Database Info

[Q] Which DAC does the Sensation use

I ask because I came from a Nexus S and got so use to the ability to have amazing sound with Voodoo Sound project, and this was because Samsung didn't take full use of the DAC that they used in the Galaxy S line of phones.
I am curious of there is a way to find out what is processing our sound so once we get S-Off and custom roms we can do some things to improve the quality and volume of the headphones and speaker.

According to Anandtech.com
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4471/htc-sensation-4g-review-a-sensational-smartphone/8
the Sensation uses TI's TLV320AIC3254, and the specs are:
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tlv320aic3254.html
I do notice that the sound quality thorough headphone is significantly better than my HTC Desire. Wouldn't mind if it can be improved even more.

tsekh501 said:
According to Anandtech.com
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4471/htc-sensation-4g-review-a-sensational-smartphone/8
the Sensation uses TI's TLV320AIC3254, and the specs are:
http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tlv320aic3254.html
I do notice that the sound quality thorough headphone is significantly better than my HTC Desire. Wouldn't mind if it can be improved even more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, no more hissing noise like it was on the desire.

lol, the DAC is from 2008, wonder why they are using that old hardware :s

So it doesn't look like we will be as lucky to really get alot more out of the DAC then what HTC has given us, at least hardware wise.

I think the audio codec is the same one on the Desire HD, and according to Anandtech, the camera sensor is the same too, although the image processing on the new dual-core Snapdragon is superior and thus giving better image capturing quality (and software image processing algorithm plays an important role too).
Giving how HTC rolls out new flagship device a few times a year, it probably makes sense (no punt intended) for them to change only a few components at a time.

Utking said:
lol, the DAC is from 2008, wonder why they are using that old hardware :s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't mean it's bad.

lianw said:
Doesn't mean it's bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No ofc not i was just thinking since they have all of the other hardware up to date
But it sounds good through my headphones so i'm happy!
It's a pity it sounds bad through bluetooth though=/

Utking said:
No ofc not i was just thinking since they have all of the other hardware up to date
But it sounds good through my headphones so i'm happy!
It's a pity it sounds bad through bluetooth though=/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Audio codecs don't change much. Mostly it comes down to power consumption. That is really a good codec. It has potential, but the codec in the galaxy s series is a much nicer one. I think we could tweak it, but we would need somebody that know how to work with drivers. We can always squeeze a little bit more out of things like audio codecs and camera software.

Yeah the Nexus S voodoo control had alot of nice options, as far as enabling the higher playback and record bitrates and sample rates. It had the option for jitter control.
Im not saying it should be the same, but anything we could do to make it better would be better, mainly the speaker volume if this could be controlled. And maybe a headphone amp

[Q] Sound chip quality & support for 64-bit

So how's the sound chip compared to the Iphone 5s and other top smartphones ? I heard that since the chipset is SNP800 , the sound chip should be good too, but i'm no pro and have yet to try the headphone out.
Can anyone provide an explanation ?
2nd question (to avoid making 2 threads) :
I know kitkat 4.4 is only 32 bit now , but if for some reason Google releases android 5.0 in the future and it's 64 bit ...will the nexus chipset support it ?

1. Sound is good
2. Doesn't matter

[hfm] said:
1. Sound is good
2. Doesn't matter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what you meant for the 2nd answer ?

64 bit computing hardly matters in the mobile space currently. Currently it is only relevant in marketing.
To answer the question. You are still using 32-bit hardware even if 64-bit capable software came out. Odds are Google will not release a 64-bit exclusive operating system in the near future.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

