What DAC does the Nitro HD use? - LG Nitro HD

I've noticed that my Nitro HD has trouble powering my Shure SRH840 headphones (44 ohms impedance), and I often have to turn it to max volume. In contrast, my little Sansa Clip can run these headphones without any problem, and it sounds much better than the Nitro HD IMO.
Does anyone know if the Nitro HD uses the Wolfson DAC found in iPhones and other cell phones, or if it uses something worse? Also, is there a way to boost the volume from this phone without using a headphone amp?

I believe the headphone jack is weak. My gym headphones plugged in are kinda weak. Same headphones plugged into my Sony WM-600 BT transmitter and it is LOUD!

996gt2 said:
Does anyone know if the Nitro HD uses the Wolfson DAC found in iPhones and other cell phones, or if it uses something worse?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
already asked, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1510927 nobody knows

blaineball said:
I believe the headphone jack is weak. My gym headphones plugged in are kinda weak. Same headphones plugged into my Sony WM-600 BT transmitter and it is LOUD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the volume through this phone is definitely lower than my Sansa clip, and the SQ is worse.

Related

[Q] X-mini Capsule Speaker Problem

I just bought this xmi x-mini II speaker
the sound is incredibly loud and crisp and has very good bass for its size
when connected to my laptop, ipod or iphone...
while connecting it with my desire hd its volume has just enough loudness,
on max volume on phone and max on xmini speaker...
i wonder if how many power output from the 3.5mm earphone jack the desire hd have,
does it cause this or is it just a software issue since the speaker has built-in battery that could last up to 12 hours on normal playback so i guess power output is not an issue.
anyone got this speaker?
neonblues said:
I just bought this xmi x-mini II speaker
the sound is incredibly loud and crisp and has very good bass for its size
when connected to my laptop, ipod or iphone...
while connecting it with my desire hd its volume has just enough loudness,
on max volume on phone and max on xmini speaker...
i wonder if how many power output from the 3.5mm earphone jack the desire hd have,
does it cause this or is it just a software issue since the speaker has built-in battery that could last up to 12 hours on normal playback so i guess power output is not an issue.
anyone got this speaker?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this thread its duplicate...
also its in accesories section... That is where it must be...

Improved sound quality with fiio e6!

I bought a fiio e6 on amazon and sound quality has improved tremendously. Even with my a2dp receiver in my car, the improvement was great. Any other experience?
What kind of headphones are you using? i suspect that makes much more of a difference than the amp
I'm planning to get an E6 by the end of this month. Together with AKG K240 MK II. I will need the amp anyway, but it'll be good to know what ear-/headphones you are using.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Just tried my E6 on my i9100. Absolutely no change at all. Tried 5 different IEM's and 2 different headphones, they all sounded the same.
Maybe your E6 is broken!
I use it with akg K317 and in my car with a beewi bba100.
I've ordered an e5, which I should receive tomorrow, from what I've read the bass boost on the e5 is better than that of the e6.
I'll report back on any change on the sound quality, although don't expect anything in-depth, I'm no audiophile
without a proper lineout from the phone, the sound will either be same or worst in most cases. Because what youre doing is amplifying an amplified signal. So, if the amplified signal from the phone is bad, i'm pretty sure your external amplifier cant fix that.
You would need the Samsung official car dock for true line-out audio. Either that or make your own cable like the one here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20710266&postcount=14
Maybe Bluetooth audio would also work, if you have a Bluetooth receiver with a decent DAC.
No matter what you use, it will not improve the overall sound of the device as it uses a cheap and crappy sound card. Any sort of amp including the Fiio E6 only brings EQ to the music, not to mention you actually lose sound quality because your using a jack to jack method unlike the iPod where they have special cables that connects directly into the DAC of the iPod because of the special provide cables which over-passes the direct headphone jack port. (Search up Fiio L9 Cable) Also when using the jack to jack cable that's provided with the Fiio E6 it lowers the loudness of the sound when connecting via phone to the amp.
Of course then there's the human ear, if you feel like it sounds great, good for you but in reality the sound is worse with EQ added to make you think it sounds great.
If your an audiophile you have to accept that the SGS2 isn't the best music device. Cowon for example or the SGP are good sounding music players. It's a waste of money to buy a Fiio E6 Amp unless your using an iPod to be honest cause it significantly improves the iPod devices.
That's my 2 cents, take it or leave it as you wish.
Blegh said:
without a proper lineout from the phone, the sound will either be same or worst in most cases. Because what youre doing is amplifying an amplified signal. So, if the amplified signal from the phone is bad, i'm pretty sure your external amplifier cant fix that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I noticed no change in sound quality with my e5. However it can make it a LOT louder, so if that's something you need, you might still want to consider getting one of these
Intercrew said:
unlike the iPod where they have special cables that connects directly into the DAC of the iPod because of the special provide cables which over-passes the direct headphone jack port. (Search up Fiio L9 Cable)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The galaxy s 2 does also have line out which bypasses the headphone jack (for example the samsung car dock does line-out over the micro usb port) but there doesn't seem to be anything available to buy to do this without the dock. However as claimui said you can make your own cable too

