Database Info

[Q] Headphone mic compatibility?

Does the One X have the same contact scheme for headphone mics as an iPhone. I found this...
http://www.openmusiclabs.com/projects/bootlegmic/
which has been tested to work on an iPhone, but Google has failed me on whether the pinouts are the same as the One X.

I dont see any differences between iphone and any other devices in this case, they all have standart 4 contacts plugs. The only compatibility issues is the chip for mic+buttons witch in this case not used.
On the side note, since it's reducing input level, why can't it be done on programming level?

This is a late reply, but...
Just to add some info in case it could help future researchers. Some Android phones (especially cheap ones) are unable to detect an external mic unless the proper headphone output impedance is detected as well. Heaphones range from 16-32 ohms. It may be possible to trick the phone into thinking you have proper headphone plugged in if you put 22 ohm resistors in the heaphone output channels on the bootlegMIC. I've not done it to the one I've made, but I might be making more soon and will experiment.
[email protected], yeah totally agree the mic gain should have been controllable from an interface from day one. But, where are we now...Android 7? Still nothing. It's probably one of my most persistent disappointments with Android.

[Q] Picture looks like crap over HDMI.

Bought a micro hdmi to my tablet today. The guy in the store gave me one when I said it was for my Transformer Pad.
The thing is that the picture I get on my tv looks cartoonish, like when you take a photo and put on a effect that looks like you painted it yourself.
Anyone know why it looks like ****?

Unfortunately, that is the quality we get. Both TF101 and TF300T look about the same over hdmi, maybe the 300 is slightly better. The only thing u can really do is to have a high quality cable, and make adjustments to your tv's color, contrast, and picture size. My guess as to why this is...it probly has something to do with using the micro hdmi connector instead of a full size connector...the small connector is the bottleneck, reducing the throughput and quality.

I don't know about pictures, I'll have to try some. I do know that my HD movies looks perfect on my 46" TV. I've never paid more than $5 for any HDMI cable, if you pay more than that you're probably getting ripped off or just paying to have someones name printed on it. HDMI is digital, 1's and 0's, there's really no difference in cables, the old style RCA cables were analog, and needed to be short length and high quality. You can google it if you don't believe it.

cavsoldier19d said:
My guess as to why this is...it probly has something to do with using the micro hdmi connector instead of a full size connector...the small connector is the bottleneck, reducing the throughput and quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL! What BS! HDMI is a digital signal not analog. With digital there is either a signal or no no signal. The micro cable conforms to the same HDMI spec as the regular cable so there can be no quality loss.
The last time I connect my TF101 to my TV it looked fine. No cartoons. And I'm using some cheap cable from Amazon.

My tv picture looks awesome when connected through hdmi. Probably 10 times better than the display on the tablet due to full hd.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA Premium HD app

cholywell said:
LOL! What BS! HDMI is a digital signal not analog. With digital there is either a signal or no no signal. The micro cable conforms to the same HDMI spec as the regular cable so there can be no quality loss.
The last time I connect my TF101 to my TV it looked fine. No cartoons. And I'm using some cheap cable from Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow dude...who pissed in your wheaties? I didn't say that this was the absolute truth. It was my guess...If i am wrong, then i am wrong...IT WAS A GUESS! Take that chip off of your shoulder and take a chill pill.
I know what he was talking about..the homescreen looks a bit cartoonish because of the colors, but it does not have this effect when viewing movies and other things.

It has this effect all the time, on the homescreen and watching movies and pictures.
I didn't want to order a cable so I bought a over priced one for about $20. (Yes it was expensive but I am lazy )
I think the cable i pretty good, even supportin 4k resulution, but what do I know
Should I return the cable sense te quality is really bad? My Lg KU990 Viewty from 2007 did a much better job when connected to a tv, movies looked great, so a device from 2012 should be better.

Well according to the guys above, it doesnt matter if the cable is a namebrand or not. I would have to disagree. Not all cables are made equal. Different manufacturers use different quality of materials which can lead to different results. Give it a shot and replace the cable. Doesn't hurt to try. I just cant see it being a tv problem. If it was, then why would my ps3 and xbox360 both connected by hdmi not have this problem? That leaves the cable and the connecting device left to look at.

cavsoldier19d said:
Well according to the guys above, it doesnt matter if the cable is a namebrand or not. I would have to disagree. Not all cables are made equal. Different manufacturers use different quality of materials which can lead to different results. Give it a shot and replace the cable. Doesn't hurt to try. I just cant see it being a tv problem. If it was, then why would my ps3 and xbox360 both connected by hdmi not have this problem? That leaves the cable and the connecting device left to look at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the picture quality is great from my 360. I will return the cable someday soon then.