ravenwood27 said:
So how's the sound chip compared to the Iphone 5s and other top smartphones ? I heard that since the chipset is SNP800 , the sound chip should be good too, but i'm no pro and have yet to try the headphone out.
Can anyone provide an explanation ?
it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to the test done by GSMarena, the Nexus 5 sound quality is no where near iOS devices. It has similar sound performance compared to the LG G2 but lower volume output. http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_nexus_5-review-1011p7.php As the graph is shown, there is quite a lot of "wobbling" which isn't good compared to the iOS devices (link is the 5s sound quality: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_5s-review-994p7.php). This is assuming you actually rip songs from CDs, download 320+ kbps (if you don't know what this is you don't download it), download from Google Play or iTunes, rather than using an app or random website to get free music. Otherwise it wouldn't matter what device you get to listen to music since the sound file wouldn't have enough detail to actually use the iPhone soundboard properly. From experience even the Voodoo sound board on the Galaxy S3+ (not sure about the S4) doesn't reach the levels of iOS devices especially on loudness and clarity. Otherwise for the casual listener, the sound quality on the Nexus 5 should be more than enough unless you're really serious about sound quality.
Edit: according to the benchmarks done on the same website, the Samsung S4 holds it ground fairly well but there is some wobble at later parts of the graph and that's just nitpicking. Won't be hearing the effects of that unless you have songs that are 500 kbps+ and are playing on a good speaker.

RoboWarriorSr said:
According to the test done by GSMarena, the Nexus 5 sound quality is no where near iOS devices. It has similar sound performance compared to the LG G2 but lower volume output. http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_nexus_5-review-1011p7.php As the graph is shown, there is quite a lot of "wobbling" which isn't good compared to the iOS devices (link is the 5s sound quality: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_5s-review-994p7.php). This is assuming you actually rip songs from CDs, download 320+ kbps (if you don't know what this is you don't download it), download from Google Play or iTunes, rather than using an app or random website to get free music. Otherwise it wouldn't matter what device you get to listen to music since the sound file wouldn't have enough detail to actually use the iPhone soundboard properly. From experience even the Voodoo sound board on the Galaxy S3+ (not sure about the S4) doesn't reach the levels of iOS devices especially on loudness and clarity. Otherwise for the casual listener, the sound quality on the Nexus 5 should be more than enough unless you're really serious about sound quality.
Edit: according to the benchmarks done on the same website, the Samsung S4 holds it ground fairly well but there is some wobble at later parts of the graph and that's just nitpicking. Won't be hearing the effects of that unless you have songs that are 500 kbps+ and are playing on a good speaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I really dont get. I had an iphone 5s for a couple weeks and everything besides the earphones that came in the box sounded horrible. Zero bass, zero highs, just the mids. Also had the HTC one, which is supposed to have a great audio chip, and it did. That phone soudned the best out of all the phone's I've had. (I turned beats off, that is just pure junk). Compared to the HTC one, this phone is actually very good. I still get deep bass, and good highs with no distortion even at high volumes. With the iphone, anything higher than 50%, things got a bit crackly and distorted especially hooked up to my speakers.
OP: The sound chip, in my opinion (I listen to a LOT of music and am pretty much a huge audiophile.), is very good. As some users said, the pure loudness of it isn't that great, but the quality is very good. Not as good as the HTC one, but very close.
EDIT: Quote from GSM arena pretty much saying what I said.
The scores stay close to perfect even when you plug in a pair of headphones. The stereo crosstalk worsens a bit but the rest of the readings are virtually unaffected (frequency response actually improves a bit). Unfortunately, the volume levels remained just as uninspiring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

aooga said:
This is what I really dont get. I had an iphone 5s for a couple weeks and everything besides the earphones that came in the box sounded horrible. Zero bass, zero highs, just the mids. Also had the HTC one, which is supposed to have a great audio chip, and it did. That phone soudned the best out of all the phone's I've had. (I turned beats off, that is just pure junk). Compared to the HTC one, this phone is actually very good. I still get deep bass, and good highs with no distortion even at high volumes. With the iphone, anything higher than 50%, things got a bit crackly and distorted especially hooked up to my speakers.
OP: The sound chip, in my opinion (I listen to a LOT of music and am pretty much a huge audiophile.), is very good. As some users said, the pure loudness of it isn't that great, but the quality is very good. Not as good as the HTC one, but very close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The review on the website show that the HTC One has a excellent audio output but at best decent audio quality. The bass is overemphasized but nothing compared to the One X which was a disaster in terms of audio quality. Realized that the iPhone sound quality may sound worse to many people since it has a "flat" and stabilized audio quality which is what actually is looked for. Many companies tweak the audio to make it more "pleasing" to the masses and overshadow the bad soundboard which include bigger bass (blame Dr. Dre).
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