[Q] Behringer UCA202 DAC - sounds horrible compared to headphone jack/bluetooth

So I found a Behringer UCA202 DAC online for really cheap and thought why not try it just for fun. Everything I've read says having one can help a bit and I figured at the least it would sound the same, but I plugged it into my Nexus 5 via OTG then plugged the AUX cord to my Jeep into the DAC and all bass and pretty much any other level of detail is gone from my music whether it's from Pandora, YouTube HD, or FLAC audio files. Audio sound quality is equal to listening to music over old mono bluetooth, you hear it fine but any highs and lows are removed. Has anyone else used this DAC that could give some suggestions?
Otherwise it's just as I assumed, DACs are pointless on good quality phones and that's why I can't find any DAC threads with the Nexus 5 involved.
herqulees said:
So I found a Behringer UCA202 DAC online for really cheap and thought why not try it just for fun. Everything I've read says having one can help a bit and I figured at the least it would sound the same, but I plugged it into my Nexus 5 via OTG then plugged the AUX cord to my Jeep into the DAC and all bass and pretty much any other level of detail is gone from my music whether it's from Pandora, YouTube HD, or FLAC audio files. Audio sound quality is equal to listening to music over old mono bluetooth, you hear it fine but any highs and lows are removed. Has anyone else used this DAC that could give some suggestions?
Otherwise it's just as I assumed, DACs are pointless on good quality phones and that's why I can't find any DAC threads with the Nexus 5 involved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ummm, it's not a DAC. It's an interface.
theesotericone said:
Ummm, it's not a DAC. It's an interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, with a DAC in it. You need a DAC to get audio output through USB, there is no analog audio output through USB/USB OTG...
herqulees said:
Yes, with a DAC in it. You need a DAC to get audio output through USB, there is no analog audio output through USB/USB OTG...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it has a DAC but it's not meant as a stand alone DAC. It's an interface or soundcard. Does your phone have enough juice to even operate the thing? Also for a device that sells for less than 30 bucks what exactly where you expecting? Get a real DAC. You will notice a huge difference. Until then do some more research on what you have and see if your meeting it's power requirements.
This is actually a pretty good review of the unit with lots of technical info.
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/behringer-uca202-review.html
theesotericone said:
Yes it has a DAC but it's not meant as a stand alone DAC. It's an interface or soundcard. Does your phone have enough juice to even operate the thing? Also for a device that sells for less than 30 bucks what exactly where you expecting? Get a real DAC. You will notice a huge difference. Until then do some more research on what you have and see if your meeting it's power requirements.
This is actually a pretty good review of the unit with lots of technical info.
http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/behringer-uca202-review.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I can't see power being an issue I suppose I'll test with my Nexus 7 and laptop. I know it's a cheap DAC but I've read many reviews using this DAC with tablets and phones for car audio, along with the nwavguy in-depth review and testing showing how it's not a multi-hundred dollar unit but still does amazingly well. My issue is it doesn't even sound decent. It sounds like I'm playing rap/hip-hop through an old Nokia on speaker phone, you can hear it clearly but there's no depth.
So I tossed this DAC in a closet after I got bored of trying to make it work right and forgot about it for a year or so till earlier today when I found it while cleaning. My Nexus 5 has been retired and serves no purpose other than a security camera now. I now have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and an RCA Maven Pro tablet. The RCA Maven Pro is an 11.1inch 2-in-1 Android tablet with detachable keyboard for around $120. You'd assume it's horrible thanks to the brand and price but they managed to cut corners in all the right places it seems. Downsides are no GPS, 1GB of RAM, terrible cameras, and a horrible speaker. Other than that it has faithfully replaced my $1200 laptop with zero issues other than adjusting to ditching Windows.
Now back on track when I listen to music I'm either using an aux cord plugged into my work truck or bluetooth when using headphones or in my new car. When doing a side by side comparison bluetooth, to no surprise, shows no difference between my Maven and S5. However when using an aux cord the RCA doesn't put out as much bass and highs are... I guess not as clear? I think audiophiles are insane most of the time so it's hard for me to describe when I do notice a difference. Anyways I plugged the UCA202 into the RCA's USB port (no OTG here, it has a full size USB port) and plugged my Sony MDR-XB950BT headphones in to it with an aux cord (these headphones are 100% passive when wired, no bass boost or other enhancements) and sound quality is just as great as my S5, all bass and highs are restored. Just to further the test I plugged it into my S5 and did the same test with the same results. These are the same FLAC song files from the same network location that my Nexus 5 was playing a year ago.
The whole time the issue was something in my Nexus 5. What it was I don't know and sorry you guys I don't plan on investigating, I just wanted to inform everyone that the Behringer UCA202 is in fact a quality budget DAC since this thread is a top Google result for "Behringer UCA202 Android". If you have a cheap device that you want the audio to be on par with the high end phones this will do it, and for my original purpose of at the same time giving a bit of amplification for a weak head unit without distortion it does that decently too. To finish this off I am NOT an audiophile. Just a human with human hearing that likes songs with bass on car head units that weren't always designed for it (I glued a 80mm CPU fan to the back of the HU in my Jeep ) So take my finer details however you'd like.
the DAC works great for my Nexus 7 2013 model.
maybe otg cable is sh1tty
Sent from my D820 CAF using Tapatalk