There are setting available on the Pad once you have plugged HDMI in but I think they only control the screen ration.
The first thing I would check on your TV is if there are any custom enabled when using HDMI (Vibrant, or Game etc.). You may find that your TV is adding image processing which can result in garish colours or a very unbalanced Gamma curve.
The only time you would need to worry about picture quality from the cable itself is if you went for a freakishly long one, say 3M+. Then you'd noticed some signal degradation as the bit errors would increase significantly though this would more likely produce ghosting or image lag.

Above poster got the cable info correct.
A 3+M cable should use super leads, so if it doesn't work it's crap.
In other words there are two kinds of HDMI cables. The working kind and crap.
The working kind can be any price (from cheap to insanely expensive), but IF you're buying a really, really long cable you can start looking at name brands.

My cable is 2 m. Going to watch Burn Notice on another tv. Will see if it's better there.

[Review] Mixcder Bluetooth headphones

Mixcder MS301 and HD601 Wireless Headset Review
Mixcder sent me two sets of bluetooth headphones to review, the MS301 and HD601. I’ve been using them both for the past two weeks and I came away very impressed with both. I used an LG V20 to drive these, with a mix of flac, mp3, and streamed audio.
Build: The MS301s are clearly the more premium build. Basically, the entire frame and cans are metal, and the earmuffs are a high quality artificial leather. These look really nice and give the impression that they could take a good amount of abuse. I’ve been taking them to and from work in my bag without particular care, and they’ve held up wonderfully. Additionally, they fold up right above the earmuffs. They aren’t as compact as other over the ear headphones (I also have a set of Marshal Monitors that fold up to an extremely small footprint), but it does make them somewhat more portable. As a consequence of the premium build, they are somewhat heavy. They moved a bit when wearing them, as well, which was somewhat annoying.
The HD601s are primarily plastic. They have red highlights around the earmuffs, and are otherwise a matte black plastic. The dimensions between both are roughly the same, which provides a comfortable fit on the head. I have large ears, and they were able to fit without any issues. The artificial leather here is of a lower quality, but is still acceptable. Without comparing the two headphones directly, I don’t think I would notice the difference. The key benefit for this set is that the lower weight leads to a very comfortable fit. It truly felt like they weren’t there, basically no matter how long I wore them. Both sets charge with micro-USB, have a power button and two volume/track buttons, two microphones, and an LED. For whatever reason, on the MS301, the buttons are labeled with the forward/back symbols while the HD601 have vol up/down. The functionality was the same: a quick press adjusted the volume, while a long press skipped songs. The microphones did a very good job picking up my voice in a variety of environments.
The MS301 claim a 20 hour battery life, while the HD601 claim a 40 hour life. In two weeks of pretty intensive testing (lots of streaming audio and the entirety of Stranger Things), both are still going strong on the original charge.
Sound: I evaluated both sets of headphones against 10 tracks that tested the range and response. (from https://www.whathifi.com/features/10-best-tracks-to-test-your-headphones). Both headsets performed admirably, both using Bluetooth and the wired connection. These provide very good detail over the entire range, with a pretty flat response. The separation was very good, as was the space. The audio performance on both headphones was basically identical, which is a huge plus. They blew the Monitors away basically in every regard. These also go incredibly loud. I could literally max the volume with them on the counter and use them as speakers. I never experienced any distortion at the max volume, either. The HD601 advertise an “extra base mode” but the effect was fairly minimal. Base performance was quite good regardless, so this wasn’t a big deal. Both use AptX LL as the Bluetooth protocol, which my V20 was able to take advantage of. Additionally, when plugged in, they triggered the “HiFi” mode as expected, as they list a 29Ω impedance. One of the few negatives was the included 3.5mm cable. It was fairly low quality and provided notably worse sound quality than the Monitor cable. Seeing that Mixcder also provides a nicer looking cable for $4 on Amazon, I question the decision to provide something that detracts from the overall package. However, most people probably will never use these, so again it’s not a huge deal.
Bluetooth: The range for these really varied depending on the use conditions. At work, these passed the “printer run” test by getting ~70 feet (10 m) away before noticing any degradation. At home, they really struggled to maintain connection between floors. In both cases, it was obvious when you were approaching the range. There was no cut out or dropped sounds until it basically disconnected. Generally speaking, moving back into range allowed for a quick reconnection, often without pausing the music.
Initial pairing was pretty painless on both. The MS301 had the usual setup by powering the headphones on and going into bluetooth settings to complete the pair. The HD601 used NFC to pair, and it was seamless. Anyone familiar with using Apple or Android Pay would be able to pair these in seconds. While this is a one time thing, seeing them pair was a great first impression and one of those “technology is magic” moments.
Conclusions: Both headphones are awesome and well worth the asking price. The MS301 are priced higher as the more “premium” option ($85 at the time of this review) while the HD601 come in at $60. I really liked the look of the 301’s, but the much lighter build and extra features tipped the balance to the 601s even before the price is considered unless appearance is a deciding factor (my wife said she’d prefer the 601s even if the prices were reversed). Given that the audio performance was excellent on both, I don’t think you can make a wrong choice here.
Mixcder gave me promo codes for both, valid through October
HD601:
20% off promo price: $47.99
Promo code: 6UWB2NT9
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074...=8-10&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=mixcder
MS301:
34%OFF promo price: $59.39
Promo code: DWMYZ7O8
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071...cder+ms301&dpPl=1&dpID=41xrGlMNnHL&ref=plSrch

