carolinian showstopping: BBK's Vivo X1 is a phone for audiophiles, packs high-end DAC and Beyerdynamic earphones

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

BBK's Vivo X1 is a phone for audiophiles, packs high-end DAC and Beyerdynamic earphones

We've never paid much attention to BBK's phones in the past, but today, this Chinese company -- who's actually the creator of the Oppo brand for the Western market -- announced a rather interesting Android 4.1 device. The idea of this Vivo X1 is that BBK wants to take audio very seriously on its new flagship phone, which is why it's been given a Cirrus Logic CS4398 digital-analog converter plus a CS8422 sample-rate converter -- a combo that's seemingly popular amongst Hi-Fi connoisseurs and manufacturers. And to match that audio performance, BBK's also throwing in a pair of Beyerdynamic MMX 71 iE earphones (20Hz-22kHz, 12Ω, 104dB) as part of the ¥2,498 ($400) package; though you can also choose the AKG K420 or the Sennheiser CX215 instead when buying from BBK's official online store.

The rest of the Vivo X1, however, is more bog-standard in comparison: MediaTek MT6577T processor (1.2GHz, dual core, Cortex-A9), 4.7-inch 960 x 540 IPS display, 1GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage, eight-megapixel main camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and WCDMA 2100 3G radio. The only real highlight here is perhaps the 2,000mAh battery, which is non-removable but still rather impressive considering it's in a 6.55mm-thin body. Even the Oppo Finder has a 6.65mm thickness and yet lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, whereas BBK's thinner phone has one. What's missing here is microSD expansion, but there's 15GB of Baidu cloud storage should users wish to take advantage of that.

The Vivo X1 may just be available for pre-order now, but the folks at BBK couldn't help but tease the highlights of its next-generation device already: bezel-free design, 1080p display, big battery and 13-megapixel camera. We look forward to that.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile