[getclikinagas]

Like its sibling devices, the X5Max places heavy emphasis on its audio performance, which is why it packs some dedicated audio chips -- Yamaha YSS-205X signal processor, Sabre ES9018K2M DAC, exclusive Sabre ES9601 headphone amplifier and OPA1612 amplifier -- as part of its "Hi-Fi 2.0" package. Together, these apparently outperform theXplay3S' offering in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range and restoration. More importantly (for this author, at least), the Yamaha chip is actually for implementing a karaoke mode, in which you can sing along with songs and music videos while also hearing yourself -- with added echo or reverb if desired -- through headphones.
 
 

 
 

The Vivo X5Max will be available in China on December 12th for the equivalent of $490.​

 ​

​

 
 
Other specs:
 

The Vivo X5Max comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p (1080×1920 pixels) Super AMOLED screen with 3.98mm narrow bezels. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor paired with Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB RAM. The device runs Android 4.4 KitKat with Vivo’s FunTouch 2.0 UI on top. It sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front camera. It has 16GB of internal storage which is further expandable up to 128GB via microSD card.

The X5Max is a dual-SIM smartphone which supports 4G LTE on both the SIMs. It is crafted in a magnesium alloy and stainless steel body with a stainless steel back and anti-fingerprint coating. It has YAMAHA YSS-205X digital surround signal processing chip, SABRE ES9601 DAC and TI’s OPA1612 amplifier for powerful sound output. Vivo has named this audio output system as Hi-Fi 2.0.

The device has connectivity options such as 4G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB, GPRS/ EDGE and USB OTG. It is backed by a 2000mAh battery and measures 153.9x78x4.75mm. 

http://www.vivo.com.cn/vivo/x5max/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/10/vivo-x5max-super-slim-phone/

 

[musicday]

Great device,let's wait for a proper review.
I am curious about battery life abd sound.

 

[rosw]

Cant wait to hear reviews for Vivo X5Max VS MeizuMXPro4
 
http://www.meizu.com/en/products/mx4profeatures.html
 
http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/vivo-xplay-3s-2k-display/
 
The Pro version of Meizu's flagship MX4 steps it up not only in the display resolution, battery and RAM fronts, but also provides a Hi-fi experience with an OPA1612 Super-high Resolution Amplifier, an advanced ES9018K2M DAC, and passive filtering for what Meizu enigmatically calls "Retina" sound. As Meizu's site translation goes:

"Sophisticated concept: Low-JITTER crystal oscillator, advanced DAC master clock architecture, fully symmetrical circuit design. Particular selection of materials: 25-ppm temperature drift, 1/1000 precision, SUSUMU being the resistor provider (a prestigious brand in the Hi-Fi world). In addition, the device has Panasonic 0805 film capacitor, and a headphone amplifier that imposes no restriction on cut-offfrequency. All these features show only thetip of an iceberg. With an MX4 Pro in your palm, you'll find out what Hi-Fi Sound really means

 

[musicday]

Sadly no AmOled sceeen.

 

[tomscy2000]

Well, they finally realized that they can't just slap on a high-end ES9018K2M and expect great results if the power is dirty and the master clocks suck.
 
So now they're actually using a DC-DC charge pump and using low dropout linear regulators to get cleaner power to the AVCC and AVDD.
 
The SABRE9601 will be great at CMRR and PSRR, so output will be clean. It'll depend on how much people can actually hear the noise floor modulation of the integrated charge pumps.
 
If it really is measured 118 dB DNR as they say, that's pretty good.
 
My money's on the Meizu sounding more "audiophile", but the Vivo having better numbers (they're getting a lot of internal support from ESSTech).

 

[rosw]

  Well, they finally realized that they can't just slap on a high-end ES9018K2M and expect great results if the power is dirty and the master clocks suck.
 
So now they're actually using a DC-DC charge pump and using low dropout linear regulators to get cleaner power to the AVCC and AVDD.
 
The SABRE9601 will be great at CMRR and PSRR, so output will be clean. It'll depend on how much people can actually hear the noise floor modulation of the integrated charge pumps.
 
If it really is measured 118 dB DNR as they say, that's pretty good.
 
