[TheAndre]

We all know that Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S ii - s are bad in terms of audio quality. However , not all SGS ii - s are Exynos based. Some of them are Qualcomm based with the standard Snapdragod S3 SOC s. Unfortunately , Qualcomm based devices are in the shadow of Exynos hatred and no one acknowledges that the sound qualities of the two versions are so different! 
 
I got myself Note LTE today from craigslist... The phone itself is a beast, kills gadget addiction instantly. After this monster I simply can not look at any other device... Even HTC One X seems like a toy compared to the Note. The 5.3inch screen  just fixed my bad habbit of changing smartphones too often.
 
SQ: I have owned many android smartphones: SGS i, Atrix, Atrix 2, Vivid, Burst. And I have XB500 headphones to test with (selling my TF10s on ebay right now). So when I plugged in my headphones to the Note and started playing music I was like What, why is it so LOUD! I looked at the volume level and guess what?.... It is at about 60%. Yes yes, this phone is weirdly loud and clear. Compared to the little Pantech Burst it is simply unbelievably loud. I can not really comment on overall sound for now ,but so far I am shocked by how powerful this monster is. I bet it has this high output because of its super long battery life. It has lots of energy to spare with it's 2600mah battery. Anyone else noticed this ?

 

[psun786]

 
Quote:

We all know that Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S ii - s are bad in terms of audio quality. However , not all SGS ii - s are Exynos based. Some of them are Qualcomm based with the standard Snapdragod S3 SOC s. Unfortunately , Qualcomm based devices are in the shadow of Exynos hatred and no one acknowledges that the sound qualities of the two versions are so different! 
 
I got myself Note LTE today from craigslist... The phone itself is a beast, kills gadget addiction instantly. After this monster I simply can not look at any other device... Even HTC One X seems like a toy compared to the Note. The 5.3inch screen  just fixed my bad habbit of changing smartphones too often.
 
SQ: I have owned many android smartphones: SGS i, Atrix, Atrix 2, Vivid, Burst. And I have XB500 headphones to test with (selling my TF10s on ebay right now). So when I plugged in my headphones to the Note and started playing music I was like What, why is it so LOUD! I looked at the volume level and guess what?.... It is at about 60%. Yes yes, this phone is weirdly loud and clear. Compared to the little Pantech Burst it is simply unbelievably loud. I can not really comment on overall sound for now ,but so far I am shocked by how powerful this monster is. I bet it has this high output because of its super long battery life. It has lots of energy to spare with it's 2600mah battery. Anyone else noticed this ?

 

I have the Galaxy Note and felt it performed terribly as DAP. Not only the bulid-in Yamaha DAC is mediocre at best. Samsung didn't either bother to shield the components from electronic interference (Apple does this to its iPhones). The result is this annoying hiss when used with Shure se535. Unfortunately, there is no digital out yet. Heck, I even can't find a pre-amp solution. Don't get me wrong, I switched from iPhone (3, 3gs, 4 & 4s) to Galaxy Note fully aware of its audio drawbacks. It functions much better than iPhone in many aspects but definitely not audio.
 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1503263

 

[TheAndre]

 
Quote:

We all know that Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S ii - s are bad in terms of audio quality. However , not all SGS ii - s are Exynos based. Some of them are Qualcomm based with the standard Snapdragod S3 SOC s. Unfortunately , Qualcomm based devices are in the shadow of Exynos hatred and no one acknowledges that the sound qualities of the two versions are so different! 
 
I got myself Note LTE today from craigslist... The phone itself is a beast, kills gadget addiction instantly. After this monster I simply can not look at any other device... Even HTC One X seems like a toy compared to the Note. The 5.3inch screen  just fixed my bad habbit of changing smartphones too often.
 
SQ: I have owned many android smartphones: SGS i, Atrix, Atrix 2, Vivid, Burst. And I have XB500 headphones to test with (selling my TF10s on ebay right now). So when I plugged in my headphones to the Note and started playing music I was like What, why is it so LOUD! I looked at the volume level and guess what?.... It is at about 60%. Yes yes, this phone is weirdly loud and clear. Compared to the little Pantech Burst it is simply unbelievably loud. I can not really comment on overall sound for now ,but so far I am shocked by how powerful this monster is. I bet it has this high output because of its super long battery life. It has lots of energy to spare with it's 2600mah battery. Anyone else noticed this ?

