[jagwap]

My Oppo PM3 are only 26Ohm impedance. Will the v20 get loud enough for them?

I agree with above reply for most music, except some quieter tracks you may want to engage the external or high impedance mode (see earlier posts). If you can do that then the PM-3s will easily be loud enough with everything.

 

[RockStar2005]

  I was seriously considering the V20 but since I've got the DP-X1 and a decent Nexus 6P, can't see the point... Then there are all these rumors about Samsung S8... I think I'll pass and wait for that one. Unless somebody can convince me to replace my DP-X1 with a V20

 
I wouldn't hold my breath for the S8 sabloke. lol 
 
Onkyo DP-X1? Nice. 
 
I dunno. The DP-X1 is a $500-$700 player. It's possible the V20 can match it but I don't know for sure. I guess it just depends on how convenient you want your setup to be. I had the Sony Walkman A17 last year for a while and loved it. But I realized after a while I really wanted my phone and player to be one. So for now I pair my phone with the Oppo HA-2. Sounds incredible........even matching some $600 amp/DACs. But soon I'd like to just have one device........we'll see how it goes. The LG V20 S looks cool IF I can get it here in the states. Or else we'll see how the HTC 11, LG G6, and Sony Xperia ?? rate. lol

 

[RockStar2005]

I went from iphone 5s to this and love it so far. It uses the Sabre DAC and amp when used out the 3.5mm out and speakers, USB out does not use the Sabre. When i switched most of my contacts where lost so you should save what you want on a computer. I

It plays almost all formats as stated on there site. As for your other questions not sure yet as a just got it yesterday and im only using tidal as of now.

 
So what happens if someone buys a pair of headphones that only connect using a digital connection? lol 

 

[howdy]

So what happens if someone buys a pair of headphones that only connect using a digital connection? lol 

Right!
Do you have this phone? Your explanation was by far more better than mine, thanks. When im on my (which i am) I like to make it short and sweet.

I own the DP-X1 to and would not choose one over the other, both have the Sabre sound and Android platform.

 

[RockStar2005]

Right!
Do you have this phone? Your explanation was by far more better than mine, thanks. When im on my (which i am) I like to make it short and sweet.

I own the DP-X1 to and would not choose one over the other, both have the Sabre sound and Android platform.

 
No I don't. My cousin (lightforce1911) does though. And I've now had 2 opportunities to test it out. I can say I'm honestly VERY impressed by it. Not only is the phone awesome, but the sound quality is deserving of all the praise it gets by reviewers. This includes the ampage/volume output, which is also handled quite well due to the V20 having 3 different amp modes (Normal, Aux/External Device Detected, and High Impedance Mode). This is the FUTURE of phone audio.........so I am anxious to see what 2017 will bring. It's ironic b/c 2 years ago, LG was known as having like the WORST sound quality of all phones, even worse than Samsung. Shows you just what a little "initiative" & hard work can do. lol
 
What explanation? lol
 
That's cool. It's all about choice. If you prefer using a DAP/dedicated audio player, then do it! But if you like your audio to be from a phone, then now you have the option to either use an amp/DAC device like I do or else as a newer option just get a phone like the V20. My only real issue with it is the size. I am NOT a fan of phablets. So that's why I'm hoping we can get the V20 S or else next year I will be looking very closely at the HTC 11, as well as the LG G6 (hopefully it's not modular again lol) and also whatever Sony Xperia phone is out (I currently have the Sony Xperia X Performance). I am a huge Sony fan, but Sony Mobile has been p'ing me off this year (even more than in the past) in many ways, so that's why I'm looking at other companies more closely. HTC for one treats its U.S. customers with real respect. Sony Mobile acts like we don't even exist (or matter) half the time. lol That and other issues have soured my taste for them. 

