Wolfson Audio Chip - Does it have it?

[jtc276]

Of course, nobody really focuses on DACs because the general public doesn't even realize they exist, but has anyone heard any word about the DAC? I'd really like a Wolfson, but the S4 Pro in the Nexus 4 really doesn't sound too bad. If I would take a guess, the Octa probably has the Wolfson and the Snapdragon probably doesn't.

 

[jtc276]

I feel like this is worth bumping because I think it's a pretty big deal. Who doesn't listen to music on their smartphone?

 

[sukant08]

Supercurio (maker of Voodoo sound) have asked Samsung USA and they said they will look at it with the relevant people and get back. But from early reports it is looking likely that Exynos Octa doesnt have wolfson DAC. The snapgragon 600 to be used in US has its own Krait DAC, which is pretty good, but not as good as the wolfson one, or iPhones DAC!!!

 

[Mafiatounes]

I hope they don't go with a Yamaha dac like in the S2, for many the Wolfson dac is the best and let's hope it is in the Exynos version.

Blasted my Galaxy Note 2 to your screen with the use of Tapatalk

 

[jtc276]

Supercurio (maker of Voodoo sound) have asked Samsung USA and they said they will look at it with the relevant people and get back. But from early reports it is looking likely that Exynos Octa doesnt have wolfson DAC. The snapgragon 600 to be used in US has its own Krait DAC, which is pretty good, but not as good as the wolfson one, or iPhones DAC!!!

If it's as good or better than the S4 Pro DAC, I'll be satisfied. In my opinion, my Nexus 4 offers cleaner and more dynamic output than the iPhone 5 I compared it to even though it is much quieter. But I doubt Samsung will allow output to be as low in the S4.

 

[mikereidis]

I'd like to think that Samsung "learned their lesson" with the crappy DACs in the GS2/Note Yamaha chip.

I tend to think that's they went back to Wolfsson for GT-I9300 International GS3. Amazingly the WM1811 has pretty much the same architecture as the GT-I9000 Galaxy S's WM8994.

I hope they've stuck with Wolfsson, or something good quality on S4 as S3. Many other S3 attributes carry forward, I think due to Samsung becoming more "conservative" in their striving for continued dominance.

I think they know that having 20 "bullet points", compared to HTC's or Sony's mere 18 bullet points, makes all the difference in creating a best seller.

So far, I haven't found any analysis of the teardown(s) or anything showing the audio chip.

I'll guess that likely the Snapdragon variant will have Qualcomm WCD93xx, and that's a pretty good chip IMO that I think only audiophiles will quibble about.

And I'll wildly speculate the Exynos variant will use a WM18xx chip.

Personally, I'm most interested in audio and the FM/combo chip. It appears as if BCM4335 FM/Bt/WiFi(ac!) will be used on all variants, and I think it may even support FM receive this time, instead of the usual dedicated si470x chip found in every other Internation S/S2/S3/Player/Note/Note2 so far.

And Sprint's (& maybe others) tentative payola deal with US broadcasters could mean FM will be possible on US variants for the first time. Or maybe not.

 

[Yoink676]

GT-I9500 uses wolfson WM5102 Dac

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[double923]

According to iFixit, S4 has WDC9310 DAC which the same as what is in S3. It is not too bad. I also believe it is a pretty decent DAC.

 

[jensigner]

a GSMArena comparison of the i9500 and i9505 show that they are very very close in headphone audio performance:
Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4 vs Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4: Double or nothing - GSMArena.com
My independent audio measurements of an SGH-I337 (similar to i9505) show essentially the same outstanding headphone audio performance (slightly better actually).

 

[Yoink676]

According to iFixit, S4 has WDC9310 DAC which the same as what is in S3. It is not too bad. I also believe it is a pretty decent DAC.

Yes GT-I9505 has that.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2