US Samsung Galaxy S4
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tamleo
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Mine is Asian Exynos version ^^!
ABRockWell
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Just wondering if the US version will have USB Audio enabled for something like the Apex Glacier. I've read on another thread that the S4 does not work with a USB DAC, but they had the international version with the Wolfson DAC. Has anybody here with the US version tried it with a USB DAC yet? Thanks in advance.
NZtechfreak
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You've not quite got the gist of the reports in the other thread. USB audio is working with all S4 models (obviously I'm not including the stock Android S4 that has yet to be released in that statement), however the Apex Glacier does not work with any of the S4 models (I have both).
ABRockWell
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That's great I'm going to scan the thread over and see which USB dacs are reported to work. Bummer that the Glacier does not work. I'm thinking about changing over to android from iOS.
NZtechfreak
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NZtechfreak
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For anyone who has questions about the LTE Vs Oca variants of the S4 and how they sound out of the headphone output:
Over a 45 minute blind volume matched listening session S4 Octa Vs S4 600 I can't really discern any difference in the sound between the two. There is a very very slight difference, but it would take me a lot longer to drill down into that and work out exactly what it is. So basically, unless you're using low impedance IEMs (in which case the i9505 is unusable) the headphone output of these respective models is not a differentiating factor in choosing between them. That said, when custom kernels come along that allow audio tweaking the Wolfson may have more scope for improvement I suppose.
Over a 45 minute blind volume matched listening session S4 Octa Vs S4 600 I can't really discern any difference in the sound between the two. There is a very very slight difference, but it would take me a lot longer to drill down into that and work out exactly what it is. So basically, unless you're using low impedance IEMs (in which case the i9505 is unusable) the headphone output of these respective models is not a differentiating factor in choosing between them. That said, when custom kernels come along that allow audio tweaking the Wolfson may have more scope for improvement I suppose.
Baroninkjet
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http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4_i9500_vs_i9505-review-930p5.php
Not that I trust anything coming from GSMarena anymore, but...
Not that I trust anything coming from GSMarena anymore, but...
deaffob
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Quote:
I'm quite surprised that i9505 has much better stereo crosstalk value. It has much better value than i9500 with Wolfson DAC. What's more interesting is that the SQ of i9505 is noticeably better than HTC One which has the same Snapdragon 600 SoC.
I guess Samsung must have done something to improve i9505.
I'm quite surprised that i9505 has much better stereo crosstalk value. It has much better value than i9500 with Wolfson DAC. What's more interesting is that the SQ of i9505 is noticeably better than HTC One which has the same Snapdragon 600 SoC.
I guess Samsung must have done something to improve i9505.
Baroninkjet
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My guess is that GSM found yet another way to goof the tests. In their "old" test model, Exynos/Wolfson had considerably better S/N than any of the Qualcomm, and with this test now this simply disappears?? The only Qualcomm phone I have owned was Nexus 4 and the S/N was immediately evident. It's tests were not that different (old method) than the current crop.
Many places, they still have the "old" tests on HTC One vs. new (much better) tests on GS4. Either very sloppy or intending to deceive.
Many places, they still have the "old" tests on HTC One vs. new (much better) tests on GS4. Either very sloppy or intending to deceive.
fabse
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Hello everyone. My first post here, please treat me with nicely 
.
In search for my first(!) smartphone I went to my local electronic store recently.
Since my old Cowon S9 is getting rusty I thought I could merge music and phone in one device.
I am really not really interested in the smart, If there was a phone that has standart phone abilities and great audio that would fit in my pocket I would buy it asap.
So I went through some devices and listened to test tracks on each of them, using my Sennheiser CX150 in ears (its something ).
I had high hopes on the S4 (International version) and the HTC one, but on both I had "insane" background noise.
Insane has of course be compared with my standart audio source, my trusted cowon s9.
The noise volume was independend of the actual volume and started bothering me at volumes below 30% (In a loud electrolnic store that is!).
After that I checked some Lumia devices, they did not have that problem at all.
Of course I was however not able to judge the audio quality of any of the phones because I did not know the tracks they had on.
Thats where I thought I could use the Internet to see some independent tests.
