[Whitigir]

Sadly, in EU/US it became kinda like a trend, implementing "beats audio", "Dolby", "SRS", etc / messing with sound settings instead of improving the actual hardware like chinese manufacturers started doing recently. The exclusions are obviously iPhone (not saying that it can't be improved) and HTC One flagship series to extent (yes they do have beats audio, but with it disabled the sound is pretty good).

I haven't had the chance to try the Chinese phone yet. But for a fully built audiophile unit....I rather go with DAP to save battery, and music quality both at the same time. There is a reason why dedicated DAP has short battery life, and smartphone is not...same battery type and similar capacity. Correct ?

That is why I say there is no such thing as audiophile phone yet ! Until later , probably ? And I am telling you that I listen to music through Z3 without any EQ.....I don't EQ IEMS stuff, beside my loud stereo in the house.

And why I bought a ZX2 ....and trust me, I tried Z3 vs others...the Z3 is better, but low output. That is all. IPhone sounds 3x louder, but doesn't mean it play music leaner, or instruments details better. Read in gsm, and u will see Z3 is leaner. That can't be software alone

 

[compasiune]

Has anyone use AllView mobiles? Thay are made in China but sold on east european market.

 

[SmOgER]

Whitigir,
You don't get it
The Z3 has somewhat altered frequency response "by default". You woud HAVE TO use EQ to make it truly flat. That's why you THINK that it's reproducing higher SQ.
As for the battery life, partly it's because of more efficient CPUs in flagship smarthpones and millions of dollars of investments in SW/FW optimizations (optimizations like this one).

 

[Henyte]

Want to buy Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, used one for less :3

 

[Whitigir]

Whitigir,
You don't get it
The Z3 has somewhat altered frequency response "by default". You woud HAVE TO use EQ to make it truly flat. That's why you THINK that it's reproducing higher SQ.
As for the battery life, partly it's because of more efficient CPUs in flagship smarthpones and millions of dollars of investments in SW/FW optimizations (optimizations like this one).

Are you an engineer of short ? Or just an enthusiast ? And a little bias ?

First off, equalizing or alternating the frequency doesn't bring out leaner sound.....and when people say leaner, it means more subtles detail with cleaner sound....not more trebles and less bass as any equalizer would do. These leaner or muddier sound are all related to hardware, and not software alone.

Second off, as any dedicated devices, the materials, the components will all yield different sound quality. A more efficient resistors and capacitors in a smartphone doesn't yield the same sound quality as a more expensive, more exotic material which was made specially for audio quality......same as a real drum, a drum with different leather and housing with the same sizes will sound different ! Indeniable facts!

If you have been playing with tube amplifiers ever, you will know different bulbs will bring different sound signature. The same as digital transitor, capacitor, resistors.,,,etc....etc....even the quality of the board....etc Will all account into the quality.

The dedicated DAP is less efficient because it was designed to preserve, and amplify, and play the digital music as close to the record as much as possible...that mean any corners cuts will result in different quality.

This is similar to any arguments between how an MP3 can save storage, and still sound good....it can't not sound good, it only produce sounds. The sound you hear = vocal, low, mid, high......the more quality musics or real music will be the resonances of the instruments, the tones, the details....the spaces....the power on each notes and beats....etc.

Those are the differences. An MP3 playing violin can not be perceived as violin, but just a string instrument....if you play a real violin....or on any good vinyl then it will sound like a violin..

 

[SmOgER]

Well that's a bit of a offtopic here. I do agree with you on the smartphone vs dedicated DAP opinion, that's why there was a word "PARTLY" in my previous post. You can't assume that battery life directly translates as a indicator of SQ, that's all there was for you to take from that paragraph. As for the "leaner sound", that's all perception. Just like the perceived soundstage can be hugely affected by frequency response, so is perceived linearity can be altered just as well. We could almost draw an equation mark between objective perceived frequency response linearity and perceived sound linearity. I say almost cause perceived FR is still very much objective and it will depend on your actual headphones (it's entirely possible that unwanted source coloration will affect them positively, but will sound crappy with another pair) and even on what music you listen to. And for the record, highs are certainly not the kind of tones which make the sound to appear most linear.

 

[SmOgER]

Just did some A/B'ing with MX3 (Flyme 3.6.1 + Poweramp without EQ) and MacBook Air and they came out to be extremely close. I can't decide which one is better, since the output power with S500s was identical, so was the frequency response. If I absolutely had to choose the winner, I would say the Air has very very slightly wider soundstage (not sure if that's just my mind playing tricks), but overall they are really neck and neck, hardly anything between them, which frankly was a bit of a pleasant surprise for MX3.

 

[thepooh]

After learning from the experiences of Z3 and ZX2..... I can tell one thing here....just for common folks with MP3 and radio, spotify....occasionally FLAC, phone with a good pair of headphones/IEMS will do just fine.

For people who love music, do go with dedicated player....there is no such thing as Auiophile smartphone yet....in the US. I know the Chinese is trying hard.

To many of you who is confused to power output vs sound quality...yes...Apple iPhones are very loud, then HTC M8......but music details, clarity, layers, tonality all go to the Xperia Z3 tablet compact....the Z3 only has so so field of sound....or soundstage, and so so volume output.

