[elfary]

Galaxy S II has an output impedance of 49 Ohms.
iPhone 4 has an output impedance of 0.9 Ohms.
 
There's nothing more to say about objective capabilities of these devices to drive headphones.

 

[2pacalypse33]

does the galaxy s2 play flac on the stock player?

 

[nikp]

Quote:

does the galaxy s2 play flac on the stock player?

yes.
 

 

[SLaRe]

Even with Cyanogenmod 7 and DSP Player + PowerAmp Pro, the Galaxy S II is a real crap for playing music. It only sounds decent with stock headphones, but it's a real pain plugging any other headphone. That's why I'm going to buy a portable rig, because for me it's unbearable.

 

[Justinhcohen]

At first I was very disappointed in the audio quality of the Galaxy S2.  Dull and lifeless.
 
I tired PowerAmp and PlayerPro.  Still disappointed.
 
I bought a FiiO E11 portable amp.  Still no good.
 
Then I turned on the sound effect, "Music Clarity" in the stock music player.  Wow. 
 
Now the S2 sounds fantastic with both the Etymotic ER4P's and Grado GS-1000's. No amp required.
 
Turning on "Music Clarity" was a revelation.  Now I can't wait to hear how my music is going to sound on the S2.
 
I haven't compared the sound quality to my wife's iPhone 4, but I can assure you that with "Music Clarity" turned on, the Galaxy S2 stock music player will please.
 
Toggle the "Music Clarity' effect on and off as you listen to the music and you'll be amazed.  Mostly amazed at why Samsung didn't make "Music Clarity" the default sound for its music player.
 
One other quick tip - try the 5.1 effect on the S2 when watching movies.  I love it.
 
I've had the Galaxy S2 for two weeks and it is an awesome phone!  Get an app called "Tasker" and you can make it do whatever you want.

 

[metalgear]

Quote:

Galaxy S II has an output impedance of 49 Ohms.
iPhone 4 has an output impedance of 0.9 Ohms.
 
There's nothing more to say about objective capabilities of these devices to drive headphones.

Translate this for me - which iems/portable phones best match  49 or 0.9ohms?

 

[elfary]

The lower the output impedance the better for ANY headphone (Dynamics: Better damping & Balanced Armatures: signal linearity).
 
49 ohms is a hardware flaw that will show no matter what DSP you use to disguise it. It just can not make any headphone sound to the best of its inherent ability.
 
Bottom line: change of smartphone or get over the fact and live with mediocre sound quality (Human beings can adapt to almost any condition .

 

[metalgear]

 
... or make myself believe that some cable upgrade will turn the s2 into the perfect music machine!
 
on a more serious note, I found out in my conversations with Fiio that its possible to stream digital signal out via the Galaxy S2 USB port, but its going to be a power-hungry solution so if anything, it won't be portable. A charging dock / DAC for instance could be viable where there was a constant power source. Perhaps this is related to the 49ohm issue raised above.
 
nevertheless, Fiio have been investigating this and will probably bring something out to market if a portable solution is viable. anyone think music quality upgrade is going to be part of the ice-cream-sandwich update?

 

[ShadowMax]

I am reminded daily of the disappointment in sound quality coming from my Galaxy S2. Not a picky listener but it just feels lifeless.
 
Ended up carrying my JDS ClipZip Copper Pro around...

 

[jadoo123]

I found a very nice article here,
 
http://wikiuncle.com/index.php?title=Apple_iphone_4_VS_samsung_galaxy_s_2

 

[SLaRe]

Quote:

I found a very nice article here,
 
http://wikiuncle.com/index.php?title=Apple_iphone_4_VS_samsung_galaxy_s_2

The info displayed for the S2 is partially true, since it doesn't sport an A9 processor, but a Exinos or Tegra. Also not all the versions of the S2 have NFC and there you are missing important information such as the headphone output impedance, for example.
 

 

[scrypt]

My question would be how the user intends to set up their phone.  If you expect not to use a DAC/Amp, then the iPhone 4S will be better for music than the S2.  But if you pick up the Galaxy Nexus, won't Ice Cream Sandwich allow it to use an entry-level USB DAC?  If you own an S2 and are willing to root, won't an S2 become viable once devs create ICS ROMs?  If so, you might save yourself several hundred dollars by avoiding the need for an Algorhythm Solo.
 
I'm hoping there will be an ICS ROM to try with my 1st-Gen Galaxy S.  With the better DAC and the USB external DAC option, the original S could prove to be the best music option of all.

 

[nanaholic]

Quote:

My question would be how the user intends to set up their phone.  If you expect not to use a DAC/Amp, then the iPhone 4S will be better for music than the S2.  But if you pick up the Galaxy Nexus, won't Ice Cream Sandwich allow it to use an entry-level USB DAC?  If you own an S2 and are willing to root, won't an S2 become viable once devs create ICS ROMs?  If so, you might save yourself several hundred dollars by avoiding the need for an Algorhythm Solo.
 
I'm hoping there will be an ICS ROM to try with my 1st-Gen Galaxy S.  With the better DAC and the USB external DAC option, the original S could prove to be the best music option of all.

