Six Ways to Enhance Your Mobile Music Experience

Although audiophiles often lament their smartphone’s sound quality, for better or worse, the majority music is consumed on a mobile device. Fortunately, for those with a passion for high-fidelity, there are steps you can take to enhance your mobile listening experience. Here are six ways to improve your phone’s sound quality and make your ears happy.

1. Start with the Phone

You can tweak settings and accessorize all you want, but one of the best ways to get better sound quality on your mobile device is to buy a phone that pays attention to acoustics. For example, the LG V30 Plus, with its Hi-Fi Quad-DAC audio system and exceptional headphone jack, is known for its impeccable audio output. Starting with a phone built for great sound quality will put you ahead of the game. Bonus, if you get the LG through T-Mobile, you can get a plan that features unlimited streaming of music and other media.

2. Check the Source of Your Music

The quality of your music is going to vary depending on the source. If you’re streaming music, using Tidal as opposed to Spotify or Pandora will give you better sound because it streams lossless recordings. Lossless means that the music played is not degraded from the original recording, which is not something most music services offer.

3. Configure Your Phone Settings

Check the settings of your music apps to ensure you’re getting the best audio output offered. For instance, Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play Music all allow you to set a higher streaming quality, but note that a better streaming quality will necessarily use more data.

4. Download Sound Apps

Although some music players come with an equalizer in their sound settings (Google Play, for example), if yours doesn’t, you can download an equalizer app that will allow you to control your music experience. For Android, 10 Band Equalizer and Equalizer are both good choices. For the iPhone, check out Equalizer+ or MolaEqualizer.

5. Invest in Good Headphones

The sound coming out of the phone is only one part of the audio equation, the other part is your headphones. Headphones can be pricey, but are essential to a great music experience. First, you need to make some basic choices about your headphones- wired or wireless, earbud or over ear design. For most audiophiles, only wired, over-ear headphones will do, but there are many decent options in the other categories as well. In 2017, CNET named the Sennheiser HD800 the best in high-fidelity headphones. For wireless, the Bose QuietComfort 35 II topped the list for over-the-ear, and Bose Soundsport Wireless was the highest rated in-ear headphone.

6. Get a DAC for Your Phone

If you’ve tried all of the tricks and still find your audio experience lacking, consider an external digital to analog convertor (DAC) for your phone. DACs are not inexpensive, but if you want to absolutely maximize the audio output from your phone, this accessory might be what you’re looking for. The Chord Mojo, priced at over $600, is one of the best portable DAC’s on the market.

Just because you’re listening to music on your smartphone doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to poor sound quality. Start with a phone known for great audio, stream high-quality music recordings, adjust your phone settings, invest in great headphones (and a DAC if you’re feeling fancy) and you’ve got a recipe for an awesome music listening experience.