[visanj]

As a Nexus fan, I'm eagerly looking for 5x or 6p but my other main requirement is sound quality
 
Anybody who got first hand experience out of these phones, could you please share your sound quality opinion?

 

[awareunlikeu]

I am also interested in this has well? What kind of DAC does it use?

 

[Blinxat]

No measurements yet by GSMarena, Phonearena said this for 5X:
 

Things don’t get any better either going with the headphone jack, which sadly churns out 0.287 V of output. That’s excessively weak, and it’s made profound the moment we put on a pair of headphones. Similar to its speaker performance, it’s also on the thin and light side here – where it’s missing any meaningful bite to its performance.

 
and 6P:
 

  Even though we’re content by the quality of its speaker, it’s sadly lacking with its headphone jack, which achieves a disappointing power output of 0.34 V.

 
In comparison:
 
Apple iPhone 6  1.017 V  

HTC One M9     1.022 V
 
But I am not sure how the voltage actually translates into quality. I guess we will have to listen for ourselves and some point.
 

 What kind of DAC does it use?

 

I guess it uses the Snapdragon one. WCD9330.
 

 

[awareunlikeu]

Thanks!

 

[visanj]

then nexus duos are ruled out I guess

 

[awareunlikeu]

  then nexus duos are ruled out I guess

Indeed.. What a shame.. When is google going to pair one of there excellent Nexus phones with an great dedicated audio DAC to take advantage of the allready excellent Google Music?! I am on an iPhone 6+ with Google Music simply since the audio is so good and the only Android that comes close was the HTC One M8.. When will they learn?

 

[visanj]

Indeed.. What a shame.. When is google going to pair one of there excellent Nexus phones with an great dedicated audio DAC to take advantage of the allready excellent Google Music?! I am on an iPhone 6+ with Google Music simply since the audio is so good and the only Android that comes close was the HTC One M8.. When will they learn?

Is Google music better than apple music in terms of sound quality?

 

[awareunlikeu]

Is Google music better than apple music in terms of sound quality?

I believe GMusic is better quality, but that could have changed. Its cheaper, and most importantly I can find more of what I listen to, some of the harder to find stuff. I listen to a lot of metal, punk, electronic, and while the other music services (apple included) usually have the same artists, but they wont have all the albums and will be fragmented. GMusic also allows me tho have I think its 8 devices on one account that I share with my family.

 

[visanj]

I believe GMusic is better quality, but that could have changed. Its cheaper, and most importantly I can find more of what I listen to, some of the harder to find stuff. I listen to a lot of metal, punk, electronic, and while the other music services (apple included) usually have the same artists, but they wont have all the albums and will be fragmented. GMusic also allows me tho have I think its 8 devices on one account that I share with my family.

For me its otherwayround, I like google music but most of my preferred albums (Indian) are available only in apple itunes store

 

[Pwn3r4Life]

Output voltage tells far from the whole story in quality. In fact, it's probably the least important metric IMO. I'm still interested to hear more about how these phones actually sound. SNR stats especially.

 

[Belabor]

Output voltage tells far from the whole story in quality. In fact, it's probably the least important metric IMO. I'm still interested to hear more about how these phones actually sound. SNR stats especially.

I'm waiting on the GSMarena review for the definitive word on SNR and crosstalk.

I'm coming from a Samsung Note II (with Wolfson DAC), so I'm hoping the 6P's Qualcomm DAC can at least perform similarly to what I'm used to.

 

[Pwn3r4Life]

I'm waiting on the GSMarena review for the definitive word on SNR and crosstalk.

I'm coming from a Samsung Note II (with Wolfson DAC), so I'm hoping the 6P's Qualcomm DAC can at least perform similarly to what I'm used to.

I've owned and heard phones with Qualcomm DACs and Wolfoan DACs. The DAC isn't even half the story. The biggest thing I notice is if the audio is poorly isolated from the other components then you get feedback when the phone is processing tasks.

To compare the Wolfson DACs to the Qualcomm ones that I've heard, the Wolfson sounds like a tube amp and the Qualcomm sounds like a hybrid. Wolfson sounds tuer to music while Qcom sounds more fun, energetic, and creates a good soundscape that doesn't necessarily match that of the original recording. This is in relation to last year's DACs, so hopefully they've both gotten better.

 

[Belabor]

I've owned and heard phones with Qualcomm DACs and Wolfoan DACs. The DAC isn't even half the story. The biggest thing I notice is if the audio is poorly isolated from the other components then you get feedback when the phone is processing tasks.

Wouldn't the Qualcomn DAC be isolated the same way in every Snapdragon 810 phone because it is part of the chipset, or am I wrong in assuming that?

The only thing wrong with my Note II is that when I plug in my headphones and my phone starts updating apps, my audio signal will just be completely cut off. I guess this could be because of the CPU throttling and not being able to handle both tasks, but perhaps that is also related to the Wolfson implementation.

I'm no expert!

 

[cthip]

Just got my 5X.  On first impression, it's not any worse than a Nexus 5, and perhaps slightly better.
 
The big issue is that wired headsets (Xiaomi Piston) that worked perfectly on the Nexus 5 don't work at all on the 5X.  No sound, no mic, and controls don't work.  There are threads on xda and androidcentral about this, so I know I'm not alone.  No solutions.  First hypothesis is that Google/LG changed the headset standard, but we'll see as the situation develops.
 
Standard headphones (HiFiMan RE-0), work fine.  Plenty of power from the 5X to drive them, even at 64 ohms.  That's in a quiet room however, the true test will be if I can get enough volume to still be audible on a noisy subway platform.  Nexus 5 really couldn't do it without Viper4Android, we'll see how the 5x does in a couple of days.

 

[visanj]

  Just got my 5X.  On first impression, it's not any worse than a Nexus 5, and perhaps slightly better.
 
The big issue is that wired headsets (Xiaomi Piston) that worked perfectly on the Nexus 5 don't work at all on the 5X.  No sound, no mic, and controls don't work.  There are threads on xda and androidcentral about this, so I know I'm not alone.  No solutions.  First hypothesis is that Google/LG changed the headset standard, but we'll see as the situation develops.
 
Standard headphones (HiFiMan RE-0), work fine.  Plenty of power from the 5X to drive them, even at 64 ohms.  That's in a quiet room however, the true test will be if I can get enough volume to still be audible on a noisy subway platform.  Nexus 5 really couldn't do it without Viper4Android, we'll see how the 5x does in a couple of days.

 
 
Thanks for your impressions, looks like yours is the first
 
Could you please elaborate on the sound quality? How is the bass, mids, treble? Is it brighter or warmer? etc . That would be great