Audio Quality? - Moto Z Play Questions & Answers

I'm looking to buy a new phone. The audio quality is an important aspect for me..
Right now I have a Galaxy S6 which is OK. Not the best,not the worst.
Would it be a downgrade or an upgrade?Also,if anyone can compare it with the OP3(which is mediocre) ..that would be great.

Robert- said:
I'm looking to buy a new phone. The audio quality is an important aspect for me..
Right now I have a Galaxy S6 which is OK. Not the best,not the worst.
Would it be a downgrade or an upgrade?Also,if anyone can compare it with the OP3(which is mediocre) ..that would be great.
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Click to collapse
I cant speak for a comparison to the OP3, but I've heard very good things about the headphone jack (if thats the kind of audio quality you're looking for) on the moto z play, and I have actually used it with my ATH-M50x headphones and it works very well. Headphone jack plays loud and clear with no background hissing. Speaker quality, I think its pretty good, its fairly loud and sounds pretty good. If you really want amazing audio quality you can use the jbl moto mod which will give you very good sound and be really loud (I own one and I love it).

jon7701 said:
I cant speak for a comparison to the OP3, but I've heard very good things about the headphone jack (if thats the kind of audio quality you're looking for) on the moto z play, and I have actually used it with my ATH-M50x headphones and it works very well. Headphone jack plays loud and clear with no background hissing. Speaker quality, I think its pretty good, its fairly loud and sounds pretty good. If you really want amazing audio quality you can use the jbl moto mod which will give you very good sound and be really loud (I own one and I love it).
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I have some nice Momentum In-Ear ...I just hope it's loud enough .
Thanks

Anyone having issues with music sound quality through the headphone jack should try making sure the equalizer in the stock google play music app is completely off, and then disabling the app in settings. After that reboot the phone. For me it was a night and day difference...

metalmike6 said:
I didn't even have a chance to test this nor did I think about it until you asked. but I have a pair of Shure SHR440's they are amazing reference headphones. The sound coming out of this phone is well, it's... sound. Honestly if you're an audiophile look elsewhere. So far that's the only thing I really don't like about the phone. Like it's so bad I may return the thing. My ears are telling me that the sound is heavily compressed for some reason. The cymbals in every song sound all washy and weird like when you download a ****ty MP3 by mistake. The bass has no punch and the mids sound like your listening through a metal garbage can. For me personally it's near unlistenable but I enjoy good quality sound in my music and have a tough time listening when it doesn't sound the way it's supposed to. My LG G3 has better sound to a degree that's almost hard to imagine... I'm gonna keep running tests but I think it's the DAC in the phone itself. It just sucks. Like yeah it's loud. But that's all.
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Idk what you are talking about. I am coming from a z3 and I like the sound quality from the 3.5mm. Have you tried using poweramp?

I was using player pro... I'll give Poweramp a try. But I will say this even on YouTube the sound difference through the jack is crazy noticeable between this and the LG G3 I literally just tested it. Also what lind of music are you listening to? Because if it's dance or hip-hop or any kinda pop you're not gonna notice much of a difference.
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So weird discovery? ... Rebooted the phone out of frustration but prior to rebooting I went into the google play music app disabled all the equalizer settings then disabled the app in settings. Upon reboot the sound quality seems better? Like a lot better? I have no idea why or how? But that seems to have done it. Also I did download Poweramp just for kicks and it's nice, I'll give it a shot for a while and see if it's worth buying.

Robert- said:
I'm looking to buy a new phone. The audio quality is an important aspect for me..
Right now I have a Galaxy S6 which is OK. Not the best,not the worst.
Would it be a downgrade or an upgrade?Also,if anyone can compare it with the OP3(which is mediocre) ..that would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far the best smartphone I owned in the audio department was the HTC One M9, with its frontal dual speakers, as they were stereo, loud and clear, it always blew me away whenever I saw YouTube, Netflix or listened to music (without phones). Listening to music using the audio jack (or Bluetooth phones) it was an OK experience, nothing extraordinary, compared to the previous smartphones I owned (obviously with improvements phones have over the years).
As the HTC One M9 is last year's phone, I'd be logical to look into HTC One M10 (or better), as it should have better processing and screen configurations (and if HTC is smart enough, they kept or improved the already awesome frontal speakers).
The Moto Z Play has just one frontal speaker and (for me) is good enough, nothing compared to the HTC, but packs a decent punch if you want to see a video or listen to an audio, but to really listen to music or videos out loud, I'd advise you buying the JBL Mod, I personally do not own one but I've read good reviews about it, and you'd have a little more battery, I guess this Mod also comes with its own battery to power the speakers
Sorry not to compare with the OP3, but I don't have enough knowledge with this phone to have a relevant comparison.
Hope this helped! Cheers!

metalmike6 said:
I was using player pro... I'll give Poweramp a try. But I will say this even on YouTube the sound difference through the jack is crazy noticeable between this and the LG G3 I literally just tested it. Also what lind of music are you listening to? Because if it's dance or hip-hop or any kinda pop you're not gonna notice much of a difference.
---------- Post added at 04:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 AM ----------
So weird discovery? ... Rebooted thej phone out of frustration but prior to rebooting I went into the google play music app disabled all the equalizer settings then disabled the app in settings. Upon reboot the sound quality seems better? Like a lot better? I have no idea why or how? But that seems to have done it. Also I did download Poweramp just for kicks and it's nice, I'll give it a shot for a while and see if it's worth buying.
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Some software glitch maybe.
I listen to metal and classical mostly, with a bit of jazz and blues. Opeth, Dt, Tool, The Aristocrats Yada Yada.

