[DougD]

Sound Signature: Very Flat, and of good resolution and clarity. I love it ! The best of smartphones that I have came across so far. Read on to find out more details


<< snip snip ... leaving the parts below that focus on the sound quality  >>


Sound signature overall is very Flat, no emphasis on any frequency a little drier compare to ZX2. Very detailed, highly resolving, good clarity, good seperation, good soundstage. It is so freaking Flat that even some nuances and micro dynamic details can be easily observed. Best of all ? It kicks the ZX2 in the ass in then Lower-end trebles frequency, trebles body, tonal balanced and details. Why ? Because it is Flat where as ZX2 is more of a warmer and lushier enjoyable musical kind of signature.

How loud can it get ? Jesus Christ.....on my MDR SA5000....I can not break 60 out of 75 max volume....it blows my brain, ears out....probably deftness if I do....let's not go there. I need my good hearing to review for you folks.

Background is black....pitch black! There is no noises or interferences from between apps opening

Soundstage: very wide, good channels left and right balanced. Spacious amd this rendered space is accurate. 3rd dimensional is well presenting. Instruments placements are accurate and of good rendering. I can literally feel the drums hits approaching me from far away in the front as the sound was rendered. 8.5/10 vs ZX2

Sound-Scape: or field of sound. It is surrounding and immersive. It gets 8.5/10 vs ZX2.

Bass: tight ! Super tight! Good texture, vivid tonal body ! Very quick, detailed, good pace. Airy...and flat out accurate but not as warm and fluid as ZX2, the percussion of the Housing body is some what thin compares to ZX2 it is drier, but non the less of good bass quality. It can dives deep when it is called upon, the decay is shorter than ZX2, and can not dive as deep as ZX2....but hey, it is controlled, and on complex deep bass dive it doesn't distort at all. I rate it a tie vs ZX2 for a less refined, but detail, tight, good quality controlled and will not distort VS more refined, better tonal body, fluid and flowing, deeper dive...but randomly distort on complex plays

Mids: good resolutions and resolving in the whole mid spectrums, but less refined within a tonal body. It can not get that accuracy where the ZX2 excels. Each strings tonal body is thinner drier and not as thick or distinctively carry that unique tonal body from different strings. But due to this it is more airy, more detailed and leave out more room toward the trebles regions to be easily observed and more satisfying. 7/10 compares to ZX2. This will rely heavily on personal preferences. Some may love this, some may not. I am neutral with it, I guess because ZX2 satisfy me in this realistic and accuracy in this sections, so I am not too crazy about it. I am trying to say a guitar, violin, Guzheng doesn't sound realistically authentic, but resolutions, and definitions is there, lacking good body though. I am listening through MDR SA5000 which is brighter....it could pair better with my Z7 and more organic ? I don't know....but the tonal body of string instruments doesn't give me that satisfying eargasm feeling.

Highs: brilliant, very detailed, energetic, and airy. Well defined, good tonal body within a beat. It is not harsh or sibilants. This region is a region that it does better than ZX2. More details on the trebles region is playing out very nicely with good resolution and very resolving as well. It gets 10/9.5 vs ZX2. I love this trebles here

. Very satisfying, all those chittering, ziggering, zaggering, hit-hat and cymbals hits are just great ! Nuances trebles details can be observed easier and better than the ZX2 probably due to it less fluid and flow mid spectrums. However the tonal body of within each beats, the ZX2 excel at as well, and this body density in the ZX2 makes these trebles to be smooth, and musical.

Another better point that it beats the ZX2 outright is the output power. Jesus....zx2 can never blow and hurt my ears like this one.

Conclusion: can this LG V10 be a replacement for any DAP ? Heck yes ! I won't be surprised with that rating against the ZX2 and the V10 can easily compare to Fiio X5 and surpass X3 or others. I would alternatively switching from between ZX2 and this phone without problems. Also, I am of a more natural, details and flat kind of folk, I love it. Be that I never heard from X3/5, but with the high scores against the Titan ZX2

. It will satisfy you, who love mid-fi DAPS, and ultimately the combination of a smartphone and audio performance with portability.

