[artpiggo]

This is probably the wrong forum to ask but does anyone know a good smartphone forum where I can ask smartphone related questions?

For me, I follow facebook group for my own language separately by smartphone brand. Or find XDA

 

[kartik7405]

Why this mesh;buy an android phone you like;get a audioquest Dragonfly black/red DAC.No external battery also required.

 

[Gojira]

  Yeah, I really hate the fact that there is no 3.5mm jack on the phone, but at least it comes with an adapter. The type-C audio standard supports analog output afaik so the adapter can just be a cable basically if the phone has a DAC. So it's still unclear if the newer Leeco phones have a decent DAC and amp or not, you are right that they're pushing this idea that the headphone itself should have their own DAC. As far as revieiws go, I've read/watched quite a few and most say that the audio quality is decent or good but you never know since most phone reviewers don't really know much about audio.
 
Oh and I definitely knew that the phone lacked the 3.5mm jack when I ordered it. I didn't really look for a DAP in the first place, I need a new phone. Good audio would be a nice bonus, but not the first priority. And also the Letv x800 and x900 have some big disavantages to me. The x800 seems to have a terrible battery life (although the capacity is almost the same as x820) that hardly even lasts a day and the x900 is way too big.

CDLA = Continuous Digital Lossless Audio. I think it's a digital only interface. They are expecting you to use their headphones that have their own built in dac and amp.I think their whole argument is that the dac and amp belong in the headphone rather than the device itself. They've obviously done a lot of engineering work to make that happen. If you want to use your own headphones you have to use their 'adapter' which some reviews I have read claim has noticeably lower audio quality.
 
Of course if you actually listen to the device yourself using their 'adapter' you can judge for yourself, but I don't have high hopes. It's quite a lot to expect them to have two sets of excellent dacs and amps: one set in the headphone and another in their 'adapter' or internally just in case you want to use your own headphones. Seems improbable. It is very likely that the adapter is where you will find the audio chips, but maybe the CDLA connector has a way to transmit analog Snapdragon SoC audio. That would seem more economical but it would also go against all of their marketing talk about a continuous digital path.
 
You may find that the dac and amp that are built into the CDLA earbuds are high quality though, but you are still stuck with only using their headphones. It is certainly true that the x800/900 have serious disadvantages compared to other phones which might make them impractical for many. I'd consider the Meizu Pro 5 to be a safer bet as an all around device, but it's way beyond what I can or want to spend on a phone. Anyway I'm glad you bought the device so that we can all benefit from your knowledge. I'll certainly be curious to read your review.

 

[Gojira]

  Why this mesh;buy an android phone you like;get a audioquest Dragonfly black/red DAC.No external battery also required.

 
Fair question. I guess the answer is convenience and elegance. You can always buy a Dragonfly and Dragontail or whatever, but it's less convenient than just plugging directly into your phone whenever you want. There is also something beautiful to me about just having a single high tech device that does everything well enough to be useful at most of the things it does. It's sort of futuristic in a way that appeals to me.
 
Another point against spending extra on a smartphone with good audio is that if any function stops working it may be tempting to just stop using the phone entirely. With an external audio solution the money you spend on that setup can be reused with any future phone you buy. This is another reason why I want to keep my phone with good audio under $200 USD. If it breaks you lose your phone and your music player. But if all other things are equal wouldn't you want to buy the phone that has better sounding built in audio?

 

[Gotty]

  CDLA = Continuous Digital Lossless Audio. I think it's a digital only interface. They are expecting you to use their headphones that have their own built in dac and amp.I think their whole argument is that the dac and amp belong in the headphone rather than the device itself. They've obviously done a lot of engineering work to make that happen. If you want to use your own headphones you have to use their 'adapter' which some reviews I have read claim has noticeably lower audio quality.
 
Of course if you actually listen to the device yourself using their 'adapter' you can judge for yourself, but I don't have high hopes. It's quite a lot to expect them to have two sets of excellent dacs and amps: one set in the headphone and another in their 'adapter' or internally just in case you want to use your own headphones. Seems improbable. It is very likely that the adapter is where you will find the audio chips, but maybe the CDLA connector has a way to transmit analog Snapdragon SoC audio. That would seem more economical but it would also go against all of their marketing talk about a continuous digital path.
 
You may find that the dac and amp that are built into the CDLA earbuds are high quality though, but you are still stuck with only using their headphones. It is certainly true that the x800/900 have serious disadvantages compared to other phones which might make them impractical for many. I'd consider the Meizu Pro 5 to be a safer bet as an all around device, but it's way beyond what I can or want to spend on a phone. Anyway I'm glad you bought the device so that we can all benefit from your knowledge. I'll certainly be curious to read your review.

I'm not exactly sure how this whole CDLA thing works, but as far as I'm aware other Type-C audio implementations do have pins available for analog audio output, so the analog sound just bypasses this whole digital audio thing, although I don't know if the implementation on the new Leeco phones is different. I kinda doubt that the adapter is something more than just a cable, seems like too complex for such a simple thing but who knows.
 
I'm expecting that the sound will be just Snapdragon SoC audio as you said, but we will see. I guess that there is almost no hope that the phone does have a seperate DAC. And also I have absolutely no intention of buying their buds, I have my own and I like them.
 
The Meizu is definitely the safe bet here but It's also more than I would like to pay. Also I'd rather buy a newer model because of more resale value and more recent updates. Devs tend to abandon their phones really fast nowdays :/

 

[Kyrts]

Re. USB type C.
 
