LG V20 - DAC Problem?

[pvcleave]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

I'm assuming you turned on the DAC

So I have been turning the DAC on and off, hoping to hear some difference. On the Sennheiser HD 598 I hear the volume change, but I do not hear any difference. The sound is good. I am using FLAC that I ripped from my own CDs, so I know they are good quality.

I do not care about a lot of the other information that is being said. What I care about is the DAC actually doing anything. I play music that is ripped from a CD, I am assuming it is all 16bit. So I have no super high resolution stuff, just the normal CD quality.If I turn the DAC off, what exactly is being turned off? is it still decoding using the ESS DAC, just not using more power to drive the high impedance headphones. All I want to know is, I am using it and it really sounds better, even if I cannot tell.

 

[anony_mouse]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

Analogy time:

I'm a speed freak. In fact, I own a racecar and a race track. The race car can go 250mph but has no muffler and isn't street legal. I also own a Hyundai that I drive everywhere. I have always wanted the speed that I can get in my race car but be able to drive it everywhere so that I don't have to maintain two different vehicles.

Kia announces they have a new car that can go 250mph. I excitedly go to the dealership and buy it. I drive it home thinking that everything looks great and feels great. Excitedly, I pull up to my race track, and I floor it! The car feels amazing and gets me to 60 in 2.3 seconds, but I keep going. I am up to 70mph and the car won't accelerate any more. No matter how hard I press the gas, the speed does not go over 70.

I pull over, frustrated and look at the engine. I hook up an ODB scanner and see that the software in the engine has a limiter set at 70mph. I call Kia but can only get hold of sales people. I then look online to talk to other owners of this Kia. They all tell me that I am insane! The car gets you from one place to another and goes as fast as the normal speed limits. I say, but wait, they advertised that it can go 250mph. It has a 750HP engine in it. One of the folks pipes up that the GPS and radio work great! Another says, man, that thing sounds amazing when accelerating. Still another asks if I inserted the key into the ignition and pressed on the gas. One person even says that humans get nothing out of going fast.

The consensus is that you should be happy having a car that gets you from one place to another.

Um, I'm not quite sure what your analogy is trying to prove, but I assume you're saying that even if higher sampling rates don't improve the perceived quality of sound, they don't make it any worse. There are reasons why they may make sound worse, as I linked to before. But even if they don't, they *definitely* don't sound better. So why use them? You will *not* be able to tell the difference.

 

[anony_mouse]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

Please see audio video science forums for a thorough debunking.

Please link to a credible source (as I did).

 

[mlknez]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

You purchased a smartphone with, among other things a great camera, removable battery, MicroSD support, Android Nougat and yes Hi-Res Audio capabilities. Now we could argue all day about what "Hi-Res" means but in the end if the phone doesn't do what you expected it to you should take it back and get something else. You were not sold a DAC, you were sold a phone with a DAC. LG engineered the DAC in a way they felt was best, and you can disagree and return the device. This is actually quite simple. And let us know when you come across a better DAC/Phone setup, so that everyone can benefit... or not.

I actually purchased a Hi-Res music player that can also make phone calls.

 

[Osahar 87]

Man, I see that subject title and expected to see someones phone on fire. And we get this? This phone sounds amazing with my headphones. I'm out.

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/1653098/chappelle-diddy-o.gif

Roflmbo!!!!

 

[Osahar 87]

The ONLY reason to get this phone is for the DAC!!!!

Lies lol!!!

 

[Mike Dee]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

So I have been turning the DAC on and off, hoping to hear some difference. On the Sennheiser HD 598 I hear the volume change, but I do not hear any difference. The sound is good. I am using FLAC that I ripped from my own CDs, so I know they are good quality.

I do not care about a lot of the other information that is being said. What I care about is the DAC actually doing anything. I play music that is ripped from a CD, I am assuming it is all 16bit. So I have no super high resolution stuff, just the normal CD quality.If I turn the DAC off, what exactly is being turned off? is it still decoding using the ESS DAC, just not using more power to drive the high impedance headphones. All I want to know is, I am using it and it really sounds better, even if I cannot tell.

I can definitely hear a difference besides things getting louder

 

[X1tymez]

When it used to be simple.

 

[traviswhayne]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

I actually purchased a Hi-Res music player that can also make phone calls.

Actually you didn't, music isn't even the first thing LG touts with this phone, it's content creation. Like I said earlier if the Hi-Res features of the V20 don't match up to either what you want or what you expected, the simple thing is to return it and get something else. Best of luck though in finding better audio in a smartphone. May the odds be ever in your favor!

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

Please link to a credible source (as I did).

"Anyone who says otherwise is wrong"

I say otherwise. You should have clarified more, since there is far more to audio quality than the bit-depth and sample rate.

Also, I can personally hear a difference side-by-side that has yet to be properly explained by science. Science has not decided this issue, nor have they solved some other audio "mysteries".

