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[Q] Anyone has a cowon J3 or S9 and a Sensation?

Before I buy a 200$ dedicated mp3 player, I wana know if the Cowon J3 or S9 have a superior quality sound compared to the Sensation even with Playerpro or winamp apps + Beats plugin (not the earphones)?
I have read that the Sensation has the best audio quality for an Android device but how can't compare to the best dedicated mp3 players aka Cowon J and S9?

vegetaleb said:
Before I buy a 200$ dedicated mp3 player, I wana know if the Cowon J3 or S9 have a superior quality sound compared to the Sensation even with Playerpro or winamp apps + Beats plugin (not the earphones)?
I have read that the Sensation has the best audio quality for an Android device but how can't compare to the best dedicated mp3 players aka Cowon J and S9?
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Hi,
It might just be a case of buying a good set of earphones.
Since I got my BOSE earphones,my Sensation has never sounded SO good.
It certainly saves carrying around two devices.

I am not a fan of paying +100$ on earphones because it will stop working after a year max (cable loose) while a pro MP3 player with a SD slot can last for years.
My sammy P3 has a hardware default (screen panel) but it's still working if I don't mind access to DNSe settings and BT, Cowon J3 should never be thrown in the garbage (bricked ones can be unbricked now) because the P3 dead screen is only limited to P3s + I can add memory later if I want.
The only thing the Sensation will have more is the Audio feedback for the jogging apps

I say not. I've been using my Alessandro MS-1 for about a year and a half, still going strong. Recently bought a Audio Technica ATH-ESW9 and have been in love ever since.
If you want a good FLAC player I'd say go with Hippo Gumstick. I'm pretty sure it's available on Ebay and it has a class A amp built in. :3

It looks like your device doesn't exist anymore
Another advantage of Sensation: I can boost sound output on my car AUX thanks to DSP manager in Playerpro

I've got a cowon x7 and i can tell you that if you got good earplugs the cowon will be better. I didn't use any sound enhancing on the sensation.
The sound of the sensation is good enough with flat eq. Battery time would be bigger problem for me on the sensation.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

Official Sound Quality Thread

So, how does it fair to Galaxy S3? Does the Octo version comes with Wolfson audio chip?

So, Exynos version will have wolfson wm5102 sound chip afterall...

I want to know about the volume level - my Nexus 4 went back to Google due to the low aux volume. I aux out all the time and it's an absolute requirement for my phone to be able to output at a reasonable volume. The N4 is laughable in that department, and yes that's with hacks too. Someone please confirm the output volume via the headphone jack is LOUD and I'll be happy!

SMS92 said:
I want to know about the volume level - my Nexus 4 went back to Google due to the low aux volume. I aux out all the time and it's an absolute requirement for my phone to be able to output at a reasonable volume. The N4 is laughable in that department, and yes that's with hacks too. Someone please confirm the output volume via the headphone jack is LOUD and I'll be happy!
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GSM Arena's review said that the S600 S4 was clear, but had low output. They also said that the HTC One was much louder, which is why I'm almost considering it over the S4.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Accourding to GSMArena, in the latest unit the speaker volume is pretty decent, even better than One.
When connected to the amplifier, the sound is superior than almost every phone available in the market. But the DAC is the embedded DAC of S600, so don't know why the difference can be that big.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-914p8.php
Wolfson DAC in Exynos Octa maybe even better

