Samsung Galaxy S3... wow.

[proton007]

Quote:

I havent loaded any files on the s3 yet, but it was a pleasant surprize to find out the IEM's they came with sounded shockingly decent. No bass shenanigans here
 
PS: Sprint version here; not getting my hopes up for audio quality

 
Every iPod / phone I've bought has never had its earbuds even removed from the box. Don't even want to try, I always assume its the one area where costs can be cut.

 

[dw1narso]

Quote:

Anybody else get one today? I was not expecting this kind of audio quality, I think it's a step above my iPhone 4. So far I'm only listening to Pandora too but I have to get stone higher quality files on it.
Also impressive are the IEM's that came with it... they even included a few extra sets of silicone tips. Very little bass but otherwise they aren't bad at all. Buy far the best sound I've ever gotten on something included with a device.
Gary

 
GaryAR,
 
what player do you use to play your music on iPhone 4? the iOS built-in? I just accidentally found that my new iPad (3rd gen) built-in player is actually not a good one.
 
I originally look for better than built-in equalizer to tame down one of my IEM that has too many bass for my taste. Then after I tried few equalizer app, I settled down on Equalizer Pro. Funnily it is not because of it's equalization function but, but plainly as music player. Believe it or not, I'm surprised to hear so many missing musical information from the iOS built-in player.
 
I originally thought the DAC or any digital/analog processing on Ipad is not good enough (compared to my desktop system). But after hearing Equalizer Pro (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/equalizer-pro/id505170168?mt=8) I have to say that it is in fact not too bad player...
 
The improvement of Equalizer Pro experience is comparable to when you use Foobar on PC to replace built-in Windows Media Player...
 
So, do you mind to try your iphone 4 with Equalizer Pro? then compared to SGS3? If it really SGS3 sound better (or even still much better) than iPhone 4+Equalizer Pro, then SGS3 would be my aimed device to have.
 
PS. I read somewhere that Equalizer Pro sometimes not stable. But so far I had run stably on new iPad. And I even run "extreme" quality, not just "good" quality.
 
PSS. I PM you for separate discussion.

 

[ficklecycler]

It would be much appreciated if any owners of the stateside GSIII's would give their two cents on the audio quality and characteristics that they are seeing. It would also be helpful if anyone caring to type out their impressions would let us know what version of the phone you have since they're pretty different in this area!
 

 

[elfary]

Did some math this morning.
 
The measured truth is that Galaxy S3 headphone out has 20 more decibels of crosstalk than the iPhone 4S, and it has as well 12 more decibels of THD and 10 more decibels of IMD+Noise. Plus 1.4 more ohms of output impedance.
 
Thus it's quite clear that iPhone 4S headphone out is a step or two above the S3 one.
 
That's what my ears told me prior to gathering the data anyway. It's quite audible really.
 
Note: data taken from Goldenears for a 33 Ohm load.
 

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

Did some math this morning.
 
The measured truth is that Galaxy S3 headphone out has 20 more decibels of crosstalk than the iPhone 4S, and it has as well 12 more decibels of THD and 10 more decibels of IMD+Noise. Plus 1.4 more ohms of output impedance.
 
Thus it's quite clear that iPhone 4S headphone out is a step or two above the S3 one.
 
That's what my ears told me prior to gathering the data anyway. It's quite audible really.
 
Note: data taken from Goldenears for a 33 Ohm load.
 

 
There's further justification for the crowd clamoring for external DAC support, I guess....

 (and yes, I think that whole concept, external DAC + amp for a cell phone is silly)

 

[ficklecycler]

Quote:

Did some math this morning.
 
The measured truth is that Galaxy S3 headphone out has 20 more decibels of crosstalk than the iPhone 4S, and it has as well 12 more decibels of THD and 10 more decibels of IMD+Noise. Plus 1.4 more ohms of output impedance.
 
Thus it's quite clear that iPhone 4S headphone out is a step or two above the S3 one.
 
That's what my ears told me prior to gathering the data anyway. It's quite audible really.
 
Note: data taken from Goldenears for a 33 Ohm load.
 

Is that for the US version or the international variant?

 

[GaryAR]

elfary is in spain, so i'm guessing the measurements are on the int'l version. mine is US (AT&T), i would be amazed if it doesn't measure better than that. as i've said in the thread, it sounds really, really good. 
 
gary

 

[elfary]

Quote:

elfary is in spain, so i'm guessing the measurements are on the int'l version. mine is US (AT&T), i would be amazed if it doesn't measure better than that. as i've said in the thread, it sounds really, really good. 
 
gary

 
The measurements were done by the Korean folks of goldenears. They measured the 3G version.
 
And the measurements are not bad by any means. They are quite good. And it sounded good with my UM3x.
 
It's just that iPhone 4/4S measurements are out of this world. And subjectively with high end in ears the difference is audible (Openness).

 

[analogue 3]

Quote:

There's further justification for the crowd clamoring for external DAC support, I guess....

 (and yes, I think that whole concept, external DAC + amp for a cell phone is silly)

 
Well depends on whether the smartphone is being used (mainly) as a PMP or not. Suppose one wants a PMP with 64gb internal (flash) memory, largest possible pocketable screen size (helps with massive media library/playlist/etc navigation), external mem card, android, and ideally digital audio out (so it can be used with desktop and portable setups like I do with my current PMP).
 
In terms of the above, there are only 2 possible devices. S3 (cellphone which is likely to be one of the first 'droid devices to officially have digital audio out.) or Cowon A5 (pmp, 'droid 2.3 and no digital audio out yet).

 

[NZtechfreak]

I don't think external DAC for a cellphone is silly at all, many here carry second devices around for music playback because their phones SQ isn't up to it, or because it can't drive their headphones, so carrying a DAC as the second device isn't a great deal different. Each to their own...

 

[knights]

are you guys rooted? ... Voodoo by Supercurio is soon to be release and its the most anticipated tweak for Audio mobs like us... As temporary sulotion, great Gokhanmoral has done some recycling of old "voodoo" codes and inject it to his Kernel  (Sorry for associating voodoo on that Kernel Supercurio)... Latest build which is 1.3.7 is the most stable one which ironed some bugs in the previous build... im still running on version 1.3.3 of Siyah on my S3 which is according to my ears great SQ..
 

 

[alamakazam]

I have crackling sound during playback
 
rooted, unrooted, whatever possibility I have done, problem still persists
 
is a known problem
 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1633685

 

[knights]

Quote:

I have crackling sound during playback
 
rooted, unrooted, whatever possibility I have done, problem still persists
 
is a known problem
 
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1633685

I am the OP of that thread... General consensus seems to have that issue but there are few members  including me that doesnt detect any minute clicking... There are progress seen on latest release base, we're still testing it...

 

[NZtechfreak]

Setting CPU governor to "on demand" fixes the crackling problem.
 
In relation to the Siyah kernel and it's sound improvements - the headphone amp and stereo expansion settings definitely help (I wonder does the stereo expansion compensate for the stereo crosstalk?), the bass enhancement settings sound truly awful, and the DAC direct and 128x sampling don't make any difference to my ear. I was interested to see that TotallydubbedHD thought exactly the same. Still worth using in the wait until Voodoo, which should have working 128x sampling and DAC direct modes and sound even better, which will be AWESOME.

 

[knights]

Had a critical listening just now and reproduce that god damn crackling... there are progress in testing on that thread NZ... Nice to see you here... Love your new headphone addition...