How to improve sound quality of your I9003 & stop complaining ;) - Samsung Galaxy SL i9003

I have made this thread for all of you to discuss your equalizer app presets & to discuss sound, no trolling, flaming over brands people, (except apple ) & noobs don't stick your neck unnecessarily if you don't know the stuff.... First read then post here.. Or else get pwnd!
I am giving my highly tested & tried personal suggestions for all the people who have tried various combinations & haven't been satisfied, my suggestions are going to satisfy your question for general sound improvement
" Don't expect any groundbreaking "heavy metal" quality improvements but if you understand & follow somethings correctly you will get a pretty decent sound... "
HERE YOU GO -
Guys my personal suggestions -
Equalizer app -
www.appbrain.com/app/equalizer/com.smartandroidapps.equalizer
1) CATEGORY TYPE 1
For free or for people nearly broke + those who listen @ 30 to 60% of max volume( i.e volume of 4 to 7) on the volume scale of 1 to 15 in the stock player as shown in the touchwiz music player...
What to do in this case???
Use the stock samsung earphones + stock player + equalizer app from market + some common sense when setting the presets in equalizer app...
My setup for this -
I set the bass boost in equalizer app at approx 30%
Virtualizer @ 20-40%
Reverb @ large room or medium hall
The actual equalizer setup for me varies from music to music... Usually I like my mid range boosted (I'm a guitarist, so I like a midrange boost in my music to hear the instruments clear )...
2) CATEGORY TYPE 2
You listen to music @ 30 to 70% of maximum volume... i.e you listen to music between the range of 3 to 10 out of max volume of 15
If you have some money to spend & can purchase a single app + earphones
Get Skullcandy Riot Mic'd series earphones...
These will cost you 1200 Indian rupees
Or if you can afford get Skullcandy Smokin Bud earphones.
These will cost you 1600 Indian rupees
And purchase the equalizer app from android market...
The basic settings can be kept the same as category one settings for the bass boost & Virtualizer & reverb...
CATEGORY 2 PEOPLE HAVE THE MAXIMUM HAPPINESS.... Because 1200 Indian rupees & $2-3 of cost of equaliser app is very less for the quality of sound you will get...
3) CATEGORY TYPE 3
You like your music very loud between 50% to 90% of the maximum volume most of the time.
And you have lot of money to spend -
Get sennheiser MM30i/MM70i/MM50i in earphones + poweramp music player full version = orgasm for ears...
Setup your poweramp player's equalizer in any preset, & setup its volume, bass, treble & stereo expansion controls in any way.. & use your new sennheiser earphones...
Happy listening!
PS - Logitech UE 300vi & Logitech UE 400vi are good alternatives to sennheiser earphones, but test them before using!
& Thank me if you found this helpful in your audio experience, I haven't been active on the forums lately due to other commitments & change of phone! (still have my I9003 )
Tapashocked via my Galaxy Note with SwiftKey X !!

Thanks for the thanks people! Share your setups & earphones suggestions!
Tapashocked via my gt-I9003 with a random keyboard of my choice !

I would say DSP manager does the trick but you do require CM lib or legacy audio lib for it to work on Stock roms

thank you very much, it's useful

.Har**** said:
I would say DSP manager does the trick but you do require CM lib or legacy audio lib for it to work on Stock roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree.
But personally speaking, I find the quality of effects of equaliser app & poweramp player to be superior than dsp manager!
And investing in good quality earphones is equally important
Tapashocked via my gt-I9003 with a random keyboard of my choice !

As this thread is also for sharing settings I would like to share my DSP Manager Settings for the standard Earphones (havent bought new good ones yet):
Bass Boost: Strong to Extreme
Equalizer: 3,0; 2,0; 0,5 - 1,0; 2,0 - 2,5; 1,5 - 2,0
Virtualizer: Off to Room (if translation from German to English is right here)
The results of these settings in my mind are quite ok for the standard earphones. Volume is about 60% - 70%
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App

well i have bought
http://reviews.cnet.com/headphones/sennheiser-cx300-b-in/4505-7877_7-31727753.html
sennheiser c300 ii

