aptX support? - Sony Xperia Z Ultra

Just bought a pair of HBS-730 from LG, and it said that it supports aptX, and luckily, our Xperia Z Ultra supports aptX codec.
But,
Is this a type of file? A protocol? A software? Seems like Google does not offer me any good documents for me.

Wikipedia tells me that:
"In digital audio data reduction technology, aptX (formerly apt-X) is a family of proprietary audio codec compression algorithms."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AptX
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LordManhattan said:
Wikipedia tells me that:
"In digital audio data reduction technology, aptX (formerly apt-X) is a family of proprietary audio codec compression algorithms."
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AptX
Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
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Yes, I saw that, AND I only know that much. Anybody else?

It's a codec that can be used to stream CD quality audio over bluetooth. I picked up a Sony BM-10 for streaming music from XZU to my home theater. Both XZU and BM-10 support aptX

As far as I understand, it's a proprietary codec, so while the stock Sony ROM supports it (and I suppose any ROMs based on Sony's firmware would also support it), it is not available to distribute in AOSP ROMs, since no is paying a licensing fee for you to use it. Unless of course, it happens to be supported by Google's music player, or something, which may or may not even be possible.

can this somehow be connected to my car stereo with a 3.5mm jack, can i charge it in the car, please provide more info as I am interested in this device

hykhleif said:
can this somehow be connected to my car stereo with a 3.5mm jack, can i charge it in the car, please provide more info as I am interested in this device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The easiest way to make aptx useable with your car audio may be to connect the output of an an aptx receiver to the input of your car audio. As APTX receiver you can use a Samsung HS3000 for example.
For charging the HS3000 you just need a simple USB charger for cars.

