[dragonball]

Audioquest Dragonfly Black with cheap android phone vs LG V30.

Will V30 be better? How much sound quality difference would be there?

 

[jacobacci]

Hi guys !

How's the sound of the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact ? I'm looking for a compact smartphone with good audio quality, that's the only one I found.
If the sound is just "okay", I've considered pairing it with a AudioQuest DragonFly Black USB DAC.

Thanks in advance !

I am using the XZ1 Compact (USB Audio Player Pro) with Oriolus Mk2 IEMs and the NAD Viso HP50 over ears. Both combos sounds fine.
When adding an external DAC/amp and going from XZ1c -> OTG cable -> Chord Mojo -> Oriolus Mk2 / NAD Viso HP50, the sound quality does go up a notch. Better imaging, tighter bass, clearer highs. but not night and day.
Out of my headphone collection, the Oriolus and the NAD are the ones that have the best synergy with the XZ1 compact. They are reasonably sensitive, so that the XZ1 can drive them to sufficient volume. They sound almost as good through the XZ1 directly as they do through Mojo.

AKG K872 is a clear no go on the XZ1 compact, it requires far too much power.

Go through the Mojo and you can use almost any headphone. I would definitely chose Mojo over Dragonfly! Mojo converts up to PCM768 / DSD512 native and sounds stellar to my ears. In my book an almost unbeatable portable combo at a "reasonable" price.

I use the Toneboosters Morphit plugin with UAPP, which has equalization profiles for >200 headphones. Fun to play with.

BTW the Sony MH750 IEMs included with the XZ1 compact are surprisingly ok, but obviously a clear step down from Oriolus and NAD HP50.

 

[koziakauzu]

Hi guys !

How's the sound of the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact ? I'm looking for a compact smartphone with good audio quality, that's the only one I found.
If the sound is just "okay", I've considered pairing it with a AudioQuest DragonFly Black USB DAC.

Thanks in advance !

You can get the HTC usb-c to 3.5mm adapter to pair with this phone. It looks like a regular adapter but has a built-in DAC chip, already better than stock XZ1c. Should be around 10-20$.

This combo was my main source for music with a smsl iq when I felt like "stacking". (Replaced by a LG G7+ since)

 

[koziakauzu]

Double post

 

[Zayl]

I am using the XZ1 Compact (USB Audio Player Pro) with Oriolus Mk2 IEMs and the NAD Viso HP50 over ears.

Go through the Mojo and you can use almost any headphone. I would definitely chose Mojo over Dragonfly! Mojo converts up to PCM768 / DSD512 native and sounds stellar to my ears. In my book an almost unbeatable portable combo at a "reasonable" price.
.

I don't have enough budget to buy the Chord Mojo, five times pricier than the DragonFly Black and even less to buy IEM's that expensive...

You can get the HTC usb-c to 3.5mm adapter to pair with this phone. It looks like a regular adapter but has a built-in DAC chip, already better than stock XZ1c. Should be around 10-20$.

I don't see anywhere the mention of a DAC in the adapter.

Plan to pair it with the 1More H1707 Triple Driver Headphones.

 

[Hariz Nordin]

I like meizu pro7+ sound house than G6+. It is more balanced and better mid and bass for me.



How about the pro 7 plus' performance as a phone? I'm a bit sceptical towards mediatek chips

 

[artpiggo]

@Hariz Nordin

Be smooth as upper-mid tier phone. But not good for hard core gamer like PUBG or ROV/AOV

 

[koziakauzu]

I don't have enough budget to buy the Chord Mojo, five times pricier than the DragonFly Black and even less to buy IEM's that expensive...



I don't see anywhere the mention of a DAC in the adapter.

Plan to pair it with the 1More H1707 Triple Driver Headphones.

I don't know the specs either but it does have a DAC in it to make it work with the HTC U11 -apparently regular adapters don't work with that phone. The u11 even has a settings section to upgrade the firmware of the adapter DAC.
(Maybe they're losing money on this so they don't advertise it and try to keep it for their phones userbase, I don't know)

I just know that it sounds -way- better than stock XZ1c and the Onkyo HF player app detects it as "USB DAC".

