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Nexus 5 speaker questions

Tried covering the left speaker holes at the bottom while playing audio almost completely muted the sound, covering the right has no effect, sound can be heard.
I know this is normal for an iPhone 5s as it only have one driver extending the sound to the other speaker holes, but is it the same for nexus 5?
Edit: it is a monospeaker on the left, Sry for posting such stupid question -.-!

strictlyp said:
Tried covering the left speaker holes at the bottom while playing audio almost completely muted the sound, covering the right has no effect, sound can be heard.
I know this is normal for an iPhone 5s as it only have one driver extending the sound to the other speaker holes, but is it the same for nexus 5?
Edit: it is a monospeaker on the left, Sry for posting such stupid question -.-!
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Click to collapse
Nexus 5 has a mono-speaker and it's quiet as hell even at max volume.

dextroz said:
Nexus 5 has a mono-speaker and it's quiet as hell even at max volume.
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Click to collapse
I'm not religious at all, but I do presume that if hell existed, it wouldn't be silent

[Q] Speakers ... or speaker ?! :P

Hi gurus,
my N5 pumps quite a low volume from the speaker... In particular, looking at the screen, the bottom left grill gives a reasonable output while the right... really low volume. I was thinking about RMA when googling, I found an article which states that:
- there's no left and right speaker on N5, just one speaker
- left grill is for the speaker, while right one is for the microphone.
If so, then my N5 is absolutely "normal". Could anyone confirm that the left grill returns significantly a louder sound ?
Thanks in advance

Just tried what you describe same result my left speaker plays louder
Sent from my NeXus 5

KaylordTheuZ said:
Hi gurus,
my N5 pumps quite a low volume from the speaker... In particular, looking at the screen, the bottom left grill gives a reasonable output while the right... really low volume. I was thinking about RMA when googling, I found an article which states that:
- there's no left and right speaker on N5, just one speaker
- left grill is for the speaker, while right one is for the microphone.
If so, then my N5 is absolutely "normal". Could anyone confirm that the left grill returns significantly a louder sound ?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's only 1 speaker.

Same as the G2.... one speaker only.

neugenusis said:
Same as the G2.... one speaker only.
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Click to collapse
Zepius said:
there's only 1 speaker.
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Click to collapse
So... I assume that different sound volume from the two grids should be considered normal... not a defect.

KaylordTheuZ said:
So... I assume that different sound volume from the two grids should be considered normal... not a defect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct. there are portholes in the speaker assembly. see below for a nice picture
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/1...-5s-underpowered-speaker-a-little-more-oomph/

KaylordTheuZ said:
So... I assume that different sound volume from the two grids should be considered normal... not a defect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is only 1 speaker. Any sound you're perceiving from the other grill is purely leaked sound.
At this point, I thought everyone knew this. Mostly all phones on the market work this way: The G2, the iPhone line, etc...HTC One is one of the only phones that have multiple speakers.

Front facing speakers sound quality

I got my Pixel 3XL device yesterday and it seems to me that the quality of the front facing speakers is much worse than previous generations. My Nexus 6P had better front speakers. The top and bottom speakers are clearly very different. The top speaker is basically just sound from an earpiece speaker and sounds tinny and not very loud. The bottom speaker is more bassy but muffled. I wanted to know if it's just my unit or anyone else noticed the same. Maybe the regular Pixel 3 is better? The speaker grilles look symmetric on that device.
Thanks!
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

The top speaker on both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 series does not get as loud or have as much bass as the bottom speaker. They also sound less warm in tone than the 6P, but some have assumed the waterproofing mesh that is used contributes to this.

notifications sound terrible. they only come out one speaker so its not loud and sounds like crap. why in the world would google make it so that only one speaker is used for notifications?? other then that they are fantastic

bigdave79 said:
I got my Pixel 3XL device yesterday and it seems to me that the quality of the front facing speakers is much worse than previous generations. My Nexus 6P had better front speakers. The top and bottom speakers are clearly very different. The top speaker is basically just sound from an earpiece speaker and sounds tinny and not very loud. The bottom speaker is more bassy but muffled. I wanted to know if it's just my unit or anyone else noticed the same. Maybe the regular Pixel 3 is better? The speaker grilles look symmetric on that device.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a wide spread issue. Hopefully Google jumps on this quickly. I think they could easily fix them in a software update.

