malifact
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2013
- Posts
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- 71
Introduction
I was very fortunate to recently get my hands on Vivo’s XPlay 5 phone (Elite / Ultimate version). I had read positive things about the XPlay 5’s audio quality on the Chinese web and was curious to hear Vivo’s new Hi-Fi 3.0 (2*ES9028 and 3*OPA1612). I have listened to a few other Vivo phones and was always really impressed with their audio quality.
Build and Design
I’m not really concerned about looks when choosing a new phone, but with the XPlay 5 you definitely feel like you have a premium product. The metal back and sides are very nice and the phone feels lightweight and comfortable to hold. It definitely does not have any of the design flaws of the Xiaomi 5, which I briefly handled.
Display
The XPlay 5 is one of the first non-Samsung phones to have a curved screen. To be honest, I am ambivalent about curved screens and don’t really see the benefits when comparing it to a phone with a normal screen. Curves aside, the XPlay 5 has a really nice display with decent brightness and vibrant colours. I watched a few videos on it and was impressed with the quality.
Interface
Like the majority of Chinese phones, the XPlay 5 has a heavily skinned version of Android called FunTouch. I have to say I’m not somebody who hankers for vanilla Android and FunTouch is one of the better Android operating systems. The best way to describe it is as a hybrid of Android and iOS (especially the latter). The important thing for me is it is quick and responsive and I didn’t experience any bugs or crashes.
Performance
Not much to say here, as the XPlay 5 has the Snapdragon 820 chipset which is present in most of the current flagships phones. There is also the 6GB RAM, although I didn’t really see any benefits when using the same apps and games in the HTC 10. The XPlay 5 has 128GB of on-board storage, but no microSD slot. I do wonder why Vivo has included a dual SIM slot, but couldn’t make one of the slots a microSD as well. However, it is not a deal breaker for me, as 128GB is enough for me carry around my favourite tracks in FLAC format and have my Spotify tracks offline.
Camera
I would describe the camera as decent and comparable to other flagship phones, but not amazing. The pictures I took came out well in most conditions and with vibrant colours. Some of the same photos taken with my LG V10 seemed washed out in comparison. I’m not sure how natural the photos taken with the XPlay 5 are, but there are lots of settings to play around with. It is worth noting that the XPlay 5 does not have OIS and this seems a marketing decision by BBK Electronics.
Audio Quality
Music App and Interface
The XPlay 5 comes with Vivo’s music app which is very similar to the music player in iOS. It is a very simple player where you can sort by artist, album, playlists and songs. There is no equaliser. One thing I really like is that there are 30 volume steps and not the standard 15 in Android. I know there are fixes like GravityBox around, but it is nice to be able to fine tune the volume without rooting your phone.
One thing I was especially pleased about is Vivo’s Hi-Fi mode now seems to support third-party apps. You have to enable the apps to have access in the Settings menu and it supposedly only works with those which are compatible with FunTouch. However, I found that I could enable Hi-Fi mode for PowerAmp and YouTube.
Testing (with HTC 10 and LG V10 Comparison)
I should say that I have a very eclectic taste in music, although the majority of it is commercial. Some of the tracks that I tried with all 3 phones were: Adele – Turning Tables, BoA – Jewel Song, Coldplay – Speed of Sound, Delta Goodrem – In This Life, Enya – Storms in Africa, Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Katy Perry – Dark Horse, Kelis – Good Stuff, Norah Jones – I’ve Got to See You Again, The Notorious B.I.G. – I Love the Dough.
Sound Signature
I would describe the sound signature of the XPlay 5 to be fairly balanced and perhaps slightly warmer than neutral. It certainly seems to be a bit warmer from what I remember of the X5 Max. I find it difficult to describe sound, but I was very impressed with the audio of the XPlay 5. The response from the bass, mids and highs was excellent and all of the tracks that I tried sounded very good. I was particularly impressed with how vocals sounded; there was a richness particularly to female vocals that was very pleasing to listen to. The bass also sounded impactful and well controlled without making the sound too warm or bleeding into the mids. The soundstage was also the biggest out of the 3 phones that I tried. I cannot really think of any area where I felt the XPlay 5 was lacking on the sound front.
HTC 10 v Vivo XPlay 5
I actually compared the HTC 10 and Vivo XPlay 5 twice; once with Boom Sound off on the HTC 10 and no sound profile and the second time with Boom Sound off and a personal profile setup. The sound signature of the HTC 10 is quite different to the XPlay 5, as I found it warmer and more bassy even with my own sound profile setup on the HTC 10.
