[Ryland Johnson]

For me after a couple month utilize, the bundle AKG with S8 is acceptable. I have compared this AKG to Mee 7 pro and RHA t20i and AKG is more detail and it has own "personality" than the rest. At right now, I am sastify with AKG S8 but will consider again if i have chance to compare with other high-end IEM.

I agree the Samsung 'AKG' have their own personality. That sound is obviously subjective and its not my taste. Of course others will enjoy them and that is as it should be.
I certainly don't think the Samsung AKG phones would stand comparison with "High end IEM's". I am surprised you find the Sammies AKG more detailed than the RHA's? I do understand you point and ponder if we are confusing terms of reference? Nice to debate with you.

Ryland

 

[swesko]

This is one of the main reasons I have returned the Pioneer DAP I tried last week end. Its just fine purchasing all the good reproductive technology but where is the music that the DAP's etc can make use of? If you research the term 'Hi-Res' it literally can mean absolutely nothing.
Some recording studios label music as Hi-Res when in fact they mean its the best recording available of that particular piece of music!

See YouTube clips on the subject and listen to one of the worlds top sound engineers talk about the so called Hi-Res recordings. It will truly shock you, well it did me!

The problem with good DAP's and decent mobile phone DAC's is they will show all the goodies in a recording but also highlight all the negatives of said recording. Again a reason I stopped purchasing the high end esoteric systems some decade ago. I reached a platform where poor recording's sounded awful and to find a good recording was rare so why bother with high end highly critical reproductive technology? Not to mention the obvious human ear capabilities, I ended up with systems where not even my Labrador could hear the nuances IF they where there!

Ryland

yes, that's the thing with high end gear, it allows to hear the studio like sounds on some tracks but will make others sound crap. Most of newly released pop songs for example are badly mastered so even if you listen o the Masters on Tidal for example they sound like crap, with too much background noise, congestion and bad EQ

 

[Ryland Johnson]

yes, that's the thing with high end gear, it allows to hear the studio like sounds on some tracks but will make others sound crap. Most of newly released pop songs for example are badly mastered so even if you listen o the Masters on Tidal for example they sound like crap, with too much background noise, congestion and bad EQ

Exactly. The music world appears in a right mess?

Ryland

 

[gazzington]

Ah what I meant was that they are good for free ones but still not comparable to bought separately iems. And they are def not worth £99, however in comparison to most freebies these are descent.

 

[ssreddy555]

I find the AKG's with S 8 very good. They reproduce a flat response & a true reproduction of recorded sound. And they are designed to fit very well in the ears.
I wonder how good are the AKG K 92 studio headphones for general purpose.

 

[psikey]

I find the AKG's with S 8 very good. They reproduce a flat response & a true reproduction of recorded sound. And they are designed to fit very well in the ears.
I wonder how good are the AKG K 92 studio headphones for general purpose.

To be honest, if your happy with the AKG S8 earphones then just about any source would be fine, be it smartphone or low end DAP. They really are nothing special other than much better than the pack-ins of earlier android phone/iphones.

They do seem to be built better from a durability perspective.

 

[ljnew]

Any news source? Because I would doubt that's the case as its the latest flagship dac from Cirrus Logic. It combines both an DAC and an amp. With such a powerful DAC chip, I doubt it will be implemented in a commercial smartphone for the mass consumers.

in meizu pro 7 for sure

 

[Sound Eq]

any sound quality comparisons between S8+ snapdragon vs exynos

 

[Houba]

Ah what I meant was that they are good for free ones but still not comparable to bought separately iems. And they are def not worth £99, however in comparison to most freebies these are descent.

To my ears, they are worthy as freebies, nothing special

The HTC one is far better

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

Hello...so I was going to grab a LG V20 but had a corkscrew tossed at me....Comcast will give me $700 in gift cards if I grab an S8 and switch to Xfinity Mobile.

This is just way to hard for me to pass up, it was a retention offer. But I'm listening through a pair of Koss KSC75s at the moment and looking to buy a pair of in ears to match whichever phone I get. What am I getting myself into here...and is there a cheap DAC/Amp that I can purchase that would help bring the phone up to par if its sound quality is lacking? I really want something with a wide sound stage and a really big, punchy sound...something very lively and energetic.

