increase LG V20 Hi-FI DAC quality - LG V20 Themes, Apps, and Mods

increase LG V20 Hi-FI DAC quality - LG V20 Themes, Apps, and Mods

I don't take any credit for this I just discovered it here https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lg-v20-sound-quality.816024/page-189 and since I've never seen it mentioned at XDA I figured I would share it.
So I was playing around with my build.prop file (VS995) and I came across this line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=false". After some googling I came across that page at head-fi.org and learned that if you set "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true" it enables the Hi-Fi DAC to handle 16-bit content natively. By default the V20 is set to do this with 24-bit content only.
I can't speak for all formats but with the lossless flac files that I listen to it made an amazing difference in sound quality.
Tested on my VS995 13A stock rooted rom and on WETA 5.0.7 US99610h rom that I have running with dual boot patcher. It worked on both so chances are this works on all variants.
UPDATE:
I started to get curious about this DAC tweak so I decided to play around with my old V10, VS990 rooted stock rom. The build.prop on my V10 does not have the line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable= (true or false)" so I added the line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true", rebooted and viola. My V10 now sounds even better than before.
So this works on the V10 as well as the V20. Probably the V30 too, assuming root has been achieved.

Update: fixed
I did this and now my viper4android is not processing anymore
---------- Post added at 06:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:54 AM ----------
dudeawsome said:
Update: fixed
I did this and now my viper4android is not processing anymore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so it works but keep turning off and on

Using Viper4Android on the LG V20 undoes all the magic the ESS DAC performs.. It downsamples the audio to 16-bit/48kHz after the ESS DAC has upsampled everything to 32-bit/192kHz
Viper4Android increases the audio quality on most phones. However it is going to decrease the quality on any device running a dedicated DAC.

beavis5706 said:
Using Viper4Android on the LG V20 undoes all the magic the ESS DAC performs.. It downsamples the audio to 16-bit/48kHz after the ESS DAC has upsampled everything to 32-bit/192kHz
Viper4Android increases the audio quality on most phones. However it is going to decrease the quality on any device running a dedicated DAC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically yes but viper4android is still a thing you can't miss with this device, no other playerapp can provide this lossless analog timbre equalizer and much other soundimprovements it can provide.
Poweramp and neutron are way behind what viper4android can do or reach in soundquality terms
I compared the tweak with the default settings its a improvement by a small margin yes (not really magic). but as its not compatible with viper4android this is a no go for me personally and for many other people too i guess
I disagree with your statement that viper4android is decreasing soundquality with this DAC, its a huge improvement in contrary you should try it out yourself dac by default sounds dull and unoptimized
Small tip: use viper4android in combination with neutron player this is where the real magic is.

beavis5706 said:
Very interesting I'm thinking about what your saying how Viper4Android doesn't work with this mod and I think I know why.
When audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=false the audio stream is being handled by Android, using Android's src converter and digital volume control. This also allows for Viper4Android functionality. When audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true the audio stream is passed on to the ESS DAC directly, completely bypassing Android's audio processing. This is what I think is causing Viper4Android to lose functionality. Perhaps this is why LG chose to set audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=false in their rom. To increase functionality with other apps, albeit at the expense of audio quality.
Personally I like the way it sounds with audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true and I'm gonna keep it that way. I have tried Viper4Android before and I know by my own ears that it did sound as good. At least not as pure which is what I prefer. So to each his own I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay it does work with the mod but it cuts in and out

jody2k said:
Technically yes but viper4android is still a thing you can't miss with this device, no other playerapp can provide this lossless analog timbre equalizer and much other soundimprovements it can provide.
Poweramp and neutron are way behind what viper4android can do or reach in soundquality terms
I compared the tweak with the default settings its a improvement by a small margin yes (not really magic). but as its not compatible with viper4android this is a no go for me personally and for many other people too i guess
I disagree with your statement that viper4android is decreasing soundquality with this DAC, its a huge improvement in contrary you should try it out yourself dac by default sounds dull and unoptimized
Small tip: use viper4android in combination with neutron player this is where the real magic is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While you might disagree based on your opinion, the fact is Viper4Android does indeed downsample audio. Go back into that same headfi.org thread he mentions and there will be people who conducted tests that show that. You cannot get bit perfect audio quality out of V4A because the V4A driver downsamples (V4A doesn't support HiFi audio), the audio.
This is why I tend to stay away from V4A. Sure, it makes the audio "sound" better but you're running the audio through so much processing things will get lost. V4A is great for when you have devices without a dedicated DAC. But, if your phone has a dedicated DAC or you have a DAC connected via OTG, it's best to go without V4A
---------- Post added at 01:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:32 PM ----------
beavis5706 said:
I don't take any credit for this I just discovered it here https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lg-v20-sound-quality.816024/page-189 and since I've never seen it mentioned at XDA I figured I would share it.
So I was playing around with my build.prop file (VS995) and I came across this line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=false". After some googling I came across that page at head-fi.org and learned that if you set "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true" it enables the Hi-Fi DAC to handle 16-bit content natively. By default the V20 is set to do this with 24-bit content only.
I can't speak for all formats but with the lossless flac files that I listen to it made an amazing difference in sound quality.
Tested on my VS995 13A stock rooted rom and on WETA 5.0.7 US99610h rom that I have running with dual boot patcher. It worked on both so chances are this works on all variants.
UPDATE:
I started to get curious about this DAC tweak so I decided to play around with my old V10, VS990 rooted stock rom. The build.prop on my V10 does not have the line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable= (true or false)" so I added the line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true", rebooted and viola. My V10 now sounds even better than before.
So this works on the V10 as well as the V20. Probably the V30 too, assuming root has been achieved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have been using this tweak since the 990 got rooted. Works WONDERFULLY. Anything that can be done to et around the Android mixer is worth it to me. Bit perfect audio all the way around with this tweak.
---------- Post added at 01:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------
beavis5706 said:
I don't take any credit for this I just discovered it here https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lg-v20-sound-quality.816024/page-189 and since I've never seen it mentioned at XDA I figured I would share it.
So I was playing around with my build.prop file (VS995) and I came across this line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=false". After some googling I came across that page at head-fi.org and learned that if you set "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true" it enables the Hi-Fi DAC to handle 16-bit content natively. By default the V20 is set to do this with 24-bit content only.
I can't speak for all formats but with the lossless flac files that I listen to it made an amazing difference in sound quality.
Tested on my VS995 13A stock rooted rom and on WETA 5.0.7 US99610h rom that I have running with dual boot patcher. It worked on both so chances are this works on all variants.
UPDATE:
I started to get curious about this DAC tweak so I decided to play around with my old V10, VS990 rooted stock rom. The build.prop on my V10 does not have the line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable= (true or false)" so I added the line "audio.offload.pcm.16bit.enable=true", rebooted and viola. My V10 now sounds even better than before.
So this works on the V10 as well as the V20. Probably the V30 too, assuming root has been achieved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have been using this tweak since the 990 got rooted. Works WONDERFULLY. Anything that can be done to et around the Android mixer is worth it to me. Bit perfect audio all the way around with this tweak.