bluetooth headphone with good sound quality

Just bought a jaybird x3 from Amazon I would say it cannot match the b&o play headphone comes with the phone with quad DAC enabled, anyone has better suggestion is that even Bose sport wireless will be about the same? Welcome any suggestion or I should stick with wired one just Bluetooth is so much more convenient, love to hear anyone with BeatX or similar ones
Replaced the standard ear tip with the foam type comes with jaybird x3 sounds significantly better
You need to use wired headphones to take advantage of the dac
I use the Creative Sound Blaster E3 combined with b&o play headphone that came with the phone and to me it sounds just as good or may be better than the phone with wired headphones. If the sound of the E3 is not up to par you can always substitute any 3.5mm headphone out for the B&O.
The Quad DAC will only activate with an audio cable plugged in. So unfortunately Bluetooth will not be able to take advantage of it.
However, the V20 does support AptX, which essentially allows for high quality audio through a BT headset, headphones, speakers, etc. Though I am far from an audiophile, I honestly do hear a definitive difference between an AptX supported headset vs a non AptX set.
Amazon has an extremely large selection of BT 4.1 (which features the ability to display the battery % of your headset on your phone), waterproof, AptX supported headphones. You just have to find the ones that fit your needs.
Good luck.
I use Samsung Gear IconX (truly wireless ones) with V20, very decent sound not much worse than included B&O H3! There's a bunch of them brand new unpacked on Ebay starting from like 80$ or so! Most folks change eartips on IconXs, the large ones from milliion year old Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic worked for me famously, balanced sound and punchy bass, perfect for workouts. One very neat feature of IconXs that you can store 4gigs of songs and use as a standalone mp3 player and I personally think SQ is even better than paired with V20! Lastly, you can track steps and heart-rate but that's something I don't use...
I use the Apple AirPods when I need the convenience of Bluetooth. For wireless ear buds they sound really good when you pair them with Apple Music. I don't like the sound with Tidal tho.
Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
vam1230 said:
I use the Creative Sound Blaster E3 combined with b&o play headphone that came with the phone and to me it sounds just as good or may be better than the phone with wired headphones. If the sound of the E3 is not up to par you can always substitute any 3.5mm headphone out for the B&O.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I don't really know creative still makes things like this sounds interesting and it is about the same price as my jaybird x3, thanks for the suggestion
Lgv20user said:
The Quad DAC will only activate with an audio cable plugged in. So unfortunately Bluetooth will not be able to take advantage of it.
However, the V20 does support AptX, which essentially allows for high quality audio through a BT headset, headphones, speakers, etc. Though I am far from an audiophile, I honestly do hear a definitive difference between an AptX supported headset vs a non AptX set.