It overall scores vs ZX2 would be 8/10. It has it better scores, but also has it worse scores against the Titan. Ultimately for someone who is chasing "realistic tonality" like me, I would rate V10 a score of 8 and ZX2 the references point of 10.

ZX2 is warmer, more realistic tonal body and organic, fluid, and musical, much better tonal body and immersive soundscape with TRRS out.
V10 is flatter, more details in trebles region, less tonal realistic, less fluid, and less musical but more analytical

Both has good senses of space and immersive experiences. If you don't come off from ZX2, you would be super impressed with this soundstage and rendered field

Best be paired with anything that has warmer and thicker sound signatures. For example MDR Z7 does wonderful with it, IM-04

***i forgot to mention the tonal body comparision against the ZX2 and V10.*** The tonal body accuracy, or how realistic a beat tone is between these 2 from my personal experiences is 6.5/10 as in V10/Zx2.

 
Whitigir, could you expand on the final part of this, what I've highlighted in red? I don't understand what you mean by "tonal body accuracy" or "how realistic a beat tone tone is", and totally don't see how the generally very good V10 ratings for various aspects of the sound in the top of the clipped section combine to result in the 6.5/10 score for tonal body accuracy, which is waaay out of range compared to all of the other scores. 

 

[Whitigir]

Whitigir, could you expand on the final part of this, what I've highlighted in red? I don't understand what you mean by "tonal body accuracy" or "how realistic a beat tone tone is", and totally don't see how the generally very good V10 ratings for various aspects of the sound in the top of the clipped section combine to result in the 6.5/10 score for tonal body accuracy, which is waaay out of range compared to all of the other scores. 

Tonal body is how a hit on an instrument sound like. Accuracy is how realistic it is to be reproduced by a player or headphones. V10 does play out detail and layering out good stages...etc. But the meat, inner fidelity of a tonal body, for example, a hit on a real drum, is not as accurate in a way to describe the instrument, and to let you imagine or realize of what type/size of drum it is, just not as Zx2. Now, don't worry too much about it, unless you are into high-end gears, and willing to spend the fortune. Most of the time, only higher end players can reproduce the tonal body in a more realistic ways. Zx2 performance is cheap for it price

Anyways, most of the mid-tier audiophile players should fall in to similar characteristics as V10.

Cheer!

 

[DougD]

Tonal body is how a hit on an instrument sound like. Accuracy is how realistic it is to be reproduced by a player or headphones. V10 does play out detail and layering out good stages...etc. But the meat, inner fidelity of a tonal body, for example, a hit on a real drum, is not as accurate in a way to describe the instrument, and to let you imagine or realize of what type/size of drum it is, just not as Zx2.  <snip snip>

 
Thanks for that added explanation, very helpful.

 

[lumberjake]

I am really loving this phone thus far but I must admit that there is an issue with volume on certain headphones.
I am reading these comments and there are folks jumping down their throats as if they are making it up because "they" have not experianced this issue. Cool it. Not everyone is using the same headphones and what is decent volume for one may be weak to another.
I like it loud.I find it to be much more immersing when loud.I like to feel the bass on electronic tracks.
Anyways,I am finding the volume too weak on my Urbanite on ears.At max volume its about right on a good production but anything else is too low.I can get much higher volume using Poweramp with its preamp but there goes the sound quality.A compromise I rather not make.
As for the sound quality from the hifi option ,well, others have described it much better than I.I agree with the observations made by these reviewers.Its truly a treat getting this kind of quality from a phone.Awesome really.Bass is so accurate.I listen to a lot of death metal which is arguably the most difficult genre to reproduce accurately with the power,speed and aggression typical of the songs.Too clearly make out individual drum hits with detail is something special. Its also great at giving great sound stage and imaging further making my music vastly improved over the mashed together sound most players produce. God the cymbals ring beautifully.Awesome. Really hope LG updates with somekind of gain option.

