[siteOwner]

Hi.

Disclaimer: I live in Europe. I travel a lot. I did not use LG V10 for long but I did play with that phone for around half hour.

I have meizu pro 5 for a couple of weeks now and I must say: excellent phone! Someone asked about reasons why PRO 5 is better than LG so there are mine:
1. speed. Exynos wins with SD808 in everything. Same for Mali-T760 vs Adreno 418
2. battery life. I can do two active days - "active" mean: I move a lot, change cities and countries, listen to music, play some games. And If i need to I can charge to 50% in minutes.
3. build quality. I know that I am sacrificing removable battery but all metal build is superb.
4. dual sim. Must have for me.
5. AMOLED screen is better than IPS. Even with smaller resolution.

I tested SQ on my own music from SD card on both phones using Audio-Technica M50x and I must say PRO5 sounds better.

It does not support DSD files (at least those: http://oppodigital.com/hra/dsd-by-davidelias.aspx) but for me it is ok, I only use flac.

Have a nice day.

 

[HiyakeIchirou]

Hi.

Disclaimer: I live in Europe. I travel a lot. I did not use LG V10 for long but I did play with that phone for around half hour.

I have meizu pro 5 for a couple of weeks now and I must say: excellent phone! Someone asked about reasons why PRO 5 is better than LG so there are mine:
1. speed. Exynos wins with SD808 in everything. Same for Mali-T760 vs Adreno 418
2. battery life. I can do two active days - "active" mean: I move a lot, change cities and countries, listen to music, play some games. And If i need to I can charge to 50% in minutes.
3. build quality. I know that I am sacrificing removable battery but all metal build is superb.
4. dual sim. Must have for me.
5. AMOLED screen is better than IPS. Even with smaller resolution.

I tested SQ on my own music from SD card on both phones using Audio-Technica M50x and I must say PRO5 sounds better.

It does not support DSD files (at least those: http://oppodigital.com/hra/dsd-by-davidelias.aspx) but for me it is ok, I only use flac.

Have a nice day.

While Exynos does beat SD in certain areas, the GPU isn't one of the strong points. Adreno GPUs are known to perform better than the Mali GPUs.

 

[Whitigir]

While Exynos does beat SD in certain areas, the GPU isn't one of the strong points. Adreno GPUs are known to perform better than the Mali GPUs.

Completely agreed. But Samsung has lost it interests for me...for many reasons

 

[clarkydaz]

Hi.

Disclaimer: I live in Europe. I travel a lot. I did not use LG V10 for long but I did play with that phone for around half hour.

I have meizu pro 5 for a couple of weeks now and I must say: excellent phone! Someone asked about reasons why PRO 5 is better than LG so there are mine:
1. speed. Exynos wins with SD808 in everything. Same for Mali-T760 vs Adreno 418
2. battery life. I can do two active days - "active" mean: I move a lot, change cities and countries, listen to music, play some games. And If i need to I can charge to 50% in minutes.
3. build quality. I know that I am sacrificing removable battery but all metal build is superb.
4. dual sim. Must have for me.
5. AMOLED screen is better than IPS. Even with smaller resolution.

I tested SQ on my own music from SD card on both phones using Audio-Technica M50x and I must say PRO5 sounds better.

It does not support DSD files (at least those: http://oppodigital.com/hra/dsd-by-davidelias.aspx) but for me it is ok, I only use flac.

Have a nice day.

You think the sound of the meizu tops the V10 then? Very interesting to hear that, i can can get the meizu over £100 cheaper locally aswell. Could you elaborate on your perception of the audio qualities between them? i could easily order a meizu now

 

[Whitigir]

I don't doubt Meizu sounds better than V10. After all it does seems that V10 beside the combination of ESS DAC + Amp, it doesn't have any other dedicated electrical components.

Like proper and clean filters (caps) or resistor with quality for analog signals. Meizu on the other hand is using them . The only bad thing is that it is not available to USA lte.

 

[vsls]

After a long "hiatus" from audiophile community, I'm back in search of new equipment.

I live in Europe l, I have limited budget for a new Android smartphone (~$200) and I can buy from China. I've seen that Zenphone 2 for example is an affordable option but I was wondering about other audiophile smartphones at a similar price range.