arides said:
So far the best smartphone I owned in the audio department was the HTC One M9, with its frontal dual speakers, as they were stereo, loud and clear, it always blew me away whenever I saw YouTube, Netflix or listened to music (without phones). Listening to music using the audio jack (or Bluetooth phones) it was an OK experience, nothing extraordinary, compared to the previous smartphones I owned (obviously with improvements phones have over the years).
As the HTC One M9 is last year's phone, I'd be logical to look into HTC One M10 (or better), as it should have better processing and screen configurations (and if HTC is smart enough, they kept or improved the already awesome frontal speakers).
The Moto Z Play has just one frontal speaker and (for me) is good enough, nothing compared to the HTC, but packs a decent punch if you want to see a video or listen to an audio, but to really listen to music or videos out loud, I'd advise you buying the JBL Mod, I personally do not own one but I've read good reviews about it, and you'd have a little more battery, I guess this Mod also comes with its own battery to power the speakers
Sorry not to compare with the OP3, but I don't have enough knowledge with this phone to have a relevant comparison.
Hope this helped! Cheers!
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I only care about audio quality through the jack . How is that compared to your M9?

Robert- said:
I only care about audio quality through the jack . How is that compared to your M9?
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The HTC One M9 is better equalized, the bass in the Moto Z Play is more noticeable, but if you get a third party app that best equalizes the Moto Z Play it'll be just as great.
I haven't downloaded such app yet, but it shouldn't be hard to find. And use your own phones, the one that comes with the Moto Z Play sucks big time (at least for me).
I'd also be better for you to have more feedback from other users of the Moto Z Play, as audio is a very particular subject which varies from person to person.

I would like to add that the Z Play doesn't support every audio format out there. The hardware decoder is weak therefore I'd strongly recommend the "Neutron" music app which comes with its own software decoder. Or even the JetAudio or basically any app with a S/W decoder.

metalmike6 said:
Anyone having issues with music sound quality through the headphone jack should try making sure the equalizer in the stock google play music app is completely off, and then disabling the app in settings. After that reboot the phone. For me it was a night and day difference...
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Do I need to disable the Google Play Music app or Equalizer app?

Warkratos said:
Do I need to disable the Google Play Music app or Equalizer app?
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Hey man, what I did was go into the google play music app under settings and then equalizer, make sure its all set to OFF. then go and disable the Google Play Music app in system settings and then reboot...

Robert- said:
I only care about audio quality through the jack . How is that compared to your M9?
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ya agree , i am using z play rooted with viper4android installed. & it sounds Best with 3.5mm jack it can beat any device if configure proper

Quickly tested the audio quality of my new Z Play against my old Note 4 910C with Wolfson audio chip.
I use a pair of Ultimate Ears Triple FI 10. (IEM's which costed about 300€ some years ago.) Listened to some fast Punk songs.
I would not call me an Audiophile - I can't hear a difference between 320 KBit MP3 and Flac. But of course between 128 kBit and 320 kBit.
So I do care about good audio quality.
I could not notice a significant difference between the Note and the Moto. Even if there was one I wouldn't be able to tell which one was better. Different headphones or a heavily compressed audio file will for sure make way much more of a difference.
To be sure I ordered this external DAC: http://hifimediy.com/tiny-dac
It's an external Sabre DAC with improved Jitter and noise level at a very tiny size. Curious to see if I find a difference, but I don't expect very much.
I think the Moto as all recent phones delivers a very neutral and loud enough sound output at pones that don't need to much pwer.

its good but not the best

Coming from the V10, it's definitely a step down but not bad. For over-ear or on-ear portable headphones that are designed to be efficient,it's not bad at all. For sensitive IEMs, the signal isn't clean enough, you can hear a background hiss and interference from the cell radio, etc. And of course driving higher impedance headphones well like the V10 can do is out of the question.

how is the external speaker? I have seen some reviews that say its average.. I know I want to make sure its decent...
I understand it can't compete with dual front facing speakers... but how does it compare to other similar speaker setup phones? I am glad it is at least front facing!

noisyriver said:
Quickly tested the audio quality of my new Z Play against my old Note 4 910C with Wolfson audio chip.
I use a pair of Ultimate Ears Triple FI 10. (IEM's which costed about 300€ some years ago.) Listened to some fast Punk songs.
I would not call me an Audiophile - I can't hear a difference between 320 KBit MP3 and Flac. But of course between 128 kBit and 320 kBit.
So I do care about good audio quality.
I could not notice a significant difference between the Note and the Moto. Even if there was one I wouldn't be able to tell which one was better. Different headphones or a heavily compressed audio file will for sure make way much more of a difference.
To be sure I ordered this external DAC: http://hifimediy.com/tiny-dac
It's an external Sabre DAC with improved Jitter and noise level at a very tiny size. Curious to see if I find a difference, but I don't expect very much.
I think the Moto as all recent phones delivers a very neutral and loud enough sound output at pones that don't need to much pwer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did today also a small comparison with the 180 $ Sony walkman of my GF: Could not find a difference.
With high impedance headphones the Hifimediy Android DAC http://hifimediy.com/tiny-dac did a very good job to me. Tested it with 600 Ohm AKG K 141 - was still loud enough. Didn't seem to influence my battery.
So I have no concerns any more using the Moto as my portable audio device.

