[lxlx]

check out eng.soomal.com
they are testing profound, including cross talk (which is handled properly in good HiFi mobile phones.
you have black sheeps of cross talk in DAPs as well... even if some prefer to have cross talk, but that's another discussion)

 

[abm0]

the stereo crosstalk and the instruments separation derived from that.

I don't know about "instrument separation", that might be more a question of resolution/detail rather than imaging. Unless we're talking about a symphonic orchestra where someone might want to hear exactly where each instrument player was seated. But even then you'd first need resolution to hear each sound produced by each instrument distinctly and fully-defined, not mushed together with other sounds, and only after that could imaging add anything to hearing the instruments "separately". In general crosstalk is a question of imaging and soundstage size. "Instrument separation" is a bit more vague and different people might mean different things by it.

check out eng.soomal.com
they are testing profound, including cross talk (which is handled properly in good HiFi mobile phones.

Maybe it is, maybe it's not. It's good that there are measurements available for everything, but it's not so good that they all seem to be made without headphones connected, which improves the result by a lot. I'm seeing results around -90/-93 dB, same as I've been seeing quoted on GSMArena for most decent smartphones for a number of years now. That by itself doesn't tell me there's anything special going on in "audiophile phones" that hasn't been going on in regular phones for a long time.

 

[DaniRojo]

I don't know about "instrument separation", that might be more a question of resolution/detail rather than imaging. Unless we're talking about a symphonic orchestra where someone might want to hear exactly where each instrument player was seated. But even then you'd first need resolution to hear each sound produced by each instrument distinctly and fully-defined, not mushed together with other sounds, and only after that could imaging add anything to hearing the instruments "separately". In general crosstalk is a question of imaging and soundstage size. "Instrument separation" is a bit more vague and different people might mean different things by it.

I can only speak for myself. When I say "instrument separation" I mean a quality where you are able to clearly separate the sound of the bass guitar from the sound of the rhythm guitar for example. Even more, many studio albums made by bands with only one guitars have parts where the guitar parts are doubled. In a good production listened with the proper equipment you can be able to separate even those twin guitars. Again I'm only talking about real life measures, those where you don't need anything more than the music, the gear where its played on, and your ears. I don't need spacial separation in a full orchestra to notice that "instrument separation" or whatever you want to call it. Of course you need a certain resolution to achieve all this, but it's public domain that a well made album in 320 kbps or better is more than enough.

 

[lxlx]

Instrument separation and stereo crosstalk are two different topics imho.
Imagine, you sit in front of the orchestra with your ears only, still you can separate instruments very well. Although your ears - in this one room with all instruments - hear loads and loads of crosstalk.

edit: wrong, I confused binaural vs crosstalk here.

 

[abm0]

Instrument separation and stereo crosstalk are two different topics imho.
Imagine, you sit in front of the orchestra with your ears only, still you can separate instruments very well. Although your ears - in this one room with all instruments - hear loads and loads of crosstalk.

No, that is profound confusion that makes people think crosstalk might be a good thing. Crosstalk is the erroneous electronic/electromagnetic effect that appears in sound reproduction systems whereby the signal from one channel bleeds into the cables or electrical pathways of the other channel, degrading the fidelity of reproduction. This is very much not the same thing as what happens in binaural hearing, where sounds coming from right-side directions relative to the listener's head are also heard by the left ear. In the latter case there are significant frequency envelope changes for the sound that reaches the opposite ear vs. the same-side ear because of the different "directional HRTF" that appears in the sound wave's path along that direction of propagation. This is mostly not reproduced by electronic crosstalk, which typically only shrinks the soundstage toward the center and degrades imaging and brings no frontalization benefit.

Crosstalk is defective reproduction in electronic systems, binaural hearing is another thing entirely and is very hard to simulate in sound reproduction systems (you need 4-way equalized crossfeed based on your personal HRTFs for that).

 

[lxlx]

Thanks for clarifying detailed yet very understandable!

crosstalk is not binaural, check.

therefore, as less dB crosstalk as possible is desired.

 

[abm0]

therefore, as less dB crosstalk as possible is desired.

In principle less is better, but it's probably safe to assume the same limit of audibility applies as for other extraneous components such as THD+N, namely around -85 dB.

 

[dragonball]

At present times, what are the top 5 best sounding androids? V30, V20, Xplay6? And what else?

 

[lordaine]

I think you can include axon 7 and mini to the list

 

[Hariz Nordin]

G6 n g7

 

[lordaine]

Vivo Nex s is presently on top right now

 

[nort ycagel]

why isn't S9 on the list? It has one of the best measurements on GSMArena

 

[docentore]

why isn't S9 on the list? It has one of the best measurements on GSMArena

Because it sounds bad compared to other phones. Measurements are not everything

 

[nort ycagel]

Because it sounds bad compared to other phones. Measurements are not everything

Yeah, I forgot the audiophile world is a magic place that goes beyond objective measurements.

 

[stenog]

Yeah, I forgot the audiophile world is a magic place that goes beyond objective measurements.

Trust your own ears. If you prefer one smartphone over another then it's the right one for you. GSMarena is a very informative site but not for audio! I don't know how they measure smartphones but it doesn't resemble real life.

Another very important thing is, what kind of iems/headphones do you use?

I recently bought the Oneplus 6, excellent smartphone but average in audio. On the go with my B400 they are ok, i struggle to hear a difference between my LG G6 and OP6 with the B400. But going up the iems/headphones latter the difference becomes noticeable.

Again choose the smartphone you want. The S9 is an ok smartphone for audio but it's not an audiophile smartphone. Whatever audiophile means anyway