[walterkurtz]

hi i switched from a V20 to V40 a few weeks ago. and i want to understand how to best utilize the built in audio DAC. last year i bought a pair of nice headphones for longer flights thinking the V20 would provide amazing sound. it didn't. i later learned that the headphones had to have impedance higher than 50 for the DAC to work. can anyone tell me if this is true? and if so can you recommend headphones that will best utilize the V40's capabilities?

also, in both apple music and pulsar music app when i remove my headphones the music begins playing on the phone's speaker. on my V20 there were settings to pause the music when the headphones are removed. i checked in both apps and in the phone's settings and could not find any way to do this. am i missing something??

thank you!

[eric12341]

The DAC is utilized the moment it's turned on in settings. High impedance mode is meant to drive those more expensive headphones. That's all, it has no effect on the overall quality of the audio other than the volume.

[walterkurtz]

The DAC is utilized the moment it's turned on in settings. High impedance mode is meant to drive those more expensive headphones. That's all, it has no effect on the overall quality of the audio other than the volume.

thank you.

i definitely need more volume. on a plane at full blast i am only barely hearing my apple headphones. i haven't brought my audio technicas on a flight yet. i just plugged them in here at home and switched back and forth between DAC on and off. i did not notice any difference at all except the option to tweak a few more settings. my AT headphones are low impedance though and i could swear i read somewhere that you have to have high.

when i had my V20 i read about a trick that would engage the DAC by plugging in headphones when making a call. it worked a few times. and when it did work instead of showing 75 as my max volume it showed 100. and it definitely sounded better. am i trippin?

[Greymire]

thank you.

i definitely need more volume. on a plane at full blast i am only barely hearing my apple headphones. i haven't brought my audio technicas on a flight yet. i just plugged them in here at home and switched back and forth between DAC on and off. i did not notice any difference at all except the option to tweak a few more settings. my AT headphones are low impedance though and i could swear i read somewhere that you have to have high.

when i had my V20 i read about a trick that would engage the DAC by plugging in headphones when making a call. it worked a few times. and when it did work instead of showing 75 as my max volume it showed 100. and it definitely sounded better. am i trippin?

The sounding better is a trick of sorts. Read on the Fletcher Munson principle and other audio phenomena. I had to be mean but Apple Pods ARE Terrible on anything other than iPhone but people get what they like. What you need is a program that utilizes the Dac like the beta version of Poweramp. It has a preamp that you can boost to get more volume out of those Ipods. The other is to get a more efficient set of Earbuds like Symphonized 3 which are wood Earbuds and actually blow away the Apple pods in tone. You just have to make sure that you use the proper pads that seal your ear. Symphonized NRG 3.0 Wood In-ear Noise-isolating Headphones, Deep Bass Earbuds with Mic & Volume Control, Stereo Earphones for iPhone, Samsung, Android, Smartphone, Laptop and more (Blue & Gray) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D3QZA84...cUvbUpU6417694. I do not know that any one makes HI Z Earbuds (maybe the Planar Earbuds). You could actually damage low z buds if you trick it into high z mode. A dirty plug can sometimes kick it into high z. Unless you worked in audio line I did Hi Z and low Z is tough to wrap your mind around for some. When B&O ships buds they sometimes have a very light coating on the plug that needs cleaned off. When LG offered them with one of the V series people were freaking because some where going into hi z and theirs were not. We told them to clean their tips with alcohol as they were not HIZ but that just made peoe more angry. Anyeay I digress. As long as you are listening to music on the phone I suggest Poweramp 3 beta. It is even better than the stock music amp. There is also Neutron but it's a true audiophile program and takes a lot of tweaking to get in the Poweramp category. It can and maybe better but too much work. I'm you are using Spotify or other services then different buds line the models above are your only solution. Again I would not try to trick your phone into Hi Z.

[Greymire]

I should add that I recommend the buds above based on best quality at a fair price. They will beat many buds in the $100 range. There are better if you are an audiophile but they have a sticker shock. Hi Z are mainly high end studio cans and unless you are playing lossless music (wavs, flac etc) they are probably a waste for a phone.

[middbrew]

I use the Sennheiser HD 650 headphones that have a 300 Ω. For earbuds I use the Bose SoundSport Free (which are on sale right now).

I have a lot my music in FLAC and it does make a big difference in the sound quality. That being said, even youtube, amazon music, etc sound really good with a very good pair of cans.