Related

Simple software based system wide graphical equalizer that works on bluetooth

Ok there are a lot of requests for a simple equalizer system but so far the choices seem to be either buy a set of wired headphones use the srs wow EQ which slows the phone down and has rather limited controls or use a high end media player.
can someone create a low profile software equlizer app that is NOT SRS WOW
all i need is the preamp and range sliders with a few preset slots that works over bluetooth. is it too much to ask for @[email protected]
"no i am not switching to core player XD"
HTC Audio Booster?
mikeloeven said:
Ok there are a lot of requests for a simple equalizer system but so far the choices seem to be either buy a set of wired headphones use the srs wow EQ which slows the phone down and has rather limited controls or use a high end media player.
can someone create a low profile software equlizer app that is NOT SRS WOW
all i need is the preamp and range sliders with a few preset slots that works over bluetooth. is it too much to ask for @[email protected]
"no i am not switching to core player XD"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you looked into the HTC Audio Booster? I have that, but I'm not sure it does what you'e looking for.
HTC audio booster is buggy. It shuts off when it wants and at the end of songs. Everyone knows this.

dr dre studio eq settings for the best bass

Being a person who loves my music I want it to sound just right, now I know a lot of people don't like the Dr Dre's however they were a gift so I was pumped when i got them, I have been using PowerAmp as my main music app with my sennheiser cx300 and it was good and i had all the right eq settings for my Dr Dre's, however recently i accidently uninstalled poweramp and i lost all my eq settings for power amp, i had the best setting with no distortion or anything howevr now that i have reinstalled it i don't have any of my eq settings, does anyone have good settings for the dre's or know how to get my settings back?
Sound is subjective, what I think sounds "right" or good to me, might sound harsh or off to you.
Choose a preset EQ mode that sounds the best or closest to what you had, and fine-tune from there.
I've listened to the Beats headphones fairly extensively and find myself wanting to crank up the mid highs to balance out that extra bass. But then again this depends on the type of music I'm listening to as well. I can't stand listening to some compressed rap and hip hop on the same EQ settings as rock, especially coming from a phone.
As stated above. Purely subjective.
Type of music , encoding quality of music , personal taste etc...
Let your ears be the judge. Good starting point is knowing what your headphones strengths/weaknesses are.
Pick your favorite 2-3 songs and adjust till you feel right about it.
If you "love music" then generally you want the EQ & all tone controls to be flat/off, and use good quality headphones. Having any of those settings on in PowerAmp introduces additional processing which mucks up the audio IMO.
I've no idea if the Beat headphones are actually _good_ headphones or not (being both a Monster product _and_ celebrity endorsed, the price is somewhat inflated), if so then they should sound fine with no EQ assuming the source media is clean. I'm guessing that the bass is over-pronounced in those phones given the name attached to them. (If you like excessive bass, then Sennheiser HD212's are a good cheap alternative, I hated them though)
If however you're the type of person who thinks the Black Eyed Pea's are "a pretty cool group", then just turn the bass dial up.
I use either some Sennheiser 280Pro's or Grado Alessandro's and unless the source audio is poorly mastered/produced (not that uncommon sadly) then I leave the tone + EQ controls alone and/or disable them. The audio quality from the N1 is NOT what I'd call audiophile grade, but it's "ok".

