Those who are searching for a really amazing sounding Smartphone for a reasonable price should consider the Mi Note/Mi Note pro. I`ve had that phone before (Mi Note pro) and compared it with a Meizu Pro 5. Well, i was too stupid to turn the HI-FI setting (On Meizu it`s turned on by default) and sold it because i thought the audio quality was average.
Now i`ve bought it again because there was an awesome offer on ebay, and what can i say? Turned on the HI-FI setting, and that Phone destroyed anything that i`ve ever heard before in terms of audio quality, which would be the Meizu Pro 5, a Fiio x1, a fiio x3 (1gen), Nubia z9 max (which sounds very average) an LG V10 and a couple of Iphones and Xperia devices, mainly Xperia z2 and z3 and Ip.5s and Ip.6.
What`s even more awesome, Viper4android and dolby atmos are working flawlessly WITH the Hi-fi mode. As i said, the device sounds gorgeous by itself in HI-FI mode and is the loudest thing i`ve ever heard in my life while not loosing clarity even at highest volume, so i use viper/Dolby only to give it a bass boost, which is a little lacking in Hi-fi mode. Using a software mod like viper for anything else just degrades the sound quality and is not needed with such good hardware.
I compared that phone extensively with my Pro 5 and here`s what my ears think about it: The Pro 5 is of course a great sounding device, but it brings out too much of the upper mids and muffles it together with an ear piercing treble at higher volume. It can be very harsh on your ears when you listen to it for a longer time. It sounded a little bit "fuller" in a very few electro/techno songs, but for the rest, the Mi Note delivers more overall clarity, better treble/upper mids handling and more instrument separation. Voices also sound a tad cleaner and are better separated from the rest of the music. I`ve sold the Pro 5 now because the sound quality of the MI Note impressed me so much. Of course we all have different hearing, so what sounds better for me won`t necessarily sound better for you. The Pro 5 is still better than at least 90% of all the other smartphones in the audio department and is an excellent device by itself. Build quality is like a freaking tank, i dropped that thing countless times on beton , it grinded 5 meters on a concrete floor and still worked like a charm after that, so praise where praise belongs
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Speaking about the V10 that gets praised so much by some people here, i`ll just give my personal impression about it (V10 fans, don`t be upset
Bought that phone to compare with the Meizu Pro 5, listened to it and sold it 4 days after. The Meizu Pro 5 was louder and sounded better overall. (And it`s faster, doesn`t heat up, etc etc.) For the rest like Xperia z and other phones without dedicated audio hardware:
They can have the best software setup, you can put as much viper and other mods on them as you want, but the result will always be inferior to devices with good audio Hardware. It will sound artificial and just not as good in comparison (unless you`re using cheap cans of course).