TheAtheistOtaku said:
notifications sound terrible. they only come out one speaker so its not loud and sounds like crap. why in the world would google make it so that only one speaker is used for notifications?? other then that they are fantastic
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Click to collapse
It's been like this for most dual speaker phones. Every HTC , Pixel, and Sony dual speaker phone I've had only uses notifications and call speaker through the bottom speaker. I'm surprised people are just now noticing this. I started a thread on the pixel 2 forum nearly a year ago asking if anyone found a mod to enable the second speaker for notifications and speaker phone calls. Short answer, no.
I am sure we can find a solution by editing the right XML files in the root system directory.

My note 9 sounds better. May have to return this baby as the speakers and camera are my main reason for switching and I don't think either are better.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I have both the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, the smaller Pixel 3 do sound much better than the XL. The XL sounds muffled and not as clear compared to the smaller Pixel 3.

isjoining said:
I have both the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, the smaller Pixel 3 do sound much better than the XL. The XL sounds muffled and not as clear compared to the smaller Pixel 3.
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Click to collapse
Figures. Last year the small Pixel had a better screen, so Google fixed that this year. Now they screwed up the speakers. What's next? Oh well, once we get root we can fix the sound. I feel sorry for the Verizon Pixel owners, they won't be able to do anything about the sound.

In the interim, could try this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devdnua.equalizer.free
Disable musicfx and play with the eq a bit. It's the best option til root is available.

nycdiplomat said:
In the interim, could try this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devdnua.equalizer.free
Disable musicfx and play with the eq a bit. It's the best option til root is available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this run in the background and drain battery much??

synplex said:
Does this run in the background and drain battery much??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I havent noticed any extra drain. 4hr sot at 53% since

I don't have any way to quantify this, but I think that there might be a break in period for the speakers. While they remain unbalanced in volume output between top and bottom speakers, the clarity, quality and distortion have all improved greatly. The distortion seems to be gone and I no longer can hear any "fuzziness" in the audio. And when watching videos, people speaking is much more clear and understandable. Like I said, this could just be my perception but I'm very pleased by this considering the very rough start with this phone.
All that said, my iPhone still sounds better on balance. But that doesn't really surprise me as Apple has been in the music game far longer.

I Googled it and Google says speakers do have a break in period. Maybe the speakers will sound better the longer they're used. I don't know if it's true or not but you can Google it and read what I did.

Listen to this video around half volume. Listen to your bottom speaker.

Can you tell when holding the phone 12 or more inches away from your face? I am pretty sure that is the use case the sound was engineered for... I can't but my hearing sucks.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Huh, I use speakerphone all the time and I think it sounds great. Also sounds fine to me with videos and that sort of thing where dialog is clear and relatively natural sounding. You folks talking about music playback over the speakers?
Edit... Ok, never mind. Just listened to music through the speakers and that does have sort of a muffled quality to it. I cant compare it because I never use my phones to play music through the speakers but I'm guessing it's usually more clear.

I dont like the imbalance especially since my pixel 2 xl doesn't have it granted the 3 xl speakers have better quality then the 2 XL . i can hear the one side much louder making the other one almost not heard at all because the one side just over powers it

This may not be a sound issue, as a notification issue. I noticed that if you play the notification sound from the settings menu, it sounds clearer, than when it's used in a notification. Anyone else want to try and see if they hear the same?

In general, there is some truth to improved sound after speaker break-in. It's normal high end speaker manufacturer education to consumers.

(Ring)tones only from bottom speaker?

So I noticed this morning that my tones only play from the bottom speaker.
I was searching for a ringtone and found one that played nice and loud when I previewed it (from both speakers)... copied it to the ringtone folder, selected it in the sound preferences and when it played it was WAY quieter because it was only playing out of the bottom speaker!!
What gives?

i remember my old sony z3 and z5 did the same, both with front stereo speakers and inly the bottom one played ringtones
Sent from my Nokia 7 plus using Tapatalk

so annoying.

byproxy said:
So I noticed this morning that my tones only play from the bottom speaker.
I was searching for a ringtone and found one that played nice and loud when I previewed it (from both speakers)... copied it to the ringtone folder, selected it in the sound preferences and when it played it was WAY quieter because it was only playing out of the bottom speaker!!
What gives?
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Click to collapse
This is totally normal. All dual speaker phones do this for both ringtones and speakerphone calls. Once we gain root access, someone needs to find the right line of code in the mixer paths XML file to activate the second speaker.