******Audio Quality Improvement/Enhancement.....''Bass Nirvana'' *****

Mirracle: 1
Mean while i flashed Galxperia v3 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2206406 with clear audio+ and Bravia engine as extra mods with adipat's kernel http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931478
Then it happend as a total accident as i was browsing through forums here at XDA i came to know about a player then unknown to me n7 player with custom settings [http://forum.xdadevelopers.com/showthread.php?t=1537938]
i decided to give it a try with custom Equalizer setting 12,2,4,1,4 bass boost off , srs off. for testing by played The Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow my default bass testing song and i was literally blown away. finally after quenching my bass thirst i was finally happy with my s advance.....then............
Mirracle :2
one day i decided to test newer versions of custom roms for our device and came across pure vanila V5 Build 2 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2182697 with Awesome Beats & Dolby Mobile..and i paired it with cocore 6.2 kernel ...With Beat's boost preset in ''Moderate'' setting and equalizer in ''Bass booster'' profile i attained ultimate bass niravana even with stock head set...
so guys i humbly suggest you to try these mods and i i guarantee you will feel the difference.. feel free to give your audio experiences and experiments...
PS:Remember to turn down the volume to 80% to avoid distortion if you are using stock or low end headsets
my sincere thanks to all original developers with out whom this experience would have been impossible and thank god for android customization capabilities[/LEFT]
BTW
Things i tried earlier and found to be overrated or complicated
Music players:
Stcock samsung player
Winamp
Powerplayer
Walkman
VLC
Poweramp
Google play music...etc and i don't remember rest
Sound modifiers:
Equalizer
Bassboost
Equ
Acid engine
DSP manager and pretty much all the rest
My current Set up
Base:I9070DDULP8_I9070ODDULP8_INU
Rom: pure vanila V5 Build 2
Player:Google play
Wow such a long story..nice share bro :thumbup:
When I bought my s advance I didn't really care about audio quality, I don't know if this handheld have own dedicated sound processor or not.
I use a song from beyonce - irresistable to benchmark all google play audio apps which I found playerpro is the best second player, the first best is neutron music player.
Try neutron, you will know.
IMO a handheld that using a software to emulate best audio quality is no match with a handheld having its own dedicated sound processor..I mean a real sound processor separated from main processor.
Sent from my GT-I9070 using xda app-developers app
Prabuw said:
Wow such a long story..nice share bro :thumbup:
When I bought my s advance I didn't really care about audio quality, I don't know if this handheld have own dedicated sound processor or not.
I use a song from beyonce - irresistable to benchmark all google play audio apps which I found playerpro is the best second player, the first best is neutron music player.
Try neutron, you will know.
IMO a handheld that using a software to emulate best audio quality is no match with a handheld having its own dedicated sound processor..I mean a real sound processor separated from main processor.
Sent from my GT-I9070 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to this post our device seems to have a dedicated dsp :http://www.stericsson.com/products/u8500-novathor.jsp
I'm using Playerpro with it's own equalizer, bass goes hard if you set it up right.
Sent from my GT-I9070 using Tapatalk 2
Prabuw said:
Wow such a long story..nice share bro :thumbup:
When I bought my s advance I didn't really care about audio quality, I don't know if this handheld have own dedicated sound processor or not.
I use a song from beyonce - irresistable to benchmark all google play audio apps which I found playerpro is the best second player, the first best is neutron music player.
Try neutron, you will know.
IMO a handheld that using a software to emulate best audio quality is no match with a handheld having its own dedicated sound processor..I mean a real sound processor separated from main processor.
Sent from my GT-I9070 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your suggestion i will definitely give it a try..
This thread obviously not aimed at music purists but for extreme BASS HEADS just try it to feel the difference..

