Sony Xperia Z3 Audio Quality

[thepooh]

Z4 Music or Walkman edition is rumored to be coming soon (May). Not sure if you are in a rush or not.

If it comes with s-master and a pricetag below 700 bucks, I'm in

 

[elektron]

Z4 Music or Walkman edition is rumored to be coming soon (May). Not sure if you are in a rush or not.

 
Would you care to share the source?  I have been following this pretty closely for some time but haven't seen any solid info to suggest that it the Z4 will be announced before September.  It would also make little sense for Sony to release one of the Z4 variants so far in advance of the other two.  I hope you are right though.

 

[israikc]

Which S5 do you have? Hope you're aware that the wolfson chip is available only in the international 3G Exynos version, on the other hand if you have the 4G Snapdragon S5 you'll only get the onboard qualcomm chip which is really crap in audio quality ! I quite disagree with your statement regarding the wolfson equiped S5, I found it to be better than my M7 in terms of everything related to sound quality, it may not have the monster output to drive big cans like the Htc but the sound is very clean and close to the Z3 with a lil more punch in the bass section. Unfortunately, I don't have the S5 anymore to compare with my new Z3 on A-B

I have the Exynos-equipped S5. I'm actually quite satisfied with the sound quality, it's just that everything else just kind of "broke" after the update, and for a multipurpose device that's definitely not good.
 
Did you ever notice the interference/noise when using IEMs/cans with your S5?

 

[thepooh]

I have the Exynos-equipped S5. I'm actually quite satisfied with the sound quality, it's just that everything else just kind of "broke" after the update, and for a multipurpose device that's definitely not good.

Did you ever notice the interference/noise when using IEMs/cans with your S5?

It depends on your equipment, smartphones are made to handle lossy formats through rather affordable headsets, as long as you're using sub $100 iems with mp3, aac and wma in it, you won't notice any kind of noise or interference, but if you are listening to flacs and hd tracks with high end headphones, you'll hear all kind of imperfections as the dac is working to it's limit, don't get fool with advertisement on 24bit etc, they're just gimmicky features to catch buyers in the same way that a smartphone camera will never reach the level of a dedicated camera, even a $100 fiio x1 sounds better than most sub $1000 flagship smartphones, as I always say : a cat is a cat and will never turn into a dog even if it can bark ! For what I was getting through the S5, it was up to my expectations

 

[israikc]

It depends on your equipment, smartphones are made to handle lossy formats through rather affordable headsets, as long as you're using sub $100 iems with mp3, aac and wma in it, you won't notice any kind of noise or interference, but if you are listening to flacs and hd tracks with high end headphones, you'll hear all kind of imperfections as the dac is working to it's limit, don't get fool with advertisement on 24bit etc, they're just gimmicky features to catch buyers in the same way that a smartphone camera will never reach the level of a dedicated camera, even a $100 fiio x1 sounds better than most sub $1000 flagship smartphones, as I always say : a cat is a cat and will never turn into a dog even if it can bark ! For what I was getting through the S5, it was up to my expectations

Actually the noise/interference was very noticeable when wearing IEMs and not listening to anything at all (no music, no videos, no calls) but using the phone for other stuff like browsing the web or wasting away on facebook.
Everytime I touched the screen I could "hear" the interaction between my finger and the screen, like the screen digitizer was interfering with the headphone jack.
That's what bothered me the most.

 

[NuckinFutz]

Actually the noise/interference was very noticeable when wearing IEMs and not listening to anything at all (no music, no videos, no calls) but using the phone for other stuff like browsing the web or wasting away on facebook.
Everytime I touched the screen I could "hear" the interaction between my finger and the screen, like the screen digitizer was interfering with the headphone jack.
That's what bothered me the most.