RoboWarriorSr said:
The review on the website show that the HTC One has a excellent audio output but at best decent audio quality. The bass is overemphasized but compared to the One X which was a disaster in terms of audio quality. Realized that the iPhone sound quality may sound worse to many people since it has a "flat" and stabilized audio quality which is what actually is looked for. Many companies tweak the audio to make it more "pleasing" to the masses and overshadow the bad soundboard.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know flat sound is technically prefered in benchmarks and things, but I haven't met a single person that actually likes listening to it. Anyway, that was just my opinion. IMO, no matter how technically good the quality is on the iphone, I still think that it sounds horrible. And the software is hideous/crashed way too often.
EDIT: I see you have an iphone. Do you have a N5 as well, or are you just posting here? I'm not trying to be an idiot, just wondering if you have compared the quality between the two

N5 sound sucks.. I'm biased because I upgraded from a HTC one lol. Everything else is solid with my n5
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

The built-in speaker is mediocre to crappy. The audio through other connections is quite good, IMO.
Sent from my Nexus 5

Ajfink said:
The built-in speaker is mediocre to crappy. The audio through other connections is quite good, IMO.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a bug. http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus...one-and-software-may-be-hurting-what-you-hear

aooga said:
I know flat sound is technically prefered in benchmarks and things, but I haven't met a single person that actually likes listening to it. Anyway, that was just my opinion. IMO, no matter how technically good the quality is on the iphone, I still think that it sounds horrible. And the software is hideous/crashed way too often.
EDIT: I see you have an iphone. Do you have a N5 as well, or are you just posting here? I'm not trying to be an idiot, just wondering if you have compared the quality between the two
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just basing this off the gsmarena benchmark and from previous experience. Not in my sig but I have a HTC Desire HD and Acer A100 running custom ROMs since both devices are not supported. I hopefully plan to get a Moto G since I kinda would like to get an android device that is current and not gimped by some developers *nvidia*. I tend to randomly post in random device forums usually trying to get up to date with new devices. I have listened to Galaxy S 3 and One X since my friends have them so I have an idea how they sound. Nexus 5 just came out so gsmarena was the only site that had soundboard benchmarks, but like I said it works more than enough for most people and the tweaks made are probably for the better. If you wondering I do prefer the "flat" sound since my speakers don't play well with equalizers especially the Beats one in my HTC. I also tend to listen to more instrumentals than the average listener so the "flatness" help bring out the other instruments in the background that usually would be hidden by the bass or treble.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

zephiK said:
its a bug. http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus...one-and-software-may-be-hurting-what-you-hear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really fail to see how that was overlooked. Hopefully they push it out sooner than later.

iPhone5 & 5s have a relatively high output impedance. They'll be a little more temperamental when used with third party buds.
I don't know if we have an impedance reading for the Nexus 5.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

If listening to music, just use Noozxoide E.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

There is definitely a bug wrt audio on the N5, but the speaker is also very crappy and so easy to completely obstruct (v similar positioning on iPhones and some Lumias)

iOStoAndroid said:
There is definitely a bug wrt audio on the N5, but the speaker is also very crappy and so easy to completely obstruct (v similar positioning on iPhones and some Lumias)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's going to obstruct wherever they put it. Top, bottom or back especially if you put it in your pocket. The Optimus G had such a high speaker volume even though the speaker was just a small slit in the back and the back was flat.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

You obviously never used one of the devices I mentioned above then.
It's the only thing that stops the N5 being the perfect device (all right maybe a bit better battery life)

Phone call:
On Handset is good...no issues.
On Speaker is ok...on full volume sound distortion is evident.
On Headphones is good but other person can't listen clearly unless I hold headphone mic in front of my lips...or speak loud.
Music:
On Speaker is terrible.
On headphones (Klipsch S4A)...quality is really good for 320kbps mp3 files...I feel best audio quality is between 50% - 70% of volume level.

which is the best ear phones you used?

