[Turkleton]

Woohoo!!! Just went to my nearest LG store... They said the V10 will be launched late December/early Jan -_-

Buuuutttt, they'll also have the free 200gb sdcard deal!! Yeaaahhhh

V10's coming to the UAE baby!!

*source: LG store employee who told me she'll be going off for training tomorrow to get ready for the V10 launch... Man I'm so hyped!

 

[jamor]

I was doing some reading and it looks like the impedance adapter isn't a transparent solution and can change sound.  I'm still tempted to give it a try though.  

 

[wirefriend]

   
This was a tough one. Expected to hear distinct differences right away but, surprisingly, the LG V10 and iBasso R10 are fairly close.
 
Both players are very similar in soundstage, separation, imaging, and placement. I struggled to hear any discernible changes in presentation as I switched back and forth between them. However, the iBasso has a smoother overall tonality and has better quality bass (if not lesser; I always felt the R10 was a bit bass light and had a hard time finding a good pairing until the Z7). The LG isn't harsh by any means though, it just isn't quite as smooth in it's presentation. The V10 does have more bass quantity than the R10 but does not sound boosted. Beyond that, I'm shocked to say there may not be big enough differences in sound quality to justify needing both.
 
More info:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Shouldn't be so surprised with them both having similar ESS chips (9018S in the R10 and 9018C2M in the V10) but the iBasso has been my best sounding, reference portable for over a year. However, they are about 3 years apart in design which can be a technological eternity (although I always believe newer isn't necessarily better). I've been searching for the perfect all-in-one device for decades and the V10 is the closest yet so it was a logical choice.
 
The iBasso R10, on the other hand, still has the slightest edge sound-wise and has even more power/headroom than the LG but its main draw now is that it has EVERY kind of output despite being a portable (line out, coax out, and optical out) plus both sizes of headphone jacks. Would be hard to part with mine for those reasons. I think of it more as a portable for home use or as a pocketable transport. Plus battery life isn't even close. Gonna get several times more battery life out of the LG (playing music) compared to anywhere from 5-10 hours with the iBasso.
 
Here are further details of how I compared them:
 
Note: I wouldn't classify my hearing as Golden Ears level (aced the basic level but my patience gave out somewhere between bronze and silver). Also note that (afaik) the R10 doesn't output quite as much power as a DX100 so the volume levels may be a bit different between those two.
 
Fyi, both ESS chips are 32-bit capable. The 9018S can handle up to 8 channels and puts out roughly 2dB more than the stereo C2M but it also consumes more than double the power.
 
I used the Sony MDR-Z7 as it pairs extremely well with the V10 and the R10 and Z7 was already one of favorite pairings over the past year.
 
Played the first few songs off one of my favorite new albums: Seal 7 (figured a Trevor Horn production would, as usual, be more than revealing; my equipment really can't do it justice but gotta start somewhere).
 
I used a Fiio HS2 headphone output switcher and tried my best to match the volume levels of both players using an spl meter app on my old Note 3. The V10 was on high impedance and volume level 45. I set the R10 to high gain, volume to 208, digital filter on slow roll-off (standard), and set SRC to 176/192kHz (according to LG the V10 upsamples everything to 32-bit levels so I figured this was the closest comparison).
 
No EQ was used on either player.

Thank you for your impressions! I appreciate it.

 

[Roscoeiii]

  I was doing some reading and it looks like the impedance adapter isn't a transparent solution and can change sound.  I'm still tempted to give it a try though.  

Yeah, there is rarely a free lunch in audio. You can try it and see if on the whole you find the sound to be improved or not. 
 
I've seen on the Shure 846 thread reports of folks using a higher impedance cable for the very low impedance 846s (9 ohms, IIRC) and were not pleased with the overall effect on the sound. 
 
Personally, I am not sure that the impedance adaptor would give any positive benefit. But look forward to hearing the impressions of those who try one.

 

[gr8soundz]

 
Are you disappointed in the dap or phone, because supposedly that's a expensive dap, right?  I not to keen on daps, I don't have much care for them.
 
You do know that point of this phone is because its an all in one, and a damn good one too.

 
Not disappointed, just surprised. The iBasso has been TOTL since around 2012 and used ones still cost more than a new V10. Figured there was no way the V10 could be that close to it.
 
