[Infoseeker]

No. The DAC chip on most smartphones is about the size of your microSD card. Another thing is that smartphones are supposed to have many other functions besides audio playback so there's no point stuffing a half match box sized DAC into a smartphone. Have you seen how big DAPs are? Those are the kind of players which have that match box size of DAC with a huge amp.

I just want to let people know that any phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon is going to have the same DAC...the Qualcomm CPU itself. That is why the Samsung phones that use Samsung processors (that isn't a snapdragon) have an added seperate DAC.

 

[obsidyen]

I just want to let people know that any phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon is going to have the same DAC...the Qualcomm CPU itself. That is why the Samsung phones that use Samsung processors (that isn't a snapdragon) have an added seperate DAC.

Most, but not all... There are phones with discrete DAC chips that also have Qualcomm SoCs such as Alcatel Idol 3 and the upcoming Marshall London.

 

[HiyakeIchirou]

Phones become like you say, quite the swiss army knife of tech absolutely. Here's my scenario. I bought the new Denon AH-GC20 headphones  with bletooth aptX. It's practical, the sound is better with aptX and I can get the aptX codec on an Android also(with Denon app for music equalizer). But soundwise I love the Denons with cable + ANC also. They are great. So naturally I want something that can drive them with cable as well. They have an impedance of  100 ohms if I remember correctly. Indeed, I am more interested in electronics than anything analogue, but these sound great ! So what seemed like just an added bonus to begin with( I wanted bluetooth for phone, cable for home) now becomes an obsession to get a nice portable, wired setup ( without being totally fanatic about the sound quality) on top of the wireless.
I think I just may have to go try out the M9....

M9 is a good phone when it comes to audio quality, but it loses out to most flagship phones in other stuff. In fact its camera was flamed for not having OIS and taking poor quality pictures.

 

[Whippler]

  maybe this new thing?
https://www.marshallheadphones.com/mh_se_en/london-phone

 
So is

 the Cirrus Logic WM8281 that is on this Marshall phone any good?​

I haven't been following android development since i swapped to Jolla (Sailfish OS), runs smooth on 1.4Ghz dual core and 1GB ram. So does android 5.0 have better efficiency than previous versions. I ques the major thing is it's running to new android runtime, instead of dalvik.​

 
1.2 GHz Quad Core and 2GB of ram should be enough to run a mobile OS and couple apps. is the DAC Chip on this good enough to consider getting this thing for just music playback? I don't have use for the phone part of this =) But the device seems interesting.

 

[maxjstern]

   
So is

 the Cirrus Logic WM8281 that is on this Marshall phone any good?​

I haven't been following android development since i swapped to Jolla (Sailfish OS), runs smooth on 1.4Ghz dual core and 1GB ram. So does android 5.0 have better efficiency than previous versions. I ques the major thing is it's running to new android runtime, instead of dalvik.​

 
1.2 GHz Quad Core and 2GB of ram should be enough to run a mobile OS and couple apps. is the DAC Chip on this good enough to consider getting this thing for just music playback? I don't have use for the phone part of this =) But the device seems interesting.

Having a good Dac is one thing, but implementing it right is another. For example, the Viv.o 5Max as the same DAC chip as some 20.000$ DACs. So what makes up the difference. Placebo for one istance, but for another it is the implementation which requeires space, lots of it. So a smartphone won´t reach up to dedicated DAPs.
Just get a fast phone with OTG and Android 5 and buy a decent USB DAC, you don´t have to buy a seperate DAP with crappy UIs and you still hear the incoming calls. The APP USB Player Pro does the rest.
 
A recommendation: iFi iDSD Micro.

 

[Duncan]

Seems there is some confusion, 100 ohms and LOWER would be where I would say majority of cellphone users are at.

 

[siteOwner]

Hi.

ZTE Axon will be available in another version: ZTE Axon Lux. It will have 128gb of built in memory and it will be expandable to another 128 via micro sd card slot (using SIM2 tray).
http://www.phonebunch.com/phone/zte_axon_lux-2117/ and http://www.gsmarena.com/zte_unveils_axon_lux_axon_mini_and_axon_watch-news-13184.php and other...
WIth that in mind and with special care that they put into audio components it looks like it might be the one for this year

Have a nice day.