The volume of the headphone output was one of my main complaints about Galaxy S III. No headroom at last year's flagship Samsung was not, in fact, using rebar headphones Etymotic hf5 maximum volume is not enough for comfortable listening to classical music (which usually has a wider dynamic range than other music genres). Fortunately, the Galaxy S4 solved this problem: using the same headphones and listening to the same records I've never had to turn up the volume to the maximum. Also, if the Galaxy S III was a telephone and a deep voice sounded muffled because of this, the Galaxy S4 boasts a more even tonal balance. In general, continuous improvement, anyway
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http://gagadget.com/cellphones/2013-03-27-obzor-samsung-galaxy-s4/

hung2900 said:
Accourding to GSMArena, in the latest unit the speaker volume is pretty decent, even better than One.
When connected to the amplifier, the sound is superior than almost every phone available in the market. But the DAC is the embedded DAC of S600, so don't know why the difference can be that big.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-914p8.php
Wolfson DAC in Exynos Octa maybe even better
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They said the crosstalk was the only downside of the One and you'd need high tech equipment to even hear it. However, they also said that the S4 was still quiet when compared with the One/Butterfly, which is what the OP is focusing on the most.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

jtc276 said:
They said the crosstalk was the only downside of the One and you'd need high tech equipment to even hear it. However, they also said that the S4 was still quiet when compared with the One/Butterfly, which is what the OP is focusing on the most.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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Of course the One/Butterfly are louder, they have a separate inbuilt headphone amplifier like all of HTCs recent phones (I think it first appeared in their WP models from last year).
That isn't, in and of itself, a reason to get a One over an S4 necessarily - it still depends on your use-case scenarios and what headphones you use etc. The majority using fairly sensitive IEMs are not going to experience a great deal of benefit from the headphone amplifier. For those who are using harder to drive headphones and don't want to use an external headphone amp then it starts to make more sense.

NZtechfreak said:
Of course the One/Butterfly are louder, they have a separate inbuilt headphone amplifier like all of HTCs recent phones (I think it first appeared in their WP models from last year).
That isn't, in and of itself, a reason to get a One over an S4 necessarily - it still depends on your use-case scenarios and what headphones you use etc. The majority using fairly sensitive IEMs are not going to experience a great deal of benefit from the headphone amplifier. For those who are using harder to drive headphones and don't want to use an external headphone amp then it starts to make more sense.
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But the OP definitely stated that if the S4 is not very loud, it won't be the phone for him due to Aux purposes (I'm guessing in his/her car). And GSM Arena proved the One to be louder. So the better choice (in terms of sound) for the OP would be the One.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Let's put it this way, set an alarm on the one and you won't sleep through it..
If the differences are slight, too slight to hear with standard headphones then the one is definitely better sound output wise than the s4.
Depending on what kind of user you are, this could make your choice fairly simple.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app

jtc276 said:
But the OP definitely stated that if the S4 is not very loud, it won't be the phone for him due to Aux purposes (I'm guessing in his/her car). And GSM Arena proved the One to be louder. So the better choice (in terms of sound) for the OP would be the One.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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Ah, the OP said nothing of the sort. I wasn't replying to anyone in particular, only trying to generally point out that there is more to consider than a straight numbers comparison of volume outputs.

NZtechfreak said:
Ah, the OP said nothing of the sort. I wasn't replying to anyone in particular, only trying to generally point out that there is more to consider than a straight numbers comparison of volume outputs.
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Whoops. You're right. I was referring to the third poster in this thread.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I find it curious that GSMarena reviewed the snapdragon version, rather than the "real gsm" exynos version with wolfson. On S3 with Wolfson, increasing hardware volume levels takes about five minutes. Root and change one number in a text file. Not sure on the snapdragon one.
After hearing how different the Nexus 4 sounded compared to their review, I take anything they say with a grain of salt.
Supercurio's twitter feed is worth watching for commentary on audio quality also: https://twitter.com/supercurio

Indeed, GSMArena's sound tests need to be taken with a degree of scepticism, having been heavily criticized by people like Supercurio.

That's why i never quoted gsmarena's review in any part of my posts here and other thread... The test itself is "unproper" to begin with...