 

[howdy]

No I don't. My cousin (lightforce1911) does though. And I've now had 2 opportunities to test it out. I can say I'm honestly VERY impressed by it. Not only is the phone awesome, but the sound quality is deserving of all the praise it gets by reviewers. This includes the ampage/volume output, which is also handled quite well due to the V20 having 3 different amp modes (Normal, Aux/External Device Detected, and High Impedance Mode). This is the FUTURE of phone audio.........so I am anxious to see what 2017 will bring. It's ironic b/c 2 years ago, LG was known as having like the WORST sound quality of all phones, even worse than Samsung. Shows you just what a little "initiative" & hard work can do. lol

What explanation? lol

That's cool. It's all about choice. If you prefer using a DAP/dedicated audio player, then do it! But if you like your audio to be from a phone, then now you have the option to either use an amp/DAC device like I do or else as a newer option just get a phone like the V20. My only real issue with it is the size. I am NOT a fan of phablets. So that's why I'm hoping we can get the V20 S or else next year I will be looking very closely at the HTC 11, as well as the LG G6 (hopefully it's not modular again lol) and also whatever Sony Xperia phone is out (I currently have the Sony Xperia X Performance). I am a huge Sony fan, but Sony Mobile has been p'ing me off this year (even more than in the past) in many ways, so that's why I'm looking at other companies more closely. HTC for one treats its U.S. customers with real respect. Sony Mobile acts like we don't even exist (or matter) half the time. lol That and other issues have soured my taste for them. 

Your explanation on the previous page.
I think the phone is big to but Im starting to like it as this is what i mainly use while surfing the internet.
I will not use this as my main rig I have as I mentioned above the DP-X1, Mojo and Opus #1 so plenty of choices. I like where phones are headed to,this phone does sound amazing, i will have to try DSD in this tomorrow to see what it does.

 

[RockStar2005]

Your explanation on the previous page.
I think the phone is big to but Im starting to like it as this is what i mainly use while surfing the internet.
I will not use this as my main rig I have as I mentioned above the DP-X1, Mojo and Opus #1 so plenty of choices. I like where phones are headed to,this phone does sound amazing, i will have to try DSD in this tomorrow to see what it does.

 
Oh ok (still not sure but ok lol). 
 
Yeah.......I don't HATE the size as much as I initially did, but still not sure yet. I have to weigh the inconvenience of using my Oppo HA-2, which I'd only use when I wanna listen to music vs. carrying around a phablet phone ALL the time. Smiles & Cries. lol
 
I do love the double screen though. Much respect to LG for including that!
 
For now, those devices may in fact be better, though you or I or someone would have to compare them side by side to know for sure. Yes me too........it's great to see companies finally putting more money into the audio technology & quality of their smartphones. 
 
Sounds good! I own a few DSD albums as well.

 

[disastermouse]

mouse, 

Let me try to answer these: 

The DAC and amp used in the LG V20 are both DEDICATED meaning they are separate from the main Snapdragon 820 processor that runs the phone. This is of course a good thing because it means ALL of the focus on sound will be handled separately, and so no corners get cut, or resources shortchanged or handled inefficiently, etc. Essentially, the sound processing doesn't get spread too thin, but instead, it gets handled without distractions or other interference. I can't stress how important this is. The actual brand DAC used in the V20 is the new & very well-respected Sabre ES9218 (mobile version of it). The amp is a newer version of the Sabre 9602 amp used on the V10 (not sure on model #). This info can be verified here. 

Yes, it most certainly can play ALAC and AAC files, as well as FLAC. I've tested and verified this myself using Poweramp. 

It can distinguish. When playing songs using Poweramp, my cousin who has the V20 put ALL his music on his MicroSD card, and the V20 plays them just fine, as well as internal drive music as well. 

Not sure on the Media Player, but you should SERIOUSLY considering the BEST music player for Android...........Poweramp. I've tried many others, but nothing beats Poweramp in terms of sound quality and ease of use/UI. You can get the official version from Play Store and the Unlocker as well. There's also a newer experimental Alpha version which everyone (including me) notices has even better sound! Click here to download, then use Unlocker to make it permanent. It only really has one minor bug that I've noticed which is that may sometimes display the album art from an album you'd just switched from. But you can easily fix this by pressing on the album art and then a pop-up will let you choose the right one. This sometimes happens on the official version too, though not as often. 

Poweramp lets you display or group your songs in any format you like. It also lets you save your own custom-made EQ presets and/or lets you apply current presets (and custom ones) to any song or "connection type" you like. Alpha appears to let you save the settings you choose as a file the way the official version does, but I realize now it won't let you apply that settings file, though the official version will. 

