's, Instead of messaging fake news. Stock, the s9/a9+ has more power for <50ohm headphones than the lgg7/v30. Period. - And lgg7/v30 is STILL weak as hell for high impedance HP's like hd650's and the like.

 

[waveSounds]

Does my name look anything remotely like garysohn? Thanks for putting the "period" in bold. I guess that's the conversation over, nothing to discuss here, chaps; S9 > V30.

 

[stenog]

I'm still waiting for @waveSounds to enlighten me, with a real world comparison or instruction on how to get quad dac mode for <50 ohm HP's, Instead of messaging fake news. Stock, the s9/a9+ has more power for <50ohm headphones than the lgg7/v30. Period. - And lgg7/v30 is STILL weak as hell for high impedance HP's like hd650's and the like.

If you want more feedback you should post this in the V30 thread.

You will not get "better" sound quality in aux mode or high impedance mode compared to normal mode you will get only get more power. It's relatively easy to active aux or him. If you don't know search the V30 thread or any of the other LG threads. This have been discussed since the LG V10, almost 3 years.

And yes the S9 have more power than LG phones in normal mode.

 

[MixMasterMan]

If you want more feedback you should post this in the V30 thread.

You will not get "better" sound quality in aux mode or high impedance mode compared to normal mode you will get only get more power. It's relatively easy to active aux or him. If you don't know search the V30 thread or any of the other LG threads. This have been discussed since the LG V10, almost 3 years.

And yes the S9 have more power than LG phones in normal mode.

If it's so easy, I would be able to find it in "settings". I asked for directions. Someone could pointed me to a post with instructions in the v30 thread, if it were that easy. I'm open to direction/instruction. Help me? How about that? - Maybe I have no desire to search for a needle in a haystack. It's all good. I already know that the quad dac isn't powerful enough for my 300ohm HP's. Am I able to trick it for <50ohm HP's? Will it make a difference? I have no idea yet. - I just get bothered by ignorant, smug, fanboy comments that spread fake news.