LG V60 ThinQ 5G
- RishiGuru
- uIB
- 22 Apr 2020
Anonymous, 21 Apr 2020Well said bro. That's why I can't go for anything other tha... moreSix months back I bought a Meizu 16th (Meizu 16 in China). At $240, it was a flagship with SD845 & 8GB RAM. Meizu India provided a fully Google certified device with Google playstore pre-installed. In short, pretty awesome performance & built quality for its price.
Meizu has a rich history of making portable music players before they ventured into smartphones and still today makes some very good quality headphones & earphones. As such the company understands sound quality and many of their previous flagships smartphones came with dedicated DAC solutions. However for 16th, sadly their last flagship with a 3.5mm audio jack there was no press material indicated anything extraordinary in the audio department.
I took for granted it was using some low quality audio codec from Qualcomm. However more I listened music through my Meizu 16th, more I fell in love with this device. One day just for fun I sat down a did some critical listening with some expensive earphones, and I immediately noticed the sound quality is above ordinary through the 3.5 mm headphone jack. I started reasoning my mind how is it possible with Qualcomm codecs and Meizu must have done something special.
After going through some Chinese websites performing detailed tear-downs, I found Meizu 16th is using the highest quality flagship audio codec available from Qualcomm. It is Qualcomm Aqstic WCD9341, a dedicated audio chip. With an advertised dynamic range of 130dB & distortion of -109dB during audio playback the WCD9341 is quite close to ESS Sabre ES9218P (LG's Quad DAC) & Cirrus Logic CS43199 (Vivo NEX S). Digging deeper I found Qualcomm partnered and further tuned their flagship WCD9341 under the guidance given by a group of audiophiles known as "Golden Ears". Qualcomm was then able to create custom digital filters which creates the final sound signature which are generally adored by most audiophiles.
However in real life even if these objective measurements are very close to ESS & Cirrus Logic, there still remains a gap that Qualcomm have to fill to the very best in the audio industry. In Meizu 16th tear-downs by Chinese media, I found the WCD9341 audio chip sits under its own tiny metal cover plate with graphite & copper shielding over it. So the chip is completely isolated from the rest of the PCB and its ICs. This complete isolation definitely eliminates a lot of induced noise on the analog stage of WCD9341. Quite impressed as Meizu shelled more money in the production line to make sure the sound quality remains intact through the 3.5 mm audio jack.
The other fact I noticed on 16th is the power available through audio jack is much higher than similar WCD9341 implementations like in OnePlus 6 (sadly the last OnePlus with audio jack). The OnePlus frankly sounds anemic in comparison to 16th, no drive. Meizu seems to have twice as much power and can drive any headphone much better.
Going through the spec sheet I found WCD9341 is designed to perform with power anywhere between 6mW to 34mW, maybe Meizu is providing all the power it needs by dedicated power rails. In short I am truly impressed by Meizu's dedication for sound quality as I see & hear the difference of the same audio chip with drastically different performance levels between Meizu & OnePlus. It is Meizu's good implementation that make the WCD9341 shine. Correct me if I am wrong LG's QuadDAC consumes 2.5 times more power at 80mW but have way more drive capability.
Subjectively, Meizu 16th sound signature is like my LG V30+, which can be best described with words like pristine, neutral, clinical & accurate. However to my tastes WCD9341 easily beats anything from AKM stables, be it AKM AK4376 or AK4376A in sound quality. Drive capability is more or less same.
One of the other reasons I bought Meizu 16th was dual stereo speakers. Each speaker is powered by a dedicated Cirrus Logic CS35L41 amplifier, so sound is loud & crisp leaning more on the musical side rather than being out and out loud.
In the end I am quite impressed with the sound quality and headphone drive capability of Meizu 16th through 3.5 mm audio jack considering that it still uses an audio codec from an unknown brand like Qualcomm in the audio world, though I admit the audio codec is of high quality. Qualcomm deserves credit & also Meizu deserves a pat on their back for bringing to us perhaps the best implementation of Qualcomm Aqstic WCD9341 in a smartphone till date.
- ?
- Anonymous
- a3}
- 22 Apr 2020
RishiGuru, 21 Apr 2020Apple intentionally stopped including analogue 3.5 mm audio... moreThanks. You answered some of my questions. Especially the question "Why the flagships lack the headphone jack, but the midrange/budget phones have it?"
Your answer makes sense!
By the way, have you ever compared LG phones with any dedicated audio player?
If yes, then, I've heard some people claming that V50's performance easily matches the $300 DAPs... For real?!
- ?
