[Baroninkjet]

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_alpha-review-1118p8.php
 
Excellent audio output
The Samsung Galaxy Alpha does a great job as far as the quality of its audio output is concerned. The smartphone did a perfect job in the first test (the one where it's connected to an active external amplifier) and got amazing scores top to bottom. It also showed above average volume levels for an all-round audiophile pleasing performance.

Plugging in a pair of headphones didn't do much harm either - outside of the limited spike in stereo crosstalk, the output didn’t deteriorate even a bit. Outside of the HTC One mini 2, there's no better performer than the Galaxy Alpha in this class and let's face it - the HTC smartphone is better than just about everything else on the market right now.

And here go the results so you can see for yourselves.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Samsung Galaxy Alpha	+0.01, -0.04	-96.6	92.8	0.0058	0.0091	-97.1
Samsung Galaxy Alpha (headphones attached)	+0.04, -0.01	-95.7	92.7	0.013	0.033	-65.6
Samsung Galaxy S5	+0.02, -0.08	-96.3	93.3	0.0017	0.0089	-95.2
Samsung Galaxy S5 (headphones attached)	+0.01, -0.08	-96.3	93.3	0.0095	0.018	-61.9
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini	+0.03, -0.04	-92.6	90.7	0.016	0.018	-94.0
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini (headphones attached)	+0.23, -0.05	-86.7	86.2	0.052	0.167	-55.7
HTC One mini 2	+0.02, -0.09	-94.8	93.8	0.010	0.011	-93.5
HTC One mini 2 (headphones attached)	+0.08, -0.03	-94.9	93.8	0.028	0.022	-90.1
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact	+0.08, -0.02	-92.6	92.3	0.0052	0.012	-89.0
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (headphones attached)	+0.15, -0.05	-91.7	91.3	0.054	0.090	-43.7
Apple iPhone 5s	+0.02, -0.05	-93.6	93.7	0.0013	0.0068	-90.3
Apple iPhone 5s (headphones attached)	+0.12, -0.00	-93.4	93.3	0.0016	0.060	-76.1

 
 
But I wonder if they are still converting everything to 48k...???

 

[Baroninkjet]

Related:
 
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/Exynos/data/Low_Power_Audio_Subsystem_for_Samsung_Exynos_Processor.pdf

 

[obsidyen]

Well, it has a Wolfson dac so...

 

[acain]

This phone is amazing for audio it even has an EQ it sounds very clean and just enough lows if you love bass. There is so many settings to tune the audio. It even has a tube amp setting so you get the effect of a tube amp. It also works with the Fiio E07K via OTG cable. Best sounding phone that I have ever heard and I have owned many.

 

[acain]

I wish more people looked at this thread because this phone is amazing.

 

[Fishzerg]

Anyone else have experiences with this? I am trying to find the best option within Samsung smartphones, and it's just strange that there is so much info here on the forums about S5 and earlier models, but this one just has this one thread with so few comments. I am not sure whether to get S5, Alpha, or wait and see how S6 turns out.

 

[obsidyen]

  Anyone else have experiences with this? I am trying to find the best option within Samsung smartphones, and it's just strange that there is so much info here on the forums about S5 and earlier models, but this one just has this one thread with so few comments. I am not sure whether to get S5, Alpha, or wait and see how S6 turns out.

This phone didn't sell well, as far as I know Samsung stopped its production. Wait for S6 with new Exynos chip.

 

[Fishzerg]

  This phone didn't sell well, as far as I know Samsung stopped its production. Wait for S6 with new Exynos chip.

Thanks for reply! Is it expected to have an improved audio quality with the new Exynos?

 

[obsidyen]

  Thanks for reply! Is it expected to have an improved audio quality with the new Exynos?

Samsung uses Wolfson dac with their phones that has Exynos SoC. Their phones with Snapdragon SoC has Snapdragon's onboard audio codec. This is why I recommended S6 with Exynos chip as Wolfson dac sounds better than Snapdragon's. Note 4 with Exynos chip has WM5110 dac. It's quite good in my opinion. If they use a newer dac, maybe audio quality will improve. It also depends on the amp though. 

 

[heatofamatch]

Subjectively I thought the Alpha sounded very clean, and preferred it over the "fabled" HTC One Mini 2, which actually had some loudness-related trouble and mishandled some of the audio samples I listened to.

 

[obsidyen]

  Subjectively I thought the Alpha sounded very clean, and preferred it over the "fabled" HTC One Mini 2, which actually had some loudness-related trouble and mishandled some of the audio samples I listened to.

HTC One series have strong amps but the dacs inside them (Snapdragon codec) do not match the quality of Wolfson codecs in Samsung phones with Exynos chips. Apparently all S6 models will have Exynos chip (7420). Smart decision as it's superior to current Snapdragon chips.
 
Meizu MX4 Pro is also said to be good, it has ESS Sabre 9018.
iPhone 6 also has good SQ, Cirrus Logic dac. However, European iPhones have volume caps which result in subpar sound quality. American iPhones do not suffer from this problem.

 

[heatofamatch]

It's not just the DAC. Are we still having that kind of bullheaded conversation that belongs on sites like phonearena? SQ is far more than just a hardware arms race. An endless number of devices have already shown it's entirely possible to have the best HW but f--k up fine-tuning and execution. Even the WCD9320 are executed totally differently by each major brand.
 
Anecdotal evidence suggests HTC probably uses additional amplification chips on the one series, not just one for each speaker, but for headphone out too. Based on personal experiences with my M8 and other people's E8 and 1mini2s, I suspect they're not set up/tuned to full potential quite yet and there may be some unresolved bugs.
 
Then there's also the issue of signature sound. Samsung did an excellent execution of its house sound on the Alpha, which successfully avoided the #1 pitfall of that sound -- sounding artificial, dead, or lacking in air. It was good enough that by comparison, I thought HTC's house sound for this generation (a little "thick in the middle" as Duncan described it) was really unnecessary and offered no advantage.

 

[live1]

The alpha sq is great.and I luv the tube amp setting also.i prefer the alpha sound over htc m8 and the htc one mini2

 

[thepooh]

No word on the famous Seiren audio processor? I saw that in the review on gsmarena but can't find much details on it

 

[Fishzerg]

So now that Samsung Galaxy S6 specs are out, does anyone have any opinions? I assume we really can't judge it before it gets tested directly by us audiophiles, but has anyone found info on whether they phone naturally supports 24bit FLAC, and anything else that may be relevant?