Guys i am planing to buy sennheiser HD 518 and i have a confusion that these headphones will work great with our S3 or do i need an external amp for sound quality issues. thanks for ur help guys!!!
They should sound good. I have a pair of Audio Technica M50's and they sound great. Plenty of bass and the highs are just perfect. I also have the AC!D mod installed, and it makes a very big difference. The only two problems that I have is that at a low volume you can hear a hiss, but that's due to the amplifier in the phone. The second problem is that I have to download only high quality music. Anything besides high quality sounds like crap.
I just bought these last week and I'm no expert on head phones and such, but I can tell you straight they sound almost perfect to me, I don't think you'll be needing any external amplifier for it as they sound pretty great to me.
I have Sennheiser HD555 and I can say the sound quality is exceptional (very detailed and clear with 192kbps ogg). Don't worry the sensitivity because I only need to turn half way.
Trying to get an idea of the quality of the output of the headphone jack. My Asus Nexus 7 (2013) has a fairly noisy output (lots of bus noise) but my Sony Z3C has very clean output.
There is a you-tube video out there that indicated that it's fairly powerful but did not indicate the quality of the output when used with sensitive headphones.
Anyone have any insight?
It might be pretty good. Only moto phones that disappointed me were/are the g series.
It's great!!
I use Neutron music player app and Harman Kardon BT headphones. I upgraded from LG G2 which used a Wolfson DAC and the first thing I noticed on Z Play was the LOUDNESS which I believe would be better at driving power hungry headphones. I also find the stereo imaging pretty awesome. The music feels more lively and energetic even on the flat eq settings.
But if you're an audiophile who mostly listens to lossless music, I'd strongly suggest Neutron or JetAudio. (both paid) This is because the hardware doesn't have a native support for many formats and therefore the need for S/W decoder arises.
I had some songs that wouldn't play on GMusic but did on Neutron. :/
akshaypatil869 said:
It's great!!
I use Neutron music player app and Harman Kardon BT headphones. I upgraded from LG G2 which used a Wolfson DAC and the first thing I noticed on Z Play was the LOUDNESS which I believe would be better at driving power hungry headphones. I also find the stereo imaging pretty awesome. The music feels more lively and energetic even on the flat eq settings.
But if you're an audiophile who mostly listens to lossless music, I'd strongly suggest Neutron or JetAudio. (both paid) This is because the hardware doesn't have a native support for many formats and therefore the need for S/W decoder arises.
I had some songs that wouldn't play on GMusic but did on Neutron. :/
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Thank you for your input but your Harman Kardon BT headphones just the BT stack if I understand corrctly - so they would not be affected by bus noise, DAC/Amp etc... Have you tried with normal wired headphones?
OrBy said:
Thank you for your input but your Harman Kardon BT headphones just the BT stack if I understand corrctly - so they would not be affected by bus noise, DAC/Amp etc... Have you tried with normal wired headphones?
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I always use them wired.
akshaypatil869 said:
I always use them wired.
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Ahhh ok!
Thanks
OrBy said:
Trying to get an idea of the quality of the output of the headphone jack. My Asus Nexus 7 (2013) has a fairly noisy output (lots of bus noise) but my Sony Z3C has very clean output.
There is a you-tube video out there that indicated that it's fairly powerful but did not indicate the quality of the output when used with sensitive headphones.
Anyone have any insight?
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Click to collapse
I m using moto z play and i can say its audio quality is superb
If you are used to listening at lower volume thro' headphone jack you will notice high level of radio interferences/ background static for sensitive in- ear phones. Reason: the antenna band is too close ( a white strip over usb type c port)
Sam_kaks said:
If you are used to listening at lower volume thro' headphone jack you will notice high level of radio interferences/ background static for sensitive in- ear phones. Reason: the antenna band is too close ( a white strip over usb type c port)
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Yep, I've noticed this as well
I'm using plain regular Apple EarPods (from the 6S) in my Z Play and it's gotta be one of the best phones I've listened to music on. I've heard details in the songs that I haven't heard in any other phone or speaker before!