USB-C Port - Headphone Audio Quality ?

Hi.
I'm holding off on pre-ordering until I see some real world reviews.
A must have for me is very good headphone audio quality. I did have high hopes since the phone is made by HTC who have have a good reputation using dedicated quality DACs in their phones previously.
I can't find any information on the internet describing what to expect form an audio perspective apart from the dual speakers which don't really interest me.
Since the phone delivers audio over the USB-C port via a digital signal, am I correct in saying there will be no on-board DAC and sound quality will be solely driven by the headphones or/and the 3.5mm converter which contains something to decode the digital signal?
In-short, is the Pixel 2 Headphone audio likely to be inferior to something like the HTC 10 for example?

owens2000 said:
Hi.
I'm holding off on pre-ordering until I see some real world reviews.
A must have for me is very good headphone audio quality. I did have high hopes since the phone is made by HTC who have have a good reputation using dedicated quality DACs in their phones previously.
I can't find any information on the internet describing what to expect form an audio perspective apart from the dual speakers which don't really interest me.
Since the phone delivers audio over the USB-C port via a digital signal, am I correct in saying there will be no on-board DAC and sound quality will be solely driven by the headphones or/and the 3.5mm converter which contains something to decode the digital signal?
In-short, is the Pixel 2 Headphone audio likely to be inferior to something like the HTC 10 for example?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding is all device currently out that uses USB C still sends an analog signal because it is still handled by an internal DAC. The Pixel 2 doesn't use an Internal DAC to push the signal and the adapter has a DAC inside of it to convert the signal. You can't by a pass through or it won't work. Apple current devices you can use any as long as it is supported, and some of them don't have DAC's inside. I actually think internal DAC's so be on the way out and it should drop the costs of devices. There's a lot better DACs out there, and are universal you can get the sound you want when you find the one for you. I prefer to not have a huge list of things just to buy a phone. I'd rather have like 5 things I am looking for and the rest I already have in my pocket if you know what I mean?
Someone told me that the iPhone adapter has a DAC in it but after seeing it I am a bit skeptical. I think it's their anti-cheap cable chip thing which is supposed to go into all cables to be certified by Apple.

Actually HTC devices without a jack only output digital audio, and I'm 99.9% certain the Essential is the same. Both of their adapters contain DACs and amps (I read an explicit statement from Essential that this was the case), and we know the HTC adapter works with the Essential phone. I don't know about Motorola; I've read there are compatibility problems between their adapters and some other manufacturers, but that may be because not everyone is applying the digital audio standard correctly rather than one being analogue.
Unlike USB-C Apple's Lightning port has no analogue outputs, so their adapter must have a DAC in it. Since they are using custom chips they may have integrated it with some of the other functions (same as the Qualcomm SoCs contain a DAC as well).
As for the original question, is the Pixel 2 wired headphone output likely to be inferior to a phone with a headphone jack: it will depend on the quality of the DAC and amp in the adapter you use (and we'll include "external USB DAC" as an "adapter" for this discussion). If the Google adapter is inferior it should be possible to find a better one (with more options as phones using this standard become more common). At this point I don't think anyone has any idea what the quality from the bundled adapter will be, though using the HTC 10 as your reference you set the standard higher than most phones with a jack (and certainly higher than the first generation Pixel). I've bought a HTC adapter to test with the Pixel 2, and assuming it is compatible I'll do some comparisons between that and the Google one when I have time (I won't be completely surprised if they turn out to be the same thing in different packages though, given HTC's involvement in the Pixels).