Related

listening to music over bluetooth

hey guys, i noticed that listening to music over my sony car stereo is not of great quality i tried all the settings in the sound, like clear audio etc, and dynamic settings and sound enhancement settings, i use power amp player and use music fx setting with it, also tried without it . Can someone recommend whats the best way to listen to music to over bluetooth, i also tried installing viper4android audio mod but something is putting me off when it comes to listening to music over bluetooth. my car stereo is sony bt mex5000
Try Player Pro with DSP Pack..if that doesn't do it. Plug it in with a regular cable to your car stereo and try that
SÜPERUSER said:
Try Player Pro with DSP Pack..if that doesn't do it. Plug it in with a regular cable to your car stereo and try that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tried it still the same not that good, is there anyone that can tell me what i need to buy to enhance and get best audio quality over bluetooth as i try to not use cables at all
Your ultra supports apt-x, so streaming over apt-x is the better bet, but not sure if your car supports it.
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If you're streaming to a car stereo you have to take into account that you have 2 amps in play. You need the sound coming out of the phone as clean as possible, so turn off any enhancements including graphic equalising and just have a pure output. Otherwise you'll get double processing which will sound awful. This goes double for POWERaMP as it has probably the most powerful processing available!
Unfortunately your stereo doesn't support apt-x but you should still get good quality through a2dp.
You haven't said what's wrong with the sound though? Give a brief description.
I use mine on my parrot with PowerAmp and it sounds flawless.
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SpyderTracks said:
If you're streaming to a car stereo you have to take into account that you have 2 amps in play. You need the sound coming out of the phone as clean as possible, so turn off any enhancements including graphic equalising and just have a pure output. Otherwise you'll get double processing which will sound awful. This goes double for POWERaMP as it has probably the most powerful processing available!
Unfortunately your stereo doesn't support apt-x but you should still get good quality through a2dp.
You haven't said what's wrong with the sound though? Give a brief description.
I use mine on my parrot with PowerAmp and it sounds flawless.
Sent from my C6833 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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interesting, i thought if i use enhancements on my phone like viper4android it will help in listening to good quality over bluetooth.
I use power amp, so you advise me to remove the also direct control from power amp, and the equaliser too from power amp, and streaming as clean as possible to my sony stereo and control the sound from there.
how about the tone on power amp and the limit on shall i turn them off too.
How bout the sony z ultra, it has sound mods too like clear audio and sound enhancement and dynamic normaliser should i turn then off too.
since i started playing with processing enhancements I started to hate listening to music altogether.
I just bought today jbl component speaker 4 of them, and jbl sub, so i would really like help in how to listen to great sound, and which player other than power amp is the best out there, i tried neutron player and i found it so difficult to get good sound out of it, especially when i played with enhancements
the sound i got before the jbls component was so muffled and so strange and irritating mids get lost, and if i turn up the mids the sound becomes so sharp and irritating to my ears.
with jbl its better now but i still am not where id like to be in listening to music over bluetooth, but i know my problem now mainly is to know how to stream music the best way from my phone to my sony BT mex5100. I know i my car stereo does not support aptx, so do u think if i buy a aptx bluetooth receiver like the uplay puck or kinivo it will help more or will it make no difference
what i aim to is a nice smooth sound not so sharp on my ears and a nice bass
hykhleif said:
interesting, i thought if i use enhancements on my phone like viper4android it will help in listening to good quality over bluetooth.
I use power amp, so you advise me to remove the also direct control from power amp, and the equaliser too from power amp, and streaming as clean as possible to my sony stereo and control the sound from there.
how about the tone on power amp and the limit on shall i turn them off too.
How bout the sony z ultra, it has sound mods too like clear audio and sound enhancement and dynamic normaliser should i turn then off too.
since i started playing with processing enhancements I started to hate listening to music altogether.
I just bought today jbl component speaker 4 of them, and jbl sub, so i would really like help in how to listen to great sound, and which player other than power amp is the best out there, i tried neutron player and i found it so difficult to get good sound out of it, especially when i played with enhancements
the sound i got before the jbls component was so muffled and so strange and irritating mids get lost, and if i turn up the mids the sound becomes so sharp and irritating to my ears.
with jbl its better now but i still am not where id like to be in listening to music over bluetooth, but i know my problem now mainly is to know how to stream music the best way from my phone to my sony BT mex5100. I know i my car stereo does not support aptx, so do u think if i buy a aptx bluetooth receiver like the uplay puck or kinivo it will help more or will it make no difference
what i aim to is a nice smooth sound not so sharp on my ears and a nice bass
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, basically if you're outputting post processed sound to your car stereo, your stereo is doubling processing on top, so any bass or treble will be amped through the roof and so distort and hiss. Take as clean a sound into the car amp and then the amp can manage the levels properly within tolerance. Car amps are very difficult to replicate pure sound, they usually have some bias built in to make the most out of the environment and surrounding noise levels, plus they're a lot more powerful than any phone, so that's why you should rely on the stereo processing rather than amping the phone and running the stereo clean, just wouldn't have the same quality.
Also disable any Sony effects, they'll screw the output out also. Turn everything off.
Apt-x makes a big difference, so if you can, definitely look at a newer model, maybe pioneer or alpine or a high end parrot for great quality. With bluetooth, you definitely get what you pay for, so it's worth looking at the high end systems, and if possible test them out somewhere to find the one that's right for you. We've got Halfords in the UK where you can demo the systems in the shop, I'm sure there'll be something around wherever you are.
Personally I've always used PowerAmp, I love the sound it produces through headphones with processing, as well as clean when I disable all the tweaks, haven't found any other player that matches it so can't really comment on alternatives.
Probably not worth saying but make sure the format is good quality, 320 bit mp3, aac, etc. Anything less and you'll lose the bass and treble.
Really grateful for this topic as I'd love to know other people's views on this too... I have a mid level parrot system which I'm thinking of upgrading as it's a little low on power.
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SpyderTracks said:
Yeah, basically if you're outputting post processed sound to your car stereo, your stereo is doubling processing on top, so any bass or treble will be amped through the roof and so distort and hiss. Take as clean a sound into the car amp and then the amp can manage the levels properly within tolerance. Car amps are very difficult to replicate pure sound, they usually have some bias built in to make the most out of the environment and surrounding noise levels, plus they're a lot more powerful than any phone, so that's why you should rely on the stereo processing rather than amping the phone and running the stereo clean, just wouldn't have the same quality.
Also disable any Sony effects, they'll screw the output out also. Turn everything off.
Apt-x makes a big difference, so if you can, definitely look at a newer model, maybe pioneer or alpine or a high end parrot for great quality. With bluetooth, you definitely get what you pay for, so it's worth looking at the high end systems, and if possible test them out somewhere to find the one that's right for you. We've got Halfords in the UK where you can demo the systems in the shop, I'm sure there'll be something around wherever you are.
Personally I've always used PowerAmp, I love the sound it produces through headphones with processing, as well as clean when I disable all the tweaks, haven't found any other player that matches it so can't really comment on alternatives.
Probably not worth saying but make sure the format is good quality, 320 bit mp3, aac, etc. Anything less and you'll lose the bass and treble.
Really grateful for this topic as I'd love to know other people's views on this too... I have a mid level parrot system which I'm thinking of upgrading as it's a little low on power.
Sent from my C6833 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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i checked the net and i could not find any car stereo that has bluetooth with aptx, so which aptx receiver shall i buy, I found so far kinivo or play puck is there something better than those, by the way i bought the sony sbh2 bluetooth headset do u think i can use it as a good receiver but it does not support aptx
today i received my sony sbh2 headset, i tried streaming music using its bleu tooth capability on my sony stereo bt mex 5100 which has bluetooth in itself. so when i compared streaming music using the bluetooth of sbh2 to my sony stereo the sound was worse than when i used the built in bluetooth of my sony stereo. I know that my shb2 does not support aptx, so I was wondering if I buy a dongle that supports aptx will it give me better sound on my sony stereo than the built in bluetooth of my sony car stereo which does not support aptx.
I don't want to waste money if it won't improve the sound quality