I found that the majority of the tracks sounded better on the XPlay 5 for two reasons. Firstly, the soundstage on the XPlay 5 is bigger than the HTC 10. This was really noticeable when comparing tracks and I noticed the sound had closed in when going from the HTC 10 to the XPlay 5. I also found that vocals sounded better on the XPlay 5. I noticed when comparing tracks that some female vocals sounded shrill in a few parts when played on the HTC 10. The one track that I thought sounded noticeably better on the HTC 10 was Katy Perry’s Dark Horse. There is some bass rumble in parts of that song that was replicated really well compared to the LG V10 and XPlay 5.
LG V10 v Vivo XPlay 5
It was more difficult to compare the V10 and XPlay 5 as their sound signatures are quite similar. However, I still found that the soundstage was slightly bigger on the XPlay 5 compared to the LG V10. Also, there was a little more bass impact on the XPlay 5 which gave some extra energy to some of the more upbeat tracks. There was also slightly better separation with the XPlay 5 so that I noticed particular effects and sounds on certain tracks. Overall, I found the XPlay 5 was the better sounding phone, but it was a lot closer than I expected. I should add that I am not a headphones user (I prefer IEMs), but I used a friend’s and found the XPlay 5 was better at driving them than the LG V10.
Conclusion
The XPlay 5 is a very well designed phone that performs well in all areas. I have to be honest and say that although it is probably the best sounding phone I have listened to; it is not a big step-up from the LG V10. If I had to choose between the two as a new phone, it would be the XPlay 5 no question. However, as an upgrade purely on the audio front, I am more hesitant. The HTC 10 is also a decent sounding phone, but it is just not to my taste.
I would like to end by highlighting a few warnings for anyone interested in buying the XPlay 5:
- The XPlay 5 does not support all LTE / 4G bands in Europe and the USA. I would check http://willmyphonework.net/ before making a purchase.
- The friend who loaned me the XPlay 5 managed to get Google Play and Services working, but it was quite fiddly. There is also no guarantee that any future updates will cause a problem.
- If you are used to having a microSD slot, you may find the lack of one on the XPlay 5 an annoyance. I should add that my Meenova worked with the XPlay 5, but apps like PowerAmp have to rescan each time it is connected. This is a Marshmallow issue and there are some workarounds, provided you are willing to root your phone.
- Vivo has been very resistant to rooting the XPlay 5 and so far there is no working root method.
I was very fortunate to recently get my hands on Vivo’s XPlay 5 phone (Elite / Ultimate version). I had read positive things about the XPlay 5’s audio quality on the Chinese web and was curious to hear Vivo’s new Hi-Fi 3.0 (2*ES9028 and 3*OPA1612). I have listened to a few other Vivo phones and was always really impressed with their audio quality.
Build and Design
I’m not really concerned about looks when choosing a new phone, but with the XPlay 5 you definitely feel like you have a premium product. The metal back and sides are very nice and the phone feels lightweight and comfortable to hold. It definitely does not have any of the design flaws of the Xiaomi 5, which I briefly handled.
Display
The XPlay 5 is one of the first non-Samsung phones to have a curved screen. To be honest, I am ambivalent about curved screens and don’t really see the benefits when comparing it to a phone with a normal screen. Curves aside, the XPlay 5 has a really nice display with decent brightness and vibrant colours. I watched a few videos on it and was impressed with the quality.
Interface
Like the majority of Chinese phones, the XPlay 5 has a heavily skinned version of Android called FunTouch. I have to say I’m not somebody who hankers for vanilla Android and FunTouch is one of the better Android operating systems. The best way to describe it is as a hybrid of Android and iOS (especially the latter). The important thing for me is it is quick and responsive and I didn’t experience any bugs or crashes.
Performance
Not much to say here, as the XPlay 5 has the Snapdragon 820 chipset which is present in most of the current flagships phones. There is also the 6GB RAM, although I didn’t really see any benefits when using the same apps and games in the HTC 10. The XPlay 5 has 128GB of on-board storage, but no microSD slot. I do wonder why Vivo has included a dual SIM slot, but couldn’t make one of the slots a microSD as well. However, it is not a deal breaker for me, as 128GB is enough for me carry around my favourite tracks in FLAC format and have my Spotify tracks offline.
Camera
I would describe the camera as decent and comparable to other flagship phones, but not amazing. The pictures I took came out well in most conditions and with vibrant colours. Some of the same photos taken with my LG V10 seemed washed out in comparison. I’m not sure how natural the photos taken with the XPlay 5 are, but there are lots of settings to play around with. It is worth noting that the XPlay 5 does not have OIS and this seems a marketing decision by BBK Electronics.