 

[maxjstern]

Hi.

ZTE Axon will be available in another version: ZTE Axon Lux. It will have 128gb of built in memory and it will be expandable to another 128 via micro sd card slot (using SIM2 tray).
http://www.phonebunch.com/phone/zte_axon_lux-2117/ and http://www.gsmarena.com/zte_unveils_axon_lux_axon_mini_and_axon_watch-news-13184.php and other...
WIth that in mind and with special care that they put into audio components it looks like it might be the one for this year

Have a nice day.

I heard it is exclusive to the American market? Is that true?
 
You too, kind sir.

 

[Whitigir]

Hi.

ZTE Axon will be available in another version: ZTE Axon Lux. It will have 128gb of built in memory and it will be expandable to another 128 via micro sd card slot (using SIM2 tray).
http://www.phonebunch.com/phone/zte_axon_lux-2117/ and http://www.gsmarena.com/zte_unveils_axon_lux_axon_mini_and_axon_watch-news-13184.php and other...
WIth that in mind and with special care that they put into audio components it looks like it might be the one for this year

Have a nice day.

What Audio components does this one have ? Look to be very very interesting.  Thanks

 

[siteOwner]

What Audio components does this one have ? Look to be very very interesting.  Thanks

Full review here: http://www.androidauthority.com/zte-axon-phone-review-628659/ and "hi-fi audio" explained in details here: http://www.androidauthority.com/axon-phone-hi-fi-audio-626925/
If the 128gb version hits the market soon I think it will be my phone of choice.

 

[malifact]

Full review here: http://www.androidauthority.com/zte-axon-phone-review-628659/ and "hi-fi audio" explained in details here: http://www.androidauthority.com/axon-phone-hi-fi-audio-626925/
If the 128gb version hits the market soon I think it will be my phone of choice.

 
Thanks for the links. It sounds like an interesting phone, but on balance I will probably go with the Note 5 after it is released on the 13th August. I certainly don't need a phone that goes any louder and I'm not sure if the fuller sound the article describes is not just a sound signature difference.

 

[maxjstern]

   
Thanks for the links. It sounds like an interesting phone, but on balance I will probably go with the Note 5 after it is released on the 13th August. I certainly don't need a phone that goes any louder and I'm not sure if the fuller sound the article describes is not just a sound signature difference.

If you go with the Note 5, get the Exynos version and get Viper4Android or Voodoo Sound.

 

[VeggiePopper]

Ha! If not for the lack of an SD card slot, the ZTE would be the perfect phone. Alas, what's the point of playing hi-res files without an expandable storage? Kind of defeats the purpose.

I guess I'll just keep waiting. So far, I'm still between the Z3 and the M9, but I still hope an even better phone is released soon.

 

[maxjstern]

Ha! If not for the lack of an SD card slot, the ZTE would be the perfect phone. Alas, what's the point of playing hi-res files without an expandable storage? Kind of defeats the purpose.

I guess I'll just keep waiting. So far, I'm still between the Z3 and the M9, but I still hope an even better phone is released soon.

About that, Sony announced three(!) new upcomig flagship (S50 and S70), maybe the S is a hint for an implementation of the S master technology found in their high end DAPs...
 
Edit: The "Lux" Version was announced recently. It has 4GB of Ram, 128GB of Rom and even (and luckily) an micro sd card slot(up to 128GB). But nothing is perfect, it is just for the chinese market, so we Europeans/ Americans have to import it.

 
Does someone have info about chinese phones working in non-chinese networks? (LTE, etc...)

 

[Vidaluk0]

So today Motorla showed their new Moto X Play and Moto X Style, both seem like solid phones, so I am wondering, what can we expect in the audio department, how do the previous Moto X models stand against other flagship phones like the M9, IPhone 6 and Samsung?

http://gizmodo.com/the-new-moto-x-play-and-moto-x-style-are-all-about-look-1720564158