Tell me what ear plugs you guys use,
Suggest me some.
Does the quality of audio in ear plugs change of we use after flashing Dolby??.

Since you asked earbuds and not headphone
it is Creative EP-630 (deep base )

Brainwavz Proalpha - great detail, not huge beats, but detail on whole frequency scale.
Yes, with Dolby, it will change, it will sound more "amusingly", but sometimes will lack in detail. I recommend only PowerAmp(or noozy, Neutron) and V4A
PS: sorry for commenting on your post, I've clicked on different buttton.

im using iem ATH clr 100, with v4a preinstalled in my rom (miui polska)
its cheap but i really enjoyed the sound quality

I use the Edifier H180 earphones and a KZ ATE in ear monitor. Both are cheap and very good. I don't use Dolby or any other enhancements.

Cowon em1

i use beyerdinamic mmx102ie, not the best tho
but fairly enough. and i don't use enhancement
tried 215spe and feels better, but still just so so

i using iem over ear, basic ie200, good bass, good fitting, good price
no need sound mod anymore..

In my honest opinion, Sony XB50ap is the best earphone i ever heard. I tried many earphone/headphone, on each i could find few things which were not the best compared to sony XB50ap.
Not only it has excellent bass, its mid and high are clear and distinct, you could hear all the notes and different pitch clearly and uniquely.
It has best noise isolation, and the sound intensity is the best of non active earphone i ever heard. Meaning, you could set low playback volume you could still hear it loud and clear.
A perfect earphone.
I use ISO equalizer band on Winamp for testing with EQ, since its ISO band behavior on other devices/player is near equal.
But, the best combo was with MAXX audio mod for Lenovo K3 note, default dolby app was useless like most sound enhancing apps on phone.
Maxx audio with default equalizer, with bass and treble knob set at required level, give best sound experience. If only someone would work on maxx audio to make it work on Redmi 2.
PS: only negative, may be bit big on size and thus everyone may not like it. Cost i think is not bad considering quality and what you can get from other brand.
---------- Post added at 11:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------
trust me dude, just get Sony XB50ap. You won't regret it. Make sure you buy it from authorized source and not some counterfeit item.

Using Panasonic HJE125s, really good earphones for cheap price

Sennheiser CX180 Street II, the music sounds good. I'm not an expert in music but if an earphone gives decent output, it's good enough for me

I was previously using stock Samsung headphones with my HM2014818.
With XTREMEMUSIC and V4A, it already sounded insane and one thing was clear to me that, the details of the sound being delivered, i.e. the highs mids and lows to be technical, are much of the concern of the underlying software itself, than good quality of headphones. Each headphone has atleast a good amount of frequency response which is enough to unleash the full power of the vibration being sent to it. If the vibration itself is dumped, no hardware can do enough.
I recently bought Sony MDR XB650BT, which sounds obviously slightly more dynamic due to its bigger drivers, gives deeper bass due to the XB, better fittings and all, but everything else is almost pretty same.
So my point is, before going to buy an extremely expensive hardware for listening to better music, make changes to the software itself. There are a whole bunch of soundmods available at XDA, try any or all of them(though my personal favorite has always been the XM, but that's part of another story ), and then decide.

I use Creative E600....whivh i consider the best budget earphone!

