[TonyFro]

Audioquest Dragon fly red or black also seems popular and offer decent performance

 

[aangen]

I am using UAPP to drive my Shure SE-846 IEMs and I enjoy the sound. I also have a Chord Mojo I listen with and that sounds better but it isn't worth the bother to me to tether the two devices. I had a friend warn me how horrible and unlistenable the S8 is and I can't agree at all. It sounds fine with the 846s. I am guessing he may have tried to use the S8 with a harder to drive headphone. In my experience there is very little headroom with my setup. It plays loud enough for me, but if I wanted much more an outboard DAC/AMP would be required.

 

[peter123]

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

Are you saying that there's a way to use Neutron with Spotify?

 

[TonyFro]

Are you saying that there's a way to use Neutron with Spotify?

Tbh I don't use Spotify so I can't comment, sorry

 

[TonyFro]

Tbh I don't use Spotify so I can't comment, sorry

But Flac and DSD files definitely

 

[peter123]

But Flac and DSD files definitely

Yeah, I use UAPP for this but my problem is to get Spotify to bypass the Android sound management. Unfortunately this seems to be very difficult

 

[DeadeyeM]

Any more thoughts on the exynos SQ? with any comparisons like HTC 10?

 

[psikey]

Just got some HD660S and amazingly the S8+ drives them really well. Plenty loud enough 2-3 steps below max volume. Nearly as good as out of my DFR and better than out of iPhone SE that I have.

I do get slight background hiss if using my SE846's but only of concern if listening to music with quiet passages in doors In a quiet room. No issue when out and about.

 

[DeadeyeM]

Currently i have V30 and only using it with SoundMagic E10, but i hate the screen issues that V30 and mine is 2nd unit so thinking returning it. So was looking for next best thing in Smartphone audio quality and Samsung came to light.

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

Time to weigh in on my new phone...as a phone, it's top notch. Build quality, software, camera quality, and overall feel is off the charts as expected. But as far as audio goes...weak amp that barely drives the included AKG labeled buds and definitely cant drive my 65ohm KSC75s. I have to max the volume on the included AKG buds, and yes...it is a bit of a muddled mess overall in terms of sound quality when compared to my old HTC One and especially my HP Envy Series laptop.

If you get this phone...talking about the US snapdragon version...expect a run of the mill smart phone as far as audio goes. I'll be considering a V40 or G7 down the road if LG gets it together...but for now, a USB solution like a K1 or Dragonfly is in my future. Not a bad thing necessarily, as this phome really is amazing; it just needs more juice and some overall help from the audio side of things. Most people wouldn't care or think anything of it though...i'm sure it performs about the same as an iPhone,Pixel, or HTC with their crappy dongles.

As for the AKG labeled buds, they're great for pack-ins. They're energetic with a bit of a scooped mid range with a bass bump for sure. Definitely mass market in character and very agreeable. I like them a lot for a nice set of on the go buds, but they're obviously not for the analytical listener. In short, good stuff and a very cool freebe.

 

[faivecr]

Hello. I have to quick questions: Does using a Dragonfly Red DAC with the S8 really improves sound quality and the volume? And the most IMPORTANT one: As I only hear music from Spotify and Apple Music, if I use a Dragonfly Red DAC would I get better sound or will it sound basically the same? Thank you!!

 

[RitzyBusiness]

You will get a crap ton more volume out of it, the S8 (I own the SnapDragon Active model) on its own is not very powerful from my own experience. My fairly easy to power IEM's can be at near max volume and still be comfortable to listen to.

As far as sound quality goes though? It should be better, but in reality most people probably wouldn't get their monies worth on SQ alone. Not because it wouldn't sound better but because the difference might not be as pronounced for casual listening/excersize.


Having a better amp would definitely be a huge boon for this phone. Especially if you're having volume control issues.

 

[DivaFonda]

Hello. I have to quick questions: Does using a Dragonfly Red DAC with the S8 really improves sound quality and the volume? And the most IMPORTANT one: As I only hear music from Spotify and Apple Music, if I use a Dragonfly Red DAC would I get better sound or will it sound basically the same? Thank you!!

From what I understand from the Dragonfly thread; you need to buy USB Audio Player Pro, do the current Dragonfly firmware update and then use UAPP to raise the volume of the Dragonfly. This will bypass Android volume limitations. I can't comment on sound quality unfortunately. I'm looking at the Red myself.

 

[psikey]

Hello. I have to quick questions: Does using a Dragonfly Red DAC with the S8 really improves sound quality and the volume? And the most IMPORTANT one: As I only hear music from Spotify and Apple Music, if I use a Dragonfly Red DAC would I get better sound or will it sound basically the same? Thank you!!

Depends on your ear/headphones. At my extremes I have the SE846's IEM's at 8 Ohm and the HD660S Headphones at 150 ohm.

With the low impedance SE846's the S8+ is quite hissy and can be easily heard in quite sections of music so using the Dragonfly Red helps here (or I just use my ifi IEMatch adapter). Volume at ~50% is fine straight out of phone.
I'd say 150 ohm is close to max of the output for the S8+ It drives my HD660S nicely but for typical charts like music a couple of steps under max volume and for many soft classical need on max volume. Not going to satisfy those that like high volume. Plenty of extra power if feeding out of Dragon Fly Red.

Taking volume out of it, the SQ itself is great out of the Exynos version (not heard the snapdragon version but tend to read its not as good).

With Adapt Sound enabled it can go slightly louder but then get more amp hiss with sensitive IEM's.

With UAPP app you can move the volume point of the DFR and it goes very loud and if you then come out of UAPP while set to loud the volume is improved in other apps such as Spotify/Tidal.

Even though Spotify is still up-scaled out of Spotify app on Android it still sounds great to my ears even though not bit perfect which is what we normally aim for. You can of course stream Tidal bit-perfect in UAPP (not offline Tidal).

Best for Spotify for me "bit-perfect" is still my 128GB iPhone SE via Dragonfly Red. Tend to use this indoors with my SE846's and HD660S. Don't use it as a phone, just music player.

 

[EirikM]

Any more thoughts on the exynos SQ? with any comparisons like HTC 10?

The SQ is very good , close to chord mojo i think. Use it with Sennheiser HD600, AKG 712 pro and DT770 Pro 32 ohm. Loud enough for me. See that next version of the dac even better , https://www.cirrus.com/products/cs43131/. So great news for Samsung S9

• Improved output level up to 2 VRMS into 600 Ω headphones
• Evolved performance: THD+N increased from -108 dB to -115 dB
• Increased hi-fi DSD playback rate from DSD128 to DSD256