Develop Bugs

Audiophile-grade Stereo Headsets (non bluetooth)

Hiyas all,
Just wondering if anyone of you has tried some high-end stereo headsets (non-bluetooth) from audiophile-grade headphone manufacturers such as Etymotic, Shure or Sennheiser, to replace your ordinary-crappy-plasticky headsets given by Dopod, O2, HTC or whatever.
Would be nice as alternetives to A2DP Bluetooth headsets for those looking for compatibility, wants their PDA battery last longer, and feel reluctant to add one more thing to charge daily (the bluetoooth headset).
There are 2 types i found as far as I researched:
1. Shure i2c, i3c, i4c (starting US$79)
http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Headsets/ISeries/us_pa_i4c_headset_content
2. Sennheiser MM50 (US$60)
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=500745
3,4. Anyone to add?
Anyone has recommendation/experience?
Or better, has anyone compared one to another?

3. V-Moda Vibe Duo (US$100)
http://www.v-moda.com/collection/modaphones/vibe duo.aspx
Anyone?

Koss KSC75... Google reviews on em, you won't find a bad review.
Simply the best quality for cheap (AUS$20).
I've heard, yet to verify, that you'd probably have to pick up headsets upwards of $400 to hear a discernable difference in the audio quality. For the price, you can't lose. Try em
I got a pair, the sound quality is well good.

thx monsieur capeli... nice reference
however, i hope you don't get me wrong but what I'm looking for are audiophile-grade headsets with built in mic, not just headphones.
for headphones, yes there are so many products
but headsets, I can say that they are quite rare.
actually, there are plenty i can buy at just a mere US$2 per piece, but they are by no means audiophile-grade...

My bad...misunderstood what you were saying.
You can try looking on Expansys (in whatever country you're in) for the
HTC W100 Wired Remote Control (assuming your using a compatible Dopod/HTC)
It includes a mic, buttons for controlling music and a 3.5mm plug. That way you can plug in your own audiophile grade headphones and still have a mic for hands free.
Another great pair of headphones (IEM-canal phones) on the cheap:
Crossroads MylarOne X3 from www.jaben.com. I've heard rave reviews and they're only $US57.
If want better isolation try them with the Ultimate Ears bi-flange tips, that can be found on idealsound on ebay (free shipping worldwide.)
Hope that helps.

Sorry the webiste for the MylarOne X3 is http://www.jaben.net/shopping.html

I have a set of Shure e2c's (inear), a set of Shure e3c's (inear) and also a set of Grado SR80's (over the head proper headphones)
The shures are the same as the i series ones but wiothout the mic..
All three are stunning headphones (the Grado's I cant reccomend enough for the cost - they are expensive but not stupidly so) however if you are only going to listen to your phone with them you might be dissapointed.. if you can pick them up cheap enough they do indeed sound better than the stock headphones (on my TyTN at least) but the sound quality from the phone isn't the best.
If you are gonna use them on other things too I can highly reccomend the Grado's and both the shure's although I actually prefer the e2c to the e3c's because of the shape of them.. they are more comfortable in my ears. (Sound quality wise both are very good)
(ah didnt read that you wanted headsets specifically.. i use all of these with a downlead that includes a mic as the tytn doesnt take 3.5mil jacks in any case so id always need a downlead)

hmmm.... well it seems wrong recommending any headset to u before asking wad genre u listen to......
cause some music require a headphone to have lots of bass well the others need more detail n a larger soundstage.
diff brands of headset produce diff signatures and r meant for different genres.... so its really best tt you try them... at ur local headphone dealer but in short
pple tt like shures dun usually like UE ( ultimate ear ) and Sennheiser..... the sound signature they produce r just very different....

Thanks all for the positive reply.
Anyway, just to share that I've even tried to mod my original headset by cutting off the old headphones, soldering a new female stereo minijack as replacement, and then connecting my audio technica headphones into the minijack.
However, the cable got pretty much longer and get tangled easily, I have to reroute it around my body parts everytime I use it Not to mention that the new minijack has added considerable weight that creates uncomfort feeling when hanging over my shirt. And even when I've been very careful in soldering and rewiring, I can "feel" a little sound degradation from the new setup.
That's why I'm so keen in looking for an audiophile stereo headset, built from scratch for that very purpose.
And regarding type of music, I dig everything from fusion, jazz, classic, heavy metal, etc. Hence, I do prefer natural sound. Whenever I need bass or treble I can manage in setting it through the equalizer.
I wonder if there's someone with same interest with me....

