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Smartphone DAC chips

pavuol

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This thread I dedicate to sharing information about DAC chips used in smartphones.

Until now there has been many phones that audiophile comunity is familiar with, these have DAC models either listed explicitly by manufacturer or it was revealed by tech oriented users. Also, for quite some years Qualcomm chipsets feature embedded audio parts and these are well documented. I’m curious of the whole rest of smartphone army, usually with chipsets with no audio subsystem, borrowing DAC/amps from 3rd parties.

I’m no engineer but I’ve looked up webpages of chipsets manufacturers Mediatek (Dimensity and Helio) and Hisilicon (Kirin) and they don’t mention audio parameters, so if I get it right, they don’t have embedded DACs.(?) Similar with Samsung Exynos I suppose (although I guess they have some in-house external DAC chips..?)

Some links and info to start with:

Known phones - “Best Smartphone for audiophile” (courtesy of Head-Fi)
- google docs table (jan 2020)

List of Qualcomm chipsets and corresponding DACs:
Snapdragon 205​
n/a​
Snapdragon 212​
n/a​
Snapdragon 215​
n/a​
Snapdragon 429​
WCD9335 ??​
Snapdragon 439​
WCD9335 ??​
Snapdragon 460​
WCD9370​
Snapdragon 480 5G​
WCD9385​
Snapdragon 480+ 5G​
WCD9385​
Snapdragon 630​
WCD9335/WSA881x​
Snapdragon 632​
WCD9335/WSA881x​
Snapdragon 636​
WCD9335/WSA881x​
Snapdragon 660​
WCD9335/WSA881x​
Snapdragon 662​
WCD9370​
Snapdragon 665​
?​
Snapdragon 670​
WCD9335, WCD9341​
Snapdragon 675​
WCS9341; Speaker amplified via WSA8815​
Snapdragon 680 4G​
WCD9385​
Snapdragon 690 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 695 5G​
WCD9385​
Snapdragon 710​
WCD9335, WCD9341​
Snapdragon 712​
?​
Snapdragon 720G​
WCD9385​
Snapdragon 730​
Snapdragon 730G​
Snapdragon 732G​
?​
Snapdragon 750G 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8835​
Snapdragon 765 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 765G 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 768G 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 778G 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8835​
Snapdragon 778G+ 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8831​
Snapdragon 780G 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8835​
Snapdragon 820​
WCD9335​
Snapdragon 821​
WCD9335​
Snapdragon 835​
WCD9335, WCD9341​
Snapdragon 845​
WCD9335, WCD9341​
Snapdragon 855​
?​
Snapdragon 855+/860​
?​
Snapdragon 865 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 865+ 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 870 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8815​
Snapdragon 888 5G​
WCD9385 // WSA8835​
Snapdragon 888+ 5G​
WCD9385​
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1​
WCD9385 // WSA8835​
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1​
WCD9385 // WSA8835​
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2​
?​

My initial "wishlist to be identified” :) [mostly OLED phones with 3,5mm jack]
Motorola​
Edge 20 Fusion​
Mediatek MT6853 Dimensity 800U​
Motorola​
Edge 20 Lite​
Mediatek MT6853V Dimensity 720​
Motorola​
G31​
Mediatek MT6769Z Helio G85​
Motorola​
G41​
Mediatek MT6769Z Helio G85​
Motorola​
G72​
Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99​
TCL​
TCL 30​
Mediatek MT6765V/CB Helio G37​
TCL​
TCL 30+​
Mediatek MT6765V/CB Helio G37​
TCL​
TCL 30 5G​
Mediatek MT6833 Dimensity 700​
Xiaomi​
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Discovery​
Mediatek MT6877V Dimensity 1080​
Infinix​
Infinix Note 12 Pro​
Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99​
Infinix​
Infinix Note 12 Pro 5G​
Mediatek MT6833P Dimensity 810​
Huawei​
Huawei Mate 30​
Hisilicon Kirin 990​
Huawei​
Huawei Mate 30 5G​
Hisilicon Kirin 990 5G​
Huawei​
Huawei Mate 40​
Hisilicon Kirin 9000E 5G​
Huawei​
Huawei Mate 40E​
Hisilicon Kirin 990E 5G​
 
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pavuol

pavuol

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Just to start with, lately I've looked up my two Sammy smartphones I own:

Samsung A5 2017 (Exynos 7880) / same for A7 2017
- had to dig the internet for service manual, there is mentioned some chip with "S2MPU05X01-6230" designation but I haven't found its original manufacturer nor specs (some custom chinese chip for this particular model or maybe some Samsung inhouse product ?)
2023-03-11 16_34_37-SM-A520F_Tshoo_7.pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg


Samsung Galaxy A50 (2018 / Exynos 9610)
uses Realtek ALC5665-GRT chip (found in service manual as well) / probably some predecessor of ALC5686 found in several current USB-C dongles
2023-03-11 21_47_13-a50-www.jahanic.com_.pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg


unverified - some online chip distributor lists this chip for other Samsung devices as well:
ALC5665 ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU6012 / Samsung Galaxy A50 / SM-A505F
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU8047 / Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro / SM-C5010
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU8003 / Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro / SM-C7010
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU8003 / Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro / SM-C701F
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU6003 / Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 / SM-T595
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72P / Samsung Galaxy Book 12.0 / SM-W720
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72P / Samsung Galaxy Book 10.6 / SM-W620
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU6001 / Samsung Galaxy A50s / SM-A507FN
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU6012 / Samsung Galaxy M21 / SM-M215F
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU6001 / Samsung Galaxy A51 / SM-A515F
ALC5665-GRTRealtek1205-005750IC-Audio CodecWLCSP,72PU6012 / Samsung Galaxy M30s / SM-M307F
 
