LG Electronics will stop making cell phones with DAC 'S built in!!!!!!

if you're an audiophile in the us, the quad-dac equipped lg phones have been the way to go, esp. since almost everyone else has ditched the headphone jack. i agree they're not the most reliable--i've had to send two of mine in for warranty repairs--but they sound significantly better than apple or samsung and it's nice not having to drag around an external amp. kind of shame they couldn't make a dent in the market, but i do see new v50s going for  <$300

I seem to get updates about once a month.  Regarding reliability, I haven’t had any problem whatsoever, outside of the BT pairing, with reliability.  I definitely had issues with iPhones although Apple Support is pretty damn good.  My biggest complaint with iPhones is the memory, which can’t be expanded.  I had to trade in the iPhone 5 because every update increased the size of the apps and I ran out of memory.  I was deleting apps to use others, just like a commercial that ran a few years ago.  Android at least gives you up to 2TB in storage

I still have a V30 that I keep as a backup, which I now use to control my Node 2 streamer. It does have a pretty decent dac which only works through the headphone jack and actually has to be turned on manually. The phones are quite good, but the main problem is that LG NEVER updates the Damn things. I bought mine in early 2018 and it got ONE update in Mar. To this day, it's still on the Mar. 2018 security update. Let's not even mention OS updates...☹

I was in a Best Buy yesterday and asked about the LG phones out of curiosity and was told that they were not reliable and one of the worst phones built. Maybe too much effort went into the DAC?

They do, or did, make phones.  The predecessor to their current lineup used a high quality DAC and got reviewed in Stereophile.  At the time I needed a new phone and I was interested in getting a quality portable music player.  I was looking at the usual suspects such as Astell and Kern but I didn’t want to have to carry 2 portable devices , a separate headphone amp, etc.  The LG played Hi Rez files, and because it’s Android you can store up to 2TB of files on the SD Card and not have to faff around with and external HD.
  The screen is eye popping-the same OLED as LG TVs.  And it’s fast-downloads virtually instantaneous.  Camera was a huge improvement over the iPhone 6 that was my previous phone.
  Biggest negative-BT pairing.  Second biggest-try to find one.  After the Sterephile review the Verizon people stared blankly when I asked about it.  Eventually I procured one.  I had the same salesman 2 years later when I got the new one and he said I was the only LG customer he ever had.
  I did connect it to my preamp a few times by a mini cable to compare how it sounded to my regular components.  It held its own but it obviously wasn’t going to compete against a $5K DAC and associated transports, and of course there is the inconvenience of having the phone tethered to your system.
  I wonder why LG didn’t try to market it more in the audiophile community after the Stereophile review

I buy a new phone every year. Never a LG.. Don:t know what I'm not missing.

I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight. First Kim broke up with Kanye and now this. I’m devastated!!!!

LG made phones?

I don’t think too many people here rely all that much on any phone’s DAC.  Could be wrong, but I sure as hell don’t. 

You mean upscale DACs?

That’s nice, I just bought one a few months ago and paid the usual price.  What site has them for $69?