My money's on the Meizu sounding more "audiophile", but the Vivo having better numbers (they're getting a lot of internal support from ESSTech).

 
Hi tomscy2000,
 
Newbie here, so just trying to learn more and understand ...
 
on your last comment, My money's on the Meizu sounding more "audiophile", but the Vivo having better numbers (they're getting a lot of internal support from ESSTech).
 
Q1) why will you put your bet on Meizu being more "audiophile' on what grounds, aspects? 
 
Q2) Vivo having better numbers ( what numbers ??? ) - they are getting internal support from ESSTECH - how do you know ? what type of support ?
why cant Meizu get any support / help to improve ?
 
cheers! 
 
hope to hear from your comments soon!

 

[tomscy2000]

   
Hi tomscy2000,
 
Newbie here, so just trying to learn more and understand ...
 
on your last comment, My money's on the Meizu sounding more "audiophile", but the Vivo having better numbers (they're getting a lot of internal support from ESSTech).
 
Q1) why will you put your bet on Meizu being more "audiophile' on what grounds, aspects? 
 
Q2) Vivo having better numbers ( what numbers ??? ) - they are getting internal support from ESSTECH - how do you know ? what type of support ?
why cant Meizu get any support / help to improve ?
 
cheers! 
 
hope to hear from your comments soon!

 
Re: Q1
Meizu put more work into isolating ground planes in the PCB and selecting parts for resistors and capacitors. Mind you, it's not a big, dramatic difference, but that's merely the way I would characterize it, as Meizu has the audio pedigree making DAPs before moving onto smartphones. They stated in their press conference that their head engineer for the audio aspect of the MX4 Pro was a longtime audiophile. Part of the "audiophile" characterization of the MX4 Pro was the fact that they took the typical audiophile approach of hand-selecting which types of components to put inside the device and using complicated power separation schemes and filters --- not saying it's better sounding, just more of an audiophile-ish approach. BBK Vivo, as I understand, has only made smartphones. However, I may be wrong. That's why they might need specific direction from ESSTech to get the most performance out of these chips.
 
Re: Q2
Numbers, as in measurements (e.g. dynamic range, SNR, THD+N, IMD, crosstalk, residual noise, DC offset, etc.). How do I know? It's long been known around industry circles that ESSTech essentially designed and built the ES9018K2M series of chips specifically for the mobile market on the behest of BBK Vivo. The SABRE9601 is also designed and built for the smartphone market, specifically to pair with the ES9018K2M chip, as it's a charge pump device that only needs a single 3.3V supply and is differential input. The one other part that performs closest to the SABRE9601 is the TI TPA6120A2, which is a similar type of amplifier chip.
 
Why can't Meizu get any support? Er, I never wrote anything that explicitly stated that ESSTech was not supporting Meizu. Meizu is definitely getting support from ESS --- in order to order ESS chips in large quantities, you have to become an official client of ESSTech and be legally bound to certain NDAs, so as not to publicly disclose sensitive aspects of ESSTech's IP. I merely mentioned that BBK was getting a lot of direct support from ESS because the design methodology Vivo outlined is textbook for DAC design, the sort of thing that ESS engineers would tell BBK engineers to follow. However, the real evidence is that BBK is almost definitely one of ESS' biggest clients, and big clients get a lot of attention. Would Meizu qualify as a big client as well? Definitely. But would they need as much help with the design? My educated guess would be: not as much.
 
LOL, for a newbie, you seem to be a keen skeptic regarding other peoples' statements and take on a certain air of interrogation when asking questions --- but that's a good thing actually. However, other people might not be as patient with giving you an answer you might be satisfied with.

 

[rosw]

   
Re: Q1
Meizu put more work into isolating ground planes in the PCB and selecting parts for resistors and capacitors. Mind you, it's not a big, dramatic difference, but that's merely the way I would characterize it, as Meizu has the audio pedigree making DAPs before moving onto smartphones. They stated in their press conference that their head engineer for the audio aspect of the MX4 Pro was a longtime audiophile. Part of the "audiophile" characterization of the MX4 Pro was the fact that they took the typical audiophile approach of hand-selecting which types of components to put inside the device and using complicated power separation schemes and filters --- not saying it's better sounding, just more of an audiophile-ish approach. BBK Vivo, as I understand, has only made smartphones. However, I may be wrong. That's why they might need specific direction from ESSTech to get the most performance out of these chips.
 