PuffDaddy_d said:
This is totally normal. All dual speaker phones do this for both ringtones and speakerphone calls. Once we gain root access, someone needs to find the right line of code in the mixer paths XML file to activate the second speaker.
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My HTC One M7 played ringtones, notifications, and speakerphone calls from both speakers and my ZTE Axon 7 plays from both speakers as well. So no, it is not a thing all dual speaker phones do.

J-Pod said:
My HTC One M7 played ringtones, notifications, and speakerphone calls from both speakers and my ZTE Axon 7 plays from both speakers as well. So no, it is not a thing all dual speaker phones do.
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Click to collapse
My HTC 10 doesnt. Ringtones only from the one speaker

I'm pretty sure it's to idiot proof the phone to prevent people from putting the phone to their ears before actually answering the phone thereby potentially causing damage and a lawsuit due to the significantly louder signal the speakers play when ringing. My iPhone X and Galaxy Note both kinda do the same thing except on the Note 9 some sound does come out of the top speaker unless the proximity sensor detects any nearby objects (like a face) which is the clever way to do it really.

J-Pod said:
My HTC One M7 played ringtones, notifications, and speakerphone calls from both speakers and my ZTE Axon 7 plays from both speakers as well. So no, it is not a thing all dual speaker phones do.
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Click to collapse
So out of hundreds of phones, the two non standard and ancient phones you can find to back up your opinion is all you've got?
All RELEVANT phones do this. They aren't relevant.

DareDevil01 said:
I'm pretty sure it's to idiot proof the phone to prevent people from putting the phone to their ears before actually answering the phone thereby potentially causing damage and a lawsuit due to the significantly louder signal the speakers play when ringing. My iPhone X and Galaxy Note both kinda do the same thing except on the Note 9 some sound does come out of the top speaker unless the proximity sensor detects any nearby objects (like a face) which is the clever way to do it really.
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This is the only thing I've found online as well that makes any decent sense. The whole proximity sensor thing sounds great, I wonder why more companies don't do that for all the non-media sounds.

DareDevil01 said:
I'm pretty sure it's to idiot proof the phone to prevent people from putting the phone to their ears before actually answering the phone thereby potentially causing damage and a lawsuit due to the significantly louder signal the speakers play when ringing. My iPhone X and Galaxy Note both kinda do the same thing except on the Note 9 some sound does come out of the top speaker unless the proximity sensor detects any nearby objects (like a face) which is the clever way to do it really.
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Click to collapse
iPhone does use both speakers for ringtones/notifications/alarm. I have iPhone XS, I also had an iPhone X, great sound from both speakers. I don't understand why Google limits the phone like this, not only it only uses the bottom speaker but the sound quality is decreased a lot when comparing the sound coming when it's ringing to playing exactly the same sound with a media player on the phone.

Fille84 said:
iPhone does use both speakers for ringtones/notifications/alarm. I have iPhone XS, I also had an iPhone X, great sound from both speakers. I don't understand why Google limits the phone like this, not only it only uses the bottom speaker but the sound quality is decreased a lot when comparing the sound coming when it's ringing to playing exactly the same sound with a media player on the phone.
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Click to collapse
If that's the case then they probably updated it. I sold my iPhone X for a Note 9 and much prefer the sound of the Note 9. The XS is a bit louder but the Note 9 has a much more balanced sound with a pleasant tuning, which is reflected in sound measurements on Notebookcheck from both phones. It also confirms the lower peak volume of the Note 9.
Regarding the Pixel 3 well, I haven't had enough hands on with it to comment but from what I heard the speakers were very powerful albeit with slightly less definition which I guess is the point at the end of the day when you want your phone to be heard... Then again from what you guys are saying it doesn't ring very loud...
Since you have an XS can you confirm whether covering the sensors on the front turns off the top speaker when the phone is ringing?