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pavuol

pavuol

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Motorola G31 (2021 / Mediatek MT6769Z Helio G85)
- found this lowres block diagram:
motorola_G31_diagram.png


There is this MT6358 chip, but this is probably not the whole story, as this chip is listed in scheme for "Acer Chromebook 311 C722T" and there is proper ADC/DAC hooked behind it (Renesas DA7219) ...

same for
Samsung A41 / 2020 / Mediatek MT6768 Helio P65
2023-03-12 10_01_22-schematics.jpg - IrfanView (Zoom_ 2696 x 1365).jpg


+ Samsung A22 4G version (2021 / Mediatek MT6769V/CU Helio G80) /
sch
2023-03-12 17_10_26-SM-A225F[phonelumi.com].pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg

+ Samsung A32 4G v. (2021 / Mediatek MT6769V/CU Helio G80)

..so it seems one codec is shared among several Mediatek chipsets, just like Qualcomm..
 
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pavuol

pavuol

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pavuol

pavuol

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Samsung M31s (2020 / Exynos 9611) - phonelumi
Realtek ALC5665-GRT (so previous "unverified" list seems legit)
2023-03-12 09_24_38-SM-M317F[phonelumi.com].pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg


Samsung F41 / probably same chip / U6012 designation in schematics
Samsung A51 / 2019 Exynos 9611 / sch
2023-03-12 10_06_17-SM-A515F_[phonelumi.com].pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg

+
Galaxy M21
Galaxy A50s
 
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pavuol

pavuol

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Samsung S10e / 2019 Exynos 9820 (EMEA) / Cirrus Logic CS47L93 / speaker amps CS35L40 / schematics
2023-03-12 09_43_10-SM-G970F_Tshoo_7.pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg


same for:
Samsung M62 / 2021 Exynos 9825 (chip designation also U7000 in PCB
2023-03-12 09_53_07-Troubleshooting.pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg

Samsung Note 9 (2018 Exynos 9810) - just different speaker amps ("MAX98512B")..
2023-03-12 18_09_13-SM-N960F_Tshoo_7.pdf - SumatraPDF.jpg
 

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antcollinet

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Personally I'm not sure why it matters. I'd expect all modern* dac chipsets to be capable of transparent (audibly perfect) sound - but as always the devil is in the detail of the surrounding electronics. And performance of that can only be determined by measurements.

*by modern, I mean pretty much anything created in the last 10 - probably more - years.
 

Oso Polar

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The wast majority of modern smartphones output digital audio over USB (and Bluetooth), so why anyone will care about what DAC is used? DAC is used just for smartphone speakers.
 
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pavuol

pavuol

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Galaxy A40 / 2019 / Exynos 7904
"PMIC S2MPU08X01-6030"

Galaxy M20 / 2019 / Exynos 7904
"PMIC S2MUP08"

Galaxy A22 5G (2021 / Mediatek MT6833 Dimensity 700) sch
"MT6357 / "U1601" chip designation"

Samsung Galaxy A32 5G (2021 / Mediatek MT6853 Dimensity 720)
MT6359
 
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rickosw

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Hi Friends

Wondering if anyone can help me out as i cant seem to find any information on Google Pixel 8 Pro
Does it have any DAC
how about Pixel 7 Pro?

many thanks
 

BDWoody

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Hi Friends

Wondering if anyone can help me out as i cant seem to find any information on Google Pixel 8 Pro
Does it have any DAC
how about Pixel 7 Pro?

many thanks

Yes, but nothing analog you can plug into.

You would need to either use Bluetooth, or connect a USB DAC in order to listen to anything through them.

I have the 7 pro, and have Tanchjim and Qudelix DAC/HP amps that I use with it. I miss the analog connection from my LG G8.
 

rickosw

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hi all,
thanks for the above reply
any way to dig further & deeper?

how about Google Tensor 3 ? does it also use WCD9385 // WSA8835
or others (does anyone know) ?
 

BDWoody

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hi all,
thanks for the above reply
any way to dig further & deeper?

how about Google Tensor 3 ? does it also use WCD9385 // WSA8835
or others (does anyone know) ?

What are you trying to figure out? Isn't the Tensor 3 used in the Pixel 8?

Are you looking for the phone with the best sounding on-board speaker?
 

rickosw

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What are you trying to figure out? Isn't the Tensor 3 used in the Pixel 8?

Are you looking for the phone with the best sounding on-board speaker?
hi BSWoody

yes, you are correct, Pixel 8 Pro use Tensor 3
but what is the sound card baked into it? do you have that information?

no, i am not looking for the best sounding on board speaker
just curious what sound card / chip that Pixel 8 Pro is using

so far, nobody knows
 

Rottmannash

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Unless one wants to go straight from the USB C out>3.5 mm jack into an aux input on one's car then the DAC is used.
The wast majority of modern smartphones output digital audio over USB (and Bluetooth), so why anyone will care about what DAC is used? DAC is used just for smartphone speakers.
 

Chromatischism

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Yes, but nothing analog you can plug into.

You would need to either use Bluetooth, or connect a USB DAC in order to listen to anything through them.

I have the 7 pro, and have Tanchjim and Qudelix DAC/HP amps that I use with it. I miss the analog connection from my LG G8.
What USB-C > 3.5mm do you use with your Pixel on the go? I just got the Pixel 8 and am now a headphone orphan. Unless I keep the 4a 5G around just for music. Which I might do.
 

TonyJZX

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at the time the quad dac LG V30 and its brothers was supposed to be the best... and I heard the Samsung S20 and all the S2x are great but its one of those things that end up being like busted appendixes... not really in fashion when people are all about wireless earbuds these days.

I mean do these flagship type units even have a 3.5 any more?
 
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