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So, posting here was a last resort, but I've exhausted all my other options. I'll try to make this as concise as possible:
I just did a bluetooth/aux input retrofit for my car so I can stop using CDs for music. Aux sounds crystal clear, bluetooth with my 2nd generation iPod touch sounds crystal clear, bluetooth with my Optimus G Pro has static, crackling at certain frequencies. Doesn't sound compressed necessarily, just crackly.
What I've done:
1) Hard reset.
2) Tried both the original 4.1.2 and the new "value pack" update.
3) Actually sent my phone back to AT&T and got a refurbished one in the mail.
4) Sent my bluetooth retrofit unit back and got a new one in the mail.
5) Rooted the phone, installed freegee and twrp, and flashed the hkfriends kernel.
None of this fixed my issues. When playing the same exact song on my iPod and Android phone, the iPod wins every time.
P.S. My friend's Verizon phone (I think it's a Motorola Razr) has the same sound quality issues. Not sure of Android version, though.
Music is the absolute most important thing for me, and if I can't get this resolved I will have to switch back to Windows Phone/iPhone, despite how much I love Android. I have no knowledge or time to develop a new Rom for the G Pro and there's no telling when we'll get one that could fix my issues.
Is anyone else having these problems, or does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks!
For some reason my phone decided to play music using "Phone Audio". I disabled phone audio for the device in bluetooth setting, then it connected as an AV signal, and quality improved drastically.
khenault said:
For some reason my phone decided to play music using "Phone Audio". I disabled phone audio for the device in bluetooth setting, then it connected as an AV signal, and quality improved drastically.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion. Just tried it, unfortunately did not seem to make any noticeable difference for me. To clarify, the sound quality is fine for the most part, it's just at certain frequencies I hear crackling.
By the way, earlier I also edited the audio.conf file under /system/etc/bluetooth and changed the values of "SBCSources=1" and "MPEG12Sources=0" to 0 and 1 respectively, which I read should force better quality out of bluetooth. Additionally I changed the value "Master=false" to true, which I also read could improve quality. It might be my mind playing tricks on me but it does seem to sound better, however I still hear the crackling at times, so I'm definitely not where I want to be.
Highly disappointing. Any other suggestions?
Which music player are you using on your phone? And have you tried any of the equalizer apps from the market?
Sent from my LG-E980 using xda premium
I've tried both the Music app that LG includes, and Google's Play Music app, which I prefer. No difference. Have not tried any equalizers, but not quite sure what that would do aside from eliminating the frequencies that have issues through bluetooth but work fine through an aux input? I don't consider butchering the music as an acceptable solution, unfortunately.
try this, it might help
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51930699
Does this help with volume output?
russilker said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Just tried it, unfortunately did not seem to make any noticeable difference for me. To clarify, the sound quality is fine for the most part, it's just at certain frequencies I hear crackling.
By the way, earlier I also edited the audio.conf file under /system/etc/bluetooth and changed the values of "SBCSources=1" and "MPEG12Sources=0" to 0 and 1 respectively, which I read should force better quality out of bluetooth. Additionally I changed the value "Master=false" to true, which I also read could improve quality. It might be my mind playing tricks on me but it does seem to sound better, however I still hear the crackling at times, so I'm definitely not where I want to be.
Highly disappointing. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity - how did you find out editing the audio.conf file? I'm looking for a way to boost the output volume for my bluetooth, did a quick search and saw your post and it made me curious...
Will this change boost the output volume at all or is there a separate line or file to be edited?
Thanks for your help.
Hi,
most of the time, I'm using my phone for listening to music, and since I own Galaxy S4 Mini (GT-I9195), I'm thinking about throwing my 320€ worth smartphone in trash. Mostly I'm listening to rock music where basses are very important. When I was using stock firmware, everytime I increased the bass level, the music volume diminished. It came so far, that when I was traveling from work to home by bus, I could hear what people around me were talking to, even though my volume level was on 100%. Then I somehow increased the volume of my phone (I found a thread how to do that here on xda), but then the next problem became annoying. Almost every time I skipped the song, the equalizer settings went back to default. So every time i had to press menu button --> settings --> equalizer, and then basses went back to normal. Sometimes equalizer doesn't work at all, until I reboot my phone.