My problem with this kind of thinking is that there's too many "if ICS/Android/Opensource does this" in the equation, there's no way to plan the purchase instead are putting money into the devices and crossing your fingers and hope for the best.  Also you don't know how the sound quality of each of the Samsung phones because they change so drastically such as from the original Galaxy S (which was decent but still needed modification) to the S2 (by most accounts very medicore and can't be fixed).  One of the good thing about Apple and iPod stuff is due to it's massive popularity you buy the Algorthythm Solo it is almost guaranteed to work for any of the iDevices that you can plug it into to use as a transport for many generations of device upgrades to come and be saved from the headaches of rooting and waiting for someone else to do the ROM hacking/baking - you buy it now you know what you are getting.  The money saved might not translate to headache saved if you go Android - and this is the reason I went back to buying an iPod Touch to build as my dedicated portable rig even with a Galaxy S.

 

[scrypt]

"That kind of thinking" is different from the kind involved in my actual post.
 
My problem with Nanaholic's particular response is that it treats an if/then-else proposition as if it pretended to be a certainty.  It's as if Nan were reflecting on various times in which he'd heard people theorize about future products too arrogantly or innocently and then projected an overlay of those memories onto a post that had nothing to do with them.
 
The idea of USB DACs being used with Ice Cream Sandwich is not sudden or provisional.  ICS is the version of Android which the Galaxy Nexus will run, and further updates to that version will be made available to the GN first.  Additionally, Google has intended to allow digital audio to pass through the USB ports of Android devices for rather a long time -- I've been following this request from the Android community since the original Droid came to market -- and Ice Cream is officially the version of the OS that is intended to make that possible.  The question is how well it will work and whether existing USB DACs will work with it.  All of which is why my remarks on the subject were phrased in the form of a question and not the directive to smash the nearest Best Buy window and snatch a Galaxy Nexus at launch.
 
Additionally, Nan makes unfounded assumptions about my familiarity with the Galaxy S line and goes so far as to conclude I'm theorizing baselessly about the DACs of two iterations of the Galaxy S -- iterations which I personally have used, listened to, assessed, rooted and set up for myself and for a friend, which is how I know that Voodoo Control runs on the S1 but not on the S2, even though Neutron's audio tweaks work on both (the developer owns both iterations of the Galaxy S, BTW).  It is also how I know that certain ROMs work on the S1 but not the S2 (and vice versatile, Ace).
 
Nan seems also not to have noticed that I dismissed the DAC of the S2 as unacceptable compared to the S1 and the iPhone 4/4S, which is the whole point of my comment that the S2 could be a good choice for someone who wants to use an external DAC, just as the S1 is a good PMP because of its Wolfson DAC and the digital amp-defeating software available for the rooted version, and could be a good source once ICS is made available for it in the form of custom ROMs.
 
Again, I've personally used the Algorhythm Solo, so my comments about the price are informed by its availability, practicality and ease of use.  The person who runs out and buys a Galaxy Nexus with the absolute certainty that a standard USB DAC will run on it is assuming far too much.  But so, for that matter, is the Galaxy S owner who runs out and buys an Algorithm Solo purely because he is that certain that Google and ROM developers can't possibly be good enough to confect a cheaper and more open digital source that is actually fun to use, and do so on schedule.
 
No one is telling anyone to rush out and buy a Galaxy Nexus with the absolute certainty it can be used it to run, say, a FiiO E10.  But the person who would rather not spend $600 on an ARS just yet might be well-advised to wait for the Galaxy Nexus to surface, and to read reports in places like this about its compatibility with USB DACs.  And on the basis of that information, Galaxy S1 owners like me can decide whether to wait for an ICS custom ROM or to move on to different hardware and a more tangible solution.
 
I've owned Apple music players since the original iPod 3G.  I'm well aware of the third party options for Apple kit, and how those options sometimes make it more of a niche device than so-called niche devices.  This is a different scenario from that, and the timeline for nailing down each variable will be a matter of months, not years. 
 
Big changes are afoot in the way we use portable music devices, and patience will be rewarded.  The person who's most likely to be frustrated is the early adopter.  That goes for the impulse snatchers of each iPhone iteration as well as that of each Galaxy S.
 
 

 

[nanaholic]

Nice rant scrypt, if not coming across as an Android fan being too defensive, but I'm just going to summarize the main points against the points you've raise.
 
Is ICS available now?  No
Is there a guarantee that ICS would support USB DAC? No, though it's likely that it would, but the guarantee is definitely not there.
Is the Samsung Galaxy S2 going to get ICS?  Probably, but no one knows the time frame, neither the official ROM release or community baked one.
When will the community get their hands on the ICS source code so they can tinker with it or for companies to release products to support ICS?  Who knows, and you better cross your fingers that Google doesn't pull another Honeycomb of which the source code is still locked up
 
Now compare this to if I were to buy an iDevice, say an 4S
Will it work with the other external DACs such as the Solo made for iDevices? Yes
Will it get the OS upgrades on the day that it is released? Yes, and it's already on the latest firmware
Does the community and companies making devices for iDevices have a firm understanding of them? Yes
 
Now tell me who is going to be the early adopter if one is the invest in an iDevice or a Galaxy S2 (not even talking about the Nexus)?  I think the picture is quite clear that the facts are in favour of the iDevice right now, which makes your rant seem a little pointless if you ask me.
 
Mind you I have *two* Android devices, a Galaxy S and a Xoom tablet, I'm eagerly looking forward to getting ICS to squeeze that bit more life out of the devices I've purchased as anyone else, but if someone is to buy a device *now* and hoping to open the door in an rich ecosystem of portable audio device options, the iDevices wins hands down.  Not only that you've added more ammo to support that everything in the Android eco-system is based on future speculation that ICS will do such and such, so thanks for that.