To me, Phillips is the best sound quality or Sony.

mi capsules are also good

sennheiser makes me comfortable with good ups,mid, and downs.

im using beats tour
Sent from my Wingtech Redmi 2 using XDA Labs

I am using the audio technica ATH CLR 100 for more than 6 months now. Really nice pair of ear phones for the price. Even though the cable used looks and feels cheep, for my usage (Kinda rough) I've failed to damage it

Right now, using Cowon EM1 and AudioTechnica CKX7iS. Love the CKX7iS. Wasn't satisfied with the performance of EM1 initially, but I removed the filter and switched the buds with that of another old AudioTechnica's and bam, it's amazing now.
Used Dolby long back and didn't like it. The audio enhancements that come with stock MIUI works great. I've seen similar outputs only in Viper Audio, with some IRs.

Well i am on mi stock earphone mi in ear headphone pro gold that is quite costly but sounds good i mean great i can't even imagine like that one sound quality. It is very important to know sound quality before you buy any earphone or headphone

Audio Quality? (3.5mm Jack Output)

Can anyone offer impressions of the audio quality, of the 3.5mm jack output?
The SD 845 should provide a decent DAC, but the question is: How good is the audio amplifier feeding the 3.5mm jack output? (Power, distortion, S/N, etc.)
Wondering if this might be one place OP economized to reduce cost. Don't see any discussion about it anywhere...
TIA...

Any info or comments on OP6 3.5mm jack audio quality would be appreciated.
TIA....
...

I only have cheaper in-ears and they sound as bad as everywhere else If you really need a good output maybe consider the G7

My apple ear buds sounded just fine with the OP6 but the sound volume is a bit low when i use the aux out with my car stereo. My iPhone 6 had a better audio output on my car stereo compared to OP6. I will do more tests and try to come to a proper conclusion.

I normally use a Dragonfly red DAC but for science I used the 3.5mm jack. Unfortunately it sounded very average at best, kind of flat and narrow sound stage. Tested it with a pair of Shure 535.

roniistar said:
My apple ear buds sounded just fine with the OP6 but the sound volume is a bit low when i use the aux out with my car stereo. My iPhone 6 had a better audio output on my car stereo compared to OP6. I will do more tests and try to come to a proper conclusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's useful info, thanks.
Seems like iPhones have audio output that is good or better, so that is a good comparison.
Weak output is exactly what I am concerned about with the OP6. I believe the DAC function is handled by the SD845 which should be pretty good, but the power amp section between that and the 3.5mm jack is where OP may have reduced cost with lower spec hardware.
Weaker output will increase distortion, at normal listening levels the amp has to operate closer to max output which increases distortion.
I had a phone once with cheap audio HW feeding the 3.5mm jack, and I will not do that again. I had high hopes for the OP6, oh well.
What's striking about the OP6 is that there is virtually no mention anywhere about the 3.5mm audio output quality. A few bits here and there about the speakers, but all phone speakers sound tinny, more or less, audio quality is poor with all phone speakers, that's not where quality is ever good so who cares?
....

I got to test the audio jack comparing to my OP3, using Sennheiser IE-8 IEMs. Now, you could probably get different results with other headphones, but these are very easy to drive, and the audio output was just so low compared to the OP3. I kind of also agree to the post above saying the soundstage being flat/narrow. Honestly I don't want another phone since OnePlus checks almost all of the smartphone boxes for me, but I gave up on the OP6 after doing that test.

I am using SONY wh-1000xm2 both with mini jack cable and over BT LDAC coded. In both conditions sound is rich and crips yet sligtly louder over BT.

MeggaMortY said:
I got to test the audio jack comparing to my OP3, using Sennheiser IE-8 IEMs. Now, you could probably get different results with other headphones, but these are very easy to drive, and the audio output was just so low compared to the OP3. I kind of also agree to the post above saying the soundstage being flat/narrow. Honestly I don't want another phone since OnePlus checks almost all of the smartphone boxes for me, but I gave up on the OP6 after doing that test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, another review indicating sub-par audio output power on the OP6 headphone jack.
I'm out, my V30S is on the way. (B&H has a really good deal right now, and bootloader unlock & root are available.)
...