lyrical1278 said:
While you might disagree based on your opinion, the fact is Viper4Android does indeed downsample audio. Go back into that same headfi.org thread he mentions and there will be people who conducted tests that show that. You cannot get bit perfect audio quality out of V4A because the V4A driver will ALWAYS use the Android mixer which downsamples, or upsamples depending on the file's quality, the audio.
This is why I tend to stay away from V4A. Sure, it makes the audio "sound" better but you're running the audio through so much processing things will get lost. V4A is great for when you have devices without a dedicated DAC. But, if your phone has a dedicated DAC or you have a DAC connected via OTG, it's best to go without V4A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well we can have a eternal discussion about this,"adiophiles" vs audio equalizer enthosiastics" viper4android is the best thing we have if you're a heavy equalizer user
It doesn't get better than that for android devices atm => Well... maybe with a hardware equalizer directly controlled from the kernel and DAC chip, there were some mods of that in the past with the wolfson dac chip from old android devices
For my personal use I cannot miss viper4android, clean default DAC sound is sounding dull for my "audeze insine 20 inears" for example
Poweramp and neutron does not the job well enough, not by far compared to viper4android
Technical speaking 16bit vs 32 bit rate is an improvement, but only by a small margin for my ears it's not worth letting go V4A
What DID improve the DAC was forcing the dac in high gain mode (other mod on this forum), this was a significant improvement imo, also audible in MP3's not only flac

jody2k said:
Well we can have a eternal discussion about this,"adiophiles" vs audio equalizer enthosiastics" viper4android is the best thing we have if you're a heavy equalizer user
It doesn't get better than that for android devices atm => Well... maybe with a hardware equalizer directly controlled from the kernel and DAC chip, there were some mods of that in the past with the wolfson dac chip from old android devices
For my personal use I cannot miss viper4android, clean default DAC sound is sounding dull for my audeze insine 20 inears for example
Poweramp and neutron does not the job well enough
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the thing, you're speaking to opinion. I'm speaking to technical fact. When you use V4A, any audio you use is merely being amplified by the DAC and not being processed by it. Why do you think V4A doesn't work with the mod enabled? It's because Android is being set to run 16 bit audio through the DAC for processing and amplification. Thus, V4A isn't even touching the audio with this mod.
So, if V4A isn't touching 16-bit audio with this mod, then it's not even touching 24-bit audio by default. So it does the only thing it can do, it downsamples (since it downsamples any audio above 16/44 by default anyway, whereas Android's mixer upsamples to the max capability of the DAC). I cannot speak to what you feel is dull and such. That's your truth based on your musical ears.
All I am saying is this, V4A is nothing more but an EQ. A VERY GOOD one at that. If I didn't have the V20 or the Dragonfly Black, I would still be using V4A. But I don't because I have those tools at my disposal. Grab poweramp Alpha or Ainur and you will see the DAC come to life. V4A, and anything after this is my opinion, doesn't do anything close to what an app that lets the DAC do its job can do.
Installing V4A on this phone, again, my opinion is a waste of the full abilities of the DAC.. Using it just turns the DAC into an amplifier instead of allowing it to be the thing that processes audio IN ADDITION TO amplification.

Didn't know I could enjoy music on my phone without viper. All my mp3s/flac sound more lively. To my knowledge Power amp 3 still downsamples. Is the availability of the built-in equalizer a good trade off for the lost sample size?
Edit: Both viper and Dolby are broken with this mod

mookiexl said:
Didn't know I could enjoy music on my phone without viper. All my mp3s/flac sound more lively. To my knowledge Power amp 3 still downsamples. Is the availability of the built-in equalizer a good trade off for the lost sample size?
Edit: Both viper and Dolby are broken with this mod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try blackplayer... It doesn't downsample. I use that because it also has an EQ and when I use my VE Monks, I need to tune the bass down

lyrical1278 said:
You could try blackplayer... It doesn't downsample. I use that because it also has an EQ and when I use my VE Monks, I need to tune the bass down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently the equalizer attempts to downsample once activated and you get no sound with this tweak. Oh well I'm good knowing I'm actually getting the most out the DAC at all times.

mookiexl said:
Didn't know I could enjoy music on my phone without viper. All my mp3s/flac sound more lively. To my knowledge Power amp 3 still downsamples. Is the availability of the built-in equalizer a good trade off for the lost sample size?
Edit: Both viper and Dolby are broken with this mod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While this phone without viper sounds night and day better than any phone I've heard so far, viper still sounds the best with Poweramp imo

jody2k said:
What DID improve the DAC was forcing the dac in high gain mode (other mod on this forum), this was a significant improvement imo, also audible in MP3's not only flac
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forcing it into High impedance does nothing for music quality.
Sent from my LG V20 using XDA Labs

BROKEN1981 said:
Forcing it into High impedance does nothing for music quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really depends
Some headphones do like the extra power, headphones with low impedance who are still powerhungry for example. For my audeze isine 20 it made a difference
Some audiophile headphones like the extra voltage, fact they are low impedance doesn't always mean they are easy to drive

mookiexl said:
Apparently the equalizer attempts to downsample once activated and you get no sound with this tweak. Oh well I'm good knowing I'm actually getting the most out the DAC at all times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean V4A becomes broken? Because I am using BlackPlayer right now with the EQ activated (Blackplayer's built in EQ, not V4A) and I am having no issues plus there is no downsampling.
But yes, as I said in an earlier post, V4A will become broken (as will most audio mods) if you use this build.prop mod because the DAC will be handling 16-bit audio processing directly instead of it being bypassed and handled by the audio mods.
---------- Post added at 03:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 AM ----------
jody2k said:
It really depends
Some headphones do like the extra power, headphones with low impedance who are still powerhungry for example. For my audeze isine 20 it made a difference
Some audiophile headphones like the extra voltage, fact they are low impedance doesn't always mean they are easy to drive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
High Impedance doesn't affect quality, it affects loudness. Since the amp in the V20 is actually pushing the headphones, the headphones are able to play louder. The quality is affected by the DAC whether h.i. is on or not. The quality doesn't change (unless you're into letting your audio clip), its just able to be louder.

lyrical1278 said:
Do you mean V4A becomes broken? Because I am using BlackPlayer right now with the EQ activated (Blackplayer's built in EQ, not V4A) and I am having no issues plus there is no downsampling.
But yes, as I said in an earlier post, V4A will become broken (as will most audio mods) if you use this build.prop mod because the DAC will be handling 16-bit audio processing directly instead of it being bypassed and handled by the audio mods.
---------- Post added at 03:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:41 AM ----------
High Impedance doesn't affect quality, it affects loudness. Since the amp in the V20 is actually pushing the headphones, the headphones are able to play louder. The quality is affected by the DAC whether h.i. is on or not. The quality doesn't change (unless you're into letting your audio clip), its just able to be louder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not gona try to learn a donkey maths, i'm not talking about more volume it does more than just that. you clearly don't know what you're talking about and as in contrary you read on hi fi forums you don't know anything about soundquality or how it affects ears/headphones
You're an idiot yes that right I'm gona ignore you from now

jody2k said:
I'm not gona try to learn a donkey maths, i'm not talking about more volume it does more than just that. you clearly don't know what you're talking about and as in contrary you read on hi fi forums you don't know anything about soundquality or how it affects ears/headphones
You're an idiot yes that right I'm gona ignore you from now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It only makes it louder. Just people say it does more then that on HiFi fourms does not make it true.
Just Google ohms law. It has no effect on audio quality. If you think High impedance makes better audio quality, then you have no clue as to what you are talking about.
Sent from my LG V20 using XDA Labs