[Guide]best sounding music setup on note 3

This is my personal setup and it sounds great. Also please consider getting decent - high end earphones/ headset.
As for me im using senheiser CX870 earphones. Here we go
1. Must be rooted
2. Buy poweramp! Yes this is the BEST music player on android.
3. Get viper4android here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191223
4. Download noozxoide EIZO-rewire pro series here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noozxoidelabs.eizo.rewirepro
5. The idea is to set v4a as secondary. So in settings > sound > music effects. Set to noozxoide. Then open v4a install the drivers (i use superior) and FX compatible mode set to Compatible.
6. Reboot your phone
7. Enjoy!
Tips with v4a and nooz settings:
You guys really need to experiment. As results will vary,
Nooz:
Lineout >
Deliver balanced natural sound: OFF
Digital preset: AUDIOPHILE
VE engine: OFF
Increase monitor size: LARGE-I
Create V-sur: STUDIO-II
V4a: make sure to enable ui settings to EXPERT
V4fx: ON
Playback gain: ON/EXTREME/4X/0db max output
Viper DDC: ON - beyerdynamic-DTX11iE
Equalizer: OFF (I stick to poweramp eq)
Convolver: ON - HTC beats audio 128kbps
Viper Bass: On
Bass mode - natural
Frequency - 100hz
Bass boost - 6db
The idea is to compliment poweramp's eq and bass with these 2 apps. I recommend setting v4a and nooz as SYSTEM APPS for better compatibility.
If you really wanna be technical, also use Tasker. Create a task which opens both v4a and nooz when headset inserted and kills when unplugged.
Hope thos helps my fellow audiophiles! Enjoy!
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
Noozxoide just FC's
---------- Post added at 08:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------
Does this work with Spotify?
Analog of PowerAMP can be AIMP, may be not functionally like POWERAMP but it's awesome and NO ADS and without other bad stuff.
One question. Viper setting Conclover ON ok, but I cant find HTC beats 128kbps. There is nothing..
Kaleidgalaxy said:
One question. Viper setting Conclover ON ok, but I cant find HTC beats 128kbps. There is nothing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to download IR samples. You can download a bunch of them from the official v4a thread
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
speedyjay said:
Noozxoide just FC's
---------- Post added at 08:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------
Does this work with Spotify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to convert both nooz and v4a as system apps. And set Sound effects with nooz.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
drodericks03 said:
You need to download IR samples. You can download a bunch of them from the official v4a thread
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the specific thread wc has it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2216193
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
The best music setup is through the adapt sound function from the phone settings. But it only works with the stock music player. Everything else just sucks.
V4a is miles ahead of adapt sound. Feels like you just connected a DAC when you use the app lol. Pure audio bliss using the note 3 and the xba h3 with v4A
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
From a fellow audiophile to another, I gotta say your idea is good, but only half-way. Firstly, the setup you offered us worked best for your headphones, but that does not necessarily mean they will sound just as well on others. Took my 3 headphones for a test drive( Shure SRH-750DJ, AudioTehnica M50X and Beats Studio Wireless). The conclussion was similar among them, even though all 3 pairs are designed for different types of music and with different frequencies and scoops: the instant i installed noozoxide i sensed a huge increase in bass, increase which at high volume caused crackling. Since that happened, adding more decibels from v4a just made things worse (although the 100hz frequency of the lows helped a bit, it was still too much). A steady 3.5db increase is sufficient. The digital preset Audiophile actually sounded baaaaaad on my toys, was only vaguely acceptable on the M50X. Unique II and III made the sound much better. The playback gain in v4a offers just noise, not an actual increase. Better play with a kernel that has fauxsound (managed to turn all my headphones to such insane volumes that they are louder around my neck than the phone speaker). Don't even get me started on the convolver.... As for Viper DDC, I must really say that it is VERY headphone specific. The DTX11iE may have sounded good on your headphones but turned mine into high frequency devices that could crack windows. Each pair of headphones works best with different presets of thr DDC.
All in all, your idea was very good but I really suggest people should play with these settings until they find the sweet spot for their own pair of headphones, since there cannot be a preset to fit them all. Have fun
honestly, installing nooz while having v4a seems a bit pointless to me.... i use v4a with irs samples and other setting tweaked so as to work perfectly with the Etymotic hf5 that i have....V4a is configured properly offers top class results without the need to resort to other apps....dont even need poweramp...besides best audio app i ever came across that offered fantastic sound was neutron music player...now THAT was something...
Im using V4A in combination with PowerAMP, and muat say that sound qualiti is on the high level
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Q] How good is the Walkman app vs PowerAmp?