- Anonymous
- vry
- 22 Apr 2020
Oliver, 20 Apr 2020I would go ahead and buy it, if it would not be a colossus ... moreLol no.
https://old.reddit.com/r/LGV60/comments/g18tc9/my_baby_noooooo_of_course_the_case_is_supposed_to/
- joe nodden
- jpa
- 22 Apr 2020
q, 21 Apr 2020be aware everyone. Xiaomi employee alertHow does pointing out this phone's big flaws make me a Xiaomi employee. I don't need to get paid to tell the truth m8.
- s
- scottm-dj
- QHj
- 21 Apr 2020
Anonymous, 21 Apr 2020Well said bro. That's why I can't go for anything other tha... moreTry to find a V40--that's the best audiophile phone they make. Compared to the V30, the screen is better, the boombox speaker makes the slight size increase definitely worth it, and the new Meridian tuning makes a difference in quality headphones. More importantly, it retains the DTS, MQA and pure DSD playback LG has since tampered with (or removed) in every subsequent version.
- N
- Nick.B
- B}L
- 21 Apr 2020
Reggie, 20 Apr 2020The best flagship to date with the most complete specs such... moreand 8 gigs ram, sd 865, great OLED screen, FM Radio (North America).
You do pay more for less in other phones.
- N
- Nick.B
- B}L
- 21 Apr 2020
I just recieved my LG V50 5G with android 10 and I gotta tell you! There is NOTHING better than LG Android 10 UI. You gotta see it it is amazing. And I have mate20pro with android 10, and p30pro with 10, and LG v40 with android 9. But v50 with android 10 is something else!
Gotta love LG
V60 is the same or better in software wise
- RishiGuru
- utg
- 21 Apr 2020
biggy, 21 Apr 2020Yeah but now we are 2020 my friend nobody use this old 3,5 ... moreApple intentionally stopped including analogue 3.5 mm audio jacks on their devices, as they found a way to earn more revenue by selling 3.5 mm audio adapter dongles and headphones. May I put this to light that Apple was the first manufacturer which started including the 3.5 mm audio jacks on their iPhones a decade back and claimed they are following a revenue free universal standard where you plug in ANY headphone.
Apple has a closed loop eco-system, they earn from every third party that manufactures accessory for their proprietary products. And this includes any kind of adapters & headphones to their devices having proprietary ports. You have to understand the bigger picture. Apple, Samsung, Sony, Oneplus, Huawei or for the name any manufacturer are here to do business. They will take every measure possible to earn more revenue from their customer.
Any audio enthusiast or an audiophile will laugh at anybody who says 3.5 mm audio jack is obsolete. Because they understand audio and seen $10,000 audio equipment that outputs through the 3.5 mm or quarter inch audio jacks connected to $5000 over-the-ear audiophile-grade open-back headphones. Audio is analogue, because human ears are analogue and hence the audio jack is analogue.
The question you may very well ask, why other manufactures are following the same trend? Well because they now understand there is a new scope to earn more revenue and they are following this trend my making their own branded dongles and stuff. For example Meizu now have their own audio dongle which you now need to buy for their flagships like Meizu 16s or Meizu 16s Pro. They are all forcing the customer and earning more revenue. A valid and very effective business model.
The next question is, why all these manufacturers except Apple are not doing this for their mid range devices? Well bcoz removing the 3.5 mm audio jack on their mid-range devices will turn off their specific group of "cash cow" customers who are very price sensitive and not willing to pay an extra $20 for a cheap audio dongle. These customers have 50 other options to buy a phone with 3.5 mm audio jack and they will rather choose those.
This very well cements the fact that till today their is a HUGE demand for 3.5 mm audio jack. Hence all manufactures are currently targeting to fool the deep pocket buyers who are ready to pay $1000 for their flagship phone and won't not mind shelling $50 more for the dongle or pay $100 for each of the low quality headphones with their own brand names. Or in case of Apple, demand money to the manufacturer of such headphone & dongles.
In the end it's all about doing business.
- ?
- Anonymous
- 9a4
- 21 Apr 2020
RishiGuru, 20 Apr 2020I am a music lover too and love music. My job requires lot ... moreWell said bro. That's why I can't go for anything other than LG. That $150 you paid for V30 is totally worth it, even if you're going to use it as a DAP only.
By the way, LGs are really cheap in eBay.
- ?
- Anonymous
- vry
- 21 Apr 2020
Not for sale in, of all places, South Korea.
They get the budget LG Velvet instead. Good grief.
- b
- biggy
- n{t
- 21 Apr 2020
RishiGuru, 20 Apr 2020I am a music lover too and love music. My job requires lot ... moreYeah but now we are 2020 my friend nobody use this old 3,5 mm audiojack im hope that all marks gonna take off this shit and put better bluetoot ;)
- q
- q
- IDc
- 21 Apr 2020
joe nodden, 20 Apr 2020Lol no UFS 3.0 storage. Let alone 3.1. be aware everyone. Xiaomi employee alert
- N
- Nima
- pTi
- 21 Apr 2020
joe nodden, 20 Apr 2020Lol no UFS 3.0 storage. Let alone 3.1. It has ufs 3.0 and is enough nowadays.