jody2k said:
Well we can have a eternal discussion about this,"adiophiles" vs audio equalizer enthosiastics" viper4android is the best thing we have if you're a heavy equalizer user
It doesn't get better than that for android devices atm => Well... maybe with a hardware equalizer directly controlled from the kernel and DAC chip, there were some mods of that in the past with the wolfson dac chip from old android devices
For my personal use I cannot miss viper4android, clean default DAC sound is sounding dull for my "audeze insine 20 inears" for example
Poweramp and neutron does not the job well enough, not by far compared to viper4android
Technical speaking 16bit vs 32 bit rate is an improvement, but only by a small margin for my ears it's not worth letting go V4A
What DID improve the DAC was forcing the dac in high gain mode (other mod on this forum), this was a significant improvement imo, also audible in MP3's not only flac
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dunno why you praise v4A that much, but here is what i tried. i used v4A on my v20 with Razer adaro DJ, KZ Z26, and puresound 260ohm earbuds. it sounds great until my brother in law bring his cord mojo and Fiio Q1 Mark II dac/amp. no matter setting that i use in V4A i always got "buzzing" on my headphone/iem/earbuds. the bass were enough but i lost the vocal and instrument quality. it get worse when i use fiio as a dac. restore my backup and testing without V4A. and guess what? every noise and buzz gone. fiio as amp really blowing every sound aspect from my v20. more soundstage, neutral sound, etc. so yeah, if you only use v20 and iem v4a might be best for you but once you use external amp or dac it became useless even downgrading sound performance.

alldine345 said:
i dunno why you praise v4A that much, but here is what i tried. i used v4A on my v20 with Razer adaro DJ, KZ Z26, and puresound 260ohm earbuds. it sounds great until my brother in law bring his cord mojo and Fiio Q1 Mark II dac/amp. no matter setting that i use in V4A i always got "buzzing" on my headphone/iem/earbuds. the bass were enough but i lost the vocal and instrument quality. it get worse when i use fiio as a dac. restore my backup and testing without V4A. and guess what? every noise and buzz gone. fiio as amp really blowing every sound aspect from my v20. more soundstage, neutral sound, etc. so yeah, if you only use v20 and iem v4a might be best for you but once you use external amp or dac it became useless even downgrading sound performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buzzing from your ear buds?? Maybe you did something wrong badly
And you lost vocal and instrument quality yes let me guess what you did: you boosted the bass options without boosting the low mids, mids and high's because you don't know how equalizing works because your that kind of audiophile who strives after pure neutral sound.
Ofcourse the chord mojo is on a other league here it's alot better yes I tried it too but no equalization options soo i was bit dissapointed afterwards, i loved the pure sound it was giving tho and maybe the only dac i could use without EQ but then again there is so much potential lost ... So sad
If the mojo could be paired with a decent EQ then this would be majestic sound i agree
Tried several DAP's from sony the nwzx2 was the one who came closest maybe even better yes but damn the price of that thing
I don't know why you guys try to dishonor v4a it's really good and all about the settings you use

Related

LG G2 Sound Quality Thread

Hi there,
I'm about (prolly) to buy a LG G2 in the next incomming days.
I was wondering what you guys were thinking about the Sound Quality of the G2, whichever variant you got, and how loud/quiet you think it is, from headphones, earpiece, or external speaker.
Lets hear your thoughts !

Paradoxxx said:
Hi there,
I'm about (prolly) to buy a LG G2 in the next incomming days.
I was wondering what you guys were thinking about the Sound Quality of the G2, whichever variant you got, and how loud/quiet you think it is, from headphones, earpiece, or external speaker.
Lets hear your thoughts !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'l say this, the G2 uses aptX, so I went to go find an aptX compatible headset. I purchased the LG HBS730 bt stereo headset... It'll be hard to top that in my mind.
The audio quality is really good. But then I rooted and installed viper4android and now, my audio is easily much better than on my s4

Stock, untweaked, the loudspeakers are adequate for only typical indoor (office/home) use, IMO. I was on a speakerphone call outside and found the speaker had too little volume to compete against the urban background noise (trucks and such passing by at idle speeds). I opted to put in my headphones instead.
Ringers and notifications seemed to be adequate, again, for typical office and domestic settings. No way could I hear them driving down the highway with the windows down.
After installing Malladus, which includes volume tweaks, the notifications are significantly louder such that I've been able to set those sliders at mid position for my daily needs. The alarm has no problem waking me in the morning.
As far as line out and BT A2DP quality, I'd say it's very good but not quite up to the hype. Caveat, I have not yet tried any 24/192 source material. I mostly listen to 320k or better MP3 and FLAC music thru Neutron. For BT, it streams thru a Clarion FZ501 head unit. The headphone out drives a pair of Shure SE535s with Head-Fi-derived EQ tweaks. No outboard DAC or amp. I hate carrying more than absolutely necessary.
My research has concluded that Viper and Neutron are mutually exclusive and most head-fi'ers seem to prefer Neutron. I haven't tried Viper. I may one day, but haven't yet heard heard an informed, compelling argument to switch.
Line-out audio performance was in my Top-3 for priorities. I'm not disappointed or blown away. It's more than adequate for a quality mobile audio source, IMO.

cggorman said:
Stock, untweaked, the loudspeakers are adequate for only typical indoor (office/home) use, IMO. I was on a speakerphone call outside and found the speaker had too little volume to compete against the urban background noise (trucks and such passing by at idle speeds). I opted to put in my headphones instead.
Ringers and notifications seemed to be adequate, again, for typical office and domestic settings. No way could I hear them driving down the highway with the windows down.
After installing Malladus, which includes volume tweaks, the notifications are significantly louder such that I've been able to set those sliders at mid position for my daily needs. The alarm has no problem waking me in the morning.
As far as line out and BT A2DP quality, I'd say it's very good but not quite up to the hype. Caveat, I have not yet tried any 24/192 source material. I mostly listen to 320k or better MP3 and FLAC music thru Neutron. For BT, it streams thru a Clarion FZ501 head unit. The headphone out drives a pair of Shure SE535s with Head-Fi-derived EQ tweaks. No outboard DAC or amp. I hate carrying more than absolutely necessary.
My research has concluded that Viper and Neutron are mutually exclusive and most head-fi'ers seem to prefer Neutron. I haven't tried Viper. I may one day, but haven't yet heard heard an informed, compelling argument to switch.
Line-out audio performance was in my Top-3 for priorities. I'm not disappointed or blown away. It's more than adequate for a quality mobile audio source, IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good.
I've been using viper since ages now, and it got really the thing that other eq/audio mods don't have, but I couldn't tell you what it is.
You should give it a go sometimes.
Do you find the headphones loud enough?

Sounds really good also went ahead and installed Viper4Android to tweak up the sound my favorite EQ/Sound mod of them all.
On my Jaybirds BlueBuds X (bluetooth) they sound great!

With malladus ROM now my headphones are almost uncomfortable at max vol. I use vmoda crossfades can't beat cans ?
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

jrgilbert79 said:
With malladus ROM now my headphones are almost uncomfortable at max vol. I use vmoda crossfades can't beat cans ?
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, sounds good if it comes too loud. Since I just use in ear headphones, it might be loud enough at the end !

I have used this volume boost mod to improve the audio output levels on the g2:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2482750
I prefer to keep things stock as possible (neutral sounding) as far as audio signal processing is concerned when listening to my audio.
I run sennheiser ie-80 in-ears currently (16 ohms) and they pair really well with the dac in this phone.
The stock music player is quite capable on this phone, and Neutron has seen minimal use in the time I've had it, although it is installed.
I owned the note 3 for a week before returning it for the lg g2.
I came from the Samsung note 2 before that which I also initially bought for the audio capabilities and ended up using the same volume boosting technique for the same reasons, the g2 audio does surpass the note 2 audio quality with the stock lg audio player, voume boost mod, and proper audio source files.

