yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
So I have received my Z3 D6633 today. Luckily, XDA members had thread about which model work with tmobile in the US. Here are my impressions, and why I took a risk to purchase my Z3 despite my Z1 is only 1 year old.

I hear Sony rave about their high-res Z3 capability. I thought it was a marketing tool. I had been following Iphones, Galaxy, and lately Sony for portable music. They all had been very disappointing, until the Z3.

Now, my question was, how could Sony claim it ? Was it just a Software to color the music ? the Equalizer of some short ? I did a lot of research, and I was lucky that I found my answers.

From Sony "Z2 had the capability to play HD audio, but you will need a converter, where as the Z3 has it built in, as long as you have an HD head sets, then you can listen to your HD Music"

1/ Z3 use WCD9320 Audio Codec which is Qualcomm

2/ Z3 also use TFA9890 (2x) chips. Now, this is an DAC amp with each single one can sample the music rating at 8-48kHz. Two of these brings the Z3 to be able to sample up to 96kHz.

So how is this different from the other Android phones and or Iphone 6 ?

I am not a nerd with full knowledge of Music Technologies, but what I do get is

"It is a Phone together with a Portable Amp.....?" It may not be the S-Master chipset, but this is just already too good

Yeah, and that was the deciding factor for me to went ahead and made my purchase. Any other phones may claim to be able to play HD audio, but non of them have these good built-in AMP!! Z3 also has the software to restore loss bits from MP3 songs >.< Don't know how it work....tongue.gif

Xperia Z3 tear down picture can be found here

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony...ar-component-layout-is-easy-to-repair_id61323

TFA9890 DAC chip can be found here

http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/TFA9890_SDS.pdf

I will update as soon as my Z3 arrived. biggrin.gif

I didn't know where to post this, and I research about headphones a lot in this section. I thought I would post it here for whoever is curious about the Xperia Z3 Audio Quality.

Please feel free to fix my mistakes as if I misunderstood any of the new technologies. Thank you:D
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
Review

I am super impressed by the performance of Z3 with music playback "FLAC" or lossless files. I only have time to test this, and FLAC is the only source I have for now.

Details, details, details are everywhere. Low, Mid, High, all are more clear, more separated, sound fuller, and smoother. Now this is the comparison to the other cell phones.

Do you remember the time Sony had Walkman CD player ? Yes, this is it, but it is more technological advanced, as you can purchase, download songs, keep it over the cloud and ....etc. Even though this phone doesn't have the S-master chip set, but I assure you that you will not be disappointed.

For the last few years, I had been following, purchasing headphones, earbuds, headset, and ended up giving them away. I could never find a good pair of headset to make me love my music again as the CD walkman before. I kept on seeing oh how wonderful the music will be, and what you are losing out. Now, it doesn't matter what pair of headphone I have, Z3 will blast away, bring full details and music to my ears, I just need to play around with the EQ bands to my taste.

Thank you Sony, my heart is full of joys and tears. You had answered my prayers and thoughts

1/ Cell phone

2/ Portable music player

3/ Quality music without external amp

I am in love with the Xperia Z3. When the original Iphone came out, I was impressed with their ability to youtube, touch screen....etc. Now, I am impressed with Z3 high-res audio.

Conclusion, music are very detailed, full spectrum, full over take, full syncing and instrumental details are awesome. I am not an expert audiophiles, sound engineering, high-end rich person. But I do enjoy music, and sound system. If you love music, and always wonder what detailed music mean, you will love this new Xperia Z3.

**I had never combined external portable amp with any cellphone for music due to the inconvenience and on top of that I have a very good stereo system.**
[Xperia Z3 General] id3alistic:
Thanks for this awesome review. I'm getting more and more excited about the Z3 coming to T-mobile.
[Xperia Z3 General] stevoknevo:
I got my Z3 yesterday and put 24/96 flac track and the same song as a direct CD rip and the difference was incredible! Only thing I would like was a bit more volume, but seeing as I rarely listen to music vis earbuds/headphones, I can't complain. Although I may start listening in this manner a lot more due to the hi-res capabilities, if I keep the phone? But that is for another thread...
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
The volume via headphones from the Z3 is about the same as the Z1/2. I agree that it could use a bit more volume, but with 2x chips TFA9890 I think the Z3 is capable of much more. Now we just need some one to hack it, and remove the limit. I think this limit is to make the battery last longer.

