Smartphone audio sadness


So, my beloved iPhone 4s, which I bought back in August of 2012, has finally started to show its age, like Maggie Mae. Increasingly, apps are no longer compatible with the IOS; it won't do voice-to-text anymore; sometimes it won't read the audio signal from the 30-pin connector to USB - you know, that kind of serious first-world problems.
As I shop for a new phone, I find my #1 concern is audio quality, so I've narrowed it down to the Galaxy S9+, the LG V30, and the Nokia 7.1
But here's the interesting thing insofar as why more people aren't audiophiles. As I shop and research and compare, I find that SO much copy on reviews is given to camera and video, and for audio quality I have to run specific searches on "Best Phones for Audio" and similar wording.

Anyway - no need for recommendations, but it was illuminating. Like, I can really give a shitake mushroom about camera quality or any other visual crap. But give me a nice DAC in the phone and I'm happy.
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Ahhh, another poorly written post misleading people into providing the wrong responses! I blame public education. And Jack Dorsey.

Okay, so its:
what i was saying was that the vast amount of space dedicated to the phone’s visual capabilities reflects the visual bias society has over audio quality.


Everyone on board with the new Topic? Okay! Here we go!

Humans have really amazing vision. Only a few animals, like birds of prey, have better vision. Most don’t even see in color. So its beyond society. Its our species. Evolutionary forces have selected for it.

Which for all that isn’t quite right. Plenty of studies prove people will rate video quality higher when the sound is better. When Star Wars came out part of the reason it was such a phenom was it was the first movie to be released with a sound track and in theaters with the earliest versions of improved sound cooked up by a couple pioneering audiobuds named Tomlinson and Holman. For the next five or ten years they were the biggest thing in movies, THX.

Who doesn’t (if you were around) remember the incessant advertising hype around THX? Couldn’t watch a movie without the big THX clip rumbling the theater.

So its probably a little misplaced assuming the space given to things on a phone has anything to say about society. Corporations, probably. Profits, almost certainly.

See how different things go when you write clearly?


I don't know, @millercarbon. I guess I'm just an uneducated rube who needs your sage advice when it comes to things like this.

See how different things can go when confronted with a pompous ijit?


@millercarbon- don't forget mantis shrimp. Although I don't think they spend too much time stressing over phone audio quality. Probably because of that no ears thing they have going on. Plus I don't think any phone is that water resistant....
I'll try for clarity in this response so EVERYONE can comprehend it.
I went with the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and so far quite like it. Now, considering my last phone was the iPhone 4s, that shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

But the sound is wide and deep in my headphones; it's MHQ option is good, as is the Dolby option, and I tailored the output for my age group and hearing sensitivity. It does have a few options available only when connected to a 3.5mm, including a so-called "Tube Amp" sound option - which, truthfully, just makes the output signal darker and more murkier - nothing really like my own Pathos tube amp at home.

But it's a fun foray into the world of phone-as-sound - especially as I do so much listening in my car.