The sound signature thro' headphone jack is better than average. However, please don't buy moto z play if you love listening to music at lower volume thro' headphone jack. The background static, crackling sound is much higher as the radio antenna band is located very close to it ( a white band over usb type c port). Better the headphone quality more prominent is the static. I tried multiple in-ear headphones ( shure se 125 , Sennheiser cx 275s). It is design flaw.

Related

[Q] Omnia 7 Poor Audio?

Is it me or is the audio quality from the omnia poor? or is it the headphones which are supplied with the handset? i wanted to try some headphones from a shop but they wouldnt let me...hygiene issues. anyone else have this problem. if headphones are the cause which pair are recommended no more than £30 for in ear.
I am very satisfied with the sound of Zune on my Optimus 7.
I suppose that with Zune all WP7 devices will approximately have the same sound quality.
The Omnia 7 is one of the best WP7 device, so I think you should not worry.
Try some AKG earphones for instance. I've got the K319 and they are simply amazing.
http://www.digitalversus.com/akg-k319-p374_5037_170.html
For an in-ear version, AKG K370.
Otherwise I find Sennheiser quite good also.
According to GSMArena, the Omnia has like 10dB less dynamic range than the Galaxy S, plus stereo crosstalk like hell.
And no equalizer?
The equalizer is a HTC specific feature. Since Microsoft ostensibly supplied all drivers, I suppose the DAC used in the HTC devices has a hardware DSP that can do all the SRS and EQ stuff, controlled by the HTC sound application.
I did read a review somewhere stating the Omnia sound quality is not as good as other WP7 phones.
It feels like every manufacture has cut corners on the first generation of WP7 phones.
Phone quality and earphone quality seem fine to me. The external speaker though tends to struggle only when watching videos and sometimes games with the volume set to low (about 1/30 - 3/30), what I mean by struggle is some sounds dont get through, it just mutes at some parts. Playing music seems find though.
davidebanks said:
Is it me or is the audio quality from the omnia poor? or is it the headphones which are supplied with the handset? i wanted to try some headphones from a shop but they wouldnt let me...hygiene issues. anyone else have this problem. if headphones are the cause which pair are recommended no more than £30 for in ear.
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Pick up some good in ear headphones. MEElec M6s are what I use.
And yeah, don't ever use the supplied headphones from your devices. They will almost always let you down.
Audio OMNIA 7
High quality audio and good volume level !
(after one week with it)
thanks for the feedback guys, most appreciated. ive managed to get hold of 2 pairs of headphones (whilst at work) and they are both much better than the ones supplied with the phone, even though they are not very good headphones. the only small issue now is that the omnia 7 isnt very loud at all. are there headphones that can improve this? the ones i used were 100db.
agp64 said:
I did read a review somewhere stating the Omnia sound quality is not as good as other WP7 phones.
It feels like every manufacture has cut corners on the first generation of WP7 phones.
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The review (Engadget) said the supplied headphones were no good (they really were nitpicking), if you put in a good pair of headphones it will sound great.
davidebanks said:
the only small issue now is that the omnia 7 isnt very loud at all. are there headphones that can improve this? the ones i used were 100db.
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Yes, as said before the AKG K319 definitely make the volume louder. No comparison.
Tom Servo said:
The equalizer is a HTC specific feature. Since Microsoft ostensibly supplied all drivers, I suppose the DAC used in the HTC devices has a hardware DSP that can do all the SRS and EQ stuff, controlled by the HTC sound application.
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Well yes, but my point was "you aren't buying a phone that doesn't have an equalizer for quality sound, are you?". If they didn't build it in they didn't really care to make it a good music player.
I know that true kosher audiophiles don't believe in equalizers and only listen to flac on Cowon players and such, but that's religious stuff I don't want to touch. In reality, with crappy headphones (and that means everything that costs less than $300), and even with decent tolerable ones an EQ is a must have thing. Especially with the kind of crap hardware OEMs like HTC and Samsung put in their phones.
I can't totally agree.
Good music players don't use Equalizer (but I can understand that people like to use it)
Samely a good motor does not need a turbo.
Well, like I said, if you listen to lossless audio on perfect hardware using high end headphones, and also have perfect hearing - sure, you don't need an EQ. With mp3s on HTC and Samsung phones it's a must have feature. It won't make miracles and won't make those phones decent players but can at least make the sound somewhat tolerable.
thanks for the input, ill definately be getting a new pair of headphones, engadget were right to nitpick because it really does show up as being a quiet phone.
By the way, did anybody try the in-ear Sennheiser CX 400-II on its phone?
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheise...ssic-line_cxseries-in-ear-earphones-cx-400-ii
I heard they are pretty amazing. I am willing to purchase them, but if somebody could give me its feedback it would be nice
funny you should mention that, i was looking at getting a pair of the sennheiser CX 300 II but if 400 is better then i will do that instead.
Nice,
I will be happy to get your opinion on it.
PS: Don't buy it on the Internet. There are a lot of fake of this earphone.
arturobandini said:
I can't totally agree.
Good music players don't use Equalizer (but I can understand that people like to use it)
Samely a good motor does not need a turbo.
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Not sure how you work that out, given it makes an engine far more efficient, however that's a debate for a different type of forum!

