This type of post isn't helpful to anybody (apart from perhaps your own need for confirmation bias?). Let me explain why.
1) You say that quad DACs don't make sense, but dual DACs are legitimate? You can check ESS's specs on both - the V30's DAC actually has the better SNR:
V30 DAC:
http://www.esstech.com/index.php?cID=422
Pioneer XDP-300R DAC:
http://www.esstech.com/index.php/en...mobile-dacs/sabre-hifi-stereo-dacs/es9018k2m/
Yes, I know the usual rebuttal is that it's all down to implementation and that Pioneer sacrificed a lot of chickens and have special black-magic voodoo code that makes it sound extra awesome. Sure. I don't dispute there are better-sounding devices than the V30. I own the QP1R which, to my ears, sounds better than the XDP-300R, but I would only give the QP1R a modest edge over the V30, so I'm not sure how you assess the "far behind" metric.
2) The V30
is fussy. You
must use the right apps (Neutron or UAPP are your only choices) and you have to get exactly the right settings within those apps, or you'll end up degrading your audio through the Android mixer. Doing A/B comparisons via YouTube (I believe that was you, wasn't it?!?) won't cut it, because YouTube audio is poorly up-sampled on the V30.
3) I suspect your ears require some additional headroom that you're not getting from the P1 on your V30, even in high-impedance mode. Dedicated DAPs usually play louder than the V30, but this is going to be very headphone-dependent. I listen most of the time on volume level 1 (out of 75) in normal-device mode using my SE846. It's a different story with different headphones, and the V30 does fine for most portable headphones.
4) The whole point of the V30 is to not have to carry a second device. The V30 is a solid, reliable phone, which (unlike the XDP-300R) has excellent battery life. Telling us that our V30s sucks in comparison to your DAP is pointless unless your DAP can also make phone calls and send text messages?...
I think perhaps you're posting on the wrong thread.
Hello, thanx for the reply. I appreciate your long post, so I will answer in detail:
1. first of all I didnt say that the differance in sq is a night and day, but there is there, very clear for me. Please dont write that the differences are small, its obvious, even comparing iBasso DX80 to my father's 15 years old Harman Kardon stationary equipment, worth at that time over 2,500e (now he has way better stuff). This whole stuff won only in a bit better soundstage, everything else was for iBasso.
2. plz dont take my post as an offence, I know people are sensitive when it comes to their audiophile world. Most of them here spent 600+ usd for this phone, as i did. They want to be sure that it was well spent money. Hell yeah! This phone is awesome, I use it everyday..but not for music anymore.
3. I did A/B comparisons with my mini sd card, listening to various type of music, for example:
- Foals- in Hi-Res
- Pat Metheny, Imaginary Day- flac
- Editors, different albums, all in flacs
- Pink Floyd, The Division Bell- Hi-Res
- Blade Runner from Vangelis- DSD
- The Witcher 3 soundtrack- flac
- Bill Evans, Another Time, The Hilversum Concert- DSD
- You Tube, a couple songs, like Lullaby from The Cure, The Witcher 3 soundtrack, Extrawelt- Blendwerk II (Original Mix), The Next Little Thing and a couple more.
I did come to the store over 6 times, making auditions. And even when I was playing flacs from my sd card on V30, and same songs on Pioneer from YT, xdp-300r was a winner in instrument separation and having more mature saound. I'm really saying the truth, thats why i purchased Pioneer.
pioneer xdp-300r. V30 sounds really good and even great for a smartphone but its sandy in the lower mids. I always had a feeling that there is sometthing wrong there. And i have a good pair of iems- Pinnacle P1 which are 50 Ohms, so the gain is automatically set on high. It was even worse than my old iBasso dx80 (but comparable). Now it's far behind my pioneer.