For anyone who has the Z3 (or Z2) and has been using the Sony Walkman app (including EQ, etc), my question is how good is it when compared to PowerAmp? On Walkman do you use ClearAudio+ AND/OR DSEE HX?? I want to get the Z3 and trade-in my HTC One M8, but in doing so, that means I HAVE to use the Walkman app if I want to have the option for mp3 upscaling (DSEE HX) since PowerAmp doesn't have it. But I know that although the Z3 Walkman app has DSEE HX, it only has a 4-band EQ vs PowerAmp's 10-band EQ. And it seems like at least some ppl think PowerAmp is better.
Any advice, suggestions, or alternate options would be appreciated!!
Thank You,
RockStar2005
I think the Walkman app is phenomenal when its sync with Sony Music Unlimited... Otherwise as a mp3 player it's meh.
shook187 said:
I think the Walkman app is phenomenal when its sync with Sony Music Unlimited... Otherwise as a mp3 player it's meh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. I've been told from Z2 owners that the Walkman app can actually be used in conjunction with other music or media players like PowerAmp. So you can switch on the options you like in Walkman, like bass boost, and it will still influence the sound even if you are playing your songs through PowerAmp (etc).
Thank You,
RockStar2005
combine them
I think that walkman is better cz it makes more clarity and the bass is more stable. But the best result is if you combine the sound effect of walkman and power amp since the sound effect of walkman is also work on other music player. It will makes the output from power amp more stable and clarity.
Walkman app for me is best android music player. Simple, beautifull, good clarity and its stable.
I think it will depend on the format and quality of your music files and the headphones you use. And your ears and personal taste of course.
I was unable to make the walkman app sound good with a pair of Sony EX450 headphones. Those are not the most expensive, high end earplugs but with all the sound options I ended up with a very weak sound, especially the mid range. Poweramp does sound good though.
boy,
I dunno about Walkman being better than PA. I don't agree there. But I DEF agree with the combo method, b/c THAT'S what I use now and it's great! I feel like it's close (esp if you use the "Soul" EQ preset in Z3's settings, trust me lol)...............but in actuality, what you're combining isn't PA and Walkman, it's PA and the Z3's sound settings itself. The only option native to Walkman itself is DSEE HX, but if you turn on "Studio" in the Z3's Surround Sound settings, it does what DSEE HX does and more IMHO.
I do like "Clear Bass" in the Z3's EQ settings......... it gives off a very warm and isolated bass sound. Turning on "Studio" though does seem to make it harder to control the volume (some songs have "treble spikes" that can be hard on the ears at higher volumes), so last night I gave Dynamic Normalizer a try in Z3's sound settings. It DOES seem to give you a lil more control over "Studio". I would advise trying it and seeing if you notice this too. Leave ClearAudio+ off, and yeah "Studio" and for speakers leave surround sound checked. Makes it sound better IMO.
In PA I use "Rock" preset and it's great! If doing the combo method, then I recommend going to Z3's EQ settings and choosing the "Off" EQ preset option as PA has its own (and much better) EQ (Z3's is 5-band, PA's is 10-band). Then by tapping Save and then pressing on "Rock" (in PA EQ screen) you can set that as the default preset for ALL songs (by choosing it for speaker, wired, and bluetooth on the list that appears). If you want to have another preset be the default for specific songs, PM me and I'll show you how to do that (very easy if you got this far already).
I would give Z3/Walkman an A, but I'd give Z3/PA an A+.
RockStar2005
Hi guys, new Z3 owner here - I've been following the various threads concerning DSEE HX, Clearaudio+, and Hi-Res Audio, and wanted to confirm a couple things to help me decide on using the Walkman app vs Poweramp:
1. Will Hi-Res FLAC files only play through the walkman app? Or will Poweramp handle them as well without downsampling?
2. Is Clearaudio+ and DSEE HX meant only for MP3s?
I'm finding the Walkman app lacking in functionality that I've been used to with Poweramp, namely the ability to sort my album folders by date added and being able to advance to the next album automatically. But if I can't get the same audio quality from Poweramp, then I might suck it up and keep using Walkman.
(For reference, I'm listening through ATH-IM70 earphones, and will eventually be pairing it with Sony MDR-1RBT MK2 headphones - might as well go all in on Sony right?)
I'm using Poweramp since my Xperia ARC Z, Z1, and Z3. It has 10 bands equalizer, and if I want to use walkman audio configs the I set them through PowerAmp.
PowerAmp uses cueSheet (.cue files), and Use that a lot. dont know if any other uses cuesheet.
Hey gen,