I buy the idea that a smartphone will never replace a dedicated dap, I own(ed) several ipods, fiio, Colorfly and Hisound devices and above a hundred mobile phone / smartphones since 1999.
 
Most smartphones are really good at playing lossy files such as normal mp3/aac/wma at 128- 320kbps, but once you inject some flac, wav and other lossless codecs you'll start hearing the limits of the smartphone, even those rated as '' audiophile '' such as LG G2, G3, Iphone and htc one series aren't good at lossless playback, you will hear some serious hiss in the sound along with a very bad stereo crosstalk, I also found that the soundstage is narrower with flac than with mp3 , which is quite funny considering that normal flacs (600-1100kbps) have about 3x more information than regular 320kbps mp3s, therefore more space should be noticed between intruments, which is definitely not the case !
 
My sis just got the Fiio X1, which cost only $100 and guest what??! The X1 is an entry level device and it sounds better than any flagship smartphone on the market !!! Now imagine the comparison of a smartphone with an X5, DX90, Colorfly C4, Astell& Kern etc....
 
However, if you're not part of the '' most demanding audiophiles'' and listening mostly to lossy codecs , any flagship smartphone from the 2013-2015 era should do the job, just grab any decent pair of iem with low impedance and you'll be fixed.

 

[Whitigir]

^ well said sir ! And too true

 

[SmOgER]

I disagree with that last paragraph. The difference between all those flagship phones in terms of SQ is quite huge. Even One Plus One isn't really up to the task when compared with the best out there. And what about all those huawei, Nokia, Motorola etc. flagships who hardly got anything worth mentioning to audiophile at all in the recent years.

 

[SmOgER]

Just a quick update, I accidentally stumbled upon an info that Snapdragon 800 can't natively play 24bit 192kHz. Apparently it's limited to Exynos based with Wolfson DAC devices and only a selected few from qualcom camp like LG G2/G3 with their own specifically rewritten OEM audio libs and probably with some hardware alterations.

 

[Whitigir]

Just a quick update, I accidentally stumbled upon an info that Snapdragon 800 can't natively play 24bit 192kHz. Apparently it's limited to Exynos based with Wolfson DAC devices and only a selected few from qualcom camp like LG G2/G3 with their own specifically rewritten OEM audio libs and probably with some hardware alterations.

The Z3 can play it up to 24/96 as they have duo TFA9890....but still....they can't be considered dedicated Highresolution player at all .....and even exynos and wolfson....it is wolfson DAC to decode the 24/192.... Still, there is a huge different from a dedicated player vs any smartphones.

The one main thing that smartphone is lacking behind....they have to conserve battery so much while slimming down, so add in a quality sound system would not be ideals....basically quality sounds will drain battery a lot. Look at AK240 ....8-9 hours only with 4,000 m-amp battery.....almost twice as powerful as any smartphone.

 

[milford30]

The Z3 can play it up to 24/96 as they have duo TFA9890....but still....they can't be considered dedicated Highresolution player at all

.....and even exynos and wolfson....it is wolfson DAC to decode the 24/192.... Still, there is a huge different from a dedicated player vs any smartphones.

The one main thing that smartphone is lacking behind....they have to conserve battery so much while slimming down, so add in a quality sound system would not be ideals....basically quality sounds will drain battery a lot. Look at AK240 ....8-9 hours only with 4,000 m-amp battery.....almost twice as powerful as any smartphone.

I disagree, the cowon j3 (1120mah) and quiet a few sony players offer well over 20 hours of battery life. The quality is still great, just don't expect to drive full size headphones from them due to the lower power amp section. I got my exynos note 4 to sound pretty close to my j3.
 
You are comparing a ~$700 smartphone to a $2500 dedicated player.... that's hardly surprising the player sounds better.

 

[Whitigir]

I disagree, the cowon j3 (1120mah) and quiet a few sony players offer well over 20 hours of battery life. The quality is still great, just don't expect to drive full size headphones from them due to the lower power amp section. I got my exynos note 4 to sound pretty close to my j3.

You are comparing a ~$700 smartphone to a $2500 dedicated player.... that's hardly surprising the player sounds better.

I have a ZX2, so I know about the power....etc. I was making a simple example only, and no matter what a smartphone can not perform as well as a dedicated player, like I said, the smartphone needs to use different components to preserve battery life.....and this is only one example.

Music and sound quality is an art, and just like any art....any subtle improvements do count. Therefore, your note 4 can sound like $80 and J13 can sound like $90, while the ak120 can sound like $100 and AK240 can sound like $101..... You see what I mean ? Close, doesn't mean enough....the same as money in real life....when you have $100 and you need to buy an item valued at $101, you simple don't have enough. So whoever argue that subtles sound quality improvements are not worth it, they are either ignorant or are not audiophile. A true audiophile will admire the quality, and admit that they don't have enough money to enjoy on such product.

 

[TraverS]

Whitigir,
The Z3 has somewhat altered frequency response "by default". You woud HAVE TO use EQ to make it truly flat. That's why you THINK that it's reproducing higher SQ.

Why did you say Z3 frequency response is not truly flat? If it's the player app, I don't agree; Walkman app is, in my opinion, one of the most neutral sounding player along with UAPP. Other players boost certain frequency and make PRAT wors, even Neutron.