I wonder if the Voodoo sound hack work on it.
[Xperia Z3 General] hussan882:
I too have been really impressed with the sound quality from the phone. Its night and day compared my S3, I dont usually appreciate sound modes etc but enabling "studio mode" made a massive difference especially when I was streaming music via BT in the car.
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
Next review

Connected to a 3.5mm jack to a 2000W amplifier. Uhm, what can I say ? It can totally be used as a High-res Audio player. That is all I can say. Totally worth it. The first and only smart phone to output this much details in music over the 3.5mm jack. I have tested many phones my family member went through, including all Iphone models, Galaxy....HTC. Now, I am not talking about how "LOUD" the music can get...remember this is a 2000W system. It can blow your roof off. I am talking about how "Detailed" the music can get to. Z3 is the worthy member to download and purchase FLAC songs and utilize my Stereo system :)

If you Z3 owners haven't tried this

Power Amp, get to Music FX and hold it for couple seconds it will allow you to utilize Walkman Equalizer and clean bass as well. Try it...muahahaha :good::good:
[Xperia Z3 General] Jonathan-H:
I agree the sound quality on the Z3 is absolutely excellent - Sony Win :D

For the headphone issue though, i'm afraid for the majority of us who won't be unlocking due to the camera issues (I say that as in the majority of people won't even be here let alone rooting), hacks to increase headphone volume are an utter waste of time.

I for one will just have to learn to live with quiet headphone volume - Sony lose ;)
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
I will not be hacking my Z3 for headphones volume neither. I use it with JVC HA-FX40H purchased from Adorama online store. They are under 20$ and worth every pennies and 3x more :good:

I could always crank up the whole thing to almost deafen myself, but I wouldn't do that. Try Power Amp with Music FX within the app, the Power amp app open up almost 2x louder than the Walkman app

I am totally satisfied with Z3 as a premium smart phone, premium portable music player, and water proof....well, I won't be testing it :victory::victory::victory::victory:
[Xperia Z3 General] id3alistic:
How much louder are the speakers compared to the Z1? The Z1 has a big speaker grille on the bottom but the speaker is only on one small side of it(If you cover half the grille the sound is the same), which when I realized, made me very disappointed.

I like using my phone in the shower for music so just wondering.
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
Z3 vs Z1 loud speaker will be about almost 1.75x difference. You have better bass in the Z3 loud speaker. I don't use it too much, so I will not have much details about this. But in the Loud speaker department, which will throw away most of the music details and leave only bass and treble to play, you better buy M8. All the reviews and tests point to the HTC M8 being superior to Loud Speaker music playing.

Z3 is High resolution music play back, which I recommend a good pair of Headphones, doesn't have to be expensive, and you can enjoy what music really meant to be heard.

Enjoy
[Xperia Z3 General] KarimSalloum:
Sound quality is great but the volume is too low. Once we have root these types of things will be fixed.
[Xperia Z3 General] id3alistic:
Making the speakers louder with root won't damage the phone?
[Xperia Z3 General] rushless:
I am waiting for people unwittingly playing 128kb files and raving about HD quality ;)

Z3 seems to be a nice device :)
[Xperia Z3 General] jonamafun:
Has anyone actually connected a USB DAC and tried USB audio with the Z3?

I am getting all kinds of crackling noises which is very annoying. Makes the phone next to useless since it has relatively little power to drive high end headphones.
[Xperia Z3 General] wlighter:
This post

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=55735812&postcount=4

seems to indicate that the hi-res audio can only be output via the DAC. if its true, then it would be kind of a turn off.

