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Author Topic: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome  (Read 15317 times)

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DaveBSC

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #170 on: July 17, 2015, 06:48:56 PM »
That Marshall phone has a 4.7" 1280x720 screen and a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 410 - basically a slightly smaller Moto G. If it costs more than $200 unlocked, it's a rip off.
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AustinValentine

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #171 on: July 17, 2015, 08:34:56 PM »
Quote from: DaveBSC on July 17, 2015, 06:48:56 PM
That Marshall phone has a 4.7" 1280x720 screen and a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 410 - basically a slightly smaller Moto G. If it costs more than $200 unlocked, it's a rip off.

If you only look at that list of specs, definitely. The Moto G is a damn good phone for the price.

But a Moto G doesn't have dual 3.5mm output, improved volume control (something that android seriously lacks - I'd pay premium that alone they made it have more than 15 giant volume steps), premium design, or a dedicated Wolfson audio solution.

It's a niche product and it's certainly priced high (~586 USD IIRC). For that price, I'd have liked to have seen dedicated media control buttons, bottom mounted 3.5mm plugs, more internal memory, and guaranteed USB-OTG support with assurances of future support.

But hell, even an AK Jr. is $500. It'll come down to how it sounds on whether or not the value is there. As a midrange phone, it's a poor value. If it performs nearly as well as a midrange DAP as far as sound quality goes, then it'll be a decent value for the convergence factor alone.
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DaveBSC

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #172 on: July 17, 2015, 08:56:46 PM »
Considering how lousy the Marshall headphones are, I wouldn't put too much stock into the dedicated audio solution. I would be surprised if it's even as good as a Pono player.
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DaveBSC

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #173 on: July 28, 2015, 05:57:01 AM »
Really digging the OnePlus Two. Seems to address pretty much all of the shortcomings of the original, and supposedly the fingerprint scanner is better than the GS6's. The home "button" operation is completely customizable, as are the two capacitive touch buttons, so you can have back/multi-task on whichever side you prefer, PLUS optional on screen buttons as before.

Further improved Oxygen OS, with some features pulled out of Android M like the ability to enable/disable individual app permissions, which is awesome. Screen remains 1080p, which I could care less about. I'm far more interested in color, contrast, and screen power management than 2K resolution. There does however seem to be two major downsides at the moment - reduced battery life compared to the 1+1, which may just be the Snapdragon 810 being a power hog, or could be early software. Hopefully it's the latter.

The more strange one though is the apparently very slow charging, which doesn't make a lot of sense. USB Type C should be capable of FAR more current than the standard 5V 1A, so even if the phone doesn't support 9V "quick charge" like other recent phones, you'd think they'd be able to just up the amperage to 2 or 3A like tablets have been using over regular USB since basically forever. Not sure what's going on there. Still, at $389 for 64GB unlocked, it's hard to argue.

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aufmerksam

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #174 on: July 31, 2015, 02:27:02 PM »
Should I be as excited about the new moto lineup and I am feeling?

The new G is pretty solid and still super cheap. It might be the phone that finally convinces my wife to leave apple (she does NOT need a flagship phone, but iphones are either old, buggy, and still $400 or $650+).

The new X seems excellent, not outrageously priced, and bloat free. Glad they aren't using the 810 tbh. Few phones are actually using its full potential, and I like my hand without heat burns. Will have to see how it actually performs of course, but seems promising. Its a little pricier than the 1+2, BUT has an SD card slot up to 128, which means I can dump most of my music on, AND motorola has much better support than oneplus (technically not hard, since oneplus support appears to still be zero).
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Skyline

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #175 on: July 31, 2015, 03:44:19 PM »
Quote from: aufmerksam on July 31, 2015, 02:27:02 PM
Should I be as excited about the new moto lineup and I am feeling?

The new G is pretty solid and still super cheap. It might be the phone that finally convinces my wife to leave apple (she does NOT need a flagship phone, but iphones are either old, buggy, and still $400 or $650+).

