Ouch, my SIII didn't really do so well... Sounds good don't get me wrong, but room for improvement. And since these devices are used so often for audio or with headphones on, sounds is becoming ever more important.

Decent read, thanks for posting this.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuell

Ouch, my SIII didn't really do so well... Sounds good don't get me wrong, but room for improvement. And since these devices are used so often for audio or with headphones on, sounds is becoming ever more important.
Decent read, thanks for posting this.

I have the GSIII as well, and stock, he is right, the sound isn't that great. If you look at where it lost the most points it was in "loudness" and quality. For the first, get an app called Volume+, for the other, I use Winamp Pro (there is a free version that works well too) and it has much better sound quality than the stock music player.

 

Would like to have seen how the Galaxy S with the Wolfson DAC and using (Supercurio) Voodoo sound faired out.

I know it made a huge improvement over the standard sound

The Galaxy SIII is Voodoo sound capable, but not finished yet

"Voodoo Sound is able to control the digital volume and analog amplifier separately, while also removing the limit Samsung imposes on the amp. The GS III version of the app isn't out yet, and we only tested a very early build which had a few bugs so we didn't want to score it -- but suffice to say that it scored significantly higher than the stock GS III and it does solve the only real problem with this device's audio."

 

The Beats Audio enhancer in my Rezound makes a world of difference in my car audio system. Turning it on/off is insane.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KOBALT

The Beats Audio enhancer in my Rezound makes a world of difference in my car audio system. Turning it on/off is insane.

Do remember, that is just an EQ they throw over the music to tweak it a little. They actually got caught a while back for making the EQ WORSE when it was off. So turning on the "enhancements" were were just turning off the limitations they built in on purpose.

Sorry if that turned out to be a hoax, but I remember that article clearly.

 

Would have liked to see how my Nexus S fared against the ones in this test, as when the Wolfson DAC is tweaked (thank you Voodoo sound mod) it is really excellent for a phone

 

What I would call audiophiles use external DAC and amp

. The best solutions end up being not so mobile, through

.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by G woodlogger

What I would call audiophiles use external DAC and amp

. The best solutions end up being not so mobile, through

.

I use a FiiO E6 amp onto my IEM's from my Galaxy S II (Yamaha DAC). Not the best DAC on my phone but it can still sound great to my liking with correct Eq and amp settings...

 

"We listened to the phones at full volume and tried to detect differences in loudness, hiss, distortion (such as clipping), dynamic range (the ability to make loud and soft stand out from each other) and overall "quality.""

Stopped reading there.

No output level matching? No thanks.

An iPhone should suffice for the vast majority of (even discriminating) users, and an external headphone amplifier will not help in all but the rarest cases.

 

No, thank you.

audiophile smartphone...

 

No real surprises here.
Portable headphone amps exist and are well worth the cost over compromising any phone choice based on its solo sound performance.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HE_WHO_IS

No real surprises here.
Portable headphone amps exist and are well worth the cost over compromising any phone choice based on its solo sound performance.

Couldn't disagree more, personally.

 

I'm still an audiophile-noob, but I don't think it means what they think it means. No USB outs to an external DAC, amp, or DAC+amp, nor VooDoo for the Android phones. No line-outs to aforementioned devices from the 32-pin (4 / 4S) or Lightening Bolt (5) iPhones. No use of double-blind test techniques or software. IE80s are known for hiss on most sources; I wonder if Silver Bullets or GR07s might've been better.

Disappoint.

 

I'm glad somebody is bringing attention to this, I drive at least 3 hours every day and therefore spend a lot of time playing music off of my phone via the auxiliary input in my car. The first few iPhones had a nice, clean sound but both of the 4Ss I had exhibited a ton of background noise, loud enough to hear over quieter music! If I remember correctly, they switched to a cheaper audio chip in the 4S and it really, really showed. I guess the 4S they tested didn't have this problem, maybe I just had a couple of faulty ones? Thankfully my 5 sounds great.

Also, the HTC One X I had sounded really good. HTC mentioned in some of their press info that they took care to preserve a clean audio signal and it definitely shows, as long as you turn off the Beats equalization, that is.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DayoftheGreek

Do remember, that is just an EQ they throw over the music to tweak it a little. They actually got caught a while back for making the EQ WORSE when it was off. So turning on the "enhancements" were were just turning off the limitations they built in on purpose.
Sorry if that turned out to be a hoax, but I remember that article clearly.

