What will be the best smartphone for an audiophile in 2018?
There is only one way to go if you are a hard-core audiophile. The Onkyo Granbeat.
Specifications
Smartphone
Operating system
Android™ 6.0 (Marshmallow)
APU
Qualcomm MSM8956
Hexa-Core (Dual Core 1.8G+Quad Core 1.4G)
Display
5.0-inch, IPS panel, capacitance, touch screen (Full HD 1920 x 1080) (Gorilla
®
Glass Ver. 3 is employed)
Internal memory
128 GB (RAM: 3GB) *Including system area for Android
Expandable slots
micro SD x 1 (SDHC/SDXC compatible), up to 256 GB (exFAT format)
SIM card slots
nano SIM x 2 (SIM slot x 2 independent of the micro SD slot)
Dual SIM Dual Standby compatible. *While talking/ data communication with one SIM, the other SIM cannot be used at the same time
SIM 1: 4G LTE/ 3G compatible, SIM 2: 3G / 2G compatible
Supported bands
LTE Band B1/3/7/8/19/26 with Diversity
HSDPA/WCDMA Quad-Band B1/5/6/8/19
GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Tethering
Supported by Wi‐Fi, Bluetooth
®
, USB
Camera shooting
Main: 16 Mega pixels (F 2.0) IMX 298 Exmor RS sensor (manufactured by SONY) with flash function
Sub: 8 Megapixels (F 2.2)
Movie recording
Main: 4K UHD with light function, Sub: Full‐HD
File format (Stills)
JPEG
File format (Movie recording)
MP4
Wi-Fi
802.11 a/ b/ g/ n/ ac (Wi-Fi direct / WPS)
Bluetooth
®
Version 4.1
Profile: A2DP/ AVRCP/ HSP/ OPP/ HID/ PAN
Codec: SBC/ Qualcomm
®
aptX™/ Qualcomm
®
aptX™ HD (Transmit only)
Speaker
Full-range dynamic type x1
Positioning system
GPS, GLONASS, A-GPS
Sensors
Acceleration sensor + gyro sensor, electronic compass, proximity sensor, illuminance sensor
Music Player
DAC & HP Amplifier
ESS Technology Inc.
SABRE DAC "ES9018C2M" × 2 + Headphone AMP "SABRE 9601K" × 2
Music file format (playback)
DSD/ DSF/ DSD-IFF/ MQA/ FLAC/ ALAC/ WAV/ AIFF/ Ogg-Vorbis/ MP3/ AAC
Frequencies and bit rates
11.2 MHz/ 5.6 MHz/ 2.8 MHz/ 1 bit
44.1k/ 48k/ 88.2 k/ 96k / 176.4 k / 192 k / 352.8 k / 384 k
16bit / 24bit (* 32bit float / integer is down‐converted to 24bit and played back)
Playlist data format
M3U/ PLS/ WPL
Movie file playback format
H.263/ H.264 AVC/ H.265 HEVC/ MPEG-4 SP/ VP8/ VP9
Image file playback format
JPEG/ GIF/ PNG/ BMP/ WebP
Input-Output terminal
2.5 mm 4 pole balanced headphone output
(BTL / ACG switching, Line out mode supported, Jack insertion detection ON / OFF possible)
* Assign: R‐ / R + / L + L‐ from the terminal tip
3.5 mm 4 pole unbalanced headphone output
(Corresponds to earphone with microphone function (CTIA standard compliant), Line out mode correspondence, jack insertion detection ON / OFF possible)
Micro USB / OTG output
* charge / data transfer input terminal shared
Max. output (JEITA)
75 mW + 75 mW (Unbalanced)
150 mW + 150 mW (Balanced)
Total harmonic distortion
Below 0.01%
S/N ratio
Above 115 db
Frequency band (playback)
20 Hz ‐ 80 kHz
Impedance
Unbalanced: 16 - 300Ω / Balanced: 32 - 600Ω
Gain
High / Normal / Low1 / Low2
Sound customize
Precision EQ, up-sampling, real time DSD conversion, lock range adjust, digital filter and featured EQ
Volume
61 steps (*including zero position)
L/R balance adjustment
Yes
Operations on main unit
Rotary volume knob, play, skip, return, HOLD
* HOLD key disables all screens, key operations, and reception operations
Basic
Continuous playback time
Playing time: 25 h (96 kHz / 24 bit, FLAC, Unbalanced playback, with SIM in standby)