But i think maybe he is incorrect. Because according to this

http://drippler.com/updates/share/xperia-details-hi-res-audio-explained

"Xperia Z2 was compatible with Hi-Res Audio but you needed a converter to listen to it. So in Xperia Z3, we’ve built that converter into the phone. If you have Hi-Res compatible headphones you can just plug them in to the headphone jack like any other pair and listen away."

So it seem that it doesn't require a DAC afterall.
[Xperia Z3 General] corallus:
No it doesn't require a dac. The required hardware and software are built into the phone.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
Okay so I transferred one or two stock pre installed FLAC files from the LG G2 that I had. Vienna Boy's Choir I think. Now using the DSEE HX i noticed a major improvement in the audio quality, tones were richer and more defined. That is just using my cheap sony earphones. I can't imagine what it would sound like wearing powerful quality headphones. Bear in mind that I am a noob when it comes to enjoying HQ music.

However, even a noob like me could notice that my Z3 was noticeably richer, bassier and had better fidelity than my iPhone 6+, using the same low cost earphones. Granted, I was just playing a random Maroon 5 track from youtube on both devices to control the variables as much as I could.
[Xperia Z3 General] Run_dawn10:
I'm really pleased with the audio quality also. However, I do share the same sentiments as others in this thread, it needs a bit more volume.
[Xperia Z3 General] enfurno:
Bluetooth for me is a great experience. Headphones... I get about 1/5th of the power that I was getting from my note 3. Using a set of klipsch ear buds, does sony hate other brands of headphones or am I missing something? Anyone else having this issue?
[Xperia Z3 General] abhinav.tella:
Definitely great audio, but not as loud as the M8.
[Xperia Z3 General] itsjustJOH:
All Sony phones have lower output power compared to other devices, hence the low volume. Dunno though if the audio enhancements including DSEE HX work for bluetooth earphones.
[Xperia Z3 General] enfurno:
I haven't tried Bluetooth earphones yet. That might make a difference.
[Xperia Z3 General] Johann_London:
No, the volume limit is because of European limitations on sound pressure. All Sony music devices have had volume caps for a number of years. Why the iPhone is notably louder and sold in the same region is something that baffled me for some time...

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21294537
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
I am glad you like the bluetooth audio quality. If you enjoy high-res musics though. It is best with wired headphones. Even BT4.0 can't compare to wired.

As far as power output from Sony, yes it is low compare to other phones. You will want headphones with higher sensitivity, and lower imp. I recommend HA-FX40 around 15-30 bucks. Great sounds, and details. ATH-IM50 around 30-50 bucks, bassy, natural, details. ATH-IM70 (my fav) around 90-130 bucks, tight bass, vivid mid, clear treble without sibilant, also very very natural. The closest to the instrument truth sound (IM70) I have ever heard sub 500$.

Especially the IM50 and IM70, they are super loud with the Z3...I can only tolerate 60% of the available volumes. Give it a try
[Xperia Z3 General] enfurno:
Thanks I'll have to check out some other headphones then. This thing can't push my klipsch ear buds even loud enough to cover up the lawn mower. No Bueno.
[Xperia Z3 General] AwesomeTurtle:
Not bad at all on my Yamaha EPH-100s. If I didn't already own a Fiio X3, this would be my driver.
[Xperia Z3 General] se1000:
Just tried my Z3 + MDR-NC31EM's + Clear Audio and WOW! I'm impressed.
[Xperia Z3 General] osmosizzz:
Audio has always been an important thing for me. I have 2 one plus one and so far, im liking the audio mentions, the camera abilities (seems to fair better than the iphone 6), the front facing speakers (front facing) battery life and build quality. but coming from the OnePlus One, I want to see if it's really worth it. the Oneplus one is really smooth, has 64GB, the price is fantastic, everything is just good. Do you guys think it's worth it given the scenario? (I'd have to shell out another $350 to get this from T-mobile USA to use on Solavei)
[Xperia Z3 General] smaragdhk:
Has anyone tried Neutron media player yet on the Z3? This is by far the best flac capable music player out there, allows for 64 bit processing, dither and has an extensive EQ. I currently use this on an LG G pro with Westone UM-Pro50 IEM headphones ...