Bluetooth DAC?

Is it possible to get the Hi-Fi DAC working with a Bluetooth headset?
I think this would do the trick for you http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v10/themes-apps/dac-fix-hi-fi-dac-everywhere-t3274457
But really ??? on Bluetooth??? I think you would just be using up more batter for no better sound due to what Bluetooth does.
It's impossible to have the DAC affect bluetooth sound. The data is sent to the bluetooth device.... You would need to plug in a aux cable and plug it in to a bluetooth adapter and well just don't do because you'll need to carry a powersource for that and the adapter and just no lol. DAC - digital to analog converter, so yeah it's still digital when sent through the phones bluetooth.
For the best bluetooth audio get devices that support aptx and if you can find devices that are either bluetooth 4.1 or 4.0.
TotallyAnxious said:
It's impossible to have the DAC affect bluetooth sound. The data is sent to the bluetooth device.... You would need to plug in a aux cable and plug it in to a bluetooth adapter and well just don't do because you'll need to carry a powersource for that and the adapter and just no lol. DAC - digital to analog converter, so yeah it's still digital when sent through the phones bluetooth.
For the best bluetooth audio get devices that support aptx and if you can find devices that are either bluetooth 4.1 or 4.0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if you plug an Bluetooth adapter in the aux output you will not use the v10 dac for your headphones. It would be: phone DAC - Bluetooth ADC - Headphone DAC.
So probably it sound worse after the extra converting and it defenetly different as if you plug it directly in the phone (dac color the sound)
[email protected] said:
Even if you plug an Bluetooth adapter in the aux output you will not use the v10 dac for your headphones. It would be: phone DAC - Bluetooth ADC - Headphone DAC.
So probably it sound worse after the extra converting and it defenetly different as if you plug it directly in the phone (dac color the sound)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, your definitely right. Converting to digital and analog back and forth 3 times is like taking a photo and putting it on a copy machine and then making a copy of the copy and another copy of the copy. It's not going to look good at all.
Yes the sound would get worse. I wasn't thinking when I posted this I am a audio engineer so I know a little something about audio lol! Having a long week and I wasn't thinking when I posted this just moved into a new house. I'm used to using viper4android on my Nexus 6 so when I couldn't do that on this phone I got frustrated. But anyhow I'll have to wait for root thanks anyways members of xda! Appreciate the responses!

Is there an APTX/APTX-HD indication on the V30?