There are several apps that take advantage of QUAD DAC. I use the PowerAmp Bata that Greymire mentioned. Black Player EX is another really good one. There was a thread in either the V20 or V30 section that had a pretty extensive list of apps that took full advantage of the QUAD DAC.

[walterkurtz]

I use the Sennheiser HD 650 headphones that have a 300 Ω. For earbuds I use the Bose SoundSport Free (which are on sale right now).

I have a lot my music in FLAC and it does make a big difference in the sound quality. That being said, even youtube, amazon music, etc sound really good with a very good pair of cans.


There are several apps that take advantage of QUAD DAC. I use the PowerAmp Bata that Greymire mentioned. Black Player EX is another really good one. There was a thread in either the V20 or V30 section that had a pretty extensive list of apps that took full advantage of the QUAD DAC.

i think the audio technicas are 30. i saw the sennheisers but they are open back which i understand is not great on planes (for your neighbor). and i've been reading today about how apps process music. i think it was headfi that recommended an app called neutron. but the UI looks awful. i'll try poweramp beta again. i've used it before on previous phones. thank you!

[Greymire]

i think the audio technicas are 30. i saw the sennheisers but they are open back which i understand is not great on planes (for your neighbor). and i've been reading today about how apps process music. i think it was headfi that recommended an app called neutron. but the UI looks awful. i'll try poweramp beta again. i've used it before on previous phones. thank you!

Neutron is a pro end app but he refuses to update the horrible interface. It has tons of things like parametric eqs which the average person would never know how to use. I worked In pro audio and it can be confusing for me. Plus I think the newest Poweramp 3 beta (make sure it us Poweramp 3) sounds better on this phone.

[walterkurtz]

Neutron is a pro end app but he refuses to update the horrible interface. It has tons of things like parametric eqs which the average person would never know how to use. I worked In pro audio and it can be confusing for me. Plus I think the newest Poweramp 3 beta (make sure it us Poweramp 3) sounds better on this phone.

great! downloading now...

thank you.

[LuvMusic]

Plus I think the newest Poweramp 3 beta (make sure it us Poweramp 3) sounds better on this phone.

Just an FYI.....Poweramp3 is no longer in Beta and is now available in Google Play.

[Greymire]

Just an FYI.....Poweramp3 is no longer in Beta and is now available in Google Play.

Thanks. I would not know that unless I left the beta group. It will always show me as beta. I am sure there will not.e anything but bug fixes fir a long time. Max is a great programmer but does everything himself so versions take a long time. The good thing is they are so good the normally span many Android versions with just minor fixes.

[LuvMusic]

Thanks. I would not know that unless I left the beta group. It will always show me as beta. I am sure there will not.e anything but bug fixes fir a long time. Max is a great programmer but does everything himself so versions take a long time. The good thing is they are so good the normally span many Android versions with just minor fixes.

No problem......the new version is very different, going to take some getting use to.

The good news is it fulfills its primary purpose very well........playing back music in HiRes and using the DAC.

Not sure about the visualizations and the new UI. And....I'm bummed that none of the previous skins / themes work! But this is not a Poweramp thread so I will stop there.

[Greymire]

No problem......the new version is very different, going to take some getting use to.

The good news is it fulfills its primary purpose very well........playing back music in HiRes and using the DAC.

Not sure about the visualizations and the new UI. And....I'm bummed that none of the previous skins / themes work! But this is not a Poweramp thread so I will stop there.

Ha ha that's OK. There is nothing really new. Visualizations were there prior, just triggered in a different area. He did redo the UI but people were begging him to. You wil get used to it quickly

Another that is ok is the Onkyo Player. Not quite as nice sounding as Power amp but it works well with the V40. It seems to me it is like $9.99 but I could be wrong. None of the other so called top players cut it with the V40. I have tried and bought most of them over the years.

[Germanguy]

Any particular setting on Poweramp that are recommended with the V40? Just enable high-res in settings and that is it? Anybody use DVC?

[Greymire]

I just enable Hi Res for everything in settings. And set resampler to SOX. And yes. I use DVC. Seems fine.

[Germanguy#AC]

I have the high res Bluetooth Sony headphones. Does it matter whether I enable high res Bluetooth in power amp? High res Bluetooth should be enabled for Bluetooth playback on the phone anyway?

[Greymire]

I have the high res Bluetooth Sony headphones. Does it matter whether I enable high res Bluetooth in power amp? High res Bluetooth should be enabled for Bluetooth playback on the phone anyway?

Not sure. Try it both ways. I would say it needs enabled for full support but I don't know.