Amazon has an extremely large selection of BT 4.1 (which features the ability to display the battery % of your headset on your phone), waterproof, AptX supported headphones. You just have to find the ones that fit your needs.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes v20 actually does support aptx HD but not easy to find a headphone that supports that except from LG and from the reviews it seems doesn't matter so much
Zenroid said:
Yes v20 actually does support aptx HD but not easy to find a headphone that supports that except from LG and from the reviews it seems doesn't matter so much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TaoTronics Bluetooth In Ear Headphones Wireless Earbuds Sports Magnetic Earphones with Built-in Mic (Sweatproof with IPX5 Splash Proof Rating, aptX St https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYMSLFL/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apap_gKUSnifT9FZbE
I don't have high standards by any means, but these headphones are perfect for me. Great sound, durable, sweat resistant, long battery life, etc.
Jaybird is at the top when it comes to bluetooth, and you won't find any bluetooth earbuds that sound better than the X3.
Sent from my LG-LS997 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I use the Samsung Level U:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YA8L3YA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
which show to support aptX:
https://www.aptx.com/products/samsung-level-u-wireless-bluetoothr-headset
now the LG V20 supports aptX HD:
https://www.aptx.com/products/lgv20
but the aptX HD is backward compatible with the aptX. I think the Samsung Level U work great and sound great
Bose QC35 and Bose SoundSport Wireless, Word!
My brother has been through quite a few different ones including the Jaybirds and the best earbud pair imo was Monsters sport ones (ill have to get the model number for ya later as I dont recall). To be honest I thought my $30 Taotronic sport ones I got off Amazon sounded just as good as the Jaybirds did.
I've seen Bose has a new wireless in ear buds with active noise cancelling so those might sound pretty good. Haven't read anything about them yet though
I just posted this on another thread, well worth the price.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71356965&postcount=154
In my opinion the absolute best sounding bluetooth headset on the market right now is the Definitive Symphony 1, these things sound awesome for BT, even the bose BT headsets don't compare imo.
Best Bluetooth Earbuds
Have you seen the top 5 best sounding bluetooth earbuds you can buy. It might be the best for your need :laugh:
I have the Vmoda Crossfade Wireless 2 and they sound awesome with the phone. My Bludio UFO I just got today I think sound better at a much lower cost. Either way, the Bluetooth sounds great and the option to plug in for even better sound is there.
Don't mean to rain on the earbud parade but to get the best sound you need something with bigger drivers. I recently bought the Sharkk Claro from Amazon for $44.99 and it has ANC and Apt-X and it sounds pretty good.
I've been really happy with Mixcder over the ear headphones. I have a pair of the MS301 and my wife has the HD601. Both use Apt-x low latency, which seems to really help the audio quality.