So I tried with Cyanogenmod today, and I'm even more disappointed with music quality. Every time I try to turn on bass boost, the music starts to crackle, even though bass level is only on slight. I'm using 120€ worth Sony headphones, which work great on any other device, so the problem definitely isn't in headphones.
Does anyone deal with the same problem? I just don't know what to do anymore ...
Thanks in advance & sorry for bad English.
m_010411 said:
Hi,
most of the time, I'm using my phone for listening to music, and since I own Galaxy S4 Mini (GT-I9195), I'm thinking about throwing my 320€ worth smartphone in trash. Mostly I'm listening to rock music where basses are very important. When I was using stock firmware, everytime I increased the bass level, the music volume diminished. It came so far, that when I was traveling from work to home by bus, I could hear what people around me were talking to, even though my volume level was on 100%. Then I somehow increased the volume of my phone (I found a thread how to do that here on xda), but then the next problem became annoying. Almost every time I skipped the song, the equalizer settings went back to default. So every time i had to press menu button --> settings --> equalizer, and then basses went back to normal. Sometimes equalizer doesn't work at all, until I reboot my phone.
So I tried with Cyanogenmod today, and I'm even more disappointed with music quality. Every time I try to turn on bass boost, the music starts to crackle, even though bass level is only on slight. I'm using 120€ worth Sony headphones, which work great on any other device, so the problem definitely isn't in headphones.
Does anyone deal with the same problem? I just don't know what to do anymore ...
Thanks in advance & sorry for bad English.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello there.
First off, if you are going to throw S4 mini into trash, you can instead send it to me and I'll pay for the delivery, as I simply love the phone.
Secondly, I think the problem is you and not the phone. I have S4 mini and I love listening to music. As anyone who loves music (proffesionaly or unproffesionaly) knows, basses ARE NOT THE ONLY (and most) important thing, even in rock music. And as far as basses goes S4 mini does a very good job, as it does in other spectrums of music playback. The volume decreases a bit if you set it to bass, because the equalizer decreases the treble value, thus you get the perception of decreased laudnes. Although I would recommend you get your hearing checked, as the laudness of S4 mini seems to be laud enough for others.
If you really like to listen to high quality music and are a true audiophile, than you wouln't be listening to the music on S4 mini on the first place, but would go for a high quality professional grade mp3 (or FLAC) player with an external amplifier.
Therefore I conclude that you are just a bass freak who wants to complain, but please feel free to prove me wrong.
My opinion and advice may not matter since I don't own a s4 mini (would love to have it)
But did you tried sound alive from Samsung?
Just increase the bass and some clarity then reverb and room size (if you like) then the bass is on a good level, wanting more bass than that would only get in the way of the guitars part!!
Or try viper4android if you're on a desperate situation...
Can I ask something here?? Is the smart volume feature any good??
@Shiningb
Firstly, thanks for your answer. I realized that everything works perfectly with stock Samsung Music app (which doesn't use build-in equalizer, but uses it's own one). The quality of sound is really great.
Only problem is that I prefer Google Play Music which is much clearer, easyer to navigate and overall has nicer interface. But there I deal with equalizer problem; the sound is great at the moment, the equalizer is set the way I want, basses are great, but then suddenly (without particual reason) equalizer just goes flat and the volume increases for about 30% rapidly which is a great way to go deaf. Then I have to restart equalizer app, and it starts working normally again for about next 10 minutes. Until I won't find the solution, I have to use stock music app, ok, i can get along with this
I googled about the issue and I found that it is quite common with S4 users. I heard about ViPER4Android today, and I'm going to try it right now, thaniks for your advice !
And sorry, I don't know if smart volume feature works good, I use mp3gain app on my PC which equalizes volumes of all tracks on the same level and works perfectly.
m_010411 said:
@Shiningb
Firstly, thanks for your answer. I realized that everything works perfectly with stock Samsung Music app (which doesn't use build-in equalizer, but uses it's own one). The quality of sound is really great.
