[Q] Xperia Z's Audio DAC ?

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techguyone

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2011
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Thing is how loud/good does it sound on it's own internal speaker?
GSMArena in particular are saying it's got a really poor internal speaker
 

ethan3686

Senior Member
Aug 19, 2009
1,168
135
India
^We are talking about the headphone volumes here..so discussing the DAC..It has nothing to do with the external speaker. Though i have heard its pretty good..not the loudest though.
 

Forsh

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2010
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I had a listen to a demo unit in phones4u today, can't say i'm impressed. I stopped using my SGS2 for audio because I couldn't stand the poor sound quality and the XZ is not a lot better. I know it's just a phone and a standalone player will always be better, but it would be nice to at least have a phone music player that is listenable!

I did a side by side comparison. The XZ was able to drive my AKG headphones a little better than the SGS2, the bass was a little warmer and mids were possibly a touch less mudded, and I can't comment on if the antenna radio buzz is still present because obviously it wasn't connected to the network. Really disappointed, was going to preorder my upgrade today, but not now. I'll wait for the HTC one and SGS4, then demo those before I decide on my upgrade.
 

Ambroos

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Aug 11, 2010
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If the rumours are right then both the HTC One and SGS4 will use Snapdragon 600's, which most likely use the same DAC and everything as the Xperia Z - so they'll probably sound similar too.

There just isn't enough internal space to add a proper DAC and amplifier that really offers better sound quality. And nobody really cares either, I call myself a mild audiophile, have a lot of high-end dedicated players and IEM's and the difference between using a good player and my Xperia Z is actually not all that big (at all).

If you really want sound quality while on the go you need one of these:
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-audio/cat-headphones/product-PHA1/ - they work with the Xperia Z.
 
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smaghe

Senior Member
Sep 26, 2008
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I had a listen to a demo unit in phones4u today, can't say i'm impressed. I stopped using my SGS2 for audio because I couldn't stand the poor sound quality and the XZ is not a lot better. I know it's just a phone and a standalone player will always be better, but it would be nice to at least have a phone music player that is listenable!

I did a side by side comparison. The XZ was able to drive my AKG headphones a little better than the SGS2, the bass was a little warmer and mids were possibly a touch less mudded, and I can't comment on if the antenna radio buzz is still present because obviously it wasn't connected to the network. Really disappointed, was going to preorder my upgrade today, but not now. I'll wait for the HTC one and SGS4, then demo those before I decide on my upgrade.

Hi Forsh, as Ambroos said, the output is too weak to drive headphones well. The only solution would be to carry an external DAC/amp, or to go with IEM.
Also, SQ and volume are two different things.
Headphones usually have higher impedance than IEM, therefore they will get less power (lower volume) on a low-voltage audio source.
Sound quality depends on several factors, among which RF/EMI noise isolation and DAC quality.
We said earlier in the topic that the DAC was OK, refering on N4's SQ. We also said that the output was low, which would explain why the music you heard in your headphones was muffled.
 

Forsh

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2010
139
44
Hi Forsh, as Ambroos said, the output is too weak to drive headphones well. The only solution would be to carry an external DAC/amp, or to go with IEM.
Also, SQ and volume are two different things.
Headphones usually have higher impedance than IEM, therefore they will get less power (lower volume) on a low-voltage audio source.
Sound quality depends on several factors, among which RF/EMI noise isolation and DAC quality.
We said earlier in the topic that the DAC was OK, refering on N4's SQ. We also said that the output was low, which would explain why the music you heard in your headphones was muffled.

Yeap, I know the difference between SQ and volume, i've been an audio enthusiast for far too long! I carry around a Fiio E7 amp (nice cheap little amp, I can highly recommend it) with my phone when I have used it as an audio player because of the higher impedance. On this occasion I was just testing to see if the amp on the XZ naked could drive my headphones any better than the S2 naked (I hate it when the amp battery runs out in the middle of the day).

And then the rest of my post was just talking about my personal impression of the sound on the XZ. Like I said I know its just a phone, but it would be nice if focus moved away from improving quantifiable addons (like the camera) and maybe squeezed a little more out of the SQ side -but what can you do!