How about one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Enhanced-Mini...4QQihZ006QQcategoryZ14419QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Allows you to use any standard 3.5" headphones you choose as it has a built-in microphone for voice calls.

How about impedance?
Anyone know what impedance the headphones should be for proper loading?

dont the earphones state their impedance ?
personaly i doubt that the DA converter in these htc phones are
graded audiophile quality though

Rudegar said:
dont the earphones state their impedance ?
personaly i doubt that the DA converter in these htc phones are
graded audiophile quality though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, many PDAs have excellent SQ: such as the Asus A620 series or the Dell x5xv series; and my hx4700 isnt bad either.

when i say audiophile i mean those superhumans who can
hear goldcables diff and can tell the diff between the last 1000
their stereo speakers cost more then the 2th best one

I think Padawan is asking on impedance rating specified in his PDA-Phone output,since on the other side one can easily find the impedance on his headphone. This is my curiousity also. Is there a DIY way to measure it? I mean, by using ohmmeter/multimeter or something?
Anyway, I also doubt that DA converter in HTC phones are audiophile grade. But yet, if we can avoid further degradation by using crappy headsets, why not? Since, many of us use our PDA phones as music player too right?
Anyway, to still keep the topics, this is the ramp up until now:
1. Shure i2c, i3c, i4c (starting US$79)
http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/P...eadset_content
2. Sennheiser MM50 (US$60)
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite...transid=500745
3. V-Moda Vibe Duo (US$100)
http://www.v-moda.com/collection/mod...ibe duo.aspx
Anyone has tried any of these and be so kind to share your experience?

Relisted:
1. Shure i2c, i3c, i4c (now $129)
http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Headsets/ISeries/index.htm
2. Sennheiser MM50 (now $80)
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=500745
3. V-Moda Vibe Duo (US$100)
http://www.v-moda.com/collection/modaphones/vibe duo.aspx

Shure i4c-t
I used the Shure i4c-t for over a year with my Tornado device. Single gold-plated 4-conductor 2.5 mm connector fits perfectly. Shure says the -t series is designed for the Treo, but the 2.5mm 4-conductor connector was fairly standard on HTC devices until the dreaded extUSB came out (dammit).
I am actually in the process of retrofitting the extUSB connector to my i4c-t headset. I'm trying to find the color-coding of the wires in the HTC headset before I cut into my i4c-t wire.

bubbahump said:
I used the Shure i4c-t for over a year with my Tornado device. Single gold-plated 4-conductor 2.5 mm connector fits perfectly. Shure says the -t series is designed for the Treo, but the 2.5mm 4-conductor connector was fairly standard on HTC devices until the dreaded extUSB came out (dammit).
I am actually in the process of retrofitting the extUSB connector to my i4c-t headset. I'm trying to find the color-coding of the wires in the HTC headset before I cut into my i4c-t wire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How's the i4c-t sound quality to you on a 1-5 scale? Anyway, I wonder if you really want to mod a pricey $329 headset... :wow:
I agree that the new mini USB connectors is no less than a new headache for us headset owners. Maybe in future it will serve the universal purpose, but as for the transition period now... sux...
Anyway, the 4-pole 2.5-mm jack structure i learned so far are (on my ETEN M600):
(Be sure to check whether it applies to your device too)
= = = =[[[[[
1 2 3 4
1 : Microphone (white)
2 : Right Audio (green)
3 : Left Audio (red)
4 : Ground (yellow)
5 : Mic. Trigger On/Off (blue) -> connect to (4)