Sam_kaks said:
If you are used to listening at lower volume thro' headphone jack you will notice high level of radio interferences/ background static for sensitive in- ear phones. Reason: the antenna band is too close ( a white strip over usb type c port)
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I noticed this but to be honest: I have to turn up volume very loud (can't hear normal music with this) and wait until the songs faids out. Than, at the very end of the song I could hear some noise. I use very sensitive and rather high end IEM's (UE 10 triple fi) with low impedance (32 Ohm).
So yes there is some noise. But normally you should never hear it.
akshaypatil869 said:
It's great!!
I use Neutron music player app and Harman Kardon BT headphones. I upgraded from LG G2 which used a Wolfson DAC and the first thing I noticed on Z Play was the LOUDNESS which I believe would be better at driving power hungry headphones. I also find the stereo imaging pretty awesome. The music feels more lively and energetic even on the flat eq settings.
But if you're an audiophile who mostly listens to lossless music, I'd strongly suggest Neutron or JetAudio. (both paid) This is because the hardware doesn't have a native support for many formats and therefore the need for S/W decoder arises.
I had some songs that wouldn't play on GMusic but did on Neutron. :/
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Tobseren said:
I'm using plain regular Apple EarPods (from the 6S) in my Z Play and it's gotta be one of the best phones I've listened to music on. I've heard details in the songs that I haven't heard in any other phone or speaker before!
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I went and installed Jetaudio + . Wow it puts out up to 192/24. There is a dropdown of current processing. I have the same Apple pods. There is a Bongoivi DPS where the earpods can be dialed in. Sans all other processing the sound is stunning. I did also set Gplayer Equalizer to off and disabled as suggested in another thread. Strange advice this is but have others found it necessary?
What output amp is in this? Surely a bipolar "chip" of sorts.
Try out this player on our phone. Do check out the pics of the likes of my source material.
The text file about an amazing 24/192 FLAC.
BTW this player adds 1 percent volume adjustments yet there is no easy way to "finger" this fineness on the app's slider
Well it says that it supports Hi-Fi audio. But how Hi-Fi is it? What DAC is inside? In particular, I would like to know how the sound quality is from the 3.5mm audio jack compared to Hi-Fi mode of LG v30, my current phone. I simply cannot get a phone that downgrades my audio experience, you know?
Even I am interested in this. The specs talk about Hi-res audio. It has Dual 5-magnet speakers with dual NXP smart amplifiers and PMIC internal dual amplifier according to the specs. Does it really have a DAC or does it only have amplifiers. How is the sound quality. I would really like somebody to post their review.
DAC Performance
I don't have technical details on the DAC inside, and I have don't have v30 to compare, but I can tell you that the sound quality combined with DTS is amazing.
I am quite an audiofile and I was impressed with the sound quality. I don't like the bundled earphones unfortunately. I used my BT headset.
I have a P20 as well, which is a much more expensive phone with a DAC, and 5Z's sound quality is comparable. I love P20's headphones though.
The most important and the best thing about 5Z is that DAC/DTS works for bluetooth headphones as well. I have not seen any phone having this feature (may be S9, but I don't know). With phones such as OP, I had to root and use Viper4Android to make by BT headphones sound better. Now, with 5Z, I can keep my phone unrooted and enjoy the great audio experience.
Unfortunately, I don't like the UI and animations of 5Z, and I would use a custom rom when available. I am sure such roms will come for 5Z because with such high-end specs and aggressive pricing, many developers would buy this phone
Cheers
Andrew Lin said:
Well it says that it supports Hi-Fi audio. But how Hi-Fi is it? What DAC is inside? In particular, I would like to know how the sound quality is from the 3.5mm audio jack compared to Hi-Fi mode of LG v30, my current phone. I simply cannot get a phone that downgrades my audio experience, you know?
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The sound is good but not on par with LG g6 for example. LG is way ahead in the sound part.
Sent from my ASUS_X00QD using XDA Labs
I have both LG g6 and g7 but the Zenfone 5Z's sound is the best!!
