LG V60 ThinQ 5G review

19 April 2020
While we were all expecting a successor to the G8, LG instead announced a successor to the V50. The LG V60 ThinQ 5G is the latest fully featured flagship smartphone from Samsung’s Korean rival. LG doesn’t go quite as hard with the spec sheet as others like Samsung and Oppo, but it also doesn’t go as hard with the price point.

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Fearghast, 20 Apr 2020That's priceless, please continue.Hello attention-seeker!
I'm sorry, but the attention that you're starving to death for, is not available in this page. Please wait while we redirect you to your li--- never mind...."your life" doesn't exist.

    Fearghast, 20 Apr 2020I am not talking to you argument. Oh classic Dope :DThen what else are you gonna talk about?
    Obviously what you gave me had absolutely nothing to do with what I'm trying to say, which is just an indicator of your desperation to cope up with your complete failure to defend your side.

    Well anyway, you did a decent job! You just ruined it by deeming to ad hominem.
    You really did well enough, but you didn't have to do that absolute trash technique anyway.

      Shanti Dope, 20 Apr 2020Merriam-Webster's Dictionary says bashing is a form of act ... moreThat's priceless, please continue.

        Anonymous, 20 Apr 2020Just keep on topic. Keep Sony out of this.This is a comment section, where anything can be said.
        You can find somebody else to dictate what they should do in their life, but certainly not an intellectual like me.

          Anonymous, 20 Apr 2020https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bash ... moreMerriam-Webster's Dictionary says bashing is a form of act of striking someone or something with the use of violence. In what way did I use brute force when criticizing their faults?
          Anyway, I'd trust Merriam Webster more than your unknown and unreliable source any time of the day. Obviously that's not completely wrong, but you're definitely getting the wrong idea here.

          Repeatedly?? OBVIOUSLY you made me repeat those things because it wouldn't go inside your nutcrack head!
          Now I'm starting to lose patience to the low level of your understanding. It's getting severe enough that I don't even wanna waste a single second to your nonsense cr*ps.

            Shanti Dope, 20 Apr 2020Another typical strategy when losing a proper argument lol.... moreI am not talking to you argument.
            Oh classic Dope :D

              Fearghast, 20 Apr 2020Science man has spoken https://youtu.be/XQmKabdArUg You p... moreAnother typical strategy when losing a proper argument lol.
              I also have lost many debates in life, but never would I ever use ad hominem like you do to continue the argument that I know I have lost already. That's just purely disgusting.
              Well, your statements are already nonsense right from the start.

              Or maybe you could shut the hell up because I'm obviously talking to the other person and not you.
              If you're starving so hard for attention, you can use tinder and date an 80-year old woman there to satisfy your needs.
              This is an intellectual discussion, and we're certainly not asking for your dumb nonsense bs's.

                scottm-dj, 20 Apr 2020From the UAPP developer himself...seems everything after th... moreWell that's sad regarding LG. Thanks for the info. I wouldn't exactly hold my breath regarding Sony, looks like its default QC DAC again and in doubtfully good implementation as always. I have XZ1 & use external DAC which actually tells it all. At least Sony has good BT suport and duble as usual volume steps with as close to stock Android as possible without being Google's gimmipig. If that's comforting. At least now there are affordable good performing portable USB DAC's that doesn't cost all that much.

                  scottm-dj, 20 Apr 2020From the UAPP developer himself...seems everything after th... moreThis does not fix the issue of downsamling?
                  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudioplayerpro&hl=cs
                  Edit: Nevermind, UAPP didn't click for me ... ooops ... again.

                    Anonymous, 20 Apr 2020LG putting the phone at the right price tag. Not so much ... moreI could not agree more. I myself will most likely buy Xperia 1 II or Xperia 5 II, but I will wait for reviews, if they are good, I will wait for it to fail on market and 1/4 year later I will buy it with 30% discount, WF-1000MX4/WH-1000MX4 and a Sony/JBL speaker to boot.
                    It's kinda the usual life cycle for a Sony smartphone in my region.
                    So win win for me, not so much for Sony :D
                    But LG is certainly tempting, I love mics on my backup V30+, headphone output is great, this time they kept colours on the cool side, dektop mode etc.

                      From the UAPP developer himself...seems everything after the V40 converts now (V50/G8X/etc)--and MQA support was dropped with the V60. Gotta keep that price point down somehow...but what a shame...

                      V50: Includes MQA decoding. The V50 does not feature DoP. The LG Music app will convert DSD to 88200Hz PCM, whereas UAPP converts to 352800Hz PCM.

