[csglinux]

Phone tech is going backwards.

Sadly true Many things are going backwards. People are easily fooled by 'newer is better'.

 

[jb2unique]

@jb2unique - I wouldn't feel under too much pressure to swap your V40 for a V60. The V60 has better battery life, but if you're only using your V40 as a DAP, that may not be a big issue. From the V35 onward, these LG phone DACs have all been extremely accurate, and very close in terms of performance. The V40 actually has a couple of tricks that the V60 lacks - it has MQA support (if you believe in that sort of thing) and lower output impedance (less than 1 Ohm for the V40, around 2 Ohm for the V60).

As to the 'Tuned by Meridian', or 'Tuned by whomever' labels, I suspect that's largely marketing BS. Meridian have never said what that means, and when I reached out to them about it they told me that they weren't allowed to say what 'Tuned by Meridian' meant. In theory, you can tweak the harmonic distortion compensation coefficients in these DACs, but if they'd added audible harmonic distortion (to make it sound like a tube amp, for example), this would have shown up in measurements, but it didn't. Also, these V-series phones all measure ruler flat (as you should want any DAP to do). Total errors from these DACs are, even at max volume, ~70-75 dB below the fundamental even for complex waveforms. At <75 dB listening volumes, that means the differences wouldn't be audible to humans.

The only causes I can see for audible differences would be due to impedance mismatch (the 0.8 Ohm vs 2 Ohm issue). This would only happen if you were using a headphone that had a low and wildly varying impedance curve. (Or if you happen to like the coloration of a particular external amp, but that's a separate story.)

You do need Neutron or UAPP, of course.

Thank you for the added confidence on the V40. I do have UAPP. What's your thoughts on the native player and the digital filter settings?

 

[csglinux]

Thank you for the added confidence on the V40. I do have UAPP. What's your thoughts on the native player and the digital filter settings?

Filter settings can cause (slight) audible differences from how much roll-off you get at higher frequencies and how much ringing you get around sharp transients. We found the short filter measures best.

I would not trust the native LG music player for all the reasons discussed here. It can't correctly playback the most common form of music file (44 kHz PCM). It will re-sample to 48 kH and this can cause substantial audible and measurable errors. (There are some comparisons here for the V35 using bit-perfect UAPP vs native LG music app - and this is actually a best-case scenario for the LG music app. Things get much worse as the volume drops because of the digital volume control.)

 

[jb2unique]

We found the short filter measures best.

I would not trust the native LG music player for all the reasons discussed here.

Thank you kindly for the insights.

 

[csglinux]

Thank you kindly for the insights.

You're welcome. Enjoy that V40

 

[doctorjazz]

Use my V60 all the time, usually alone, sometimes into an external dac/amp).
It's a great music player, not that reliable add a phone. I lost sound when I get a call or text (other sounds are fine), and for the life of me I can't find a setting that fixes it.
Oh well, it was relatively inexpensive...

 

[Ilomaenkimi]

V40/V60, does Qobuz work still in these models? I'm planning to find one for myself as a music player for my Grados.

 

[6Channel]

V40/V60, does Qobuz work still in these models? I'm planning to find one for myself as a music player for my Grados.

I enjoy Qobyz & Tidal every day on my V40 & V30. Only issue is that the presentation (access to menus & personalized library) isn't nearly as good as on my PC. I find selections on my PC & shuttle 'em into a folder or fave. These streaming accounts carry everything across whatever access device you are logged into them on. I "understand" that the SQ may be limited by your wireless connectivity, but in my house it seems always good for up to 24/96 (fingers always crossed).

 

[Bay Jingles]

Chris offers wise words which we should all live by

One nuance though... LG's Music app can't actually play back 16-bit 44 kHz PCM files without re-sampling, and it won't send a bit-perfect stream to your external DAC either. Below are some tests we did a while back on the V35.

UAPP (Internal audio driver set to "HiRes Direct Driver", HiRes driver flag set to "Direct PCM"):


LG Music app:


The key number to look for in the above slides is the histogram median. This is the statical error, averaged over about 2.5 hours of actual music playback. Via UAPP (with the correct settings), playback accuracy is excellent (average error more than 70 dB below the fundamental). Via LG's Music app, accuracy is a bit more mediocre, with a much larger standard deviation - somewhere more in the ballpark of an Apple dongle.

Throughout the entire history of these devices, LG never fixed this problem. LG's Music app is ok for higher sample rates (48 kHz and up), but not for the sample rate that 99% of current music files use. The problem is compounded by the fact that re-sampling to 48 kHz on the LG phones is done at 16 bit - this is what creates most of the audible errors on sensitive IEMs at low volume. The problem isn't exclusive to the LG Music app - any app other than UAPP or Neutron (and maybe Poweramp, if you remember to manually set the correct sample rate) is going to have the exact same issue.

The bottom line is to use UAPP or Neutron and make sure your driver settings are correct.

Great information. I am using V35. Do you think there will be a significant change in sound quality if I upgrade to V60 compared to V35? I read a comment from someone who upgraded from V35 to V60. He stated that he found the V35 better in terms of sound quality. I don't want to pay for nothing if it's not worth it.

 

[boodi]

Sound of v60 is marginally less powerful and marginally more smooth. Depending on preference it is better or worse. V35 sounds more edgy and grippy , v60 sounds a bit more even ..resolution is same , edginess and a slight worse haze of v35 is not added resolution, but a seemingly very slight added impact ir speed on midbass region on v35 makes for a somewhat more expressive stage , where a smoother even sound on v60 makes for a less fatiguing listenings.. These difference are subtle , may be hard to notice on a casual / first listen, overall sound signature refer to a similar ESS chip and their hardware implementation : and is quite the same on the 2 units.

Fiio btr 5 is marginally better then both , but both sound easier and lighter so i read some people still preferring them .

Fiio btr 7 is quite better instead to my ears.

Just saying.

Consider also v60 battery will die - or stop to work as intended , faster then v35 battery .. general behavior .

 

[Bay Jingles]

Sound of v60 is marginally less powerful and marginally more smooth. Depending on preference it is better or worse. V35 sounds more edgy and grippy , v60 sounds a bit more even ..resolution is same , edginess and a slight worse haze of v35 is not added resolution, but a seemingly very slight added impact ir speed on midbass region on v35 makes for a somewhat more expressive stage , where a smoother even sound on v60 makes for a less fatiguing listenings.. These difference are subtle , may be hard to notice on a casual / first listen, oversll sound signature depends on a similar ESS chip and their implementation ; and is quite the same on the 2 units.

Fiio btr 5 is marginally better then both , but both sound easier and lighter so i read some people still preferring them .

Fiio btr 7 is quite better instead to my ears.

Just saying.

Consider also v60 battery will die - or stop to work as intended , faster then v35 battery .. general behavior .

Frankly, I was surprised. I saw someone here who said that the V60 was more tiring during long listening sequences and the reason was due to sibilance.

 

[boodi]

I am pretty sure is common to find v35 more edgy and mechanical sounding then v60 as I read it from other users of both smartphones as well ..but..ymmv

 

[boodi]

There is a v60 thread ..plenty of users owned v35 before v60 , maybe go and ask there too..