[andrewwardell]

Slightly off-topic, how does everyone find the cell reception on this phone? I'm on the H990DS and it's a real mixed bag in NZ.

 

[bixby]

There are a number of music players aside from uapp that play native sample rate, eg redbook wav at 44/16 for example which access the ESS dacs in the v-10 and v-20 that I have owned and used. Foobar2k, Neutron, and Onkyo Player. EDIT Not sure F2k resamples to 48 and not sure of Onkyo, sorry.

As for reception, it is about the same as many other android phones I have used. Depends on network and location.

 

[totte]

Slightly off-topic, how does everyone find the cell reception on this phone? I'm on the H990DS and it's a real mixed bag in NZ.

My cell reception was fine for the first year or so of owning my hd9900ds but the last year it has been really sketchy in all the countries I've been, using all different kinds of simcards. Ive read about others developing this same problem. The data connection disappears in areas it was fine before, other way cheaper phones using the same simcard have no problem. People calling me and not being able to connect even when I'm in a middle of a city with great coverage. It just drops the connection for no reason and tower handshakes seem to not work. When travelling in a car or something I can forget about calling someone or trying to use the internet. Ive tried everything to fix this beyond trying to root it.

It has slowly started to become solely a musicplayer/handheld computer and much less a phone for me for this reason. By far the biggest gripe I have with this device. Therefore I'm curious to update to oreo if it will fix my problem. However I'm also hesitant if it will drop the sound quality as there have been a few reports of this happening.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Have no problems on cell and data connections w/ my HD990DS B&O ed. w/ 4G+ on ITA (consuming about 50gb data a month), and when travelling mainly in SGP, HKG, TWN and PHL.

 

[davrt]

It has slowly started to become solely a musicplayer/handheld computer and much less a phone for me for this reason. By far the biggest gripe I have with this device. Therefore I'm curious to update to oreo if it will fix my problem. However I'm also hesitant if it will drop the sound quality as there have been a few reports of this happening.

Yes, Oreo has screwed up the DAC on my AT&T V20. Oreo has made the DAC inside the V20 lying completely dormant, shot it with a tranquilizer and the only way to wake up the sleeping beast is to use an app that supports it.

So it's not a total loss. If you use UAPP, you should be fine. Currently, that is the only music app that still uses the Hifi Quad DAC setting. I don't think Neutron uses it, but the standard DAC setting (Hifi turned off) still sounds very good to me. In fact, I think it sounds better than UAPP's standard DAC setting. Slightly better soundstage to me. But if you want the Hifi setting, then UAPP is your only option. The other issue, or quirk I should say, with Neutron my V20 with Oreo is having is the small volume steps only works when the app is in the background or when the screen is turned off. If you're on the app, it still has the huge volume step.

Sadly, if you use other apps like Spotify, Youtube, or watching movies, trailers, or playing games on your V20, the DAC is no longer being used. I'm convinced to believe the standard DAC setting isn't being used either, because now it doesn't sound any better than a DAC-less phone like the Samsung Galaxy or iPhone. Before the update, even the standard DAC setting still sounded much better than a DAC-less phone.

I do most of my music listening on Spotify. So this update has been a major kick in the gut to me. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't have root knowledge to downgrade back to Nougat. I could either buy another V20 that still has Nougat, but then I probably wouldn't get any more security updates without updating to Oreo first. Another plan I have is to wait a year and hope that next year's Pie update can fix it back.

 

[FSTOP]

Yes, Oreo has screwed up the DAC on my AT&T V20. Oreo has made the DAC inside the V20 lying completely dormant, shot it with a tranquilizer and the only way to wake up the sleeping beast is to use an app that supports it.

So it's not a total loss. If you use UAPP, you should be fine. Currently, that is the only music app that still uses the Hifi Quad DAC setting. I don't think Neutron uses it, but the standard DAC setting (Hifi turned off) still sounds very good to me. In fact, I think it sounds better than UAPP's standard DAC setting. Slightly better soundstage to me. But if you want the Hifi setting, then UAPP is your only option. The other issue, or quirk I should say, with Neutron my V20 with Oreo is having is the small volume steps only works when the app is in the background or when the screen is turned off. If you're on the app, it still has the huge volume step.

Sadly, if you use other apps like Spotify, Youtube, or watching movies, trailers, or playing games on your V20, the DAC is no longer being used. I'm convinced to believe the standard DAC setting isn't being used either, because now it doesn't sound any better than a DAC-less phone like the Samsung Galaxy or iPhone. Before the update, even the standard DAC setting still sounded much better than a DAC-less phone.

I do most of my music listening on Spotify. So this update has been a major kick in the gut to me. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't have root knowledge to downgrade back to Nougat. I could either buy another V20 that still has Nougat, but then I probably wouldn't get any more security updates without updating to Oreo first. Another plan I have is to wait a year and hope that next year's Pie update can fix it back.

My v20 updated to Oreo this week (on Verizon). No problems with sound so far, quadDac still engages with PowerAmp (latest alpha/beta releases) and still goes into hi-impedance mode with my P1.

The updated (newly-added with 8.0) LDAC bluetooth codec is also welcomed, sounds quite nice with FiiO btr3!

 

[davrt]

My v20 updated to Oreo this week (on Verizon). No problems with sound so far, quadDac still engages with PowerAmp (latest alpha/beta releases) and still goes into hi-impedance mode with my P1.