Large Hadron said:
Actually HTC devices without a jack only output digital audio, and I'm 99.9% certain the Essential is the same. Both of their adapters contain DACs and amps (I read an explicit statement from Essential that this was the case), and we know the HTC adapter works with the Essential phone. I don't know about Motorola; I've read there are compatibility problems between their adapters and some other manufacturers, but that may be because not everyone is applying the digital audio standard correctly rather than one being analogue.
Unlike USB-C Apple's Lightning port has no analogue outputs, so their adapter must have a DAC in it. Since they are using custom chips they may have integrated it with some of the other functions (same as the Qualcomm SoCs contain a DAC as well).
As for the original question, is the Pixel 2 wired headphone output likely to be inferior to a phone with a headphone jack: it will depend on the quality of the DAC and amp in the adapter you use (and we'll include "external USB DAC" as an "adapter" for this discussion). If the Google adapter is inferior it should be possible to find a better one (with more options as phones using this standard become more common). At this point I don't think anyone has any idea what the quality from the bundled adapter will be, though using the HTC 10 as your reference you set the standard higher than most phones with a jack (and certainly higher than the first generation Pixel). I've bought a HTC adapter to test with the Pixel 2, and assuming it is compatible I'll do some comparisons between that and the Google one when I have time (I won't be completely surprised if they turn out to be the same thing in different packages though, given HTC's involvement in the Pixels).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply and I look forward to reading your findings.
I must say, I find this whole trend towards usb-c driven headphones not exactly consumer friendly. I've not seen a strong enough argument by any of the manufacturers to justify the change, rather than reclaiming space to cram in other tech. Having to carry around an adapter as well as my existing headphones is just plain inconvenient.
Had Google included a pair of quality usb-c buds in the package with the Pixel 2 (and an adapter) while promoting a better than average audio experience (as per the HTC 10) that would have been enough for me to commit and pre-order without hesitation. Perhaps I'm not the typical mobile user these days whose priority, after the basic capability of making a phone call is to listen to quality audio.

You will probably can get a better DAC than the one generally included in the phones SoC.
Any small DAC should have a similar quality to phones DAC.
Now the Type C is strong. I can even power a Fulla 2 DAC/AMP with my 6P.
Sent from my Nexus 6P

One of the reviews I've read today (can't remember which) stated that the HTC adapter does work with the Pixel 2. That's a positive sign with regards to standards, which is what's needed if we're to have more options.

So, any news about this topic?

I've been using the Pixel 2 since Thursday and the audio with the dongle is fine. If audio quality is really important, then get an external DAC. I have a Fiio E18 and the quality is exceptional.
Without decent headphones the audio output method is almost meaningless, especially if you use earbuds.
I recently got a pair of Audeze EL-8 Over Ear, Closed Back headphones and the audio from the Pixel 2 with or without the DAC is excellent (better with, of course).

The audio with the dongle is absolutely terrible. I spent some time listening to it this morning and was appalled at the quality. So much so that I came here specifically looking for a solution.

Blown 89 said:
The audio with the dongle is absolutely terrible. I spent some time listening to it this morning and was appalled at the quality. So much so that I came here specifically looking for a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The solution is an external DAC: Audioquest DragonFly Black or Red are absolute hit.

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/Google-Pixel-2-XL_id10568/benchmarks
They said in the presentation that the dongle includes a DAC (I remember hearing it, please correct me if I'm wrong) Apparently the Pixel 2 sounds louder than most phones, close to iPhones. Don't know about the quality though...

omarfarrah said:
https://www.phonearena.com/phones/Google-Pixel-2-XL_id10568/benchmarks
They said in the presentation that the dongle includes a DAC (I remember hearing it, please tell me if I'm wrong) Apparently the Pixel 2 sounds louder than most phones, close to iPhones. Don't know about the quality though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it will contain a DAC. It uses USB-C digital audio, so with the output being digital there must be a DAC in order to produce the analogue waveform needed by your headphones. The same is true for most if not all phones using USB-C audio (certainly the HTC U11 and Essential PH-1, and I've read others confirm that the HTC adapter works with both the Essential and the Pixel 2).