Tinkerer_ said:
That's useful info, thanks.
Seems like iPhones have audio output that is good or better, so that is a good comparison.
Weak output is exactly what I am concerned about with the OP6. I believe the DAC function is handled by the SD845 which should be pretty good, but the power amp section between that and the 3.5mm jack is where OP may have reduced cost with lower spec hardware.
Weaker output will increase distortion, at normal listening levels the amp has to operate closer to max output which increases distortion.
I had a phone once with cheap audio HW feeding the 3.5mm jack, and I will not do that again. I had high hopes for the OP6, oh well.
What's striking about the OP6 is that there is virtually no mention anywhere about the 3.5mm audio output quality. A few bits here and there about the speakers, but all phone speakers sound tinny, more or less, audio quality is poor with all phone speakers, that's not where quality is ever good so who cares?
....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to iFixit, OnePlus 6 has WCD9341 chip on board which is pretty decent DAC
LINK

masi0 said:
According to iFixit, OnePlus 6 has WCD9341 chip on board which is pretty decent DAC
LINK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw that, but the info on that "codec" (DAC etc.) by Qualcomm is not clear with respect to power amplification. WCD9341 appears to be integrated to the Snapdragon 845, and it would seem that analog audio power amplification of the output of the DAC itself would best be done outside of the SD845 because of heat dissipation and possibly EMI. Which means that a separate power amp section is used if this is so, and that is the place that OP might skimp.
Multiple anecdotes in this thread about weak audio on the OP6 3.5mm jack also support this likelihood.
I don't have a stake in this anymore, ordered a V30S. Headphone jack audio quality is more important than raw speed to me, and the V30S also has other advantages, for a B&H discounted price not much higher than OP6 right now.
...

let's be honest - if you want good sound quality buy AudioQuest Black or Red and use it with good/decent headphones.
Despite I cant complain on headphone output/i use mailny Sony over LDAC I am planning to get one external DAC anyway

masi0 said:
let's be honest - if you want good sound quality buy AudioQuest Black or Red and use it with good/decent headphones.
Despite I cant complain on headphone output/i use mailny Sony over LDAC I am planning to get one external DAC anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with separate DAC like the Dragonfly is that... it is a separate DAC, with an extra $200 cost (Red). Using it with a phone on the go would require some kind of rigging e.g. Velcro. And that is the smallest/lightest example I think.
The ESS DAC in the V30(S) is said to perform similarly to DACs like the Dragonfly. It has a few caveats, like auto-detect load > auto-adjust output. There are a couple ways to address that stupidity though.
Not plugging for B&H, but their limited-time discount V30S price delta vs. OP6 is less than the price of a Dragonfly Red, and that also brings USB 3.1, a micro SD slot, and IP68.
Bowing out from OP6 thread now. Good luck.
....

I am getting familiar with this a/b config tree....I will optimize the sound system, to a point that not even mainland will recognize it...... also, will try to make it dual speaker, when output=speaker.
untl then,
TURBO.

TURBO2012 said:
I am getting familiar with this a/b config tree....I will optimize the sound system, to a point that not even mainland will recognize it...... also, will try to make it dual speaker, when output=speaker.
untl then,
TURBO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds interesting. Looking forward. All the best.

IMO you can't even listen to any phone w/out V4A. My OP6 sounds awesome with this installed and the power output was surprising.

I only shared how it is compared to the OP3 - now, you can surely software mod it, bit if the HW is limited, there's little you can do there - but to each their own. I value headphone output/quality too much so I'll just grab the next LG V40 when it comes out and don't bother with any trickery/external DACs/Amps.

Speaker is louder than my HTC10 (not quite as good sound quality but ok), earphone quality using black player and Jays-a-Jays heavy bass earphones is fine, I'm pleasantly surprised

vibrantliker said:
IMO you can't even listen to any phone w/out V4A. My OP6 sounds awesome with this installed and the power output was surprising.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mind sharing the installer!? And process too?
P.S. - I hope you did it without twrp!