I've got an old HTC One M7 that doesn't sound so hot to me, and an HP ENVY laptop that sounds great/drives very well. Just need some advice here...Because this one really just tosses one heckof a wrench into things for me. I mean, $700 is $700.

 

[Ryland Johnson]

Hello...so I was going to grab a LG V20 but had a corkscrew tossed at me....Comcast will give me $700 in gift cards if I grab an S8 and switch to Xfinity Mobile.

This is just way to hard for me to pass up, it was a retention offer. But I'm listening through a pair of Koss KSC75s at the moment and looking to buy a pair of in ears to match whichever phone I get. What am I getting myself into here...and is there a cheap DAC/Amp that I can purchase that would help bring the phone up to par if its sound quality is lacking? I really want something with a wide sound stage and a really big, punchy sound...something very lively and energetic.

I've got an old HTC One M7 that doesn't sound so hot to me, and an HP ENVY laptop that sounds great/drives very well. Just need some advice here...Because this one really just tosses one heckof a wrench into things for me. I mean, $700 is $700.

Is the S8 you are being offered the Xynos model or the snapdragon? If its the Xynos it has a superb DAC but the amplifier, though also good, has limitations in terms of output volume.

A word, if I may? Be careful regarding 'bargains'. The V20 will certainly outperform the S8 in terms of sound quality and volume via headgear.
Nothing worse than buyers remorse. BTW the S8 arguably leaves the V20 dead in the water in every other aspect in terms of a smartphone.

Perhaps in your position I would consider buying the S8 and adding an external amp or DAC-Amp combo. Of course this is a personal choice only and you MUST buy what fits your needs and prioritise.

Ryland

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

Is the S8 you are being offered the Xynos model or the snapdragon? If its the Xynos it has a superb DAC but the amplifier, though also good, has limitations in terms of output volume.

A word, if I may? Be careful regarding 'bargains'. The V20 will certainly outperform the S8 in terms of sound quality and volume via headgear.
Nothing worse than buyers remorse. BTW the S8 arguably leaves the V20 dead in the water in every other aspect in terms of a smartphone.

Perhaps in your position I would consider buying the S8 and adding an external amp or DAC-Amp combo. Of course this is a personal choice only and you MUST buy what fits your needs and prioritise.

Ryland

Hey thanks. Unfortunately, it's a CDMA/United States provider...so I'm going to assume that it is a Snapdragon model. It basically breaks down to the same monthly costs, but $700 in my pocket to grab the S8. I really think that I can live with it and just consider grabbing a portable dac/amp.

Is the snapdragon variant really that bad? And should I stick with low impedance headphones because of that? Any advice on audio apps that could help with sound quality? Or suggestions for small dac/amps that are worth having? Wouldn't mind grabbing something for $100 or less but could go more if needed.

 

[peter123]

Hey thanks. Unfortunately, it's a CDMA/United States provider...so I'm going to assume that it is a Snapdragon model. It basically breaks down to the same monthly costs, but $700 in my pocket to grab the S8. I really think that I can live with it and just consider grabbing a portable dac/amp.

Is the snapdragon variant really that bad? And should I stick with low impedance headphones because of that? Any advice on audio apps that could help with sound quality? Or suggestions for small dac/amps that are worth having? Wouldn't mind grabbing something for $100 or less but could go more if needed.

If sound us your top priority I'm sure there's no contest between the two. Imo the S8 is only average (I've got the Exynos version) as long as you're not able to use some third party app that bypasses the Android sound handling. This works for me (using UAPP) on files I've added myself but I haven't found a way to bypass it when using Spotify. My old LG G5 (with the Hifi Plus module) does easily outperform the S8 both with and especially without using UAPP though.

 

[TonyFro]

If sound us your top priority I'm sure there's no contest between the two. Imo the S8 is only average (I've got the Exynos version) as long as you're not able to use some third party app that bypasses the Android sound handling. This works for me (using UAPP) on files I've added myself but I haven't found a way to bypass it when using Spotify. My old LG G5 (with the Hifi Plus module) does easily outperform the S8 both with and especially without using UAPP though.

 

[TonyFro]

Neutron Audio player will play pretty much anything in native format and bit rates