Best Player – Best Cans (both budget)

[t4m3rad]

Hello,

some forum doesn´t unlock me, to be able to post. So i hope it´s o.k. to post this here.

Because of a thread on

superbestaudiofriends

i decided to buy the Sony Xperia X Compact (~60€) earlier this year. The sound out of it was quite good, warm, musical, but somehow muddy. Through eu-regulation the overall volume of the phone was too low. So I flashed a different firmware and with max volume, my main two iems I use, Tin T2 and Kz-Zs3 sounded quite alright on the X-Compact (no Eq → neutral setting, auto optimization on, other stuff off), but I imagine there are plenty cans and iems that could not be driven by the phones amp properly. Now, a couple of weeks ago the Sim-Card couldn´t be recognized anymore. I said to myself, o.k. I use it as a dap and for gps from now on, and my S4 as a telephone. But the temptation for repairing it was too strong. So now only my Galaxy S4 and S2 are left, both many years old and still working 100%. The sound through the 3,5mm Jack is terrible from the S4 and even worse from the S2. I tried a Samsung A5 from someone, sounds worse than my phones.


I am searching for a phone that does things as fast as the X-Compact (surfing, opening apps, using them…, no games), 5” Screen and up, with fast GPS Signal and superb sound out of the 3,5mm Jack for max. ~200€ (used or new) and Cans (3,5mm Jack) for max ~150€ (new).


Through a huge thread on
head-fi
which I read for hours and other internet sources I now make this list:


I listen to classical music, hard-rock, metal, certain types of electronical music but not the club stuff, flute music, traditional songs from all sorts of countries, motivational music, wait…, basicly I listen to almost everything, but not pop and hip-hop and some other genres.


Possible Phones:


Meizu MX4 Pro (difficult to get in eu, as I read has the hardware from the iBasso DX90. It has no sd-card slot. Thats a no-go)


Vivo Xplay 6 (difficult to get in eu, read that it is better than Nex S)


LG G6 (read that not as good as LG V20 and V30 sound wise, but available in eu)


Vivo Nex S (difficult to get in eu, but I read vivo phones sound quite good)


LeEco Letv Le Max X900 (read that it is above them all soundwise, but otherwise it doesn´t work right, difficult to get in eu)


Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (could get it on amazon and send it back, if sound is not good)


Sony Xperia XZ1 (if am lucky on ebay, I could get it cheap. Is the amp better than X-Compact?)


LG V20 (read that sound is quite good, but phone has it´s problems, other people say it is working like on day one. Some say it has “sabre glare” and fat bass, which I dislike. Also it´s “razor sharp” as a negative, whatever that means.
I don´t know if I can trust this on ebay
"Neu in versiegelter Box LG V20 H910 64GB 5.7" Entsperrt Smartphone"
But as far as I read things on the net, it is possibly not new and more things are wrong with it.)


HTC One A9 (quite old, too old? I read sound is quite good)


LG V30 (Best LG Phone for sound? Sounds more analytical and cold, as I read, with a more aggressive, rough around the edges sound, compared to the V40. Never heard a phone that sounds like that. But so many people are saying it´s top tier! And it can drive high impedance earphones.
Don´t know if I can trust this on ebay
"Neu in Versiegelter Box LG V30 H932 64GB T-MOBILE 6.0" 4G LTE Smartphone"


LG V40 (Read it has improved sound compared to V30 with a more airy character, more spaciousness, better separation, with a cleaner, more musical sound. But some V30 users that switched to the V40 were disappointed)

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 (could get it on amazon and send it back, if sound is not good)


HTC 10 (could get it rather cheap here in eu, has it´s problems. Has good sound and amp, as I read)
Sony Xperia XZ


Xiaomi Mi Note (which one?)


ZTE Axon 7 (a very few go very cheap on ebay, good amp, not so sure if this phone sounds good?)


LG G7 ThinQ (good sound, as I read, but worse than V30. And videos, in landscape mode look cut, compared to almost full use of screen of the V30)
Sony Xperia X


Samsung Galaxy S9 (For me surprisingly -> good audio, as I read and has a good amp)

A good volume normalization feature would be of interest and no eu-lowering-the-volume-of-the-phone regulation (Of course if it can be changed with a firmware, no problem).

Which phone to get?