One thing i've learnt about discussing how something sounds is that everybody hears things differently (especially when discussing over the internet!) - one thing that's great to one man, is awful to another. I just found the XZ to be lacking somewhat, which is a shame for a such an expensive phone produced by a company that has audio as one of it's central signature products. But each to their own, if you're not using high(er) end headphones and high quality mp3/flac then the phone is unlikely to be the weakest link in the chain, and the majority of the public won't be using either.
 

henkyie

Member
Mar 17, 2009
16
9
I just received my Z yesterday. My Samsung S2 died on me this Monday.

I tried USB OTG with my FIIO E7 and it works like a charm.

I've got some nice ear-buds (q-JAYS) and cans (HD 598), and although the Z sounds wayyyyyyyyyyyy better than the S2, when combined with the E7 there is even more "room" for my music.

Nice wide full sound.

Now I can finally use my flac music collection when I'm not home (I'm glad I increased my data plan, hope 4GB is enough :) )

This is fast becoming my favourite phone to date!
 

Warren.D

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2010
284
51
Crewe
Compared to my S3. Using same headphones, on my XZ I hear things (fine details) that I've never noticed on the S3 whilst playing music.

Simply amazing quality.

Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
 

appfactory

Senior Member
Mar 18, 2013
87
1
www.medicAll-app.com
Anyone experiencing the volume almost drops to nothing on the external speaker, music, notifications, calling sound, i can barely hear it, but when i hear it, its sounds like the speaker plays loud cause the sound is crackling...
This problem comes and goes, but i have no idea how to fix it, or why it happens..

Anyone?
 

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    Well yes, I do have a separate media player but i don't always have the time to charge it in and carry around all day. I listen to music while multi tasking on phone in a train, imagine the hassle of taking care of an extra device, changing songs and then, well it's pain in ass. I know you're a Sony fan but come on, it has nothing to do with Sony, It's about Qualcomm's DAC. I have pretty decent Sennheiser headphones. Try listening to music on a phone that has wolfson DAC, using power amp, and custom libs for music tweaks (i got my own custom) with decent headphones, it'll be as good as any portable media player. I even have the over rated beats headset. And BTW, my portable media player is a Sony Walkman :)

    If it's about Samsung's stock fkd up media player n sound on headset, well I can solve that myself, but I can't replace a DAC.

    Well,

    I usually listen from my PC, which surprisingly enough has a pretty good DAC. I only really listen with quite neutral studio monitor IEMs since I like my sound balanced. MDR-7550's specifically. My portable source of choice is my Walkman X-series with an S-Master amplifier. As comparison material I also have the Xperia S and used to have the Xperia T.

    From my short listening sessions (pure observations, no measurements) I concluded the Xperia Z is better than both the S and T. Stereo separation seems to be better, lows have more body and highs are a tiny bit clearer. In general compared to all my sources the Z is mainly a little too smooth. I like my mids and highs textured and detailed and that was a little lacking on the Z.

    I'm quite happy with the sound quality overall, and thanks to the great Walkman app (with FLAC and Last.fm support) I might use it as main portable player when I get a big enough SD card.

    And yes, it is sufficiently loud but not extreme. Around the same as the S and T (which is more than loud enough for me).

    Sent from my ? using xda premium
    1
    Hi all !
    Does anyone happen to know how good the DAC is on the Z ?
    Thanks !

    It's integrated in S4pro chip, just like N4 and OG
    1
    Can I ask...

    You're all talking about loudness. To me, loudness is a DSP feature I don't want, because it artificially enhances treble and bass, but not the mids. Do you actually mean loudness, or are you talking about volume?

    Regardless, I've never heard any Walkman devices (mp3 players or phones) that sound bad. Sony have their audio and video software pretty well sewn up by now.

    We are all talking about high volume levels..That means how loud the sound is on Earphones/earbuds...Not distortion level loud..The loudness it can handle without distortion in sound.
    1
    If the rumours are right then both the HTC One and SGS4 will use Snapdragon 600's, which most likely use the same DAC and everything as the Xperia Z - so they'll probably sound similar too.

    There just isn't enough internal space to add a proper DAC and amplifier that really offers better sound quality. And nobody really cares either, I call myself a mild audiophile, have a lot of high-end dedicated players and IEM's and the difference between using a good player and my Xperia Z is actually not all that big (at all).

    If you really want sound quality while on the go you need one of these:
    http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-audio/cat-headphones/product-PHA1/ - they work with the Xperia Z.