Are There Any Cell Phones Left With A 24 Bit DAC?

With LG throwing in the towel, is there any options other than a used LG?

 

Rather than looking for a phone that still has a headphone jack and also includes a good DAC, I'd suggest looking for a good USB-C dongle that combines a DAC and headphone jack. There are some reasonably good ones available now. And then get familiar with the USB Audio Player Pro app so you can play bit-perfect audio through Android (otherwise Android will resample).

Some USB-C dongles:
Astell & Kern PEE51
Fiio KA3
iBasso DC05

 

Don't know about any mobile phones that have an as good DAC as the LG - just sold our V20 as reception in our area is spotty and we've gone to iPhone.

If you're quick you might still be able to buy an iPod (discontinued as of Tuesday) and you can even hook it up through WiFi for WhatsApp, FaceTime and internet browsing. (I just bought a new iPod as we want to spare the battery in the more expensive iPhone. And the iPhone's no longer have a headphone connector.)

 

I've got a V30, but security patches were stopped after 8/19.

 

And how long do you expect the battery to last?
I have a Motorola X4 (Android One version) that was manufactured November 2018. In December 2021 the battery swelled and separated the display and the back. The adhesive holding the display and back separated. Fortunately the adhesive gave way before it could crack the display. I've looked at doing a self repair to replace the battery. The replacement battery and tools to do the self repair are in the range of $40 to $70 (depends on how much you trust questionable batteries and questionable parts). Or $100 for a local phone repair place to do it. The phone isn't worth that much. Instead I got a new Motorola G Power phone through my phone carrier for $50. The G Power has a bigger battery bigger display and newer OS. A better phone than the Moto X4. A whole new better phone costs less than replacing the battery in that Moto X4.

That's the state of Android phones. They're good until the battery goes or until they fail. And then they're not worth the repair cost. Buy a new phone that is better and less than the cost of the repair.

Buy a good USB-C dongle DAC instead of a special phone with a built-in DAC. The USB-C dongle DAC will be good for years and will be able to be transferred to different phones as you need to change phones because batteries die or phone hardware dies.

 

The V30 is permanently sealed. When the battery goes, it's dead. I've only had it for about a year. I got it as "new old stock" on Amazon, still factory sealed in the box.

 

Technically my Moto X4 was permanently sealed and IP68 waterproof as well. Until the battery swelled and popped the adhesive seals around the display and the back. And it was only 3 years for that to happen.

 

Ouch. There are still a # of low usage V60's out there pretty cheap, but I'm wondering if ANY company is currently making a phone with a 24 bit DAC. I have a hi-res audio player for my stereo already, this is for walks in the park if Covid ever goes away.

 

Reading this thread made me start considering to revive my old favorite, the LG V10 that’s currently resting in peace in my drawer. It bootlooped after 6 months and was still as good as new. No cracks or smudges.
I can see that on Aliexpress I can get a replacement motherboard for the phone and it’s not that expensive now.
I’m only just worried whether the replacement board will bootloop. What will you advise?

 

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 uses an ESS Sabre ES9280AC Pro Quad DAC, but despite the fact that it came out over a year ago, they're still fairly pricey. It's also designed for gamers in mind, so your mileage may vary.

Personally, I replaced my LG V20 recently with an iPhone 13 with 256GB capacity. The smartphone selection for quality DAC and headphone jack is severely limited today so I threw in the towel and went with an iPhone, leading me to the dark side.

 

What music player are you using on the iPhone to play music? I found quality options hard to come by. They didn’t sound any good, all of them. Not until I tried Neutron music player. I don’t like its UI though, especially when compared to Poweramp. Do you have any favorites or are you using Neutron too?

 

Most phones nowadays should have a 24 bit DAC. Headphone jack, if there is one, might not be as powerful as the LG V series phones were. You may have to resort to one of those miniature dongle type DACs like this one:



Note this is just an example, not an endorsement of this product.

My V40 is still going strong and I'm not sure what I'll eventually replace it with. Might keep it until next year and then see what's on the market.

 

I did the Iphone thing years ago and hated it. Gonna have to see what Android options there are next year. I'll resort to the dongle DAC thing if I have to. Not interested in going to wireless headphones.

 

Longtime Neutron user and there are so many features I've never used. Usability and simplicity are not its strong suits. Great program for "power users" though and it does work very well once you get the hang of it.

 

Right now, I'm just using Apple's Thunder to headphone jack adapter for my earphones, which is serviceable for me in the interim. I'm keeping my options open for an external DAC, hoping to find a good one in the near future.

I'm using Apple's default music player and I find it a bit annoying to use due to its interface. I'll have to check out Neutron. Thanks.

 

The Apple lighting to 3.5mm adaptor has a DAC inside. This came as a bundled accessory with the first iPhone (7) without a 3.5mm socket. Nowadays you have to purchase it separately but I think it's still very inexpensive. I've read reviews that say its SQ is very good. I've used it with cheap Bose headphones; it does me fine, but then again I'm not a discerning headphone user.

 

Not just Android phones get swelled up batteries. Recently replaced my wife's iPhone 6 the battery went bad. My MotoG5 still holds a charge for 2 days, when I just use it as a phone.

 

Check out Swappa.com for very good pricing on used LG v series phones. This is a legit site.

My original ? was is anyone still making NEW 24 bit phones? I am guessing the answer is no.

 

I was lucky when my V20 battery swelled up. I caught it in time & just bought a new battery.

 

I think there are none which have high output voltage? Am I wrong? My application is out of a laptop into 600 ohm AKGs. Someone had posted a thread (maybe at Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum ) with listening clips of the Apple dongle, purporting that people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. For me it sounds fine-especially so tiny and $9, what a feat of engineering!!-but again it just won't drive my headphones past modest volume

 

Would it kill a quality manufacturer to make a 24 bit phone rather than one having to jump through hoops?

 

The Apple USB-C dongle is rather wimpy. But also only $10. It doesn't have much power and is only really suitable for driving IEMs or powered headphones like the Bose noise cancelling headphones.

There are dongles that have more power. But there is a limit to how much power you can get from the limited amperage and voltage available through a mobile phone USB-C port. You can't break the laws of electricity and physics. There are dongles that deliver more power but some of them try to push the limits a little too far and the sound can cut out when the dongle tries to draw more power from the USB-C port than the phone is willing or able to deliver.

One of the more powerful single-ended dongles is the THX Onyx. It is speced at 180mW at 22 ohms. I don't know much power at 600 ohms. It is single-ended only. No balanced output.

Balanced headphone amps can deliver even more headphone amp power from the USB-C port. If you need more power than what the single-ended dongle DACs can supply then you'll need to switch over to balanced headphones and get a balanced dongle.

 

What do you think of these two bad boys
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005001757521881.html?
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32843890082.html?

 

I still have my LG V10, even though it stopped functioning as a phone years ago. I use it as a music player and for a webcam as the camera is pretty good too.

(I also have a dongle DAC I use with my current phone.)

 

Was yours the T-Mobile H901 variant? Did you know anyone who had that model that avoided the bootloop fault? What’s the current phone and how does it compare to the LG wrt sound quality? And would you advise someone to attempt to replace the board if theirs is already dead?
I’m really torn as to whether to buy the replacement board. Just so darn scared that it’ll also bootloop