 
 


 
 
 
There is only one available pin, namely SBU1 on A8 (or its clone on the reversible plug, SBU2 on B8) that could, in theory, be used for 'something else' than digital communication signals.
 
This only one pin is not enough for analog stereo audio out, let alone the unsuitable cabling, interference from all other signals in that plug etc. And don't even mention the remote mic on most IEM's cable which needs yet another pin that also supplies power as this is a condenser type mic.
 
 
If a USB type C, audiophile or audiocentric or whatever phone has a dedicated DAC / AMP in there, then it ought to have a 3.5 mm audio out, there is no two ways about it.
 
Just my 2c.

 

[Gojira]

The CDLA connection is usb-c? I assumed it was a proprietary interface of their own design. It's difficult to find such details. Good point about usb-c though. Only one spare pin since it is reversible. That might be enough for a mono signal if it shares the ground pins, but not stereo. If they are just sharing a standard usb-c port for charging, data, and CDLA headphones then I guess they can't use their onboard SoC analog output. They would have no choice but to put audio chips in their adapter. That would also mean that you cannot listen to the phone while it is charging. That alone would be a major problem for me.
 
According to this article it is just a usb-c port. So forget the analog out. It definitely doesn't have one. Maybe it at least has dual ports so you can listen while charging.

 

[N0BOX]

That would also mean that you cannot listen to the phone while it is charging. That alone would be a major problem for me.

According to this article it is just a usb-c port. So forget the analog out. It definitely doesn't have one. Maybe it at least has dual ports so you can listen while charging.

Wow, yeah... no music while charging would be awful. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to a Tidal playlist on my V10 w/Noble Audio 3U while posting this. If the V10 has any real major drawback (other than the huge size some people don't like) it's battery life, and it seems even worse when the HiFi DAC is in use. Any phone that wants to pretend to be an amazing DAP needs to support charging while playing music/movies (especially movies, given the extra CPU/GPU usage).

 

[s4tch]

Wow, yeah... no music while charging would be awful. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to a Tidal playlist on my V10 w/Noble Audio 3U while posting this. If the V10 has any real major drawback (other than the huge size some people don't like) it's battery life, and it seems even worse when the HiFi DAC is in use. Any phone that wants to pretend to be an amazing DAP needs to support charging while playing music/movies (especially movies, given the extra CPU/GPU usage).

speaking of which, how did you get used to that huge size of the v10? i'm considering a dual sim model as my next phone, and while i could live with a spare battery in my bag/car/pocket/whatever, i seriously doubt i could get used to a 200g phone that would pull off my jeans and wouldn't comfortably fit in my pocket. also, is there any one handed mode available in the v10, á la ios/miui way?

 

[N0BOX]

speaking of which, how did you get used to that huge size of the v10? i'm considering a dual sim model as my next phone, and while i could live with a spare battery in my bag/car/pocket/whatever, i seriously doubt i could get used to a 200g phone that would pull off my jeans and wouldn't comfortably fit in my pocket. also, is there any one handed mode available in the v10, á la ios/miui way?

The phone doesn't usually bother me in my pocket, and I've gotten used to it for most things in hand. It is a bit too heavy for my workout shorts, but since it is my primary DAP I just put up with it. There is a one-handed mode that you can enter by swiping a finger across the on-screen back/home/recent apps buttons that basically just shrinks everything on screen down to a smaller portion of the screen. You can drag and resize this miniaturized version of the screen around to where it is within reach of your thumb. The only thing i ever really use it for is a Sudoku app, but I rarely text or otherwise type one-handed anyway.

 

[Kelvin Yan]

Can someone please suggest me a small (less than 5") android phone that has OTG and at least 128GB capability for micro sd? Planning to just connect it to a dac/amp. Maybe a dragonfly.

 

[stenog]

Can someone please suggest me a small (less than 5") android phone that has OTG and at least 128GB capability for micro sd? Planning to just connect it to a dac/amp. Maybe a dragonfly.

Again, Sony Xperia Compact. Not a bad phone and pocket friendly.

 

[Kelvin Yan]

Thanks. I'll look that up.

How a about a budget option? I don't care about camera, LTE, etc. Just need something that can make calls and have OTG. Just so that I have a comparison in the budget segment as well.

 

[gamingdave]

  Can someone please suggest me a small (less than 5") android phone that has OTG and at least 128GB capability for micro sd? Planning to just connect it to a dac/amp. Maybe a dragonfly.

 
I'm looking for the same (to permanently dock with an Oppo HA2), and the best I can find so far is the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact.
 
The Z3 would be good just as a transport for external dac/amp, other than that its USB port is on the side, not the bottom, so would make connection to most things a bit more of a pain. 
 
The Moto G is a bit bigger, but is also available for less new than the Z5 second hand.

 

[Kelvin Yan]

   
I'm looking for the same (to permanently dock with an Oppo HA2), and the best I can find so far is the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact.
 
The Z3 would be good just as a transport for external dac/amp, other than that its USB port is on the side, not the bottom, so would make connection to most things a bit more of a pain. 
 
The Moto G is a bit bigger, but is also available for less new than the Z5 second hand.

I'm looking at the Moto E 2nd gen at the moment as well. But seems like the Sony Compact series are the way to go "if" I want a good smartphone as well.

A friend just recommended me to wait if the new Moto series will have a 4.5" as well.