Looking to upgrade to LG G3, Iphone 6+ or Xperia Z3...

Any comparisons or experiences appreciated...
[Xperia Z3 General] Akiainavas:
I test quality using my Hi-Res album from Jon Jenking and David Helpling - Found. In .flac format, recorded in 48khz.

When I first heard it on my Z3 I was actually mind blown... The quality is astonishing - even the effects like DSEE, ClearAudio+ etc. are actually worth using and sound really really good which is surprising because in most cases effects like that only worsen the quality.

To sum up - really impressed with it.
[Xperia Z3 General] smaragdhk:
Would you mind downloading Neutron Media Player and compare with the native Sony music player? Neutron has a free trial...

In Neutron Media Player go to settings and enable crossed, 64 bit processing, dither and automatic gain protection.

Now listen to the flac files again and let us know what you think. ;) Cheers!
[Xperia Z3 General] Fruktsallad:
I've got both the OPO and the Z3C, and I can tell you that the Z3C is a LOT easier to use because of its size. I find the Z3C to be not quite as smooth as my OPO running PA, but I'm sure that'll change once the Z3C gets custom ROMs and kernels.

The camera is OK and audio quality is good. I can definitely recommend it over the OPO!
[Xperia Z3 General] whitigir:
I am glad Z3 Owners love it quality music playback ability. I found Z3 to be a fully capable device to be your High Resolution music Source without the need of any DAC. You are limited to low Impedance Headphones though.

Recently I found Nexus 6 to have the Two TFA9890 chips as well. Also look similar to Z3 internal. I bet Nexus 6 must sound as good as Z3. Though you will not have Walkman app with it.

I actually tested out the Music quality from Note 4 and Iphone 6. To those of you who are in doubt. I confirm Note 4 and Iphone 6 can not stand up against the Z3. You do need a low Impedance Headphones with high quality to know this.

Again, I recommend ATH-IM50 or ATH-IM70. I am addicted to it with the Z3 and FLACs

Verdict : Z3 families are King of the High-Res music for now. Sony even confirmed that they built in the Converter for Z3. Nexus 6 maybe similar. If you want (Audiophile Music player + Smart phone + No External DAC) you will not regret picking up Z3...or Nexus 6, which I can not confirm

TFA9890 are Loud, and very capable Amps. I can't wait to find out once people started rooting and mod these phone to remove the Battery threshold and volume threshold on these.
[Xperia Z3 General] nobby00900:
I agree it sounds good but with my audiotechinca m50s it doesn't get very loud and I also find this with normal earphones. If this phone has more output power it would be perfect
[Xperia Z3 General] Johann_London:
I'm in two minds about the volume cap on the phone. It's in place to adhere to a European Directive on sound pressure, so at its heart, the intentions are good.

I find that with low impedance headphones, c. 18 ohms, the top level is JUST too loud and highs pierce my ears hurting ever so slightly and leaving me with a ring in my ears after an hour worth of listening on my Sennheiser Momentum On-ears.

So I tend to listen at the second from loudest setting.

However, if you have high impedance headphones this will become a problem.

IPhones are limited at 100 dB, which is significantly louder than the 85 dB the Z3 seems to be limited at (anybody confirm?)

My advice is, if you find the volume too low, invest in a good pair of low impedance headphones and get used to listening on a louder-than-most-other-phone setting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8410302.stm
[Xperia Z3 General] warplane95:
Dont forget the audio techinica M50 have 38 ohm, AKG 550 32 Ohm. In two week i'll try my beyerdynamic Custom one pro. Only 16 Ohm. I'll do a quick review here :)

I have also a HiFIMan RE-400 with a impedance of 32 Ohm.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/57770-review-beyerdynamic-custom-one-pro/
[Xperia Z3 General] RockStar2005:
Oh ok. Cool. So less ohms are better then?