5z doesn’t have any dedicated DAC as per few video reviews beebom or igyaan audio quality and amplification via headphone jack is not that great. I have a v20 with root and high impedance mode always on. I don’t think this phone compares to any of the recent LG flagships in terms of audio quality.The only place where 5z beats LG would be in the loudspeaker setup where 5z has stereo setup.
gautam.malik said:
I don't have technical details on the DAC inside, and I have don't have v30 to compare, but I can tell you that the sound quality combined with DTS is amazing.
I am quite an audiofile and I was impressed with the sound quality. I don't like the bundled earphones unfortunately. I used my BT headset.
I have a P20 as well, which is a much more expensive phone with a DAC, and 5Z's sound quality is comparable. I love P20's headphones though.
The most important and the best thing about 5Z is that DAC/DTS works for bluetooth headphones as well. I have not seen any phone having this feature (may be S9, but I don't know). With phones such as OP, I had to root and use Viper4Android to make by BT headphones sound better. Now, with 5Z, I can keep my phone unrooted and enjoy the great audio experience.
Unfortunately, I don't like the UI and animations of 5Z, and I would use a custom rom when available. I am sure such roms will come for 5Z because with such high-end specs and aggressive pricing, many developers would buy this phone
Cheers
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I sincerely hope you weren't serious when you said you are an audiophile!
First of all, you can't rate any phone's DAC or AMP performance by using BT headset. Bluetooth headphones have their own inbuilt DAC that they use to process sound when they receive audio in the form of digital signal via Bluetooth from the phone. Then by using their internal inbuilt DAC they convert that Digital signal to Analog signal.
Second of all, are you even serious when you rate Huawei P20/P20 pro sound as great ? Huawei/Honor phones have one of the weakest audio performance out there. Puny amp, okayish DAC, nothing more. Similar is the case with P20/pro.
"P20 is a phone with a DAC !" Which phone isn't the one with DAC? Every phone has one. Some use inbuilt one inside their processors, some employ custom ones for better sound fidelity.
"DAC/DTS works for headphones too!" DAC doesn't work for Bluetooth headphones, it's just that 5z allows to change sound settings of Bluetooth headphones from phone's stock settings. It by no way means that phone's DAC is being involved in Bluetooth headphones. It's simply not possible.
And DAC and DTS aren't the same things either that they can be written interchangeably.
I hope it helps. I by no way mean that 5z has bad audio quality but just corrected some of the things that weren't correct.
I frequently use aux in my car and this is the first device that doesn’t make distortion in sound during high volume. I love it. My car sound system is like concert place now.
The whole Hi-Res audio thing is mainly just marketing and playback support, less to do with the actual quality of the DAC and amp. Nowadays most smartphones can play 24-bit audio at high sample rates (eg. 192kHz). Sony marketed that for many years but their phones kept using on-board Qualcomm DACs with low output voltage (~0.35V from Z5 to XZ Premium). I have the Z5 and I think it's audio quality is good for IEMs but it can't drive some larger headphones very well.
ASUS says there's smart amplifiers but those seem to be for the speakers rather than the headphone. PhoneArena did a review recently and measured the output voltage of the headphone jack to be only 0.252V! That's even lower than the Sony Xperia XZ Premium (0.36V). Of course it's not the end-all, but a higher output voltage would be better at driving higher impedance headphones.
Some users talk about EQ modes sounding better but these things can't improve the quality of the hardware's output (eg. distortion and stereo crosstalk). All they can do is alter the tuning to your preference.
The DAC on the 5Z is just ok ; not audiophile grade by any yard stick . It struggles with high impedance proper headphones like ATH
Which ATH do you have? I had MSR7 and the Xperia Z5 (0.35V) was good enough to drive it for most songs. Does it hiss with low impedance IEMs? Do you hear any distortion or stereo crosstalk? Hopefully someone does measurements...
How does it perform compared to Xperia Z5 to XZ Premium?
I am currently having Sound Magic e80c earphones which have impedance of 64 Ohms. Can one confirm whether it can work on 5z? Currently I am using it with Oneplus One and it works fine.
wGRV said:
I am currently having Sound Magic e80c earphones which have impedance of 64 Ohms. Can one confirm whether it can work on 5z? Currently I am using it with Oneplus One and it works fine.