On the V30, how can I verify that APTX (or APTX-HD) is active, rather than SBC?
Currently I'm using the APTX Westone BT cable, plan to purchase the Radsone Earstudio (APTX-HD) BT receiver..
Thanks
This is what it looks like but don't blink or you'll miss it. Connected to Sony WH-1000XM2 with connection type set to "Best sound quality" in the V30 bluetooth settings.
zolom said:
On the V30, how can I verify that APTX (or APTX-HD) is active, rather than SBC?
Currently I'm using the APTX Westone BT cable, plan to purchase the Radsone Earstudio (APTX-HD) BT receiver..
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check whether there is a certain colour blink pattern on the receiver . Whether it offers such a feature
There might even be custom software for the receiver that shows it
qualitymove13 said:
This is what it looks like but don't blink or you'll miss it. Connected to Sony WH-1000XM2 with connection type set to "Best sound quality" in the V30 bluetooth settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Currently using the Westone BT cable (aptx). I can see a short message stating that a Westone BT is connected, but it does not indicate which codec (aptx) nor mention Quallcomm.
qualitymove13 said:
This is what it looks like but don't blink or you'll miss it. Connected to Sony WH-1000XM2 with connection type set to "Best sound quality" in the V30 bluetooth settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know there was a Bluetooth sound quality setting on the V30. Is it only available when you're connected to a device that supports APTX/HD?
cazcryy said:
I didn't know there was a Bluetooth sound quality setting on the V30. Is it only available when you're connected to a device that supports APTX/HD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Any other type of connection and the option is not available.
The Bluetooth connection for aptx for the Sony headphones mentioned is in the “Sony headphones connect” app, there is no setting on the smartphone. One must choose “best sound quality” option in the app to get it.
As far as I know, one cannot get aptx hd until lg smartphones get Oreo. I think the Oneplus 5 has that already so if one uses the appropriate headphones like the Sony then they will have that audio codec. Guess I will find out in the future what difference there is between aptx and aptx hd. Here is hoping at least it is a bit better. The music sound quality is pretty darn impressive with the Sony headphones now so ....
Read below apt x hd
the sony connect app put best sound quality and on the lgv30 bluetooth settings. When you are paired theres a settings button on the right . select best sound quality. Go back to sony connect and apt x will now be apt x hd showing. 48khz 24 bit is the limit of apt x hd at 576kbps. When lgv30 gets oreo . ldac will be available at 990kbps24bit 96khz. The lgv30 3.5mm wired quad dac does it all 32bit 384khz.

