[OnePlus 3 Guides, News, & Discussion] Mostafa Wael:
Overall audio experience

This device is a definite green light for audiophiles on a budget. This phone swears to be an audio veteran, and within its price tag, you will never ever find anything that sounds better than that phone, maybe the far-fetched ZTE Axon flagship. It even blows some $600+ flagships out of the water, like the galaxy S7 for instance or the LG G5 with its built in standard Snapdragon 820 DAC, which is the same used on the OnePlus. And it does not stop at that, it is a very close runner-up to the audio classics like the LG V10 and the HTC One M9. It even sniffs the socks of the iPhone 6s headset-wise and gives it a good run for its money speakers-wise. Of course I am pretty sure the HTC 10 will be in a league of its own, but I believe we have a very close contender here. This phone won't let you down in that area, either hooked up to a cable, or on its own bare speaker, it still sounds spectacular. Even for me, a man who is not that fond of phone's speakers when listening to music, I still like how that speaker sounds. Great job OnePlus!

Some things to note…

1-Stereo crosstalk is a measurement of how distinct the 2 analogue channels are, or rather more technically, how much signal leaking from each channel falsely to the other, which makes the music produced tending to be more towards the mono side. The lower the stereo crosstalk, the more you feel both channels are separated, the better the audio quality from each channel. On the OnePlus 3, it was low enough for a pleasing experience, though there are phones out there having less stereo crosstalk, though not that much really.

2-	It was noted that the device calls up a 'device' when playing any sounds via speaker in the Audio Mods thread of the OnePlus 3, which is believed to be an amplifier dedicated to the speaker made by Qualcomm, hence the loud but clear audio output from that speaker.

3-	This phone utilizes Dirac's latest tech; the Dirac Power Sound, which is a digital speaker optimization solution engineered by both OnePlus and Dirac engineers. Simply said, it is like a pair of correction glasses that corrects, instead of correcting eyesight, the frequency response dynamically within each volume step to ensure minimal distortion even when cranked up at max volume, hence the loud but clear output from this speaker. However, they denied the fact that OnePlus uses another Dirac solution for the headphone jack, and I could not find what this device uses to enhance the audio experience that much.

4-	Pairing that device to a JBL Flip 3 continued to impress me as well, it was very close to the HTC One M9 and I may say it had a more powerful bass, and a slightly warmer sound when compared to the M9, which likes to be on the colder, thinner part. At maximum volume it was very loud as well, just like the M9 I believe.

5-	When plugged in the HTC's in-ear buds, the max volume of the OnePlus 3 is the same as the iPhone 6s, with the latter having less audible bass lines than the slightly warmer sound of the former – by default.

Other things to note​

1-	Call quality has been quite decent, no complaints from both sides

2-	Fingerprint scanner is blazing fast and accurate, wasn't expecting that from a $400 phone

3-	The alert slider is quite nice to have and is easily configurable

4-	There is an sRGB mode hidden in the developer options for those who want the most accurate colors possible, though it may be a bit dim or warm for most people's eyes compared to the vivid NTSC standard used by default

5-	The screen is legible under sunlight, but there are phones that can have higher maximum brightness.

6-	Auto-brightness may be a bit too slow to respond to the varying lighting conditions; sometimes it is a bit too dim or too bright.

7-	Network connectivity is fine, though handling multiple downloads is not that great. WiFi reception is good and the range is comparable to what you can find in flagships

8-	Some may argue that only a 1080p resolution on that 5.5" AMOLED screen is not that sufficient, but it is sharp enough for me and I never saw any annoyingly obvious pixelation in the screen while using the phone.