Top Budget Smartphones for Stellar Sound Quality: Sony Xperia L, Xperia Z3 Compact & More

Hey, I'm looking for a smartphone that has above-average sound quality and I don't expect anything more from it. I intend to use the smartphone only as mp3. Until now I used Sony Xperia L and it worked quite well but unfortunately it is now flooded. I admit that I used the smartphone well to listen to music, so I thought to look for something with better sound quality. I intend to search mainly used and broken ones (e.g. problems with the sim card or camera, etc. The most important thing is that the sounds and headphone output work) which will be cheap (up to about PLN 100 - 150). I can see that HI Fi smartphones are entering the market but they are still too expensive, even broken ones. Are there any smartphones preferably some Sony xperia that stands out with such sound quality and good output for headphones?

In addition, I am interested in whether such, e.g. Xperia Z3 compact or similar (which can be found for around PLN 100 when it does not read the sim card or has another type of damage) has a much better sound quality on headphones than, for example, Xperia L?

Thanks so much for your reply. The most important info for me is that the sound quality is not much different. For now, enough for me what a normal smartphone because I usually make up for with headphones. But I will also consider buying such a card. I found the USB Sound Blaster X G1 card on the Allegro and it seems cool I still have a question whether after connecting the smartphone to the card I put headphones into this card input and it works immediately? The sound then goes through the card? And is there sense? Will the difference be very noticeable compared to a regular smartphone?

It is not these times that to have good sound in the phone you had to change the drivers in the software e.g. k550i, k800i. Nokia had the worst sound although I did not have contact with these latest models. I would not look for a phone, only an mp3 / mp4 player, e.g. from Sony or maybe an iPod.

Personally, I am of the opinion that the sound on the phone will never match that of a device dedicated only to music because there is less electronics which translates into less interference. Although I have a phone, if I want to listen to music on headphones, I choose a Sony mp3 player (on 1 charge it works much longer than a phone).

I know it's probably better but I can't find anything nice at a reasonable price. Mp3 with a touch (in my opinion more convenient than searching or changing songs on the button) and a readable screen cost a little. And for some time after mp4 broke down I started to use the old xperia L phone and I got used to it because the music changes comfortably etc. So I always carried two phones with me from the ring and xperia only to listen to music. For now, however, I will probably look again for some xperia to listen to and about an mp3 player maybe someday when I find something interesting. Thanks for the opinion

Added after 1 [minutes]:

But as a colleague above said a phone with a USB sound card is an interesting idea and the quality can be much better than with an average mp3 player

Thanks so much for your reply

I read a little about these USB sound cards. And there were a lot of comments that they do not work well when listening to music, most of them are focused on games and surround sound. And I am asking for an opinion because maybe you will know if a card like Creative SoundBlaster Play (1) will improve my sound quality when listening to music from my phone? Because I have quite cheap to buy

For 40. If so, I think I'll take it. This external one will only be used for the phone because I have already bought an adapter. In the future I am going to buy something better, even bigger, to be used with a laptop and external speakers. For now, I will buy this SoundBLaster Play for my phone. Only this is probably the first version.

Added after 1 [minutes]:

I wonder if it really will be better with music than directly on the phone

Kraniec_Internetów wrote:

I checked this Play, and I'll just say it's rubbish - literally.

Because this equipment is typically branded and not branded.

Personally, I wouldn't play sound cards for my phone because it's just an additional device that draws electricity.