V60 dac distortion problems

[adamcs]

Hello to everyone,first post.

I am stuck with a very peculiar problem, I hope somebody can help me here.

I have the v20 (my daughter inherited it), the v30 (as backup), my wife has the v50 and I just bought a v60. The musical experience is a key feature for us.

Now, I have a maddening issue with it. After setting it up, i immediately noticed that it sounded distorted when playing certain songs from tidal.

I have a pair of etymotic research er2xr iems and a custom made ciem pair (75 ohm impedance) that literally blows the er2xr out of the water.

However, I started listening to classical music, it began to drive me nuts. There is constant distortion when playing high frequency piano parts (Chopin for example). I have tried different sources (tidal, my own collection in various resolutions) and they all produce the same distortion.

Other than that the sound quality is awesome. That is the strangest thing.

With the er2xr it is less pronounced but with the more revealing ciems it is simply not enjoyable.
I have done my fair bit of research (read about tidal watermarks etc. ) , I have tried the ciems with the v50 and the others, they sound fantastic playing Chopin. I even tried them with my desktop dac without issues.

My conclusion is:
- the dac has a problem (that's strange because only one frequency range is problematic)
- the dac has been tuned like this by the factory - that would also be strange as obviously other people would listen to classical music on it and they would definitely hear it.

I would really appreciate it if someone could add their opinions and tips.

I bought the phone from Germany and it's covered by warranty but it would be a hassle to send it back, let alone explaining the problem to them as with the oem iems nothing is audible.

Other than this and the occasional dual screen flickering issue (that has to do something with UAPP player) In love this phone and would like to stick with it.

The V50 sounds very different (darker I would say) and it is better tuned in my opinion. All other things, however, are better on the v60.

Thanks for every suggestion.

Adam

 

[pongalong]

Hello to everyone,first post.

I am stuck with a very peculiar problem, I hope somebody can help me here.

I have the v20 (my daughter inherited it), the v30 (as backup), my wife has the v50 and I just bought a v60. The musical experience is a key feature for us.

Now, I have a maddening issue with it. After setting it up, i immediately noticed that it sounded distorted when playing certain songs from tidal.

I have a pair of etymotic research er2xr iems and a custom made ciem pair (75 ohm impedance) that literally blows the er2xr out of the water.

However, I started listening to classical music, it began to drive me nuts. There is constant distortion when playing high frequency piano parts (Chopin for example). I have tried different sources (tidal, my own collection in various resolutions) and they all produce the same distortion.

Other than that the sound quality is awesome. That is the strangest thing.

With the er2xr it is less pronounced but with the more revealing ciems it is simply not enjoyable.
I have done my fair bit of research (read about tidal watermarks etc. ) , I have tried the ciems with the v50 and the others, they sound fantastic playing Chopin. I even tried them with my desktop dac without issues.

My conclusion is:
- the dac has a problem (that's strange because only one frequency range is problematic)
- the dac has been tuned like this by the factory - that would also be strange as obviously other people would listen to classical music on it and they would definitely hear it.

I would really appreciate it if someone could add their opinions and tips.

I bought the phone from Germany and it's covered by warranty but it would be a hassle to send it back, let alone explaining the problem to them as with the oem iems nothing is audible.

Other than this and the occasional dual screen flickering issue (that has to do something with UAPP player) In love this phone and would like to stick with it.

The V50 sounds very different (darker I would say) and it is better tuned in my opinion. All other things, however, are better on the v60.

Thanks for every suggestion.

Adam

I don't have Tidal but I can test the tracks on my V60 and G8 through Deezer (lossless CD quality). I'd be using the Focal Clear and HD800s. I don't really have IEMs other than a pair of Klipsch X10.

 

[jblparisi]

Hello to everyone,first post.

I am stuck with a very peculiar problem, I hope somebody can help me here.

I have the v20 (my daughter inherited it), the v30 (as backup), my wife has the v50 and I just bought a v60. The musical experience is a key feature for us.

Now, I have a maddening issue with it. After setting it up, i immediately noticed that it sounded distorted when playing certain songs from tidal.

I have a pair of etymotic research er2xr iems and a custom made ciem pair (75 ohm impedance) that literally blows the er2xr out of the water.

However, I started listening to classical music, it began to drive me nuts. There is constant distortion when playing high frequency piano parts (Chopin for example). I have tried different sources (tidal, my own collection in various resolutions) and they all produce the same distortion.

Other than that the sound quality is awesome. That is the strangest thing.

With the er2xr it is less pronounced but with the more revealing ciems it is simply not enjoyable.
I have done my fair bit of research (read about tidal watermarks etc. ) , I have tried the ciems with the v50 and the others, they sound fantastic playing Chopin. I even tried them with my desktop dac without issues.

