RockStar2005
Headphoneus Supremus
Yeah I
Yeah, I heard some say that too, that between the V20 and HTC 10 it was a tie, that they had a maybe a different type of sound but neither was night and day better than the other. For sure the V30 is night and day for me (and others I'm sure). In fact, I would say out of all the phones I've ever heard its one of the biggest leaps in sound quality, and I've owned a few music focused smartphones... Including the Motorola C168, Sony W610i, Sony Zylo, Sony Xperia Pro, HTC M8 and HTC 10. I feel a little sorry for HTC, they picked up the music-focused phone from Sony when they dropped the baton. But for whatever reason HTC hasn't been able to stay relevant in the smartphone business and now they've had some of their best workers picked off by Google. I think competition in this area is good. Samsung audio isn't bad but nothing amazing when I've tried it. I haven't heard audio from an apple device so I can't comment on that. I really do hope the next time I buy a phone 2 years later that there is a company still pushing music quality and that all phone and that we still have a 3.5mm jack as I read the other day Samsung galaxy might lose the 3.5mm jack
Nice!
Yeah HTC has had a very difficult time keeping up. But like Sony, neither markets/advertises their phones in the U.S., which is just stupid. At least HTC was and still to some degree is selling through carriers. That's HUGE in the U.S. as you probably know. Sony cut all ties with carriers in 2015, and from the chart I saw recently, that was when their sales started to plummet here. Coincidence?! I think NOT! lol
Samsung's Snapdragon-based U.S. phones don't have great audio. ESP compared to the likes of HTC and of course LG. That's b/c these ones use Snapdragon's integrated SoC DAC & amp, where the int'l Exynos-based Samsungs (at least the Note series, but maybe S series too?) get their own separate/DEDICATED high-quality Cirrus Logic DAC (used to be Wolfson, until Cirrus Logic bought them out I believe) and better amps too I believe. They say they still don't sound as good as the LG Quad DAC, but then again, what does? LOL But they say it's def pretty close, which is impressive. Unfortunately, I don't think those int'l ones have the same radio bands the U.S. versions do, so no can do.
I think the Apple devices have better audio than most. Their amps seem to be rated as pretty strong vs. most others, so that's another + too as volume is important, esp on some harder to drive headphones.
Yeah the headphone jack unfortunately seems to be on the way out, and yes I believe the Note 10 will be the first one to lose it, if not the S10 first. For the most part though, that's bothering me less and less as I've recently been checking out "semi-wireless" amp/DAC or DAP devices. You connect to them from your phone via BT (LDAC (("Optimized for Audio Quality" mode)) is preferred as it's the best, though the higher-end ones like iFi's devices still sound better with just AAC or even aptX), and then the device itself connects via cable to your headphones. I've been told and can confirm that these sound AS GOOD as a wired setup, at least the $100+ ones. No joke! I just tried the Shanling M0 (DAP) and it was very impressive, esp for the price ($108). Highly recommended if you don't wanna spend too much, like touchscreens, and LOVE portability (it's tiny as F! lol). It just wasn't loud enough for my 250-ohm Beyerdynamic DT 1770 Pro headphones though, but I think for any headphones under like 150 ohms, it would be more than enough. It features the same model Sabre DAC as the LG V30 as well! It was only on my QUIETEST albums that it wasn't "quite" loud enough. The rest sounded fine. I really liked the freedom that came from not having a cable dangling from my phone that adds to the phone's weight and minimizes convenience while holding up the phone as well. So now I'm looking at either the iFi xDSD or else the new (and slightly cheaper) xCAN which just got released yesterday. Decisions decisions! lol
So really, by having that setup, I don't have to worry about (and be limited by) finding only phones that have great sound tech in them + the convenience of a "semi-wireless" setup. For now though, I will be keeping my LG V30. Just tried out the Xperia XZ3 and loved it but returned it cuz the camera was actually a step-down from the XZ2 Premium's, and also no Band 71 on there which T-Mobile is about to deploy in my area (Chicago) by year's end. So I may be open to the OnePlus 6T, or else next year either the XZ3 Premium or MAYBE the S10+ or Note 10. We'll see.