Review and Audio Measurement of LG G7 ThinQ Smartphone

[Soniclife]

Here's what Grace Digital said about Pandora (at https://support.gracedigital.com/hc...ora-One-only-stream-in-128K-?mobile_site=true):
So, according to that, mobile users don't have a choice to go above 64kbps.

Pandora isn't a thing in the UK, so that's one avenue of crap shut down for us.

That's what frustrates me: For such a small investment, people can have fantastic sound that prior generations could only dream of.

I do get that, but having been a hifi geek since the late 80s and being constantly amazed by the crap people are used to I'm not convinced that a phone with stock earbuds isn't a step up for most of them, as horrific as the stock ear buds are.

I think things have changed -- for the worse -- when it comes to consumers and audio. I'm going to date myself here (and at my age, no one else is going to date me), but I graduated high school in 1980 and worked a summer job at Lafayette Radio and Electronics in a shopping mall. People would routinely come into Lafayette and drop several hundred dollars on mid-fi Japanese consumer stereo components. So let's say they spent $300 on a Pioneer/Technics/Kenwood receiver. Adjusted for inflation, that's over $900 now -- and they still needed speakers and/or headphones to hear anything. The average buyer probably invested over $3,000 in today's dollars by the time they assembled a full system (receiver, speakers, turntable, cassette deck). Today's consumer, when presented the opportunity to spend a third that much for sound quality that is orders of magnitude better, scoffs and stuffs a pair of free-with-phone earbuds into his or her ears and moves on.

I think you may have caught the tail end of that era, FWIW there was little sign of it in the UK 10 years later. It probably didn't help that when they got those systems home they stuffed the speakers into random locations, and then drew a pretty design on the graphic equaliser, so the result was much worse than they had paid for. I wonder how a typical install of those systems compares to something like an Apple homepod, both awful?

 

[maverickronin]

I do get that, but having been a hifi geek since the late 80s and being constantly amazed by the crap people are used to I'm not convinced that a phone with stock earbuds isn't a step up for most of them, as horrific as the stock ear buds are.

Shootout?

Vs

 

[Soniclife]

Shootout?

Vs

Do you have both? My memory is that walkman model was awful.

 

[Soniclife]

P.S. I'm currently listening to the following, so my opinion might not be valid.

 

[maverickronin]

Do you have both? My memory is that walkman model was awful.

I had a walkman similar to that but it was so long ago I don't remember if it was any good or not. Wasn't into hifi then. Never owned anything Apple.

Just thinking it might be a more valid comparison for portable audio, now vs. then, based on ubiquity and use case. Comparing a phone and stock earbuds to a full on stereo system isn't valid because it represents different levels of commitment to the hobby and usage in a different environment.

On that note it would also be interesting to compare vintage boomboxes with modern bluetooth portable speakers.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

I do get that, but having been a hifi geek since the late 80s and being constantly amazed by the crap people are used to I'm not convinced that a phone with stock earbuds isn't a step up for most of them, as horrific as the stock ear buds are.

It probably is a step up for most of them, but I just don't understand the mindset:

Bob: "There's no toilet paper in your bathroom."​

Tom: "I use newspaper to wipe myself."​

Bob: "Why don't you just buy some toilet paper?"​

Tom: "Because newspaper is much better than the corn cobs I used to use."​

​

 

[Jimster480]

Shootout?

Vs

I had one of the bottom as I was growing up. I listened to it endlessly as a kid!

 

[Sal1950]

I had one of the bottom as I was growing up. I listened to it endlessly as a kid!

LOL Generation gap. I had a couple of these that I played endlessly growing up.

 

[Jimster480]

LOL Generation gap. I had a couple of these that I played endlessly growing up.

Yep I am only 28... we had the first MP3 players when I was in middle school.
I remember I had one too.... a Rio 600 32MB.
I saved up all my money for like 8 months to be able to buy one.

 

[maverickronin]

I remember I had one too.... a Rio 600 32MB.

I miss my Rio Karma.

I've yet to see a DAP with better UI or controls. The scroll wheel in the corner was amazing. I used to be able to start playing a couple of my favorite albums without even looking at the screen.

Try that with a touch screen!

The downside of course was the percussive maintenance needed to unstick the head of the tiny 1.8" hard drive.

 

[Jimster480]

I miss my Rio Karma.

I've yet to see a DAP with better UI or controls. The scroll wheel in the corner was amazing. I used to be able to start playing a couple of my favorite albums without even looking at the screen.

Try that with a touch screen!

The downside of course was the percussive maintenance needed to unstick the head of the tiny 1.8" hard drive.

I had a friend who had a Rio Karma, who then went to the Rio Carbon!

The Rio's were so simple and yet so good.... its a real shame that they died vs iPods.

 

[zachary80]

Does anyone have experience with the equalizer on this phone? I'm wondering how well it is implemented and whether it is parametric or just a basic EQ. Initial searches didn't turn up much

 

[JJB70]

I used to laugh at how many full size hifi components were basically empty boxes, people seemed to assume you needed a big box, or they enjoyed having a stack of full size kit yet if you looked inside as often as not a box a quarter of the size or less would've been quite sufficient.

 

[Sal1950]

I remember I had one too.... a Rio 600 32MB.

I miss my Rio Karma.

I havn't a clue what you guys are talking about. LOL

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Does anyone have experience with the equalizer on this phone? I'm wondering how well it is implemented and whether it is parametric or just a basic EQ. Initial searches didn't turn up much

You can add different apps for EQ. UAPP have EQ options including parametric EQ.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

The Rio's were so simple and yet so good.... its a real shame that they died vs iPods.

I had one and I did not regret the move to the iPod at all. I also had a RioVolt that could play MP3/WMA from CDs.

(I think this is the model, but they all looked rather similar.)



Before I had those, I had an Archos Jukebox, on which I was running "RockBox" firmware:

I had various others over the years, but those were the big ones I remember.

When the iPods first came out, I remember that they looked like something from 3 years in the future compared to everything else out there. It had an elegance both physically and in the UI that really struck me. It was the first Apple product I ever bought, having hated the company for the way that it dumbed down personal computing with the Apple II (I was a CP/M advocate).

 

[Sal1950]

I've been using a SanDisk Sansa Clip for many years now, currently on my second. Don't remember the size of the memory chip I have in it but it holds loads of lossless flac files along with high bit rate (open sourced) ogg vorbis files. Both sound great played back on my Grado SR80's or the pool side boom box.

 

[maverickronin]

I've been using a SanDisk Sansa Clip for many years now, currently on my second.

Been using Clip Zip for podcasts and audiobooks for years now. Once you add Rockbox for the compressor and downmix to mono features (IME podcast content and production quality are usually inversely related) it's basically the best the best device for it ever. I bought a second to keep as a back up and switched to another DAP for music since I usually listen to music on a DAP in different circumstances.

 

[audiobill]

Been using Clip Zip for podcasts and audiobooks for years now. Once you add Rockbox for the compressor and downmix to mono features (IME podcast content and production quality are usually inversely related) it's basically the best the best device for it ever. I bought a second to keep as a back up and switched to another DAP for music since I usually listen to music on a DAP in different circumstances.

What is your music DAP? Have you compared them?

 

[amirm]

Does anyone have experience with the equalizer on this phone? I'm wondering how well it is implemented and whether it is parametric or just a basic EQ. Initial searches didn't turn up much

It is one of those toy/useless ones: