Trying to pick a phone for portable headphone listening.

[DoomForce]

Hey guys,
 
I would like to ask, if the budget/os/other parameters were not a factor, which phone would you pick for using it as a portable player, in terms of SQ? (In the worst case scenario, together with a USB DAC, if it supports it.)

 

[phlashbios]

Samsung Galaxy S3. Has a decent DAC in it and the sound quality is fine. It also has an sd-card slot, which is very useful if it is going to double as an audio player. I think it has USB OTG compatibility too so you could route it to an external DAC if you really wanted to, but if it's not there yet, it is only a kernel release away.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Quote:

Samsung Galaxy S3. Has a decent DAC in it and the sound quality is fine. It also has an sd-card slot, which is very useful if it is going to double as an audio player. I think it has USB OTG compatibility too so you could route it to an external DAC if you really wanted to, but if it's not there yet, it is only a kernel release away.

 
What are you talking about? USB DAC support was there from the very first release firmware for the S3, several of us here are using external DACs with our S3s.
 
With that in mind I would probably recommend the S3 to the OP.

 

[phlashbios]

Quote:

 
What are you talking about? USB DAC support was there from the very first release firmware for the S3, several of us here are using external DACs with our S3s.
 
With that in mind I would probably recommend the S3 to the OP.

 
Read it again. I didn't say it wasn't.

 

[DoomForce]

I thought I read somewhere in the forum that the SG3 has horrible audio quality. Was that just misinformation? I'd so much appreciate an unbiased opinion.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Quote:

I thought I read somewhere in the forum that the SG3 has horrible audio quality. Was that just misinformation? I'd so much appreciate an unbiased opinion.

 
I don't think anyone has said it has horrible audio quality here. Some of us hoped for better, since it falls distinctly short of the iPhones to many listeners here, but it isn't horrible by any means. Some have even said they prefer it to iDevices. If you use a custom kernel with audio tweaks support you can improve it yet further, and if you want you can just use a USB DAC as mentioned.

 

[proton007]

There are two S3s, the International one is pretty good. I'll say I even find it better than my iPod Nano.

 

[neurofone]

Quote:

There are two S3s, the International one is pretty good. I'll say I even find it better than my iPod Nano.

Yeah I believe the international version of the S3 has a Wolfson WM1811 while the USA version has a Qualcomm WCD9310, hence the discrepancy in audio quality. 

 

[proton007]

Quote:

Yeah I believe the international version of the S3 has a Wolfson WM1811 while the USA version has a Qualcomm WCD9310, hence the discrepancy in audio quality. 

 
That is right.
But I cannot take it anymore. I just don't like the idea of using my phone as music player. Call me old fashioned, but I can't get rid of the feeling that compromises have been made somewhere, because its a multi-purpose device. And I don't like Apple anymore.
 
I placed an order for a Clip Zip 8GB 

to replace my aging iPod Nano 4Gen.

 

[KT66]

Nokia N8
 
USB OTG DAC,
24gig on board plus micro SD card slot
FM transmitter
HMDI output
very good headphone output.

 

[live1]

my n8 hp out is the best ive heard it beats my sgs3 easily and my sgs1 voodood.i getting the nokia 808 i prey it has good hp out.my n8 is hacked with hp volume boost mod double the stock volume no distortion.awsome.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Quote:

my n8 hp out is the best ive heard it beats my sgs3 easily and my sgs1 voodood.i getting the nokia 808 i prey it has good hp out.my n8 is hacked with hp volume boost mod double the stock volume no distortion.awsome.

 
Very nice headphone output from the N8 indeed. Totally agree it beats the S3, although I prefered my Voodoo'd S1 (as do others, so I think the difference _whatever it is_ isn't that large and is more down to taste). The 808 also has nice HP out - I slightly preferred it to the output from my N8.
 
That said both the Nokia's fall well short of my S3-->HeadAmp Pico USB DAC/amp, which means I get to enjoy better sound quality on a device in a vastly better ecosystem.

 

[live1]

nztech u are correct indeed.my sgs1 voodooed has a very diff sig to n8 .so its down to taste.i use im sgs3 as my daily phone and my n8 for the hp out.and im defo getting 808 when its cheaper.and modding the hpout volume like n8