Are there any less expensive (Maybe Chinese Brand) phones with great Audio, like the LG-V10 ?

[cactuspete23]

i'm in the market for a new phone; but on a tight budget. Are there any Chinese Phones that might give audio like the LG-V10, but for a lower price?

Would be great if it came with APT-X or the Newer APTX-HD for Improved Bluetooth sound. (With the speakers, or earphones that also have APTX, Or APTX-HD of course...)

 

[thisisjason]

The ZTE Axon Pro is supposed to have a Hifi DAC, it's about $330 on Amazon, though I don't have any personal experience with it so I can't say how it compares to the V10. Meizu, Lenovo and Vivo all have Asian market phones with Hifi DACs, though I don't remember which specific models, but you're probably not gonna get LTE in the US and I'm not sure how the software experience is on those phones. Plus it's probably their more expensive models that have hifi audio.

Personally, I think your best bet is gonna be a used V10. I've seen them going as low as around $400 on swappa.

 

[cactuspete23]

Thanks for the info and ideas !

 

[thisisjason]

It looks like the regular ZTE Axon is supposed to have hifi audio too, that one is on Amazon for around $200. Again, can't vouch for the quality personally

 

[Mister K]

Hi - if you are playing tunes via bluetooth then the DAC on the phone is irrelevant since it is not used, the data is streamed to your speaker or headphones and that device's inbuilt DAC processes the signal. What you will need is good bluetooth - either Aptx or LDAC (which I've not heard but Sony's claims are impressive), but there are plenty of good midrange phones offering Aptx, and paired with decent headphones they will sound pretty good.

I have recently got a V10 and via Bluetooth it sounds just like any other Aptx phone, but with the wired headhones using the phone's DAC there is a definite improvement, in my opinion.

 

[cactuspete23]

Thanks, Good to know! I normally use earphones, so the DAC in the phone would give better sound most of the time.

Curious... Since you have one, Is there anything that you don't like about the V10 ?

I do have a chinese brand bluetooth receiver that I attached to my home speakers. It has APTX and it came with an APTX dongle that fits into an USB port on my laptop computer. I can hear the improvement in clarity with APTX over regular bluetooth. Supposedly the APTX-HD sounds even better.

 

[Mister K]

To be honest, other than the fingerprint scanner, which is only OK, then so far all is good with the V10 as far as I am concerned. My colleagues at work are impressed too, which is always nice

 

[kramer5150]

I really don't have any major complaints about mine either. As far as audio quality goes I have only good things to report. What I like most about it is its user selectable. There are times I prefer to use the Snapdragon DAC / amp circuit for non-critical, and portable applications for its battery efficiency. Theoretically the 32bit DAC / Amp uses more battery, although I have not noticed it at all.

I at times have very dry, callous, laborers hands if you will. So depending on the texture of my skin it can cause the FPS to mis-read and I have to use the knock/tap code to wake it up. FWIW my wife has the same problem with her iPhone 6s+. She is a dentist and so sometimes her hands can be dry in the middle of the winter. So as far as that goes, its WAY more convenient using a V10 screen tap code compared to the iOS 6 digit password.

As a MAC user, The Android file transfer is kind of buggy. Although with Developer options engaged its better.

I kind of wish it had wireless Qi charging... although its not a major thing for me.

These are all minor nit-picks for me.

 

[DarkJoker33]

The only thing I'd want to change about the V10 audio wise, is that it would be stereo vs mono.
2 speakers instead of 1.

 

[cactuspete23]

Thanks for all the great info and replies from V10 Owners!

There is nothing that beats first hand experience!