[Tin2003]

I don't get it... If it sounds good, then why does it matter if 'Wolfson' isn't on the IC inside?

Vote with your ears, not the spec sheet, for good or bad...

This is easily explained. A human is not a measuring instrument. He is liable to psychological influence. A good hypnotist can make him feel hot, cold, see or hear things and so on. A human is also very subjective in his judgement, so a brand name adds to his perception greatly. This is pure pshycology and you will never be able to take it out of the equation. This is not good or bad, it is just how our mind works

 

[Duncan]

This is easily explained. A human is not a measuring instrument. He is liable to psychological influence. A good hypnotist can make him feel hot, cold, see or hear things and so on. A human is also very subjective in his judgement, so a brand name adds to his perception greatly. This is pure pshycology and you will never be able to take it out of the equation. This is not good or bad, it is just how our mind works

Very true...

If we didn't have websites that offered teardowns, would anyone ever actually complain though, that is the question...

 

[Tin2003]

Very true...

If we didn't have websites that offered teardowns, would anyone ever actually complain though, that is the question...

But don't get me wrong. It is true for me either. I would also prefer a Wolfson DAC - it adds positively to my perception of SQ .

 

[harbinger66]

Do any of you folks use Noozxoide for your note 3 or other androids? I use it along with Jetplayer plus and i'm quite pleased with the sound. Volume could use a little bump.

 

[gordonshowers]

  Can you use Nuforce uDAC2 with the Note 3? I don't see why USB audio cannot be enabled with Cyanogen mod. didn't we try and make Google enable USB audio with Jellybean and they basically screwed us over? WHY can't they enable full USB audio support? what could possibly be the reason for not doing so with ALSA? it's Linux for goodness sakes! 

I just don't understand it. 

 
My Note 3 (SM-N9005) stock out-of-the-box works perfectly with both the Musical Fidelity X-DAC and HeadRoom Total BitHead via microUSB if that helps.

 

[Steven R. Rochli]

  SM-N9000
Yamaha YMU831
 
SM-N9005
Qualcomm WCD9320
 
Source?

Someone who knows the guy who programmed the audio/software of the Note 3. Prefer to leave names out of it, yet he is HIGHLY respected, known, and a REAL innovator in the industry.
 
ADDED: Also have a very longtime friend VERY high up on Samsung's mobile division and shall not quote his private comments to me, though rest assured they were not what we all would prefer to hear. Agree, the sheer LACK of info from Samsung is not reassuring considering how great the Note III sounds and its capabilities now, let alone if they fully unleashed it all. Maybe Samsung is working on an update to ensure battery life or ???? The hardware is there to be exploited, and to XDA/developers that is what matters most per se. As an example, just bought the Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch and while it is good out of the box, am now sideloading apps and THAT makes the watch far more useful.
 
All these electronics devices are just a combination of hardware. Hack/sideload into it and take advantage of what they provided to meet whatever task/goals you want. Of course we'd all want a 'perfect' device with 'perfect' software as stock, but usually that is not the same out of the box for most of these devices nowadays. Manufacturers need to make the device user-friendly for the masses (AOL friendly as us old-school guys say). Thus offering great new options that, for instance, may kill battery life to 5 hours instead of 40 hours would not be desirable for the masses. Thus such options may not be included in stock form... but hack away and understand the full results accordingly.

 

[Tin2003]

Yes, it is confirmed by owners, that in Exinos 9000 Note 3 sold in Russia the DAC is Yamaha YMU831.

Is it much worse in terms of SQ than Wolfson WM5102?

 

[elfary]

Does the Qualcomm version hiss with sensitive iems like UM3x or SE535 like Note 2, S3 and many Androids do ?

Since to get volume without carrying anything else sensitive earphones are to be uses it would be cool that the Android hiss has been finally addressed.

 

[truckdriver]

I'm trying to decide whether to get the Note 3 (not for its SQ) but for the big screen and LTE. The Note 3's “powertrain” (I believe) is the same Snapdragon 800 SoC (and I assume DAC too) as the 7” Kindle Fire HDX (for half the Note's price). I don't know if XDA members will ever develop audio tweaks for the Note 3 (or the Qualcomm DAC itself), but it's their nature to free the Kindle Fire from its Amazon restraints thus allowing the use of Google Play Store to download audio player apps and EQs.

 

[tim3320070]

Still cannot get the Note 3 to output to my NFB-16 DAC whereas my Note 2 did it fine. I have a Note 3 2.0/3.0 usb OTG cable going to the DAC.
Any suggestions?

 

[Prashanth R]

I recently got a Samsung Note 3, and the inbuilt music player has a feature called "Adapt sound", which basically customizes the EQ curve according to ones hearing perception of various frequencies..
 
I loved this feature as it compensates for one's hearing pitfalls, and the result sounds more detailed to my ears.
 
Are there any music player apps that have such an option of customizing the EQ curve according to one's hearing perception?

 

[scrypt]

The good news and the bad:
 
As you might have read some time ago, Wolfson and Samsung have entered into a partnership:
 
Woflson Signs Samsung Microchip Deal
 
Unfortunately, the fruits of that partnership might be incorporated into devices so locked down that Samsung could be ready to make Apple look like Google.
 
First, there's KNOX, which prevents people from returning to stock after rooting or (therefore) sending their broken phones to Samsung for repairs under warranty:
 
KNOX is said to be implemented in Samsung's firmware version of the Android 4.3 (Kit-Kat) and will be pushed not only to Note 2 users but to those of you who own the Galaxy S3 and S4.
 
One source among many
 
Then there's Samsung's new region-locking firmware which is part of the Galaxy Note 3 and of versions of the S4 sold after July 2013:
 
One source among many
 
An article explaining the difference between the carrier lock and the SIM lock
 
Another article reporting on ongoing issues and problems with using other SIMs despite Samsung's reassurances
 
Note that the "rest easy" tone of the press release reported in the first article is not echoed by Note 3 owners who report being unable to use their phablets in other regions even after using an unlocking code.
 
However, there's also this:
 
How to Avoid Regional SIM Lock Issues
 
If you've owned other iterations of the Galaxy S, you're probably thinking: "Simple solution -- I'll disable automatic updates under Settings > More > About device > Software Updates." Unfortunately, we don't have access to that option any more.  The only thing you can do under Software Updates is decide whether you want to look for an update right now or not.  Enabling developer mode (Settings > More > About device > Build Number [tap seven times]) won't reveal the option elsewhere either. 
 
All of which suggests that if you own a S4, S3 or Note 3, you should root it before your carrier pushes out the update.  It's very possible that a ROM will appear which offers 4.3 without Knox.  It's also very possibly that developers on sites like XDA will figure out how to disable both KNOX and the region lock.  But even if disabling ROMs and fixes don't appear, wouldn't you rather use 4.2 without Knox than 4.3 with?
 
I'm beginning to wish I'd picked up an LG G2, Sony X1 or HTC One instead of my S4.

 

[Baroninkjet]

For a while, I was confused why so many people kept their Galaxy S for years. Samsung's recent behavior is making it clear. First 48K and now all this. One of the keys to their success is the receptiveness of developer community, and now they seem to be throwing them under the bus. Oh, and the emmc BS; I spent half of Sept fighting that with no help form Samsung.

 

[Tin2003]

Sales are growing, so suddenly all this begin to matter. Money.

 

[quisxx]

Had this baby for about a week, and I have to jump on the bandwagon and say the DAC on this thing slaughters the note2. Add the adapt sound (this sounds  like using an entire different DAC btw), and I doubt there is another phone that can touch the sound coming out of here.