[Sp12er3]

more impression that it seem LG's biggest bragging right about their Headphone Out is mostly their power output huh?

 

[dharmasteve]

I have 5 Mk2, but the sound is amazing. Much better than my previous lg v30. Much bigger soundstage, more mids, all the detail is there. Overall I'm very happy with it and still in shock that lg v series is worse despite having a quad dac on board

Completely agree.

 

[Bluecactus123]

more impression that it seem LG's biggest bragging right about their Headphone Out is mostly their power output huh?

That's probably right. And certainly majority of people talking about lg's think power=sound quality. These are two completely different things

 

[sdwater]

Been a minute.

Have an Xperia 1 Mk.II, and also got UAPP after someone within Reddit's infinite wisdom recommended it.

My take:

Pros

• It's the only app that lets you access the phone's DAC. What the hell.
• Headphones get plenty of power now and sound great.
• Not expensive.

Cons

• Not a fan of the UI. It feels like VLC for Android. Poweramp stands head and shoulders above in menus and navigation.
• It has a major problem with getting/retaining Album Art that Pulsar+ and Poweramp both don't.
• It's another app to add to the previous three that I have for videos/music.

I wish Poweramp could access the DAC as well. It has a Hi-Res Audio option, but it's not as direct? You get something like this (highly intelligent analysis guys):

 

[sdwater]

the Mk3 just announced yesterday and they have the exact same look

Just bigger battery, better telephoto camera, louder speaker, higher refresh rate & brighter display, faster included 30W battery charger, stock RAM start at 12GB with 256GB ROM, and Corning Victus which is IMO the best Gorilla Glass yet, I have seen it survives drops better and also not cracking even when the phone itself is bend in half (Asus ROG 5&others)

Also I'm hearing that like LDAC, Sony is in talk to bake 360 audio into Android.
Real Talk: who uses their MDR Z7, or other premium fullsize closed backs for that matter, Outdoors?

It's such a good looking phone, but I guess the next one always is. The Mk.II brought all the camera improvements that I think the first one highly lacked, and the headphone jack which we're on this thread for. I can't trade up again so soon, my wallet hurts every time I do, so I'll probably skip a year. (Probably why I don't have a pair of MDR Z7's either.)

What I wish, as a Sony Xperia fanboy who had the Z5 Compact and the XZ2 Compact (their best compact phone imo), is that they release another truly compact device. The Xperia 5 isn't compact in comparison to what they were putting out before, and I think they have the ability to do it. Folks were hoping they'd announce the Sony Xperia Ace 2, and, y'know, put it in Best Buy here in the US. A Sony dream phone would be a Compact device that is an modern equivalent of the XZ2 Compact. It's doable, and with the sales of the iPhone 12 Mini and the announcement of an Asus Zenfone Mini/Compact, I think it might be a returning trend they should capitalize on sooner rather than later.

But honestly, a dream phone would be a Sony phone that takes queues from their Walkman line. A dedicated music app that copies the Sony Walkman A50's interface and takes advantage of the Hi-Res DAC would be easy enough to develop. Why not blend all facets of their ecosystem together? Walkman is the only one missing, and is looking more and more like a black sheep.

 

[jamor]

I will be buying the Sony Xperia 5 iii - what a beast. Xperia 1 is for photophiles so don't really need to spend the extra $.

 

[Jayden]

I used to have the the good 'ol Xperia Z1. The design and photo quality of that phone is superb! Although the performance of the phone plummeted after a few years of usage, I guessed it would be the 'lifespan' of most phones nowadays. But glad to see Sony coming up with the Xperia 1!

 

[Bluecactus123]

Do you guys know if Xperia dac's are capable of playing MQA? I stream tidal via UAPP, but haven't bought the MQA extension, and I've heard listening to MQA files without MQA decoding (or whatever it's called) is worse than listening to Flac, or something to that extent. Cheers

 

[mainguy]

Finally going to ditch the iPhone for one of these beauties; I read the what hifi review that says the 1 ii sounds better than the 5 ii, anyone here able to verify? I can get the 5 ii for £450 or the 1 ii for £550, both new. I kind of want the 5 ii because the battery life looks so much better...