- RishiGuru
- fCZ
- 20 Apr 2020
LilSweetLin, 28 Mar 2020I have an S10+ that I got last June. I like it overall, but... moreI am a music lover too and love music. My job requires lot of travelling so I pick smartphones with good music playback capabilities & great audio quality over 3.5 mm audio jack.
It all started in 2014, when I bought a Vivo X5Max in India. Stellar audio quality courtesy the holy trinity of ESS Sabre ES9018 + ESS Sabre ES9601 + Texas Instruments OPA1612 op-amp combination in a phone. Audio was heaven on earth back then on this phone. Still is. I listen to this phone even today, it has the level of resolution & detail which was unheard back then. However it lacked the juice to power proper sized cans, hence best options were to stick to good earphones. And may I add X5Max holds the record of the thinnest smartphone in the world at just 5.1 mm and still Vivo was able to add a headphone jack with audiophile grade quality. I laugh when jerks speaks that removal of audio jacks was necessary to slim down the phone.
The next phone I had was Lenovo Vibe X3. This phone was selling like hot cakes in our country in 2016. A proper flagship of a phone with great audio capabilities.The Vibe X3 simply put to me was the best phone Lenovo (aka Motorola) ever created in its respective time-frame. It also provided me what X5Max desperately lacked, the ability to drive big over the ear headphones. From headphone drive perspective this was definitely a huge upgrade for a smartphone. X3 had two dedicated audio paths. The "Turbo Hi-Fi" is for purists using ESS Sabre 9018C2M and triple OPA1612 audio amplifier configuration. The sound quality was sublime with good amount of drive capability. You can properly drive high impedance over-the-ear headphone like Sennheiser HD598 with Vibe X3. The "Standard Hi-Fi" on the other hand used Wolfson WM8281 audio codec, which was leagues ahead of then Qualcomm audio solutions. And X3 also had the best stereo front firing speaker I have ever heard on any phone. Period. I am a keeper so I still own my Vibe X3.
The LG V30 next grabbed my attention. I always knew V series was great for audio so had a V30+ for last two years. I am so impressed with this phone I recently bought another one for my wife. I got the new one a month back at a bargain price of $150 brand new. Simply put the ESS Sabre ES9218P (Quad DAC) is the best audio implementation I have ever heard on a smartphone. Using a good quality audio jack male-female adapter I am able to fool the DAC in high-gain mode. With 2 Vrms at disposal, I am able to drive almost all over the ear high impedance headphone of upto 300 ohms with ease. The LG G8X is next on my list.
The last phone I want to talk about is my Vivo NEX (NEX S in China). Very few people know about this phone. I own one as it is readily available in India with full Google certification in place. Not only it is high end flagship device with SD845 & 8 gigs of ram but as you have guessed very good quality audio too. The NEX is the only other phone that can truly rival the LG's Quad DAC with a sound signature that is drastically different compared to LGs. The NEX comes with Cirrus Logic CS43199 DAC paired with three Analog Devices SSM6322 headphone amplifiers and the sound quality is just magnificent.
Every DAC manufacturer have its own sound signature, hence playing back the same song on LG V30+ & Vivo NEX provides very different experiences with same headphones. Where as with V30+ the sound signature is detailed with incredible instrument separation and a vertically narrow sound-stage, the NEX with Cirrus Logic DACs on the other hand produces warm, textured sound with super wide sound-stage in the horizontal plain. Vocals just shine on NEX. If you hear Norah Jones on a NEX, it feels like you are in her live concert, but if you hear the same song on V30+ and it will pick every nuances of her breath while she is singing the song and reveal every micro-detail of the song. I love my NEX too.
- O
- Oliver
- dZ4
- 20 Apr 2020
I would go ahead and buy it, if it would not be a colossus of a phone. Make it below 160mm high, 72mm wide and less than 170gr, I`ll be the first to buy.
I love that it`s sturdy and certified with a military grade standard, quite unique attribute in the current market. This phone wont break by swiping it off from your bedside table.
- R
- Reggie
- tDU
- 20 Apr 2020
The best flagship to date with the most complete specs such as microSD, 3.5mm jack, Quad DAC, 64MP with OIS, and big battery 5000mAh. Good job!
- M
- Mobileman
- 6uK
- 20 Apr 2020
Great but where is audio test data?
I dont see any,just few word,why?
Tx anyway,looks ok phone.
- ?
- Anonymous
- 0p}
- 19 Apr 2020
It does not have dual pixel AF, needs to be corrected