I'd give it a 5 if you're comparing it to other single-driver canalphones, and a 4 if you bring in the dual or triple-driver designs. I tried several before settling on the i4's. These have a perfect balance of bass and crystal clear highs and need no eq adjustment (good since our phones don't have it anyway). Tracks with bass play that bass down to the lowest frequencies, but it is not loud and does not overwhelm the music.
A dual-driver design might be able to play louder bass without distorting the highs (as good as they are, bass-heavy music turned up loud will cause the i4 to muddy up the highs). However, I wanted a single-driver design that would fit entirely in my ear and allow me to wear them while I slept. 90% of their use has been on airplanes, blocking out screaming babies while I doze.
I paid about half of the list price you quoted earlier. Still very expensive, but I feel it was entirely worth it given how much I enjoy listening to them and how much I used them. At the time, any other headset (other than the i2c-t or i3c-t, which I tried) would have required a bulky/ugly adapter and would have killed the microphone.
I just soldered on the extUSB connector. Took a lot of guts to cut the old one off, but I'm spoiled by these headphones and had nothing to plug them into. So now I'm back in business until they change the connectors again... http://www.intomobile.com/2007/05/27/picture-mini-vs-micro-usb.html

£70 Bose Headphones but low sound . how do i increase sound?

Hi guys, am using £70 Bose headphone's with very good reviews .
http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Headphones/buy-BOSE-IN-EAR-Headphone/371840
Problem I have got is the sound is too low, I like loud music so i bought these headphones with great bass, anybody know why my sound isnt very loud?
music sounds great, lots of bass just not loud enough.
thanks,
MIUI ROM <--

A you need to search question asked and asked + sound fixes posts .
Of note SGS2 does not play low end stuff that well so if you want exaggerated bass you need another phone or try the multitude of fixes .No idea if they work or not as i aint got no boom boom music .
FWIW stock player or Mixzing player stock headphones and or not very expensive Sennheisers no problem with my sound .In fact volume over 7 is far to loud for most .
http://www.appbrain.com/app/equalizer/com.smartandroidapps.equalizer
Might be worth a look
jje

Hmm. Bose eh. So sound quality probably isn't that big of a concern for you. There is a way for you to increase the sound volume by using a function called boost. Search the market for volume boost. Now while most of this apps work in increasing sound volume, it does so at the expense of distortion. It does increases the signal output while degrading the signal at the same time too. But since you're here for volume, I guess that should do the trick well.

I also have these headphones and they are super low for me as well. I used volume+ and that helped a bit. To the guy saying Bose blows they were 90 dollar headphones and look at the reviews of them on best buy. I know auduophiles hate Bose but these are actually pretty decent.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Try the app in my sig. Works perfectly with Miui (I'm using GM 2.2.1).

Use voodoolouder developed by a very known developer, supercurio. It's in the android market. From my experience it works as described and is worth every dollar. Much louder. I used siyah kernel to get the app working although he does list others. Good luck!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Buy a entry level headphone amp would help. S2 maximum output level is very low, making it imposible to deliver enough power to give enough loudness (me as well having this problem with Tf 10)
If you a audiophile, S2 is clearly not a choices for music. The internal amp is so **** up that most of the time you find some clipping here and there.

Must say my £39 Brainwavz M2's sound very loud and clear with the stock player. What about buying an mp3 player? Sansa clip zip rockboxed sounds awesome and you can turn up the volume as loud as you want lol (Not recommended for obvious reasons)

^^ Mind explaining what a "Sansa Clip Zip Rockboxed" is? I tried Google-ing it, but didn't get me the expected results..

Hi,
No.1 - Buy better headphones. (Yes, harsh but true - sorry). Money is not equal to quality especially in the headphone world.
No.2 - If I have to use headphones (being a headphone fanatic) the sound quality unfortunately is bad but when I use Samsung SGS2 -> Fiio E7 Amp it is a bit better but not as good as my Cowon S9. Please dont expect too much from the SGS2 if you want quality.
I did a review here with some fairly nice earphones - Go to: http://www.head-fi.org/t/575703/galaxy-sii-which-iems
(aman p is me)
EDIT: The bass response and impact on your headphones is also not good (rubbish really), sell them and buy Meelec A151's. They are cheap and miles better Than the Bose's that you have.
---------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------
SufiSam said:
^^ Mind explaining what a "Sansa Clip Zip Rockboxed" is? I tried Google-ing it, but didn't get me the expected results..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rockbox is basically putting a custom firmware and interface on your device.
Sansa clip is famous because it is VERY CHEAP, reasonably powerful and with rockbox firmware you can use eq very effectively.
Rockbox is available for Android but i've never tried it.