Paradoxxx said:
Sounds good.
I've been using viper since ages now, and it got really the thing that other eq/audio mods don't have, but I couldn't tell you what it is.
You should give it a go sometimes.
Do you find the headphones loud enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I seldom run more than about 70%, but most IEMs aren't hard to drive.
---------- Post added 25th October 2013 at 12:03 AM ---------- Previous post was 24th October 2013 at 11:59 PM ----------
sil0 said:
I have used the volume boost mod here to improve the audio output levels on the g2: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2482750
I prefer to keep things as stock as possible as far as audio signal processing is concerned in terms of this party applications.
The stock music player is quite capable on this phone, and Neutron has seen minimal use in the time I've had it, although it is installed.
I owned the note 3 for a week before returning it for the lg g2.
I came from the Samsung note 2 before that which I also initially bought for the audio capabilities and ended up using the same volume boosting technique for the same reasons, the g2 audio does surpass the note 2 audio quality with the stock lg audio player, voume boost mod, and proper audio source files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree the stock sounds good. It just doesn't offer the EQ quality I want.

Can u guys confirm which DAC carries?
Read it´s the latest Wolfson WM5110 while also read it carries the Qualcomm WCD9320.
Also would like to know your impressions on sound quality when listening music with earphones.

DAC vs. Dolby Atmos

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone in this V30 forum could help me out. I am looking to get a new device and my main interest is audio. I use my phone as my daily mp3 player in my car via Bluetooth. I cannot find any real answers anywhere I look. I am stuck between the new S9 and the V30. My main question is, does the DAC work via Bluetooth? I know the Dolby Atmos will but its not that customizable (only a few pre-set options). Can someone explain the V30's capabilities (tuning, adjusting, customizing via Bluetooth) and if you feel the S9 would be a better option for my situation? All the vids and write-ups I could find don't help at all. Thanks for any feed back, much appreciated.

The Bluetooth is digital; the DAC won't benefit you when using Bluetooth.

when playing music through the bluetooth Galaxy s9 will be a much better choice. Even on the headphones with the dolby atmos activated is really very good.

I have used both the devices and unless you are going to root LG v30 to get viper4android or Dolby Atmos s9 is the one to go
If you already have some high quality head phones then may be you can give v30 a try

skit777 said:
when playing music through the bluetooth Galaxy s9 will be a much better choice. Even on the headphones with the dolby atmos activated is really very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why will S9 be a MUCH BETTER choice?
what makes S9 so awesome on bluetooth?

Because V30 is not the best for me in this respect and in s9 dolby atmos also works by bluetooth and really gives a great effect.

Beesvee said:
Hey guys I was wondering if anyone in this V30 forum could help me out. I am looking to get a new device and my main interest is audio. I use my phone as my daily mp3 player in my car via Bluetooth. I cannot find any real answers anywhere I look. I am stuck between the new S9 and the V30. My main question is, does the DAC work via Bluetooth? I know the Dolby Atmos will but its not that customizable (only a few pre-set options). Can someone explain the V30's capabilities (tuning, adjusting, customizing via Bluetooth) and if you feel the S9 would be a better option for my situation? All the vids and write-ups I could find don't help at all. Thanks for any feed back, much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Quad DAC is audio processor for wired components via the 3.5mm headset jack -- normally headphones but some have used auxiliary cable to connect to car stereo.
Has nothing to do with Bluetooth.
The quad DAC will give you the BEST audio possible. Period. But your headphones or car stereo must be physically connected to your V30.
Yes the V30 has also Bluetooth, just like every other Android phones for the past several years. But Bluetooth has nothing to do with headset jack.
No Bluetooth headset can match high quality wired headset with a quad DAC.
If you must use Bluetooth, then that's another question.
Sent via open market LG US998 V30/V30+

skit777 said:
Because V30 is not the best for me in this respect and in s9 dolby atmos also works by bluetooth and really gives a great effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dolby atmos is not even hardware... it's software and it has been ported to oreo.
at this moment you cannot match the v30's DAC's quality with any phone.
and music through bluetooth sound like s*** compared to how it sounds through a wire... (asuming you have a good source and, in some cases, you can physically hear the difference (i met people who were slighty deaf and they could not hear the differences))
you could try poweramp with it's effects and DVC.

Do not tell me stupid about some ports because they are hopeless. I had s9 plus and dolby atmos in s9 is not the same as in the ports for other devices. There is not the smallest comparison. Even on wired headphones with s9 sounds great, there is nothing missing from it. And do not say that the V30 is such a miracle in terms of music because it is not like that at all. It plays very well when the amplifier that fills up the sound is played, without it the s9 with the dolby listens more pleasantly.

skit777 said:
Do not tell me stupid about some ports because they are hopeless. I had s9 plus and dolby atmos in s9 is not the same as in the ports for other devices. There is not the smallest comparison. Even on wired headphones with s9 sounds great, there is nothing missing from it. And do not say that the V30 is such a miracle in terms of music because it is not like that at all. It plays very well when the amplifier that fills up the sound is played, without it the s9 with the dolby listens more pleasantly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skit, please don't drink-and-post. Put the keyboard down. Back away from the keyboard.
You're confusing two topics.
The LG V30 has far superior wired audio over any other mainstream cellphone. That's one of the calling cards. Nothing else is close. It's okay if you can't hear the difference; the S9 is better than anything you could buy a decade ago, and without really good cans (headphones), hardly anybody would notice. You won't notice with hyper-compressed 120Kbps mp3s, just as that "enhance photo" scene from the original Blade Runner was crap. But the V30 Quad-DAC really is the best... if your music was compressed with enough quality, your earphones are good enough and you're wired.
Not that kind of "wired" you are while writing your semi-coherent rants. The other kind.
Now to Bluetooth...
The LG V30 supports aptX bluetooth. So does the Samsung Galaxy S9. This is the top-end Bluetooth "codec", often coined "CD quality." Which really means, "better than FM radio, better than low-bitrate MP3, but not so great." Remember, CDs came out in 1982. Which was probably before you were born.
So what happens with the music? If you're listening via wired cans (the DAC), the Quad-DAC applies a lot of math (FFTs, smoothing, psycho acoustics) and tries to make the music as great as it can be. Roughly the equivalent of anti-aliasing an image. The S9 doesn't have all of that, so it will sound a smidge harsher, just a shade less accurate... but still better than anything a decade ago. And Bluetooth... on either one - the LG V30 and Samsung S9 have precisely exactly the same best-case aptX sound, because it's from your headphones, not the phone... will sound like something from three-and-a-half decades ago. Which was amazing at the time, and is good enough for an airplane, or low-cost earbuds, or if you're listing to hip-hop or rap, etc. But in those cases, why are you pontificating?

