I am new to this forum, and loving this thread. I am hoping to receive feedback as to whether I performed a fair comparison test.
I brought my Etymotic ER-6P along with my Note 5 to the store to compare it to the V10. I enabled the DAC on the V10 and compared the audio using a Tidal demo page using the Chrome browser on both phones.
http://tidal.com/us/video/lossless-explained
In reading this thread, I'm guessing that if the DAC fix app wasn't installed, then I wasn't giving the V10 the full treatment. The DAC setting made a huge improvement, but the DAC fix app might have added ever more.
The test, as I defined it, had the two phones perform closer that I would have expected. Max volume was nearly equal with the Note 5, possibly being a bit louder. Note 5 sounded a little crisper on the highs and the V10 had more of a fuller sound in the mid and low frequencies. Overall, I would marginally prefer the V10.
I would have expected a larger difference between the two which is why I ask if it is a fair test.
Coming from the mobile forums where everybody degrades each other, this thread is a breath of fresh air with the overall respectful and helpful tone.