[Li Ching Yuen]

   
I'm using the Honor 6 and it's not an audiophile phone. The sound is clean and serviceable, but lacks dynamics and does not handle soundstage well. There's a DTS switch which enhances treble, bass and widens soundstage, which can be fun. Biggest flaw is the volume button can only go from 0 to 15, so one click and the volume increases by a big increment. It's okay for a quick listen. Oh yeah, it's not Mojo compatible and I've tried 3 cables with it. Music from the Honor 6 > Mojo is choppy and unlistenable.

 
Thanks for this.
 
It seems to me that there is no cheap-to-midrange phone out there with great audio output. If you scan this forum and this thread in particular you'll notice that most mentions are either older flagships, almost-flagships and some of the newest flagships.
 
So the lesson is that hifi audio is just not very interesting for the mass population, since no one really makes enough of them at a variety of price ranges (and markets them as such). It's kind of sad really since your phone is the perfect portable music listening device if you think about it.

 

[deepoison]

Can someone do a comparision between lg v10 and htc 10? 

 

[Guppy_]

zuk 2 released, though no audio specs yet. :/ 

 

[zzhead]

hey guys,
just came across the Ulefone Vienna
claiming to be an audiophile phone.
What is your uptake?
 
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5-5-Ulefone-Vienna-Mobile-Phone-FHD-4G-LTE-Android-5-1-64-bit-MTK6753-Octa/32631039384.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.11.MkRqO3&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,searchweb201602_2_10017_10021_507_10022_10020_10009_10008_10018_10019_101,searchweb201603_1&btsid=6a651087-d1a4-41f1-bb45-0dd2a0bc57ef

 

[malifact]

I would air on the side of caution and wait for reviews. They are a new company when it comes to mobile phones and who knows what the build quality and tuning will be like. Anybody can put fancy components in a phone and claim its audiophile.

 

[Sound Eq]

so which is it now that is the best audiophile
 
htc 10
s7 edge
v10
lg g5
 
budget is open 

 

[herdom]

My vote goes for the M10

 

[Whitigir]

There is no M 10...it is HTC 10...or the 10. It is pretty good sound quality for a smartphone

 

[herdom]

Sorry, it's true

 

[ezekiel77]

   
Thanks for this.
 
It seems to me that there is no cheap-to-midrange phone out there with great audio output. If you scan this forum and this thread in particular you'll notice that most mentions are either older flagships, almost-flagships and some of the newest flagships.
 
So the lesson is that hifi audio is just not very interesting for the mass population, since no one really makes enough of them at a variety of price ranges (and markets them as such). It's kind of sad really since your phone is the perfect portable music listening device if you think about it.

 
There are some that you can consider that I won't, because they are a too large for me. The Meizu MX5 Pro and Vivo X5 Max are both reasonably priced with dedicated DACs. If you can afford the LG V10, by all means!

 

[ezekiel77]

  so which is it now that is the best audiophile
 
htc 10
s7 edge
v10
lg g5
 
budget is open 

 
I remember reading an article that said S6 SQ is better than S7.

 

[Li Ching Yuen]

   
There are some that you can consider that I won't, because they are a too large for me. The Meizu MX5 Pro and Vivo X5 Max are both reasonably priced with dedicated DACs. If you can afford the LG V10, by all means!

 
Also should've mentioned that price very much depends on where you're from. For example the US really does get the best prices, so good that some of the affordable mentions have flagship level pricing elsewhere.
 
 
But anyways, the aforementioned Ulefone Vienna seems to be the first HiFI budget smartphone indeed. People that have heard it say that it's a pretty decent phone with a very stock UI and good headphone output. Speaker seems to be loud but not very good and uninspiringly placed on the device
 
Since it's priced under 200$, the camera and SoC on it are not top of the line by any means. But screen seems to be OnePlus-good and a pretty large battery is in store. Dual-sim with MicroSd support is also a rarity these days.
If indeed the internal dac+amp combo is good enough, this is one hell of a deal.

 

[Emerald Core]

I think the LG V10 is at the top along with Samsung S6 Edge in Android. 
Latest iPhone 6s is in the ios side. 

 

[Sound Eq]

  I think the LG V10 is at the top along with Samsung S6 Edge in Android. 
Latest iPhone 6s is in the ios side. 

i think most would say htc 10 beats v10

 

[Duncan]

Have to be Poweramp...

Poweramp Alpha maybe, but regular Poweramp only uses native Android audio output.

For me, UAPP even without an external DAC wins my vote, as it allows you to override the 48khz sample rate limit of Android, noticeable even through these headphone out.