Wotta said:
Skit, please don't drink-and-post. Put the keyboard down. Back away from the keyboard.
You're confusing two topics.
The LG V30 has far superior wired audio over any other mainstream cellphone. That's one of the calling cards. Nothing else is close. It's okay if you can't hear the difference; the S9 is better than anything you could buy a decade ago, and without really good cans (headphones), hardly anybody would notice. You won't notice with hyper-compressed 120Kbps mp3s, just as that "enhance photo" scene from the original Blade Runner was crap. But the V30 Quad-DAC really is the best... if your music was compressed with enough quality, your earphones are good enough and you're wired.
Not that kind of "wired" you are while writing your semi-coherent rants. The other kind.
Now to Bluetooth...
The LG V30 supports aptX bluetooth. So does the Samsung Galaxy S9. This is the top-end Bluetooth "codec", often coined "CD quality." Which really means, "better than FM radio, better than low-bitrate MP3, but not so great." Remember, CDs came out in 1982. Which was probably before you were born.
So what happens with the music? If you're listening via wired cans (the DAC), the Quad-DAC applies a lot of math (FFTs, smoothing, psycho acoustics) and tries to make the music as great as it can be. Roughly the equivalent of anti-aliasing an image. The S9 doesn't have all of that, so it will sound a smidge harsher, just a shade less accurate... but still better than anything a decade ago. And Bluetooth... on either one - the LG V30 and Samsung S9 have precisely exactly the same best-case aptX sound, because it's from your headphones, not the phone... will sound like something from three-and-a-half decades ago. Which was amazing at the time, and is good enough for an airplane, or low-cost earbuds, or if you're listing to hip-hop or rap, etc. But in those cases, why are you pontificating?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to continue the point, Bluetooth audio still requires a DAC or Digital Analog Converter. However the DAC in use when using Bluetooth audio is in the head unit of your car stereo, not in your phone. When you play music via Bluetooth, your sending a digital signal to your "headphones" (in this case your car stereo), where it pulls the muscle of converting the digital signal into an analog waveform that can be played back by your speakers. This is why the same sound file sounds different when played back through your hi-fi system when compared to your car stereo. They use different DACs.
If I'm not mistaken (if I am please correct me), Dolby Atmos is software processing applied to the digital signal before it reaches the DAC, which is why it works over Bluetooth.

Im pretty sure people have made a big mistake in their recommendation to you. The LG V30 has the high quality bluetooth audio feature along with its Quad DAC. Not just wired audio will benefit from it. Its designed for Hi-Fi bluetooth too.
The V30 has Qualcomms new aptX HD Bluetooth Codec. Which Samsung does not. LG are still retaining their place at top of the Wireless leaderboard with this device.
Samsung obviously cannot have aptX if it does not have a Qualcomm processor or chipset.

Hindustani1990 said:
I have used both the devices and unless you are going to root LG v30 to get viper4android or Dolby Atmos s9 is the one to go
If you already have some high quality head phones then may be you can give v30 a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please don't post this BS information.
If you are running V4A, your Quad Dac is not working.
The music will have a down sample and an up sample.
V4A is for devices without a Quad Dac.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

Just get the V30 if you are looking for audio.
I've used the v30 before i got my s9+, the audio quality that s9 delivers is nothing compared to what i get from my V30,I still go back to my v30 when I have to listen to my favourite beats. The v30 has a hardware advantage over the samsung. And both the phones have Bluetooth 5.0 support so you won't have any troubles playing audio via Bluetooth, but if you are looking for a superrior audio quality get a LG v30 with a good set of wired earphones/headphones. Sorry for any grammatical errors, English isn't my first language.

skit777 said:
Because V30 is not the best for me in this respect and in s9 dolby atmos also works by bluetooth and really gives a great effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Surprised to hear Dolby Atmos on Bluetooth. It's has to do something with speakers.

Sheephunter9000 said:
I've used the v30 before i got my s9+, the audio quality that s9 delivers is nothing compared to what i get from my V30,I still go back to my v30 when I have to listen to my favourite beats. The v30 has a hardware advantage over the samsung. And both the phones have Bluetooth 5.0 support so you won't have any troubles playing audio via Bluetooth, but if you are looking for a superrior audio quality get a LG v30 with a good set of wired earphones/headphones. Sorry for any grammatical errors, English isn't my first language.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, since you wrote that post a few months ago, we now have DTS 3D Surround sound on rooted V30, since LG put the DTS framework in the phones with recent updates. DTS is available on both wired AND wireless (Bluetooth) connections.
Why rooted? Because even though the libs are there, for some reason LG hasn't yet enabled it on unrooted stock firmware. But it's still a fantastic development, as long as you have most recent firmware. @JohnFawkes is enabling it on his TWRP-flashable zips, so you don't need to anything except flash Magkisk before rebooting (which you would do anyway). If you are not using one of his zips, then use the linked Guide above.

ChazzMatt said:
The Quad DAC is audio processor for wired components via the 3.5mm headset jack -- normally headphones but some have used auxiliary cable to connect to car stereo.
Has nothing to do with Bluetooth.
The quad DAC will give you the BEST audio possible. Period. But your headphones or car stereo must be physically connected to your V30.
Yes the V30 has also Bluetooth, just like every other Android phones for the past several years. But Bluetooth has nothing to do with headset jack.
No Bluetooth headset can match high quality wired headset with a quad DAC.
If you must use Bluetooth, then that's another question.
Sent via open market LG US998 V30/V30+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DTS libs though lol, doubt s9 or really any phone has anything like that over bluetooth

What do I need to install to improve the speaker quality?

I don't like the built-in speaker quality and volume. Can I improve the quality with applications like Viper4android or ARISE?

karizma4yazar said:
I don't like the built-in speaker quality and volume. Can I improve the quality with applications like Viper4android or ARISE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get a little more volume, but not without the cost of increased distortion. However, you can enable stereo mod, and you will get more bass, because the top speaker has a deeper low end, and of course the total loudness will be increased.

adsubzero said:
You can get a little more volume, but not without the cost of increased distortion. However, you can enable stereo mod, and you will get more bass, because the top speaker has a deeper low end, and of course the total loudness will be increased.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to install dolby atmos? Like the Galaxy s9.

karizma4yazar said:
Is there a way to install dolby atmos? Like the Galaxy s9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure, there probably is, but it's nothing magical that you can't do with v4a.

karizma4yazar said:
Is there a way to install dolby atmos? Like the Galaxy s9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a host of audio "improvements" if you're rooted with Magisk. Check out the app or the threads here on XDA

karizma4yazar said:
I don't like the built-in speaker quality and volume. Can I improve the quality with applications like Viper4android or ARISE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Arise is bloated junk. The stuff the Arise team added never worked. UltraM8 proved this himself. The V4A will disable the quad dac.
karizma4yazar said:
Is there a way to install dolby atmos? Like the s9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most Dolby Atmos ports don't actually work. There was 1 guy who used to be able to port it. Only 1 guy. Also that port did not work 100% either.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

BROKEN1981 said:
The V4A will disable the quad dac.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this is untrue, and nevertheless, he wants to use it to tweak the loudspeaker, so it's unrelated to the quad dac.

adsubzero said:
I believe this is untrue, and nevertheless, he wants to use it to tweak the loudspeaker, so it's unrelated to the quad dac.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't believe it, that's your choice. Many threads on XDA that backs this statement up. UltraM8 for instance backs this up. His mod is also not 100% working with the quad dac. He SAID this when I questioned him on this. It's also in his first post.
"he wants to use it to tweak the loudspeaker, so it's unrelated to the quad dac"
This IS related to the quad dac since you can enable it for headphones.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

BROKEN1981 said:
This IS related to the quad dac since you can enable it for headphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He did not mention using it for headphones, he wants to tweak the loudspeaker...

