[all999]

New thread for V40.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lg-v40-thinq.890345/

 

[stemplar]

I think (as in the case of the V30)
(circa). After 8-9 months it is worth replacing for $ 450. good little DAP / Phone will be the V40 too ..

((For $ 900 I would not change the V30, in any case so much more. (they put software, battery life, cameras etc. in order))

 

[cj3209]

It must be tough for LG, competing with Samsung and all. They should just stick to the basics; you can only do so much.

- great no gimmicky camera(s) that shoot pics really well is what people want; not 5 cameras...
- keep pushing forward with the quad DAC and MQA sound; good call to get Meridian on board; MARKET IT LIKE CRAZY...
- make phone in different colors with different materials: ie., customizable backs; I, for one, am sick of the glossy glass back that breaks
- increase battery life
- keep pushing with great screens: OLED, bright
- develop great customer service with an ONLINE presence like here in head-fi.org...
- make the phone fast and responsive
- lay off the heavy overlays and try to get the OS to be as pure Android as possible
- AVOID the notch like the plague
- 128 GB should be STANDARD with options to go to 256
- keep price around $900 knowing that price will drop within a month or two...
- did I say great customer service?
- fingerprint reader on back is FINE; facial and retina are gimmicky and most people don't care unless facial and retina are fast and responsive even in low light; my Note 9's facial/retina doesn't work in dim lighting so I always revert back to fingerprints.
- make the phone as high quality as possible that doesn't break.

I would buy this phone in a heartbeat as the quad DAC is pretty decent for on-the-go listening without carrying my DAPs.

I like LG phones as I had the V20, G6+, and V30. I probably should have kept my V30 instead of getting the Note 9 but I digress...

I don't need gimmicks but a solid phone that takes great pics, great screen, no lag, and great sound. That should be the 'LG 5.0'

I can dream, because I know it's not going to happen...

 

[mattmc1228]

It must be tough for LG, competing with Samsung and all. They should just stick to the basics; you can only do so much.

- great no gimmicky camera(s) that shoot pics really well is what people want; not 5 cameras...
- keep pushing forward with the quad DAC and MQA sound; good call to get Meridian on board; MARKET IT LIKE CRAZY...
- make phone in different colors with different materials: ie., customizable backs; I, for one, am sick of the glossy glass back that breaks
- increase battery life
- keep pushing with great screens: OLED, bright
- develop great customer service with an ONLINE presence like here in head-fi.org...
- make the phone fast and responsive
- lay off the heavy overlays and try to get the OS to be as pure Android as possible
- AVOID the notch like the plague
- 128 GB should be STANDARD with options to go to 256
- keep price around $900 knowing that price will drop within a month or two...
- did I say great customer service?
- fingerprint reader on back is FINE; facial and retina are gimmicky and most people don't care unless facial and retina are fast and responsive even in low light; my Note 9's facial/retina doesn't work in dim lighting so I always revert back to fingerprints.
- make the phone as high quality as possible that doesn't break.

I would buy this phone in a heartbeat as the quad DAC is pretty decent for on-the-go listening without carrying my DAPs.

I like LG phones as I had the V20, G6+, and V30. I probably should have kept my V30 instead of getting the Note 9 but I digress...

I don't need gimmicks but a solid phone that takes great pics, great screen, no lag, and great sound. That should be the 'LG 5.0'

I can dream, because I know it's not going to happen...

I see it's tuned by meridian, but I see no mention of MQA??

 

[cj3209]

I see it's tuned by meridian, but I see no mention of MQA??

The V30 had a built-in MQA decoder and since the V40 is tuned by Meridian (one off the developers of MQA), I'm sure the V40 also has an MQA decoder. Sounded great on my old V30.

This is another issue with LG: why not market this to the masses? Maybe because no one knows what MQA is and they don't listen to TIDAL HiFi?

 

[RockStar2005]

The V30 had a built-in MQA decoder and since the V40 is tuned by Meridian (one off the developers of MQA), I'm sure the V40 also has an MQA decoder. Sounded great on my old V30.

This is another issue with LG: why not market this to the masses? Maybe because no one knows what MQA is and they don't listen to TIDAL HiFi?

That might have something to do with it! lol

The problem is, most ppl here in the U.S. I'm ashamed lol to say care a lot more about the picture quality of their smartphones than audio. So that is why for the V40 they seem to be focusing more closely on camera quality. Even for the V30 it was more about video quality than just straight audio. But that doesn't mean they can't still put SOME level of attention on the Quad DAC and what it does for music.

 

[cj3209]

There are still a lot of people who are sore at Apple for getting rid of the 3.5mm jack. If LG did a little marketing, people can really find out just how good the sound is coming out of the LG phones: sound IS important but people just settle for really crappy sound. It's just amazing to me...

 

[csglinux]

The V30 had a built-in MQA decoder and since the V40 is tuned by Meridian (one off the developers of MQA), I'm sure the V40 also has an MQA decoder. Sounded great on my old V30.

