[CantScareMe]

Guys, what's the sound quality like from the inbuilt headphone output? 
 
The one from my 'ancient' phone - samsung galaxy 1 (i9000) with voodoo sound of course - compares very well to the colorfly c3. Almost indistinguishable in fact. I just wanted to get a better galaxy phone but want to use only the headphone output. 

 

[NBAJ2K]

(DELETED)

 

[hatefulsandwich]

The i9500 has a good Wolfson DAC, apparently, while the i9505 has a Qualcomm design. I've not compared my S1 side-by-side with my i9505, but I seem to think I preferred the S1. Not because of any particular problem with the quality on the S4, but just something in the fullness of sound. That said, you can mess with the sound when using Viper4Android and i think it's perfectly acceptable. I think it might be the amp in the S4 that isn't quite up to snuff, but the DAC doesn't present a problem IMO. As far as I understand it's the same DAC as the HTC One, but the One has a better amp.

 

[CantScareMe]

The i9500 has a good Wolfson DAC, apparently, while the i9505 has a Qualcomm design. I've not compared my S1 side-by-side with my i9505, but I seem to think I preferred the S1. Not because of any particular problem with the quality on the S4, but just something in the fullness of sound. That said, you can mess with the sound when using Viper4Android and i think it's perfectly acceptable. I think it might be the amp in the S4 that isn't quite up to snuff, but the DAC doesn't present a problem IMO. As far as I understand it's the same DAC as the HTC One, but the One has a better amp.

 
 
Thanks a lot for that mate.
 
I heard the HTC One a month or two ago. Very good sound with an unusually wide soundstage. Even without the beats audio I found it still too bassy - the i9000 voodoo is much more balanced and less v shaped. Must be a way of changing the HTC Ones sound output to my liking.

 

[hatefulsandwich]

Hm, I still wouldn't take it to be that the i9505 necessarily souds like the One exactly. When I got V4A, I bumped bass up a bit, although that just might be personal preference.

I also use Neutron player. I can pretty much get sound I'm happy enough with and I imagine most would be able to. I keep my i9000 around for when I can go jogging again because the S4 is just so big for running around with, IMO. The original galaxy is a very practical size as a music player. I use the S4 in the car mainly at the moment and have no issue with its quality for that, but haven't actually tried it on a jog yet(waiting for weather to be more suitable).

 

[Olanzky]

for some reason I did a couple of test to verify that E17 bypasses the S4 DAC via minimicro
or even USB OTG cable.
both cables are working for me as I was able to listen 
thru Alpen's output jack. I had this thinking of doing some test since I found out that
volume rocker on the S4 is still working despite it was connected to E17.
 
 
So here's what I did. resample Eagles Hotel California 24/192 down to 24/96 via 
dbpoweramp. PowerAmp was able to play this Hirez directly. When i try to connect the
Alpen on S4 it did lock and then hit play. The E17 display on top that it was still on 16/
44khz while on the S4 it did show 24/96khz. in short I didnt hear any difference at all. so 
I did use USB Audio Recorder Pro and it did connect to the E17. Luckily as I hit the play 
button E17 displayed 24/96khz which the USB Audio app shows as well. Only that time 
I heard what was about to be heard. The bass slam is quite noticeable and so as the 
soundstage. You could almost pinpoint their places and my HeirAudio 4.ai delivered all
the clarity of the entire song.
One more thing is when I was about to press the volume rocker in the S4 it did not 
affect the volume at all, even at 0 level. all the volume is handled by the E17 as well as 
connecting my plug to S4 audio jack I couldn't hear anything. See screenshot of the app 
playing the 24/96khz flac file.
 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5Er0FZA9gDMa0U2bTJ4YW9ta1k/edit?usp=sharing

 

[rdsu]

Do you know if we can use an external DAC with Galaxy S4 mini?

 

[snowcrashedx]

  My HiFimeDIY Sabre DAC with micro USB just arrived and it works with absolutely everything on my S4 -- Neutron, USB AR Pro, even the stock player.  No need to use an OTG cable, as it's built in.
 
http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=124

In portable usage, this DAC looks like an adapter attached to my S4 and nothing else. It also sounds quite good. The volume keys of the S4 control the volume of the DAC even without an amp. 

 
Can anyone else verify that the HiFimeDIY Sabre DAC works with regular S4 audio apps? I've seen yes's and no's, but a second 'yes' would be assuring as I have one on order. i9505 version...

 

[Ari33]

   
Can anyone else verify that the HiFimeDIY Sabre DAC works with regular S4 audio apps? I've seen yes's and no's, but a second 'yes' would be assuring as I have one on order. i9505 version...