Quad DAC and car audio

I don't have a V30 yet. Saving up for it right now. I do have an audio question though....
For a typical, non-Quad-DAC phone, I realize that an aux cable between the car's head unit and the phone's headphone jack should sound better than playing music via Bluetooth due to losses from Bluetooth.
With that said, with the V30, and using an aux cable to the radio's input jack...would enabling the Quad-DAC make any difference to the sound quality? I assume that the DAC and amplifier are designed for headphone use where headphones typically have no external power other than that provided by the signal. But, while using the aux cable and going through a car's amplified radio head unit, would the DAC give you anything above what the radio itself provides? Does the fact that the radio has a powered amp negate what the V30's DAC provides?
On a similar note...my old LG Optimus G Pro (currently my EDC phone) when connected to my car via Bluetooth...when I play a song on my phone, and then play the exact same MP3 file on an iPhone, the iPhone sounds better. Cleaner, clearer, better dynamic range and stereo separation, yet it's the identical MP3 source file. Is that a hardware issue between the 2 phones, or is it a software/firmware issue?
Good question. I haven't tried it in my vehicle yet. (I use thumb drives to listen to music in my truck.) I will try and report back. You can toggle the DAC on and off.
I'm interested in me too. I listen to music in the car via bluetooth. that is, V30 connected to the car stereo.
andygold said:
I don't have a V30 yet. Saving up for it right now. I do have an audio question though....
For a typical, non-Quad-DAC phone, I realize that an aux cable between the car's head unit and the phone's headphone jack should sound better than playing music via Bluetooth due to losses from Bluetooth.
With that said, with the V30, and using an aux cable to the radio's input jack...would enabling the Quad-DAC make any difference to the sound quality? I assume that the DAC and amplifier are designed for headphone use where headphones typically have no external power other than that provided by the signal. But, while using the aux cable and going through a car's amplified radio head unit, would the DAC give you anything above what the radio itself provides? Does the fact that the radio has a powered amp negate what the V30's DAC provides?
On a similar note...my old LG Optimus G Pro (currently my EDC phone) when connected to my car via Bluetooth...when I play a song on my phone, and then play the exact same MP3 file on an iPhone, the iPhone sounds better. Cleaner, clearer, better dynamic range and stereo separation, yet it's the identical MP3 source file. Is that a hardware issue between the 2 phones, or is it a software/firmware issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tl;DR - aux will usually be better than BT. Make sure your source files are high quality. And lastly, USB transfer or stream will be the best quality in almost all scenerios.
Okay, a couple basics. DAC stands for Digital to Analog Converter. Your car system has a DAC for playing digital audio files. I suspect most decent car audio systems perform better DAC than most cell phones. While it may be better than most cell phones, I doubt our V30's would be better than most new car systems.
With Aux, your phone is doing the DAC and sending an analog signal to the car. Then you car is just amplifying (as per you eq sertings). With BT, your phone sends a digital signal, which is then run through the car DAC system.
Here's where it gets complicated. There are a few different codecs that can be used to compress the transfer, and then quality settings within them. In theory, BT can be a very high quality transfer with near 320kbps sound... BUT ... You get into compatibility issues. This would very likely be why the sound from the iPhone generated playback sounded better than the other phone; it is using a different codec or higher bitrate on compression. My post is already too long but search for BT codecs if you want more detail.
A few tips. Make sure your source file is good!
General convention is that a 128 is comparable to FM radio. 160 or 192 is generally felt to be similar to CD quality.
Check the setting on your music app. In spotify, both streaming and download bitrate settings can be bumped up. Jist be aware of your potential data and storage issues.
Conclusions:
Phone DAC won't come into play for BT transfer. Hopefully your car system has the codec compatibility for high quality transfer. If so, go with that. If not, then AUX will be better.
V30 DAC seems to be high quality, and will function for aux transfers. The car system will then apply analog effects (bass/treble or EQ boosts) during amplification. You will have to play with the settings to see what sounds best to your ears.
A final consideration: Take a look at USB cable connection. A modern car audio system will likely be able to take advantage of digital transfer via USB. This may take the form of seeing your phone as file storage or may allow for your phone to stream music. Either way, assuming a good quality car system, your car can playback your high quality files without any losses that come with BT. If the DAC in your car is better than the V30, then this will be best.
Sent from my LG-H933 using Tapatalk
Audio DAC on the V30 is mostly better than most car stereo converter. Heck, most laptop / desktop PC have lesser DAC than the V30.
BUT, in order to use it rightfully, you need high quality audio files. No matter how good is the DAC, playing 160kbps mp3 won't make a difference... Playing 24bits flac, on the other hand, will show you the difference between them all.
If you want, you can downlaod the sample on this site to test out the result:
http://www.eclassical.com/pages/24-bit-faq.html
That being said, the V30 pluged in the AUX will most likely sound better than mp3, as long as the sourde file are higher in quality.
Some of this stuff has already been mentioned, but here's my experience. I have a rooted V20 (waiting for bootloader unlock for US998 V30 before I buy it) with V4A. I also have a $4k custom audio system in my car with an amp, subwoofer, and aftermarket speakers. I love music and it's the only reason I've bought V20.
If you use BT, V30's DAC won't be used (as has been previously mentioned in this thread). If you use AUX, it will be. In my experience, AUX provides *far* better sound quality than BT. As far as Hi-Fi DAC, I discernibly notice a difference only with lossless audio; not so much with MP3. That difference, however, is enough for me to stick to the LG V* line and not switch to google pixel, which I would have done otherwise.
You should also keep in mind that not all cars will allow you to play audio through USB-C. Digital audio through Android is not nearly as widespread supported with car manufacturers as with iPhones.
If you have a good audio system in your car, you will be happy with the sound quality of your V30 through AUX, much more so than through BT.
Just for comparaison;
AptX as a bitrate of 352kbps
AptX HD as a bitrate of 576kbps
Mp3 @ 320kbps will stream with AptX with no lost,
Flac @ 16 bits have a bitrate around 900kbps (more or less, depending on many factors, but you can average on this)
Uncompress 16bits @ 44hz stereo is ~1400kbps
The Audio Dac of the V30 can run above this.
deroth said:
Some of this stuff has already been mentioned, but here's my experience. I have a rooted V20 (waiting for bootloader unlock for US998 V30 before I buy it) with V4A. I also have a $4k custom audio system in my car with an amp, subwoofer, and aftermarket speakers. I love music and it's the only reason I've bought V20.
If you use BT, V30's DAC won't be used (as has been previously mentioned in this thread). If you use AUX, it will be. In my experience, AUX provides *far* better sound quality than BT. As far as Hi-Fi DAC, I discernibly notice a difference only with lossless audio; not so much with MP3. That difference, however, is enough for me to stick to the LG V* line and not switch to google pixel, which I would have done otherwise.
You should also keep in mind that not all cars will allow you to play audio through USB-C. Digital audio through Android is not nearly as widespread supported with car manufacturers as with iPhones.
If you have a good audio system in your car, you will be happy with the sound quality of your V30 through AUX, much more so than through BT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is your opinion/experience with streaming?
nitramus said:
What is your opinion/experience with streaming?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most online streaming sources utilize same compression as MP3, so I personally don't notice much difference whether HIFI DAC is on or off. I'm sure if I was using something like Tidal for streaming, which steams lossless audio, the difference would be there.