I got S3 and recently got HTC one and can confirm that its a best quality sound I heard in phone from speaker and headphone since 2002 and I have Bose headphone, urbets from dr dre and standard headphone in box and I found that htc's headphone got excellent clarity, loundness, deep bass and trable which is better than Bose headphone and as good as urbets of course in HTC one
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

onlinejobwork said:
I got S3 and recently got HTC one and can confirm that its a best quality sound I heard in phone from speaker and headphone since 2002 and I have Bose headphone, urbets from dr dre and standard headphone in box and I found that htc's headphone got excellent clarity, loundness, deep bass and trable which is better than Bose headphone and as good as urbets of course in HTC one
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
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I tried the HTC One in-store the other day, i agree the speakers on there is quiet good, but headphone wise, its not as good as compared to my Note 2. The Note 2 is much more cleaner and fuller audio quality without any tweaks, with wolfson audio kernel, the HTC One does not even come close.

ama3654 said:
I tried the HTC One in-store the other day, i agree the speakers on there is quiet good, but headphone wise, its not as good as compared to my Note 2. The Note 2 is much more cleaner and fuller audio quality without any tweaks, with wolfson audio kernel, the HTC One does not even come close.
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I agree,with some audio kernel , wolfson DAC is untouchable(with headphones)
sent from an Galaxy s3 GT I9300
Running perseus kernel 33.1 , XELLA 4.1.2 leaked build
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1784401
Dont click,you might regret , I won't be responsible if you brick ur head

Did a blind and volume-matched test with the One and S4 (i9505 international version with the same DAC as the one). Listened on 12 and 16ohm IEMs and 32ohm cans.
First interesting thing was that the Samsung stock player is noticeably louder than PowerAMP (not yet tested other third party players). Around 10dB louder if PowerAMP has direct volume control off and ~5dB louder if PowerAMP is using direct volume control. Since we wanted to use the same player in both devices we had to drop the HTC One volume down three notches for them to match closely (only one step to match with the S4 stock player).
Turned off Beats on the One.
Noted with interest that when blinding was removed we both preferred the S4 sound over the One overall, better instrument separation and clarity, less fatiguing and harsh. Generally preferred the bass on the One, although the One was quite boomy. There was one MAJOR problem with the S4 though - crackling with prominent low bass frequencies. This was absent on the T5p at 32ohm, noticeable on the 16ohm IEMs, and very noticeable on the 12ohm IEMs. If this is output impedance related as it appears to be this would put the S4 (i9505) output impedance somewhere in the 4-8ohm range, making it impossible to recommend to anyone using more sensitive IEMs.
ADDIT: Confirmation from users of CIEMs re: crackling on the i9505.
WARNING: DO NOT BUY THE INTERNATIONAL S4 i9505 IF YOU USE SENSITIVE IEMS and plan to use it as a music player without taking advantage of USB audio. This is why you cannot trust any of the major sites audio reviews for handsets.
I now urgently need to test the i9500...

ama3654 said:
I tried the HTC One in-store the other day, i agree the speakers on there is quiet good, but headphone wise, its not as good as compared to my Note 2. The Note 2 is much more cleaner and fuller audio quality without any tweaks, with wolfson audio kernel, the HTC One does not even come close.
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Click to collapse
+1. Obviously Stereo speakers in itself makes it HTC One hands down the best in that department. But nothing beats Wolfson DAC for headphone audio quality IMHO.

which is the best ear phones you used?

Tell me what ear plugs you guys use,
Suggest me some.
Does the quality of audio in ear plugs change of we use after flashing Dolby??.

Since you asked earbuds and not headphone
it is Creative EP-630 (deep base )

Brainwavz Proalpha - great detail, not huge beats, but detail on whole frequency scale.
Yes, with Dolby, it will change, it will sound more "amusingly", but sometimes will lack in detail. I recommend only PowerAmp(or noozy, Neutron) and V4A
PS: sorry for commenting on your post, I've clicked on different buttton.

im using iem ATH clr 100, with v4a preinstalled in my rom (miui polska)
its cheap but i really enjoyed the sound quality

I use the Edifier H180 earphones and a KZ ATE in ear monitor. Both are cheap and very good. I don't use Dolby or any other enhancements.