Sound, bass and treble is perfectly with my klipsch S4, with Voodoo it boosts it to a level in which I get distortion as it is going over the levels which the earphones can handle.

SufiSam said:
^^ Mind explaining what a "Sansa Clip Zip Rockboxed" is? I tried Google-ing it, but didn't get me the expected results..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
amandeepphull explained this right. got my sansa clip for £33 4gb version. Added a 32gb sandisk memory card to it from amazon for £22. Rockbox basically allows you to mold the music to your tastes. The m2's don't have the greatest treble in the world so adding a subtle amount of eq to the highend does wonders. It does add other features as well (gapless playback) and my god ReplayGain is a godsend . For some reason I wasn't impressed with the rockbox on android, could put that down to the poor audio on the phone though

Get voodoo louder, support supercurio!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Does anyone have settings for good bass in Rockbox? I tried messing around, but didn't understand a thing.. I'm not an audiophile, you know...

If volume output is an issue then you should try Voodoo Louder from Supercurio (available in the Market). Significantly boosts loudness.

Just buy yourself a Fiio E5 Amp http://www.fiio.com.cn/product/index.aspx?ID=6&MenuID=020301
Ideal for any headphones that need a bit more power to them and they cost hardly anything. It also has a Bass Boost switch.

Do i need an amp for my headset?

Hey Guys,..
I just ordered a new headset from sennheiser.
I red somewhere that smartphones and mp3 players might not have enough power to make your headphones sounds nice at higher volume.
I cant seem to find any figures for the note 2 that i can use to do the math, so does any one know what the output is of the note 2?
Or perhaps someone has already tried this?
I bought the sennheiser 449, and was looking to add a FiiO E6 IF needed.
Thanks.

The phone should power the headphones, as it has a Wolfson DAC like some of the older model iPods, and a lot of people in the audiophile community claim the iPods with the Wolfson DAC were the best sounding (a little bit warmer and they give an overall better sound in comparison to the audi chips Apple are using nowadays from Cirrus Logic.
Try the stock player when they arrive and play about with PowerAmp and Jet Audio has loads of extra controls for sound settings etc, adding an extra headphone amp would boost the volume and give you a little more bass but at the cost of adding extra bulk, which sometimes isn't a good thing if your on the go all the time! Also apparently in the future BBE may be porting their SoundMax app from iOS to Android
I have been looking into getting a Note 2 for daily use and music, (trying to find an app that will play apple lossless!) and I also want to try and avoid adding the extra bulk of a headphone amp, the phone is big enough as it is Headphone wise, if your a bass head there is the newly released V-Moda M-100 which have been getting rave reviews, there is also the older V-Moda M80's which as still really good for the money (about the same you paid for your new Sennheisers). I have been looking at the AKG K550's a real nice set of headphones, they certainly look the part, and they are apparently great being powered by a Mobile, they are also closed back, so not much sound leak when your out and about. Hope this helps.

the only thing you should look at when buying new cans is the impedance (measured in ohm). in your case the impedance of the sennheiser 449 lies between 35 & 45 ohm. so, no problem to drive them without a dedicated headphone amp on smartphones and mp3 players respectively. to give you comparison, there are headphones with several hundered ohms of impedance. for these a headphone amp is highly recommended

right thats what i wanted to know because one youtube vid said that you DO need an amp if you are going to use it on your smartphone.
but i will give it a try without.
thanks.

Nope it doesn't require.... I have gaming stereo headset... Big in size, it works well in my nexus s... And must be working in note 2... Note 2 is using newer version of Wolfson chips
Accidentally sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2

I guess, you don't really 'need' it, but if you have a portable AMP, it always make your headphones sound better.

Headphones that get best use of the V20 audio

Title says it all. Post your suggestions and experiences with headphones that maximize the audio potential of this phone.
That quad DAC when wired and APTx when on BT.