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You will be disappointed. As the output voltage is quite low, this phone isn't capable of driving high impedance headphones.
It's a shame that Asus is making fool of people in the name of "DTS headphone". I have e10C and I have to take the volume all the way upto 100% for movies.
FYL21 said:
Which ATH do you have? I had MSR7 and the Xperia Z5 (0.35V) was good enough to drive it for most songs. Does it hiss with low impedance IEMs? Do you hear any distortion or stereo crosstalk? Hopefully someone does measurements...
How does it perform compared to Xperia Z5 to XZ Premium?
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M30x ..
Sent from my ASUS_Z01RD using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:18 PM ----------
Rahul 2007 said:
You will be disappointed. As the output voltage is quite low, this phone isn't capable of driving high impedance headphones.
It's a shame that Asus is making fool of people in the name of "DTS headphone". I have e10C and I have to take the volume all the way upto 100% for movies.
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Yeah the DTS headphone X is a gimmick ..
I think there is presently no phone in the market which will come near LG V20, G6, V30 and G7 headphone audio performance, particularly with respect to driving high impedance ear/head phones. Actually, I am searching for another brand other than LG which will give a similar high end audio performance. I have a V20 and partnering that with my Sony MDR 7506 headphones or Venture Electronics MonkPlus earbuds (both having impedance around 60 ohms), the sound quality is awesome which I never found in other smartphones.
Andrew Lin said:
Well it says that it supports Hi-Fi audio. But how Hi-Fi is it? What DAC is inside? In particular, I would like to know how the sound quality is from the 3.5mm audio jack compared to Hi-Fi mode of LG v30, my current phone. I simply cannot get a phone that downgrades my audio experience, you know?
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Just sold my LG v30+ due to screen ghosting issues and bought the 5z.
The DAC is good for headphones.
I confirm my 5Z can drive my Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee(150 Ohms) when the volume is at 95%.
The sound is not as good as my LG V20's Quad-Dac though.
All these phones are nothing compared to a vibe p1 on resurrection remix
I have LG v20 and in the hopes of gettin listening to mind-blowing awesome sound, I bought FiiO music player and I couldn't get satisfied on anything. Poweramp on LG always destroys low end or certain frequencies (usually male voice) when pushed a little hard and when not pushed, there's no low end to talk about at all. FiiO has no low end frequency at all.
The only thing that came have a little satisfaction was my good old Lenovo Vibe p1 on resurrection remix. Seeing how you guys are rating LG v20 as great or the best, is there something I'm not doing to get the best out of it? I've tried it on earphones, Bluetooth etc but it just doesn't cut it.
XblackdemonX said:
I confirm my 5Z can drive my Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee(150 Ohms) when the volume is at 95%.
The sound is not as good as my LG V20's Quad-Dac though.
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May be it can drive .. but I find the audio fidelity not that great compared to even the A1 . Music just doesn't sound wholesome .
Sent from my ASUS_Z01RD using Tapatalk
i owned lg g6 and the 5z audio quality is not that bad by any means, it's quite OK by 2018 smartphone standard, with it's gimmicky features such as dtx, hi res audio support , etc.
the LG quad dac is the king in the smartphone audio for now, but again, the 5z audio quality is not bad, unless you are very picky about audio quality,
even lg g6 / v30 dac chip still can't compete with my iBasso dx150.
if you never use a true hi res audio player before, the 5z audio quality will be just fine for you.
even for me imho, it's good enough.
I am running official Resurrection remix oreo on my nexus 5x, and to improve the audio especially the bass, I use audiofx. I want to bass boost the phone speakers, but audiofx says "Effect not available for Speaker mode." It does allow me to increase the bass on external speakers or headphones though. One day, I went through my ringtones while my earphones were plugged in, and I noticed a great increase in sound quality in the internal phone speakers, but when i unplugged my earphones, the quality went back to normal. This could be because audiofx thinks its increasing the quality on the earphones but its actually also playing through the phone speakers. Is there a way I can use audiofx to drastically improve bass on the internal phone speakers without having to keep my ear phones plugged in? Audiofx does not allow me to do that because it's the phones internal speakers, and i have tried different equalizers and they all had no effect.