[Whitigir]

Lol, it is kinda funny how people did not believe me on Z3 audio quality since last year when I posted up that thread. Here Z5 is hopefully to be able to compete with Z3 . Ironic....Anyways, the way I look at it, if you want a smartphone with great audio quality, go with Z3.

However, if you stream Netflix a lot, go Z5 premium, as you stream 4k, you gets that "uncompressed Highres audio" in your movies

 

[elektron]

  Guys of whathifi tested Xperia Z5 Pre Production Model Audio Quality.
http://www.whathifi.com/sony/xperia-z5/review
http://www.whathifi.com/sony/xperia-z5-premium/review ( jump to audio section!)

 
Thanks for this - certainly looks (and sounds) promising!

 

[elektron]

Lol, it is kinda funny how people did not believe me on Z3 audio quality since last year

 
I always believed you, Witiger
 

Quote:

However, if you stream Netflix a lot, go Z5 premium, as you stream 4k, you gets that "uncompressed Highres audio" in your movies

 
For the life of me, I can't see why I would do that.  Sure, the occasional YouTube video is fine, but I happen to stream Netflix a lot and would never dream of using a 5.5" screen to watch a beautiful movie.
 
Not to mention that all those extra pixels would be wasted since the human eye only needs around 300 ppi at the normal reading / viewing distance of 1 foot, and most glossy magazines are printed at this resolution (although fine art printers do go up to 720 ppi).
 
Having said that, I this is a solid technical achievement by Sony and the bragging right of having the world's first 4k phone is great from the marketing perspective - they may not have gotten the same number of headlines were it not for the Premium.
 
As it stands, I think the Compact will suit my needs just fine.

 

[synnnn]

   
For the life of me, I can't see why I would do that.  Sure, the occasional YouTube video is fine, but I happen to stream Netflix a lot and would never dream of using a 5.5" screen to watch a beautiful movie.
 
Not to mention that all those extra pixels would be wasted since the human eye only needs around 300 ppi at the normal reading / viewing distance of 1 foot, and most glossy magazines are printed at this resolution (although fine art printers do go up to 720 ppi).
 
Having said that, I this is a solid technical achievement by Sony and the bragging right of having the world's first 4k phone is great from the marketing perspective - they may not have gotten the same number of headlines were it not for the Premium.
 
As it stands, I think the Compact will suit my needs just fine.

 
same here, suffice with compact which only has 1/9th the number of pixels!

 

[Duncan]

Why do people chase hi res music, where the frequency responses are way above what you can hear? Similar principle, no?

 

[goody]

Looks good i had no idea that the z3 plays DSD files ...looking forward to the z5 i didn't like the magnetic charger thing on the z3 ....the usb port is a nice feature

 

[elektron]

Why do people chase hi res music, where the frequency responses are way above what you can hear? Similar principle, no?

 
I agree, this is no different.  I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that hi-res sounds better than Redbook given the same high-quality master.  My own ears agree with this - I can hear the difference between MP3 and FLAC (especially with classical) but not between FLAC AND hi-res.
 
I would say though that LDAC appeals to me as someone who's gone fully wireless a few years ago (I have a few pairs of  KLEER and BT headphones) - in theory, even for non hi-res sources, having a much bigger 'pipe' for the wireless signal should help further reduce any remaining differences between wired and wireless.
 
Therefore, I do like the fact that the Z5 would give me a side benefit of having LDAC if I decide to upgrade my MDR-1RBTMK2 to MDR-1ABT, which already provide an improvement in sound quality even without hi-res.

 

[Shubham Bassist]

Your welcome

BTW sony said that they are using unfinished software in z5 serie.
Maybe it gets better in retail?

 

[Whitigir]

I agree, this is no different.  I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that hi-res sounds better than Redbook given the same high-quality master.  My own ears agree with this - I can hear the difference between MP3 and FLAC (especially with classical) but not between FLAC AND hi-res.

I would say though that LDAC appeals to me as someone who's gone fully wireless a few years ago (I have a few pairs of  KLEER and BT headphones) - in theory, even for non hi-res sources, having a much bigger 'pipe' for the wireless signal should help further reduce any remaining differences between wired and wireless.

Therefore, I do like the fact that the Z5 would give me a side benefit of having LDAC if I decide to upgrade my MDR-1RBTMK2 to MDR-1ABT, which already provide an improvement in sound quality even without hi-res.

All of the LDAC talks still can not compare to a high quality system: ZX2 and any given mid tier headphones Z7 for example.