Cowon em1

i use beyerdinamic mmx102ie, not the best tho
but fairly enough. and i don't use enhancement
tried 215spe and feels better, but still just so so

i using iem over ear, basic ie200, good bass, good fitting, good price
no need sound mod anymore..

In my honest opinion, Sony XB50ap is the best earphone i ever heard. I tried many earphone/headphone, on each i could find few things which were not the best compared to sony XB50ap.
Not only it has excellent bass, its mid and high are clear and distinct, you could hear all the notes and different pitch clearly and uniquely.
It has best noise isolation, and the sound intensity is the best of non active earphone i ever heard. Meaning, you could set low playback volume you could still hear it loud and clear.
A perfect earphone.
I use ISO equalizer band on Winamp for testing with EQ, since its ISO band behavior on other devices/player is near equal.
But, the best combo was with MAXX audio mod for Lenovo K3 note, default dolby app was useless like most sound enhancing apps on phone.
Maxx audio with default equalizer, with bass and treble knob set at required level, give best sound experience. If only someone would work on maxx audio to make it work on Redmi 2.
PS: only negative, may be bit big on size and thus everyone may not like it. Cost i think is not bad considering quality and what you can get from other brand.
---------- Post added at 11:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------
trust me dude, just get Sony XB50ap. You won't regret it. Make sure you buy it from authorized source and not some counterfeit item.

Using Panasonic HJE125s, really good earphones for cheap price

Sennheiser CX180 Street II, the music sounds good. I'm not an expert in music but if an earphone gives decent output, it's good enough for me

I was previously using stock Samsung headphones with my HM2014818.
With XTREMEMUSIC and V4A, it already sounded insane and one thing was clear to me that, the details of the sound being delivered, i.e. the highs mids and lows to be technical, are much of the concern of the underlying software itself, than good quality of headphones. Each headphone has atleast a good amount of frequency response which is enough to unleash the full power of the vibration being sent to it. If the vibration itself is dumped, no hardware can do enough.
I recently bought Sony MDR XB650BT, which sounds obviously slightly more dynamic due to its bigger drivers, gives deeper bass due to the XB, better fittings and all, but everything else is almost pretty same.
So my point is, before going to buy an extremely expensive hardware for listening to better music, make changes to the software itself. There are a whole bunch of soundmods available at XDA, try any or all of them(though my personal favorite has always been the XM, but that's part of another story ), and then decide.

I use Creative E600....whivh i consider the best budget earphone!

To me, Phillips is the best sound quality or Sony.

mi capsules are also good

sennheiser makes me comfortable with good ups,mid, and downs.

im using beats tour
Sent from my Wingtech Redmi 2 using XDA Labs

I am using the audio technica ATH CLR 100 for more than 6 months now. Really nice pair of ear phones for the price. Even though the cable used looks and feels cheep, for my usage (Kinda rough) I've failed to damage it

Right now, using Cowon EM1 and AudioTechnica CKX7iS. Love the CKX7iS. Wasn't satisfied with the performance of EM1 initially, but I removed the filter and switched the buds with that of another old AudioTechnica's and bam, it's amazing now.
Used Dolby long back and didn't like it. The audio enhancements that come with stock MIUI works great. I've seen similar outputs only in Viper Audio, with some IRs.

Well i am on mi stock earphone mi in ear headphone pro gold that is quite costly but sounds good i mean great i can't even imagine like that one sound quality. It is very important to know sound quality before you buy any earphone or headphone

Vivo Nex audio DAC performance?

Well it says that it supports Hi-Fi audio. But how Hi-Fi is it? What DAC is inside? In particular, I would like to know how the sound quality is from the 3.5mm audio jack compared to Hi-Fi mode of LG v30, my current phone. I simply cannot get a phone that downgrades my audio experience, you know?