Sound quality - DAC ??

I am considering switching from the SGS2 to the X. The sound quality while listening to MP3's on the S2 was average at best even with tampering with all the settings etc.
What is the quality of the sound like on the X ? Anyone know what DAC is inside ? I have a set of Shure E535's and want to make best use of them. If the quality is the same as the SGS2 i think i will use the bit i have saved and buy a Cowan Z2 and keep the SGS2.
Thanks for any advice
I'm interested in this myself. I've already ordered the phone though, as I need a new one.
I'm hoping I finally can put away my mp3-player, but I guess it will still be some years until a phone reach Cowon sound quality. :--/
finduz said:
I'm interested in this myself. I've already ordered the phone though, as I need a new one.
I'm hoping I finally can put away my mp3-player, but I guess it will still be some years until a phone reach Cowon sound quality. :--/
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The original Samsung Galaxy S and any other device with a Wolfson DAC came close, with Supercurios Voodoo app. Best sound on a mobile device! But SamsUng dropped the Wolfson for a Yahama DAC on the SGS2! Wonder what DAC the HOX has!
i'm no mod, but i already made a thread about this.
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finduz said:
I'm interested in this myself. I've already ordered the phone though, as I need a new one.
I'm hoping I finally can put away my mp3-player, but I guess it will still be some years until a phone reach Cowon sound quality. :--/
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i don't think a phone is ever going to include good audio. the amount of people that actually use expensive headphones and lossless files are too small for the companies to care. i sold my Cowon D3 because they messed up trying to use Android 2.2 with insufficient hardware. i'm looking at the S9, J3, or X7 now. i'll use the beats audio eq bs until i have the spare 250-280.
brent8577 said:
i'm no mod, but i already made a thread about this.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
i don't think a phone is ever going to include good audio
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My good ol' Sony Ericsson w950 had a fantastic sound quality!
As a user of an iPhone with high end multidriver in ear monitors (Westone UM3x and Shure SE420) sound quality ranks very high in my list.
Thus i would appreciate if some owner of multidriver iems could chime in with an opinion on the headphone out sound quality. With all effects turned off. If the audio hardware is any good (low output impedance, low distorsion and low crosstalk) the sound should be very good (Just as it is off the iPhone headphone out) and no need of audio tweaking would be necessary.
elfary said:
As a user of an iPhone with high end multidriver in ear monitors (Westone UM3x and Shure SE420) sound quality ranks very high in my list.
Thus i would appreciate if some owner of multidriver iems could chime in with an opinion on the headphone out sound quality. With all effects turned off. If the audio hardware is any good (low output impedance, low distorsion and low crosstalk) the sound should be very good (Just as it is off the iPhone headphone out) and no need of audio tweaking would be necessary.
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On every iPhone/iPod I've tried since their inception the DAC hasn't been the talking point, and flaked out when the eq is modified, even with a decent pair (sennys/shures) of 'phones.
I think buying a phone to replace a (good/non-ipod) portable player is a bad idea.
It's also entirely subjective; you could have a Cowon S9 and top-end in-ear sound-cancelling headphones, but if you're listening to 192kbps CBR mp3s you may as well be using your phone and a pair of £20 Porta-Pros - in most situations the source is the bottleneck, then the headphones, then the DAC. (IMO, of course)
qpop said:
On every iPhone/iPod I've tried since their inception the DAC hasn't been the talking point, and flaked out when the eq is modified, even with a decent pair (sennys/shures) of 'phones.
I think buying a phone to replace a (good/non-ipod) portable player is a bad idea.
It's also entirely subjective; you could have a Cowon S9 and top-end in-ear sound-cancelling headphones, but if you're listening to 192kbps CBR mp3s you may as well be using your phone and a pair of £20 Porta-Pros - in most situations the source is the bottleneck, then the headphones, then the DAC. (IMO, of course)
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I just asked for an opinion from a high end iem user about the HTC One X headphone out. Honestly I don't need your view on portable audio. But thanks for enlightening me.
Parameters like the impedance output impedance are nothing but subjective. iPhones output impedance is lower than 2 so they will always get a linear signal to your multidriver iem where a high z source like the galaxy S2 will get a pretty skewed signal that will ruin the frequency response of the iems.
Sound and electricty are sciences even if some people find it hard to believe and prefer esoteric approaches to the matter (That's specially true amongst Cowon fans
elfary said:
As a user of an iPhone with high end multidriver in ear monitors (Westone UM3x and Shure SE420) sound quality ranks very high in my list.
Thus i would appreciate if some owner of multidriver iems could chime in with an opinion on the headphone out sound quality. With all effects turned off. If the audio hardware is any good (low output impedance, low distorsion and low crosstalk) the sound should be very good (Just as it is off the iPhone headphone out) and no need of audio tweaking would be necessary.
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There is way more to those 3 factors for sound quality, plenty of things have those but don't sound good.
Anyways for most multidriver IEMs to make the most out of the IEM you will want some sort of amperage, even my Cowon C2 isn't powerful enough to make some IEMs shine (power doesn't always need to equal volume, but power to drive with authority)
My Soundaudio Rocco-P however, at the same volume, blows the Cowon out of the water, and there was a time you could of gotten it only for $1 + shipping on head-fi
But the SGS > SGS2 that is IMO but neither hold a candle to the C2 or the Rocco.
To the OP the cowon is a fine DAC but if you just need music playback (and if you need FLAC) there might be better options in your budget
I'm still looking for portable setup that doesn't involve carrying a brick around that will power my modded Fostex T50RP
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qpop said:
On every iPhone/iPod I've tried since their inception the DAC hasn't been the talking point, and flaked out when the eq is modified, even with a decent pair (sennys/shures) of 'phones.
I think buying a phone to replace a (good/non-ipod) portable player is a bad idea.
It's also entirely subjective; you could have a Cowon S9 and top-end in-ear sound-cancelling headphones, but if you're listening to 192kbps CBR mp3s you may as well be using your phone and a pair of £20 Porta-Pros - in most situations the source is the bottleneck, then the headphones, then the DAC. (IMO, of course)
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First of all, many ipods and the iphones sound great, their EQ sucks but their SQ is quite good, really good if you pass the headphone out, and use the line out into an amp via a LOD.
They are not the end all of players though.
Porta pros are amazing IMO, they are one of my fav headphones under $100
Any update on DAC? Audio Quality?
