Phones, audio and bluetooth

[B12]

Hi there

Perhaps audio enthusiasts will best know the answer to this, who knows. I have a Galaxy S8 which I use for listening to music among other things. It has a headphone jack which is great, it also has bluetooth. So now that I got the 2 topics at hand front and center here's my question. The bold parts below get to the point.

The phone has a signal-to-noise ratio of about 92dB through the headphone jack and I have a pair of Maxell bluetooth earbuds that have a signal-to-noise ratio of about 108dB.

I get that through the headphone jack the audio is capped to the 92dB since that's what it is allotted in performance. What puzzles me is whether that same DAC works the bluetooth as well. Because if my Maxell earbuds can produce up to 108dB of noise I'd like to experience that over the 92dB. I am well aware that 108dB is damaging to ears over time, possibly even short term, but that's not the point of my question. Point is when I use the Maxell earbuds they sound about as loud as the headphone audio if not lower. I have pressed the button on the earbuds themselves to "override" the controls on the phone and it makes very little difference.

So is the bluetooth controlled by the same DAC as the headphone jack?

Thanks for any help.😁

[BKNS27]

@B12 

The DAC will boost 10db.

[B12]

@BKNS27 Thanks for letting me know, I'll give it a go. 😁

I listen to heavy music, generally but otherwise I'll listen to just about anything else aside from pop/country.

[BKNS27]

@B12 

I listen to Jazz and of course Pink Floyd…big Floyd fan so I don’t listen to my music load but when I want a booster in db.

I install an Ultralink Streambit DAC for only $12 for my KZ or CCA headphones that I got locally at my Vision’s Electronics store.

https://www.visions.ca/product-detail/34547/ultralink_bitstream_portable_headphone_amp?categoryId=0&... 

[B12]

@BKNS27 I see. I tried it out for a minute and personalized sounds "better" than original but not louder than it was before.

I have a Galaxy Note 3 that can do 96dB which is obviously louder and I find has cleaner audio. I'm not sure why that is other than the DAC being different.

[BKNS27]

@B12 

I like listening to music with the Samsung phone built in customizing sound for each of my KZ or CCA IEM headphones.

Here is the link to customizing each headphone by maximizing the db at different frequencies.

Samsung customizing headphone sound

[Anonymous]

---

@B12 wrote:

Ah, I see. So what is the difference?

I'd also like to point out I didn't buy them because I thought they were loud 😂 bought them to experiment.

---

 @B12 

Google or DuckDuckGo is your friend. Start reading.

You only get one set of ears with no known method of repair. Protect them.

[B12]

Ah, I see. So what is the difference?

I'd also like to point out I didn't buy them because I thought they were loud 😂 bought them to experiment.

[Anonymous]

SNR is not volume. Manufacturers also help themselves to fiddling with these technical specs to sell their products.

[will13am]

Loudness and signal to noise ratio are too different things.

[B12]

Yeah that does make sense. I just don't get why the earbuds advertise a dB rating and can't seem to actually achieve that rating.

[Anonymous]

The DAC resides in the final output which makes sense because sound being output is inherently analogue. So the headphone jack DAC is in the phone. The bluetooth DAC is in the earbuds.