Andrew Lin said:
Well it says that it supports Hi-Fi audio. But how Hi-Fi is it? What DAC is inside? In particular, I would like to know how the sound quality is from the 3.5mm audio jack compared to Hi-Fi mode of LG v30, my current phone. I simply cannot get a phone that downgrades my audio experience, you know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go for htc u12 plus
It jas the same impressive sound like v30

rowihel2012 said:
Go for htc u12 plus
It jas the same impressive sound like v30
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Click to collapse
It doesn't even have 3.5 jack. HTC makes my heart hurt...
Anyone else?

You find your answer here :
http://eng.soomal.com/edoc/10100000237.htm
Cirrus Logic CS43199

Andrew Lin said:
It doesn't even have 3.5 jack. HTC makes my heart hurt...
Anyone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its mind blowing through wired headset. I have used Lg G4 and V20 (both had dac) , Nex's sound output is at par with them or maybe even more.

Noticed that Nex plays the hifi and dsd mode only if played in imusic app and with DSD format file....tried all other formats including FLAC but the DSD nor HIFI modes get enabled...

The V30 gets way louder, I have headphones that trigger the Quad DAC on the V30 and I used volume at 70%, on the nex I use it at 100% and still wish that it would go a bit louder, sound quality is about the same, but V30 is superior no doubt, I compare the DAC on the Nex with the Note 8 or S8.

Vivo has always excelled in the audio side. They implement it very well

Louder is not better always . Please understand. Unless your earphones don't need that much output then activating quad dac is no use. A quote from respectable audiophile member from head-fi who used to test a lots of phone
"Listening to nex s is sweeter mid than lg v30. NexS provides better Imaging and fuller soundstage. Nex S is warmer than lg v30 thus making music more natural. Nex S provides more bass detail while lg v30 focus on treble and character brighter."
If you have heavy or high impedance headphones only then quad dac makes a sense. Low impedance heavy headphones don't drive enough well on LG cos of not activating quad dac

ben cherian said:
Louder is not better always . Please understand. Unless your earphones don't need that much output then activating quad dac is no use. A quote from respectable audiophile member from head-fi who used to test a lots of phone
"Listening to nex s is sweeter mid than lg v30. NexS provides better Imaging and fuller soundstage. Nex S is warmer than lg v30 thus making music more natural. Nex S provides more bass detail while lg v30 focus on treble and character brighter."
If you have heavy or high impedance headphones only then quad dac makes a sense. Low impedance heavy headphones don't drive enough well on LG cos of not activating quad dac
Click to expand...
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Could you tell me some high impedance headphones will work great with my vivo nex ?

rowihel2012 said:
Could you tell me some high impedance headphones will work great with my vivo nex ?
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Beyerdynamics DT 880 250ohms version, Sennheiser HD 600series(600,650) . It doesn't need to be always high impedance headphones. You should choose headphones according to your music taste. Even the most rated headphones doesn't always have high impedance but generally around 32-80ohms. So don't make impedance as a deciding factor for buying headphones. I know it because i was thinking same as you did now.

using vivo next s with Beyerdynamics DT 990 pro 250ohms . sound great but use it with app named poweramp. it takes volume and quality to the next level( you can control gain in it and allmost everything)

lortwarCECH said:
using vivo next s with Beyerdynamics DT 990 pro 250ohms . sound great but use it with app named poweramp. it takes volume and quality to the next level( you can control gain in it and allmost everything)
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Does it support hi fif dac?

rowihel2012 said:
Does it support hi fif dac?
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yes it does