The updated (newly-added with 8.0) LDAC bluetooth codec is also welcomed, sounds quite nice with FiiO btr3!

I heard Verizon got their Oreo update this week. T-Mobile has yet to get it but should drop anytime soon.

Can I ask you one thing about your Verizon V20? When the Hifi Quad DAC setting is off, do you get the small volume steps or the large volume steps when changing volume? I'm talking about media volume and not ring tone volume to avoid the confusion.

 

[bixby]

There are a number of music players aside from uapp that play native sample rate, eg redbook wav at 44/16 for example which access the ESS dacs in the v-10 and v-20 that I have owned and used. Foobar2k, Neutron, and Onkyo Player. EDIT Not sure F2k resamples to 48 and not sure of Onkyo, sorry.

As for reception, it is about the same as many other android phones I have used. Depends on network and location.

EDIT 9-23-18 After thoroughly testing Foobar 2k, Neutron and USB Audio Player Pro, a final determination of sound quality has been reached. All tests done with standard 16/44 wav redbook since it is 98% of what I listen to. Even with my budget, (although very good) iems, differences could be heard. My long used Foobar 2k will be getting sidelined.

In terms of sound quality the results are UAPP > Neutron > Foobar 2k.

Thanks to the folks contributing to this thread and discussing player options, I can up my on the go game with UAPP.

cheers

 

[WhoIsThis]

What headphones are you using? Streaming or local music?

I am quite amazed how little percentage is used with locally stored high fidelity music.
Spotify on the other hand....

I'm using FLAC music stored locally and the SRH 1540 personally.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Had also a test of all Music Player apps in my disposal (link: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lg-v20-sound-quality.816024/page-144#post-13285367).

This was before UAPP or Neutron had HiRes drivers w/c now have dramatically changed the playing field.

Generally IMO, it was and still a toss up between Neutron's "analog" and UAPP's clear and dynamic sound (of which I preferred the later, Bitperfect is KING!). After which, HibyMusic (freeware) and Onkyo Player (and its ability to upsample music) comes into play. The others just don't cut it for me since they only support up to DSD64 (for my desktop DAC/Amp I have DSD128/256 materials).

What made me choose UAPP aside from the sound preference are:
- UI, not the best but compared to Neutron or Hiby?
- Native DSD support (use this for my desktop DAC/Amp). Neutron and Onkyo can support only DoP. Hiby says it supports Native DSD but my tests proved otherwise.
- Dev support (Davy is the Man!)

EDIT 9-23-18 After thoroughly testing Foobar 2k, Neutron and USB Audio Player Pro, a final determination of sound quality has been reached. All tests done with standard 16/44 wav redbook since it is 98% of what I listen to. Even with my budget, (although very good) iems, differences could be heard. My long used Foobar 2k will be getting sidelined.

In terms of sound quality the results are UAPP > Neutron > Foobar 2k.

Thanks to the folks contributing to this thread and discussing player options, I can up my on the go game with UAPP.

cheers

 

[Emulle]

Had also a test of all Music Player apps in my disposal (link: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lg-v20-sound-quality.816024/page-144#post-13285367).

Have you had the opportunity to try the stock player with root and edited build.prop(audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true)?

Would be fun to compare UAPP to stock but I do not have the time right now.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Nope.

Didnot venture on offloading audio in a rooted phone. Since had incompatibilities on the past (for a rooted phone that is) and was lazy to try.

When UAPP did not had the HiRes driver, the Stock Player WAS King (both to my ears and experiment -> see linked post).

Now UAPP had played catch-up and even more.

PS: Out of curiosity so I tested the latest UAPP w/ bitperfect against LG's Stock Player. HiRes DAC activated. Result: To My Ears... SQ wise they are the SAME. With the later having a bit more gain (louder).

HP used: Audio Zenith Pmx2 v.2 w/ Heimdall 2
Test Files:
1. You're The Storm - The Cardigans/Long Before Daylight DSD64
2. Rhapsody in Blue - Whitmer Trio/En Azul DSD128
3. I Knew I Loved You - Julienne Taylor/The Heart Within 24-96

 

[TJ Max]

Has anyone noticed that after the Oreo update, Bluetooth headphones with AptX connect by AAC by default? I noticed this from the developer options.

 

[kkl10]

For those in Europe, where did you get your V20 from?

I've found a couple of ebay sellers that ship within EU (apparently, refurbished or used), but I'm not sure if they are legit... Anyone has experience with them?

https://www.ebay.es/itm/LG-V20-4GB-...061303?hash=item28357cc577:g:4XkAAOSwK6RZKCa6

https://www.ebay.es/itm/LG-V20-4GB-...061303?hash=item28357cc577:g:4XkAAOSwK6RZKCa6

 

[Emulle]

For those in Europe, where did you get your V20 from?

I've found a couple of ebay sellers that ship within EU (apparently, refurbished or used), but I'm not sure if they are legit... Anyone has experience with them?

https://www.ebay.es/itm/LG-V20-4GB-...061303?hash=item28357cc577:g:4XkAAOSwK6RZKCa6

https://www.ebay.es/itm/LG-V20-4GB-...061303?hash=item28357cc577:g:4XkAAOSwK6RZKCa6

I have bought both the V20 and G6(both South Korean imports) from Ebay from these two sellers:
V20: https://www.ebay.com/usr/changiairport?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754
G6: https://www.ebay.com/usr/cc-electronicshk?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754