 
 A partial answer...
 
"Just to update those curious
 
The HiFimeDIY Sabre mini works just great with the i9505 Samsung S4.  Tested it only with Poweramp but at least it doesn't require USB Recorder software.
 
Not sure if the Sabre mini has some kind of a pre-amp built in or if the Android can't do true Line-Out but the volume control works to raise the volume with the Sabre Mini.  True line-out shouldn't have that. Not sure what the deal is"
 
From post 2466 on this page - http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/2460

 

[scrypt]

   
Can anyone else verify that the HiFimeDIY Sabre DAC works with regular S4 audio apps? I've seen yes's and no's, but a second 'yes' would be assuring as I have one on order. i9505 version...

 
 
I can verify that the "Tiny" version of the HiFiMeDIY Sabre DAC for Android (micro-USB, built-in OTG) works with every single sonic app I've used: Neutron, Poweramp, the stock player, Amazon's mp3 player, USB Audio Recorder Pro, etc.  Same with movie players, games, and every other application that generates sound.
 
The physical volume buttons on the S4 also work with the DAC and every app I've used.  The only exception, sadly, is USB Audio Pro, which does ignore the buttons and plays at full volume.
 
One caveat:  The USB side of the DAC/cable has always been a tad loose on mine and, if not kept completely flat and motionless, can disconnect sporadically.  You can move the other end of the micro-USB connector up and down within the cable -- the entire connector slides.  I hope that means I received a bad one and not that common manufacturing defects plague the entire line.
 
Also:  As I mentioned above, an amp really is necessary with the HiFiMeDIY Tiny even though the volume is completely controllable via your phone's physical buttons.  Without an amp, the DAC will be underpowered and the sound more detailed than stock but also tinny and thin.  My hoary Ray Samuels Hornet makes all the difference.

 

[DanBa]

   
The physical volume buttons on the S4 also work with the DAC and every app I've used.  The only exception, sadly, is USB Audio Pro, which does ignore the buttons and plays at full volume.

 
You could use the volume control of its Mixer tab.
 

 

[snowcrashedx]

 A partial answer...

"Just to update those curious

The HiFimeDIY Sabre mini works just great with the i9505 Samsung S4.  Tested it only with Poweramp but at least it doesn't require USB Recorder software.

Not sure if the Sabre mini has some kind of a pre-amp built in or if the Android can't do true Line-Out but the volume control works to raise the volume with the Sabre Mini.  True line-out shouldn't have that. Not sure what the deal is"

From post 2466 on this page - http://www.head-fi.org/t/595071/android-phones-and-usb-dacs/2460

I can verify that the "Tiny" version of the HiFiMeDIY Sabre DAC for Android (micro-USB, built-in OTG) works with every single sonic app I've used: Neutron, Poweramp, the stock player, Amazon's mp3 player, USB Audio Recorder Pro, etc.  Same with movie players, games, and every other application that generates sound.

The physical volume buttons on the S4 also work with the DAC and every app I've used.  The only exception, sadly, is USB Audio Pro, which does ignore the buttons and plays at full volume.

One caveat:  The USB side of the DAC/cable has always been a tad loose on mine and, if not kept completely flat and motionless, can disconnect sporadically.  You can move the other end of the micro-USB connector up and down within the cable -- the entire connector slides.  I hope that means I received a bad one and not that common manufacturing defects plague the entire line.

Also:  As I mentioned above, an amp really is necessary with the HiFiMeDIY Tiny even though the volume is completely controllable via your phone's physical buttons.  Without an amp, the DAC will be underpowered and the sound more detailed than stock but also tinny and thin.  My hoary Ray Samuels Hornet makes all the difference.

Thank you both for great answers. When I switched from the Lumia 1020 (amazing camera and audio) to an S4 the drop in fidelity was precipitous. I would really like to know what DAC is in the Lumias... nice and full sound out of the box.

 

[MrLou]

The cypherlabs algorhythm solo db will work with the s4 using usb audio recorder pro app and a regular micro to mini cable. Oddly enough I can not get the CLAS to connect to the s4 with the otg cable.

 

[snowcrashedx]

So I did receive the mini Sabre DAC and the upgrade from stock I9505 is a treat. Better instrument separation, punchier bass, and an overall increase in volume. It's apparent now the I9505 internal DAC/amp is anemic in comparison. I'm only using this in my car atm. Tried with headphones and an amp is definitely needed in this case. Not bad for Android. Keep hopes in check though as it is an incremental upgrade vs better, more expensive options.

 

[MrLou]

Usb audio recorder pro updated and now even know the CLAS will still connect to the s4, usb app does not function correctly anymore. The tracks all play like there at 78 speed