Soon I ended up at GSM just to find out that the S4 is apparently the best audio source in history.
Maybe I should note that I am not used to read and interpret such test resuslts, all I do is look at the graphs and judge some numbers.
Still for me the result seemed clear, and I wondered why the "insane" noise on the I heard on the S4 (it felt even worse than on the HTC one) was not mentioned at all.
In the end I searched for audio forums and finally ended up here.
Just to read that the GSM test of the S4 is apparently rigged.
So I am wondering, is there any reliable testing side around that actually produces comparable results for the S4?
.In search for my first(!) smartphone I went to my local electronic store recently.
Since my old Cowon S9 is getting rusty I thought I could merge music and phone in one device.
I am really not really interested in the smart, If there was a phone that has standart phone abilities and great audio that would fit in my pocket I would buy it asap.
So I went through some devices and listened to test tracks on each of them, using my Sennheiser CX150 in ears (its something
).I had high hopes on the S4 (International version) and the HTC one, but on both I had "insane" background noise.
Insane has of course be compared with my standart audio source, my trusted cowon s9.
The noise volume was independend of the actual volume and started bothering me at volumes below 30% (In a loud electrolnic store that is!).
After that I checked some Lumia devices, they did not have that problem at all.
Of course I was however not able to judge the audio quality of any of the phones because I did not know the tracks they had on.
Thats where I thought I could use the Internet to see some independent tests.
Soon I ended up at GSM just to find out that the S4 is apparently the best audio source in history.
Maybe I should note that I am not used to read and interpret such test resuslts, all I do is look at the graphs and judge some numbers.
Still for me the result seemed clear, and I wondered why the "insane" noise on the I heard on the S4 (it felt even worse than on the HTC one) was not mentioned at all.
In the end I searched for audio forums and finally ended up here.
Just to read that the GSM test of the S4 is apparently rigged.
So I am wondering, is there any reliable testing side around that actually produces comparable results for the S4?
NZtechfreak
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Hi fabse, I think "rigged" is probably too strong a word, I think their methodology has always been flawed and their new method is likely to be imperfect too.
It's clear they don't actually spend time listening to the devices though, since they say nothing qualitative at all (Vs most sites that do nothing that attempts to be objective and whose subjective commentary isn't worth reading either) and failed to enumerate problems like the crackling issue with the i9505.
Goldenears are the only place I know that measure phones and tablets as audio sources and I have a reasonable degree of trust in their measurements. Not sure if they've done any S4 measurements yet though.
It's clear they don't actually spend time listening to the devices though, since they say nothing qualitative at all (Vs most sites that do nothing that attempts to be objective and whose subjective commentary isn't worth reading either) and failed to enumerate problems like the crackling issue with the i9505.
Goldenears are the only place I know that measure phones and tablets as audio sources and I have a reasonable degree of trust in their measurements. Not sure if they've done any S4 measurements yet though.
deaffob
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i9505's crosstalk value is amazing. I was going to get i9500 somehow but it's tempting to just go with i9505. I heard that even Supercurio confirmed that i9505 is better. I don't know if it's true though.
Baroninkjet
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Supercurio also said that Note 2 and 9300 were better than GS4 versions -- see his twitter feed.
https://twitter.com/supercurio
https://twitter.com/supercurio
deaffob
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Quote:
I don't know where you heard that but that's completely the opposite of what Supercurio said on his twitter. He already stated that Galaxy S original's Wolfson(WM8994) has better SQ than the Wolfson in S3 or Note 2(WM1811).
He confirmed that technically i9500's Wolfson(WM5102) is the best sound DAC in any smartphone so far.
https://twitter.com/supercurio/status/315952191812820992
https://twitter.com/supercurio/status/315952541701656576
I don't know where you heard that but that's completely the opposite of what Supercurio said on his twitter. He already stated that Galaxy S original's Wolfson(WM8994) has better SQ than the Wolfson in S3 or Note 2(WM1811).
He confirmed that technically i9500's Wolfson(WM5102) is the best sound DAC in any smartphone so far.
https://twitter.com/supercurio/status/315952191812820992
https://twitter.com/supercurio/status/315952541701656576
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