[doxology]

I see a lot of threads on high end brand new android phones but are there any budget cell phones to double as an audio player?
 
I have seen some people say the Pantech Burst sounds good but nothing concrete. 
 
when I say budget i mean a phone that won't break the bank that you can get off contract. 
 
i know samsung is going to come up with older phones are there any other suggestions along with the samsungs? these need to be something that is easily attainable not something i am going to have to search high and low for on the internet. 
 
your suggestions and thoughts are appreciated. 
 
for reference I currently have a fuze and a clip rockboxed and also keep an old panasonic portable cd player around for when i get the urge and buy a physical cd that still sounds as good as anything i have heard. 

 

[salanos]

If you want a cheaper phone, and are therefore willing to take up an older phone, you can try Samsung's Galaxy S derivatives - they are known to be audiophile friendly thanks to the use of a Wolfson Micro DAC. That said, do not buy the SII because it sounds absolutely horrible. Then again, using it with a portable FiiO AMP my friend uses with his iPhone 4 resolved its severe output problems.

On the other hand, you may want to look for phones containing the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 SoC - the DAC inside that is surprisingly pretty good.

Just don't buy into HTC's Beats advertising, it's simply a software equalizer.

 

[doxology]

Quote:

If you want a cheaper phone, and are therefore willing to take up an older phone, you can try Samsung's Galaxy S derivatives - they are known to be audiophile friendly thanks to the use of a Wolfson Micro DAC. That said, do not buy the SII because it sounds absolutely horrible. Then again, using it with a portable FiiO AMP my friend uses with his iPhone 4 resolved its severe output problems.
On the other hand, you may want to look for phones containing the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 SoC - the DAC inside that is surprisingly pretty good.
Just don't buy into HTC's Beats advertising, it's simply a software equalizer.

 
yeah it seems most people aren't sharing much info on dacs in phones even though phone manufacturers are trying to makes phones replace other devices. 
 
why are the snapdragon S4 SOC' s good? is it only the S4 SoC or are any of the previous qualcomm soc's any good?

 

[narvarr]

Interesting thread...I have a Sony Xperia X10 that I would love to use for that purpose.

Sent from my SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE using Tapatalk 2

 

[doxology]

Quote:

Interesting thread...I have a Sony Xperia X10 that I would love to use for that purpose.
Sent from my SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE using Tapatalk 2

 
 
 
i know everyone talks about the higher end phones and about their dacs but there have to be some good sounding cheaper phones that have made it through the cracks though right?

 

[salanos]

yeah it seems most people aren't sharing much info on dacs in phones even though phone manufacturers are trying to makes phones replace other devices. 

why are the snapdragon S4 SOC' s good? is it only the S4 SoC or are any of the previous qualcomm soc's any good?

The S4 SoC is a pretty capable "A15 like" chip so it's powerful on the processing front, but interestingly Qualcomm installed an above average DAC inside. The audio quality is definitely above average, but frequency response graphs seem to suggest that they have a small mid-bass hump however.

 

[headfinoob]

The new Galaxy Music might be decent, however, a safe bet are any of the phones listed in the Voodoo Control page on the Google Play store website.
Note that you WILL need root, a proper kernel, and the Voodoo Sound or preferably the Voodoo Sound Plus app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.projectvoodoo.controlappdonate&hl=en&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dvoodoo+control+plus

Keep in mind that these phones are affordable when found from good ebay sellers


Sent from my Rezound using Tapatalk 2

 

[doxology]

Quote:

The new Galaxy Music might be decent, however, a safe bet are any of the phones listed in the Voodoo Control page on the Google Play store website.
Note that you WILL need root, a proper kernel, and the Voodoo Sound or preferably the Voodoo Sound Plus app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.projectvoodoo.controlappdonate&hl=en&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dvoodoo+control+plus
Keep in mind that these phones are affordable when found from good ebay sellers
Sent from my Rezound using Tapatalk 2

yeah the galaxy music got my attention because i have been searching the last few days and then the rumors about it surfaced. not great specs otherwise but if it was cheap and they put a wolfson chip in it i think a lot of people might jump on it just as a cheap music player if the price is low enough. it will be interesting to see how it is priced off contract. 

 

[doxology]

seriously no other suggestions?

 

[headfinoob]

seriously no other suggestions?

Used iPhone 4/4S. There is no free lunch, most phones sound like garbage. There are many phones in my link above if you actually cared to read it.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[ostewart]

Sony Ericsson live with walkman is pretty good actually, get neutron music player and it's really good.

 

[doxology]

Quote:

Used iPhone 4/4S. There is no free lunch, most phones sound like garbage. There are many phones in my link above if you actually cared to read it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

i knew about the phones that allow you to use the voodoo app. problem is most of them can only be purchased used and the new ones are expensive off of contract. the other thing i haven't read about with voodoo is all of his pages list the app for a specific version of android. so what happens when you put a custom version of android like cyanogenmod? does the app not work right anymore? 
 
i was looking to see if their where any other phones out their just trying to see if anyone knows of something that is lesser known that sounds good right out of the box, but outside of user knowledge on the subject knowledge is scarce. that is why i brought it to a forum to ask for user knowledge. 

 

[headfinoob]

To be honest, I don't think that there are many alternatives. Generally, voodoo works per the listed version of android, however, I believe some devs have figured out how to implement it on newer versions.
The Nexus S would be a decent phone with ICS and could be found affordably

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[cheapfi]

Many custom android roms contain various sound tweaks as well as equalizers.   I am running an original HTC Evo with Radiance 6.1(an old version),  I have a full EQ on my phone and it sounds pretty nice with BB King.  Most of the newer HTC Phones had Beats Audio built in(not mine), or custom roms available with similar tweaks, and you can eq them however you want.  I will test my phone with better headphones when they arrive.
 
The only issue with it for music is that if you are streaming constantly the battery is only good for about 2-4 hours.  It's better with saved files, but still the battery drains quite quickly, perhaps 6 hours.  My second hand ipod nano lasts for about 40 hours of constant playing on a charge.
 
I don't know about the DAC built in so it is all subjective. I really only use the phone for audio if I want to stream something or use an audiobook app because of the battery life.  Kinda defeats the purpose of being portable if you have to be plugged into a charger.
 
Edit:
Just noticed that someone said that beats was just an eq....   Kinda thought so myself.  Still helps with cheap earbuds or IEMs though.
 
Also realised that voodoo works with the sprint galaxy tab.... I happen to have one.  Will try that out when my alessandros arrive.

 

[anadin]

The i9000 with Voodoo is a great combo.