LG V20 with ESS 9218 quad dac

I prefer the larger phones, big fan of the Note series, the last 2 devices withstanding.

Not too many other options for me. I have an S7 edge, which I hate. It's really between the XL and the V20. I would prefer vanilla android though.

 

I think my brother has the S7 edge- it's just weird, the UI affordance there- though he seems to quite like it. I hear you though, not touching OEM Android again if I can help it.

 

How is the power of the amp?
I need something more powerfull than my LG G4

 

Maybe it could have been resolved with this:

http://www.androidauthority.com/lg-v20-audio-capabilities-714807/

 

It's pretty powerful. I would reckon it's about 15% louder than ZX2 at full volume.

 

Hmm, I think about this for my next phone then

 

The V10 was powerful, I've had no issues with hard to drive iems, and even my Fostex Th900. V20 is at least as powerful , if not more?

 

Was very impressed with the headphone audio from Huawei P9 plus. Although it wasn't able to drive my Audio Technica ATH-ESW990H headphones authoritatively as the LG V20, the sound output is so much more smoother(equaling ZX2) and more enjoyable. It has a DTS mode which sounds great. I reckon it's one of the better mobile phone audio along with Sony Xperia XZ.

I gotten myself a LG V20 for business purposes(I needed android phone for work). It seems that Neutron player is reporting a fixed 48Khz sampling rate. The LG screen is fantastically crisp and vibrant for youtube viewing.

I am very impressed with the LG V20's acoustic overload point microphones... I tried shouting very loudly near the phone and it was able to capture my voice without crackling. It should come in handy to record concerts.

 

Sounds like the OS is resampling. I'd be curious how UAPP fares without Android in the way. I don't recall if there is a trial though .

 

Neutron does. UAPP doesnt.

 

It has in its web site:

UAPP Trial page:
http://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/uapp-trial

 

just bought UAPP, too bad it won't work on ZX2(android jellybean not supported).

With LG V20, UAPP can set to use android output 44.1KHz(forced) or 48KHz(Device Native), this will work with the internal ess dac on the V20 headphone out. Forced 44.1Khz seems to reduce Sabre Glare to a point where it isn't that bothersome but not sure if the playback speed/tone of the music is truly correct(music seems to play at a faster pace like 1.03x speed or maybe it's just ESS Sabre affecting how things sound). UAPP also have this bit perfect checkbox.

I am now more impressed with the sound from the V20 with UAPP. It reveals more airy hiss (inherent from the source recording) which is noticeably missing in the ZX2(which could be due to smaster digital amp). ZX2 is still better in other ways(lack of digitus, smoother) but the LG V20 with UAPP is pretty competitive with it's crispier sound signature.

 

Interesting...I may have to give UAPP a shot.

I've been a happy poweramp user for years.

 

Managed to get UAPP to play 24bit 88/96/192KHz natively on LG V20. DSD files still downsamples back to PCM 44KHz though.

How to get it to work:
Under settings > android sampling rate > variable rate

 

Tried the DSD settings?

Have excellent results using Bitperfect . But I am using a USB dac and different phone.

Was using Neutron MP and Poweramp before when I stumbled on UAPP. Now it supports SACD ISO like Hiby.

 

Getting DSD to work isn't that important since 99.9% of my music is in PCM and I don't have a Native DSD DAC(Yggdrasil or Master 7).

Also I didn't like the sound of downsampled DSD(Sony ZX2 DSD conversion, Mutec DSD conversion, Foobar SACD Plugin, Iaudiogate conversion) all sounded muffed in the lower treble regions(lack of sparkle) as compared to PCM(redbook or 24bit, 88/96/192Khz) versions of the same song. DSD to me feels like some kind of FXAA filtering has been applied to the graphics as an analogy.


I got great sounding results with using USB C to USB 3.0 OTG to connect the LG V20 to the Mutec/Yggdrasil dac. With UAPP bit perfect mode, I feel that it's really natural sounding just like daphile but with better bass strength and dynamics and really smooth high frequency extension. It's much better than ZX2 usb out or Iphone CCK for sure. I have an instinctive feeling that this LG V20 + android UAPP has a lower jitter than other dap's usb out.

 

Damn.....that's high praise for v20 >< Will be a next phone if my S6 ever dies....probably will be going for V30 next then ><

 

the included b&o iem with the LG V20 is pretty good(in relation to other supplied mobilephone earplugs). The silicone tips were too small for my ear canal which affected bass response. It's not TOTL iem sound quality, but it's pretty clear and wide sounding and comfortable shape/footprint on the ears. Cable is a little short, but it works really well for making clear sounding phone calls and youtube video viewing on the go but don't expect good isolation from it(as it has alot of venting holes just on the circular brim of the silver b&o logo). I would class them along side Audio technica CK10 or something equal.

Spoiler: iem photo

Skip to 2min 07sec for RMAA measurement graphs:

numbers extracted from the video:
LG V20(24bit/96Khz sampling):
Frequency response multitone(db): -0.21 -0.42
Noise Level(dBA): -105.3
Dynamic Range(dBA): 101.1
THD%: 0.0019
IMD + Noise%: 0.0029
Stere crosstalk (dB): -85.2
IMD+ Noise (swept freqs) %: 0.033
Total Harmonic Distortion: -72.80, -91.88
THD (swept freq): +0.0 -0.0


http://www.androidauthority.com/lg-v20-quad-dac-explained-713587/
http://www.androidheadlines.com/2016/10/lg-v20-gets-early-teardown-treatment-lg-engineer.html

Spoiler: Extensive Shielding on PCB

 

When I was first watching the video, I thought for a second that the LG V20 volume processing was giving that waveform a haircut. I backed it up and paused and saw that the quieter waveform already had the same haircut. It would have been interesting, for me, to see a waveform that was not peak limited before and after the LG V20 volume processing.

 

Jump to 18min of video to watch ESS CEO Bob Blair explain about Analog volume control on the v20: