LG G3 as a portable source?

[SomeGuyDude]

I have one, and I'll say that with some nice isolating IEMs, the G3 is nothing short of stellar. Clean and crisp, if not especially loud, but sounds as good as I could ask. You're not gonna be running your HD800s straight out of it, but my Shures? Hell yes.

 

[PavoGrande]

Did you get it? How good is it with flac and hifi cans? No crackling?
Thanks

Alright, here are the results.
With my RHA 750s, they sound fine as far as I can tell, however my luck did not fare to well with other headphones. My Audio Technica CK 55s were given an awful hiss in the left channel at any volume lower than a few notches from max. My Sony MDR7506 were given the same thing in the right channel for god knows why. Same story for the Sennheiser HD439. However my Grado Sr80i had no problems that were audible at any volume just like the RHAs. Frankly, I'm taking the phone back because I don't want to have to gamble with headphones I buy in the future on whether or not they'll work with the G3. I had bought the G3 because the S5 and M8 had crackling and static issues, so I guess I'll be getting an iPhone 5S. Which really sucks, because you can't put Pokémon on an iPhone.

Post Script: whenever the G3 was workings though, the sound was pretty Damon good. Nice frequency balance and fairly flat. (Music tested included, Childish Gambino, Kid Cudi, Woodkid, and some others.)

 

[PavoGrande]

Sorry, there is a typo up there. It should say "pretty damn good."

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Why not exchange it for another G3 and see if it has the same issues?
 
I swear, I do NOT understand why when people get a device that has issues they chalk that up to being an inherent design flaw rather than a production one...

 

[PavoGrande]

Why not exchange it for another G3 and see if it has the same issues?

I swear, I do NOT understand why when people get a device that has issues they chalk that up to being an inherent design flaw rather than a production one...

Because the manufacturing process does not change much from one device to another. I suppose I could exchange it and see what happens, but when there are numerous bad experiences from people, then sometimes not taking any chances is worth it for peace of mind.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Because the manufacturing process does not change much from one device to another. I suppose I could exchange it and see what happens, but when there are numerous bad experiences from people, then sometimes not taking any chances is worth it for peace of mind.

 
So there is never a such thing as production flaws? Either none of them have a problem or all of them do? I'm roughly 100% sure that "hissing in one headphone channel" was not part of the LG G3 design. 

 

[Whippler]

Plugged my Shure se535 into one of these at the store yesterday. Se535 definitely picks up background hiss from LG G3, enough so to be an annoyance for me. And to be clear, on both channels.

 

[elfary]

  Plugged my Shure se535 into one of these at the store yesterday. Se535 definitely picks up background hiss from LG G3, enough so to be an annoyance for me. And to be clear, on both channels.

 
Was the demo unit charging ? On a more than a few instances i've found that when a device is charging some hiss find a way to the headphone amplifier but it disappears when the unit is not plugged to the charger.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Actually you know what might be worth mentioning? Which model of the G3 we're talking about here. I know they're all "the LG G3," but there are slight differences here and there from carrier to carrier. I'm on the T-Mobile variant (the D851), and have no hiss whatsoever in either ear, whether charging or not. Maybe the problem came from another model?

 

[Baroninkjet]

How is quality at full volume? I had G2, but returned it because:
 
Volume was less than stock Samsung/Wolfson volume (which can be increased dramatically with simple hacks)
Painful distortion at high volume settings
Noise when charging
background hiss
 
It seems like none of the Qualcomm phones have sufficient volume except HTC which added amp.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I have no hiss, no distortion, no noise on mine, however the volume is not as powerful as the HTC M8. Even so, I never have it at full volume because I'm using it with SE846 which are pretty sensitive and isolate well. I don't know what'll happen with a volume hack because thus far I haven't felt the need to try it.

 

[dbdynsty25]

I've been using my G3 (At&t variant) for the past two weeks and it sounds fantastic compared to the M8 I had previously.  Both phones are top of the class when it comes to driving my GR07BEs.  Yes, the M8 goes louder, but that doesn't mean it's a better sound.  The G3 just seemed to be more linear from top to bottom where the M8, even with Boom Sound off, seemed to be more V shaped.  Now, I prefer a V shaped sound given my headphone choices (GR07BE as my IEM and V-MODA M100 as my full sized)...so if I'm going to do any real listening, I'll hook up my JDS Labs C5D to the G3 and listen that way.  I can get the exact sound I crave going that route.  For gym use, the G3 w/ the GR07BEs is definitely an enjoyable, if not bass heavy, experience. 

 

[kantana]

  ...
 
Even though I was comparing SQ I feel it bears mentioning that the G3 display is fantastic, and the image quality is worth whatever hit you may take in battery life. The M8 is only two months old and it appears positively antique next to the G3. The clarity, color and size of the G3 display seems to increase the utility of the phone and it looks like the QHD displays will be everywhere soon. Those gorgeous album covers...   

 
Not to derail the thread about audio quality but be aware the G3 display has issues with over sharpening that spoils things somewhat:
 
http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-dark-side-of-the-LG-G3-5-mighty-annoying-features_id57222

 

[dbdynsty25]

   
Not to derail the thread about audio quality but be aware the G3 display has issues with over sharpening that spoils things somewhat:
 
http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-dark-side-of-the-LG-G3-5-mighty-annoying-features_id57222

 
Yeah, not a huge fan of the display...resolution and all.  I liked the M8 and S5 better for sure.  Viewing angles are annoying.

 

[Sanlitun]

   
Not to derail the thread about audio quality but be aware the G3 display has issues with over sharpening that spoils things somewhat:
 
http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-dark-side-of-the-LG-G3-5-mighty-annoying-features_id57222

 
Mine is nothing like this, the display is gorgeous.
 
There is also an element of BS to that website, if you mouse over their over their scary image of oversharpening you see: "(the picture is not from the G3 - it is just for illustration of the effect)".
 
Another gem from picture 3: "LG’s G3 (compared against the Galaxy S5) has a big and super-sharp, 5.5” display, but it’s a screen that’s hard to read outdoors - it’s dim and reflective, so you’d need to stare with an extra effort to read it correctly". It's so biased I wonder if they had even handled a G3 when they had written that. It is not dim and reflective and you don't have to stare lol. 
 
Maybe some one saw some content that was not compatible with QHD and didn't like the way it looked, who knows. I feel this is a great phone and my M8 is still in the closet until I can sell it. And one of the primary reasons is that after being spoiled by the QHD display it's difficult to use the M8.