Re: Q2
Numbers, as in measurements (e.g. dynamic range, SNR, THD+N, IMD, crosstalk, residual noise, DC offset, etc.). How do I know? It's long been known around industry circles that ESSTech essentially designed and built the ES9018K2M series of chips specifically for the mobile market on the behest of BBK Vivo. The SABRE9601 is also designed and built for the smartphone market, specifically to pair with the ES9018K2M chip, as it's a charge pump device that only needs a single 3.3V supply and is differential input. The one other part that performs closest to the SABRE9601 is the TI TPA6120A2, which is a similar type of amplifier chip.
 
Why can't Meizu get any support? Er, I never wrote anything that explicitly stated that ESSTech was not supporting Meizu. Meizu is definitely getting support from ESS --- in order to order ESS chips in large quantities, you have to become an official client of ESSTech and be legally bound to certain NDAs, so as not to publicly disclose sensitive aspects of ESSTech's IP. I merely mentioned that BBK was getting a lot of direct support from ESS because the design methodology Vivo outlined is textbook for DAC design, the sort of thing that ESS engineers would tell BBK engineers to follow. However, the real evidence is that BBK is almost definitely one of ESS' biggest clients, and big clients get a lot of attention. Would Meizu qualify as a big client as well? Definitely. But would they need as much help with the design? My educated guess would be: not as much.
 
LOL, for a newbie, you seem to be a keen skeptic regarding other peoples' statements and take on a certain air of interrogation when asking questions --- but that's a good thing actually. However, other people might not be as patient with giving you an answer you might be satisfied with.

 
 
Hi tomscy2000,
 
Thank you so much for your very detailed explanation, I really appreciate the time & effort that you took to reply me ... ( i do apology for my tone in asking the questions, that is why i stated that i am a newbie and I really want to learn more about the audio aspects in mobile devices).
 
as Meizu is not sold in my country, i need to cross the border to get myself one set once the official shops are set up ( rumored 6 outlets !) ... i cant wait to give a newbie preview / first impressions thoughts to fellow audio audiophile members.
 
In which I may need your assistance / other members advice again .... 
 
Cheers & Have a great day ahead!

 

[rosw]

 

 

[Vartan]

Can android play hi-res without downsampling?
 
 

  Cant wait to hear reviews for Vivo X5Max VS MeizuMXPro4
 

+1

 

[getclikinagas]

  Can android play hi-res without downsampling?
 
 
+1

I do not know about 5.0, but kit kat and earlier did not natively support hi res playback, despite of the hardware being capable on some models.
 
Android's ALSA derived audio stack has to be re-written to natively support Hi-Res without downsampling. Which is exactly what LG did with the G2.

 

[rosw]

Another PRC phone with "Audio" is out ... wonder how will it fare against Vivo & Meizu ...
 
any comments on the DAC & Ops-amps?
 
 
http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/feature-hands-xiaomi-mi-note
 
One thing we didn’t quite expected is the emphasis on audio. The Mi Note is packed with an ESS ES9018K2M stereo digital-to-analog converter (DAC), dual ADI ADA 4896 op-amps, dual Texas Instruments OPA1612 op-amps, and two independent 44.1kHz and 48kHz clock oscillators. On paper at least, the Mi Note is a very capable high-res (24-bit/192kHz) audio player

 

[Vartan]

@ tomscy2000 About numbers (MX4 pro and X5Max). I think they will have about the same numbers.
With earphones plugged in the audio quality is really very good, but in all honesty I would say that Vivo have an edge over Meizu. From hardware alone the MX4 Pro should be a clear winner, but something isn’t quite tuned properly to take full advantage of the hardware on offer.
http://www.gizchina.com/2014/12/02/meizu-mx4-pro-review-pro-level-meizu-realistic-price/
 
 
Guys so this mean MX4 pro will play without downsampling?

 
 
Pcb layout X5Max

 

 
 
and Xiaomi Mi Note

 

 

[musicday]

Does anyone have Vivo 5xMax?
Where can i read a proper review?
Thanks

 

[Vartan]

Another one Alcatel IDOL X+