[DISCUSSION] Headphone Jack performance

I wanted to start a thread discussing the performance of the headphone jack. I'm a bit disappointed considering Sony's audiophile history with their walkmans and LDAC codec.
Yes, I'm nit picking about a $13XX dollar phone but for this price, I was expecting a bit more that just average performance.
For comparison I do have a LG V40 with it's quad dac and it powers my audio technicas perfectly fine with High-Impedance mode.
On the MK ii, I don't get the full sound with out an external dac coming into play.
I'd like to ask other MK ii owners if having just a headphone jack is enough to power your earbuds/iems/headphones.
Going to do a bit more in detail research within a couple of days but I think Sony just wanted to slap a headphone jack just to say it has one.
Ps- I'm no audiophile but having a full sound for the headphones I have is a must.
Thank you! This thread is very interesting.
I have reduced hearing and I badly need a smartphone with high-output. My LG V30 with it's QUAD-DAC has no problem giving me enough volume even on my favourite pair Hifiman HE-4xx.
I was hoping that Sony 1 mk2 was an alternative, but maybe not................ ?
R800x_user said:
I wanted to start a thread discussing the performance of the headphone jack. I'm a bit disappointed considering Sony's audiophile history with their walkmans and LDAC codec.
Yes, I'm nit picking about a $13XX dollar phone but for this price, I was expecting a bit more that just average performance.
For comparison I do have a LG V40 with it's quad dac and it powers my audio technicas perfectly fine with High-Impedance mode.
On the MK ii, I don't get the full sound with out an external dac coming into play.
I'd like to ask other MK ii owners if having just a headphone jack is enough to power your earbuds/iems/headphones.
Going to do a bit more in detail research within a couple of days but I think Sony just wanted to slap a headphone jack just to say it has one.
Ps- I'm no audiophile but having a full sound for the headphones I have is a must.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may want to make the distinction between headphone jacks that can and cannot drive high impedance headphones as a headphone jack that can't can still be good as in clear, little to no distortion with good response and sound reproduction.
In this case its more like LG's has gone out of their way to include a dac that can power high impedance headphones (which is rare in the first place, in addition to the jack being rare) so if high impedance headphones usage is a top priority, then sticking to LG would be recommended.
I have a Meizu Pro usb dac which has a good reputation. The volume of the Meizu is a bit higher, but the audio quality of the Sony is equal. You just have to increase the volume 2 or 3 notches. The Sony uses the Qualcom dac and excellent Cirrus amplifier chips. I use my Beoplay H6 over the ear headphones for listening. The volume being a bit lower is no problem for me, I still can get serious hearing damage if I want to.
The audio is detailed, excellent channel separation, noise is undetectable.
jwalesh96 said:
You may want to make the distinction between headphone jacks that can and cannot drive high impedance headphones as a headphone jack that can't can still be good as in clear, little to no distortion with good response and sound reproduction.
In this case its more like LG's has gone out of their way to include a dac that can power high impedance headphones (which is rare in the first place, in addition to the jack being rare) so if high impedance headphones usage is a top priority, then sticking to LG would be recommended.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sho-Bud said:
I have a Meizu Pro usb dac which has a good reputation. The volume of the Meizu is a bit higher, but the audio quality of the Sony is equal. You just have to increase the volume 2 or 3 notches. The Sony uses the Qualcom dac and excellent Cirrus amplifier chips. I use my Beoplay H4 over the ear headphones for listening. The volume being a bit lower is no problem for me, I still can get serious hearing damage if I want to.
The audio is detailed, excellent channel separation, noise is undetectable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah LG has done the headphone jack justice, but I was expecting a bit more out of the mark 2 for it's price point.
Like hi-res audio. I get it's mainly a photography oriented product. I mean I guess I got used to only using half of the volume steps provided by the LG phones.
I just had high expectations out of Sony in the audio department. Great camera. As for the dac mentioned above, i have a couple so I'm not too worried about getting any more of them. I have a couple of headphone I can try out besides my audio technicas.