DareDevil01 said:
If that's the case then they probably updated it. I sold my iPhone X for a Note 9 and much prefer the sound of the Note 9. The XS is a bit louder but the Note 9 has a much more balanced sound with a pleasant tuning, which is reflected in sound measurements on Notebookcheck from both phones. It also confirms the lower peak volume of the Note 9.
Regarding the Pixel 3 well, I haven't had enough hands on with it to comment but from what I heard the speakers were very powerful albeit with slightly less definition which I guess is the point at the end of the day when you want your phone to be heard... Then again from what you guys are saying it doesn't ring very loud...
Since you have an XS can you confirm whether covering the sensors on the front turns off the top speaker when the phone is ringing?
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Click to collapse
I have had every iPhone since they implemented dual speakers and the sound for incoming call/notification have always come from both speakers, nothing new at all. That is something that's bothering me a bit when switching to android, you have two speakers why not use em both for ringtones, alarms and so on.
It just seems to lower the volume for both speakers when covering the sensors.

Fille84 said:
I have had every iPhone since they implemented dual speakers and the sound for incoming call/notification have always come from both speakers, nothing new at all. That is something that's bothering me a bit when switching to android, you have two speakers why not use em both for ringtones, alarms and so on.
It just seems to lower the volume for both speakers when covering the sensors.
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Click to collapse
In my opinion I think it is very dangerous to the ears for the top speaker to not turn off with the proximity sensor, as I have been in a situation where I was showing my friend a song I was working on, the phone volume was down low and he was holding the top of the phone near his ear and I got an incoming call. That would have hurt his ear if it was the iPhone. I think it is very clever that Samsung use the proximity sensor to protect our ears from these mistakes. Especially if you're on a call on Facebook then you receive a cellular call through the phone in which case it cancels the Facebook call and rings through the loudspeakers. Again that would be damaging to the ear. Then again I don't Apple has ever really followed hearing protection regulations as they have no volume limit or warning by default on the iPhones with earphones as opposed to Android where you get a message turning it up to high volumes. Again, my Note 9 is plenty loud when it rings in normal situations. I'm not sure about the Pixel 3.

DareDevil01 said:
In my opinion I think it is very dangerous to the ears for the top speaker to not turn off with the proximity sensor, as I have been in a situation where I was showing my friend a song I was working on, the phone volume was down low and he was holding the top of the phone near his ear and I got an incoming call. That would have hurt his ear if it was the iPhone. I think it is very clever that Samsung use the proximity sensor to protect our ears from these mistakes. Especially if you're on a call on Facebook then you receive a cellular call through the phone in which case it cancels the Facebook call and rings through the loudspeakers. Again that would be damaging to the ear. Then again I don't Apple has ever really followed hearing protection regulations as they have no volume limit or warning by default on the iPhones with earphones as opposed to Android where you get a message turning it up to high volumes. Again, my Note 9 is plenty loud when it rings in normal situations. I'm not sure about the Pixel 3.
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Like I said, it's very low when you're either looking at the screen or covering the sensors. So it's a non issue, can't damage your ear. And to be honest it's not a very common scenario to hold your ear against the earpiece if you're not talking on the phone.

Fille84 said:
Like I said, it's very low when you're either looking at the screen or covering the sensors. So it's a non issue, can't damage your ear. And to be honest it's not a very common scenario to hold your ear against the earpiece if you're not talking on the phone.
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As I mentioned,
I can't speak for the Pixel 3 but the Note 9 rings plenty loud with alarms and calls etc unless the proximity sensor is triggered. It only dims the top speaker tho. I would agree with you about the the ear against the speaker if it wasn't for the all too common scenario of being on a Facebook messenger call with the earpiece then a cellular call comes through, interrupting the messenger call and ringing through the speakers... I do agree with you that the Pixel shouldn't just permantly turn off the top speaker for calls and alarms, that just seems silly. They should utilize the full potential of the speaker system...

2022 Did someone already found a way for dual stereo speaker ringtone for our pixel 3? Google really always loves to mess up.

Pixel 3a - Audio

Hello guys,
I noticed something weird with my new Pixel 3A:
The sound is very low when it's set between 0 and ~75%, and start to become louud only at the end (like 80% and more). But when the audio is set on maximum, the sound is kind of weird... like there is too much "bass", not natural... I don't know how to describe it.
Am I the only one? Is your Pixel 3a audio weak except at maximum?
Thanks

Check out this thread: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/1483051?hl=en (expand to see all replies). One person reported this for 3a and another for 3a XL

