[Roderick]

I've had oneplus 3 for couple of weeks now. Amp section is definately lacking. It just can't give the bass proper authority and control. And it barely gets loud enough(I like to listen loud). However I think the sound is very nice itself...Understatement really, the dac section is really good imo, detailed and balanced. Shame that the amp is such a wuzz..  If i had to choose between my old htc desire Z and unamped oneplus I'd take the htc.

 

[mcmalden]

  I've had oneplus 3 for couple of weeks now. Amp section is definately lacking. It just can't give the bass proper authority and control. And it barely gets loud enough(I like to listen loud). However I think the sound is very nice itself...Understatement really, the dac section is really good imo, detailed and balanced. Shame that the amp is such a wuzz..  If i had to choose between my old htc desire Z and unamped oneplus I'd take the htc.

 
 
You must listen quite loud then, or you are using very inefficient transducers. I always felt the bass was quite clean on the OP3. How do you discriminate between the dac and amp section in how they effect the final outputted sound?
 
Just a friendly reminder that the OP3 is maybe not the loudest out there, but definitely the output volume is decent for a smartphone.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkbH0QtssU4
 
 
With my RHA 750's I usually stick below 50% volume, at 100% I reckon one would be listening to pure distortion.

 

[Roderick]

It is true that my headphones are not the most efficient. And I do listen (too) loud. It just sounds that amplification is lacking. I just assumed it is because of the amp section because bass is often most affected by poor amping. I got no distortion though. I'll try with some more efficient headphones might be that I had unrealistic espectations on OP3's ability to driver more demanding headphones. 

 

[vaporcobra]

I've just received my OnePlus 3T and initial listening to some Vivaldi FLACs and miscellaneous other genres and artists is incredibly promising. At a bare minimum, it is orders better than my Surface Pro 4, and LG G4/G3. Listening with fresh Massdrop'd AKG 553s.

This video even goes so far as to say that the OnePlus 3T has improved upon the 3 so much so that it makes the Fiio K1 extraneous. Nevertheless, it does reveal that OP is apparently tuning the audio (probably at a kernel level) to be more bass heavy and less balanced, unfortunately. Nevertheless, I'm sure root-enabled mods will allow for that to be modified once developers have some time to do so.

 

[mcmalden]

Well, to be quite frank, that video doesnt impress me that much. Some lower noise flour and less stereo crosstalk are just numbers that really dont say much about the actual sound of the system in my experience...unless those numbers would actually be audible. They might tell you something about the quality of the underlying equipment, but thats about it as far as I am concerned.
 
The obvious manipulation on the sound and the impact on the frequency response looks very concerning to me(these are far from inaudible changes).
 
I would be interested to know how the 3T sounds compared to the 3, without the manipulation. It is definitely nice to see that OP upgraded the amplifier, that could potentially be the weak point of the OP3's audio path.

 

[Ziadax]

Since the 3T comes with Snapdragon 821 does that mean it is using the same AQSTIC dac that was in the Note 7 and HTC 10?  Qualcomm's website states that aqstic should be standard with the 821 chip.  I've heard many great things about the HTC 10's audio output.

 

[phiemon]

Hi,
 
I really would like to know how the 3T performs compared to the iPhone in terms of audio quality via headphones.
 
Thank you!

 

[mrkingdomhearts]

How well does the OP3 (and the axon 7 since it's that phones main competition) drive planars like the HE400i?

 

[Agent of Chaos]

Meh, GSMarena?? Yeah kind of, BUT it is important not to take their measurements way too far, I mean according to their measurements the Xiaomi Mi5 with Qualcomm WCD9335 is more neutral than vivo xplay 5 elite, V10 and Axon 7, Like, Waaaaat, Even if they surrounded it by gold and 10k dollar tube amps, There is no chance in any parallel universe to give a matching performance to GSMarena measurements, And their xplay 5 elite/Axon 7 seemed nonsense. So take that into consideration as their method seems to be flawed or rigged.
I'd suggest getting the Axon 7, For me it seems to be the best hifi smartphone, Axon 7 plays on both sections, DAC and AMP, While Smartphones like V10 have good DAC, or a good amp like Meizu mx4 pro, They fail with their weak output, Processing and weak amps while driving heavy cans with traditional buzz and hiss.
GSMarena's measurements for axon 7 seem to be pretty simple, The "Super audio quality" option wasn't turned on, The result is a proof, They got very low noise but the frequency response was very weird to a capable smartphone like the Axon 7.