Cans (that people use and write are good)


Sennheiser HD 600


Sony MDR-100AAP


AKG K712 PRO


beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO


beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO


RHA cl750 (these are iems)


Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H3 (these are iems)


AKG K451


AKG K550


NuForce X massdrop edc3 (these are iems)


Koss Porta Pro (may get these as secondary Cans)


Sennheiser 506384 (too expensive)


Koss KSC75 (may get these as secondary Cans)


Shure SRH840


Audio Technica ATH-M50x


Meizu HD50


SENFER DT6 (may get these just for the heck of it)


Venture VE Monk (may get these just for the heck of it)


AKG K550


Massdrop x NuForce EDC3 (these are iems)


Ultrasone HFI-580 (Do-it-all Cans)


On the other hand, I can just go to some few shops in the city and test the their cans and buy a good one, not buying in the dark.


So my other idea would be to get a FiiO X1 (89€) for music and a cheap phone (if possible with exchangeable battery), with characteristics described above in this post, without the good audio. Shanlin M0 breaks, Fiio M3k sounds worse than X1, as I read.


Another idea would be to get a Meizu typ-c interface HIFI decoding amp
or
Hidizs Sonata HD
or something similar. But I can´t recall if the audio quality still has something to do with the phone, when a thing like that is connected to it? Furthermore if normalization and other sound settings work (USB Audio Player PRO, Neutron Player)? Also the phone can´t be charged, with the amp attached and I read these usb-c dac/amps drain battery hard.


Or a portable (with battery) dac/amp with a cheap phone?


I only have compressed music, m4a, mp3, ogg… So I basicly need a device that just delivers good sound with that. But somewhere in the back of my head I think trying out flac…


What is the best solution?

 

[ocnbrze]

i'm not sure how many here are audiophiles like you. i am for sure not one. for me i would get a decent phone, then buy the best headset you can afford.

of the list of phones i would recommend the s9 (but i am a samsung guy, at least their flagship phones)

i use bluetooth headsets. i own the galaxy buds. and these from amazon:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753GRNQZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Dannydet]

Yes. Now on to the weather across the country

 

[mikedt]

^^^^^
Apparently it isn't going to rain tomorrow.

 

[Hadron]

If you have the opportunity to test I would definitely recommend doing so, with sources that you are familiar with.

I don't know enough of those cans to feel confident in making a recommendation. If you cannot test a pair you are interested in my best suggestion would be to find a reviewer you trust and then see what they say about something you can't test compared with what they say about something you know (by "a reviewer you trust" I mean one whose reviews of equipment you know make sense when compared to your own experience, who doesn't seem to be swayed by advertisers, and who is open-minded about a wide range of gear rather than just the extremely expensive stuff - a shame that Tyll Hertens retired as I always liked his reviews. This can of course include amateurs reviewers at head-fi as well as people who make a living from doing this stuff).

In terms of phones with decent 3.5mm audio, you may well be better off second-hand. In fact unless the current LGs are decent (I've not been keeping up with them) there's probably nothing else left for you new. The HTC 10 was well-liked for audio (also has a great earpiece - on the occasions I've used my wife's the received voice quality has been excellent), but is a few years old now. I'd be careful with the LG G6: LG made different versions of that phone for different regions with different features, and the EU version was short-changed on everything (smallest storage, no wireless charging and no quad-DAC audio system), so you need to be careful what version you buy.

USB-C audio, yes, it does suck more power than an internal DAC+amp (how much depends on which component you use). It can be better if you are prepared to pay for that, and has the advantage of decoupling the quality to a very large extent from the phone (it ought to be completely, but I'm not going to promise that no manufacturer has managed to mess this up through their disinterest). It's also one more thing to carry (though you can keep it in a headphone case), and if you buy one that's designed as a USB DAC+amp rather than a phone dongle you may not be able to take calls through it (those cost more anyway). Personally I survive with USB-C audio, via a dongle for casual use when commuting and a higher-end external DAC+amp (which would burn most of your phone budget) when I just want to listen and am not expecting calls, but it is a bit of an inconvenience (I actually have multiple dongles so all of my headphones have one, to avoid being caught out).

I've not owned an external player for some years now. I thought the demise of the headphone jack would push me to it, but it hasn't quite yet. That has the merit of decoupling completely, the demerit of another thing to carry, another thing to charge, and extra cost. I believe that some of them can also connect to a phone via bluetooth, but haven't looked far into that.

 

[t4m3rad]

Yeah, thanks for the answer. I will go to these shops, where you can test headphones.

And i made a plan how to get the right source(s).