LG confirms the 'big feature' for the forthcoming V20 smartphone

LG has outlined one of the 'lynchpin' features of its forthcoming powerful V20 phone – and it's all about the audio.

The new LG V20 will feature something called a Quad DAC (digital to analogue converter), which improves the quality of the audio streaming into your ears significantly.

LG has been banging on about high-end audio since the launch of the LG G2 four years ago, which introduced 24-bit sound on an Android phone (improving the output dramatically), but now it's added in the new DAC which supports up to 32-bit music files.

Currently only one Android music player appears to actually supports music files at this resolution, Neutron Music Player, so you'll need to use this if you want to hear the difference with your 32-bit music files.

The new difference

LG is claiming that it reduces ambient noise levels by 50% over the LG V10 from 2015 (which only had a 'single' DAC) and video captured can record more detailed sound – even in louder environments.

Audio performance has increasingly become a key differentiator in smartphones in the last two years, as brands like HTC and Samsung start upgrading the internal DACs in their devices to both improve the output of basic services like Spotify and allow compatibility with Hi-Res audio.

If this is the big feature on the LG V20 – we're waiting for more information on the other headline elements in this phone – LG will need to go big on the way to improve your current audio given the relative dearth of high-end sound formats right now.