[johanchandy]

  Stock or not (actually I've tested several settings with viper4android) sq is bad as far as my perception is concerned. With S3 my Phonaks 122 sounded amazing, with N5 they turned into a torture device, with Etymotic er4pt N5 is simply unbearable. 
Edit: funny - I've just read your post above - you did the opposite, you sold fiio x3 I wish I were satisfied with N5 sq, I wouldn't have spent money on extra hardware, but it simply is poor to me. Btw, I signed in just to express my bewilderment at what people in this thread have said.

Haha yeah. I really liked how the X3 sounded but I abhorred it overall as a device.
 
I haven't tried viper4android and can only give my impressions using poweramp with the eq setting I posted. It has great SQ with how I have it set up right now. I've tested it with my modded grados and my q701's(with an amp) and they both sound really good.
 
Btw what about the sound do you find simply unbearable?

  Any comparisons VS iPhone 5? I am thinking of buying an X5 buy given the interface quirks I wouldn't mind something better than my iP5 which is much worse than my iPad mini retina and way worse than my MBA.... 
 

Your best bet would be to find somebody who has the Nexus 5 and try to play around with eq settings. I like how my N5 sounds but I had to eq it pretty heavily in poweramp for it to sound good.

 

[Xinze]

EQ doesn't overcome the hardware shortcomings. All you're doing is creating the infamous V-sound signature that's known for being more catchy.
 
AFAIK, we're complaining about the detail retrieval, instrument separation, and sound stage (or lack of).

 

[johanchandy]

  EQ doesn't overcome the hardware shortcomings. All you're doing is creating the infamous V-sound signature that's known for being more catchy.
 
AFAIK, we're complaining about the detail retrieval, instrument separation, and sound stage (or lack of).

It does in this case, that's the point I'm trying to make. You've got to hear it. If you heard what I'm listening to right now we wouldn't be having this discussion. The sound-stage is excellent now for a portable device(better than the x3 out of memory). It sounds quite spacious now whereas the stock sounded congested. Detail retrieval and instrument separation as well greatly improved after the eq(may not be on par with the x3, can't comment on this out of memory). The point is to eq out the parts that make it sound muffled and that's why I keep on stating that the N5 responds to the eq well, as the eq balance right now reveals everything.

 

[myprecious]

  Btw what about the sound do you find simply unbearable?
 

Claiming that playing with eq can improve sq of a device is like saying that a blind person can see better with glasses on. Sorry for the blunt comparison - but I thought it is a forum for people who love sq. I'm not an audiophile but even I know that. What is unbearable? - lack of detail, muffled highs, poor separation, it is neither musical nor precise. 

 

[johanchandy]

Claiming that playing with eq can improve sq of a device is like saying that a blind person can see better with glasses on. Sorry for the blunt comparison - but I thought it is a forum for people who love sq. I'm not an audiophile but even I know that. What is unbearable? - lack of detail, muffled highs, poor separation, it is neither musical nor precise. 

Look man, tweaking the eq a bit to increase the sq is nothing new...people have been doing it for ages to get their iPods and iphones to sound better. I'm not saying you can tweak the nexus 5 to sound as good as something like the fiio x3 or x5 but i'm saying you can make it sound better than stock. I've already said detail retrieval is pretty decent, eq'ing it doesn't magically make it better, its about getting the mess out of the way so you can here the details.

 

[vrapan]

  If you're looking for sq, stay away from N5, otherwise it's a great phone.

Understood and I am. I am not very keen on the SQ of my iP5 especially with my L2, they sound so much better out of my iPad and MBA. It sounds ok through the SD2 but I can't shake the feeling that both my L2 and SD2 could sound much better with better source. 
 
Need to wait for April for the X5 I guess!

 

[myprecious]

Look man, tweaking the eq a bit to increase the sq is nothing new...people have been doing it for ages to get their iPods and iphones to sound better. I'm not saying you can tweak the nexus 5 to sound as good as something like the fiio x3 or x5 but i'm saying you can make it sound better than stock. I've already said detail retrieval is pretty decent, eq'ing it doesn't magically make it better, its about getting the mess out of the way so you can here the details.

I guess we are addressing completely different problems here, but I get your point. If you're satisfied with N5 dac quality then that's ok with me. Cheers

 

[Xinze]

  It does in this case, that's the point I'm trying to make. You've got to hear it. If you heard what I'm listening to right now we wouldn't be having this discussion. The sound-stage is excellent now for a portable device(better than the x3 out of memory). It sounds quite spacious now whereas the stock sounded congested. Detail retrieval and instrument separation as well greatly improved after the eq(may not be on par with the x3, can't comment on this out of memory). The point is to eq out the parts that make it sound muffled and that's why I keep on stating that the N5 responds to the eq well, as the eq balance right now reveals everything.

 
Dude. Seriously you're quite misinformed.
 
You EQed up the high mids/low treble so it sounds "airier". That DOESN'T increase the soundstage. It's also easy to think detail retrieval is increased because you bumped up the highs, which will make some things stand out more. 
 
No, detail retrieval is not improved, and soundstage isn't any better either. If that was the case, every audio equipment would just give the lower treble a spike, which would suck. 
 
EQ adapts the sound to your taste, it doesn't improve it at all, in fact, it adds distortion...
 
edit: you said, "its about getting the mess out of the way so you can here the details" is exactly what I'm talking about. You're associating "detail" with a certain portion of the sound spectrum.
 
Also, Grado 60s or 80s are completely unfit for objective listening.

 

[johanchandy]

   
Dude. Seriously you're quite misinformed.
 
You EQed up the high mids/low treble so it sounds "airier". That DOESN'T increase the soundstage. It's also easy to think detail retrieval is increased because you bumped up the highs, which will make some things stand out more. 
 
No, detail retrieval is not improved, and soundstage isn't any better either. If that was the case, every audio equipment would just give the lower treble a spike, which would suck. 
 
EQ adapts the sound to your taste, it doesn't improve it at all, in fact, it adds distortion...
 
edit: you said, "its about getting the mess out of the way so you can here the details" is exactly what I'm talking about. You're associating "detail" with a certain portion of the sound spectrum.
 
Also, Grado 60s or 80s are completely unfit for objective listening.

What about the q701's? You haven't heard how my modded sr80i's sound, its far less coloured than stock and is much more balanced although for the q701's the eq was less dramatic..
 
How the eq affects sq is highly subjective, I did make the mistake of adding instead of subtracting to avoid clipping. Read this thread, especially LFF's posts, the general consensus was that eq did affect SQ but it still is highly subjective: http://www.head-fi.org/t/607331/eq-sound-quality
 
Btw where detail is concerned I believe you misunderstood what I was trying to say, I apologize for not making it clear. I'm not saying the the nexus 5 is more detailed after the eq, I'm saying that it sounds more detailed because of the new eq balance. What I am saying is that more detail is perceived although the overall amount of detail stays the same, the same is true in the opposite, less detail is perceived when the eq is not right(everything in audio has an eq including dacs), and this is why I believe some people are saying the stock Nexus 5 is not detailed enough. An example of this is the dt880 vs the q701. A lot of people in their opinion say that the dt880 is more detailed and they then state this may be because of the spike the dt880 has in the treble region.
 
Whereas the soundstage is concerned after the eq I find it to sound more open and spacious sounding as if there is a bit more space between the placements of instruments. Before it sounded congested which smeared the instruments together which made the "perceived" sound-stage less imho as the instruments sounded closer together although they actually weren't. So I perceived the size of the space depending on how far I felt the instruments were.

 

[Xinze]

Point is, Nexus 5 hardware is very poor. If you can get a better experience with EQ on the N5, you will get a better experience using similar EQ on a superior device, which happens to be what I believe is most mp3 players (non android) on the market.

 

[johanchandy]

  Point is, Nexus 5 hardware is very poor. If you can get a better experience with EQ on the N5, you will get a better experience using similar EQ on a superior device, which happens to be what I believe is most mp3 players (non android) on the market.

I disagree, different devices respond to eq's differently, everyone knows this.  
 
The N5's hardware is fine and capable, many people on this thread have already stated this. It's quite adequate for the class of device it is. And it does sound better than the bulk of mp3 players out there. 
 
Personally the stock sound left a lot to be desired but I'm quite surprised how different it sounds with the right eq set up.

 

[Erukian]

   
I'm not talking about the signature of the Nexus, I'm just talking about it's hardware capability, which I feel is greatly overrated in this thread.
 
That or I'm just used to my iPhone 4S, which is miles ahead.

 
I returned my nexus 5 because the camera experience sucked for me (was great in low light though) and the audio sounded lifeless. Google/LG had to make some cuts to the cost of the device to hit that $350 price point, and I'm pretty sure high quality audio was on the chopping block, despite it's ability to play higher resolution files.
 
FWIW, the consensus on the iPhone 5S (which I bought after returning the nexus 5) is that it's not as loud as the 4S (like a 4s turned down 2-3 clicks) but it's a bit higher fidelity.

 

[interinfo]

I'd like to chime in here. I've recently owned an iPhone 5S (returned as screen too small after having something larger for a while) a galaxy s4, before that an iPhone 5, and currently have an HTC one and a nexus 5 (trying to decide which if these to keep, and sell the other). Here are my thoughts on each :

Nexus 5: decent but too quiet on my sennheiser hd360's. Clean and detailed but needs about 20% more headroom

HTC one: nice and loud with beats audio turned on. Very subtle EQ and pleasant with most types if music. With beats audio setting turned off still good but I'm pretty sure there's still some other EQ being applied. This phone isn't for the purist.

Samsung Galaxy s4: I've actually sampled two of these and they sounded different. The first was awesome, like "my music never sounded so good" awesome. The second unit was still good but something was missing. Not sure what but not as engaging. The second one may have been on newer firmware .

IPhone 5: Very accurate almost sterile sound. Not enough volume though. Couldn't drive my ety er4's efficiently.

IPhone 5s: OMG nearly perfect! Clearly the loudest of them all and pristinely clean unadulterated hi-fi. This is your benchmark.

Thanks for this !

 

[interinfo]

This mod works pretty well with out the need for additional equalizers over stock and increases both Headphone and loudspeaker while maintain the Silent background

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47593101&postcount=1

No need for rooting ?

 

[Mariano3113]

Not sure as I always root Nexus Devices.