LG Introduces G5 Modular Smartphone with LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play Audio Player

LG Electronics newest idea was revealed at the 2016 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and signals an important trend on mobile devices. The LG G5 modular concept features Qualcomm’s aptX HD for wireless 24-bit sound over Bluetooth, and offers a high quality audio player, designed in cooperation with B&O Play, featuring an ESS Tech DAC and amplifier.

To complement the new LG G5 smartphone, introduced at the Mobile World Congress 2016, in Barcelona, LG Electronics also announced its new LG Tone Platinum (model HBS-1100) Bluetooth headset, designed in cooperation with Harman Kardon. The new headset uses balanced armature drivers and is the world’s first Bluetooth headset equipped with Qualcomm’s aptX HD codec, delivering wireless 24-bit audio.

Among several new products recently introduced by ESS Technology is the next generation SABRE Digital to Analog Converter (DAC), the ES9028, featuring a new Dual-DAC architecture, and the new ES9603 Headphone Amplifier. Both are designed specifically for HiFi audio enabled smartphones and were used in Vivo’s recently announced X6 Plus Android smartphone.

In November 2015, audioXpress published a unique group testing on smartphone audio playback, focused on audio circuit quality and the performance of the playback DAC, as intended for wired headphone listening. The products under review included the iconic iPod classic, the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 6, Vivo Xplay 3S, Vivo X5 Max, HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S5, and Sony Xperia Z2.