You can simply connect using a USB (or whatever Macs use) to Micro USB-C cable for transfers. I also use a program (not sure if Macs got a version yet?) called Superbeam which lets you transfer files from PC to phone and vice versa using your Wi-Fi connection. Works REALLY fast which is nice. It's great for big or small transfer jobs. 

Hope that helps. 

There is a Superbeam Mac app, but I'm wondering if it would be faster/better to just store my iTunes files on an SD card with a USB SD card reader.

 

[RockStar2005]

There is a Superbeam Mac app, but I'm wondering if it would be faster/better to just store my iTunes files on an SD card with a USB SD card reader.

 
Oh nice. 
 
You could, but then you wouldn't have them on your phone? Unless iTunes can access those songs? But then you're talking about streaming. I worry about that causing "bumps and delays" during playback. So not sure. 

 

[jsk0307]

So what's the general consensus on the V20 in terms of audio performance (whether if it's noisy and if it gives enough power)?

I was thinking of slapping a portable amp/dac onto it if the output is pretty low.

EDIT: I read the posts above on this page. I don't have the phone yet and don't know specifically how it works, so are we enabling the "High Impedance Mode" in settings or are we getting a extension with a volume control?

I think it's plenty loud enough, especially with earphones that have a good seal.

The high impedance function just turns on automatically. No need to make a setting change.

 

[Koolpep]

I think it's plenty loud enough, especially with earphones that have a good seal.

The high impedance function just turns on automatically. No need to make a setting change.

Yes, the V20 and before the v10 can nearly all headphones with authority. Unless you use planar magnetic headphones like the PM-3 (or PM-1,PM-2), LCD-2, Hifimans etc. they have low impedance but really shine with a high power output. And this is why a lot of people trick the phone into switching to the higher powered amp modes as they wouldn't switch into it automatically with low impedance headphones. In the V10 thread we also concluded that the amp used for high impedance mode is sounding a bit better.

However as jsk said, for iems and sensitive heahomes you certainly don't need the other amp modes for volume and in 95% of the cases the phone will make the right decision for you. I just wish I could easily make this decision myself in software instead of using cables to get there

Cheers.

 

[disastermouse]

Oh nice. 

You could, but then you wouldn't have them on your phone? Unless iTunes can access those songs? But then you're talking about streaming. I worry about that causing "bumps and delays" during playback. So not sure. 

Mac only ever copies, so I can go into the individual master folder, drag it to SD, and it'll still have a copy. I just had a thought though, I wonder if an SD drive needs to be formatted for Mac and if it does, will Android recognize the card? I kind of think an SD card must not be format dependent because photographers use gen to move from their cameras to their Macs and maybe even back or somewhere else.

 

[disastermouse]

Yes, the V20 and before the v10 can nearly all headphones with authority. Unless you use planar magnetic headphones like the PM-3 (or PM-1,PM-2), LCD-2, Hifimans etc. they have low impedance but really shine with a high power output. And this is why a lot of people trick the phone into switching to the higher powered amp modes as they wouldn't switch into it automatically with low impedance headphones. In the V10 thread we also concluded that the amp used for high impedance mode is sounding a bit better.

However as jsk said, for iems and sensitive heahomes you certainly don't need the other amp modes for volume and in 95% of the cases the phone will make the right decision for you. I just wish I could easily make this decision myself in software instead of using cables to get there

Cheers.

See, I have PM-3 and I use them directly off the (still existing on iPhone 6+) headphone jack without amp. They are slightly less loud than other headphones I have, but if the v20 run them at least as loud, I'm fine.

 

[amstel78]

On a side note, anyone have problems with 3rd party USB type C cables? I've got a couple with loose connectors that somehow don't work anymore, and another 2 with tight connectors that's fine. I also have the factory supplied cable that's in between tightness of the other 4 and that works as well last time I checked.

 

[RockStar2005]

Mac only ever copies, so I can go into the individual master folder, drag it to SD, and it'll still have a copy. I just had a thought though, I wonder if an SD drive needs to be formatted for Mac and if it does, will Android recognize the card? I kind of think an SD card must not be format dependent because photographers use gen to move from their cameras to their Macs and maybe even back or somewhere else.

Cool.