[artpiggo]

With USB C finally coming that makes sense as Qobuz would also go lossless natively u like Android - challenge is certain apps like Blackberry hub etc... don't work on iPhone it will be a major shift but look forward to hearing your experience shifting to IOS - I need encouragement

On another note - some claim Qobuz bypasses android sampling on certain phones however using my Hiby FC3 the lights only play right when on UAPP driver. Any experience with that? To my ears the only app that sounded CD like was Qobuz

it depends on both phone and dac compatibility. it is quite hard to find what android phone & dac pairing can bypass sampling without trying every combination.

need to try with the dac that has display showing xx kHz on the dac screen such as cayin ru6.

 

[352178]

I couldn't believe it... Being angry and losing sleep may get you a deal. I browsed the classifieds in town and I found someone selling an Kranich 9.7 Ah battery with back cover....for 10 EUR, within walking distance from home. He said he used it for six months and laughed at my old V10. I told him it's a legend and he said his old Scamsung is the legend for him. I didn't bother explaining. He promised money back guarantee... Behold, the brick feeling in hand is great, and even with a quick charger...The battery took shy of 7 hours to charge, at 2.88A almost until the end. When it reached 100%...it took 3 more hours or so, clocking just under 46 Wh! So, a full day of heavy use and it is at 40%. Accubattery Pro showed 91% health.
The Mugen Power 6.2 Ah battery discharged just like a normal one - too quickly. And one of them got swollen from the get go. The other one is true to capacity. Tomorrow, the regular 3.1 Ah Mugen comes, and testing becomes. I also found two used G7 phones for like 60$. Try beat that as a DAP.

 

[Results45]

I couldn't believe it... Being angry and losing sleep may get you a deal. I browsed the classifieds in town and I found someone selling an Kranich 9.7 Ah battery with back cover....for 10 EUR, within walking distance from home. He said he used it for six months and laughed at my old V10. I told him it's a legend and he said his old Scamsung is the legend for him. I didn't bother explaining. He promised money back guarantee... Behold, the brick feeling in hand is great, and even with a quick charger...The battery took shy of 7 hours to charge, at 2.88A almost until the end. When it reached 100%...it took 3 more hours or so, clocking just under 46 Wh! So, a full day of heavy use and it is at 40%. Accubattery Pro showed 91% health.
The Mugen Power 6.2 Ah battery discharged just like a normal one - too quickly. And one of them got swollen from the get go. The other one is true to capacity. Tomorrow, the regular 3.1 Ah Mugen comes, and testing becomes. I also found two used G7 phones for like 60$. Try beat that as a DAP.

Lul-lol that's how I got all my personal tech, seam-less (not actually seamless) shirts, and highend outdoors gear for 35-75% off: relentless hunting on FB Marketplace, friends selling "old" stuff, eBay, Amazon, and used gear stores.

Stuff almost always pops up if you're crafty, patient, and willing to negotiate/haggle enough as long as it's not a brand new release or an uncommon, low volume production, or super rare item.

 

[352178]

Not only that... Since nobody elaborated on why the Korean V20 is tuned differently than the US and A version (yes, Borat), I purchased a refurbished or brand new one from Top CPE store on AliExpress for $ 87. I chose the pink, since I didn't like the black version and silver isn't my thing. It came absolutely new and I had to plug and unplug the headphones numerous times to burn in that jack, it didn't make good contact at first. Updated to Android 8 and 9 via LG Bridge. Loaded hi res files and I compared it to the Korean V10. Last time the latter destroyed the former. G7 did so as well. Using HD 599 SE in HI mode and KZ PR1 PRO in Aux mode... surprise! The Korean V20 put a much better fight with improved sub bass and more enjoyable listen. Although still treble oriented and digitally sounding... it's fun and not your typical thin, bright sounding. I still prefer the V10 for rock and metal guitar riffs. They sound fuller and bolder, uncompressed and analogue than V20, which in turn was great for EDM and Eurodance. The wider soundstage of V10 wasn't so obvious this time. V20 sounded a bit more precise and with better separation, especially for back vocals and back music effects in Eurodance mixes. Bass is leaner and faster..But I'd pick V10 any day. The biggest difference is in timing and speed. Those two phones are so different,. it's astonishing..V20 sounds...fast forward and in your face, V10 sounds slower and.a bit laid back in a good way. No sign of boring or overly analytical on those phones, though V20 is more analytical..Its pink metal case oozes classy craftsmanship much more than the black version and I will buy more. Mind you, I dislike pink. More comparisons are yet to come,.so stay tuned.
I was refunded a used G7 with broken screen and no SIM options. The battery is at 99 percent life, according to Accubattery. Since the screen is outrageously inaccurate,. I got a Chinese one. So, for less than 50 dollars, I got a state of the art hi res audio player. Take that, A&K.

 

[Mellowship Slinky]

Any thoughts on the Zenfone 10, guys?