CHH2 said:
Title says it all. Post your suggestions and experiences with headphones that maximize the audio potential of this phone.
That quad DAC when wired and APTx when on BT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm listening to my Sennheiser HD 598's right now using the quad DAC (high impedence). It is definitely driving them very well, I get my Audioquest Dragonfly black in tomorrow so I can try A&B comparisons with that vs the internal audio. I've also enjoyed using it with my Backbeat Pros but those do not have aptx.

I'm using my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 Ohm headphones, it's amazing. It's a step up from the V10, including the volume department (especially with high impedance headphones).

I'm currently listening music with the AKG K712s. No doubt an improvement from the V10. The best phone yet that truly brings out the detail in
WAV and FLAC formats. I swear this quad DAC reincarnated my cans

Should be getting my V20 some time today, I hope. I don't have anything truly God-tier, but I'm going to try to do a few comparisons if I can. I've got Shure SE215s on one hand (triple-flange tips) and Samsung earbuds for a baseline, compared to whatever LG's included in the box. In a few weeks, I can add the H3s to that list, but not until they arrive, and they won't arrive until I sign up for them on the 28th, so...
In the world of full-size cans, I don't have a solid baseline, and I'm not looking forward to the idea of spending $20 so I can have a pair of cheap cans I will never listen to again. So instead, all I've got are my Koss ProDJ100s and my V-Moda M100s.
But I'll try to give my thoughts when I can. (Also, posting so I make sure I remember that this thread exists.)
---
I didn't get to really sit down and do heavy listening. Phone arrived pretty late and my fiancee was a little sad so I didn't want to have my headphones blasting for an hour or two straight without being able to hear a word.
Noticing that there is a little more clarity (at least) between the on-off settings. Might be some EQ going on as well, though, which is not what I want. EQ is an easy way to make something sound more "clear" without actually making it clearer. My last car literally had a setting that I used that I considered the "clear" setting, and for everything other than podcasts. The bass was deeper, and yet more articulated, and the highs had sparkle. Every other setting was muddy.
So EQing to a muddy sound, and then having a "hi-fi" EQ that clears up the mud isn't good. Still, like I said, I don't actually know that to be what's going on. It's just a possibility I'm keeping my ears open for.

Audio technica ATH-M50x Have to say, I can't hear a difference at all toggling on and off using Poweramp/Spotify/USB Audio Player Pro or Car with Bose speakers setup. What can be the reason? I was thinking it would sound better (or as good) as V4A. Not close for me. Maybe my phone's defective?

vibrantliker said:
Audio technica ATH-M50x Have to say, I can't hear a difference at all toggling on and off using Poweramp/Spotify/USB Audio Player Pro or Car with Bose speakers setup. What can be the reason? I was thinking it would sound better (or as good) as V4A. Not close for me. Maybe my phone's defective?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if they fix the issue were the DAC was only able to be used by the stock music player. On the PlayStore there's an app that allows the DAC to work with all music players. I think it's called lgv10fix something like that. You can tell when you turn the DAC when your music skips or mutes for a second.

j0a0a7 said:
Not sure if they fix the issue were the DAC was only able to be used by the stock music player. On the PlayStore there's an app that allows the DAC to work with all music players. I think it's called lgv10fix something like that. You can tell when you turn the DAC when your music skips or mutes for a second.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I found that and installed it but it's the same.

Sony MDR-EX800ST with Tape Mod via External (AUX) Audio Mode with adapter.

vibrantliker said:
Audio technica ATH-M50x Have to say, I can't hear a difference at all toggling on and off using Poweramp/Spotify/USB Audio Player Pro or Car with Bose speakers setup. What can be the reason? I was thinking it would sound better (or as good) as V4A. Not close for me. Maybe my phone's defective?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's probably nothing wrong with it.
Sound is an incredibly subjective topic.

?
Andrew025 said:
There's probably nothing wrong with it.
Sound is an incredibly subjective topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So used to V4A nothing comes close.