The audio capability of the phone is lacking
Bluetooth volume is pretty poor even though it's decent quality
The 3.5mm Jack absolutely doesn't have that much power to drive much more than basic iem 8 to 16 ohm level. Can't push my 150ohm cans at all
Definitely louder than the previous phones. I'm just happy that the jack is back. I did notice a difference with bluetooth vs wired on WH1000XM4. Volume was definitely louder on bluetooth, but can really notice the difference in quality despite LDAC. But that's just me.
R800x_user said:
Yeah LG has done the headphone jack justice, but I was expecting a bit more out of the mark 2 for it's price point.
Like hi-res audio. I get it's mainly a photography oriented product. I mean I guess I got used to only using half of the volume steps provided by the LG phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it does have Hi-Res audio. Volume is a bit lower, but is also the curve of the volume control. With the LG the volume control is linear, with the Sony starts to increase real slow, until over half of the volume.
Sho-Bud said:
But it does have Hi-Res audio. Volume is a bit lower, but is also the curve of the volume control. With the LG the volume control is linear, with the Sony starts to increase real slow, until over half of the volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah volume has to be over half way to start making decent sound. Regular buds are fine though. I have some kz iems and it's fine with those. Just higher impedance isn't for this phone.
My Beoplay H6 headphones have an impedance of 30 Ohms. They work great with the Sony. I can't compare, these are the only wired headphones I have.
The audio quality is perfect with my XBA-N3AP or WH1000XM3
niaboc79 said:
The audio quality is perfect with my XBA-N3AP or WH1000XM3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh snap, how are the XBAs?
Currently, I'm using AKG N700nc2( using them wired )
R800x_user said:
Oh snap, how are the XBAs?
Currently, I'm using AKG N700nc2( using them wired )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XBA are amazing, well balanced and no extra bass like many earphones.
With an upgraded cable it's even better [emoji106]
Envoyé de mon XQ-AT51 en utilisant Tapatalk
niaboc79 said:
The audio quality is perfect with my XBA-N3AP or WH1000XM3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think using its headphone jack to push N3AP do not working perfect, the human voice is low, the sound ‘s analysis goes bad, compare to use usb-3.5 dac line. I use IE60.
highlightshadow said:
The audio capability of the phone is lacking
Bluetooth volume is pretty poor even though it's decent quality
The 3.5mm Jack absolutely doesn't have that much power to drive much more than basic iem 8 to 16 ohm level. Can't push my 150ohm cans at all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poor volume, I can still get hearing damage by the levels of volume here.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Monster_Dawn said:
I think using its headphone jack to push N3AP do not working perfect, the human voice is low, the sound ‘s analysis goes bad, compare to use usb-3.5 dac line. I use IE60.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried with a dac, I will try to compare with my XA50ES
Envoyé de mon XQ-AT51 en utilisant Tapatalk
For everyone who isn't satisfied with the performance of the headphone jack:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/crossdevice-dev/sony/xnext-walkman-v1-0-xperia-1ii-5-ii-t4192117
Require a rooted device
[email protected] said:
For everyone who isn't satisfied with the performance of the headphone jack:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/crossdevice-dev/sony/xnext-walkman-v1-0-xperia-1ii-5-ii-t4192117
Require a rooted device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologies for replying to an old threat, but what became of this? The link is now dead unfortunately. Was it an actual improvement or deleted because it was non-functional? Thanks.
Coleh said:
Apologies for replying to an old threat, but what became of this? The link is now dead unfortunately. Was it an actual improvement or deleted because it was non-functional? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to dm peter. I didn't have a chance to save this.
Sony Xperia 1 II most probably uses a Qualcomm audio codec. Can be their flagship Aqstic WCD9341, a dedicated audio chip. Only a proper tear-down will reveal the details. As I found out this audio chip contains a very good DAC section and can produce nearly 1 Vrms at headphone out when implemented in high performance mode.

Categories

Resources