Personally waiting for GSM Arena to do their audio test. Below from The Verge's review:
AUDIO
Audio quality on the One X is superb across the board. The earpiece offers clear, loud calls, and the rear-mounted loudspeaker does as well — for whatever reason, HTC's managed to make this placement of the loudspeaker work far better than Samsung did with the Galaxy Nexus, which produces exceptionally quiet, easy-to-muffle sound. Callers reported that I was easy to hear even in significant background noise and wind, a good sign that this phone's dual-mic noise canceling system is really well tuned.
The 3.5mm headphone jack outputs clean, noise-free music — clean enough that I was easily able to pick out the depressingly low bitrate of Rdio's tracks. Of course, the One X carries the Beats Audio branding, as most HTC devices are now expected to (HTC owns 51 percent of Beats, after all). I find it ironic that the One series' tagline is "Amazing Camera, Authentic Sound" when Beats' audio processing is anything but authentic — in fact, if anything, it intentionally diverges from the artist's intentions. Every time I hear music with Beats enabled, it just sounds like bass boost to me, which is a trick we've seen in various forms in portable audio products for at least 30 years.
I'm not saying some users don't appreciate Beats — it definitely makes music more "exciting" sounding — but if you're looking for "authentic" music reproduction, Beats definitely isn't the answer. Personally, I'll be leaving it turned off. And fortunately, it's easily toggled either from Settings or from the notification tray while music is playing. It should also be noted that Sense 4.0 (and Sense 3.6 as found on HTC's Android 4.0 upgrades for older devices) makes Beats processing compatible with any audio app, which is a big improvement; previously, it only worked with HTC's baked-in apps.
Now that a few people are receiving their One X's can anyone answer my question please
Daemos said:
To the OP the cowon is a fine DAC but if you just need music playback (and if you need FLAC) there might be better options in your budget
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Yeah its just music playback i want if i have to get another device. What do you think of the Cowon J3 ??
I agree nikzDHD about waiting for the GSM Arena review. I read the Verge review earlier and it sounds good though i would prefer a more detailed review on the subject.
darrenjdoc said:
Now that a few people are receiving their One X's can anyone answer my question pleaseYeah its just music playback i want if i have to get another device. What do you think of the Cowon J3 ??
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Honestly, I wouldn't trust the verge's gsmarena's or most other techsite's for their "audio quality" reviews.
just FYI. having fancy bar charts, graphs etc isn't the end all, having someone be able to compare it to another device, with tons of experience, using high end audio gear is MUCH more important.
Unfortunately phones usually don't get tested in audiophile type things and you are better at looking at audiophile forums and seeing if experienced members have used them.
I'm just saying for SQ, cowon isn't the best there is, but their EQ system is one of the best, but EQ can't replace energy, soundstage, or detail reproduction, all it does is emphasize certain regions of the sound changing the "sound signature" like I said my RoCoo P is superior to the Cowon but is far cheaper, but the UI sucks, and it's missing features, but I use it almost every day when I need to walk somewhere.
I suggest reading here: http://www.head-fi.org/f/15/portable-source-gear then after reading through there potentially asking your question there, but please do list your headphones, source type, type of music, and if you *need* eq or not.
It all depends on your budget and how large of a device you want to carry. I can recommend things like the ibasso DX100 or hifiman HM-801 which are basically almost as good as you can get in a portable audio player, but they cost more than a new phone, and they are very bulky.
um.. no disrespect/no intended banter to the above poster
but we simply just want to find out if the audio quality is sufficient for use of mp3s
in comparison to say the S2, which everyone knows has disappointing sound quality . Yes we all know the S1 had a good DAC etc, this thread is more so about the phones sound quality and not about how much of an audiophile we are etc.
I need to know as if it's good enough, I don't have to bring my Cowon J3 with me everyday to work as well : )
darrenjdoc said:
Now that a few people are receiving their One X's can anyone answer my question pleaseYeah its just music playback i want if i have to get another device. What do you think of the Cowon J3 ??
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I can't recommend the sansa clip enough. Cheap, good battery, flac support and even better with a portable amp! One of the best sounding players I've had.
thanhson87 said:
um.. no disrespect/no intended banter to the above poster
but we simply just want to find out if the audio quality is sufficient for use of mp3s
in comparison to say the S2, which everyone knows has disappointing sound quality . Yes we all know the S1 had a good DAC etc, this thread is more so about the phones sound quality and not about how much of an audiophile we are etc.
I need to know as if it's good enough, I don't have to bring my Cowon J3 with me everyday to work as well : )
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Click to collapse
What is "sufficient"? What is "good enough"? It varies for different people.
If you want to know if it plays music, yes it'll play mp3s. If it's good enough to you or not, I can't say.
I can tell you this, in terms of SQ I'd rank what I've used as this SGS2 << SGS1 < rockboxed Sansa Clip/fuse (first gen) < Rockboxed earlier ipod < Cowon players < RoCoo P
This is of course FLAC, if we add mp3 playback I'd say the iphone/ipod touch fits in better than the SGS1 but can = sansa clip/fuse
These are also only what I'd consider portable DAPs.
The OP wanted to know if they should keep the SGS2 and get a J3 or get a one X instead and was focused on audio quality.
I just happened to say I think he could get better than the J3 for better SQ for the money. I'm just trying to help the OP.
Most people just want to carry one device, I've also got a rockboxed Sansa Clip its small enough to take anywhere and sound quality is very good. Again to OP Sansa Clip is the cheapest way of getting some good sound but good sound is only good if you pair it up with a good set of headphones to take advantage of it.
If only Supercurio lived in the UK I would of let him borrow my phone his analysis is very good.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
I have a Sansa clip+ lying in a box that i haven't used in a long time and just rockboxed it. Teamed with my Shure E535's and a few flac albums this little guy sounds heads and shoulders above my SGS2. Actually shocked how such a small player can sound so good. Going to get a portable amp and this will save me a few quids. Many thanks for the replies
nice! Yeah a rockboxed clip+ is definately the way to go for small awesome sound. They are also basically impossible to beat at the price you can get a clip+ and fuze for
if you want my help, let me know how much you want to spend on an amp and i'll point you in the right direction
But basically in terms of portable (and affordable amps) ibasso, jds labs and fiio (if you get their higher end stuff)
Good luck with your search, hopefully you can find a good amp that pairs well with the 535's

