Sony Xperia Z3 Audio Quality

[thepooh]

I've gotten an LG G4 and compared to my now-not-working-Z3, the sound is much worse. Z3 had better imaging, detail, and overall clarity. Disappointed in the G4's SQ to be honest.

It seems that many people is complaining about self cracking screen or/and serious overheating issues, I guess that your Z3 doesn't work anymore because one of these issues ?

I'm having my second Z3 right now, purchased last week and manufactured in 2015, it seems that most hardware issues have been fixed, my first Z3 didn't cracked but had more than a semi dozen of issues including irresponsive screen, overheating, wifi lags etc, but I love the Z3 so much over any other devices I have and use to have including the M9, S4, M7, G3, Iphone 6 and 5s.

The sound coming from a Z3 beats all of them ! I stopped using lossy and 16bit flacs since 24bit and DSD are out, I still have to keep my ripped cds into either Wav or Aiff, the Z3 is the only smartphone capable of reading all codecs without the need of third party apps. To be honest, even if I purchased Neutron and Poweramp, I hate having to use them as they will never be fully compatible with the dac and never be on par on how it has been tuned through the native music app.

You always have the choice to purchase a little portable amp to solve the output issue but it will lose some details/clarity through the process.

For the G4, if fellows on gsmarena already mentioned that it's worst than its predecessor, so I surely won't argue ! The 5min of trial in the showroom was enough for me to eradicate the G4 as a potential audiophile smartphone. Beats Audio lovers and the average joe won't complain but headfiers will !!!

 

[Vipa]

Well...  I don't know about the technical side of things but here's my experience..
 
I use UE-7pros most of the time so think I have a relatively solid (if subjective) base to work from..
 
I gave up on the cd or ipod running lossless/amp quite a while ago when I sold my LaRocco..  too much to carry round and my 50 year old ears wouldn't be able to pick out the real detail anyway BUT..  I do like a nice sound!!!
 
The best I had was my Galaxy S4 which I replaced with an iPhone 6 last year... what a load of rubbish!!  couldn't get a decent output without it clipping and distorting, especially when I wanted more bass/mid bass..  truly awful.. so disappointing that I got rid of it and just went back to my S4... 
 
Unfortunately the S4 was starting to get a bit battered so I needed a replacement..  requirements were great audio and micro sd card slot (I refuse to pay an extra £300 again to get the 128gb I need for all my music.. especially when its already on the card from my s4.. ) As long as it's there or there abouts with everything else I'm happy.
 
The adverts for the Z3+ about the HR audio caught my attention and so I pressed the button...  Have to say, 3 days in and I'm impressed! the sound quality is the best I have ever had out of any phone.. almost reminds me of my LaRocco days...  amazing detail.. completely immersive.. totally black silence... doesnt struggle, no matter how hard its pushed.. tight controlled bass..  I could gush for hours..  never had that from a phone!  Battery life is at least 4x that of my S4
 
It has it's -ve's too..  it does get bleeding hot when it's working hard but I can live with that (after all its an Octa Core cutting edge processor with a dedicated graphics chip capable of playing the most graphic intensive games out there at 50+fps... what do people expect!?!?!?!)  Doesn't get hot during music playback..  The shape isn't quite as comfortable as the S4 but not unpleasant.  The screen isn't as pleasing to look at as the S4 but I don't think much would be able to compete with Samsungs AMOLED beauties..  Not a deal breaker though (unlike Samsung's decision to remove the SD Card slot on the Galaxy S6 which will keep me away from their products until I have no other option)
 
So, all in all I am very impressed..  ticks my main boxes and doesn't disappoint in the audio department..  Happy bunny

 

 

[LajostheHun]

