Best Smartphone for audiophile
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Dec 13, 2016 at 11:02 AM Post #5,896 of 7,916
for hifi path, device designers do try to provide as much power supply as possible...
 
battery life at high volume typically is not a major concern (battery life at low volume is, and it's typically handled by IC designers).
 
the most important limiting factors are:
available ICs. you don't have high voltage nor negative voltage in a smartphone, so you need ICs specially designed for mobile.
PCB space. you simply don't have the real estate to put better power supply circuits on, sometimes even no space for an amp. hence all those highly integrated decoder+dac+amp chips. and remember that the hifi path is a secondary path, you cannot get rid of the soc bundled codec since there are many things the hifi path cannot do, like voice calls.
interference. it is much more audible than sound quality improvements for an average user.
cost. audio components are quite cheap actually, a budget fingerprint module can easily cost more than a top tier hifi solution. but 3.5mm audio doesn't get so much weight in a smartphone.
 
as of those adaptive boost/protection processings, they are for speaker/earpiece, where you want to sqeeze highest volume from smallest speaker possible.
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 11:08 AM Post #5,897 of 7,916
for hifi path, device designers do try to provide as much power supply as possible...

battery life at high volume typically is not a major concern (battery life at low volume is, and it's typically handled by IC designers).
the most important factors are:
available ICs. you don't have high voltage nor negative voltage in a smartphone, so you need ICs specially designed for mobile.
PCB space. you simply don't have the real estate to put better power supply circuits on, sometime even no space for an amp. hence all those highly integrated decoder+dac+amp chips. and remember that the hifi path is a secondary path, you cannot get rid of the soc bundled codec since there are many things the hifi path cannot do, like voice calls.
interference. it is much more audible than sound quality improvements for an average user.
cost. audio components are quite cheap actually, a budget fingerprint module can easily cost more than a top tier hifi solution. but 3.5mm audio doesn't get so much weight in a smartphone.

as of those adaptive boost/protection processings, they are for speaker/earpiece, where you want to sqeeze highest volume from smallest speaker possible.


So essentially the manufacturer can play with power outout to the amp? That was my original thinking from messing with "voodoo" enabled kernels for Wolfson chips back in the day
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 11:15 AM Post #5,898 of 7,916
Mate, you might be right, but honestly, after reading some spec sheets I wouldn't care to listen to the sound that comes out of them chips.
 
All those algorithms run all the time, it's like having someone messing with the volume knob of my home amp and whenever he knows the singer is gonna scream or something he turns the volume down and then back up slowly hoping I won't notice.
 
Well, guess what, I probably will notice sooner or later, and it's only getting worse now that I know about it beforehand.
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 11:15 AM Post #5,899 of 7,916
So essentially the manufacturer can play with power outout to the amp? That was my original thinking from messing with "voodoo" enabled kernels for Wolfson chips back in the day

sadly, no. 
frown.gif

gain can be adjusted by software but power supply is limited by hardware (maybe it can be further restrained by software, i'm not sure, but i doubt anyone would do that)
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 11:24 AM Post #5,902 of 7,916
You refer to implementation where you have one path for speaker with dedicated amp doing all that, and another distinct path with another amp doing nothing of the like to the headphones path.
 
Sure I can believe that where two separate amps are used it can be implemented that way.
 
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 11:37 AM Post #5,904 of 7,916
  You refer to implementation where you have one path for speaker with dedicated amp doing all that, and another distinct path with another amp doing nothing of the like to the headphones path.
 
Sure I can believe that where two separate amps are used it can be implemented that way.

yes, speakers have dedicated path, like those Qualcomm WSA8815 or NXP SmartPA products.
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 5:12 PM Post #5,905 of 7,916
hi all!!
 
i'm initiating in this amazing world so I have many doubts yet :S
 
easy question:
 
For better listeting with my momentum 2.0, should I change to htc 10 or any other? I have a oneplus 3 now.
 
thanks in advance
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 5:22 PM Post #5,906 of 7,916
Hey Guys ,
I recently sold my Pro 5 to buy the new Meizu Pro 6 Plus but I'am wondering if I haven't done a mistake seen the specs.
I'am unable to find any info about this ADI AD45275 chip and therefore if it's better or not than the previous Ti 1612.
Also no more NXP transitor so I imagine the driving power will decrease ?
(They just mention some Rubycon capacitance and other stuff that I barely understand) 
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 6:15 PM Post #5,907 of 7,916
YouTube volume lowest setting too loud on HTC 10 with headphones. No way to reduce this with other apps or settings.

I read it may be common with Android devices. Someone can check with their Android? Would like lowest volume with YouTube to be not/barely audible.

That plus the fact that I read that iPhones have better YouTube related apps will make me buy the iPhone 5s tomorrow unless I get an answer from here that makes me change my mind.

Soon I will buy a dac too and at roughly the same price a dac + iPhone 5s looks like a better option than a newer iPhone alone.

I have no clue what I'm doing.Im going by what I read. I'm tired of reading. It's 2016. Keywords: high quality low distortion stream from youtube headphones. Amen
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 8:42 PM Post #5,908 of 7,916
I noticed this on the top GouryellaIV's list.  When I looked at their web site it seemed like phones were only a small part of the business and this was the most current product and it was released in 2015.  When I see a company that has gone an entire year (that's like a decade in the phone biz) without launching a new product, I think poor sales/lack of money/lack of interest.  And you?
 
 
Shane D
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 9:27 PM Post #5,909 of 7,916
vivo xplay 6 is in stock now. it costs RMB¥4498 in china.
considering how much vivo usually mark up its devices, this is a decent price 
tongue.gif
 
with es9038q2m + opa1622*3, this may have the best sound quality of all smartphones 2016.
 
xplay6 disassembled (in chinese):
http://www.igao7.com/news/201612/Ug5LPvwiycaj7TiN.html
 
xplay6 puts its opamps in the 3.5mm jack board, interesting.
 
Dec 13, 2016 at 10:20 PM Post #5,910 of 7,916
  vivo xplay 6 is in stock now. it costs RMB¥4498 in china.
considering how much vivo usually mark up its devices, this is a decent price 
tongue.gif
 
with es9038q2m + opa1622*3, this may have the best sound quality of all smartphones 2016.
 
xplay6 disassembled (in chinese):
http://www.igao7.com/news/201612/Ug5LPvwiycaj7TiN.html
 
xplay6 puts its opamps in the 3.5mm jack board, interesting and makes sense.

 
Can you ship me one please. Are you okay with paypal? 
tongue.gif
 
 
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