Smartphone for the audiophile?

I had an HTC Arrive which was basically a Windows phone + Zune. It bettered the iPod touch for fidelity but my son will never let his iPhone 4S out of his hand for me to compare :<). Note that processer power and battery power are the key limiters for both Apple and Msoft portable device's audio fidelity

As an update to this thread, I recently purchased an HTC One which shows promise so far and works much better than my last phone.

Beautiful fit and finish to the screen and the enclosure and two, front facing, stereo speakers vs the iPhones single rear facing speaker.

More importantly, some forums suggest that the micro USB port will export digital audio and/or video easily?

It seems the typical phone user does not care, but for audiophiles this could be a breakthrough vs Apple's proprietary interface?

Not easy to find a micro USB A to mini USB B cable without using adapters and more than one cable. And I am not sure on the exact spec if anyone might know? Would this be the same as a "charging" cable with micro on one side and mini on the other?

But otherwise it seems you could go from smartphone out to a portable, external DAC such as a FiiO E17?

Look forward to any thoughts or ideas.

Steve,

Thank you - that's interesting and good to know. But not my thing to dock a portable device at my desk and in fact have a brand new in the box, never even opened Wadia dock that I impulsively purchased when they first came out and were back ordered.

What I am trying to do is to extract digital data from my HTC One smartphone (a Droid) when traveling and commuting - so I need it to be portable.

Here you can see another thread I found, as well as my question to the Android forum:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/287133-anybody-else-using-usb-otg-digital-audio-out.html

So if you know how I might find a cable with the right spec' would be grateful.

Surprised more people haven't figured this out amidst the popularity of smartphones, 3rd party headphones etc.

To the extent any phone is cool, sleek, slim etc, I would expect the equal and opposite reaction of a mediocre DAC and wimpy amp, correct?

Thank you,

Both Google and Apple based devices are suitable. NEither are designed for "audiophiles" specifically, but there are sufficient options available for each to make either a useful device for an "audiophile".

In terms of inherent sound quality, Apple is more a fixed known quantity whereas Google will offer more choices. That alone may dictate which path is best.

In terms of getting good sound out of either, a good set of headphones or earbuds designed specifically for use with portable (as opposed to home devices with beefier amplifiers) will go a long way. SO many good ones to choose from. The hardest part is deciding which ones to try. Many are quite good and offer good sound quality, especially when compared to what was available even just a few short years ago.

I use multiple wireless devices to control my digital music setup at home. Iphone, Ipods, Android TAblet. I use Klipsch S4 earbuds to listen directly on each as well. These do not cost much and sound quite good top to bottom, if not quite the nth degree possible in terms of detail.