 

[jacobacci]

I don't know the specs either but it does have a DAC in it to make it work with the HTC U11 -apparently regular adapters don't work with that phone. The u11 even has a settings section to upgrade the firmware of the adapter DAC.

Here I found some info on the HTC USB C to 3.5mm adapter. The translation is not great, but it seems to imply that the adapter does have a DAC that converts 44.1k and 48k. A Dragonfly Black is capable of 96kHz.
The different Dragonfly models hat different output power (see the attached datasheet), so be careful that you chose a headphone that is reasonably sensitive and does not require a huge amount of power if you chose Dragonfly Black.
Just looking at the devices, it seems to me that the HTC adapter has less real estate available to house amplifier power, so I would suspect its output to be lower than that of the Dragonflies.
Given the right phone, the Dragonfly looks like an excellent choice at that price level. Reviews are generally positive. Maybe you can find some info in the reviews about particularly synergistic headphone pairings. I once had a Dragonfly 1.2 that I was very happy with (until the Mojo came along).

 

[koziakauzu]

Here I found some info on the HTC USB C to 3.5mm adapter. The translation is not great, but it seems to imply that the adapter does have a DAC that converts 44.1k and 48k. A Dragonfly Black is capable of 96kHz.
The different Dragonfly models hat different output power (see the attached datasheet), so be careful that you chose a headphone that is reasonably sensitive and does not require a huge amount of power if you chose Dragonfly Black.
Just looking at the devices, it seems to me that the HTC adapter has less real estate available to house amplifier power, so I would suspect its output to be lower than that of the Dragonflies.
Given the right phone, the Dragonfly looks like an excellent choice at that price level. Reviews are generally positive. Maybe you can find some info in the reviews about particularly synergistic headphone pairings. I once had a Dragonfly 1.2 that I was very happy with (until the Mojo came along).

Thanks for the precision
(as I said it is around usd12 though)

 

[artpiggo]

Not really related to smartphone SQ directly. But shanling m0 does sound so good at lg v30 quality. If anyone cannot afford all in one smartphone. Shanling m0 is the perfect match for you.

 

[Nalin]

Not really related to smartphone SQ directly. But shanling m0 does sound so good at lg v30 quality. If anyone cannot afford all in one smartphone. Shanling m0 is the perfect match for you.

Glad you shared it here art, my letv x900 is still going strong after returning my v30. How does it compare with x900 and your other smartphones especially xplay6?

 

[artpiggo]

Glad you shared it here art, my letv x900 is still going strong after returning my v30. How does it compare with x900 and your other smartphones especially xplay6?

I found it better than honor and htc. But the overall details and separation is not as good as xp6 and x900.

 

[Nalin]

I found it better than honor and htc. But the overall details and separation is not as good as xp6 and x900.

Considering it is identical to v30 which i had and sound signature wise i found v30 to be better then my x900. Technicality wise i can't say which one is better since v30 or x900 both present sound in different ways. Looks like it won't be an upgrade in my case more of a sidegrade.

 

[DougD]

Not really related to smartphone SQ directly. But shanling m0 does sound so good at lg v30 quality. If anyone cannot afford all in one smartphone. Shanling m0 is the perfect match for you.

After several years of waffling between a high-end DAP or a high-end smartphone, I finally bought an LG V-20 a few weeks ago.

I'd be hard-pressed to show that the V-20 has materially lower (human detectable) performance than a 2018 model, as a phone or as a DAP.

$215 US on Amazon for a certified refurb unit in immaculate condition.

Takes a micro-SD card so the capacity is limited only by how many cards, or how large/expensive, you want to buy. However, swapping out cards is a bit of a nuisance, as the card-slot is under the battery. Did I mention the battery is replaceable too?

With a short extender cord to make sure it kicks into high-performance mode, my OPPO PM-3 sounds excellent driven by the V-20. It's a bit different sounding than my normal desktop setup, but still a quality experience. (However, it's not a good combo with the Senn HD-650. But most people wouldn't be planning on using the large and open-ear HD-650s as their travel/mobility cans anyway, so this isn't any kind of serious limitation in practice.)

Obviously there's many options on the market, but this is a great choice for the thrifty mobile audiophile.

IMO. YMMV. HTH.