Only problem is that I prefer Google Play Music which is much clearer, easyer to navigate and overall has nicer interface. But there I deal with equalizer problem; the sound is great at the moment, the equalizer is set the way I want, basses are great, but then suddenly (without particual reason) equalizer just goes flat and the volume increases for about 30% rapidly which is a great way to go deaf. Then I have to restart equalizer app, and it starts working normally again for about next 10 minutes. Until I won't find the solution, I have to use stock music app, ok, i can get along with this
I googled about the issue and I found that it is quite common with S4 users. I heard about ViPER4Android today, and I'm going to try it right now, thaniks for your advice !
And sorry, I don't know if smart volume feature works good, I use mp3gain app on my PC which equalizes volumes of all tracks on the same level and works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens with equalizer because the system kills it from the ram
So a great solution is to use viper...
But you need root and put the apk of viper into system/app set permissions to rw-r-r
Like this it won't be killed, because it will make part of the system app
By the way what kind of music do you hear??
I'm a sound freak with viper, I tunr things like crazy until I reach the perfect sound (for a time!)
I really wanted to know how the smart volume works since the I9070 won't have a official 4.2.2 update :'(
Thanks for fast answer.
I installed ViPER4Android, but everything I try to change, doesn't have any effect on sound. I don't know what is wrong ...
Could you help me with Viper? I know how to put a file in system/app and set permissions.
My phone is rooted I'm using CWM and stock android from Samsung.
My favorite artists are 30 Seconds to Mars, Billy Idol, Bring me the Horizon, Foo Fighters, HIM, Kings of Leon, Oasis, RHCP, etc.
Sry, probably really won't. I owned I9000 before I9195 and it was the best phone i ever had, even better with Cyanogenmod
I bought my Tab S 10.5 primarily for multimedia consumption on the go. I love the screen and nearly everything about this tablet, including the default software suite. However, from day one I discovered that there is an issue with sound volume. It's too low. I don't mean that I need the sound to blast my ears like I want to lose my hearing. The issue is with many videos and services that were recorded intentionally or unintentionally at a relatively low volume. And so when I play those few youtube or netflix videos, I really need to strain my ears in a noisy environment to hear anything.
Anyways, for me, the sound is the number one problem. Considering the 19:10 screen, this tablet was obviously meant for media consumption. In the light of that, it's truly perplexing that the stock OS has such lousy volume level control. Please let me know the best course of action. Should I try just some tweaking under after rooting, a custom kernel, or an entire ROM replacement distribution?
Thanks.
Wrong thread
Well, I have made some progress on this problem, and fortunately without replacing the stock ROM. I rooted the device with the Autoroot ROM for T800 posted on this board. After that, it turns out that the gain settings are in a plain text file in /system/etc/default_gain.conf. I changed the two lines that said:
{ "HPOUT1 Digital Volume", 121 },
to
{ "HPOUT1 Digital Volume", 161 },
both apparently under "Headphone" and "Headset out" sections near the top of this huge file. I used the ES File Manager's "root explorer" mode to do this. After that, I had no issues with the sound output level. In fact, on my first attempt, I used something like 191, but it made a lot of default sounds way too loud and it also made it possible to crank the volume level even in "quiet" youtube and netflix videos towards quite uncomfortable levels.
I am glad I could get away without replacing the entire ROM, because besides this issue and the time synchronization (also fixed with rooting and 3rd party app), I am mostly happy with the way the stock ROM works.
Wrong thread
hello this is unfortunately digital levels only and it does not adjusts gains of the hardware. Though it helps it produces distortion / bad quality in higher levels. I'm curios if the sound driver is possible to hack.
Anyone having any problems running aftermarket roms? I'm on Liquidsmooth and I am extremely dissapointed in the bluetooth quality. About to go back to stock or get rid of the tablet to just use my tab pro instead. IT doesn't skip or pause but it like, mutes for a second every 5 or so seconds. Its not consistent. But it happens soo much it gets me really angry. I'm on a fresh copy of LiquidSmooth. Haven't really done anything and nothing is running in the background that could be taking up all the system resources. I've even tried multiple music players even tho they all are horrible except PowerAmp which still doesn't have a tablet mode years after said feature was in the works.