 

[reverbhifi]

Not tried it but going by device specifications it will be a Qualcomm inbuilt DAC so wouldn't expect wonders. At this point it seems that anything past the Asus Rog5s timeline doesn't have an ESS/CS DAC built in except the Vivo X80 pro but that doesn't have a 3.5mm jack. Interesting to see if the Zenfone 10 can still put up a fight with amplification and instrument separation etc..

 

[andrewski]

I would have tried the Zenphone 10 if it had microSD. Went Sony instead

 

[PsiCore]

The Sony has also a regular qualcomm dac?

 

[reverbhifi]

I would have tried the Zenphone 10 if it had microSD. Went Sony instead

Which Sony and what are ur experiences so far?

 

[Mellowship Slinky]

With the good reviews from the Zenfone 9, the 10 sounds promising. I am currently using the SS Galaxy Note 10, which I plan to retire it soon.

I always loved small phones, but there aren't much options that pack full top specs with. My last small phone was the Sony Xperia ZR which I loved it so much, used them until they were too laggy.

The Zenfone 10 looks like what I have always wanted all these years; small form factor, headphone jack, long life battery, top grade SoC, etc. So, if the headphone jack output is good, then it would be a no-brainer for me.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Sony Xperia 5 V
or
Sony Xperia 10 V (for half the price)

My pleasure.

 

[andrewski]

Which Sony and what are ur experiences so far?

The new expensive Xperia 1 V. I absolutely love it. I've only tried the headphone jack for less than 5 min. Seemed very good, and compared it to my Dragonfly Cobalt which sounded better. The Cobalt sounds much better from the Sony than it did out of my previous two LG's using UAPP. Because I have two Walkmans, I use those for wired listening. The Dragonfly is for speakers. So mostly using Bluetooth on the Xperia, which is very good.

I insisted on getting a phone with microSD, to try a Swissbit in it (very controversial subject). It has improved Bluetooth listening for me.

Sorry for not being more helpful, I've hardly touched the headphone jack

 

[andrewski]

The Sony has also a regular qualcomm dac?

I believe so, with a little Sony sauce

 

[352178]

I got a decent deal on XPERIA 10 III. The red-pink colour is unavailable for the next two versions, and PWM is above 61%. Xperia 10 IV & V have low PWM at all brightness levels. I waited for Notebookcheck for so long to review the latest version...I checked so many times...Good thing is they post the best settings for white balance (I am a pro photographer). The OLED of the III is remarkable. No Scamsung or crApple can touch it. And the OLED in Poco F4 GT is truly laughable, it is behind the LCD in HTC 10. But let me tell you about the sound of the III. The amp is a joke, as if the one in the IV was weak...The III is behind the IV in every way. Narrower soundstage with way less bass, it sounds digital...not even worth comparing to HTC 10, let alone the LG V10 or V20.
I have been comparing the Korean versions of the latter two for a few days now. The difference is not that huge (the US version of V20 is truly inferior, with less bass and narrower soundstage than both). This is the strangest tuning in history for the Korean version. Too polished and artificial, sugary... Bags of detail, better clarity and transparency than V10...in most cases. The sound is more digital and unclear, as in muddy. Meanwhile, bass is more...on most songs, on others, it is not. It is so hard to explain after countless hours of listening. How can that be?! More precise and clear and transparent, but unclear and muddy at the same time with all my headphones?! With HD 599 SE, they are more similar and closer to each other. V10 is way more forgiving on poor sources. Some Eurodance mixes are state of the art and extremely difficult to find, even a Youtube download is rare. Battery life with the Perfine 4100 mAh is astonishing, and after 4 charges, Accubattery Pro shows 4123 mAh. So, I bought 10 of those. For US buyers, there are still 17 available batteries for the V10, Mugen Power 3100 mAh, and over 100 extended ones, 6200 mAh. The first one showed 2562 Mah after 5 charges. Not great, but most batteries, including originals, do not even reach 2100 Mah. If anyone wants the links to eBay auctions, I will post them here. After 4 charges, both show around 90%. The Perfine V10 battery is discontinued, but it was not great. Fast discharge, and I had trouble putting it in the phone - I had to constantly move the metal pins. Since I post a lot about V10 and V20 and G7, I am open to questions and I love experiments - go and take advantage of that.

 

[reverbhifi]

Some interesting views to share - I just got the Vivo X90 Pro Global Version after learning it has all the latest flagship whistles as well as a CS43131 DAC built in. No 3.5 jack so I sourced a Moto Z analog USB C dongle to make sure I'm using the internal DAC.

Vivo has a hifi mode for certain apps and UAPP is now one of them (Qobuz still missing). Happy to report that using this setup the audio is quite nice and detailed - very clean with decent instrument separation and studio grade quality streaming Qobuz via UAPP with hifi mode on.

So dongle life again but this is an analog one - at least no need to disconnect the dongle every time you get a call and you are listening to UAPP the X90 Pro as a phone overall just feels amazing and the camera seems really funky