I remember that. It does, however, make my music sound better. In my car, at least. I use a Monster Cable Aux and it activates the Beats.

 

But.. They didn't even USE THE PHONES WITH THE HEADPHONE AMP THEY COMPARED TOOOOOOOOO
This article has subtle overtones that audiophiles like loud music. Pfft.

Also, I can't stand the iphone 4s' audio SoC. Its so bland.

 

Eh you can use most USB DACs with Android now so this is kinda irrelevant.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBEG

I'm still an audiophile-noob

Quote:

No use of double-blind test techniques

Congrats. As long as you remember that, you are officially NOT an audiophile noob and are now immune to the 99% of misinformation spouted by caple swapping, CD oil, sonic brick using, "audiophiles."
Quote:

Couldn't disagree more, personally.

I'll second this, but with more info. A lot of the stuff head-fi will praise is a crapshoot. I would say more than half the time you will actually be making your sound worse and wasting money if accuracy is your goal. Portabe amps seem to be helpful in two extreme situations.
#1: You have a device with high output impedance and want to drive low impediance IEM's. This makes for messy bass and wild frequency response. A proper amp can fix this.
#2: You have incredibly insensitive fullsize cans and a device that doesn't put out enough power to get them loud. An amp will fix this.

I think both of these situation are fairly uncommon.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DayoftheGreek

Congrats. As long as you remember that, you are officially NOT an audiophile noob and are now immune to the 99% of misinformation spouted by caple swapping, CD oil, sonic brick using, "audiophiles."
I'll second this, but with more info. A lot of the stuff head-fi will praise is a crapshoot. I would say more than half the time you will actually be making your sound worse and wasting money if accuracy is your goal. Portabe amps seem to be helpful in two extreme situations.
#1: You have a device with high output impedance and want to drive low impediance IEM's. This makes for messy bass and wild frequency response. A proper amp can fix this.
#2: You have incredibly insensitive fullsize cans and a device that doesn't put out enough power to get them loud. An amp will fix this.
I think both of these situation are fairly uncommon.

Hey man, don't hate on cable swappers! You cant getz teh good soundz without gold plated gold oxygen free nitrogen injected silver shielded twisted pair 14awg cables. You also totally need an amp to drive your Beats, they'll like be all muddy otherwise. What, you don't use Beats? Come on bro, they're the best, Dre said so! Jeez, don't you know anything? Next you'll tell me you don't need $1200 HDMI cables for your 720p TV.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by G woodlogger

What I would call audiophiles use external DAC and amp

. The best solutions end up being not so mobile, through

.

This, although I like portability too and I can't afford things like a Fostex HP-P1 or a Cypher Labs Algorithm Solo and some headphone amp so my choices are either the Samsung Galaxy III as soon as the Voodoo kernel for it comes out, iPhone 4/4S, or if the new Windows 8 phones are good, one of those.

Good read.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirtyworks

This article has subtle overtones that audiophiles like loud music.

You need a louder volume output for songs that actually have this thing called dynamic range.

Too many devices have their volume settings set for things with dynamics compressed out the wazoo; this causes songs that actually have any dynamics to be too quiet. Heck it's even worse if you use Replay Gain.

 

Om, time for some authority here, that being moi.

Basically, I'll use less words when needed:

read this: http://www.overclock.net/t/1312097/engadget-smartphones-for-audiophiles/10#post_18280471
Quote:

Originally Posted by HE_WHO_IS

No real surprises here.
Portable headphone amps exist and are well worth the cost over compromising any phone choice based on its solo sound performance.

Read my section on portable headphone amps and why they are, for the most part, redundant:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1014902/ocns-most-recommended-audio-products

The Why no mention of portable headphone amps? section.

 

mp3 audio format for most listeners, and worried about sound quality ? this has to be a bad joke right ?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCollins

mp3 audio format for most listeners, and worried about sound quality ? this has to be a bad joke right ?

It's difficult to tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and FLAC (if properly encoded).

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HybridCore

It's difficult to tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and FLAC (if properly encoded).

If you spend time listening on even prosumer gear, the bit decimation effect just pops right out at you.Its almost always all over the low end "lifeless bass" and the high end" swishy sounding symbols"

what they should do, is give people more storage and get rid of the mp3 format, lossless only.