I have not compared with V30, but I am an audiophile and my AKG 240STUDIO sounds amazing with these headphones I agree what someone else said its a balanced sound with focus on midrange, high end is just enough detailed, I really love this sound, it sound even better then My Mi MIX that sounded wonderful in headphones too. The reason why phones dont include headphone jack is just lazyness they dont want to put effort into the art of creating a good sound. **** wireless audio! and long live the headphone jack with its superior sound quality.
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lortwarCECH said:
using vivo next s with Beyerdynamics DT 990 pro 250ohms . sound great but use it with app named poweramp. it takes volume and quality to the next level( you can control gain in it and allmost everything)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly... to just a high ohm headphones with a smartphone is just stupid to me.... Beyerdynamics are known to be some of the most hard to drive headphones, they really need a good headphone amp to sound good, and that is little but too much to ask for a smartphone. I own the Beyerdynamics DT1350 they are more suitable for smasrtphone since its low ohm and more easy to drive, with higher ohm headphones you will hear more sound artifacts because they are hard to drive for a smartphone amp.
By the way, have you tried the app AIMP ? From what I knew this is the best sounding media player on android. And its free, feel free to compare them if you want in terms of sound quality.
and to use any kind of volume boost is a no no, then you just need a stronger amp.. for podcast etc you can use volume boost but not for music then you will just destroy the sound.

blackinfinity said:
I have not compared with V30, but I am an audiophile and my AKG 240STUDIO sounds amazing with these headphones I agree what someone else said its a balanced sound with focus on midrange, high end is just enough detailed, I really love this sound, it sound even better then My Mi MIX that sounded wonderful in headphones too. The reason why phones dont include headphone jack is just lazyness they dont want to put effort into the art of creating a good sound. **** wireless audio! and long live the headphone jack with its superior sound quality.
---------- Post added at 08:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 PM ----------
Honestly... to just a high ohm headphones with a smartphone is just stupid to me.... Beyerdynamics are known to be some of the most hard to drive headphones, they really need a good headphone amp to sound good, and that is little but too much to ask for a smartphone. I own the Beyerdynamics DT1350 they are more suitable for smasrtphone since its low ohm and more easy to drive, with higher ohm headphones you will hear more sound artifacts because they are hard to drive for a smartphone amp.
By the way, have you tried the app AIMP ? From what I knew this is the best sounding media player on android. And its free, feel free to compare them if you want in terms of sound quality.
and to use any kind of volume boost is a no no, then you just need a stronger amp.. for podcast etc you can use volume boost but not for music then you will just destroy the sound.
Click to expand...
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yea i know its better to have powerfull amp for them , I think I'll get some portable amp if i find some good one and no so expensive. i bought 250 ohm version beucase i use it with pc too, not only with phone. ok i try that app.

Does Nex's Amp need to be triggered like V30's?
Just a fast and easy question: does Nex's Amp need to be triggered in High Gain mode like the one on LG V30? Maybe using an adapter first and then plugging your headphones and playing music to enjoy it at the best it can gives. This is a well-know trick to trigger Hi Gain on LG and Meizu phones with dedicated DAC.
Please let me know

Which phone has a better LG v30 audio codec from Saber or VIVO Nex S Cirrus Logic?

a qualcuno può interessare https://www.evosmart.it/recensioni/...ex-s-potenza-sopita-scottante-sorpresa/18116/

I think the weakness of the amplifier is it output kind of low volume however, its still very clean even at 100% so other manufactures my get higher volume but probably not as clean..
Anyway it defintely would need more power, considering I use kind of easy to drive headphones AKG 240Studio the volume should be able to boost louder.
I would say it is not a problem with my headphones but if you get any more higher ohm headphones it wil not be enough jucie.

HTC U11 DAC

Hello, I bought an HTC U11 because it is supposed to have a good DAC. When testing with the original HTC dongle, the sound quality is pretty much the same as my Galaxy A71. I have owned HTC One M8s and HTC 10 before and on these phones the difference can easily be heard (any headphones sound noticeably louder on the One M8 and the 10) but on the U11 i can't hear any difference. What am I missing? Also the HTC 10 had custom sound profiles but the U11 appears to not have them. I searched on google and couldn't find any answers.

I had the u11 for 3,5 half years. Im also an audiophile. U11 doesn't have a good dac. With the earphones htc gives they are just ok. Your best bet is an lg(they have powerful dacs) or if you want something small and practical as i wanted look for portable daps. I have a shanling m0 and it kicks ass.