[Xperia Z3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] RockStar2005:
genjitsu,

No problem. That thread you posted is for the Z3 Compact, not the Z3. That might explain why I haven't had any issues (I have the Z3). I think the issue is really just with PA itself. On my I think LG G2 or else HTC One M8 (previous phones), I had the same issue but this fix eliminated that issue. So I wonder if it's just a coincidence that those who have had recent issues also had Z3 Compacts?

That's cool. Only 1 out of the 11 Hi-Res albums I bought is 24/192, but I don't plan on buying anymore. I've read good but also negative things about 24/192 (vs 24/96), like that it supposedly sometimes makes the soundstage TOO big, meaning the various tracks/instruments sound too far apart, in a bad way. I also talked to one guy on Head-Fi.org (audiophile forum) who owns a premium sound store (John) and also has his own studio built INTO the store (he's been recording people for like 30 years and has like over $100k poured into his studio)......... he told me that he didn't really hear a difference b/t 24/96 and 24/192 until he used like really expensive headphones (like 4 figures lol). Even then, I wonder if I'd hear it? So again, I dunno. The one 24/192 album I actually bought (Van Morrison's "Moondance" album) sound just fine to me, so I can't vouch for any of it myself. The ONLY reason why I'd say it might be better is b/c of what I said before that producers and engineers tend to do their best work on Hi-Res releases vs CD and mp3s. So do they do MORE on a 24/192 album than a 24/96?? If someone can prove that true, I'd be interested to read about it. But until then, I'm gonna assume that 24/96 and 24/192 won't sound any different since they're both considered w/o a doubt to be Hi-Res. Another reason to get 24/96 over 24/192 is price. 24/192 can be like $5-$10 more for the same album when compared to 24/96.

The difference b/t PA's and Walkman's sound quality to me is pretty minimal. I would rate Walkman's at like a strong A-. When I compared it to PA one night not too long ago, PA on the same song just had SLIGHTLY more "punch" to it, so A+. Now I'm guessing when compared to a GOOD stand-alone player, it might rate at a B+/A-?? But that's a different scale all-together. I guess if I ever get around to buying one, I can say for sure, but that's just an estimate. The Z3 has the best audio quality you can get from an Android smartphone (if not all smartphones) as of the present time. The author of this website (see #3) told me it personally via e-mail. He said:

Well there are two sides of every DAC (Digital Audio Converter, which every phone/player has): 1. max Sampling and bitrate it can handle and 2. how accurately the DAC is doing it measured in THD, SNR, etc.

LG uses sh*tty DACs in their entire phone range. G3 sounded worse than a Note 2.

Today, Z3 is simply above the competition for any music you play. low bitrate to high. That's because the DAC-amp is amazing http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/TFA9890_SDS.pdf

Z3 is great for high res auto coz of its low distortion DAC-amp combo. Its also has some software tweaks (DSEE HX) to upsampling low res audio to make it sound better. That works by restoring some lost details in low bitrate music.

With Z3 the amp is powerful enough to drive most high-ohm audiophile-grade headphones.

Here's how I would rate them (quality)

Z3 > One M8 > Note 4 > M7 > Note 3 = Z1 = Z2 >> G3

He also said the Z3 has about $40 put into its sound, and that's the like the max on a smartphone right now, vs stand-alone players which have like hundreds of dollars put into their sound capabilities. He said the cheapest ones (G3?) have as low as like $15. That explains a lot. lol

Steve