DAC part of Tegra 3 Chipset?

Im thinking about buying the new LG optimus 4x. But I cant find a single review, that mentions the audio quality on this phone. But it has the Tegra 3 chipset, so if the DAC is part of this, I could check a one x, to get an idea of the audio quality. Would be great, if someone could help me out
Sent from my R800i using XDA
I'm sure if you asked in a phone shop they might let you plug your headphones in and listen to some of the pre loaded music files.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Hmmm, well then I need a good headset first here in Germany they never have the phones in shops, I am interested in so I have to rely on what the internet says
Sent from my R800i using XDA
the GS3 have a wolfsonn,no one know what have the HOX?
I don't know what's in the HOX but it pretty much sucks balls. You can even hear a *poof* when the music starts and a few seconds after it stops, not to mention the crappy sound itself.
@Gibeon - you must have a faulty phone as I don't get any of that
OP - Really is very reliant on the quality of your audio files I find, poor quality mp3's will sound TERRIBLE, worse than on some other phones. If it's high quality FLAC rips then the sound quality is really very good for a phone, better than the Desire I used to have for example and miles better than the iPod I used to have.
I have Denon in ear for going out and about with and a couple of quite high end (full size over ear) headphones and good quality files sound really good through them. The one thing I would say is that the output volume is not as high as some other phones I have tried, so you do need quite sensitive headphones if you like your music loud.
No idea what the DAC is but for me it's a great portable music player. No such thing as audiophile in any phone but it's definitely one of the better ones i have tried.
SartoriXX said:
@Gibeon - you must have a faulty phone as I don't get any of that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I've heard several cases of this behavior so I guessed it a widespread problem.
GSMarena has put the real specs to the test, here they are.
I also find the OneX sound much worse than on the desire. Beats only changes it from tinny to plasticky. It is so much worse, actually (both on stock earphones and via car stereo) that I no longer enjoy listening to music from the phone in my car, the sound gets on my nerves.
Instead of shelling out gazillions for having the name of a makebelieve gangster on their stuff, htc could have bought millions of decent audio chips and still give them a catchy name That would be the htc spirit I always liked.
Gibeon said:
Really? I've heard several cases of this behavior so I guessed it a widespread problem.
GSMarena has put the real specs to the test, here they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen the GSM Arena article, and I can only talk from personal experience based on my phone not yours. I do not have the issues you mention at all. Could be a bad batch of components hence why some are better than others. I've seen plenty of people say it's great quality, plenty of people say it's crap, so would seem to point towards that logically.
Gibeon said:
Really? I've heard several cases of this behavior so I guessed it a widespread problem.
GSMarena has put the real specs to the test, here they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is due to the player you're using. I swear by neutron. The ui might be a bit overwhelming for non audiophiles, but I'm getting some great sound with this app and beats disabled.
After some time with this phone, I'm finding the hox's sound to be quite different, but not necessarily of lesser quality compared to my old sgs1 with voodoo.
My advice would be to just change your music app and if you don't like neutron as I proposed, you could go with power amp or player pro with dsp pack.
On a final note, make sure you get your hands on a decent pair of headphones before commenting on the quality of a Dac. You can't really make any assumptions about these kinds of things if your basing your experience on a free or a $30 pair of ear buds.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
mr_pio said:
I also find the OneX sound much worse than on the desire. Beats only changes it from tinny to plasticky. It is so much worse, actually (both on stock earphones and via car stereo) that I no longer enjoy listening to music from the phone in my car, the sound gets on my nerves.
Instead of shelling out gazillions for having the name of a makebelieve gangster on their stuff, htc could have bought millions of decent audio chips and still give them a catchy name That would be the htc spirit I always liked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well mine has perfect sound , you either have a faulty phone or your expectations were unrealistically high.
Hydrony said:
Im thinking about buying the new LG optimus 4x. But I cant find a single review, that mentions the audio quality on this phone. But it has the Tegra 3 chipset, so if the DAC is part of this, I could check a one x, to get an idea of the audio quality. Would be great, if someone could help me out
Sent from my R800i using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sound is not the best in the world but its much much better then Galaxy S with voodoo sound while playing at the highest volume, at highest its just awesome stable with this beatsaudio thingy tested using Sennheiser HD 555, mind you galaxy S3 has a cheaper version of op amp used in S1.
The HTC One X have the very best sound in every angle: microphone/speaker/headphones/ear speaker
The volume and quality through the headset is good, unfortunately the loudspeaker is rather poor and doesn't go very loud. Typical HTC though, their speaker components tend to be rather low quality.
LG tend to have alright speakers (The Optimus 2X went fairly loud), but I can't say whether the 4X's will be any good or not
EDIT: I realise you were specifically asking about the quality rather than the volume. The quality is pretty good, you wont be disappointed by it. The Galaxy S III supposedly has fantastic audio quality though, which is likely to be better than the One X's due to the fact that the One X uses 'Beats' (which sucks) and the SIII has a Wolfson Micro WM1811 which is apparently pretty awesome (http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/products/audio_hubs/WM1811/).
yeah right "ultra-low power" is just rubbish
schiphol said:
This is due to the player you're using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not. I've tried a number of different music players, different EQ's, different thread priority for the audio. All exhibit the same fundamental problems arising from a poor quality DAC. Heck, even the volume up/down sound causes the pop/crackle issue.
schiphol said:
On a final note, make sure you get your hands on a decent pair of headphones before commenting on the quality of a Dac. You can't really make any assumptions about these kinds of things if your basing your experience on a free or a $30 pair of ear buds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried 5 different sets of headphones on my One X, some in ear, some open back, one Bluetooth. The same problems could be heard on all of them in varying degrees.
If your guys phones are rooted, flash the latest dspequalizer on this phone. Helps tremendously with sound quality. I agree with the person talking about flac files. You don't even need to have flac, just try to get high bitrate mp3s. I listen with Beyerdynamic headphones which take more power to drive, but it's enough for me and sounds great.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Nos0x said:
It's not. I've tried a number of different music players, different EQ's, different thread priority for the audio. All exhibit the same fundamental problems arising from a poor quality DAC. Heck, even the volume up/down sound causes the pop/crackle issue.
I've tried 5 different sets of headphones on my One X, some in ear, some open back, one Bluetooth. The same problems could be heard on all of them in varying degrees.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree and I don't think my Grado SR60i's or Shure SE215's are to blame. Really, the quality just sucks on the HOX I own.
No biggie for me though, since I have a PMP for music.
Gibeon said:
I totally agree and I don't think my Grado SR60i's or Shure SE215's are to blame. Really, the quality just sucks on the HOX I own.
No biggie for me though, since I have a PMP for music.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course the dac is not the best. The point I was trying to make is that I was able to eliminate most of the hissing and strange pops upon volume changes etc by switching to the neutron player leading me to be believe that these are not necessarily related to the Dac itself.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
With my beats headsets i have excellent audio quality, didnt try the original one...and the sound from the speaker? Well i dont know what you expect, in my eyes it is good enough (i dont listen to music over it) ... and BTW, i use well ripped mp3s because over the beats headset you can hear every single detail in songs ... youtube is also great ...
I dont know, but probably i have a special OneX i dont have any single issue the guys so far had reported ... i am just confused now why i dont get a S-OFF device
As far as I know, the beats audio plugin is only a peace of software, isn't it? It has nothing to do with special hardware, its just an equalizer setting. But I'm confused some sites say, the one x's audio chip is the same, that is build in the one s, but the explanation of the Tegra 3 chipset says, that it is able to handle 7.1 surround sound, which means it includes an audio chip. I think I have to wait for reviews of the optimus 4x to solve this problem
Sent from my R800i using XDA