Hi, long time Z3 suser just came across this thread. My Lollipop update was rather late from Tmo and even then I was reluctant to install it, but eventually I did. The biggest changes were that the USB digital out option was removed , but it's still there in the developer mode. The default is "on" so no worries there. The Android framework no longer bypassed using USB to a DAC like it used to be, so you get notification sounds, and the volume control now enabled as well. It is also up samples to 96k on all lower sampled files[don't have DSD files can't comment on that].Other than the volume control, EQ settings will also be part of the mix if one uses it, however the max volume on the phone will be limited. I never use the headphone output on the phone, so I can't say if there was any change there. I always connected my trusty Fiio E18 DAC/amp via USB to use my full size headphones and despite having hibby music and Onkyo HF music player I always came back to the built in Walkman app. If there was any hidden crossfeed , or any other trickery others mention it here, was certainly not present using the USB digital out. The very reason I bought this phone last year because Sony's clear mention of supporting Hi Rez files, and the SD card option as well. So far I'm very happy with it, and it is also a great daily driver as well. I found the Z3+ less than worthy of an upgrade  for my needs as a phone  and certainly no difference for it's music playback capabilities. YMMV

 

[thepooh]

Hi, long time Z3 suser just came across this thread. My Lollipop update was rather late from Tmo and even then I was reluctant to install it, but eventually I did. The biggest changes were that the USB digital out option was removed , but it's still there in the developer mode. The default is "on" so no worries there. The Android framework no longer bypassed using USB to a DAC like it used to be, so you get notification sounds, and the volume control now enabled as well. It is also up samples to 96k on all lower sampled files[don't have DSD files can't comment on that].Other than the volume control, EQ settings will also be part of the mix if one uses it, however the max volume on the phone will be limited. I never use the headphone output on the phone, so I can't say if there was any change there. I always connected my trusty Fiio E18 DAC/amp via USB to use my full size headphones and despite having hibby music and Onkyo HF music player I always came back to the built in Walkman app. If there was any hidden crossfeed , or any other trickery others mention it here, was certainly not present using the USB digital out. The very reason I bought this phone last year because Sony's clear mention of supporting Hi Rez files, and the SD card option as well. So far I'm very happy with it, and it is also a great daily driver as well. I found the Z3+ less than worthy of an upgrade  for my needs as a phone  and certainly no difference for it's music playback capabilities. YMMV

I'm thinking the same way you did, no Z3+ for me now nor later ! I saw some leaks about an upcoming Z5 in september ? It's supposed to pack the latest Snapdragon 820, 4Gb of ram etc... So I supposed that if it's true, we should get a better dac+amp too ! (I'm waiting for a 96x2 dac instead of 48x2 so that it can finally output proper 192khz instead of just 96khz)

Well time will tell ☺

 

[trauts]

New to high res audio, is it possible to play on a hifi via the z3 or do I need another device in between the phone and the amplifier

 

[xkonfuzed]

It seems that many people is complaining about self cracking screen or/and serious overheating issues, I guess that your Z3 doesn't work anymore because one of these issues ?

I'm having my second Z3 right now, purchased last week and manufactured in 2015, it seems that most hardware issues have been fixed, my first Z3 didn't cracked but had more than a semi dozen of issues including irresponsive screen, overheating, wifi lags etc, but I love the Z3 so much over any other devices I have and use to have including the M9, S4, M7, G3, Iphone 6 and 5s.

The sound coming from a Z3 beats all of them ! I stopped using lossy and 16bit flacs since 24bit and DSD are out, I still have to keep my ripped cds into either Wav or Aiff, the Z3 is the only smartphone capable of reading all codecs without the need of third party apps. To be honest, even if I purchased Neutron and Poweramp, I hate having to use them as they will never be fully compatible with the dac and never be on par on how it has been tuned through the native music app.

You always have the choice to purchase a little portable amp to solve the output issue but it will lose some details/clarity through the process.

For the G4, if fellows on gsmarena already mentioned that it's worst than its predecessor, so I surely won't argue ! The 5min of trial in the showroom was enough for me to eradicate the G4 as a potential audiophile smartphone. Beats Audio lovers and the average joe won't complain but headfiers will !!!

No, my Z3 got dropped in water and somehow water found its way to the motherboard and its no longer working. This is because one of the flaps wasn't fully closed. Don't trust Sony with their bs waterproof claims. 
 
The G4 is actually better than the Z3 form my experience. 
 
