Samsung S8 / S8+ Sound Quality

[psikey]

  Received my S8+ yesterday. I'm coming from an iPhone 6s+ (which I went to from a HTC One). First, I think the AKG earphones are quite nice with the S*+ (out of the box even). So I can't wait to hear them with the phone after some burn-in. But the sound quality of this phone blew me away! I had no idea they put that good of a DAC in this phone. So far I'm very please. Does anyone have any knowledge as to these being new AKG earphones, or an older model? Enjoy.

 
Tried the AKG earphones for 10 minutes then put them back in the box where they will stay. Better than most pack-ins but nothing special, had cheap Sony's that sounded nicer. Will be using my S8 Exynos with my Shure SE846's and when doing exercise my older Klipsch X10i. Sounds great with both.
 
Not noticing any hiss with the SE846's. <<<  Not correct, done more listening and clear hiss compared to the S7 especially with Adapt Sound at Excellent (Maxed).

 

[Deuces45]

I think I'm going to stick with the S8+over my LG G5, What Amp/dac combo or Amp would you peeps recommend for my HD650. I've been out of the game for a long time. My fiio E17 died some months ago. 
 
Also, I have the Sound Magic E30 and I noticed there is a little bit more depth in them vs the AKG supplied by Samsung. 

 

[peter123]

I think I'm going to stick with the S8+over my LG G5, What Amp/dac combo or Amp would you peeps recommend for my HD650. I've been out of the game for a long time. My fiio E17 died some months ago. 

Do you have the Hifi Plus module with your G5 and if so do you find the S8+ better sounding?

Are you looking for an amp/dac to pair with your phone and what's your budget?

 

[Deuces45]

Do you have the Hifi Plus module with your G5 and if so do you find the S8+ better sounding?

Are you looking for an amp/dac to pair with your phone and what's your budget?

Unfortunately I don't have the Hifi module but by default, the S8+ seems to be louder and have more detail vs the G5. I've tried my Sound Magic E30 and the AKG on both handsets.  
 
 My price range would be around $150 to $200. 

 

[peter123]

Unfortunately I don't have the Hifi module but by default, the S8+ seems to be louder and have more detail vs the G5. I've tried my Sound Magic E30 and the AKG on both handsets.  

 My price range would be around $150 to $200. 

Ok, that makes sense thanks.

The Opus #11 sounds quite good with the HD650 but I believe it's $250, maybe you can find one used. Tbh I really can't think of anything cheaper that I'd recommend. I'd strongly recommend getting a amp/dac with internal battery if you're going to use it with your phone.

 

[Duncan]

Tried the AKG earphones for 10 minutes then put them back in the box where they will stay. Better than most pack-ins but nothing special, had cheap Sony's that sounded nicer. Will be using my S8 Exynos with my Shure SE846's and when doing exercise my older Klipsch X10i. Sounds great with both.

Not noticing any hiss with the SE846's.

I'm using them with Sennheiser CX500 large tips, and I think they're pretty decent, fresh out of the box...

A shade peaky in the treble, which will hopefully calm down, but for bundled earphones, these are great, and easily eclipse the LG Quadbeat 3 AKG that came with the LG V10

Edit : having had the sheer number of Samsung handsets that I have, and trying all their bundled earphones, has to be said that this is a promising diversion from the normal rubbish they provide, those that came with the S7 were laughably bad in my opinion.

 

[TwiceTzuyu]

   
Tried the AKG earphones for 10 minutes then put them back in the box where they will stay. Better than most pack-ins but nothing special, had cheap Sony's that sounded nicer. Will be using my S8 Exynos with my Shure SE846's and when doing exercise my older Klipsch X10i. Sounds great with both.
 
Not noticing any hiss with the SE846's.

Ugh, I'm jealous of your S8 Exynos. My S8+ Snapdragon has so much hissing with the SE846s. I had the S6E Exynos before and there was no hissing with that.

 

[koven]

First few hours impression -- speakers are way better than HTC10, but who uses those anyway. Headphone output not nearly as good as HTC10, at least w/ Andromedas. I'm at ~75% volume compared to ~50% w/ the HTC. Sounds more compressed as well. Using Tidal HiFi. I think I'll live with it though, since the phone is otherwise amazing. I'll certainly miss the HTC10 sound.

 

[jasonb]

Its no LG V10, but with IEM's its not bad. Sounds good with the RE-00.

 

[phiemon]

Could someone please compare the audio quality of the S8 (EU version) with the iPhone 6(s)(+) or 7(+)? Which sounds better?

 

[Duncan]

Could someone please compare the audio quality of the S8 (EU version) with the iPhone 6(s)(+) or 7(+)? Which sounds better?

hugely quantative question...

Define what you want from your sound that would be "better"?

 

[phiemon]

hugely quantative question...

Define what you want from your sound that would be "better"?

I mean generally: bass, soundstage, resolution etc.

 

[gavinfabl]

So I am currently testing out the audio of the above 4 phones , LG G6, Huawei P10 Plus, S8+ and iPhone 7 Plus.

The G6 is the quad dac version which is so good, that it makes listening to all the other 3 feel like a big downgrade.

 

[Duncan]

Well, it's too new to provide a valid comparison, but I'm really quite impressed with the Exynos version (so, EU - there will be at some point people who say the Snapdragon version is better and vice versa), sounds very clean to me, really not too bad at all, clear and balanced, quite surprising in fact.

For me, having not even had it for 24hrs, with an inevitable dosage of new toy hype I will say that the Exynos S8+ is to the DFR as the iPhone 7 Plus is to the DFB.

Really not too shabby, although going back to the DFR, that still sounds better, but I swear year on year the gap between cellphones and DACs / DAPs is shrinking, can only mean good things for us as end users.

 

[gavinfabl]

Well, it's too new to provide a valid comparison, but I'm really quite impressed with the Exynos version (so, EU - there will be at some point people who say the Snapdragon version is better and vice versa), sounds very clean to me, really not too bad at all, clear and balanced, quite surprising in fact.

For me, having not even had it for 24hrs, with an inevitable dosage of new toy hype I will say that the Exynos S8+ is to the DFR as the iPhone 7 Plus is to the DFB.

Really not too shabby, although going back to the DFR, that still sounds better, but I swear year on year the gap between cellphones and DACs / DAPs is shrinking, can only mean good things for us as end users.

I think the need for a DAP / DAC is definitely diminishing.