The quad DAC in the V30 only gets called into action when there's an output device (headphones/earbuds/IEM/line-out cable/etc) attached to the headphone jack. It's possible using a USB adapter to get the quad DAC output pushed through the USB-C connector as well (from my understanding of it), but the internal speaker(s) in the V30 don't ever get output from that quad DAC.
The internal speaker(s) are powered off the Qualcomm DAC in the 835 SoC so there is going to be a limitation on what you'll be able to do, probably the best anyone can hope for it dropping the mid-range and highs a bit and adding a bit more bass but we're not talking about frequencies lower than about 80 Hz 'cause those little drivers just can't do it.
The internal speaker(s) are what they area, and nothing is really going to improve upon that. I will say my V20 had substantially louder output overall (I don't muck with the audio levels like I used to with edits to the mixer_paths.xml file) and it had a lot more low end aka bass response as well. I have no idea why the V30 is worse in that respect, but for me I use headphones or my Monoprice 9927 IEMs for listening anyway about 98% of the time. Sure I do have my phone on sometimes at home and listen to things but I have a pretty awesome little Omaker Bluetooth speaker I can feed the audio to and get the bass if I want it.

Is there any way to process 24bit or 32bit audio with Viper4Android?

Poweramp can give 24bit output, but when Viper is activated then it's always 16bit. I have tried 24/32bit .irs files too, but no luck.

DooMLoRD77 said:
Poweramp can give 24bit output, but when Viper is activated then it's always 16bit. I have tried 24/32bit .irs files too, but no luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you use V4A with LG? Makes no sense. It's 16bit due to the fact you aren't using the quad dac. The drivers for V4A are closed source. While the app may get updated, the drivers never will.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

BROKEN1981 said:
Why would you use V4A with LG? Makes no sense. It's 16bit due to the fact you aren't using the quad dac. The drivers for V4A are closed source. While the app may get updated, the drivers never will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right.
With Viper you're making the onboard Snapdragon 835 DAC sound differently, not the already excellent V30 Quad DAC.

BROKEN1981 said:
Why would you use V4A with LG? Makes no sense. It's 16bit due to the fact you aren't using the quad dac. The drivers for V4A are closed source. While the app may get updated, the drivers never will.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would use convolver in Viper which makes my earphones sound more natural. Although It uses the quad dac the same way as Poweramp and it's 16bit because it is the preferred sample rate by Viper. So it's not possible to increase it . Anyway, thank you!

ChazzMatt said:
Right.
With Viper you're making the onboard Snapdragon 835 DAC sound differently, not the already excellent V30 Quad DAC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It actually sounds exactly the same when Viper is active. The specific EQ (convolver) is the only reason I would use it.

DooMLoRD77 said:
Although It uses the quad dac the same way as Poweramp and it's 16bit because it is the preferred sample rate by Viper. So it's not possible to increase it . Anyway, thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true. V4A DOESN'T use the quad dac. 16bit is NOT the preferred rate. The driver is 16bit and that will never change. The dev of V4A left before any other bit rate became a thing on Android. The dev never responded to request for the code.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

BROKEN1981 said:
This is not true. V4A DOESN'T use the quad dac. 16bit is NOT the preferred rate. The driver is 16bit and that will never change. The dev of V4A left before any other bit rate became a thing on Android. The dev never responded to request for the code.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't notice any difference with Viper, but OK I get it. So it's bypassing the LG quad dac function. I won't use Viper, I want 24bit to avoid losses from digital volume controlling. Thanks the help!

DooMLoRD77 said:
I can't notice any difference with Viper, but OK I get it. So it's bypassing the LG quad dac function. I won't use Viper, I want 24bit to avoid losses from digital volume controlling. Thanks the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/themes/magisk-bring-24-bit-output-aosp-pie-t3900863

Our ES9218p (Quad DAC) has an integrated amplifier (so-called OpAmp) using Analog Volume Control (AVC). You're not losing any resolution due to digital volume control, as long as you use a player app that knows how to play bit-perfect: Such apps will send all bits straight to the DAC (essentially keeping digital volume at max) and leave volume control to the DAC. When you turn volume up/down with the volume keys (or the Hi-Fi Quad DAC settings page) you're controlling that analog amp.
The moment you add EQ or DTS or other digital processing you already lose bit perfect. But as long as the app doesn't use digital volume control (keeps it at max) at least you will still have the full resolution during and after that processing.
You should be more concerned about the upsamling done by the Android Mixer when playing 16/44 music (anything CD quality, whether compressed or not). See this for details.
All player apps (including LG Music) will suffer this up-sampling unless they specifically work around it. UAPP and Neutron work around it by converting 16/44 to 24/44 on the fly. PowerAmp CAN work around it if you configure it to re-sample 16/44 to 24/44 -- but you then have to change that setting when playing HiRes music (anything 24-bit or higher than 44.1KHz) so it isn't down-sampled to 24/44.
HiRes music generally plays correctly from most apps (not re-sampled) unless they specifically mess it up (which is the case with Qobuz last I heard) or they deliberately re-sample it (like Amazon HD Music which re-samples everything to 48KHz on Android devices).
I never used Viper4Android. I don't see how it can cause audio to bypass the Quad DAC (when Quad DAC is enabled) but I'm not ruling it out. And certainly there is no way Viper4Android can understand or take advantage of the Quad DAC given how old it is.

TheDannemand said:
The moment you add EQ or DTS or other digital processing you already lose bit perfect. But as long as the app doesn't use digital volume control (keeps it at max) at least you will still have the full resolution during and after that processing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DTS no longer works in pie for PowerAmp. I don't know why. When I need to unwind, I would sip on vodka straight on the rocks. Put on PowerAmp, turn on DTS wide setting and listen to Pink Floyd.
TheDannemand said:
I never used Viper4Android. I don't see how it can cause audio to bypass the Quad DAC (when Quad DAC is enabled) but I'm not ruling it out. And certainly there is no way Viper4Android can understand or take advantage of the Quad DAC given how old it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Few devs who did audio mods said this back in the V20 days.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
Edit, I'm sure @ChazzMatt can find it. He can find anything. LMFAO

BROKEN1981 said:
DTS no longer works in pie for PowerAmp. I don't know why. When I need to unwind, I would sip on vodka straight on the rocks. Put on PowerAmp, turn on DTS wide setting and listen to Pink Floyd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL thank you for that image :laugh:
BROKEN1981 said:
Few devs who did audio mods said this back in the V20 days.
Edit, I'm sure @ChazzMatt can find it. He can find anything. LMFAO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need, I believe you. I just don't know how it is possible to avoid the Quad DAC when it's enabled. As in *I* don't know how, not that it isn't possible :cyclops:

TheDannemand said:
Our ES9218p (Quad DAC) has an integrated amplifier (so-called OpAmp) using Analog Volume Control (AVC). You're not losing any resolution due to digital volume control, as long as you use a player app that knows how to play bit-perfect: Such apps will send all bits straight to the DAC (essentially keeping digital volume at max) and leave volume control to the DAC. When you turn volume up/down with the volume keys (or the Hi-Fi Quad DAC settings page) you're controlling that analog amp.
The moment you add EQ or DTS or other digital processing you already lose bit perfect. But as long as the app doesn't use digital volume control (keeps it at max) at least you will still have the full resolution during and after that processing.
You should be more concerned about the upsamling done by the Android Mixer when playing 16/44 music (anything CD quality, whether compressed or not). See this for details.
All player apps (including LG Music) will suffer this up-sampling unless they specifically work around it. UAPP and Neutron work around it by converting 16/44 to 24/44 on the fly. PowerAmp CAN work around it if you configure it to re-sample 16/44 to 24/44 -- but you then have to change that setting when playing HiRes music (anything 24-bit or higher than 44.1KHz) so it isn't down-sampled to 24/44.
HiRes music generally plays correctly from most apps (not re-sampled) unless they specifically mess it up (which is the case with Qobuz last I heard) or they deliberately re-sample it (like Amazon HD Music which re-samples everything to 48KHz on Android devices).
I never used Viper4Android. I don't see how it can cause audio to bypass the Quad DAC (when Quad DAC is enabled) but I'm not ruling it out. And certainly there is no way Viper4Android can understand or take advantage of the Quad DAC given how old it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. When I set to 16bit in poweramp then I hear noise at the end of some tracks when the volume slowly decreases in the song. That's happens also with LG music app. But when I choose 24bit in poweramp then the noise disappears and I hear more details. This noise can be noticed at enough low volume. So is this means that poweramp and LG music uses DVC and not letting the DAC to do the job?
As for the interpolation I don't care, I don't have high sensitivity device and poweramp gives fix 24/44.1.