All my sounds in general are very low

JoeSchmoe007 said:
Check out this thread: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/1483051?hl=en (expand to see all replies). One person reported this for 3a and another for 3a XL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG! Thanks for the link. This could be a deal breaker. Strange, though that one poster said he didn't have the issue on Oreo. One reported issue started after 6 mos but didn't link it to OS upgrade. My white 3a is coming from B&H on "1st come" as the inventory replenishes so it could be weeks before it arrives.
Never had a Pixel ($$$) but had every Nexus device (phones and tablets) since GNex--which I kept because of hdmi out. Generally, issues with the phones, but the our last three (N9, 5X, and 6P) had serious hardware issues. LG fixed one 5X --twice; we replaced battery in 6P which revitalized that device. N9 became hopeless. Am wishing for better with the 3a (like the N5--which I'm still using as a device--not phone). The 3a reminded me of the N5 which I really loved as a daily driver.
Please, posters, chime in if you've found this issue, too. TIA.

I've noticed that my ringer and notifications are what's low, the call volume and media seem loud. Not sure what's going on

In fact, I don't care if it's software, I just wanted to know if I have a defect unit...
I will never buy a smartphone with updates not directly from Google again, so I don't care about some software issue, I will always buy Pixels. But my only problem is to know if it's only my device or not. .

Yes, the volume for all things for me is quite low until you get past ~75% like you said.

cjbr0wn said:
Yes, the volume for all things for me is quite low until you get past ~75% like you said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for confirming it's not only my device
It's weird, why Google did that? It's like the 100% sound is like 3x or 4x louder than 50-60%! But my maths say to me (correct me if I'm wrong) 50-60% should be half less than 100%.

Today I finally had a chance to play with 3a that was connected to the network and I experienced low volume at about 50% for YouTube playback. In-call volume for conversation seemed OK but I was not able to check ringtone because phone was not accepting incoming calls.

sorry do you mean the loudspeakers or with headphones? or in-call? sound levels seem fairly normal for me i'm afraid, the audio quality is not great but i've punched it up with ViPER. made a call last night and didn't notice the in-call volume being unusual. my alarm was loud this morning. loudspeaker sound quality also not great but that doesn't really affect me.

Viper works without root?

smartuser8 said:
Viper works without root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We have root
Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Do you know one good and safe non-root equalizer app ? Thanks

One guy (on the above linked google page) realized it was the plastic protective cover that the phone came with. It was covering the speaker hole (one of the stereo speakers is located behind the earpiece hole - they are not BOTH at the bottom of the phone). He removed the plastic cover and the sound volume was fine.
So make sure you have removed the plastic and that any screen protector you might have installed doesn't cover the speaker!

Mine seems pretty good--loud. My hearing is very sensitive, though. Brightness, otoh, is sub-par--or calibrated differently. 70% on my 3a = 30% on N5X.

Yeah that's what I mean... At max the audio is like other phones, but at 70 it's lower... Weird calibration.

Hey all, I've been playing around with my phone and I'm not sure if I'm the only one but only one "side" of the cutout actually plays sound. Is anyone else encountering this?

Wdenton said:
Hey all, I've been playing around with my phone and I'm not sure if I'm the only one but only one "side" of the cutout actually plays sound. Is anyone else encountering this?
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That's the way it works. The other hole is only for optical balance. You have the top speaker which is front firing and one bottom speaker which is down firing
Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

jmtjr278 said:
That's the way it works. The other hole is only for optical balance. You have the top speaker which is front firing and one bottom speaker which is down firing
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Click to collapse
I believe the other hole is actually a mic. This is VERY common in phones with a single bottom firing speaker.

I noticed the Pixel 3a isn't 'really' stereo. I feel like it's mono sound but with 2 speakers for boost the audio.
I don't know if you guys noticed that, when you watch a video or listen podcast... if you put your finger and your block the audio from a speaker, and you do the same thing with the other speaker, the audio isn't the same, there is like 'low freq" (bass?) coming from the bottom, and 'high freq' (normal) coming from the top speaker.
I mean... when you test that with your finger and put the phone near to your ear, you will notice the audio from both speakers is not the same at all, it's weird...
EDIT: I was wondering if I'm the crazy guy who se weird things or issues everywhere but after some research I found I'm not the only one who noticed that, we have the confirmation in the Unbox Therapy video about Pixel 3a:
https://youtu.be/3mlMq3pQyt8?t=687
"It's NOT a stereo implementation. They called that but in reality most of the low-end is coming from here, some high-end is coming from here..."
Did you noticed that guys?