AKG Headphones on non Samsung phones

I know this isn't likely but is there any chance features of AKG wireless headphones that are locked to Samsung devices will be ported to other devices? I have a Google Pixel 6 and just got a pair of AKG Y600 full size BT headphones. These support Bixby (Anyone really use Bixby?) and Siri but not Google Assistant. I'm not aheavy GA user but it's handy sometimes. My biggest issue is the UHQ BT codec is locked to Samsung devices.
Overall, I'm happy with these headphones at the current $60 closeout price but I'm pissed at Samsung for these deliberate "lock in" tactics.
You talking about the proprietary Samsung SSC bluetooth codec? It's proprietary to Samsung.
LDAC is the equivalent or better more than likely.
Both are not close to wired headphone audio quality. SSC and LDAC sound pretty good on buds and headphones but they would fall apart in open air listening through stereo drivers. Not enough sound stage.
Yes, it must be SSC. I guess I'm SOL. Sony shares their LDAC codec, why can't Samsung share SSC?
Tim Elliott said:
Yes, it must be SSC. I guess I'm SOL. Sony shares their LDAC codec, why can't Samsung share SSC?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're going to use bluetooth get something that supports LDAC. SBC can sound pretty good if you can use its maximum bandwidth.
If you want SCC get a used N10+ for a good price. You get up to 1tb expandable storage with that. Something both the new Samsung's and Pixel's flagships lack.
The N10+ excels as a portable media server. It's display is still one of the best ever produced. Gets better SOT too. SSC has it's downside too as only Samsung audio devices support it
It's a mess.
My ears aren't really good. I'll probably check these headphones to see how good they can sound by plugging them into the headphone port of my laptop. Of course, if I want to plug them into my Pixel, I will need a USB C to headphone adapter. Thanks for the suggestion of the N10.
Tim Elliott said:
My ears aren't really good. I'll probably check these headphones to see how good they can sound by plugging them into the headphone port of my laptop. Of course, if I want to plug them into my Pixel, I will need a USB C to headphone adapter. Thanks for the suggestion of the N10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. If you have a direct wire connection option use it when convenient. Make sure the source material is .wav or higher resolution and that highest resolution output from the device is enabled. You will hear the difference. Use some harpsichord music if you really want to test it. Mp3's can't reproduce it well at all
For onboard music libraries Poweramp paid version is still the best player. It has an excellent graphic equalizer to dial the sound in.

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