The author of this article (see #3) e-mailed me and told me the following, which I think you all will find interesting:

Well there are two sides of every DAC: 1. max Sampling and bitrate it can handle and 2. how accurately the DAC is doing it measured in THD, SNR, etc.

LG uses shi**y 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 cuz 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

That's a lot of comparisons, which I like! lol

RockStar2005
[Xperia Z3 General] warplane95:
I think a lower impedance can raise the volume a little bit. not sure about this. But you can read more here.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/57770-review-beyerdynamic-custom-one-pro/

and this:

Most headphones with low impedance (less than 25 ohms, approximately) require little power to deliver high audio levels. For example, low impedance headphones will work well with equipment with weak amplification like portable music players, phones, and other portable devices.

Headphones with higher impedance (25 ohms and over, approximately) demand more power to deliver high audio levels. As a result, they are protected from damage caused by overloading. They can also be used with a wider range of audio equipment.
[Xperia Z3 General] RockStar2005:
Hmm interesting. I guess it's a combination of things, the impedance (resistance) but also the headphone's sensitivity rating too.

Please let me know if any of you have tried my suggestions (even just some of them) and what you think about them.

RockStar2005
[Xperia Z3 General] barkohba:
-this message was erroneously posted, check below for the reply-
[Xperia Z3 General] barkohba:
While many things are subjective, and stuff like the camera setting i posted are for indoor with low light only, there are a few things I have to make clear because there is a confusion:

1) MDR 10R have NOTHING to do with the MDR 1A besides a somehow similar design. They are gravely inferior. I owned K550 for 2 weeks before exchanging them to the 1R a few months back. Trust me, you should try the 1R or even better the new 1A to understand what I'm talking about. The 1A at least is superior to both the k550 and to the even better Sennheiser Momentum which I have tried out (got the k550 initially because of the better price). And the area they are better in is Bass response and soundstage (they DO sound more open, you have to try them out).

The mdr 1a DO NOT have any kind of bass enhancement. They are pretty neutral. They do have a bump in for the low end when you look at measurement, but then again if you look at the k550 measurement you'll see a more uneven line, especially in the mids and highs, which basically translates to a more congested sound when demanding electro music is played, when there are many frequencies at the same time. This is the kind of music I listen to 60% of the time, and this is the reason I exchanged the AKG to the MDR 1R. I have a strong feeling that you will really enjoy the MDR 1A when you try them out. Maybe you'll exchange/sell your K550 for them. But in the end that's your decision, I'm just talking as a preson who tried them out and my claims can be backed up by the measurements these headphones got (you can google them).

2) Trust me, with the Studio or any surround setting kills the openness (soundstage) of songs. You might not be able to tell it at the beginning, because it applies a artificial space-like effect. The problem is it mixes the stereo separation. You should try listening to a whole album with the setting on then off and you'll tell the difference in how the sound plays nicely between the left and right earcup with the settign on.
[Xperia Z3 General] RockStar2005:
I recognized that they were not as good as the 1R or 1As, but I only mentioned them b/c they were the only Sony premium headphones I'd actually tried on. What I did focus on was that all Sony MDR headphones are bass-enhancing and closed-back.

Ok, if you believe they are more "spaciously-sounding" than the K550s, then perhaps I'll try them out. The 1As were a bit above my price range. However, if and when they fall under $200 vs $300, I will def give them a try b/c I too love Sony's products and would like to have the best headphones I can within means.

I don't listen to ANY electro music, so the odds of me changing for the 1As are less, but still possible. We'll see. Well you might say they're not, but that's not what everyone thinks. Despite that, I will still MAYBE give them a try. Only cuz it's Sony. lol

I've listened to MANY MANY songs with "Studio" on and off, and at least 95-99% of the time, I can say w/o a doubt it sounds better with it on. I believe in keeping things natural, but if something artificial is available that to me makes it sound better, than I don't care, I'll use it.

RockStar2005