I prefer PowerAmp Alpha...
Especially with my Sony MDR-100AAP in External Mode.

dragion said:
I prefer PowerAmp Alpha...
Especially with my Sony MDR-100AAP in External Mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's external mode, something on your headphones?

All Hi Res iem or headphones will do the job, but it's up to your ears to know what is best, as all headphones/iem all have their own sound stage, for me I use the Sony list in my sig.

I was actually considering getting a pair of the A-T 50x's but those Senn's look nice too. (I'm a big fan of over the ear.)

vibrantliker said:
What's external mode, something on your headphones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By plugging in the detachable headphone cable into the LG V20's headphone jack first before connecting the cable to the headphones, causes the Hi-Fi DAC to go into "An External Audio Device Is Connected" mode which produces a higher output compared to "Normal" mode.

dragion said:
By plugging in the detachable headphone cable into the LG V20's headphone jack first before connecting the cable to the headphones, causes the Hi-Fi DAC to go into "An External Audio Device Is Connected" mode which produces a higher output compared to "Normal" mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not know that and will try it.

So excited to use my Custom Art Harmony 8 Pro, custom headphones with these. The V10 did a good job, I bet the v20 will be better!

For reference, here's the playlist I used to compare. I didn't want to spend all day doing tests, so this is mostly stuff I can listen to while I work, but trying to hit as many different sound signatures as I could. I don't have any classical in my collection, though probably I could have used some. I listened to most of the playlist (skipped around a little getting details) on my laptop for a little while before picking up the phone. Probably going to do some listening with the S4 mini I've got on loan from my wife, too. Would have been nice to compare the Note7, but it's already back in T-Mobile's hot little hands. Played using the
Acoustic Guitar
Leo Kottke (FLAC)
Vaseline Machine Gun
Watermelon
The Fisherman
Earl Klugh (MP3 320)
Alice in Wonderland
Moon River
Autumn Leaves (VBR V0)
Country/Folk
The New Lost City Ramblers (MP3 320)
Talking Hard Luck
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Old Fish Song
Charlie Daniels Band (MP3 320)
The Devil Went Down To Georgia
Uneasy Rider
Anais Mitchell (M4A VBR)
Epic, Part I
Hey, Little Songbird
Epic, Part II
Pop
The Killers (MP3 VBR, not V0)
Mr. Brightside
When You Were Young
Sia (FLAC)
Chandelier
Eye Of The Needle
Elastic Heart
Electronic
Super Eurobeat Presents: Initial D Special Stage Non-Stop Mega Mix (FLAC)
Killing My Love
Running In The 90s
Grand Prix
Kavinsky (MP3 320)
Night Call
Night Runner (OGG VBR)
After Hours
Nuclear Countdown
Hip-Hop/Trip-Hop
KA (MP3 320)
Just
Wax Tailor (FLAC)
Exordium
From the Dark
As for my thoughts:
First, I was surprised that as far as I can tell, LG hasn't included any headphones. That seems weird. I'm glad now that I have a million bajillion of the things lying around because if I just bought this off the shelf, it would be a long wait for LG to send me my "only" wired headset option. At least a few weeks. Disappointing, but not a deal-breaker by any means.
Started with the Samsung headset, Hi-Fi DAC off. It's not super comfortable, not at all isolating. I'm still listening to the last couple tracks and I can easily hear myself typing with the volume at around... well, in the Hi-Fi volume it would be 45. I should note that it goes much higher (I believe the highest is 65 or 75) but 45 is where I would typically listen to music. Louder than that started to strain my ears a little. Louder is generally better for detecting little things in a song, but I don't want to suffer, and I certainly don't want to suffer for the time it takes to listen to a 90 minute playlist 4 times at painful volume.
(Incidentally, someone above complained that it wasn't as good as V4A--I haven't listened to V4A in a long time, but my recollection was that it does 2 things: EQ and boost. All their stuff comes down to highly advanced adaptive EQ and a volume boost. Essentially an Instagram filter for your audio. That's all you really can do with a software solution, so I don't blame V4A's team, but what we're looking for with a hi-fi hardware DAC is closer to putting your glasses on if you're near-sighted: increased clarity without changing or coloring the sound any more than necessary, including volume changes. That's what your choice of headphones and your EQ settings are for, not your DAC.)
Moved to the Shures next. The SE215 has a slightly bassy sound, IMO, much better for dance music than e.g. the Koss cans. Not quite basshead cans. I was impressed by performance, and volume. I felt "comfortable" for the first half of the playlist before checking the volume and discovering it wasn't at 45, where I'd wanted it--I had it at 30! Turned it up to 45, and I was at a point where it wasn't quite uncomfortably loud. Which is to say, these things can push power to a pair of headphones no problem.
Equally surprised that the Koss cans didn't have an equivalent bump in volume from what I'm used to (which is maxed out on the Note7, and remember that I'm nowhere near maxed out on the V20). Oh, sure, I could have turned them up, but I didn't. Clarity was as-expected. Much better, I think, than the SE215s.
What I'm looking for here is silence and separation. On the country tunes, in particular, you end up with a mandolin, banjo, and guitar all fighting for 'space' on the recording, so I was listening to make sure I could make out guitar chords from banjo rolls from mandolin... whatever mandolin players do. I'm sure they're very important musicians. The other part I listened to carefully was the intro to Chandelier; There's an etremely isolated snare in the beginning, and it should fade to nothing, not fade to sort-of-nothing. I didn't get that with the Shures as much as I wanted, but I did get it with the Koss headphones.
V-Modas don't do much to change my opinion. The bass is defined, clear, not boomy. I'd say the V20 seems to have a fairly balanced sound signature, which makes sense because that more-or-less matches what I've heard about the B&O sound signature. If the V20 DAC was developed with their input, that would make a lot of sense.
So in the end, I'd agree with kms108:
kms108 said:
All Hi Res iem or headphones will do the job, but it's up to your ears to know what is best, as all headphones/iem all have their own sound stage, for me I use the Sony list in my sig.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

