[audiophilers]

   
I've never used the V10 nor ZTE before so it'll be VERY IRRESPONSIBLE for me to do any comparison. One thing I'm 100% sure that you're right is that it's expensive, as in Cost-Performance Value. ok, now you are confused arent you? I said the Marshall London plays music well but at a low CP Value? Is there something wrong with my head? No, I repeat. Yes it plays music well, and No, the CP value is low. So what seems to be the problem? Marshall London as a Smartphone is the problem.
Before i get my hands on the Marshall London I was using Sony Xperia Z5 Premium happily. At first, I bought the Marshall London all because of the way it looks (the black leather design) and the brand itself (which I like it a lot!). As a smartphone it runs on Lollipop (Android 5.0.2), Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, 2GB of RAM and a 720p screen.The specs are complete disasters to people who prefer a premium smartphone, or at least one that you can play games on smoothly. The motion is kind of slow when you swipe through pages, the 720p screen doesn't look very sharp, the back gets a little hot after 5mins on Youtube.... etc. If you want it as a Smartphone, the Marshall London is a NO for many people, I think it's fair to say that.
So what's good about it? The biggest reason for me to stick to my Marshall London is that it makes me feel good. What? Yeah, it makes me feel good. It delivers decent details when it's playing music, the way their engineers tuned it made the music playback sound sweet and warm; it's not something that you'll see everybody using out there, it is your own personality; it's so unique that it's kind of difficult to find a perfect fit screen protector, and almost impossible to find a protective case/ bumper (but well if you do, it covers up your Marshall London so why use it? no, the screen protector is the only additional item I bought for my Marshall London). It is a package of feelings and values about yourself. It falls short for a music playing smartphone charging that kind of money, but it's more than just another music playing smartphone. The closest example that i can think of would be.... a premium price full-body massage chair that's not so good with the massage, but the seat and cushions are so comfy that make you feel like to sleep there in the living room instead of sleeping in your queen size bed in your bedroom. Wife & kids will stare at you in the morning wondering what the hack is wrong with you, but when you wake up, well rested, your body so energized and your mind so clear. You'll just look at them with a smile and say "Good morning" and nothing else, no words needed, it's an experience.

 
 
Yeah, I get that. I don't use premium features of smartphone (fancy video, camera, etc)
 
So do you think London's sound quality is comparable to a DAP's sound?  if you have AK100 II, can you compare? 
 
I hate to carry DAP on top of a phone so am thinking about switching to this London phone.

 

[GamerHAHA]

  so how does London sound when compared to AK100 II, AK120 ? 
Does it sound close? 

Just a feeling:
 
AK100II: More details, more juice to drive higher impedance ear/headphone, but still, it's not something for the big beasts. My AKG K167 sounds alright with AK100II but terrible with the London;
Marshall London: Warm and comfortable for most music genes, above average details, preset EQs are AMAZING!
 
Truth is, if we are considering solely on the music playing performance and how it sounds, there are stronger options out there than Marshall London. Marshall London is one unique experience for a music person.

 

[audiophilers]

  Just a feeling:
 
AK100II: More details, more juice to drive higher impedance ear/headphone, but still, it's not something for the big beasts. My AKG K167 sounds alright with AK100II but terrible with the London;
Marshall London: Warm and comfortable for most music genes, above average details, preset EQs are AMAZING!
 
Truth is, if we are considering solely on the music playing performance and how it sounds, there are stronger options out there than Marshall London. Marshall London is one unique experience for a music person.

 
Ultimately, I'm looking for integration of DAP and smartphone...
 
This London seems to be a good option.  
 
However, I'm not sure why it's still not easy to find London at normal web stores like Amazon? 
 
It's been over a year since it came out. They're terrible at supplying this phone... 
 
What's wrong with them?

 

[GamerHAHA]

   
Ultimately, I'm looking for integration of DAP and smartphone...
 
This London seems to be a good option.  
 
However, I'm not sure why it's still not easy to find London at normal web stores like Amazon? 
 
It's been over a year since it came out. They're terrible at supplying this phone... 
 
What's wrong with them?

I think Marshall doesn't want to to be sold cheap anywhere. They started selling it over the Marshall website and limited it to domestic sale, people like me outside of their online sell service region (Hong Kong here), we don't get to buy it directly from them. So I waited for almost a year before HMV in Hong Kong became the Marshall London sole distributor, and HMV is charging the most expensive price all over the globe for it. So if I want my one year warranty, dont want to risk damage on delivery, nor a bad second hand item, paying the premium price for it is the only option. I dont see a lot of second hand Marshall London over the Internet neither. My best guess, it's just not a popular phone for most people, at least for the "Smartphone" group of users. You got to be someone who really love Marshall so you'd pay that premium price for it. Yeah Im sort of complaining, but yeah I gave them my money

 

[Yamada-Tech]

Does enyone have London FW files ?
My London has brick... 

 

[runningwitit]

Does enyone have London FW files ?
My London has brick... 

Where do you find it, I might have it?

 

[Yamada-Tech]

Thank you so.
 
Marshall has no recovery images and Flashtool...
 
 
I do not know how to back IMG files, maybe rooted divice & Custom recovery need.

 

[runningwitit]

The Marshall is super unstable !

 

[Nokizaru]

Ultimately, I'm looking for integration of DAP and smartphone...