 

[dharmasteve]

Finally going to ditch the iPhone for one of these beauties; I read the what hifi review that says the 1 ii sounds better than the 5 ii, anyone here able to verify? I can get the 5 ii for £450 or the 1 ii for £550, both new. I kind of want the 5 ii because the battery life looks so much better...

I can't speak for the Xperia 1ii, but the Xperia 5ii is as good as my old LG V30 Quad DAC for sound. With really high impedance headphones they don't fare so well as a balanced output DAP. To get good battery life I switch the display to 60Hz from 120Hz. If you are mainly using for Music or Video the battery life is good. Sony battery care is excellent, but the biggest difference between the two is size. Personally I love the size of the Xperia 5ii, but If you can get the Xperia 1ii for £550 that is an exceptionally good deal.....although the Xperia 1iii is coming out very soon and on Youtube it gets some good press.

 

[Bluecactus123]

I can't speak for the Xperia 1ii, but the Xperia 5ii is as good as my old LG V30 Quad DAC for sound. With really high impedance headphones they don't fare so well as a balanced output DAP. To get good battery life I switch the display to 60Hz from 120Hz. If you are mainly using for Music or Video the battery life is good. Sony battery care is excellent, but the biggest difference between the two is size. Personally I love the size of the Xperia 5ii, but If you can get the Xperia 1ii for £550 that is an exceptionally good deal.....although the Xperia 1iii is coming out very soon and on Youtube it gets some good press.

Xperia 5 Mk ii sounds much better than LG v30

 

[mainguy]

I can't speak for the Xperia 1ii, but the Xperia 5ii is as good as my old LG V30 Quad DAC for sound. With really high impedance headphones they don't fare so well as a balanced output DAP. To get good battery life I switch the display to 60Hz from 120Hz. If you are mainly using for Music or Video the battery life is good. Sony battery care is excellent, but the biggest difference between the two is size. Personally I love the size of the Xperia 5ii, but If you can get the Xperia 1ii for £550 that is an exceptionally good deal.....although the Xperia 1iii is coming out very soon and on Youtube it gets some good press.

Thanks!

By the way, for everyone who wants to increase volume from the headphone jack, I found this rather useful Link:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...-1-rc6-xperia-1ii-5ii-1-5-xzp-update.4192117/

Root your device, install it, apparently you can ramp the volume from the jack. Saw a few people mentioning this as an issue earlier in the thread. I think I’ll get the 1 ii for 550 then

 

[dharmasteve]

Xperia 5 Mk ii sounds much better than LG v30

The LG V30 is good with the adapter trick to get it into quad DAC mode. It does sound great. The Sony Xperia 5ii just sounds good straight from the off. Every bit as good as the 3.5mm of my HiBy R5. Where the HiBy moves ahead is from it's 4.4mm balanced. I do love the sound of the Sony though and it is very convenient. No need for a separate DAP or even a DAC. Sony seem to understand sound. For most of my IEMs the Sony has plenty enough power, a couple though need a bit more juice than the Sony can offer, and that's where the quad DAC V30 shines....a bit more juice when needed.

 

[Bluecactus123]

The LG V30 is good with the adapter trick to get it into quad DAC mode. It does sound great. The Sony Xperia 5ii just sounds good straight from the off. Every bit as good as the 3.5mm of my HiBy R5. Where the HiBy moves ahead is from it's 4.4mm balanced. I do love the sound of the Sony though and it is very convenient. No need for a separate DAP or even a DAC. Sony seem to understand sound. For most of my IEMs the Sony has plenty enough power, a couple though need a bit more juice than the Sony can offer, and that's where the quad DAC V30 shines....a bit more juice when needed.

But you're mixing power and sound quality. LG has more power, definitely, but Xperia is better qualitywise

 

[Chris Kaoss]

But you're mixing power and sound quality. LG has more power, definitely, but Xperia is better qualitywise

Guess you're referring to music quality instead of sound quality.
V30/V40 is hard to beat on that by measurement, i think.

Curious to hear more about the H/O of the Sony thou.

I'm on the hunt for a successor of my V30 and it is quite impossible from the offerings i am aware of these days.

My hope goes with the new Sony's, i've to say. Especially since LG has left the table.