The new X seems excellent, not outrageously priced, and bloat free. Glad they aren't using the 810 tbh. Few phones are actually using its full potential, and I like my hand without heat burns. Will have to see how it actually performs of course, but seems promising. Its a little pricier than the 1+2, BUT has an SD card slot up to 128, which means I can dump most of my music on, AND motorola has much better support than oneplus (technically not hard, since oneplus support appears to still be zero).
I'm pumped, too, but so bummed that the Moto Play isn't available in the US.  It's my dream phone.

Guess I'll be waiting for the new/revamped Droid line to be announced.
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aufmerksam

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #176 on: July 31, 2015, 03:56:18 PM »
Quote from: Skyline on July 31, 2015, 03:44:19 PM
I'm pumped, too, but so bummed that the Moto Play isn't available in the US.  It's my dream phone.

I completely agree.
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Anaxilus

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #177 on: July 31, 2015, 05:32:06 PM »
The new Motos look great. Unfortunately I've vowed to never buy another phone without image stabilization.
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mickeyvortex

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #178 on: August 10, 2015, 02:53:07 PM »
Hello. I was hoping some wise pyrates could help me with a dilemma that may be all-too-familiar to some. I tried searching multiple times on Changstar but was unable to find anything that lays it out in detail. So here I go.... 
At work and out and about, I use my AT&T LG G3 as a source to stream TiDAL at redbook rates (16/44.1). My IEMs are Sony's dual hybrid XBA-H1 and Etymotic's HF3s (BA). The Etys are consistently brilliant but the Sony's sound noticeably dull directly from the HP out of my LG G3. After adding a Fiio E12 in the signal chain, the sound opened up but the bass was boomy and fatiguing. FWIW, Brent Butterworth found wild impedance swings when writing for Soundstage magazine (link 1 below).
    But the Fiio E12 isnt the cleanest because it still gives me annoying levels of background noise, hiss and static, so I thought I should opt for an IEM friendly amp like Fiio's E12a or one of Nick Leckerton's or Jan Meier's lovely little amps.
But this is where things got murky for me. After reading literature and emailing a few manufacturers, it seems that smartphone and tablet DACs aren't all that good compared to standalone USB DACs. But according to measurements on GSMArena.com, the LG G3 is exceptionally good as a DAC for what I need, i.e., 16/44.1 (link 2 below). Another thing I read was that if I bought just an amp to connect to my LG G3s HP out, I would be double-amping which is bad. So, according to these sources of knowledge, the best case scenario is to buy something like the Oppo HA-2 or something which has a better DAC and also to avoid double amping. But its $300!!...more than the cost of my headphones combined.
   So should I buy a DAC+Amp or just an amp (or if possible,tweak the Fiio E12 into being more IEM friendly)? Any (hopefully?) wallet-friendly suggestions welcome! As far as sound signatures go, I love the Hifiman HE-400i and the Etymotics. Thanks in advance. 

link 1
http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1133:sony-xba-h1-earphones&catid=263&Itemid=203

link 2
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_g3-review-1086p7.php
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lm4der

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Re: The all purpose smartphone advice thread - regular folks welcome
« Reply #179 on: August 10, 2015, 04:58:19 PM »
Quote from: mickeyvortex on August 10, 2015, 02:53:07 PM
So should I buy a DAC+Amp or just an amp (or if possible,tweak the Fiio E12 into being more IEM friendly)? Any (hopefully?) wallet-friendly suggestions welcome! As far as sound signatures go, I love the Hifiman HE-400i and the Etymotics. Thanks in advance. 

My personal approach is to use the USB OTG out from the phone, into a small amp/dac dongle, then to my headphones.  I use the AudioQuest DragonFly 1.2 (~$150), but that isn't necessarily a recommendation, it's just what I bought.  The Schiit Fulla ($79) is probably better, and there are many others.  GeekOut is pricier but way better.  I have to use an app called USB Audio Pro on my phone to make this work, as the built in Android USB OTG support doesn't work for many DACs, but with that app everything I have tried works well.
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