I was also curious to know if I could achieve a similar output by using a portable headphone amp/dac instead of spending more on the smartphone itself.

 

[HiyakeIchirou]

After a long "hiatus" from audiophile community, I'm back in search of new equipment.

I live in Europe l, I have limited budget for a new Android smartphone (~$200) and I can buy from China. I've seen that Zenphone 2 for example is an affordable option but I was wondering about other audiophile smartphones at a similar price range.

I was also curious to know if I could achieve a similar output by using a portable headphone amp/dac instead of spending more on the smartphone itself.

It depends on the DAC chip inside the phone. While an amp can give better output it won't improve the audio much unless you use an integrated DAC/AMP like the Fiio E17. For around $200 you can try the Xiaomi Mi4 which has a decent audio chip.

 

[vsls]

It depends on the DAC chip inside the phone. While an amp can give better output it won't improve the audio much unless you use an integrated DAC/AMP like the Fiio E17. For around $200 you can try the Xiaomi Mi4 which has a decent audio chip.

I was thinking of something size-wise similar to Fiio K1 (I believe that this doesn't work with Android)
Xiaomi is one of my options too I don't know if RedMi Note 2 or 3 perform better. Or any previous Meizu models.

 

[ZMan2k2]

After a long "hiatus" from audiophile community, I'm back in search of new equipment.

I live in Europe l, I have limited budget for a new Android smartphone (~$200) and I can buy from China. I've seen that Zenphone 2 for example is an affordable option but I was wondering about other audiophile smartphones at a similar price range.

I was also curious to know if I could achieve a similar output by using a portable headphone amp/dac instead of spending more on the smartphone itself.

Don't do the Asus Zenfone 2.  I went through 2 of them in about a week.  I would have them running, rooted, listening to music with ViPER4Android, hear a loud pop, and then there was no sound.  Nothing from the speaker, the headphone out, the keyboard sounds were gone, the music was gone, it just stopped working.  Maybe it was because I was rooted, I don't know, but 2 phones in a week is a pretty bad track record IMO.  I'll never buy another Asus phone for that reason.

 

[maxjstern]

After a long "hiatus" from audiophile community, I'm back in search of new equipment.

I live in Europe l, I have limited budget for a new Android smartphone (~$200) and I can buy from China. I've seen that Zenphone 2 for example is an affordable option but I was wondering about other audiophile smartphones at a similar price range.

I was also curious to know if I could achieve a similar output by using a portable headphone amp/dac instead of spending more on the smartphone itself.

You almost always achieve a better output this way. But what you gain in sonic quality, you lose in ergonomics...
 
The K1 should work with a good app like UAPP and with an OTG cable. (Your phone also has to support that kinda thing.)

 

[vsls]

You almost always achieve a better output this way. But what you gain in sonic quality, you lose in ergonomics...

The K1 should work with a good app like UAPP and with an OTG cable. (Your phone also has to support that kinda thing.)

So you think that a dedicated portable Dac will always offer better results than any "on board" smartphone Dac?

 

[HiyakeIchirou]

So you think that a dedicated portable Dac will always offer better results than any "on board" smartphone Dac?

Of course. It's the same logic with DAPs. A DAP will always sound better than a smartphone(well, most of the time anyway) because the DAP was made specifically for audio playback while the smartphone is a jack of all trades.

 

[Duncan]

Think of the D of DAC and DAP as "Dedicated" instead of "Digital" and that points you roughly in the right direction...

LG would have got it so right if they would've allowed the ESS chip to be used with external apps...

 

[gr8soundz]

Think of the D of DAC and DAP as "Dedicated" instead of "Digital" and that points you roughly in the right direction...

LG would have got it so right if they would've allowed the ESS chip to be used with external apps...

 
The V10's dac can now be used with ALL apps:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phascinate.lgv10.dacfix
 

 

[maxjstern]

So you think that a dedicated portable Dac will always offer better results than any "on board" smartphone Dac?

Mostly, yes. Better than the onboard dac of any 200$ phone. Maybe phones like the Pro 5, Mi Note Pro or the V10 would be good contenders for the smartphone side.