 

[gr8soundz]

UPDATE: If your headphones have a removable cable you can also get AUX power mode by plugging the cable into the V10 first then connecting the headphones last.
 
Here are some partial solutions (without using an impedance adapter) if you need more power from the V10's amp. They should help until we (hopefully) get a manual gain option for the V10.
 
I used this adapter but a 3.5mm extension cable also works:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KE5NJ7W?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
 
First, plug the extender (with nothing connected on the other end) into the V10. The DAC should turn on (if not switch it on) and the amp will go into AUX mode:
 

Then plug your headphones into the extender and the V10 will stay in AUX mode.
 
AUX mode's power output is very similar to high mode and can make a big difference with lower impedance headphones (that can handle more power) like the Oppo PM-3.
 
High impedance mode swap
If you plug headphones into the extender first then connect it to the phone, the V10 detects the headphones as designed. I did this with my Fostex mk3 to get high impedance mode but when changing headphones at the extender end (leaving the extender plugged into the phone) the dac stays on and on high power. This allows me to use any headphone on high with the V10. Even if you turn the dac off with the extender plugged in, it will remain on high power when switched back on. Removing the extension resets the V10's auto impedance detection so this method may not be ideal for travel but works fine for home use.
 
NOTE: high impedance mode is NOT compatible with cables that have in-line mics and remote buttons. However, I was able to use remote/mic cables in AUX mode with several music apps.

 

[SeeSax]

I am really loving this phone thus far but I must admit that there is an issue with volume on certain headphones.
I am reading these comments and there are folks jumping down their throats as if they are making it up because "they" have not experianced this issue. Cool it. Not everyone is using the same headphones and what is decent volume for one may be weak to another.
I like it loud.I find it to be much more immersing when loud.I like to feel the bass on electronic tracks.
Anyways,I am finding the volume too weak on my Urbanite on ears.At max volume its about right on a good production but anything else is too low.I can get much higher volume using Poweramp with its preamp but there goes the sound quality.A compromise I rather not make.
As for the sound quality from the hifi option ,well, others have described it much better than I.I agree with the observations made by these reviewers.Its truly a treat getting this kind of quality from a phone.Awesome really.Bass is so accurate.I listen to a lot of death metal which is arguably the most difficult genre to reproduce accurately with the power,speed and aggression typical of the songs.Too clearly make out individual drum hits with detail is something special. Its also great at giving great sound stage and imaging further making my music vastly improved over the mashed together sound most players produce. God the cymbals ring beautifully.Awesome. Really hope LG updates with somekind of gain option.

 
Well-said - I completely agree. 
 
In a quest to really crank up the amp on this phone, I have tried no less than ten pairs of headphones/IEMs and I'm still 100% satisfied with the sound quality, but it makes no sense to me why there is such a huge variance in volume. Yes, I know that higher-impedance headphones can cause the amp to drive them louder, but this just doesn't coincide with what I'm finding. For example, my DT990s (250 ohm) are pretty loud, but nothing earth shattering. Then I plugged in my newly-acquired LZ A2 (found here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/786210/new-3-way-hybrid-ba-dd-iem-lz-a2-including-dd-a1) and holy mother they can make me deaf. I don't understand it. They're not high impedance, but listening to them on 40 out of 75 on the volume made me jump out of my seat. I think comfortable level on them is 30 or 35. These are 16 ohm, which is the same as at least three other pairs of IEMs I own and the others do not exhibit this same behavior. 
 
To make a long story short: I have no idea what any of this means
 
-Collin-

 

[kawaivpc1]

Ugh. I ended up buying the hd700 at a local store and damm, I had to return them. They sound like complete garbage to my ears, I'll keep the 650s. I played with the z7 and I didn't like the Sound, Way too much boom and bass.

I agree. I think HD700 is not better than HD650 and HD800. It's shame since it's Sennheiser's latest pro headphone.

