[Oldhoosierdude]

I'll link to a review but there are quite a few out there.

https://www.androidauthority.com/lg-v20-review-713915/

First off, this phone is around 18 months old now and the newer V30 is available for twice the price. The previous version the V10 can also be found and I understand that all three have basically the same great sound capability. I don't know what it means exactly but these phones have "Hi-Fi Quad DAC playback" for listening and for recording has "higher quality sound with a wider dynamic frequency range using 3 sensitive AOP mics and incredible Hi-Fi Recording including the ability to record over a separate audio track". Plugging in my Sennheiser or Koss headphones never sounded even close to this good with my previous Samsung Galaxy phones. Even using the stock music player is exceptional but I use either JetAudio Pro or Neutron and the sound is nothing short of fantastic.

I chose the LG V20 because you can still find them new for $359 unlocked. The newer V30 model is better I am sure in many ways but also twice the price.

Other great features are a removable battery, expandable Micro SD up to 2TB, a great camera that will do wide angle, a 5.7 inch screen (which is great for reading ebooks!) and 64GB of internal storage. Those are the features I found most useful. It is also very quick charging if you use their fast charger and it is not a power hog (which I am sure also depends on the apps you use). Oddly, the one thing I have had trouble with is receiving phone calls. I think it is the extra heavy duty case I put on it. It is a full enclosure case with a snap on screen protector. It seems to interfere with sliding the call answering button. I'll live with a little less sensitivity on the touch screen in order to get the extra protection. I have dropped way too many phones!

I have always depended on Samsung phones but their pricing is getting crazy. I did a lot of research for a superior phone for audio and this is the one I settled on. There are several others out there that are also good for music, just do a search for audiophile phones. If you don't care about not getting the latest model then there are definitely deals to be had.

I have had this phone going on 90 days. I wanted to make sure it was worth a recommendation. I listen to A LOT of music through the phone and I will gladly recommend this one if you are in the market.

Post your own success with music listening on the phone.

 

[runssical]

I have a V20 as well. It's a great phone for music playback. To realize it's full potential you need to download and use Neutron MP from the Android app store.

The V20 has an issue that causes 16bit 44.1khz audio to be resampled to 48khz. This degrades the sound quality! The reason is that the V20 only plays audio files with 24bit depth bit perfectly. Neutron has a work around that adds 8 empty bits to 16bit files so the V20 sees these files as 24bit and plays them at their native 44.1khz sampe rate. Sound quality is restored!

The V20 Quad DAC is capable of driving efficient headphones well but for some popular headphones like the Sennheiser HD650 the high impedance load is too much for the Quad DAC to handle and sound quality suffers, particularly bass response.

I personally use a pair of Sony Z7 headphones with my V20 and enjoy the synergy.

 

[bigshot]

Cell phones have basically blown iPods out of the market. Why carry two things that can do the same thing.? I had 8 iPods and they're all in a drawer now. My iPhone does everything I need.

 

[Merl]

Cell phones have basically blown iPods out of the market. Why carry two things that can do the same thing.? I had 8 iPods and they're all in a drawer now. My iPhone does everything I need.

Same here. I have a Sony Xperia and it's got stacks of music on it. Sounds pretty good too (but takes better pictures).

 

[rspader]

Cell phones have basically blown iPods out of the market. Why carry two things that can do the same thing.? I had 8 iPods and they're all in a drawer now. My iPhone does everything I need.

Largely agree as I have six iPods in the drawer but I have not found anything better than the Shuffle for a long run.

 

[Oldhoosierdude]

I have a V20 as well. It's a great phone for music playback. To realize it's full potential you need to download and use Neutron MP from the Android app store.

The V20 has an issue that causes 16bit 44.1khz audio to be resampled to 48khz. This degrades the sound quality! The reason is that the V20 only plays audio files with 24bit depth bit perfectly. Neutron has a work around that adds 8 empty bits to 16bit files so the V20 sees these files as 24bit and plays them at their native 44.1khz sampe rate. Sound quality is restored!

The V20 Quad DAC is capable of driving efficient headphones well but for some popular headphones like the Sennheiser HD650 the high impedance load is too much for the Quad DAC to handle and sound quality suffers, particularly bass response.

I personally use a pair of Sony Z7 headphones with my V20 and enjoy the synergy.

I still have the phone and still like it. I haven't noticed any headphone issues. I use Sennheiser 4.40 and Koss PortaPro at home, some $20 Sony at work.

I have that neutron app. It's ok but complicated and reorders track in the folders before playing. The sound is good though. I mostly use jet audio and the stock app.

 

[Oldhoosierdude]

I still have the phone and still like it. I haven't noticed any headphone issues. I use Sennheiser 4.40 and Koss PortaPro at home, some $20 Sony at work.

I have that neutron app. It's ok but complicated and reorders track in the folders before playing. The sound is good though. I mostly use jet audio and the stock app.

There's been testing done with various apps and these LG phones with quad whatever that is that makes them sound good. It all gets too technical for me, but I came away with the conclusion that only the stock app fully utilizes the sound capabilities of the phone. That said, I did my own amateur test of several apps vs the stock app. I switched back and forth between apps playing the same tracks. I can't hear any difference between the stock app and jet audio, neutron, hiby, black player, rocket player, and maybe some others I got free trials for. So I set up several players for different uses: one plays jazz, one opera and classical vocal, etc. But that's my amateur take on it. People who know about these things may have different takes.

 

[bigshot]

I'm not sure about Android phones, but I know with iPhones the ability to play audio is built into the phone itself, and every app that plays sound calls on the same circuitry. Unless the app is changing the sound somehow (like EQ or DSP) every app should play with the same quality.

 

[Oldhoosierdude]

That would make sense. Some audio dudes say differently for these lg's. Honestly they are making too much of it for me, but whatever excites them. I only looked into it because I don't like the way the stock app accesses music folders and didn't want to lose sound quality with the wrong playback app.