[Q] Audio Quality

Was wondering everyone's opinion on how good the Note II is when listening to music? Does this have the same audio chip as the International version? Thanks.
As far as I know, the hardware is virtually identical to the international version, with the "customization" from AT&T being the major difference. I found the external speakers to play very well for mids and highs, but lacked any sort of bass.
As for the headphone input, it sounds great, as expected, when paired together with decent headphones. I havent really seen any noticable difference between any phone or Ipod that I have used concerning the headphone jack quality.... So I'm not entirely sure if its even a valid point to be asking about or bringing up.
Regardless, you won't claw your ears out when playing music through your phone.
Thanks for the response, this is a huge aspect of the phone for me since I use my phone to listen to music. Will there be any Voodoo sound mods/app for this phone? Was just wondering.
There is quite a bit of customization in the stock music player. I have able to produce some pretty good sound with a set of $20 Koss earbuds and playing with these settings.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium
I have my Astro A40's hooked up to my Note II here at work and they sound great. I am using the Google Play option so I uploaded my iTunes library to the Google servers and just stream the content. Overall can't complain about the quality.
As far as I've been able to tell, it sounds the same as the international n7100. Actually, it's a bit louder (in volume.)
Awesome, thanks for the info guys definitely going to get this phone now!
NumairRana said:
Awesome, thanks for the info guys definitely going to get this phone now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the main reasons i was hesitant to switch from an IPHONe was for the audio quality, Honestly i think note 2 has beter sound quality than the ipod, im hearing the vocals much better, it sounds so much nicer on this, Also the external sound is RETARDEDLY Loud once you put loud booster mod, and just change the equalizer a bit, especialy turning up clarity to the max.
Problems with audio playback
Whenever I lock the screen with the audio playing and the headphone jack inserted, I get stuttery playback. The audio breaks in between. Does anybody have the same problem? Can anyone think of a solution? I tried turning off all the motion features to check if sensors being on caused it, but that was not the case. It looks like some kind of buffering problem when screen is locked or turned off. Any help would be appreciated.

General Poor audio quality

Hi,
I notice that the audio quality of the Galaxy S22 is poor versus Galaxy S9 (my old phone).
I tested with the same earphones model.
Even the power of the sound is smaller and quite bad...
I made the same settings of both phones to listening the same song on YouTube.
dinamo1975 said:
Hi,
I notice that the audio quality of the Galaxy S22 is poor versus Galaxy S9 (my old phone).
I tested with the same earphones model.
Even the power of the sound is smaller and quite bad...
I made the same settings of both phones to listening the same song on YouTube.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Activate Dolby and choose Movie from there. The sound is noticeably different and actually really good. Not to mention the stereo separation and pretty cool sound stage, depending on what you're playing.
dragos281993 said:
Activate Dolby and choose Movie from there. The sound is noticeably different and actually really good. Not to mention the stereo separation and pretty cool sound stage, depending on what you're playing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I listen to a lot of music and activating Dolby does not improve the audio experience. It actually ruins the music.
gonsa said:
I listen to a lot of music and activating Dolby does not improve the audio experience. It actually ruins the music.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Choose Music then. I personally haven't heard about someone listening to music on their phone's speakers. You're the first. And that's probably the reason most companies don't focus on that or not anymore. One thing's very clear for me though. This S22 sounds better than the iPhone 13 Pro I used before this. That one was good too but not this "spacious" and so well balanced. The S22 is better for my ears. But again, I listen to music on my PC on my headphones and DAC/Amp combo and on earbuds on my phone.
dinamo1975 said:
Hi,
I notice that the audio quality of the Galaxy S22 is poor versus Galaxy S9 (my old phone).
I tested with the same earphones model.
Even the power of the sound is smaller and quite bad...
I made the same settings of both phones to listening the same song on YouTube.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be the 3.5 mm jack which is there in Galaxy S9 but now we don't have it in any new phones it became so rare and the sound quality is always better with 3.5 mm jack phones! Maybe this could be the issue with the sound.
shanicejohnson said:
It could be the 3.5 mm jack which is there in Galaxy S9 but now we don't have it in any new phones it became so rare and the sound quality is always better with 3.5 mm jack phones! Maybe this could be the issue with the sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To understand: the 3.5 mm jack it is better versus USB type C jack?
I made the comparison using the following earphones: https://www.spares.se/samsung-usb-c-headset-svart
dinamo1975 said:
To understand: the 3.5 mm jack it is better versus USB type C jack?
I made the comparison using the following earphones: https://www.spares.se/samsung-usb-c-headset-svart
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A good read about usb-c quality:
How to improve your phone's audio with a portable DAC
The wire wars are still going strong
www.androidpolice.com
Listening to music over phone speakers in a pinch like travelling light is always there. On those ground nothing beats apple products where the sound is more fuller and flat. In S22 it's suppressed specially the low frequency and it's not flat at all.
It's the same for me as well. S9 had epic sound quality output and better adjustments. I was hoping that with the latest Android 13 update things would be better, but no such luck. This issue exist since the release and is still not addressed. I had to purchase PowerAmp EQ to bring audio quality to some acceptable level. Sadly I don't think this phone justifies "flagship", at least for me.

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