Lg v40 - a surprising gem

[firearm12]

Hello friends, after my oneplus3t was stolen last month, i virtually went through every mobile review available on internet and finally choose the underrated lg v40. This has proven to be a spectacular phone if one considers listening through headphones on their phones seriously.

Around 10 yrs back i got cowon s9 and sennheiser ie8 earphones and i was very happy with the performance, used it for some years along with my sony walkman w995 phone which was also good but not upto cowon level. Then came android time and i got xperia z1 which was an average sounding phone like all androids and i lost all interest in phone based music. With the purchase of lg v40, all good portable music is back again and it pairs nicely with my sennheiser ie8. I find that with its quad hifi dac, its even better than ipod touch and cowon s9 that i have and so can safely imagine it will be better than any entry level daps out there. Now i can listen to google music on my phone with a great sound. Apart from sound, its got good form factor, gorgeous screen and awesome haptic feedback. Only thing that keeps it back is the lg software and lack of android updates.
I hope to please my ears through this phone for coming years. Anyone who is looking for new phone with good sound should try these lg phones with quad hifi dac (and a good pair of headphones) if they dont want to use external dacs like fiio. Its sad to see that most manufacturers ignore the audio side of things on phones these days.

 

[rikhav]

Yes, it has probably the best audio implementation of any mobile phone.
If one can ignore the OK software, in general issues with LG phones (not that every phone has one) it's a good phone
If I am not wrong , it's DAC can also decode MQA at hardware level

 

[Mi_10]

Then came android time and i got xperia z1 which was an average sounding phone like all androids and i lost all interest in phone based music. With the purchase of lg v40, all good portable music is back again and it pairs nicely with my sennheiser ie8. I find that with its quad hifi dac, its even better than ipod touch and cowon s9 that i have and so can safely imagine it will be better than any entry level daps out there. Now i can listen to google music on my phone with a great sound. Apart from sound, its got good form factor, gorgeous screen and awesome haptic feedback. Only thing that keeps it back is the lg software and lack of android updates.
I hope to please my ears through this phone for coming years. Anyone who is looking for new phone with good sound should try these lg phones with quad hifi dac (and a good pair of headphones) if they dont want to use external dacs like fiio. Its sad to see that most manufacturers ignore the audio side of things on phones these days.

I do own a LG V40 as well. Purely from Sound quality wise, it is almost there upto the First gen Fiio X5 mark. As much as the superior quality of DAC, i was let down by the quality of the stock ear phones. If you are able to invest in a quality earphone / headphones, the V40 presents a strong case for music lover on the move!

 

[firearm12]

Yes, it has probably the best audio implementation of any mobile phone.
If one can ignore the OK software, in general issues with LG phones (not that every phone has one) it's a good phone
If I am not wrong , it's DAC can also decode MQA at hardware level

Yes it has mqa support. I have not found any issues with the phone yet apart from ok user interface. Infact its the first phone thats not dropped singal yet inside my house, i live in a place where signal is very very poor and always have to forward the calls to my landline. I also found the screen of this phone to be amazing, better than super saturated samsung amoleds.

 

[frend2001]

EVen the earlier LG20 and LG30 are also having quad DAC and offer great VFM.

I believe new LG V30 can still be had at around 25k~ with B&O iem.

It has a great camera too. Sadly underrated but to guys like us, its fun stumbling upon underdogs like LG V series.

 

[shibashis]

I was an ardent HTC user for years, held on very dearly to the HTC one A9 and the 10, you guessed it because of the audio quality out of the headphone output. Then HTC decided they wanna be Apple and well....I had to leave my dear HTC.
I have used a LG G6 and now am on my V30+, never looking back. As for the UI just get Nova launcher, it will take care of the interface issues.
The Quad DAC on the LGs really shine when you pair it with IEM or headphones with 50 Ohm or higher impedance. I highly recommend Soundmagic E80 with LG along with Poweramp as your player for local files.
If you have Tidal subscription you will not have to look far for great audio pleasure on a budget.

