[RishiGuru]

  I am in India too and using G5 with B&O DAC. Great combo with my 64 audio U12

 
I was truly excited about LG G5 with B&O Hi-Fi Plus (AFD-1200) module during launch. Later I had the chance to audition and found B&O module to provide a definite improvement in G5's audio quality through 3.5 mm audio output. 

 
Internally B&O module ships with the new ESS Sabre ES9028C2M (DAC) with 129 dB SNR, 2 dB improvement over its previous generation ESS Sabre ES9018. We find ES9018 in Vivo X5Max & Lenovo Vibe X3. 
 
The newly released ESS Sabre 9602 headphone amplifier can also be found in this B&O module. The previous ESS Sabre 9601 of X5Max had very good SNR of 122 dB, but severely lacked in amplification department. Hence Vivo in X5Max had to use it as I/V converter and the job of amplification was given to Texas Instruments OPA1612 acting as a headphone amplifier. However with Sabre 9602, ESS was able to dramatically improve the amplification capability while keeping the SNR at 122 dB. 
 
To have a more clear picture below are the audio paths:
 
Vivo X5Max "HiFi": Snapdragon 615 --> ESS Sabre ES9018-K2M (DAC) --> ESS Sabre ES9601 (I/V conversion) --> TI OPA1612 (Headphone amplifier) --> 3.5mm audio jack
 
B&O Module (LG G5 ): Snapdragon 820 --> ESS Sabre 9028C2M (DAC) --> ESS Sabre ES9602 (Headphone amplifier) --> 3.5mm audio jack
 
-------------------------------
 
Coming to the topic of subjective analysis of LG G5 + B&O module, I used X5Max as the marker. In regards to sound quality I found both to be neutral sounding. ESS dacs are generally neutral sounding, but  B&O has a slightly softer tonal behavior of the two. Both produces crisp & clear sounding highs while mids on B&O are less clinical. But where B&O mostly suffered where the lows and repeatedly I felt it lacked the drive to produce that hard hitting & accurately timed lows. X5Max have more driving power of the two, and is more suitable candidate to drive audiophile grade earphones. However you can forget using the big headphones with B&O as my Sennheiser HD 598 sounded anemic at best while with X5Max there was a slight improvement in driving capability. 
 
Nonetheless it was clear to me as both X5Max & B&O are designed to be paired with earphones not big headphones. Better get a Lenovo Vibe X3 if you want real driving capability plus audio quality. In the end of the near three hour audition, I had to give the crown back to X5Max. With B&O you will get equal treatment in mids & highs but lows are where X5Max shine. For example with my Fiio EX1's I can feel X5Max was producing a more accurate & bottomless bass and those 13 mm drivers are really working to produce more thrust. Not so with B&O.
 
Later one renowned Chinese audiophile website measured & reveled the LG G5 with B&O module is able to produce a maximum output level of - 5 dB, while that of X5Max was higher at -1.4 dB. So now I know X5Max have more driving force than B&O module but nonetheless it was a good try from both LG &  B&O. 

 

 

[lantian]

   
Aren't the audio chips the same? My impression was that if an app support the Axon 7 it should also then support the Mini because it would just be recognising the same hardware rather than some kind of model specific solution on ZTE's part.
 
One of the posts in that thread linked a list of working / non-working player apps with the V10s DAC which may or may not be similar to ZTE (below). According to another poster in the thread, the PowerAmp developer indicated that his app may indicate that the Snapdragon audio component is being used but with the correct settings in the alpha it should be using the discrete DAC correctly.
 
Music apps utilising the DAC on the LG V10
"
WORKING WITH DAC
N7 Player (only works with the 10-band equaliser disabled)
ZPlayer
PlayerPro (but NOT with the DSP installed!)
Shuttle+
Blackplayer EX
Rocket Player FREE
Spotify (only with cat game installed - see later in the thread...)
Google Music (only with cat game installed - see later in the thread...)
Neutron Player (only with cat game installed - see later in the thread...)
Tidal
Pandora
Noozy
Pulsar Music Player Pro
 
NOT WORKING WITH DAC
JetAudio
GoneMad Music Player
Poweramp
Stellio Music Player
HibyMusic
Rocket Player premium
Most streaming radio apps, including: Simple TV, MX Player, Xiialive and Tunein Radio
 
 

Thax for this list, tested black player and rocket player both seem to be working with the akm  ak4962 dac just like the stock player, though the rocket player did do something strange to the soundstage, black player works great.

