[Tin2003]

Today I had a chance to compare the sound of Samsung S4 (Exinos with Wolfson), Note 3 (Exinos with Yamaha) and LG G2 using my Sennheiser IE8. They say that LG G2 has the new Wolfson WM5110 but subjectively I cannot say that it is better than the Samsung phones.
Note 3 was the loudest, but I liked the sound of S4 better of them all. It is more worm and musical. Note 3 is harsh. But all three sounded better than my S3 (Exinos with Wolfson).
And I agree with those, who praised the Adaptive Sound feature. The sound is totally different and you definitely hear more detail. I liked the simplicity of the procedure and it is done in no time at all. It doesn't adapt only to your hearing or your headset but to the ambient noise as well. It looks like it bumps up frequencies you don't hear. You may argue that in this way it distorts the sound. But you have to agree that the ambient noise distorts the sound as well by muffling some frequencies. And the obvious way to correct this is, of course, to make them louder . I think it is as simple as that. So next time when you get on a train, you go through the Adapt Sound procedure which takes 20 seconds and that is it - the sound is adapted to your ear with particular phones in particular invironment. Ingenious, isn't it? This is a must have feature on a portable music player!

 

[RixNox]

I close it here, if someone is really interested in science and HiFi: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1398397/24-192-music-downloads-and-why-they-make-no-sense
 
Now as for the Note 3:
 
- did anyone test the dude with 3 contacts earbuds? I recall the S2 being very picky, horrible sound; only 4 contacts earphones would work properly....

 

[Marmelade]

Stubborn one heh.
 
Buy yourself at least PC soundcard . Asus Xonar for example and decent speakers and you will change your mind about everything above 44.1khz , and quite fast , like rigged with explosives muslim , who heard shocking revelation from an atheist XD

 

[RixNox]

Did you read all those 709 posts? 

 

[gattari]

Mhhh .... also with video files in note 3 we have the usb output to listen with an external dac.
Tested with dice player and stock player + odac.
Ciao

 

[AyeVeeN]

Turned on Adapt Sound, now I regret it and can't turn it off (unchecking the Music thingy doesn't work). Makes everything sound distorted out of my ES3X. 

 

[phanny]

can anybody tell how Note 3 compare to Iphone 5s or maybe Ipad air? (are they have same Dac?)
 
ps: Iphone 5s has Cirrus Logic Dac.

 

[Tin2003]

Turned on Adapt Sound, now I regret it and can't turn it off (unchecking the Music thingy doesn't work). Makes everything sound distorted out of my ES3X. 

Save all your data and hard reset the phone. What can be easier? .
Why can't it be switched off, I wonder. Might be a glitch of early firmware.
I liked the feauture very much, however.

 

[AyeVeeN]

Save all your data and hard reset the phone. What can be easier?

.
Why can't it be switched off, I wonder. Might be a glitch of early firmware.
I liked the feauture very much, however.

 
A turn off button. It'd delete all my playlists because PowerAmp apparently does not like to import. It'd also delete my game's files (considering Google's backup thing for apps doesn't seem to work for saves and mine isn't rooted currently).

 

[gattari]

The feature is fun but try to switch adapt sound on off with good headphone and you probably are a bit disappointed.
This is my two cents.
Ayeveen@
What firmware have you?
Very unusual that you don t switch off adapt sound
surely you are gone in option - sound and unchecked theadapt sound?

 

[Tin2003]

   
A turn off button. It'd delete all my playlists because PowerAmp apparently does not like to import. It'd also delete my game's files (considering Google's backup thing for apps doesn't seem to work for saves and mine isn't rooted currently).

 
Does Adapt Sound affect third party players?

 

[Tin2003]

The feature is fun but try to switch adapt sound on off with good headphone and you probably are a bit disappointed.

 
Surely you mean sitting in a quiet room. But on the go this is a totally different matter, I would say.

 

[AyeVeeN]

   
Does Adapt Sound affect third party players?

 
Yes.
 
Firmware is MJ7, latest for the N900V.
 
While I can technically turn it off, it only turns it off partially. It only turns off the EQs but not the actual Gain setting it made itself. I deliberately lowered the gain in poweramp in order to EQ and because one tick was already loud for the ES3X, but now the gain is apparently permanently boosted because of Adapt Sound and editing the gain via PowerAmp does not seem to affect much anymore.

 

[Tin2003]

Yes.

Firmware is MJ7, latest for the N900V.

While I can technically turn it off, it only turns it off partially. It only turns off the EQs but not the actual Gain setting it made itself. I deliberately lowered the gain in poweramp in order to EQ and because one tick was already loud for the ES3X, but now the gain is apparently permanently boosted because of Adapt Sound and editing the gain via PowerAmp does not seem to affect much anymore.

I am sorry to hear that. Can't suggest anything other than hard reset.

But you should be better off with this feature on, while travelling. As for home use, you shouldn't expect the ultimate sound from the phone, no phone beats a decent DAP. Although I very much like the sound of Note 3 and S4, they don't come close to my Cowon D2+. And there are much better players on the market. Why not stick with one of those? I think we tend to demand way too much from phones.

 

[tim3320070]

 I think we tend to demand way too much from phones.

For $650+ I say we deserve it all.