Is the LG V10 the best phone for sound quality?

[jasonb]

Thought some of you guys might like to know that the hifi dac works with every app I've tested it with since getting marshmallow in my Verizon V10.

 

[Anthony Hagan]

Same here. Spotify now works without the hifi anywhere app.

 

[michael hester1]

what about bluetooth

 

[jasonb]

what about bluetooth

What about it?

 

[thisisjason]

what about bluetooth

The DAC in the phone has no effect on bluetooth quality, because it's not handling the conversion from digital to analog. The device that receives the signal is what actually decodes it and convert it to analog, so outside of a faulty bluetooth radio or a different software implementation in encoding the signal, bluetooth should sound basically the same from phone to phone (except those with LDAC or aptx-HD that should be better, but require a compatible device receiving the signal).

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

Has anyone here with the MM update tested Poweramp or more importantly, the Poweramp v3 alpha builds? I already know with a little tweaking you can have Poweramp using the native 24-bit audio DAC built into the Snapdragon 808 but the DAC fix app no longer works reliably and Poweramp won't recognize the ESS DAC.

Posted on an LG V10

 

[jasonb]

I tested power amp on my Verizon v10 with marshmallow, it toggles on and off. Every app I've tried since marshmallow works with the high dac and amp.

 

[DaVince]

I don't think there's anything better than Sony Xperia Z5 series right now when it comes to audio. Seriously.

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

I don't think there's anything better than Sony Xperia Z5 series right now when it comes to audio. Seriously.

Not really. The Xperia Z5 has a meh DAC but that's because the Snapdragon 810 has a mediocre DAC solution (HTC One M9 and Nexus 6P also have the same chipset though the M9 has Boomsound and Dolby Audio to counteract the DAC). Basically, the V10 destroys the Z5 in audio quality, not including the ESS Sabre DAC built into the V10.

Posted on an LG V10

 

[Mister K]

I'm no expert, but my understanding, from reading a fair bit on the subject, is that the quality of the hardware and its implementation - engineering and software - both matter when it comes to sound quality (and the other huge element, the earphones of course).
Sony's experience in audio may well mean that their implementation of the standard Snapdragon DAC is better than average. My wife's Z5 certainly sounds better to me than my son's Samsung, but it's hard to say for certain without ABX testing.
Most people seem to think that LG have taken a superior DAC and implemented it really well. It is at the bottom of the phone, where it gets much less interference from other components, and the consensus seems to be that it works superbly. To my less than perfect ears, with my EPH-100 in-ears, the V10 sounds better than any other audio device I own.

However, whether the difference is that great in most real world situations, I'm not so sure. If you listen mostly on your morning commute then I would have thought that spending a bit extra on some decent headphones would be much more beneficial.

However if you use your phone to play FLACs or TIDAL HiFi streams via auxiliary cable to even a semi-decent set of speakers then the difference between the V10 and the Z5 is pretty striking. I was rather surprised at the difference, to be honest.

So yes the V10 is probably the best sounding phone for now, but whether that really matters is very much down to each person's particular set of circumstances.

 

[toolman157]

My experience with the v10's superb sound is when I got my new truck with my link sound system. Had the v10 thru bt connection and it sounded ok but not great. Plugged in the aux port and turned on the dac and turned up the truck sound volume. Still ok but not great when I realized the phone volume was only at 50%. Turned up the phone volume and...WOW!!! Clean crisp highs and rear view mirror shaking bass! Still noticed some muddy sound in the mid range so I remebered reading about the 7 band custom eq! Tweaked that and now sounds just amazing! Love the v10 sound!

 

[J_appoll]

V10 + poweramp (alpha built - 702) brings the best out of the hifi dac... Audio compared to none

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Chris Kof]

Are any of the phones on your list even Hi-Res certified? The Apple 5s . . . both my kids had that phone and I found the sound quality pretty mediocre, at best.

Not sure if the Sony Z3 is Hi-Res certified, I believe the Z5 is though.

 

[kramer5150]

This setup still sounds superb with my senn HD650. It has almost completely replaced my dedicated headphone listening rig. IMHO its the V10 high impedance amp circuit that really shines for me. I don't really benefit from the 32 bit DAC since my lossless audio collection is 16bit ripped from redbook CD.