Why ? Because regardless of the coding and speed of the transmission, they are still digital signals that need decoding...who, what, how, quality ? That decode this system will be the problem. For example 1ABT, the internal Class D S-Master is not the same as the one within the ZX2. So at maximum quality, given AptX or Bluetooth 4.0 or whatever the transport can emit, the 1ABT will sound the same....because it is the guy that sing to you (S-Master) on the 1A. It means if you love Sony, then yes, Z5 is a buy. Otherwise, as long as you only use 1A-BT, even an older Samsung will sound just as good

The LDAC is nice, but Sony will never release any wireless HP that can get the high-end Audiophile quality on the same level as ZX2 for example....because it kills sales of other Walkman line up.....for now LDAC is nothing more than a marketing tool to "lure" people to believe that they will "maximize" the audio benefits from the same brand "Sony"

If you follow Sony Walkman, the A-17 sounds better than ZX1 and slightly below ZX2, but a hell lot of cheaper price and lighter in weight. Say Sony could have transformed Z7+A17 S-Master and a Bluetooth receiver LDAC...then who would want any A17, Zx1 ? ....etc

 

[Shubham Bassist]

Will you buy Z5 if its sound quality is better than z3?
BTW @Whitigir Did you read the Whathifi preview of z5?
They are saying that in pre production stages, Z5 sounds similar to z3

 

[Whitigir]

Will you buy Z5 if its sound quality is better than z3?
BTW @Whitigir
 Did you read the Whathifi preview of z5?
They are saying that in pre production stages, Z5 sounds similar to z3

No, I will not buy Z5 as I have my portable rig ZX2 and some collected headphones and IeMs
Yes, I have read what hifi reviews, and I still recall the Z3 quality, very lean, detailed, tight bass....etc.
My wife phone is going to see an upgrade, and it could be the 6S plus. Don't be surprised if Apple push the 6S plus on the "Audio quality" department , but I wouldn't expect that. We will see soon.

 

[Shubham Bassist]

what do u mean by "very lean"?
Will u still recommend to get z3 to a friend? 
EDIT: BTW how orgasmic is your ZX2? Your review on xperisa z3 with ATH IM03 was......well sexy.
I looked at its teardown and it pretty well built inside! Having gold plated copper chassis, OS CON Capacitors, OFC cables, LC filter,  etc etc etc

 

[Whitigir]

what do u mean by "very lean"?
Will u still recommend to get z3 to a friend? 
EDIT: BTW how orgasmic is your ZX2? Your review on xperisa z3 with ATH IM03 was......well sexy.
I looked at its teardown and it pretty well built inside! Having gold plated copper chassis, OS CON Capacitors, OFC cables, LC filter,  etc etc etc

I meant it is clean while being thin enough in tonality to neither sound thick nor thin.

ZX2 is an excellent DAP in it own rights, and of course nothing is perfect. It sounds as good as that my wife would fight me for it at any chances she gets . For a person who care less about audio quality, her reason to always want to grab the ZX2 is "the bass ! It sounds like a real drum beat, deep and meaty" . That really means something. The main signature of ZX2 is "Warmer, Thicker, Realistic, detailed with excellent soundstage with balanced out or super sensitive headphones". It is recommended to pair with any gears that has faster responds, and brighter in sound signatures for an excellent sync/pairing/complementing as a whole. If you love neutral, details, resolving, realism

ZX2 Japan version is good in power output is great ! It drives my Sony full size Headphones with eases such as MDR-Z7/SA3000. If you can afford ZX2, get it and buy a cheaper phone such as Z3 compact. With ZX2, I doubt anything can do to improve further in sound quality. When we get to this level of quality, everything count, and especially the pairing/sync of the headphones and the sound signatures that one prefer. I know someone would pick ZX2 over AK380 (3,499$ DAP) any day. When comparing these 2 Titans, it come down to Interface, ease of uses, portability, value, more than sound quality. Because they are all at the line of "diminishing return" where 10x invested may/may not result in an improvements and may/may not be observable/hear-able by a person, and pricing of course will increase a couple folds.

Yes, did I just recommend Z3 again ? Yes, I would totally recommend Z3 for form factor, waterproof, phone, on the go music, and the cheaper price now. It is a must recommendation. I can not believe how many time I keep telling myself why did I choose to experienced the Exynos Note 4 as people are all crazy about this Wolfson....it is plain bad! Wish I could return it to get Z3 compact, but 20% restocking fees isn't good, where as I already has ZX2.

 

[elektron]

All of the LDAC talks still can not compare to a high quality system: ZX2 and any given mid tier headphones Z7 for example.

 
Looks like you're disputing something I never said.  What I did say is that I was hoping for LDAC to help reduce the sound quality gap between wired and wireless, especially if you're getting it at no extra cost with these Sony products.  I didn't imply that it would replace or compete with a wired setup costing many times more
 
In regards to your other point, as the A17 is already allegedly better sounding than last year's flagship ZX1, and taking the continuous 'trickling down' of high-end components, who's to say that in a couple of year's time an LDAC-based set up won't sound as good?
 

For example 1ABT, the internal Class D S-Master is not the same as the one within the ZX2. So at maximum quality, given AptX or Bluetooth 4.0 or whatever the transport can emit, the 1ABT will sound the same....because it is the guy that sing to you (S-Master) on the 1A. It means if you love Sony, then yes, Z5 is a buy.

 
Would you mind sharing your source of this information?  As far as I'm aware Sony uses two main types of the S-Master in their products - S-Master and S-Master HX.  The only difference between the two is hi-res support.  This means that the MDR-1ABT would also have an S-Master HX (even though Sony's product page is not clear), where as the previous generation of MDR-1RBT / 1RBTMK2 would have had the (non-HX) S-Master as they didn't support high-res audio in active mode.

 

[Shubham Bassist]

You know what is the stupidest thing for me?
SONY DOESN'T SELL HI RES PRODUCTS IN MY COUNTRY!

No Hi Res walkman nor any earphones