You know of any fixes?
Googled Android Bluetooth Skip and seems its a very common problem among a few devices including the Note 4.... I don't have any issues with my Tab Pro, Just Tab S... This is bugging me because its main function is to play Music Via Bluetooth. Would prefer it through RCA/3.5mm but I don't have one
Had the same problem with my phone, solved it by adding the bluetooth device as a trusted device, so that when connected to bluetooth speaker the phone doesnt lock its self, done the same on my tab s and no problems streaming music using google music, as far as i can figure out its related to the kernel lowering the cpu speed when the screen locks, so you may be able to solve the prob using a kernel manager and increasing the idle speed, but personally i like the phone not locking when listening to music as i can access the player without unlocking, making it easier to put on a different album or song, hope this helps
Sent from my LG-D855
Use to have similar issues with the stock player on another device.
Solved it with Playerpro.
Install from play then in the app open settings then go to Audio.
Select to install the dsp pack then make sure it's active.
You will see a new option 'Audio buffer' change this to large. See how you go.
Seems to me also like an audio buffering issue (I think PowerAmp has a larger one by default). You could try raising the minimum CPU frequency since this us often the cause for problems kind this.
On that note, don't forget that none TW based ROMs don't have support for the APT-X codec that provides vastly better audio quality over Bluetooth as long as your audio adapter/headphones/car audio supports it as well. Nothing to do with the issue at hand though.
Its not a buffering issue. Its an audio pause issue. Its extremely common with Note 4 and some others. I solved it by going to a TouchWiz OEM style rom. The AOSP roms seem to all do it. Adjusting buffering settings changes nothing. Its as if the bluetooth drivers aren't capable of handling the "power" of whats going on. The Music still plays during the pause.
So far TW Roms seem to be the best for Bluetooth Audio. I use it daily since the Tablet is the main front end to my car, with a Sony 610BT AppRemote Deck.
Hi everyone! I've just developed an app that should fix the issue of the DAC only being usable in some apps.
Now the ESS DAC/AMP can be used in any app on your phone, including Google Play Music, YouTube, Spotify, and probably many more that I haven't tested yet.
Here's the Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phascinate.lgv10.dacfix
It can be set to automatically turn on when the phone boots up. My goal was to make this a "set it and forget it" kind of fix. All you have to do is enable it once, and it should be fixed for good. Of course, I've only just released it so it may have some bugs. But so far it's working fine on my end.
If you have any issues or it's not working correctly, feel free to tell me here! Hope it works for you guys! I'm really loving the sound quality on this phone.
doing back up now so I can try this, very exciting news if this works
Seems like it's working in Neutron amp which has been my pain point ever since buying the phone.
Thanks!
*tested with youtube and DI.fm both seem working with the DAC with the fix
wow big deal, thanks
Tested with YouTube and XiiaLive Pro and the volume definitely changes when toggling the hifi option on and off.
It is working on Poweramp. Thanks.
Sent from my LG-H961N using Tapatalk
Interesting... Can the developer tell us a little more about how this works? I really didn't think it would be as simple as an app like this making it work.
jasonb1985 said:
Interesting... Can the developer tell us a little more about how this works? I really didn't think it would be as simple as an app like this making it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The concept is actually quite simple! Immediately when music starts playing, it plays some completely (and I mean completely! We don't want any background noise, do we?) silent media which tricks the phone into turning the DAC on.
Phascinate said:
The concept is actually quite simple! Immediately when music starts playing, it plays some completely (and I mean completely! We don't want any background noise, do we?) silent media which tricks the phone into turning the DAC on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming things were bit perfect to begin with, will the signal still be bit perfect?
jasonb1985 said:
Assuming things were bit perfect to begin with, will the signal still be bit perfect?
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Click to collapse
In theory, it should be. Because it's set to be silent, Android should simply completely skip over the silent media. In my own testing it doesn't seem to have had any negative effect whatsoever on sound quality. Though I'd love to see the frequency output in something like Audacity if anyone wants to test it.
