[Persuasion]

What's the general consensus here about Cell phone audio? I mean the mp3 player capabilities when using headphones.

I'm really curious about the headphone jack. I've seen a few cells with mini usb headphones and using the mini microphone jack for buds. Are there any cells out there that use the standard headphone jack?

 

[nibiyabi]

I'm fairly certain they would all be absolutely terrible -- except for the iPhone I guess, which should be at least listenable.

 

[Thelonious Monk]

i'd say some of the sony ericcson walkman phones have sq on par with an ipod. see: good enough. most other stuff is really horrible though.

 

[Advil]

If a phone had a line-out I think pairing it with a dedicated amplifier isn't half bad, of course the onboard DAC would blow.. but it probably may be listenable.

 

[kramer5150]

My LG-VX8300 is good enough for casual tunes on the go. Probably on par with the cheapest MP3 player... those generic looking pen-drives on ebay, 512M for $20. It mainly wins out for convenience more-so than anything "head-fi".

 

[Uncle Erik]

Wouldn't it mostly depend on the bitrate/quality of the MP3?

 

[Bigburger]

Sony Ericssons are pretty good. But the lack of a headphone jack is a pain. That is one of the strengths of the Nokia N91. I am using the stock headphones with K800i and its not great - quite muddy. Anyone know the cheapest place to get an attachment with a headphone jack that perhaps has handsfree incorporated in it? I know that the Walkman branded models come with it and some IEM type earphones.

 

[lukealexander]

Bigburger I have both a fastport>3.5mm adaptor and the HPM-70 (the Walkman branded headphones of which you speak).

The HPM-70 handsfree is quite heavy and drags down the J cord on the headphones, which is a flaw. If you are using it with other headphones, you would have an enormous cord length.

The adaptor I bought on eBay for about £3 and works fine for the purpose. K800 has a pretty poor audio out, which was incredibly noticeable with the Vibes.

If I hadn't already bought all this junk (and an M2 card) I would probably get an iPod nano/shuffle. I am hoping the UM1s (as you will soon be using) will mask some of these flaws.

 

[damballah]

LG "Chocolate" here. Made my own mini-USB to 3.5mm headphone cable. I find it tolerable for listening when there's no other musical source available, but it's not good for much other than that unfortunately...

 

[Daroid]

W810 with a custom Mogami siamese coaxial cable to custom fastport connector, so the radio reception is improved as well.
Beats the crap out of my old IMP-400. I don't have any other portable sources to compare it with (and i'll never need another).

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wouldn't it mostly depend on the bitrate/quality of the MP3?

Partially-yes, mostly- no. at least not with my LG phone. Its bass shy, regardless of bitrate.

 

[loonysteps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigburger /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sony Ericssons are pretty good. But the lack of a headphone jack is a pain. That is one of the strengths of the Nokia N91. I am using the stock headphones with K800i and its not great - quite muddy. Anyone know the cheapest place to get an attachment with a headphone jack that perhaps has handsfree incorporated in it? I know that the Walkman branded models come with it and some IEM type earphones.

Audiocubes is selling the new lower end eggo with an adapter for use with their phones. Sony Ericsson W810i, is best phone for listening i think.

 

[Jon118]

I use my VX8600 for exercise purposes and don't see many problems. Mainly poor volume control, the occasional break in the track (just a split second of silence, not like a major skip on the track), and a lot of static. It might not sound good but it is actually very listenable. It doesn't really color the music at all, pretty straightforward. All and all it is pretty good for portable, but I wouldn't use one as my main portable source.

 

[feh1325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wouldn't it mostly depend on the bitrate/quality of the MP3?

qft
i'd rather have a cellphone with 192kbps mp3 files than an imod with 128kbps mp4

 

[wrecked_porsche]

I listen to my Sony Ericsson K750i + Phillips SHE9500... not bad actually, once you get the right EQ setting plus mod/hack the audio drivers in the phone firmware. Its almost on par with my MuVo2, with better bass, but slightly less mids. Not bad! The SE K750i pairs really nicely with the SHE9500. The stock SE headphones were crap.


There is some very slight background hiss, but its not noticeable when on the go. Its only there when listening in a really really quiet room.