DooMLoRD77 said:
That's interesting. When I set to 16bit in poweramp then I hear noise at the end of some tracks when the volume slowly decreases in the song. That's happens also with LG music app. But when I choose 24bit in poweramp then the noise disappears and I hear more details. This noise can be noticed at enough low volume. So is this means that poweramp and LG music uses DVC and not letting the DAC to do the job?
As for the interpolation I don't care, I don't have high sensitivity device and poweramp gives fix 24/44.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LG Music doesn't use DVC. From what I can tell, it plays everything correctly, including HiRes, so long as you keep effects and EQ disabled. Its only problem is that it doesn't bypass the Mixer on 16/44.
And I can almost guarantee that you DO care about the interpolation: That noise you hear at low amplitude (volume) levels is typical of the upsampling performed by the Android Mixer. Once you configure PowerAmp to output as 24-bit, AudioFlinger will use the DIRECT path instead of the MIXER path, which will bypass the Mixer and send music straight to the DAC, without upsampling. That's why the noise goes away when you select 24-bit, not because of DVC bit-loss at 16-bit.

DooMLoRD77 said:
snip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol no need to quote the entire post
TheDannemand said:
snip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is aimed at you and the op.
From the V20 to the V30 on 7, 8 and now 9.0, people have complained about hissing. I always thought it was audio mods but I'm sure DooM isn't using any.
I don't see how, but maybe a dirty connection? Or possibly the headphones? Damaged speaker?
I've used the stock app with DTS. No hissing. Tho kinda sounds bad. Something really changed with 9.0.
Even with DTS off, no hissing and the music sounds good.
PowerAmp, no hissing, can't use DTS. UAPP, no hissing.
@DooMLoRD77, do you have a different pair of headphones?
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

TheDannemand said:
quote
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't actually hearing the interpolation noise, however It was because of dithering was turned off by default. When I apply any kind of dithering then noise disappears on 16bit. 24 bit doesn't require dithering as I hear. So I found the solution and it's good to learn new stuffs, thanks. Although I don't get it why it happens. The dithering should add noise to reduce distorsion as I think.
BROKEN1981 said:
quote
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good I just learned how to reply.
I tested it with my budget MH1C and the hissing was just a very small amount apparently due to turned off dithering as I wrote above. It now sounds fine Plus that DTS seems also bad to me, it's kinda aggressive.

....

DooMLoRD77 said:
I wasn't actually hearing the interpolation noise, however It was because of dithering was turned off by default. When I apply any kind of dithering then noise disappears on 16bit. 24 bit doesn't require dithering as I hear. So I found the solution and it's good to learn new stuffs, thanks. Although I don't get it why it happens. The dithering should add noise to reduce distorsion as I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you know it isn't the upsampling that's causing the noise? Your description fits exactly the symptoms of it. Particularly if it goes away when you switch to 24-bit output.
It doesn't make sense that you need to turn on dithering or otherwise process the audio source in order to avoid noise: The ESS DAC has incredibly low noise levels, and as long as the source is left unprocessed and played through the DIRECT path, you should be hearing nothing but black background. Of course assuming a clean recording. (Some of my best recordings are old analog ones, but of course they have noise.)
I apologize for being pushy about this, but I keep seeing myths surrounding this Quad DAC, and users focusing on things that aren't problems while overlooking the real problems that actually exist.
I'll leave you to it
@BROKEN1981: I want to make sure I understand you correctly: Are you saying you experienced hissing on both V20 and V30, but once you got Pie, it went away?
That's interesting (if I understand you correctly). I wonder if LG fixed the re-sampling in their later Pie releases after all: Long before Pie came out on any LG phones I had a bet with csglinux (over on head-fi) where I optimistically/naively said I had a feeling they might address it in Pie, and he thought they wouldn't. Of course when Pie finally came (to his V40 at first) the problems had turned even worse, now with both up-sampling and down-sampling, and a bunch of other issues too. Took much work by Davy to fix UAPP, and I understand the same with Neutron.
I am now tempted to upgrade my H932 after all just to test this. But first I need confirmation that lafsploit isn't broken when rolling back from Pie (I think you saw this over in the H932 root thread.)
But like you mentioned, most of the reports of hissing in the past seemed to traceable back to audio mods or EQ or other processing by player apps. With a good DAC like ours and decent IEMs, it doesn't take much messing around with a 16/44 stream before you can hear it.
Edit: Have you done an audio_flinger dump during 16/44 playback since updating to Pie?
You really got me thinking, but I have so much work to do, gotta get this out of my head for now :silly:

@TheDannemand
I got confused with this much testing. I believe what you say and I'm already happy with this thing. Sorry for this unimportant problem I don't know about the real issues. :laugh:

DooMLoRD77 said:
@TheDannemand
I got confused with this much testing. I believe what you say and I'm already happy with this thing. Sorry for this unimportant problem I don't know about the real issues. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough LOL
I didn't mean to be tactless, but I can see how that came across. Actually I DO consider your problem important. Otherwise I wouldn't keep responding to it. And besides, it's your thread!
What I meant was myths such as "you must use 50ohm headphones to activate the DAC", or "music gets better and better as more of the Quad DAC cores are activated", or "up-sampling music to 352KHz in PowerAmp will improve its quality". Just to mention a few.
Truths are (1) the ES9218P is a genuine audiophile DAC which performs the best when NOTHING is done to the source. (2) It CAN drive planars and other hard-to-drive headphones, but sounds blissful too on highly sensitive balanced armatures. (3) It uses multiple DAC units to increase amplification, not to "improve" the music. (4) HIM is NOT required for it to perform optimally.
The "real problem" is the upsampling of 16/44 music, which isn't inherent to the DAC itself, but is a massive oversight in LG's implementation, diminishing sound quality for the vast majority of music played on a phone. While not everybody can hear it (depending on hearing, earphones/headphones used, and the music source) many people CAN, particularly on sensitive IEMs -- including many moderately priced and popular earphones. And since many users don't realize that the hiss/noise they're hearing is re-sampling artifacts, they pursue fixes that further process the music stream, which sometimes may drown out the noise, but also further diminishes sound quality.
This upsampling is by far the biggest problem with LG's Quad DAC from an audiophile perspective.
(I should add that configuring PowerAmp to re-sample to 352KHz actually isn't the worst choice, since it does this without the artifacts of the Android Mixer's 44 > 48KHz upsampling, and it will play the result through the DIRECT path. Of course "re-sampling" 16/44 to 24/44 (just adding the zero bits) is even better, but requires changing every time HiRes music is played to avoid down-sampling it.)