 

[tadpoles]

What might help some discern if there is any difference is simply to listen to the same headphones (hopefully, something reasonably decent) on another phone, and on the V20. The same material, of course. I did this and what hit me was not bass or soundstage but clarity. ...and, to be honest, we're not talking about a dramatic difference (hey, I wish there was, but for me, there wasn't). The V20 simply sounded more clear than the Axon 7, the Note 5, and the S7e. The S7e, on its own, doesn't sound bad, per se, just not as nice as the V20. The space between notes is just not there. Now, engage the S7e's UHQ mode and BAM! That is some NICE powerful, still clean, sound and I actually enjoy listening to it more even if it's just EQ, smoke, and mirrors. The V20 sounds more like my home HiFi rig in its clarity and, to me, that's positive too.

The fact that we can get anywhere near this kind of quality in a phone makes me happy but I guess I'm easy to impress. I think other OEMs will start to use the ESS9218 and it's successors which is good for all of us.

 

[rushmore]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

What are you talking about?

The high def DACs do nothing unless the 3.5 jack is used.

 

[BB_Bmore]

What might help some discern if there is any difference is simply to listen to the same headphones (hopefully, something reasonably decent) on another phone, and on the V20. The same material, of course. I did this and what hit me was not bass or soundstage but clarity. ...and, to be honest, we're not talking about a dramatic difference (hey, I wish there was, but for me, there wasn't). The V20 simply sounded more clear than the Axon 7, the Note 5, and the S7e. The S7e, on its own, doesn't sound bad, per se, just not as nice as the V20. The space between notes is just not there. Now, engage the S7e's UHQ mode and BAM! That is some NICE powerful, still clean, sound and I actually enjoy listening to it more even if it's just EQ, smoke, and mirrors. The V20 sounds more like my home HiFi rig in its clarity and, to me, that's positive too.

The fact that we can get anywhere near this kind of quality in a phone makes me happy but I guess I'm easy to impress. I think other OEMs will start to use the ESS9218 and it's successors which is good for all of us.

And that's exactly what you should notice in the difference. It's the clarity and quality. It's not about bass and such. I having a feeling some of you (specifically those who claim they hear no difference) are expecting something different than what the product is producing. There are those who cannot tell the difference between a typical mp3 and lossless music file. That's fine. Something like beats by Dre are probably more up your alley. The DAC is for audiophiles and those who can appreciate the difference in high quality music files. There is no conspiracy here. There is no gimmick. If the DAC isn't meeting your expectations and it's the only reason you bought the phone, simply return it and get something you can appreciate. It's that simple.

 

[anony_mouse]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

"Anyone who says otherwise is wrong"

I say otherwise. You should have clarified more, since there is far more to audio quality than the bit-depth and sample rate.

Also, I can personally hear a difference side-by-side that has yet to be properly explained by science. Science has not decided this issue, nor have they solved some other audio "mysteries".

There is more to audio quality than sample rate and bit depth. I have never said otherwise and please do not claim I did. But you will not improve perceived audio quality by using higher sample rates than 48kHz (or actually 44.1kHz) or higher resolution than 16 bits as a distribution format. Well, maybe for a bat but not for a human.

You can "personally hear a difference side-by-side that has yet to be properly explained by science" between what and what, exactly?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

There is more to audio quality than sample rate and bit depth. I have never said otherwise and please do not claim I did. But you will not improve perceived audio quality by using higher sample rates than 48kHz (or actually 44.1kHz) or higher resolution than 16 bits as a distribution format. Well, maybe for a bat but not for a human.

You can "personally hear a difference side-by-side that has yet to be properly explained by science" between what and what, exactly?

Between CD quality files and higher resolution files.

 

[anony_mouse]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

Between CD quality files and higher resolution files.

Under what conditions and using what method were these tests conducted?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

Under what conditions and using what method were these tests conducted?

Conditions and methods that rule out any personal bias.

You can stop trying to prove that I can't hear the difference. I can.

 

[anony_mouse]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

Conditions and methods that rule out any personal bias.

You can stop trying to prove that I can't hear the difference. I can.

I can hardly prove anything across the internet. And neither can you. And without more details, I can't even begin to evaluate your claims, so I have to fall back to science and logic and say again that 48kHz and 16 bit resolution is sufficient for audio distribution and playback and higher sampling rates and bit depths will not result in improvements in perceived audio quality.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Re: Serious V20 Problem!!

I can hardly prove anything across the internet. And neither can you. And without more details, I can't even begin to evaluate your claims, so I have to fall back to science and logic and say again that 48kHz and 16 bit resolution is sufficient for audio distribution and playback and higher sampling rates and bit depths will not result in improvements in perceived audio quality.

Science that is not settled no matter how much you keep saying it.

 

[irvine752]

Science that is not settled no matter how much you keep saying it.

If it's not proven by science it's your imagination playing tricks on you...it's called a placebo effect. Human ears were never meant to hear any more than CD quality sound. Unless you claim to have super hearing different from the rest of us lol.