TheJesus said:
I'm using my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 Ohm headphones, it's amazing. It's a step up from the V10, including the volume department (especially with high impedance headphones).
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Can't wait to try my beyer's. Have exact same ones and custom one pros. Cop's are a more fun sounding headphone and a burning can push it. The 770's and cop's can put out mind rattling bass, and by that I mean rattle your chest, with the right content and amp. Can't wait to hear the sound signature of the 9218 with my assorted cabled gear.

Headphone Sound Quality ?

Hi guys,
I've been reading contradicting opinions on sound quality from headphones output for this device (adapter actually). How would you rate it in terms of loudness and overall sound quality? Also, do you find it inconvenient to use in any way?
Thanks,
g

gimche said:
Hi guys,
I've been reading contradicting opinions on sound quality from headphones output for this device (adapter actually). How would you rate it in terms of loudness and overall sound quality? Also, do you find it inconvenient to use in any way?
Thanks,
g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont believe thats contradicting opinions... i tested 3 or 4 handsfree (xiaomi noise cancellation usb-c, sony mdr nc-31 em and other cheapest) and i did a comparation with xperia (z3 and z5) and sound is more natural on xiaomi; loud is it enough (if u dont like ,u can root and increase manual the volume until u can damage ur ears)...is a very good phone about sound

Thanks 7tky. What I meant by contradicting, is that some reviewers claim that sound from wired headphones is awesome, and some claim it's crap. That's why I wanted to hear opinions from people that actually own and use this phone.

gimche said:
Thanks 7tky. What I meant by contradicting, is that some reviewers claim that sound from wired headphones is awesome, and some claim it's crap. That's why I wanted to hear opinions from people that actually own and use this phone.
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I'd say sound from this phone is pretty damn good, and GSMarena's tests confirm that. The phone can power pretty big headphones too. It powers Sennheiser HD6XX's pretty well and those are 300ohm cans. Obviously not close to as clear as a dedicated DAP/Amp combo but still impressive that it can power such headphones to near uncomfortable volume. Also according to a review that I can't seem to find anymore, the phone outputs analag signal from the USB-C port so the dongle doesn't have a DAC and Amp in it. All it is doing is turning the USB-C port into a 3.5mm jack which probably explains the capability to power my Sennheiser's.