 

[seamon]

I have given up on headphones. I am strictly an IEM guy now

 

[lxlx]

me too (on the go), so?

 

[seamon]

So joy to the world, iems have come.

 

[eio]

  Later one renowned Chinese audiophile website measured & reveled the LG G5 with B&O module is able to produce a maximum output level of - 5 dB, while that of X5Max was higher at -1.4 dB.

they are measuring the B&O branded DAC in lineout mode, which might be 5~6db lower than high gain mode.

 

[gugman]

Got few weeks ago ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini S - great Camera (s) , great display, very good build quality, battery lasts day and a half, but it's sound department is total CRAP
Ordered today GigaSet Me Pro God knows how it will sound

 
hmmm, just realized there was some dts effect on, by default, so switching it off changed the sound quality by much ! need some more listening sessions now 

 

[marcswede]

   
hmmm, just realized there was some dts effect on, by default, so switching it off changed the sound quality by much ! need some more listening sessions now 

 
Hi, have you considered rooting your device? My experience from ZTE:s Axon Mini and Axon 7 is that their sound is heavily tuned and output limited, and I have read similar report from owner of Nubia Z11.
 
I am waiting for a simple way root my Axon 7. When that is availible I will try to clean out everything in the audio path and install Viper4Android.

 

[RicardoB]

Sad to hear. I also have a dead V10 because of bootloop. Ironically some people here on HeadFi just discarded it lol. I think we should stay away from LG phones for sometime, since even V20 also suffer.

lisztian420 did you guys call LG? Because they have been fixing the v10 so far even out of warranty two of my friends got thiers fixed , another bought one with boot loop for $50 then sent it to LG and they fixed it, also see here http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-v10/754434-boot-loop-problem-my-factory-repair-story.html , to anyone who reads this try it if they ask for proof of purchase and you don't have it then forget it just put under issue that the device is boot looping and I think as long as your device has no physical damage you should be good to go, good luck

 

[RicardoB]

can anyone tell me if the htc 10 can do DSD?

Only info I could find it fails in Poweramp Alpha after about 3 minutes but Neutron added support for DSD....See fourth post down http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/how-to/htc-10-audio-thread-t3358064/page2, also towards another question you asked... since the v10 bests the 10 in overall audio quality imo especially in external or high gain mode the v20 will probably do so as well, I found the v10 less congested and open, more natural bass and wider soundstage but please bear in mind I'm not saying the HTC is bad it's just that side by side you can hear the difference.

 

[amature101]

how is le tv x900 compared to lg v20?

 

[wacs]

anyone use RAMOS mos1 max?
it is quite interesting.

 

[artpiggo]

  how is le tv x900 compared to lg v20?

LG v20 = letv x900's details + meizu pro 5 's sweet mid + 3D soundstage.
 
I dunno what others think/critics but for me LG V20 SQ is same par with onkyo dp-x1 Single end.

 

[gugman]

   
Hi, have you considered rooting your device? My experience from ZTE:s Axon Mini and Axon 7 is that their sound is heavily tuned and output limited, and I have read similar report from owner of Nubia Z11.
 
I am waiting for a simple way root my Axon 7. When that is availible I will try to clean out everything in the audio path and install Viper4Android.

 
Hey
 
yeah, that could work ! but as I ordered Gigaset Me Pro that should be with me in a period of 2 weeks, I will wait for it and if I like it I'll sell my nubia, if not, well I will root the nubia 

 

[marcswede]

 
 

Hey

 

yeah, that could work ! but as I ordered Gigaset Me Pro that should be with me in a period of 2 weeks, I will wait for it and if I like it I'll sell my nubia, if not, well I will root the nubia 

Nice, I wait to hear what you think about the Gigaset Pro. I like the Gigaset ME form factor and 5'' FHD screen.