[stenog]

The V20, G6 and V30 DAC is designed for full size cans. It has nearly 2Vrms output when it senses >50 ohms on the output. It may not be as good as a high end desktop rig, but it has enough output to reach reasonable levels on inefficent headphones that other phones cannot reach.

Can it beat a good desktop rig? No, but that won't fit in your pocket.

Agree. My G6 can easily drive my Z1R and DT1990. It's not endgame territory but it does a surprisingly good job.

 

[RojasTKD]

Yeah, the V30's amp isn't for full-sized cans, you'll need to pair it with a mobile or desktop amp for those. Something like a Pico Slim or even a Fiio E12. I wouldn't use an outboard DAC, unless it's a high quality one, though, the one in the V30 is very good (and it kind of defeats the purpose of buying the V30 in the first place).

Not so much it isn't for full sized headphones as it is that it's not for hardest to drive full size headphones, especially the more demanding planar magnetics.

It can drive a lot if not most full seized headphones, just not the most power hungry and demanding ones. Thanks a lot to ask of any portable device.

 

[Jerda]

BTW there's this nice hp power calculator that has got the hp compatibility with mobile devices ( iPhone, htc and v20 that has same capabilities as the v30) and with basic setups:
https://www.headphonesty.com/headphone-power-calculator/
If your headphone isn't in the list you can put sensibility, ohm and loudness desired ( stats can be obtained from audiobot9000.com if you don't know them)
There are a lot of good hp that the phone can drive without big issues, please take a look

 

[jagwap]

Not so much it isn't for full sized headphones as it is that it's not for hardest to drive full size headphones, especially the more demanding planar magnetics.

It can drive a lot if not most full seized headphones, just not the most power hungry and demanding ones. Thanks a lot to ask of any portable device.

It can drove my Audeze Sines easily enough, when no other phone can, and will only really have trouble with quiet tracks on LCD3 and HD800. This requires the impedance trick.

Not bad for a phone. Also I can't see many people wandering around with LCD3s on there head.

 

[LajostheHun]

aptx should be 16 by 44khz thats around 705kbps and aptx hd is 24 by 48khz thats around 1152kbps?

This should explain things a bit better.
http://www.androidauthority.com/aptx-hd-audio-codec-explained-789342/

 

[gunwale]

hmm from my understanding, the aptx encodes the pcm to compress it. (ADPCM)

at the other end, it will be decoded back to pcm so we will still get playback at the intended 16 by 44khz?

the theory is similar with dsd over dop?

 

[Pakalini]

Sorry the amp capabilities of the V30 are yet pushed to its limits with the 93.0dB SPL/mW of he-400i, can't do the job with the 90,5dB SPL/mw of LCD-2.
But you could buy a pair of LCD-X

Oh you just crushed my plans pair LG V30 with HE400i or would you still recommend getting hifimans?

 

[Jerda]

oh sry if I don't explain well myself, I am not so good with English speaking: you CAN drive he400i with the V30 ( LoL you didn't read last pages eh? I'm gonna use the same cans with this phone) but that's the limit of its capabilities.
Any planar hp with a lower sensitivity than the he400i will demand more power that the V30 could provide them ( with he400i you could listen music at 93dB with an headroom for peaks of 23dB with his 2.7Vpk, but if you wanna higher volume you will have the same highest peak at 116dB, so you could have less sq).
I wish I ve made myself clear
EDIT: oh you edited the message, in simple words he400i are the most demanding planar headphones that the phone CAN drive. You re welcome
EDIT2: search " force high impedance mod v20" on google, you will have to do it to drive them until someone find the files to hack on v30 rooted that can activate it as you want

 

[Pakalini]

oh sry if I don't explain well myself, I am not so good with English speaking: you CAN drive he400i with the V30 ( LoL you didn't read last pages eh? I'm gonna use the same cans with this phone) but that's the limit of its capabilities.
Any planar hp with a lower sensitivity than the he400i will demand more power that the V30 could provide them ( with he400i you could listen music at 93dB with an headroom for peaks of 23dB with his 2.7Vpk, but if you wanna higher volume you will have the same highest peak at 116dB, so you could have less sq).
I wish I ve made myself clear
EDIT: oh you edited the message, in simple words he400i are the most demanding planar headphones that the phone CAN drive. You re welcome

Thanks for clearing all doubts! I love high-end, but as long as it has``non-killer`` price tags, so HE-400i, HD650, FLC8s (earphones) are on my watchlist.
+Monoprice Monolith 1060

 

[gunwale]

the he 400i is not that hard to power. most of the hifiman headphones does not require a good amp except the he 6 and the new he 6.

hd600 and 650 needs better amp.

 

[Jerda]

Thanks for clearing all doubts! I love high-end, but as long as it has``non-killer`` price tags, so HE-400i, HD650, FLC8s (earphones) are on my watchlist.

I ve joined the He400i drop on massdrop (he4xx): 169$ With free shipping and hybrid pads A
Only cons it's the shipping date of 22 dec... a Christmas present!

 

[Pakalini]

I ve joined the He400i drop on massdrop (he4xx): 169$ With free shipping and hybrid pads A
Only cons it's the shipping date of 22 dec... a Christmas present!

They could launch Hifiman Edition X V2 drop for the pro price.

 

[Roscoeiii]

Do we know anything about Tidal's ability to stream or play downloaded MQA files via its Android app?

IIRC this is currently only possible with the Tidal desktop computer app.

 

[ljnew]

Do we know anything about Tidal's ability to stream or play downloaded MQA files via its Android app?

IIRC this is currently only possible with the Tidal desktop computer app.

Won't play but Jay Z songs stream pretty high see:

 

[Roscoeiii]

To my mind, there are two major downsides compared to the V20:
-no removable battery (my V10 battery usage is atrocious, making carrying a spare battery a necessity if I'm out all day)
-no IR blaster. I love using my phone as a remote control. For TV and my 2 channel rig. A shame to lose this.

V30 will need to offer significant sound and battery improvements to overcome these shortcomings for me.