This is another issue with LG: why not market this to the masses? Maybe because no one knows what MQA is and they don't listen to TIDAL HiFi?

AFAIK, Bob Stuart/Meridian are the only developers of MQA, which is a semi-proprietary bag of sketchy tricks, whose main PR push has been for a lossy compression method for files that are (allegedly, maybe?) hi-res.

I'm not sure what "Tuned by" means though. Is this like when Dr. Dre knew how to EQ better than anybody else?! I believe the B&O "tuning" only ever applied to European models of the V30. Mine didn't suffer from it. Hopefully the US V40s won't either.

BTW, the boombox feature looks cool. That's the only audio-feature upgrade I've seen mentioned so far.

 

[mattmc1228]

That might have something to do with it! lol

The problem is, most ppl here in the U.S. I'm ashamed lol to say care a lot more about the picture quality of their smartphones than audio. So that is why for the V40 they seem to be focusing more closely on camera quality. Even for the V30 it was more about video quality than just straight audio. But that doesn't mean they can't still put SOME level of attention on the Quad DAC and what it does for music.

But when they launched the v30 they came right out and said first device that supported mqa.
I see no mention of this in any spec sheet.
We can all assume it's there, but until I can see conformation, I will hold off before upgrading...

 

[csglinux]

The problem is, most ppl here in the U.S. I'm ashamed lol to say care a lot more about the picture quality of their smartphones than audio.

I'm afraid this is true everywhere. It's a crazy, messed-up world out there

 

[cj3209]

The Note 9, after fiddling with the software adjustments, sound about 80% as good as my V30+. That's actually not too shabby but I miss my V30's quad DAC and built-in MQA decoding on Tidal.

The one caveat with the Note 9 ( (besides being an overall better phone) is that it runs as a Roon endpoint very well. My V30 stuttered like crazy and drove me crazy. Maybe that's why I got the Note 9.

LOL...

If Samsung EVER gets a decent DAC, LG is DONE. As in COOKED...as least for me...


BTW, the desktop experience with the Note 9 is INSANE. I think I can ditch my laptop...seriously...it's that good. If I could use it as a Roon core, I'd be in the hospital...in a good way...

 

[cj3209]

I'm not sure what "Tuned by" means though. Is this like when Dr. Dre knew how to EQ better than anybody else?!

Ahh...you made me laugh...thank you.

I know the Note 9 is 'tuned by AKG' which they bought out. I'm told it means the equalizing is more neutral or referencey - if that's a word... It sounds good - doesn't drive me away from using a plug straight into the phone.

 

[RockStar2005]

AFAIK, Bob Stuart/Meridian are the only developers of MQA, which is a semi-proprietary bag of sketchy tricks, whose main PR push has been for a lossy compression method for files that are (allegedly, maybe?) hi-res.

I'm not sure what "Tuned by" means though. Is this like when Dr. Dre knew how to EQ better than anybody else?! I believe the B&O "tuning" only ever applied to European models of the V30. Mine didn't suffer from it. Hopefully the US V40s won't either.

BTW, the boombox feature looks cool. That's the only audio-feature upgrade I've seen mentioned so far.

You are correct csg. The LG V20 and V30 that were tuned by B&O only ever got certified for the Non-U.S. ones (not just Europe). I guess LG didn't wanna have to pay B&O the certification fee for the U.S. too, again b/c it's my feeling that most people in the U.S. don't really care so much about audio quality. That's why you'll notice that the int'l V phones (and prob G ones too?) DON'T have the B&O symbol on the back, where the int'l ones do.

So I'm guessing the new int'l ones will have Meridian on the back then prob. lol

I listened to the int'l V20 and my cousin's locked U.S. T-Mobile V20, but not at the same time, so I can't really compare. But from what I've read they're different, but I don't know for sure if the certified int'l one is necessarily better, just different.

Yeah they have the boombox feature on the G7 (where it began) too. It does look cool, esp if you're like at a picnic or outdoor party with friends and no one has a BT speaker on 'em. lol That's def something to market here in the U.S. as I bet more ppl would care about that than the headphone quality. (shame shame!!! lol)

 

[RockStar2005]

But when they launched the v30 they came right out and said first device that supported mqa.
I see no mention of this in any spec sheet.
We can all assume it's there, but until I can see conformation, I will hold off before upgrading...

That's understandable. I would do the same, if I used MQA.

 

[RockStar2005]

I'm afraid this is true everywhere. It's a crazy, messed-up world out there

lol

Maybe, but I feel like it's MORE so here csg. Cuz why was LG willing to pay B&O the certification fee to have the B&O logo on the back of its int'l phones but I noticed NOT on the U.S. versions? There has to be some research/survey results behind that. It's not just the ol' "showing favortism towards Asian countries" which you see all the time by these Asian phone makers (Sony, Samsung, HTC, etc.) like when they give themselves more RAM etc vs. other countries. This is more legit I think b/c even European countries I believe got the B&O-certified V20 and V30 that we didn't get here in the U.S.