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Does anyone else think that the Samsung plays music much better than the Apple?

While I know that Spotify isn't the best sound reproduction.  To me, Samsung sounds significantly better than Apple. 

Four years ago I fired Apple as my phone hardware and went with Samsung.  I got tired of Apple slow downs every time I updated my software.  Got the Samsung home and noticed that my music via Spotify sounded much better. 

Recently I had to fire Samsung.  I had a Note 9 and was trapped in a infinite do loop.  It continually wanted to update the software, via forced shutdowns.  The phone would reboot and go through the whole cycle again.  Found out that the phone doesn't support the new software and it was just going to keep doing that. 

So, I decided to give Apple another try.  Got it home hoping with all their hardware upgrades it would sound better than before and nope, very disappointed.
hoosierinohio
fiesta75
1,378 posts
 
Yes, Samsung does sound better. So do the other media, particularly Qobuz and any FLAC files. Might be because I believe Apple is still using mp3?... But I do love the iPhone over Android for ease of operation, not sound. You should realize they are now downgrading the DAC used in phones...
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
I tried moving away from apple. Got the cheapest new Samsung phone.  Using Samsung's Music playback app was simple and sounded really super nice.  If I had to, I could use the Samsung for music and just music, it is great.  Yet, as a communication device it's not as easy to use as apple.  Blu-Tooth uni-connect didn't work well in my car but worked great in my wife's.  The phone was just plain buggie.  I went back to my old iPhone 6 after frustrating myself for a few months.    I found something odd about iPhone.  I live off the grid, my cabin has satellite wifi with a cell phone repeater/range extender.  My Wife's new iphone gets terrible wifi calling and can't connect to cell repeater yet my old iPhone 6 connects to the repeater, no problem. so much for new and improved.   
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,502 posts
 
I have good reasons to stay away from both. And play music on Cowon. And buy a new smart phone every year for non music.
soix
8,755 posts
 
Have you tried changing the audio EQ settings on the iPhone?  I find “Rock” or “Jazz” sound best (and much better than the default “Flat” setting) so would be worth exploring if you haven’t yet.  Of course it’s still compressed Spotify crap audio so it’s not gonna sound good no matter what you do, but that’s another subject.  Hope this helps. 
mahler123
3,062 posts
 
I use the LG Velvet phone, and I bought it for it's Audiophile credentials (it is the descendent of the LV 30 that was on the cover of Stereophile, and it uses an ESS Sabre DAC).  LG is discontinuing it and I've been thinking about getting a second one to replace the current when the battery dies, as I've seen them going for under $400 on line.
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