Would like to ask. If playing music via Youtube Music, Spotify or Tidal using earphones via 3.5mm headphone jack, does the brand of phones matter? Will music sound better on phone A than phone B via the 3.5mm headphone jack if using the same earphone which cost say RM500 or up to RM1k?

IF phones matter, which brand is considered to have good sound quality? Oppo or Vivo ok?

Probably, some examples include the ancient old Mi Note HiFi which has a very heavy emphasis on the 3.5mm output being great
as well as some LG Phones with their signature Quad DAC

but it's not a topic that's discussed much these days since phones with 3.5mm jacks are already a rarity, so most people are happy that there even is a port

there is no "brand" that has best jack since little attention is being paid to them
unless you get a dedicated android media player from an audio focused brand like Fiio

the better option is to get a cheap USB-C to Headphone Jack adapter with DAC chip inside

some examples include CX31993 PRO or Apple's USB-C to Heaphone Jack adapter or VE Abigial Pro
roughly rm50 range
and it only goes up
some more expensive ones like Fiio KA17 are also good

there is a local FB group called DongleMadness that discusses those

Thanks for the quick response. I am referring more to phones which have good DAC inside such as the LG with Quad DAC which you have mentioned, not so much about best earphone jack. The LG is more or less dead I think, I've owned the LG V20 before, bought it because of the Quad DAC but it was replaced with a Huawei after I lost the phone about 3 years ago.

Noted on USB to 3.5mm jack adapter which can be used with phones without the 3.5mm earphone jack. In this sense, is there any modern phones without 3.5mm headphone jack which have good internal DAC / great sound quality?

My primary focus is quality of camera, sound quality from earphones and overall usability ie. long battery hours. So far I've shortlisted Oppo Find N6 Pro and Vivo X100 Pro but there is no mention about any hifi DAC inside these phones.

By the way, my impression is any sort of adapter will affect sound quality but with phones I guess it may not matter too much.

I looked at the FIIO KA17. The reason I'm considering phones with good internal DAC is to avoid carrying another rather large device which adds to the inconvenience and clutter. Just a phone and a pair of earphones would be ideal.

sony > all ?

Yes, I briefly looked at the Sony Xperia 1 V earlier but the price is quite high for what I'm willing to pay for a flagship phone. The MSRP is RM6,399 and the cheapest advertised price is RM5,599 at the moment. But yes, it does look very promising, good camera and good audio hardware.

U can go for xperia 10 (midrange) or xperia 5 (high spec but compact, smaller size), cheaper than xperia 1

I have had a look at the other lower range Xperia. They come in smaller screens. The Xperia 1 V has the largest screen and the best spec and of course, the highest price.

Anyway I've just checked on Shopee and the lowest priced Xperia 1 V is around RM4k to RM4.3k but it's not local Malaysian set but Hong Kong set shipped from Hong Kong. I'm not sure what's the difference though but it appears that some people have bought it on Shopee.

I'll wait closer to end of the year to see if the price will drop further. If it drops close to or around RM3k then I think it's a good time to buy.

Oh u need bigger screen. Coz 1st post just mentioned 3.5mm jack port.

If u can wait till end of year, yes the price will drop a bit, coz usually by december sony already launch the next series, 2024 will be xperia 1/5/10 vi.

As for now, u may look for the previous series example 1 iv.

The diff between local and oversea set is other than warranty claim at official sony service center, some oversea model cant use voLTE. Some seller did put that info in their ads: VoLTE fuction not supported

If u want to use the phone as primary phone and still need to use "traditional" call (not using data/app call), example make/receive local call to/from 03, 04, 07 etc. then u must have VoLTE.



This post has been edited by erry-: Mar 23 2024, 06:22 AM

Thanks for the information. Fortunately you brought up about the Volte, otherwise I wouldn't have known. Will check on it later if the 1V overseas set will have this Volte.

Yes, didn't bring up big screen as quality of camera and hardware for sound quality are the main focus, but big screen has always been my preference as well. I currently use Huawei Mate 20x with a large 7.2" screen, so going to the Xperia 1V is actually a downgrade in screen size and I'm not sure if I can get used to it. Nevertheless it is better than even smaller screens.

I've checked on the 1 IV but the price is not a big difference when compared to 1V, about RM500 only if I'm not mistaken so the 1V is more worth it. Just wait for the price to drop more going to year end.

You'd be better off with the phone you like, plus the Apple Dongle which is really the best for the price, heck best even for others that are double its price. Dongle DACs are small and attached to your cable earphones aren't really that different in bulk.

Or anything from Jcally is a good budget place to start.

Yes, noted on getting a phone that ticks most of the boxes. Currently the Xperia 1V is looking good but the price isn't good. I haven't looked at a Sony phone before but it looks like it can give other flagship phones a run for the money especially with the claim on the camera producing natural lifelike colours in comparison to phones which apply heavy processing producing different type of colours.

I've checked on Jcally and can't seem to find any DAC dongle on the website as all they have are adapters. Apple dongle doesn't appear to have a proper DAC chip inside and looks like an adapter only. I'm not too knowledgeable about all these devices.

This post has been edited by ryder_78: Mar 24 2024, 09:58 AM

Sometimes they confusingly use the adapter name but I can confirm the apple usbc to headphone jack has a dac, it works on windows (10 and above) and android even

If your priority is camera then I highly recommend only the 3 brands, iPhone, Samsung, Google Pixel. If you want cheaper get A-series Pixel or last year's flagship.

Jcally just buy on Shopee, won't go wrong. Some generic cheap adapters don't have DAC but Jcally and Apple do, don't worry.

Will see how it goes. Not really into apple and Samsung but more to mainstream Android from China and currently, Japan due to preference

Just received Simgot EA500LM today and compared it to the EW200 and they currently sound almost the same, if not the same on my phone. From reviews the EA500LM should sound noticeably different or better than the EW200 but that's not the case at the moment. Perhaps the phone is the limitation.

My cousin just took some photos during a wedding using a Vivo X80 in average lighting conditions inside the hotel and surprisingly the image quality is quite good.

every adapter got dac. otherwise u wont heard sound at all

a tip for u lah. look into aqstic dac. a very high quality potential choice.
just upgraded my fone and then never look back to lg punya ess any more

https://shp.ee/z4ycvjg


Clearly you're wrong. Some don't have DAC chips in them they rely on the onboard phone DAC

there exists one without dacs, its usually for xiaomi phones because they pipe analog audio out of a few of the usbc pins

just get a cheap dongle dac like cx31993