I would have agreed with you a few years ago; however, not now. The dongle DAC market has exploded. IMHO, to say that an audiophile phone beats the Cayin RU6 and RU7 which are around £250 is ridiculous. I say the RU6 and RU7 because I have them; however, many would add a host of other dongle DAC amps (most of which are even cheaper than the Cayins) to the list that outperform audiophile phones including:
iBasso DC03 PRO
iBasso DC04 PRO
Aune Yuki
Hiby FC6
Tanchjim Space
The truth is phone companies do not care about audio fidelity beyond Bluetooth codecs (as dictated by the mass market). Audiophiles represent a niche market: this niche is even smaller in the smartphone community hence LG pulled out. And let's face it, they were the last to create amazing integrated DACs in their V--series smartphones. But that was a few years ago now and dongle DACs have taken portable audiophile listening to the next level - beyond smartphone capabilities. And there are so many different implementations and configurations, not too mention some with discrete components; rendering audiophile smartphones a thing of the past.
I have the LG V20 and a TANCHJIM Space. Note to readers: The Space seems to have stability issues on the V20, but not my newer Android devices.
However, you are correct the Space has some impressive improvements over the V20 from purely a HiFi listening experience in an App such as USB Audio Player PRO.
That doesn't make the V20 bad though, and I still daily drive the V20 whereas the Space gets little usage.
Most of these USB DACs don't have ADCs or passthroughs onboard, and compatibility seems iffy on a per app basis.
In many cases you have to go through a few physically manual processes to switch around to different apps or functions on your phone requiring audio.
You can be listening to your HiFi tracks in USB Audio Player PRO, hop to discord, to a phone call, and back to your USB Audio Player PRO with the V20.
You don't have to carry an extra device, which at places like the gym are likely to get damaged especially if even slightly bulky.
Also, you can turn off and on the HiFi DAC to save battery, or if you have the V20 just carry a spare battery with yourself if you are that hardcore.
Typically my battery lasts the whole day.
Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with these improvements in the USB DAC market, but it isn't perfect yet.
A big part of that is likely Android OS technical problems and the market still in what I would consider its early phases.
Simply put the good "Audiophile" grade phones are jacks of all trades but are no longer masters at all.
However, they do offer the most convenience.
I will reiterate that these internal DAC implementations on phones like the LG V series offer a significant improvement over something like a phone with a random 3.5mm OEM DAC implementation.
It is worth noting though, that as the days pass the convenience level is decreasing as these older "Audiophile" grade phones age and start becoming outdated from a software and hardware perspective.
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