1) PowerAmp will play Hi-Res FLAC files and so will Walkman. NEITHER will downsample as far as I know, but know that the Z3 itself can only process up to 24-bit/96kHz. So if you have any like 24/192 files, they will be downsampled. But that's b/c of the phone, not the 2 apps themselves. If this is an issue for you, then you may wanna consider a Hi-Res audio player like the new Sony Walkman Player (or just wait to see what the upcoming 2015 Walkman has to offer?). Since a stand-alone player will pretty much ALWAYS sound better than any phone can, this can be something to consider purchasing down the line (I may do just that one day). They only spend like up to $40 max on the Z3 (the BEST android phone for audio) for audio, where on the players it's a much a higher amount. Just something to keep in mind. The Walkman doesn't let you use PowerAmp, but it does come with the same options like Surround Sound, etc. Some say these other ones are supposedly better than the Walkman, so you can check them out too (but I still bet the Walkman is great from reviews I've read): FiiO X3, X5, iBasso DX90. I'm not sure if they let you use PowerAmp either, but you can always ask in the forums there for each one on Amazon (I may do that now). The stock programs they have though may be better than PowerAmp anyway?
2) They might be, not sure. My take on ClearAudio+ is, leave it off. lol I think it does nothing but WEAKEN the sound. Several ppl on here have agreed with me, but it's up to you. Regarding DSEE HX, as nice as it is, I think actually that enabling the "Surround Sound" and choosing "Studio" will do more to liven up the sound than DSEE HX does.
I think both apps are great, but I prefer PowerAmp (PA) b/c it simply gives a BIT more life to my music than Walkman does, but it's very close. Since I can't use DSEE HX while playing music in PA, I use "Studio" to compensate for not having that, and it does more than DSEE HX does anyway. You can still use all the other options though. I disable ClearAudio+, enable Dynamic Normalizer b/c it gives an extra notch or two of volume which is great esp on headphones.......... under Sound Effects, leave the EQ flat if using PA, Clear Bass will vary (but it's great for giving a nice tight isolated bass sound), Surround Sound "Studio". (I sometimes keep S-Force on or off. Sometimes it makes things sound better, other time it can cause skips or spikes in the music.)
In PA, the best EQ preset IMO is "Rock". On my HTC One M8, I sometimes used "Bass and Treble" as well, but on the Z3, I notice the songs I needed that preset for no longer need it, and "Rock" sounds just fine on them, which leads me to believe that perhaps the Z3 has better sound quality than the M8? Not sure. In order to make "Rock" your default preset, go to any song, play it then hit pause right away, tap on EQ icon at top, tap on Save, then scroll down and press & hold on "Rock", tap on Assign, check or select Speaker, Wired Headset, and Bluetooth, then tap on Ok. "Rock" is now your default preset! (I can actually send you or anyone on here my PA settings file which I think will give you the best sound. You would just need to import the file into PA for it to be applied. If interested, simply send me a PM and I'll get it to you.)
If you still choose to use Walkman over PA, then regarding the EQ, my suggestion is the "Soul" preset. "Folk" is good too, but the one that I found to give the most clearest and best quality sound is not "Rock" but "Soul". It should make ANY type/genre of music sound better, even rock. All the other Z3 settings I mentioned above should still be utilized for best sound.
I think it's easier to search for or quickly find my albums/artists in PA than in Walkman. PA has a feature where you quickly scroll to a certain letter, where with Walkman you have to type in the first few letters of the album/artist in order to "quickly" scroll to it.
Regarding headphones, yeah Sony's headphones are great! I'd tried out (which you might've seen from earlier posts) the Sennheiser HD 598s, and the Audio-Technica M50Xs. Both were very good, but I ended up with the AKG K550s. It needed an amp though to hit "peak sound", so someone on here suggested the new Sony MDR-1As (said the 1Rs were great too, and I think MK2s are a step-up from the regular 1Rs), and I ended up trying those out and preferred them to the AKG headphones. They didn't need the amp (thanks to Dynamic Normalizer) so I got to return that as well as the other headphones.
RockStar2005
Yeah Caqo, PA has 10-bands, while Sony's Walkman app only has 5. I think this is a big reason why PA offers up a slightly richer sound than the Walkman app does.
RockStar2005
PowerAmp was one of the first apps I installed on my devices. Not anymore. The audio quality of my lossless tracks was awful in poweramp on the Z3C - lots of low crackle and background noise, especially prominent during track fades. I can only guess that poweramp are using a pretty bad lossless decoder. The walkman app plays them flawlessly.