 

[AVM]

LG has been underrated with mobiles. I have 3 year old Q6. Strong build with military grade construction. Fallen off a million times and yet keeps going. This is aspect is most over looked.
Next one would be between G8 or V40

 

[hifitoaster]

I do own a LG V40 as well. Purely from Sound quality wise, it is almost there upto the First gen Fiio X5 mark. As much as the superior quality of DAC, i was let down by the quality of the stock ear phones. If you are able to invest in a quality earphone / headphones, the V40 presents a strong case for music lover on the move!

I had the fiio x5 ii and I felt the v30 superior in clarity and seperation in comparison. I felt it superior than fiio. If you are are looking for a day uptil some 25-30k I don't think u will find anything better than v30 and above. V30 and v40 are identocal in audio as per reviews. The only real cheap DAP which blew my mind despite cost was zishan dsd. Damn it looked ugly as hell though.

 

[firearm12]

The Quad DAC on the LGs really shine when you pair it with IEM or headphones with 50 Ohm or higher impedance. I highly recommend Soundmagic E80 with LG along with Poweramp as your player for local files.
If you have Tidal subscription you will not have to look far for great audio pleasure on a budget.

Any specific reason for 50ohms. Is it recommemded from lg? I am using sennheiser ie8 and its 16 ohms. Wondering if 50ohms and above will fare better

 

[shibashis]

Any specific reason for 50ohms. Is it recommemded from lg? I am using sennheiser ie8 and its 16 ohms. Wondering if 50ohms and above will fare better

50 Ohms and above triggers the 'high impedance' mode, whatever you are using is driven better and you can increase the volume a lot further.

 

[kvijay.svg]

What Dac does it have?

 

[rikhav]

ESSES9218P HI-FI chip

Same as LG G7

 

[hifitoaster]

The thing is the sound of lg falls into the category best entry level dacs. I had a jds labs c5d sometime back. But didn't had the v30 and jds at the same time. But if I am not wrong the jds labs stuff was more cleaner but leaner with better channel seperation. I don't think it sounds better than fiio q5 or opportunity ha2se or the ifi nano bl. But the convenience of listening to hi quality audio without adding another device is what matters the most. I have a mojo which I do not use often due to inconvenience.

 

[Krishroy2004]

Got LG V30+ with B&O for 25K. HiFi DAC is pretty good. enjoying the music.

 

[bobbyprajan]

I bought a V30+ a month back, yes the phone is impressive on all counts except the software updates

 

[adhingra]

I also bought a gently used pre-owned one for a bargain. 128gb on-board bundled with a 256gb SD card that is good enough for most of my low res music on the go. The interface is ok, but surprisingly the cameras really shine. Using it now on a holiday in Iceland. The on-board dac is really brilliant, but I recently bought a pair of Bluetooth mmcx adapters for my IEMs so the dac gets bypassed if you use BT - something you may keep in mind if you use BT often. Can’t gush enough on the fantastic value on the LG V series.

 

[Ashenden]

It’s odd that other manufacturers aren’t trying to improve their onboard audio. With prices of phones going neck to neck with ultrabooks and hardly any innovation seen in new releases, I feel this is an area they can try on and get an usp in a crowded marketplace.

 

[hifitoaster]

It’s odd that other manufacturers aren’t trying to improve their onboard audio. With prices of phones going neck to neck with ultrabooks and hardly any innovation seen in new releases, I feel this is an area they can try on and get an usp in a crowded marketplace.

Decent sound is only the priority of 95 percent, and most flagships these days sound like a yesteryear dap. It's waste of effort to improve audio where most ppl are not bothered as long as it doesn't sound ugly. That's a bad thing for audio lovers. Hope the amps and dacs get even smaller and less power consumingin the coming years that every other smartphone will have something like the ess or ak dacs.

 

[Ashenden]

the amps and dacs get even smaller and less power consuming

Do good dacs and headphone amps draw more power as in the Lg V40 battery discharges faster? I’m asking for my understanding

 

[Ashenden]

It's waste of effort to improve audio where most ppl are not bothered as long as it doesn't sound ugly.

With streaming being where audio industry is moving towards, improved audio in phones should be well received. For most consumers once they get a taste of what they’re missing, they will understand the value of a good dac/amp in phone.