[dryvadeum]

 
Personally, I was always more interested in the Note 3 (though that phone is region locked, unfortunately, as most Samsung phones are likely to be from now on).  The only reason I picked up an S4 is because my Galaxy S died beyond repair three months before the Note 3 was available.

You can easily bypass the region locking of the Note 3 using Chainfire's method.

 

[JohannLiebert]

What is the output impedance of the S4?

 

[MoonYeol]

Somewhere around 1 Ohm.

 

[JohannLiebert]

Would be a no-brainer for me then lol.
Do you have a source? 

 

[MoonYeol]

There are reports of problems with ~12 Ohm headphones/iems. Some say 14 Ohms are ok. But I would guess if you stick to > 16 Ohm it's fine. Pretty much anything except XBA-series.

 

[NZtechfreak]

There are reports of problems with ~12 Ohm headphones/iems. Some say 14 Ohms are ok. But I would guess if you stick to > 16 Ohm it's fine. Pretty much anything except XBA-series.

 
Those reports were on release firmware, it was later fixed by Samsung (although Sony's XBA-series still needn't apply, their input impedance is too low to use with nearly all phones).

 

[MoonYeol]

Great! But is it possible to address output impedance through firmware updates? Anyway, I don't have any problema with my S4 as a source. Only that the soundstage is a bit weak and the bass doesn't hit as hard as a good portable amp. But I think all smartphones have the same problems. And my two amps have good soundstages for their form factors so it's not really fair to compare.

 

[kalki11]

   
Those reports were on release firmware, it was later fixed by Samsung (although Sony's XBA-series still needn't apply, their input impedance is too low to use with nearly all phones).

i have the XBA 40 and  it sounds really good with an S4 phone

 

[mattya1989]

I hope you can help me, my S4 headphone jack stopped working and I wondered if I could use one of these two cable to to bypass the internal headphone AMP on the S4 and use a external AMP?
 
http://www.miniinthebox.com/micro-usb-to-3-5mm-audio-male-to-female-cable-0-1m_p639497.html?currency=GBP&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&gclid=CJCn89G--rwCFSETwwodEqUAlg
 
http://www.tvc-mall.com/details/Black-Micro-USB-to-3.5mm-Car-AUX-Out-Cable-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-i9300-S2-i9100-i9220-MCH-754A/?c=35&gclid=CIr81IC--rwCFafnwgodY24A-g

 

[chailee80]

  I hope you can help me, my S4 headphone jack stopped working and I wondered if I could use one of these two cable to to bypass the internal headphone AMP on the S4.
 
http://www.miniinthebox.com/micro-usb-to-3-5mm-audio-male-to-female-cable-0-1m_p639497.html?currency=GBP&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&gclid=CJCn89G--rwCFSETwwodEqUAlg
 
http://www.tvc-mall.com/details/Black-Micro-USB-to-3.5mm-Car-AUX-Out-Cable-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-i9300-S2-i9100-i9220-MCH-754A/?c=35&gclid=CIr81IC--rwCFafnwgodY24A-g

You can use those type of cables or else a usb on the go cable. Either way you'll need an external amp to plug it into to drive your headphones. I just use a dirt cheap usb on the go cable and plug my fiio e07k into that, works quite well.

 

[mattya1989]

cheers for the fast reply.

 

[SilverEars]

Hi guys is it true that the output impedance is 1.2ohms?  According to this website it is.  Supposedly headphones atleast 32ohms sould have excellent sound coming out of the S4.
 
http://www.jensign.com/S4Distortion/
 

 
"The final column above for R=3kohm represents the performance achievable with high impedance headphones with nominal impedance > 50ohm. Adding a high quality external headphone amplifier with an input impedance of 1kohm or greater to a smartphone will improve the audio quality, particularly if the headphones are in the lower impedance range."

 

[White Lotus]

hmmm. For some reason, I thought the output impedance was higher than that.
 
I'm using the i9505, which I think has a higher output impedance. 

 

[SilverEars]

The one measured was the SGH-I337 which is the AT&T one, so it's it's the snapdragon one.  Mine is T-mobile so it's the Snapdragon also, and probably the same output impedance.

 

[umvue]

  I actually found the S4 to be on-par with my S1, and first gen Galaxy Tab 7" (they both have VooDoo mod).

Just no where near as much power.

 
I am thinking about replacing my S1 with S4 but I do need a phone that is loud enough to drive my HD650
 
Does that mean S4 isn't powerful enough to drive HD650? If not, are there are other phones as loud as or louder than the old S1??
 
Thanks