As I said earlier, had this with the s2 and is processor noise, well it was in my case. This is largely down to poor circuit design and/or lack of appropriate isolation. Not had it with any other phone since

 

[israikc]

As I said earlier, had this with the s2 and is processor noise, well it was in my case. This is largely down to poor circuit design and/or lack of appropriate isolation. Not had it with any other phone since

That's what bothered me the most. I mean, it's not like they're giving them away.

 

[Rixsta]

I was not happy with the sound of the HTC one M8  even my Nokia 630 sounded more true natural and real, the only thing the M8 wins on is stereo seperation/soundstage. 
how do you guys like this phone and its sound ? 

 

[Rpg2]

http://www.androidauthority.com/sony-xperia-z4-pictures-live-598805

Found this for those interested. It mentions S-Master being present in the regular Z4 phone and not just the walkman edition. I assume that's a very good DAC? Shame the snapdragon 810 will hinder battery life though.

 

[Whitigir]

http://www.androidauthority.com/sony-xperia-z4-pictures-live-598805

Found this for those interested. It mentions S-Master being present in the regular Z4 phone and not just the walkman edition. I assume that's a very good DAC? Shame the snapdragon 810 will hinder battery life though.

And heat problem. I think with Smaster inside, it will be priced as originally thought, almost $1000 or so.

Seeing I already has zx2 with the best possible S-Master inside, I am going to spend on note 4 exynos with wolfson

 

[Rixsta]

And heat problem. I think with Smaster inside, it will be priced as originally thought, almost $1000 or so.

Seeing I already has zx2 with the best possible S-Master inside, I am going to spend on note 4 exynos with wolfson

Does that version of Note 4 .. The exynos. Have 4G and full support for Europe phone networks ?


The Z3 has got me thinking. With its ok audio bitrate on recorded videos. Still its recorded audio is nothing compared to. Nokia Lumia 930

Can the Z3 record higher than 160kbps on videos ? That's pretty low

HTC one M8. Has 190kbps
Nokia Lumia 930, 256kbps

 

[Rixsta]

Is there a Sound quality difference between the Compact and Standard Z3 ?

 

[Whitigir]

Does that version of Note 4 .. The exynos. Have 4G and full support for Europe phone networks ?


The Z3 has got me thinking. With its ok audio bitrate on recorded videos. Still its recorded audio is nothing compared to. Nokia Lumia 930

Can the Z3 record higher than 160kbps on videos ? That's pretty low

HTC one M8. Has 190kbps
Nokia Lumia 930, 256kbps

I am unsure of what Z3 cam can record as I sold it recently, and did not look too much into that feature. But today I have Note 4 Exynos with Wolfson DAC.

I have to tell you that it sounds disappointing.....worse than any Apple devices, including the IPad Air 2.....and worse than any Qualcomm variant....I had the chance to try Note 4 Qualcomm before, and that one was very close to IPhone 6 with a little bit leaner sound, but hardly distinguishable.

The Wolfson here has a lot of noise in the sub-mid, mid, high....the lows is runny, and undefined, the output is ridiculously low.

 

[Rixsta]

I am unsure of what Z3 cam can record

as I sold it recently, and did not look too much into that feature. But today I have Note 4 Exynos with Wolfson DAC.

I have to tell you that it sounds disappointing.....worse than any Apple devices, including the IPad Air 2.....and worse than any Qualcomm variant....I had the chance to try Note 4 Qualcomm before, and that one was very close to IPhone 6 with a little bit leaner sound, but hardly distinguishable.

The Wolfson here has a lot of noise in the sub-mid, mid, high....the lows is runny, and undefined, the output is ridiculously low.

Thanks for your opinion

I had been thinking about the Exynos version of Note 4. but Ill take your word for that, the audio recording quality is not bad and my friend likes the sound of the Qualcomm version he has. 
But yeah for me I might get the Z3 or Z3 Compact. Or HTC one M8  but even my Nokia 630 sounded better to me in some ways than the M8.

 

[mannp]

Is the hi-res audio via usb setting still available after the update?

Not sure if this has been answered, but no, the option is gone in Lollipop.