G4 advantages: faster, less hiccups and less lag, better screen, louder speaker, and a much, much better camera, replaceable battery.
 
Z3 advantages: better audio quality, better built, longer battery, and looks better.

 

[thepooh]

No, my Z3 got dropped in water and somehow water found its way to the motherboard and its no longer working. This is because one of the flaps wasn't fully closed. Don't trust Sony with their bs waterproof claims. 

The G4 is actually better than the Z3 form my experience. 

G4 advantages: faster, less hiccups and less lag, better screen, louder speaker, and a much, much better camera, replaceable battery.

Z3 advantages: better audio quality, better built, longer battery, and looks better.

The G4 is for sure a real beast overall but regarding your needs in terms of Sq and as a headfier, will the G4 gives you satisfaction?

 

[xkonfuzed]

The G4 is for sure a real beast overall but regarding your needs in terms of Sq and as a headfier, will the G4 gives you satisfaction?

Absolutely not. If you're looking for a smartphone to listen to music with, stay away from the G4. It really does suck in terms of sound quality - at least compared to other flagship smartphones. 

 

[PushT]

Hi !
I've been reading through this thread to learn as much as possible. My question relates to the new Denon AH-GC20 headphones i just got. I am trying to find a replacement for my smartphone, and preferably one that pairs up nicely with the Denons. From what I read here( I have gone through most of the thread), the best choice for a Z3 headset would be low-impedance ones. The Denons are not I believe.
And for me the situation is two - fold. Bluetooth and cabled. The Denons are aptX, and as such pair up nicely with both the Z3, the M8 and several others. But...... Using active noice cancelling I really appreciate the sound quality of these headphones wired. So I tried them on my Huawei Ascend p6, but compared to my stereo (and Clevo laptop) the sound was fizzing, cracking up and there was clearly a problem when trying to turn up the volume.
I guess my question is : would there be any point for me looking to get the Z3 for my headset, or should I just stick with a Bluetooth aptx phone + a mobile DAC ?
Or are there other alternatives ?

 

[mollaka]

Hi folks,
 
as a first post from a first poster
 
I have a question to this community regarding Walkman NWZ-F886 vs Z3/Z3+(Z4).
I have been using the F886 with much pleasure with the XBA-H3, mostly with Tidal lossless files and it sounded great However, I am thinking on combining two devices and - being a Sony fan- was thinking about the Z3 or the Z3+ (Z4). Do you have any info that should I expect any degrade in sound quality from the above set?
 
thanks
gyorgy

 

[hardpike]

I have the z3 for months
Very happy
I got the mdr-z7

Absolutely stunned about this combination

Very recommended in my view

 

[Whitigir]

I have the z3 for months
Very happy
I got the mdr-z7

Absolutely stunned about this combination

Very recommended in my view

Wait....your Z7 could be powered by Z3? What da ....? I thought Z7 Is hard to drive

 

[hardpike]

Wait....your Z7 could be powered by Z3? What da ....? I thought Z7 Is hard to drive

To be honest, they are quite sensible
I have a 64 gb card with mostly hd flacs and dsd files ( some cds too)
95% of them are ok regarding volume.
The sound is a dream. I only can share my experience, and it is one wonderful combination.

 

[hardpike]

Listening right now becks Odelay
Vinyl transfer flac 24/96
Extasis
One point of volume less than maximum...already louddddddddd!!!!!!!!

 

[thepooh]

Hi folks,

as a first post from a first poster

I have a question to this community regarding Walkman NWZ-F886 vs Z3/Z3+(Z4).
I have been using the F886 with much pleasure with the XBA-H3, mostly with Tidal lossless files and it sounded great However, I am thinking on combining two devices and - being a Sony fan- was thinking about the Z3 or the Z3+ (Z4). Do you have any info that should I expect any degrade in sound quality from the above set?

thanks
gyorgy

I had the F887 Japanese import for a short time, it sounded really good but the Z3 seems to sound better to my ears but not that much, I would say " on par with " rather than "better".

The Z3+ is louder but the SQ is slightly worst than the Z3 IMHO.