                      V60: V60 does not feature MQA or DoP encoding.

                      This is a big deal for audiophiles since even though the chip in the phones hasn't changed and play DSD natively..but LG disabled it. Looks like I'll stick with my V40 until i see what Sony has up its sleeve with the Xperia I Mark II. A Japanese article/pre-review was encouraging....translate in Chrome.
                      https://www.phileweb.com/review/article/202004/15/3822.html

                        ZolaIII, 20 Apr 2020Well the DAC's actually do sound the same if not broken. Th... moreI forgot to tell that of course I firstly applied a layer of electrical isolation as both aluminium and graphite are conductors and sorry about autocorrect related mistakes.

                        Best regards.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • uH}
                          • 20 Apr 2020

                          Shanti Dope, 20 Apr 2020Bashing and criticizing are exactly two different things. ... moreJust keep on topic. Keep Sony out of this.

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                            • Anonymous
                            • Lj%
                            • 20 Apr 2020

                            Anonymous, 20 Apr 2020LG putting the phone at the right price tag. Not so much ... moreIt is easy to price at $800 when you cut a lot of things other have.

                              RishiGuru, 20 Apr 2020Very well said and I second your opinion. I am a music love... moreWell the DAC's actually do sound the same if not broken. There's a tail of OP Amp's & how they sound differently. Truth is its all about rejection rate and shielding in order to improve it. Used material for shielding also plays a role. For instance ESS usually are very prone in picking up EMI and other interfaces (so are the newer CS one's) it degrees mostly top & bottom end & same gave bias to sound stage. I use USB portable DAC with my current Sony & it's a ES9018K2M + SABRE9601K, battery powered with separated power line. Whosent exactly satisfied with how it sounded, stage whose narrow, mids ward intoxicating in a good way, fast forward... I opened it & experimented with different shieldings. First I put tick aluminum folie which did make it sound as AKM, thick booming bothom, great highs but it didn't resolve neither of other issues & made dynamics bad. Then I applied thin layer of graphite instead. This moved hump to mid bass & fixed everything else so I did know I am on the right track. Finally I put more of the graphite (2~3 mm layer) over IC's and this straighten it to the very bottom (sub bass) dynamics ware great sound stage is now just correct in both axes and cetera. Now it's on pair with polite desktop solutions. I basically added 65 dB shielding across whole frequency spectrum to a IC rejection rate they already have. EMI from GSM network goes up to 110 dB so you have to get over that. Luckily this whose a DAC which whose easy to access & had enough free space inside.

                              Regarding the LG V60 the Android 10 broke DSD native decoding and other things, it's fixed now in UAPP. ;)

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                                • Anonymous
                                • Kxr
                                • 20 Apr 2020

                                Fearghast, 20 Apr 2020"The whole world besides Europe will be getting Exynos vers... moreLG putting the phone at the right price tag.
                                Not so much with Sony.
                                Every year, it's the same story, Hardly anyone going to buy the Xperia 1 II

                                  scottm-dj, 20 Apr 2020Yeah GSMArena...I agree with several here--where are the fu... moreFor music listening, DTS is not important to me. However native DSD and MQA are. Are you certain they are not present on V60? Is it the same case for LG G8X?

                                  My LG V30+ have support for both.

                                    Yeah GSMArena...I agree with several here--where are the full audio test results?

                                    I see a few posts highlighting why LG was able to make the price point they did--by leaving some key features off. Some are obvious like the FHD screen, and some (to me) are ridiculous like the weight and bulk of this beast...but they also unfortunately tweaked with the sterling audio prowess that they are known for. Not the sound per se...but...

                                    They time around they didn't pay for any audio licensing! If you notice there is no DTS labeling anymore (it's "LG 3D" now) and no MQA either (useful for Tidal). The really bad thing is NO NATIVE DSD playback anymore (it unacceptably converts everything to PCM). Only audiophiles will know what that means, but that's a big deal for someone who pretty much uses strictly that format...and that ill-advised decision completely negates it's entire advantage :(

                                    I may as well just stay with my more "audio endowed" V40. So disappointed...

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • vV5
                                      • 20 Apr 2020

                                      Shanti Dope, 20 Apr 2020Bashing and criticizing are exactly two different things. ... morehttps://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bash

                                      Bashing is to criticise severely.
                                      Do I need to give you the meaning of "repeatedly" too?

                                        ZolaIII, 19 Apr 2020LDAC tops 98 dB @ 24 bit 96KHz which arguably is enough for... moreVery well said and I second your opinion. I am a music lover too and love music. My job requires lot of travelling so I pick smartphones with 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.

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