[rjbell]

I was looking into getting xduoo x2 however my phone needs replacing. Would I achieve equal or better sound from one from a Chinese smartphone with a good audio chip and amp in it?

Any recommendations of a phone for under $200?

 

[magogo]

I would get the Meizu MX4 pro phone (or MX5). If you can afford it, then go for the MX5 pro. This company started off by selling music players. They use sabre chips in their high end phones. Probably the best sounding phone you can buy. Only issue you could find is their software (its a heavily customized version of android).
 
The chip they use is the ES9018K2M, you can't go wrong with this (it is definately better than the X2 chip).