My conclusion is:
- the dac has a problem (that's strange because only one frequency range is problematic)
- the dac has been tuned like this by the factory - that would also be strange as obviously other people would listen to classical music on it and they would definitely hear it.

I would really appreciate it if someone could add their opinions and tips.

I bought the phone from Germany and it's covered by warranty but it would be a hassle to send it back, let alone explaining the problem to them as with the oem iems nothing is audible.

Other than this and the occasional dual screen flickering issue (that has to do something with UAPP player) In love this phone and would like to stick with it.

The V50 sounds very different (darker I would say) and it is better tuned in my opinion. All other things, however, are better on the v60.

Thanks for every suggestion.

Adam

I have some experience in this same subject but I would rather talk about it on the LG discord. To make it short, I have had 3 different V60 units and can confirm 1 sounded very distinctly different the the other two. All 3 units had the same distortion (usually on lower freq's in my case) you are referring to that I could confirm with my pair of IEM Audiosense T800. I also have had every V series device including 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and G7 and G8. I agree the V50 sounded darker bolder, more closed in and personal to my ears at times, the V60 seems a bit more detailed and brighter. I can expand in more detail of my findings and I still have my G7 to compare to back and fourth.

 

[adamcs]

Thanks for the replies. I have taken the phone to an audio engineer and had it checked by oscilloscope. It seems to be working fine, no clipping. However, when connected to an external sound generator the noise was clearly audible, which would lead me to think that the iems have a problem. Btw, I modify my earlier assessment, it happens when there is an attack, for example, and low and high frequencies are played together. The sound generator showed that it's almost always there but clearly audible from 200 Hz to 600Hz.

Then I went back to the guy who made the custom iem.

Findings are the followings:

- the noise is definitely audible when using the v60 with the ciems.
- no noise is audible when I listen to the v60 with other professional grade iems
- no noise is audible when using the ciems with a cayin n8 dap or other players

The above seem to contradict each other.

The ciem developer says that the ciem and phone are just not compatible. I tend to believe him, if such a thing exists, at all.

 

[Himediadroid]

Hi, before I saw your post I made a thread about what seems like the same issue on my Bell Canada V60. I first noticed it playing Chopin piano, lol. It's very clear playing piano tracks. I have a binuaral beats app that can generate a signal and I can hear it as well. It's only there Somewhere between minimum and maximum volume and only when HIFI Quad DAC is enabled. I was begining to think I have a single hardware defect associated with the Quad DAC until I saw your post. What firmware are you on? I'm on V600TM10q

Here is my post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/lg-v60-quad-dac-issues-with-noise-and-distortion.4227291/

 

[Himediadroid]

I have some experience in this same subject but I would rather talk about it on the LG discord. To make it short, I have had 3 different V60 units and can confirm 1 sounded very distinctly different the the other two. All 3 units had the same distortion (usually on lower freq's in my case) you are referring to that I could confirm with my pair of IEM Audiosense T800. I also have had every V series device including 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and G7 and G8. I agree the V50 sounded darker bolder, more closed in and personal to my ears at times, the V60 seems a bit more detailed and brighter. I can expand in more detail of my findings and I still have my G7 to compare to back and fourth.

Hi I'm also experiencing this with a Canadian Bell V60. Where can I find your LG discord discussion on this? Thanks

 

[adamcs]

Hi I'm also experiencing this with a Canadian Bell V60. Where can I find your LG discord discussion on this? Thanks

Hi,

This thing is really driving me nuts. I had the V60 measured with an oscilloscope by an expert. He didn't find any distortions or irregularities. I have replaced the ciems with a more expensive pair. The high noise floor (or background noise has disappeared) but it has developed a new problem since then. It started to randomly give a mechanical popping sound which is not consistent (doesn't always happen in the same tracks). The developer of the ciem is certain that the problem is the V60. I am not convinced about it.

Nevertheless, yesterday I went and sat down with the developer of the ciem to show him the problem. Guess what! I sat there for an hour and no matter what I did I couldn't reproduce the problem. Then on the way home in the car, it reappeared again. It is audible if you turn the iem around and only listen to the faceplate from the outside it sounds something like a cricket (only slightly mechanical) . Then the same problem occured with my wife's V50., too.
So, I think the problem is with the ciem not the V60. On the other hand, the first pair of ciems definitely worked and listening with my wife's er2xr I heard the same problems (high background noise) only less audibly.

Basically, I am stuck between the V60 and the ciems. I could return the V60 under warranty, but I am afraid I would only make a fool of myself as they would not be able to hear the problem. It is like chasing ghosts.

To sum it up, I am leaning towards the opinion that there are certain iems that have an incompatible frequency response curve with the LG V60 (it is important to note that the V50 doesn't have the same issue).