Yup, I looked into this myself. I had a DAC and AMP combo for my old Moto Nexus 6 (I wasn't happy with the sound quality of the jack). This phone is surprisingly nice. I ended up buying a few extra USB C headphone adapters straight from Google (the official ones for the the Pixels were $9 when I got them). I haven't needed my DAC and AMP since switching.
And from what I've seen the DAC is internal on this phone (as opposed to the Pixel 2 which needs the DAC to be in the dongle). Idk if that allows the port to send more power straight to the headphones or not. But I'm happy.
I thought I would get annoyed by the dongle, but I ended up just ordering a few of the Google ones and keeping them on my headphones.
Plus, Viper4Android works fine for me for some additional tuning of audio (I'm using AOSP ROMs though, not MIUI, not sure if it works in MIUI).
Keep in mind I just use some Klipsch earbuds (R6, X11, and AS-5i), nothing that requires a crazy amount of power to run.
Hope this helps.

Ok, I bought the phone and tested it for a while now, so thought I might share my experience here...
With global rom phone came with (unfortunately, I don't know the version), sound quality was great, but volume was low. Further, it had a weird bug - when I was listening to music and notification cut trough, volume would jump much higher. I could easily recreate the bug by playing music, then going to sound settings and touching slider for ringtone/notification volume, then back to music. Volume would jump higher every time. Some googling reviled that lots of people experienced similar volume jumping bugs.
OTA update (again, I don't know to which miui version) fixed this, but volume was still relatively low. When I say this, I'm comparing it to my previous devices. I'm not trying to fry my ears, though it's always nice to have the option as some music is simply mastered to much lower volume, especially older stuff.
Now I'm on lineage and volume bust is just what miui was missing - few notches higher. I listen modern pumped-up stuff 2 or 3 steps below max, and crank it up to max for very low volume old stuff. Perfect balance for me.
I guess tweaking the correct config file would adjust volume limit on miui. If anyone knows how to do that, please share, it would be much appreciated.
If someone's curious about it, I'm using zero audio carbo tenore earphones.

My audioquest Dragonfly usb DAC stopped working after a MIUI upgrade on my mix 2 since the summer. That is, the phone recognises the DAC but the sound quality light stays red (instead of say, indigo) to indicate no signal.. Updating to MIUI 10 made no difference. I've confirmed it works with the 2S running Android 8 opr 1.70623.032 - My Mix 2 has opr 1.70623.027 and he meeting if that's a difference or if anyone has similar issues of a USB digital audio converter not working on their Mix 2?

paul_mcbride said:
if anyone has similar issues of a USB digital audio converter not working on their Mix 2?
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I'm interested in answer to this question too. Have you tried messing with developer options? Is the problem miui related ; did someone test on linage / aosp based roms?
...anyone tried this thing?

bleached45 said:
Yup, I looked into this myself. I had a DAC and AMP combo for my old Moto Nexus 6 (I wasn't happy with the sound quality of the jack). This phone is surprisingly nice. I ended up buying a few extra USB C headphone adapters straight from Google (the official ones for the the Pixels were $9 when I got them). I haven't needed my DAC and AMP since switching.
And from what I've seen the DAC is internal on this phone (as opposed to the Pixel 2 which needs the DAC to be in the dongle). Idk if that allows the port to send more power straight to the headphones or not. But I'm happy.
I thought I would get annoyed by the dongle, but I ended up just ordering a few of the Google ones and keeping them on my headphones.
Plus, Viper4Android works fine for me for some additional tuning of audio (I'm using AOSP ROMs though, not MIUI, not sure if it works in MIUI).
Keep in mind I just use some Klipsch earbuds (R6, X11, and AS-5i), nothing that requires a crazy amount of power to run.
Hope this helps.
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Click to collapse
Is the google dongle more sturdy? i have a Brainwavz HM5 which have a thick cable and the flimsy cable in the dongle supplied with the mi mix 2s feels like it will break any second from the weight of the cable on my HM5.

i skipped the original adapter and buy a new adapter(it's a dac hidizs sonata hd )
and use with my earphones is 1more triple driver.
no comment for that, oh i just forgot that, 1 word - perfect :v