TheDannemand said:
@BROKEN1981: I want to make sure I understand you correctly: Are you saying you experienced hissing on both V20 and V30, but once you got Pie, it went away?
:
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Not me, I'm just saying I've seen people having issues with hissing going all the way back to the V20. Though I don't know what they were doing. I can count on 1 hand of how many times I've seen it posted.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 02:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 AM ----------
DooMLoRD77;80574395 [user=832590 said:
@TheDannemand[/user]
I got confused with this much testing. I believe what you say and I'm already happy with this thing. Sorry for this unimportant problem I don't know about the real issues. :laugh:
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Trust me, you aren't bothering anyone man! @TheDannemand is happy to shed some light on the dac. There is a lot of misinformation on it and I partly blame LG.
When the V20 came out, LG said at 50 ohms or more, the sound gets better.
While this may be correct, it's very misleading. If using something more than 50 ohms, you are probably using cans designed for audiophiles.
There aren't many earphones that hit 50 ohms. I bought a pair of audio-technica's that are 50 ohms earphones. Over $100 as well.
I went to Ali Express, bought CCA C10 earphones that are 30 ohms that blow my audio-technica's out of the water.
Do they hold up to cans? NO! Cans will give the best sound experience while being more than 50 ohms.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

LG V30 Quad DAC issue, please help

Hello there,
I bought a LG V30 on the used market a few months ago and was using Bluetooth headphones for the majority of the time. Now I switched to wired headphones again and while the Quad DAC does offer a better sound reproduction generally, I've noticed an issue:
There's always a bit of static/buzzing in the background, especially noticeable on lower volume levels. Has anyone ever had a similar problem and knows a fix or would someone try to reproduce the issue?
I'd be happy if you'd report if you face the same issue:
1. Use wired headphones, enable HiFi mode
2. Play this -> https://youtu.be/exeRki77OMY
3. Start off at 0 volume and go up just one step at a time
When I do that, I can hear quite loud static buzzing on volume step one which decreases in loudness with every step (and the frequency of the buzzing also changed somehow).
H930 European / Stock Android 9 if that's important.

MajorD. said:
I'd be happy if you'd report if you face the same issue:
1. Use wired headphones, enable HiFi mode
2. Play this ->
3. Start off at 0 volume and go up just one step at a time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like reverberation/base.
Not sure what it's supposed to sound like. I don't hear any static.
I'm using CCA C10. Could it be your earphones?
Edit, tried with KZ ZS10 pro
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

Which headphones/IEMs are you using? And which source and player are you using?
If using very sensitive IEMs, and if you're playing 16/44 (CD quality) tracks, you may be hearing the artifacts caused by the Android Mixer. Those are particularly audible at very low levels.
Try UAPP or Neutron from Play Store. They are both able to bypass the Mixer.
You can read more about this Mixer mess in the thread linked below:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/how-to/bypassing-mixer-48khz-upsampling-16-44-t3933075

TheDannemand said:
Which headphones/IEMs are you using? And which source and player are you using?
If using very sensitive IEMs, and if you're playing 16/44 (CD quality) tracks, you may be hearing the artifacts caused by the Android Mixer. Those are particularly audible at very low levels.
Try UAPP or Neutron from Play Store. They are both able to bypass the Mixer.
You can read more about this Mixer mess in the thread linked below:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/how-to/bypassing-mixer-48khz-upsampling-16-44-t3933075
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I'm playing a 30hz sine wave through the test version of UAPP I actually get no noise floor on lower volume levels. Interesting.
With my current Audio Technica CKR70iS it's a really severe problem in other apps and music players though. On volume steps 1-5 it's not only "noticeable", it makes up half the audio coming out my headphones.
I guess I have to ditch Phonograph as my standard music player now and buy UAPP or Neutron...

MajorD. said:
When I'm playing a 30hz sine wave through the test version of UAPP I actually get no noise floor on lower volume levels. Interesting.
With my current Audio Technica CKR70iS it's a really severe problem in other apps and music players though. On volume steps 1-5 it's not only "noticeable", it makes up half the audio coming out my headphones.
I guess I have to ditch Phonograph as my standard music player now and buy UAPP or Neutron...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At 19ohms impedance and 108 dB/mW sensitivity, I guess CKR70iS would reveal the Mixer artifacts -- although it's usually more with Balanced Armature IEMs that have even higher sensitivity.
But with the noise being as pronounced as you describe, I would guess that your player uses DVC (Digital Volume Control). That could cause a lot of noise at low volume levels.
The trick is the player has to convert 16/44 to 24/44 (adding zero bits) since the V30 cannot pass 16/44 directly to the DAC (so-called Direct path). That's what UAPP and Neutron do. PowerAmp can do it too, but you have to configure it manually to "resample" 16/44 to 24/44. And then you have to remember to disable that when playing HiRes.
HiRes (including anything 24-bit) plays unmolested from most apps, including LG Music and even Google Music. Qobuz and Amazon HD resample to 48 Khz no matter what you do (last I checked). Tidal is OK with HiRes (which they deliver as MQA) but all Tidal 16/44 tracks (non-MQA) must be played through UAPP. Spotify you can just forget it.
UAPP is the best $8 any audiophile V30 user can spend. Some people don't like its user interface. I personally like it -- but hate the Neutron UI. Everybody is different in that regard.

TheDannemand said:
UAPP is the best $8 any audiophile V30 user can spend. Some people don't like its user interface. I personally like it -- but hate the Neutron UI. Everybody is different in that regard.
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Click to collapse
UAPP is awesome. I agree. I'm actually 1 of those people who hate the UI. I find PA to be the most user friendly when looking to change albums, tracks or artist.
It's pure guesstures. UAPP, you have to actually click buttons. Kinda annoying.
My dream player would be PA UI or UX, ( not sure what the difference is) with the sound quality of UAPP.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

BROKEN1981 said:
UAPP is awesome. I agree. I'm actually 1 of those people who hate the UI. I find PA to be the most user friendly when looking to change albums, tracks or artist.
It's pure guesstures. UAPP, you have to actually click buttons. Kinda annoying.
My dream player would be PA UI or UX, ( not sure what the difference is) with the sound quality of UAPP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL I was thinking of you when I wrote that sentence
Between the two sound quality kings (Neutron and UAPP) I think the UI to hate would be Neutron.
Lots of people like the PowerAmp UI. But as you know, it is trickier to obtain bit-perfect play from it.

TheDannemand said:
LOL I was thinking of you when I wrote that sentence
Between the two sound quality kings (Neutron and UAPP) I think the UI to hate would be Neutron.
Lots of people like the PowerAmp UI. But as you know, it is trickier to obtain bit-perfect play from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha!
UAPP is king of sound. I only use it when I'm home. When I'm out I use PA.
So basically since this stupid lockdown I'm drunk 24/7 with my tunes on UAPP
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
Also an edit, stay safe everyone. My girl and I had the Chinaflu. It affected her to the point she could not breathe.
My aunt's brother died from it and my cousin's 2 friends in Brooklyn died as well.

BROKEN1981 said:
Ha!
UAPP is king of sound. I only use it when I'm home. When I'm out I use PA.
So basically since this stupid lockdown I'm drunk 24/7 with my tunes on UAPP
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
Also an edit, stay safe everyone. My girl and I had the Chinaflu. It affected her to the point she could not breathe.
My aunt's brother died from it and my cousin's 2 friends in Brooklyn died as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, sorry to hear that. I'm glad you and your girlfriend made it through. Hopefully the immunity thing works so you're now safe.

TheDannemand said:
Wow, sorry to hear that. I'm glad you and your girlfriend made it through. Hopefully the immunity thing works so you're now safe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man!
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs

Better Mobile App

welcome