 

I have the Galaxy Note and felt it performed terribly as DAP. Not only the bulid-in Yamaha DAC is mediocre at best. Samsung didn't either bother to shield the components from electronic interference (Apple does this to its iPhones). The result is this annoying hiss when used with Shure se535. Unfortunately, there is no digital out yet. Heck, I even can't find a pre-amp solution. Don't get me wrong, I switched from iPhone (3, 3gs, 4 & 4s) to Galaxy Note fully aware of its audio drawbacks. It functions much better than iPhone in many aspects but definitely not audio.
 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1503263

Are you talking about Note Lte on just Note? I just highly doubt you reffer to the correct device. As for the Yamaha DAC , I also doubt Qualcomm based solution uses Yamaha. If you firmly believe that Skyrocket or Note Lte use Yamaha, please show us the proof link.

 

[psun786]

 
Quote:

Are you talking about Note Lte on just Note? I just highly doubt you reffer to the correct device. As for the Yamaha DAC , I also doubt Qualcomm based solution uses Yamaha. If you firmly believe that Skyrocket or Note Lte use Yamaha, please show us the proof link.

 
"But the SGS2, Skyrocket, Note and variants of the SGS2 (family) have been bestowed with a sub par quality Yamaha DAC." quoted from the link I included in my first post. Some said the Yamaha DAC has higher volume output than Wolfson used in Galaxy S. I guess this may explain why ppl felt it sounds louder.
 
Below is another opinion offered in bestbuy's product review.
 
"Signal to noise around 80db on 80% volume and 50db on 30% volume. Xperia Mini Pro Signal to Noise is 110db on all levels. Sound is distorted on the Note. I could hear harmonics on frequencies between 1 KHz and 3 KHz, and 20-200 Hz. Frequency response is not good either. High frequencies did not sound clear. It looks like Samsung is using cheap DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) on the Note to cut the cost." http://reviews.bestbuy.com/3545/4778931/samsung-galaxy-note-4g-mobile-phone-carbon-blue-reviews/reviews.htm
 
Personally, I don't mind having Yamaha DAC too much... it is the fact that they don't properly sheild the damn thing drive me mad, which making use with any low impedance headphone impossible

 

[kova4a]

Actually, at goldenears have done comparison measurements between the Note 3g And Note LTE versions http://en.goldenears.net/9454  and if anything the 3g version seems to be superior in almost every way to the LTE one. Also, the 3G version seems to be way louder probably due to the better output impedance (3.44ohm) compared to the 10.14 of the LTE version. The LTE version is still pretty loud compared to most phones but is clearly behind the Note 3G. Anyway, a loud output does not equal good sound quality though judging by the measurements it's definitely better than SGS2. Anyway, the 3G version seems the clear winner, especially with its lower output impedance, although the LTE's impedance is still way better than the notorious 49ohms of the SGS2

 

[NZtechfreak]

 
Quote:

 
 

I have the Galaxy Note and felt it performed terribly as DAP. Not only the bulid-in Yamaha DAC is mediocre at best. Samsung didn't either bother to shield the components from electronic interference (Apple does this to its iPhones). The result is this annoying hiss when used with Shure se535. Unfortunately, there is no digital out yet. Heck, I even can't find a pre-amp solution. Don't get me wrong, I switched from iPhone (3, 3gs, 4 & 4s) to Galaxy Note fully aware of its audio drawbacks. It functions much better than iPhone in many aspects but definitely not audio.
 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1503263

 
If you want a pre-amp Root your Note and get Voodoo Louder (gives a +10.5dB increase). Same developer that made Voodoo Louder (quality guy for sound related stuff).
 

 

[psun786]

 
Quote:

 
 
If you want a pre-amp Root your Note and get Voodoo Louder (gives a +10.5dB increase). Same developer that made Voodoo Louder (quality guy for sound related stuff).
 

 
I apologize for the confusion. What I mean is amp bypass out or audio line out for for the Note.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Ah, I see. Yes, I would dearly love to have that also.

 

[TheAndre]

I don't know how many of you have actually owned (or own) i717, but I can assure you these sound much better than Atrix 4G. I like how they sound with XB500, it almost feels like the sound is more lively and fast, especially bass. Seems like we all agree that i717 is not like the notorious Exynos SGS ii 

 

[Achmedisdead]

No offense intended, but I find it hard to take your impressions of sound and make any sense of them when you are using the XB500's....they sounded like a big boomy muddy mess when I tried them.

 

[TheAndre]

 I have also compared with my Triple.fi 10vi, but since they are easy to drive I simply did not mention that. For your information XB500s are very well regarded on this forum, I assume you know that better than me.