Check Onkyo Granbeat and thank me later

 

[Dusha]

Hello,

I would like to ask you something... is it worth buying a Marshall London Smartphone right now, considering the fact that "this product is now discontinued" as it is written on Marshall site, and probably does not have adequate support and also taking in consideration the fact that I don't live in England (where I believe, there is kind of support, reparability, service, etc. as for existing models). How reliable are these phones? Does it happen that some part stops working or something? Many thanks for considering my request.

 

[gr8soundz]

Hello,

I would like to ask you something... is it worth buying a Marshall London Smartphone right now, considering the fact that "this product is now discontinued" as it is written on Marshall site, and probably does not have adequate support and also taking in consideration the fact that I don't live in England (where I believe, there is kind of support, reparability, service, etc. as for existing models). How reliable are these phones? Does it happen that some part stops working or something? Many thanks for considering my request.

Welcome to Head-Fi.

I wouldn't risk buying the Marshall London right now unless the price was super low. I never got one since it wasn't released in the States and (as you've already confirmed) there's no support for it going forward.

There are other capable phones out there and no need to gamble with your money:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/best-smartphone-for-audiophile-part-ii-updated-sep-2017.853115/

 

[Dusha]

Welcome to Head-Fi.

I wouldn't risk buying the Marshall London right now unless the price was super low. I never got one since it wasn't released in the States and (as you've already confirmed) there's no support for it going forward.

There are other capable phones out there and no need to gamble with your money:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/best-smartphone-for-audiophile-part-ii-updated-sep-2017.853115/

Thank you very much for your reply and for links and for list of good audio Smartphones.

I'll check the threads you recommended to me, and as for list, I take a look at it, and of course, HTC and LG were my first choice. The other brands are not familiar to me, or at least I know nothing about them.
I always adored LG, but now LG became very unreliable. They make models for every region in the world. G6 is not good without qad dac (model for Asia &Hong Hong). V10 & V20, as far as I've heard, they have problems with... not so sure... processor or something... or there is the same story about different models for different regions... HTC, yes... I was just in a search for U11 (although I prefer metal instead of glass), I like design of HTC 10, but they moved 1 speaker down, so I've heard it's not the sound like in HTC M9. And... I was trying to find also M9+ (combination of metal and 2 speakers and solid camera and better processor than M9), but they are rare... i would like to have for example, U11 but in metal design instead of glass, but there is no something like that...
and today, one guy propose me to bring me from Sweden Marshall London, it's not cheap at all... I was surprised anyway, because I thought that they Marshall doesn't produce them anymore... but this model was from 2016 (he sent me a photo of phone-box) and Imei was proper... so he told me there are some models on stock in Sweden, and that he could bring me one of them... that's why I asked my previous question... about reliability of phone etc...

 

[gr8soundz]

I always adored LG, but now LG became very unreliable. They make models for every region in the world. G6 is not good without qad dac (model for Asia &Hong Hong). V10 & V20, as far as I've heard, they have problems with... not so sure... processor or something... or there is the same story about different models for different regions...

Haven't had any problems with my LG V10 but I may be one of the lucky ones (missed out on the lawsuit settlement though). Considered getting the V30 but price is way too high, size is still too large, and I don't want to risk getting a bad one.

No phone is perfect so the next one I get will be smallest, lowest priced one with Android 8.0, a discrete DAC/amp chip, and a headphone jack. I'll still be using the Poweramp Alpha app and it's EQ no matter the other specs. Even then it won't beat the performance of my DAPs so it just needs to be usable.

 

[Dusha]

Haven't had any problems with my LG V10 but I may be one of the lucky ones (missed out on the lawsuit settlement though). Considered getting the V30 but price is way too high, size is still too large, and I don't want to risk getting a bad one.

No phone is perfect so the next one I get will be smallest, lowest priced one with Android 8.0, a discrete DAC/amp chip, and a headphone jack. I'll still be using the Poweramp Alpha app and it's EQ no matter the other specs. Even then it won't beat the performance of my DAPs so it just needs to be usable.

I think the same for V30, price is too high & size is too large... at least for me... and of course, there is always risk of getting a bad one. )

I'm curious, you mentioned your next phone to be the smallest, lowest price, with Android 8.0, a discrete DAC/amp chip, and a headphone jack. Tell me what model is this "The perfect one"?

And questions...

1. If you could choose between htc u 11, htc 10 and htc m9+, which one you would choose? Which of these three models has the best audio performance? Which of these 3 models is most reliable on all other plans (CPU, RAM, memory etc)?

Personally, I prefer M9 + because of the 2 front speakers and because it's of metal, but that does not mean I'll take it, if it's U11 better, for example.

2. If it happens that I eventually get that Marshall London, what do you think I can expect from it? I emphasize, in that case, I will not have the service, the guarantee, the parts etc... so, what do you think, will the phone work? How long? What problems will I encounter? What are its failures?

because I like it very much ... as I like metal's HTC with 2 front speakers ...

 

[gr8soundz]

I've only tried the V10 but I watch this thread and others for research.

Don't think the perfect audiophile exists yet but the Onkyo Granbeat may be closest in spec: dual ESS chips, balanced out, nav buttons (play/pause/next/back), dual sims, and smaller size. But, like the Marshall, it too is expensive and was never released here.

For now, my next phone may be the ZTE Axon 7 Mini. Not sure it will get Android 8 update though. If not, perhaps they'll make an Axon 8 Mini with DAC chip.