Audio Quality
Music App and Interface
The XPlay 5 comes with Vivo’s music app which is very similar to the music player in iOS. It is a very simple player where you can sort by artist, album, playlists and songs. There is no equaliser. One thing I really like is that there are 30 volume steps and not the standard 15 in Android. I know there are fixes like GravityBox around, but it is nice to be able to fine tune the volume without rooting your phone.
One thing I was especially pleased about is Vivo’s Hi-Fi mode now seems to support third-party apps. You have to enable the apps to have access in the Settings menu and it supposedly only works with those which are compatible with FunTouch. However, I found that I could enable Hi-Fi mode for PowerAmp and YouTube.
Testing (with HTC 10 and LG V10 Comparison)
I should say that I have a very eclectic taste in music, although the majority of it is commercial. Some of the tracks that I tried with all 3 phones were: Adele – Turning Tables, BoA – Jewel Song, Coldplay – Speed of Sound, Delta Goodrem – In This Life, Enya – Storms in Africa, Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Katy Perry – Dark Horse, Kelis – Good Stuff, Norah Jones – I’ve Got to See You Again, The Notorious B.I.G. – I Love the Dough.
Sound Signature
I would describe the sound signature of the XPlay 5 to be fairly balanced and perhaps slightly warmer than neutral. It certainly seems to be a bit warmer from what I remember of the X5 Max. I find it difficult to describe sound, but I was very impressed with the audio of the XPlay 5. The response from the bass, mids and highs was excellent and all of the tracks that I tried sounded very good. I was particularly impressed with how vocals sounded; there was a richness particularly to female vocals that was very pleasing to listen to. The bass also sounded impactful and well controlled without making the sound too warm or bleeding into the mids. The soundstage was also the biggest out of the 3 phones that I tried. I cannot really think of any area where I felt the XPlay 5 was lacking on the sound front.
HTC 10 v Vivo XPlay 5
I actually compared the HTC 10 and Vivo XPlay 5 twice; once with Boom Sound off on the HTC 10 and no sound profile and the second time with Boom Sound off and a personal profile setup. The sound signature of the HTC 10 is quite different to the XPlay 5, as I found it warmer and more bassy even with my own sound profile setup on the HTC 10.
I found that the majority of the tracks sounded better on the XPlay 5 for two reasons. Firstly, the soundstage on the XPlay 5 is bigger than the HTC 10. This was really noticeable when comparing tracks and I noticed the sound had closed in when going from the HTC 10 to the XPlay 5. I also found that vocals sounded better on the XPlay 5. I noticed when comparing tracks that some female vocals sounded shrill in a few parts when played on the HTC 10. The one track that I thought sounded noticeably better on the HTC 10 was Katy Perry’s Dark Horse. There is some bass rumble in parts of that song that was replicated really well compared to the LG V10 and XPlay 5.
LG V10 v Vivo XPlay 5
It was more difficult to compare the V10 and XPlay 5 as their sound signatures are quite similar. However, I still found that the soundstage was slightly bigger on the XPlay 5 compared to the LG V10. Also, there was a little more bass impact on the XPlay 5 which gave some extra energy to some of the more upbeat tracks. There was also slightly better separation with the XPlay 5 so that I noticed particular effects and sounds on certain tracks. Overall, I found the XPlay 5 was the better sounding phone, but it was a lot closer than I expected. I should add that I am not a headphones user (I prefer IEMs), but I used a friend’s and found the XPlay 5 was better at driving them than the LG V10.
Conclusion
The XPlay 5 is a very well designed phone that performs well in all areas. I have to be honest and say that although it is probably the best sounding phone I have listened to; it is not a big step-up from the LG V10. If I had to choose between the two as a new phone, it would be the XPlay 5 no question. However, as an upgrade purely on the audio front, I am more hesitant. The HTC 10 is also a decent sounding phone, but it is just not to my taste.
I would like to end by highlighting a few warnings for anyone interested in buying the XPlay 5:
- The XPlay 5 does not support all LTE / 4G bands in Europe and the USA. I would check http://willmyphonework.net/ before making a purchase.
- The friend who loaned me the XPlay 5 managed to get Google Play and Services working, but it was quite fiddly. There is also no guarantee that any future updates will cause a problem.
- If you are used to having a microSD slot, you may find the lack of one on the XPlay 5 an annoyance. I should add that my Meenova worked with the XPlay 5, but apps like PowerAmp have to rescan each time it is connected. This is a Marshmallow issue and there are some workarounds, provided you are willing to root your phone.
- Vivo has been very resistant to rooting the XPlay 5 and so far there is no working root method.