I've had the pixel 2 xl for a few days now. I've used my regular headphones through the usbc dongle. It worked ok the first time I tried it. But last night I couldn't get any sound through it. So I unplugged and replugged it back it. The dongle was really warm. I rebooted and tried it again. The audio did finally come through but there was a lot of static and again the dongle was uncomfortably warm.
Fidgiting with it seemed to change the audio but it was very finicky. Hoping it was just the dongle.

Blown 89 said:
The audio with the dongle is absolutely terrible. I spent some time listening to it this morning and was appalled at the quality. So much so that I came here specifically looking for a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is so disappointing. Do you think it might be dodgy dongle and have you asked Google for a replacement?
Can others confirm if the above is also your experience?

owens2000 said:
That is so disappointing. Do you think it might be dodgy dongle and have you asked Google for a replacement?
Can others confirm if the above is also your experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was listening to some music I loaded at the Verizon store. Comparing it to the V30 made it sound even worse. I have a friend that's an audio engineer that tested his. His comments were "finicky trying to get it to work, once it does....sounds like garbage. would be fine for a podcast or probably mostly youtube content, but music blows."
FWIW I was listening with Futuresonic G10's

I have no idea what people here are tripping on when they say audio quality from the dongle sucks?? Maybe they have a defective piece. Just compared sound from my s7 with viper vs pixel, and obviously the s7 sounded better cuz, it has viper on it but honestly couldnt complain about the sound of the pixel. No way it was close to being terrible, no WAY. It was almost the same,once viper comes and a few tweaks are made, it will be just as good or very close to it. I tested with samsung headphones and even sennheiser over the ear headphones fwiw

BTW. They RMA'd the phone, when I told them about the dongle heating up.
Hopefully the next one will be better.

owens2000 said:
That is so disappointing. Do you think it might be dodgy dongle and have you asked Google for a replacement?
Can others confirm if the above is also your experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not my experience. Audio seems fine.

94wolfpack said:
BTW. They RMA'd the phone, when I told them about the dongle heating up.
Hopefully the next one will be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I'd have thought it would have been cheaper to send you a replacement dongle and see whether that fixed it, and replace the phone if not.

Blown 89 said:
The audio with the dongle is absolutely terrible. I spent some time listening to it this morning and was appalled at the quality. So much so that I came here specifically looking for a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the opposite experience. I download my Spotify library using the "extreme quality" setting enabled. Not sure what technical quality "extreme" is, but listening to The Beatles white album was amazing and sounded great. Could hear all the nuances, highs and lows.

Possible fix for Bluetooth Audio quality KGL units

I recently braved it and opened my unit. Mine's a bit more complicated since it has a DVD drive so space is tight and an extra step was required.
Anyway, I always had poor bluetooth audio, lots of distortion on the high range I ended up just using an AUX in audio on the device.
Looking at the BT+WiFi antenna I was skeptical about the quality of just a wire soldered to the Realtek chip.
Having an old antenna from a WiFi router handy I removed the existing antenna and used on of the holes that was free because I didn't choose the TV option to fasten it.
Initial impressions is that the quality is much better albeit still some very minor distortion but it's not as noticeable as before. Haven't checked the signal quality or speed using BT and WiFi but in theory it should be much better.
Just my 2c and if you have the parts lying around you might as well give it a go.

stefcio007 said:
I recently braved it and opened my unit. Mine's a bit more complicated since it has a DVD drive so space is tight and an extra step was required.
Anyway, I always had poor bluetooth audio, lots of distortion on the high range I ended up just using an AUX in audio on the device.
Looking at the BT+WiFi antenna I was skeptical about the quality of just a wire soldered to the Realtek chip.
Having an old antenna from a WiFi router handy I removed the existing antenna and used on of the holes that was free because I didn't choose the TV option to fasten it.
Initial impressions is that the quality is much better albeit still some very minor distortion but it's not as noticeable as before. Haven't checked the signal quality or speed using BT and WiFi but in theory it should be much better.
Just my 2c and if you have the parts lying around you might as well give it a go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious, do you have pictures of your mod?
I have reasonably good Bluetooth birth WiFi reception could be better

Some pictures would have been useful

https://imgur.com/a/6u7ka

Ok, this looks like on mine(stock)?

Kayhan 17# said:
Ok, this looks like on mine(stock)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I forgot an after photo, but where the black antenna cable is I re-soldered an antenna with a screw connector, you can see it on the right in the second photo next to the GPS antenna. Before it was just a cable hanging out of that hole.

hmmm i have an XRC unit and i went the method where i unsoldered the internal unit and plugged in a comfast unit. No difference there. Might try this next but i have a feeling something else is going on.