V20 "legendary" audio performance vs. HTC One M9. Not even close!

[mitchellj]

After reading all the hype about the V20's extraordinary audio capabilities, I begrudgingly went ahead and pulled the trigger. My HTC One M9 hard wired to my Yamaha amp feeding Klipcsh towers woke the neighbor. The V20 lets my neighbor sleep like a baby. It's a shame because I use my phone more as an audio source than I do a phone, camera, alarm, etc., etc. I have the quad DAC and all the other bells and whistles running but still doesn't compare. Would a headphone preamp between phone and receiver help? Or damage?

 

[vasekvi]

If your V20 saw your Yamaha as a high impedance device it would have been much different. At work where I have a Bose Companion 5 speaker setup, absolutely nothing plays even near as loud as my V20.

 

[flyingkytez]

My V20 volume sounds much louder than any other device. I have Mackie MR5 MKIII studio monitors and audio sounds absolutely crisp and clear.

 

[Mooncatt]

Are you sure the V20's volume was all the way up? I know it, and most phones, like to reduce the media volume when you plug anything into the headphone jack, and you have to go through a high volume nag notification to max it out.

 

[huungryshark]

You need high impedance headphones over 50 Ohm to trigger all 4 amps. Otherwise only 3 of 4 running to save battery and give what low ohm headphones need - low ohm.

 

[Mike Dee]

You need high impedance headphones over 50 Ohm to trigger all 4 amps. Otherwise only 3 of 4 running to save battery and give what low ohm headphones need - low ohm.

I think someone gave you bad Intel. In low power mode only 1 of 4 stages are running. There are a lot of different things going on with each stage when all 4 are engaged but there is only 1 amp regardless of how many stages are running.

 

[SupraLB]

It also helps to install an equalizer. LG strips it out of their phones for some reason, at least on Google Music. I installed Equalizer FX after searching around here for a solution, and it turns the EQ back on so you can adjust. The difference was dramatic, particularly the bass and depth. And I was already happy without it. But particularly my bluetooth streams in my car sound incredible now.

 

[Mike Dee]

It also helps to install an equalizer. LG strips it out of their phones for some reason, at least on Google Music. I installed Equalizer FX after searching around here for a solution, and it turns the EQ back on so you can adjust. The difference was dramatic, particularly the bass and depth. And I was already happy without it. But particularly my bluetooth streams in my car sound incredible now.

The stock LG app has some preset equalization but you might not have it

 

[SupraLB]

The stock LG app has some preset equalization but you might not have it

Yeah you are right. It's really odd LG goes out of their way to remove the EQ from Google Music app, while others leave it in. G5 was the same way. Maybe that's why the sound was so terrible on that device. I just assumed I was missing the DAC from the V10. Lol

 

[Andrew Rokey]

I still have the eq on Google music?

 

[TNCattleDog]

It also helps to install an equalizer. LG strips it out of their phones for some reason, at least on Google Music. I installed Equalizer FX after searching around here for a solution, and it turns the EQ back on so you can adjust. The difference was dramatic, particularly the bass and depth. And I was already happy without it. But particularly my bluetooth streams in my car sound incredible now.

+1 on EqualizerFX.

I've tried several and it seems to do the best job without any increased distortion.

Jet Audio+ with its EQ comes in a close second.

David

 

[Mike Dee]

Yeah you are right. It's really odd LG goes out of their way to remove the EQ from Google Music app, while others leave it in. G5 was the same way. Maybe that's why the sound was so terrible on that device. I just assumed I was missing the DAC from the V10. Lol

I thought it was LG app.... Didn't know it was the default Google music app.

 

[Mike Dee]

I still have the eq on Google music?

Is it adjustable or presets?

 

[Andrew Rokey]

 

[Andrew Rokey]

Pretty much anything you want

 

[irvine752]

Pretty much anything you want

You won't be getting be Hi Res audio with this equalizer. It was designed for use with the likes of HTC 10 or Note 7 which use the Snapdragon Aqstic DAC. The V20 does have a normal Snapdragon DAC as a fallback which other phones like the S7/S7 edge use as a main, but it's not Hi Res.

Qualcomm treats Aqstic DAC/Codec/Amp package as upgrade from the normal Snapdragon DACs, but for the V20 we could care less the ESS Quad DAC is a huge upgrade from either options.

 

[Andrew Rokey]

I thought the question was if Google music had a eq

 

[irvine752]

I thought the question was if Google music had a eq

That was more directed towards your Snapdragon Audio+ screen capture & that's not geared for the V20's Quad DAC. It's really for a Snapdragon DAC & wouldn't be beneficial with Hi Res audio.

 

[Andrew Rokey]

So would the eq make the music seem louder? Because that's what I thought the op was getting at

 

[LuvMusic]

So would the eq make the music seem louder? Because that's what I thought the op was getting at

One of the main variables influencing the perception of loudness is gain. So, an equalizer can create a perception of "louder" because (depending on how you use it) you may be boosting certain frequencies. Frequencies that are flat will not have an increase in gain. The inverse is also true, if you use an equalizer to decrease a specific frequency, you are decreasing its gain. When boosting frequencies you need to be careful not to boost too much otherwise you run the risk of over-driving the amplifier or pre-amplifier stages, especially when boosting bass frequencies. This results in distortion, not a good thing!

To increase loudness evenly across the entire spectrum you are better off with an equalizer that has a gain control. One example is Poweramp and I'm sure there are others. Again you have to be careful otherwise you may boost the gain too much, overdrive the amp or pre-amp and create distortion.