Also, LG doesn't have the marketing budget or brand recognition of Samsung or Apple. In addition, the LG V series wasn't necessarily marketed to the audiophile community, as it was touted as a multi-media device with excellent cameras, video capabilities, AND audio capabilities, but in terms of cameras and video, it fell short of Samsung, Apple, and Google. And in the smartphone market, you really must be at the top of your game in each category (Screen Size & Quality, Camera Quality, Battery Life, Weight, Thinness, Screen:Body Ratio) OR one must have massive brand cache to overcome one of these shortcomings (See: Apple).
Audiophiles are willing to make concessions for audio, such as poor UI performance and/or software optimization, a low resolution/quality screen, poor battery life and mediocre connectivity, as long as the audio remains desirable. Phone owners are generally unwilling to make concessions without some sort of brand image to compensate. And generally speaking, people are generally sheep and will often accept, even begrudgingly, unwanted changes if it means maintaining their brand loyalty. I don't see nearly as much of that here in regards to the DAP market, though, there are some brand apologists lurking from time to time.
In the DAP market, it seems like the competition is pretty stiff, and it is driving devices to make fewer and fewer compromises, which I see as a good thing. Bypassing the android audio stack, multiple output options (3.5, 2.5, 4.4) available, processors/ram/screens are ever improving in quality, and software is improving with every iteration. The difference that I see is that most of the companies are smallish, and the market is small, and the potential for profit is much smaller with greater risk, so progress is made, but slower and with greater consideration than is seen in the smartphone market.
Could you imagine 90% screen ratio DAPs without physical buttons and no output options other than Bluetooth? I'm rather glad that the two industries have evolved separately.
~Ex