 

[Whitelisten]

Battery life with the screen off seems to be good. I went to sleep last night with it at 100% and it was still at 100% when i woke up this morning. Still at 67% right now. Been listening to music for the last hour with the screen off and the battery had only dropped 3%. So at about 3% an hour for music playback with the screen off that equates to just over 30 hours of music playback time. Not bad at all.

The phone itself is very fast and smooth. Feels better than the HTC One M9. Its very obviously smoother when typing. Multitasking seems faster and smoother. Two thumbs up so far.

Hi,I remembered somewhere in this post that the ess dacs usually does not last more than 11-12 hours... So i was wondering if you leave your screen on while playing music with ess on, how long can the battery last?
Other than that, to everyone who owns Iphone 6s plus here, how does the sound quality in 6s plus compare to lg v10?[other than the ability to power high ohms headphone which i don't use it outside & the hiss sound from iphone 6s plus.] Will i be able to hear a difference with ath-im01[47 ohms]?
 
Sorry to bombard you all with noob questions... i just started my music collection a few months ago. My collection of music is very little and so the storage from iphone 6s plus is enough. When I was considering iphone 6s plus, I came across lg v10 and the review for the sound quality is very good. However, my country did not sell v10 so i cannot compare the sound quality myself. =(

 

[davidmthekidd]

Hi,I remembered somewhere in this post that the ess dacs usually does not last more than 11-12 hours... So i was wondering if you leave your screen on while playing music with ess on, how long can the battery last?
Other than that, to everyone who owns Iphone 6s plus here, how does the sound quality in 6s plus compare to lg v10?[other than the ability to power high ohms headphone which i don't use it outside & the hiss sound from iphone 6s plus.] Will i be able to hear a difference with ath-im01[47 ohms]?

Sorry to bombard you all with noob questions... i just started my music collection a few months ago. My collection of music is very little and so the storage from iphone 6s plus is enough. When I was considering iphone 6s plus, I came across lg v10 and the review for the sound quality is very good. However, my country did not sell v10 so i cannot compare the sound quality myself. =(

The 6plus doesn't hold a candle to the v10. The LG V10 is superior in every way that you can imagine.

 

[jamor]

 
Hi,I remembered somewhere in this post that the ess dacs usually does not last more than 11-12 hours... So i was wondering if you leave your screen on while playing music with ess on, how long can the battery last?
Other than that, to everyone who owns Iphone 6s plus here, how does the sound quality in 6s plus compare to lg v10?[other than the ability to power high ohms headphone which i don't use it outside & the hiss sound from iphone 6s plus.] Will i be able to hear a difference with ath-im01[47 ohms]?
 
Sorry to bombard you all with noob questions... i just started my music collection a few months ago. My collection of music is very little and so the storage from iphone 6s plus is enough. When I was considering iphone 6s plus, I came across lg v10 and the review for the sound quality is very good. However, my country did not sell v10 so i cannot compare the sound quality myself. =(

 
I can confirm that if your headphones are under 50 ohms they use normal power mode and battery lasts a very long time.  A lot longer than 11-12 hours.  It barely uses my battery listening to music on LG app.  Streaming apps a little more because you're using data. Sorry I don't have numbers.   Someone else will have to confirm battery for over 50 ohms or high powered mode.

 

[Whitigir]

The 6plus doesn't hold a candle to the v10. The LG V10 is superior in every way that you can imagine.

This is true, except iOS and better screen solution from 6 plus

 

[Baroninkjet]

This is true, except iOS ...

 
Joke, right? 

 

[davidmthekidd]

Joke, right? 

I know right LOL

 

[VeggiePopper]

This is true, except iOS and better screen solution from 6 plus

The V10 has a Quad HD (1440p) screen resolution versus Full HD (1080p) on the iPhone 6 Plus. How is it possible that the iP6 has the better resolution?

 

[kms108]

 

This is true, except iOS and better screen solution from 6 plus

The V10 has a Quad HD (1440p) screen resolution versus Full HD (1080p) on the iPhone 6 Plus. How is it possible that the iP6 has the better resolution?

I would like to add that ios vs android os, which is better, neither one is better, it's subjective.