Phascinate said:
In theory, it should be. Because it's set to be silent, Android should simply completely skip over the silent media. In my own testing it doesn't seem to have had any negarive effect whatsoever on sound quality. Though I'd love to see the frequency output in something like Audacity if anyone wants to test it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alrighty. Right now I'm on my lunch break at work listening with a Brainwavz HM5. Things seem good here, but I'll test tonight with my AKG Q701.
I really only use the stock music app and TIDAL which both worked without your fix, but I'll test everything out more tonight. My only concern would be a possible negative effect with apps that already worked fine, for example a silent track playing along with the regular music making things possibly no longer bit perfect, or extra battery drain for some odd reason. I'll test sound quality with my Q701 tonight and see if I notice any extra battery drain. All I can confirm at the moment is that toggling hifi on and off definitely changed the volume with apps that it didn't before.
Good work.
jasonb1985 said:
Alrighty. Right now I'm on my lunch break at work listening with a Brainwavz HM5. Things seem good here, but I'll test tonight with my AKG Q701.
I really only use the stock music app and TIDAL which both worked without your fix, but I'll test everything out more tonight. My only concern would be a possible negative effect with apps that already worked fine, for example a silent track playing along with the regular music making things possibly no longer bit perfect, or extra battery drain for some odd reason. I'll test sound quality with my Q701 tonight and see if I notice any extra battery drain. All I can confirm at the moment is that toggling hifi on and off definitely changed the volume with apps that it didn't before.
Good work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that was my concern too. But everything seems to be working fine.
Feel free to post your results with the Q701's as soon as you test them!
Good job, works as intended. Thanks.
Few suggestions: Show status of app running in background from top pull down menu. Also the ability to enable disable from there. Otherwise still 5 out 5. :thumbup:
man you are a genious and this is the best ever app i appreciated this year
Does this app need root permission?
Edit: nvm. Just installed and gonna test..
Thanks for the effort mate. I'll also give it a try though as a non-audiophile person, I fail to notice Hi-Fi DAC effect anyway.
for those who can distinguish the difference between DAC enabled/disabled, can you tell that's even distinguishable with the QuadBeat headphones? I'm trying with some FLAC and various music players but other than then "higher volume" I cannot notice an improvement sound wise.
I do try with the QuadBeat and Bose QC25. I also just purchased a Piston 3. Do you think it's my headphones who are not enough to make a difference?
Can you maybe recommend a song where you can clearly distinguish the performance between DAC enabled or disabled?
Amazing app, thank you very much.
Now I challenge you to check the other audio limitation of the phone.
The normal and high gain mode of the Amp depending the impedance of the headphones at the moment is completely automatic.
That's OK with IEM but there are problems with big headphones with low impedance. In those cases the normal gain mode delivers not enough power (volume) and being able to select or force the high gain mode would be a perfect solution.
At this moment the high gain mode is triggered with headphones with an Impedance over 50ohm.
Thanks anyway for this app.
Phascinate said:
Yeah, that was my concern too. But everything seems to be working fine.
Feel free to post your results with the Q701's as soon as you test them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be no negative effects on SQ. Not sure on any change in battery life yet. Good so far.
Fantastic! At first I thought there would be a big battery impact since there is silent media playing, but then I remembered that only happens when there is actually music playing - fantastic implementation. Hopefully there is no battery drain. Works here for Google Play Music, so thank you very much!!!
it is working great with spotify here
I do notice the clarity with dac on and off.. however i'm using free spotify so the music stream is not high quality.
I only did notice a bug not sure because of this app or not but it never happen before.
So today i plug my phone to aux in my car in the morning everything work great.
in the afternoon i plug aux again to my car and this time my 4G or 3G writing on my signal bar is gone until i restart. This never happen before i install your apps, but seems i can't repeat this bug.
Firstly, thank you for taking the time to make this app. I just tested it with Player Pro and it seems to be working (Player Pro did work before but only if you didn't install the DSP pack). I did have one question. I noticed that the EQ is not working in Player Pro. You can open the EQ, but changing any of the frequencies or selecting a preset has no effect on the audio. Does that mean that the other audio features like Replay Gain also won't work with the app installed?