I've also noticed quite a difference between power output on the OP6 compared to the OP3, sadly.

Discussion on galaxy s8 sound quality with headphones

So I'm just using a galaxy s8 after having had a HTC 10 for a while. I can't get over how terrible the sound is with headphones! It's quieter, lacks the depth the HTC 10 has, and has no bass. Like seriously songs that on the HTC 10 have deep hard drums like they should sound weak on the galaxy s8. And it is so quiet on the galaxy even at max volume I'm not satisfied with the sound volume. I'd say the max on the galaxy is about 2 to 3 clicks down on the HTC 10.
Is this common? Like to me the audio difference with just the same basic apple earpods on both is so huge I can't even imagine what it would be like with quality headphones. It's like the difference between surround sound and tiny built in TV speakers bad.
HTC can't even hardly sell any phones these days... Haha all they have to do is open a booth with their phone and a Samsung phone playing music over headphones and every single person who hears it will be wanting a HTC. .

i second that. is there something that can be done about this though?

nascar48 said:
So I'm just using a galaxy s8 after having had a HTC 10 for a while. I can't get over how terrible the sound is with headphones! It's quieter, lacks the depth the HTC 10 has, and has no bass. Like seriously songs that on the HTC 10 have deep hard drums like they should sound weak on the galaxy s8. And it is so quiet on the galaxy even at max volume I'm not satisfied with the sound volume. I'd say the max on the galaxy is about 2 to 3 clicks down on the HTC 10.
Is this common? Like to me the audio difference with just the same basic apple earpods on both is so huge I can't even imagine what it would be like with quality headphones. It's like the difference between surround sound and tiny built in TV speakers bad.
HTC can't even hardly sell any phones these days... Haha all they have to do is open a booth with their phone and a Samsung phone playing music over headphones and every single person who hears it will be wanting a HTC. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
user900 said:
i second that. is there something that can be done about this though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will third this.
The only thing that makes any audio out of this device bareable is viper4android.
If you can root. It is a must you can boost the gains and such to a point of ear splitting noise :good::good::good:

Try download app AMP player there you can boost and set all

TheMadScientist said:
I will third this.
The only thing that makes any audio out of this device bareable is viper4android.
If you can root. It is a must you can boost the gains and such to a point of ear splitting noise :good::good::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW, on a rooted rom that uses stock audio (with Dolby Atmos ported from S9, but NOT turned on), combined with viper4android and Neutron player (a combination I used on HTC 10 for a while), I don't hear any difference with the same headphones ...

nascar48 said:
So I'm just using a galaxy s8 after having had a HTC 10 for a while. I can't get over how terrible the sound is with headphones! It's quieter, lacks the depth the HTC 10 has, and has no bass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Sound Quality in settings & Adapt Sound while your headphones are connected with wire. Complete the audio test or just click all frequencies of the test. The loudness should be increased.
Boost bass with the equalizer. It sounds pretty decent tbh.
If you're using Bluetooth headphones & you are on Oreo, go to Developer Options in Settings. Then scroll down to Bluetooth Audio Codec & choose aac. Try other codecs if your headset supports them.
If you're using wired headphones & rooted, Viper4Android tweaks make a day & night difference to the music quality.
But the S8 sounds pretty decent once you adjusted all the sound options it has