 

[Agent of Chaos]

Meh, GSMarena?? Yeah kind of, BUT it is important not to take their measurements way too far, I mean according to their measurements the Xiaomi Mi5 with Qualcomm WCD9335 is more neutral than vivo xplay 5 elite, V10 and Axon 7, Like, Waaaaat, Even if they surrounded it by gold and 10k dollar tube amps, There is no chance in any parallel universe to give a matching performance to GSMarena measurements, And their xplay 5 elite/Axon 7 seemed nonsense. So take that into consideration as their method seems to be flawed or rigged.
I'd suggest getting the Axon 7, For me it seems to be the best hifi smartphone, Axon 7 plays on both sections, DAC and AMP, While Smartphones like V10 have good DAC, or a good amp like Meizu mx4 pro, They fail with their weak output, Processing and weak amps while driving heavy cans with traditional buzz and hiss.
GSMarena's measurements for axon 7 seem to be pretty simple, The "Super audio quality" option wasn't turned on, The result is a proof, They got very low noise but the frequency response was very weird to a capable smartphone like the Axon 7.

 

[mcmalden]

Meh, GSMarena?? Yeah kind of, BUT it is important not to take their measurements way too far, I mean according to their measurements the Xiaomi Mi5 with [COLOR=545454]Qualcomm WCD9335[/COLOR] is more neutral than vivo xplay 5 elite, V10 and Axon 7, Like, Waaaaat, Even if they surrounded it by gold and 10k dollar tube amps, There is no chance in any parallel universe to give a matching performance to GSMarena measurements, And their xplay 5 elite/Axon 7 seemed nonsense. So take that into consideration as their method seems to be flawed or rigged.
I'd suggest getting the Axon 7, For me it seems to be the best hifi smartphone, Axon 7 plays on both sections, DAC and AMP, While Smartphones like V10 have good DAC, or a good amp like Meizu mx4 pro, They fail with their weak output, Processing and weak amps while driving heavy cans with traditional buzz and hiss.
GSMarena's measurements for axon 7 seem to be pretty simple, The "Super audio quality" option wasn't turned on, The result is a proof, They got very low noise but the frequency response was very weird to a capable smartphone like the Axon 7.

I don't think gsmarena's methodology is faulty, just that most of the numbers they aquite dont say that much about audio quality.

The OP3 and OP3T perform identical in their test btw

 

[Agent of Chaos]

Hi mcmalden
What part of Qualcomm wcd9335 overpowering Ak4490 and Sabre 9218/9028/9016 seems logical for you, Yes they miss some measurements, But it's obvious that they are being flawed, From Dynamic range, Noise ground, Frequency response, THD and noise, That's just impossible for the mi5 to overpower most smartphones in most of these measurements
And actually that's not the only flawed measurement with Gsmarena, Their display measurements seem flawed too (as a guy who is interested about smartphones) compared to let's say Notebookcheck or any other website, I usually avoid their measurements.
And thanks for the last info, Yes op3t board seems to be very identical to op3.

 

[nigel801]

Anyone tries USB DAC like dragonfly red with OP3T I tried with otg adapter for USB C ant dragonfly won't light up

 

[Bacon Bits]

I have had the One plus 3 since the release and I have run it with my HE400is and it does it fine. At max volume it is just loud to be satisfactory. The dac is better than most phones and the amp is just meh. From looking at the axon 7's website and the reviews it seems to be a better music player but the 1+3 is okay if you already have it. IMO the best smartphone dac amp is the LG v20

 

[mcmalden]

  Hi mcmalden
What part of Qualcomm wcd9335 overpowering Ak4490 and Sabre 9218/9028/9016 seems logical for you (...)

 
 
I don't know about this data, I would be very much be interested in having a look at it. I am just assuming that they are doing their job properly, but if you provide evidence that they don't, I will change my opinion of course