I INITIALLY had issues with PA as well (though was on mp3s, but I think this applies too), and found out it was a SETTING in PA that needed to be disabled. Doing so fixed the issue permanently for me. See first post. I would also recommend disabling the setting right next to it too...... Bluetooth DVC. (Anyone who requests and receives a copy of my PA settings file will already have this taken care of after applying/importing the file into their PA.) If it still persists, then by all means use Walkman instead. But I've played SEVERAL lossless tracks on PA and I've never once had any issues at all, including the ones you mentioned.
RockStar2005
Yeah, there apparently is a known issue with the Z3 and poweramp:
http://forum.powerampapp.com/index.php?/topic/6857-horrible-noise-floor-on-z3-compact/
Unchecking DVC fixes that (for me at least)
Rockstar, thanks for answering my questions - I listen exclusively to FLAC now, and the only two hi-res albums I have are 96hz, so back to Poweramp for me! If there is a difference in sound quality between it and the Walkman app for hi-res files, I can't really hear it, and I certainly won't be able to hear it over Bluetooth. I agree on the Rock setting, that's what I've always set mines to as well.
genjitsu,
No problem. That thread you posted is for the Z3 Compact, not the Z3. That might explain why I haven't had any issues (I have the Z3). I think the issue is really just with PA itself. On my I think LG G2 or else HTC One M8 (previous phones), I had the same issue but this fix eliminated that issue. So I wonder if it's just a coincidence that those who have had recent issues also had Z3 Compacts?
That's cool. Only 1 out of the 11 Hi-Res albums I bought is 24/192, but I don't plan on buying anymore. I've read good but also negative things about 24/192 (vs 24/96), like that it supposedly sometimes makes the soundstage TOO big, meaning the various tracks/instruments sound too far apart, in a bad way. I also talked to one guy on Head-Fi.org (audiophile forum) who owns a premium sound store (John) and also has his own studio built INTO the store (he's been recording people for like 30 years and has like over $100k poured into his studio)......... he told me that he didn't really hear a difference b/t 24/96 and 24/192 until he used like really expensive headphones (like 4 figures lol). Even then, I wonder if I'd hear it? So again, I dunno. The one 24/192 album I actually bought (Van Morrison's "Moondance" album) sound just fine to me, so I can't vouch for any of it myself. The ONLY reason why I'd say it might be better is b/c of what I said before that producers and engineers tend to do their best work on Hi-Res releases vs CD and mp3s. So do they do MORE on a 24/192 album than a 24/96?? If someone can prove that true, I'd be interested to read about it. But until then, I'm gonna assume that 24/96 and 24/192 won't sound any different since they're both considered w/o a doubt to be Hi-Res. Another reason to get 24/96 over 24/192 is price. 24/192 can be like $5-$10 more for the same album when compared to 24/96.
The difference b/t PA's and Walkman's sound quality to me is pretty minimal. I would rate Walkman's at like a strong A-. When I compared it to PA one night not too long ago, PA on the same song just had SLIGHTLY more "punch" to it, so A+. Now I'm guessing when compared to a GOOD stand-alone player, it might rate at a B+/A-?? But that's a different scale all-together. I guess if I ever get around to buying one, I can say for sure, but that's just an estimate. The Z3 has the best audio quality you can get from an Android smartphone (if not all smartphones) as of the present time. The author of this website (see #3) told me it personally via e-mail. He said:
Well there are two sides of every DAC (Digital Audio Converter, which every phone/player has): 1. max Sampling and bitrate it can handle and 2. how accurately the DAC is doing it measured in THD, SNR, etc.
LG uses sh*tty DACs in their entire phone range. G3 sounded worse than a Note 2.
Today, Z3 is simply above the competition for any music you play. low bitrate to high. That's because the DAC-amp is amazing http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/TFA9890_SDS.pdf
Z3 is great for high res auto coz of its low distortion DAC-amp combo. Its also has some software tweaks (DSEE HX) to upsampling low res audio to make it sound better. That works by restoring some lost details in low bitrate music.
With Z3 the amp is powerful enough to drive most high-ohm audiophile-grade headphones.
Here's how I would rate them (quality)
Z3 > One M8 > Note 4 > M7 > Note 3 = Z1 = Z2 >> G3
He also said the Z3 has about $40 put into its sound, and that's the like the max on a smartphone right now, vs stand-alone players which have like hundreds of dollars put into their sound capabilities. He said the cheapest ones (G3?) have as low as like $15. That explains a lot. lol
Steve

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