user900 said:
i second that. is there something that can be done about this though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if you are rooted. I've managed to, with a little effort, tune the sound to the quality level of my audiophile dac/amp with.
V4a is a big help but in my setup it's not the main event, and in fact now all I use it for is to run my DDC and to push up sub bass frequencies. I use the following:
1) sauron. This is the #1 most important and necessary mod to install. For most people's headphone setups, this mod alone is enough. I can't stress enough how much of a game changer this is. The ainur guys are operating on a whole other level with audio mods. It has to be installed and heard to truly understand.
2) JamesDSP. This is kind of a successor to v4a. It's worth noting that the main reason I have this is that it has a higher quality convolver algorithm than v4a does, as v4a has to support older devices that couldn't keep up. Also it's bass boost does much better for tight "punchy" bass.
3) Viper 2.6
The new rewritten v4a is the way to go nowadays. Just install it from xda labs and use the in app driver install. It even works with magisk! I take special care to not use the same fx in v4a as I do jdsp. I pretty much just use DDC and viper bass
4) Dirac
This is my newest addition and it's really brought everything together in a cohesive way that has blown me away. I had some problem areas in the upper end of the spectrum due to my specific IEMs when driving them off my current Bluetooth cable and Dirac fixed all of them. I will have more to say about this one later.
All of these mods utilize the audiomodlib/unity stack, so they all work fine together. They each have a specific purpose and I don't go overboard with dramatic alterations or stacking fx in the same part of the spectrum.

partcyborg said:
Yes, if you are rooted. I've managed to, with a little effort, tune the sound to the quality level of my audiophile dac/amp with.
V4a is a big help but in my setup it's not the main event, and in fact now all I use it for is to run my DDC and to push up sub bass frequencies. I use the following:
1) sauron. This is the #1 most important and necessary mod to install. For most people's headphone setups, this mod alone is enough. I can't stress enough how much of a game changer this is. The ainur guys are operating on a whole other level with audio mods. It has to be installed and heard to truly understand.
2) JamesDSP..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, forgot to mention that I use(d) Sauron both on HTC10 and S8.
JamesDSP never worked properly for me on HTC, haven't tried it on S8.

nascar48 said:
So I'm just using a galaxy s8 after having had a HTC 10 for a while. I can't get over how terrible the sound is with headphones! It's quieter, lacks the depth the HTC 10 has, and has no bass. Like seriously songs that on the HTC 10 have deep hard drums like they should sound weak on the galaxy s8. And it is so quiet on the galaxy even at max volume I'm not satisfied with the sound volume. I'd say the max on the galaxy is about 2 to 3 clicks down on the HTC 10.
Is this common? Like to me the audio difference with just the same basic apple earpods on both is so huge I can't even imagine what it would be like with quality headphones. It's like the difference between surround sound and tiny built in TV speakers bad.
HTC can't even hardly sell any phones these days... Haha all they have to do is open a booth with their phone and a Samsung phone playing music over headphones and every single person who hears it will be wanting a HTC. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found that going into the "Sound Quality and Effects" section and turning off all the extra crap like tube amp and UHQ Upscaler definitely helps with the volume, then going into the "Adapt Sound" sub menu in a very quiet room and letting it tailor the audio to the frequencies you can actually hear really makes a massive difference. I can actually get my s8 loud enough that I've used my headphones as (albeit quiet) speakers. This phone can get plenty loud. And if you listen to music stored on the actual phone (or SD) rather than streaming, PowerAmp's EQ and volume/tone settings can crank it up WAY louder. Samsung has had a history of using really decent DACs in their phones (I still have my original international Galaxy S with a Wolfson DAC that I use as a media player at the gym) so even with volume boosting apps the sound quality is usually great and not all distorted like most other phones get when boosted.

I beg to differ... I'm using Viper4Android and the bass tones can go so low I can hear 28hz and below really clearly (High ends are sharp too) overally more than loud enough. (Using Apple earpods) If you're using big driver over head earphones then what do you expect. You're never gonna be able to use the most out of them unless you get a powered DAC.

Hello there, i don't know if is the right place to ask but i searched a lot and i have no solutions:
I can't get sound through headphones, i recently installed a new jack port, they connect and i can play/pause videos/songs with the mic button but sound is never coming out. (Headphones work ok with other devices)
So i don't know if i can only use Samsung branded headphones or is it something more to do with software or motherboard issue.. I see a lot of people having problems with headphones sound but any fix solved for me.