Of course I know the point is to have a great all-in-one (been searching for that for decades). The LG is closest so far but it just came out. Before the V10, what other choices did we have? DAPs existed for the same reason point-n-shoot cameras used to be popular. 
 
EDIT: I will add that (from what I know) creating a smooth sound while maintaining the dark background and micro details is one of the more difficult achievements in sound quality. In that respect the iBasso R10 is still relevant especially being a portable.

 

[Muddysmind]

 well u saying the v10 is close to r10 is simply amazing for the v10 so now just add v4a and the v10 wins hands down

 
I would happily add viper if it didn't require rooting. And if the rooting could be done direct from the phone without a pc I might not mind either. But, alas, my days of "hacking" my phones via connection to a pc are long over. More risk than I'm willing to take no matter how minimal.
 

Rooting takes about 30 minutes and I restored my backup I took with LG built in backup software, was the easiest, least painful root I have ever attempted.
Xposed framework is next up.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

 

[Inks]

Yeah, there is rarely a free lunch in audio. You can try it and see if on the whole you find the sound to be improved or not. 

I've seen on the Shure 846 thread reports of folks using a higher impedance cable for the very low impedance 846s (9 ohms, IIRC) and were not pleased with the overall effect on the sound. 

Personally, I am not sure that the impedance adaptor would give any positive benefit. But look forward to hearing the impressions of those who try one.

That's because the Shure doesn't have a linear impedance phase, so more impedance makes it sound
WoRse, so it's not recommended. I will only recommend it for low impedance dynamics with a flat impedance curve.

 

[Roscoeiii]

That's because the Shure doesn't have a linear impedance phase, so more impedance makes it sound
WoRse, so it's not recommended. I will only recommend it for low impedance dynamics with a flat impedance curve.

Great clarification. Many thanks!

 

[mochill]

I still don't know how to root

 

[kfarndog]

Please post your thoughts and opinion about adding the impedance adapter into the mix.  I feel I have a couple of iems that would benefit from the power switched on.
 
Quote:

I completely agree with this. Sound out of the box is amazing. Best part, no interference when streaming. My Note 4 was intolerable. I think I'm dropping out of the DAP market. Once rooted, the bass is just ridiculous, right where I want it to be. Without root, my only complaint is the volume... That's with lower impedance IEMS, but I'm ordering an impedance adapter off of eBay. I should have it this week. I prefer that extra power from the phone amp.

 

[Roscoeiii]

I still don't know how to root

You are best off going to one of the big Android forums for this. Maybe someone here who spends time on them can suggest one. 

 

[SeeSax]

Well, I encountered my first pair of IEMs that the V10 is underpowered for: Puro IEM500s. These are notoriously hard to power, but, I was pretty surprised that at 75/75, they were just loud enough. Pretty bright sounding too. 
 
These aren't my favorite IEMs or anything, in fact I've only had them for an hour and bought them just for $50 worth of fun, but they need an amp. Just thought I'd share. 
 
Still, I own about 15 pairs of headphones and none are over 32 ohms so I cannot crank up this adaptive amp! I hate the idea of buying HIGHER impedance headphones just to test it out
 
-Collin-

 

[peter123]

Well, I encountered my first pair of IEMs that the V10 is underpowered for: Puro IEM500s. These are notoriously hard to power, but, I was pretty surprised that at 75/75, they were just loud enough. Pretty bright sounding too. 

These aren't my favorite IEMs or anything, in fact I've only had them for an hour and bought them just for $50 worth of fun, but they need an amp. Just thought I'd share. 

Still, I own about 15 pairs of headphones and none are over 32 ohms so I cannot crank up this adaptive amp! I hate the idea of buying HIGHER impedance headphones just to test it out

-Collin-

This has to be a flaw. Hopefully LG will sort this out through a fw update.

 

[SeeSax]

This has to be a flaw. Hopefully LG will sort this out through a fw update.

Either that, or I've made myself go deaf from too much rocking out with this thing

 

[jamor]

  Either that, or I've made myself go deaf from too much rocking out with this thing

 
Im gonna try out this impedance adapter.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5mm-to-3-5mm-Impedance-Adapter-Plug-For-Hi-Fi-Audio-player-AMP-DAC-Earphone-/380932180092