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So, how does it fair to Galaxy S3? Does the Octo version comes with Wolfson audio chip?
So, Exynos version will have wolfson wm5102 sound chip afterall...
I want to know about the volume level - my Nexus 4 went back to Google due to the low aux volume. I aux out all the time and it's an absolute requirement for my phone to be able to output at a reasonable volume. The N4 is laughable in that department, and yes that's with hacks too. Someone please confirm the output volume via the headphone jack is LOUD and I'll be happy!
SMS92 said:
I want to know about the volume level - my Nexus 4 went back to Google due to the low aux volume. I aux out all the time and it's an absolute requirement for my phone to be able to output at a reasonable volume. The N4 is laughable in that department, and yes that's with hacks too. Someone please confirm the output volume via the headphone jack is LOUD and I'll be happy!
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GSM Arena's review said that the S600 S4 was clear, but had low output. They also said that the HTC One was much louder, which is why I'm almost considering it over the S4.
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Accourding to GSMArena, in the latest unit the speaker volume is pretty decent, even better than One.
When connected to the amplifier, the sound is superior than almost every phone available in the market. But the DAC is the embedded DAC of S600, so don't know why the difference can be that big.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-914p8.php
Wolfson DAC in Exynos Octa maybe even better
The volume of the headphone output was one of my main complaints about Galaxy S III. No headroom at last year's flagship Samsung was not, in fact, using rebar headphones Etymotic hf5 maximum volume is not enough for comfortable listening to classical music (which usually has a wider dynamic range than other music genres). Fortunately, the Galaxy S4 solved this problem: using the same headphones and listening to the same records I've never had to turn up the volume to the maximum. Also, if the Galaxy S III was a telephone and a deep voice sounded muffled because of this, the Galaxy S4 boasts a more even tonal balance. In general, continuous improvement, anyway
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http://gagadget.com/cellphones/2013-03-27-obzor-samsung-galaxy-s4/
hung2900 said:
Accourding to GSMArena, in the latest unit the speaker volume is pretty decent, even better than One.
When connected to the amplifier, the sound is superior than almost every phone available in the market. But the DAC is the embedded DAC of S600, so don't know why the difference can be that big.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-914p8.php
Wolfson DAC in Exynos Octa maybe even better
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Click to collapse
They said the crosstalk was the only downside of the One and you'd need high tech equipment to even hear it. However, they also said that the S4 was still quiet when compared with the One/Butterfly, which is what the OP is focusing on the most.
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jtc276 said:
They said the crosstalk was the only downside of the One and you'd need high tech equipment to even hear it. However, they also said that the S4 was still quiet when compared with the One/Butterfly, which is what the OP is focusing on the most.
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Of course the One/Butterfly are louder, they have a separate inbuilt headphone amplifier like all of HTCs recent phones (I think it first appeared in their WP models from last year).
That isn't, in and of itself, a reason to get a One over an S4 necessarily - it still depends on your use-case scenarios and what headphones you use etc. The majority using fairly sensitive IEMs are not going to experience a great deal of benefit from the headphone amplifier. For those who are using harder to drive headphones and don't want to use an external headphone amp then it starts to make more sense.
NZtechfreak said:
Of course the One/Butterfly are louder, they have a separate inbuilt headphone amplifier like all of HTCs recent phones (I think it first appeared in their WP models from last year).
That isn't, in and of itself, a reason to get a One over an S4 necessarily - it still depends on your use-case scenarios and what headphones you use etc. The majority using fairly sensitive IEMs are not going to experience a great deal of benefit from the headphone amplifier. For those who are using harder to drive headphones and don't want to use an external headphone amp then it starts to make more sense.
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Click to collapse
But the OP definitely stated that if the S4 is not very loud, it won't be the phone for him due to Aux purposes (I'm guessing in his/her car). And GSM Arena proved the One to be louder. So the better choice (in terms of sound) for the OP would be the One.
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Let's put it this way, set an alarm on the one and you won't sleep through it..
If the differences are slight, too slight to hear with standard headphones then the one is definitely better sound output wise than the s4.
Depending on what kind of user you are, this could make your choice fairly simple.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
jtc276 said:
But the OP definitely stated that if the S4 is not very loud, it won't be the phone for him due to Aux purposes (I'm guessing in his/her car). And GSM Arena proved the One to be louder. So the better choice (in terms of sound) for the OP would be the One.
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Click to collapse
Ah, the OP said nothing of the sort. I wasn't replying to anyone in particular, only trying to generally point out that there is more to consider than a straight numbers comparison of volume outputs.
NZtechfreak said:
Ah, the OP said nothing of the sort. I wasn't replying to anyone in particular, only trying to generally point out that there is more to consider than a straight numbers comparison of volume outputs.
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Click to collapse
Whoops. You're right. I was referring to the third poster in this thread.
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I find it curious that GSMarena reviewed the snapdragon version, rather than the "real gsm" exynos version with wolfson. On S3 with Wolfson, increasing hardware volume levels takes about five minutes. Root and change one number in a text file. Not sure on the snapdragon one.
After hearing how different the Nexus 4 sounded compared to their review, I take anything they say with a grain of salt.
Supercurio's twitter feed is worth watching for commentary on audio quality also: https://twitter.com/supercurio
Indeed, GSMArena's sound tests need to be taken with a degree of scepticism, having been heavily criticized by people like Supercurio.
That's why i never quoted gsmarena's review in any part of my posts here and other thread... The test itself is "unproper" to begin with...
I got S3 and recently got HTC one and can confirm that its a best quality sound I heard in phone from speaker and headphone since 2002 and I have Bose headphone, urbets from dr dre and standard headphone in box and I found that htc's headphone got excellent clarity, loundness, deep bass and trable which is better than Bose headphone and as good as urbets of course in HTC one
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
onlinejobwork said:
I got S3 and recently got HTC one and can confirm that its a best quality sound I heard in phone from speaker and headphone since 2002 and I have Bose headphone, urbets from dr dre and standard headphone in box and I found that htc's headphone got excellent clarity, loundness, deep bass and trable which is better than Bose headphone and as good as urbets of course in HTC one
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
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I tried the HTC One in-store the other day, i agree the speakers on there is quiet good, but headphone wise, its not as good as compared to my Note 2. The Note 2 is much more cleaner and fuller audio quality without any tweaks, with wolfson audio kernel, the HTC One does not even come close.
ama3654 said:
I tried the HTC One in-store the other day, i agree the speakers on there is quiet good, but headphone wise, its not as good as compared to my Note 2. The Note 2 is much more cleaner and fuller audio quality without any tweaks, with wolfson audio kernel, the HTC One does not even come close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree,with some audio kernel , wolfson DAC is untouchable(with headphones)
sent from an Galaxy s3 GT I9300
Running perseus kernel 33.1 , XELLA 4.1.2 leaked build
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1784401
Dont click,you might regret , I won't be responsible if you brick ur head
Did a blind and volume-matched test with the One and S4 (i9505 international version with the same DAC as the one). Listened on 12 and 16ohm IEMs and 32ohm cans.
First interesting thing was that the Samsung stock player is noticeably louder than PowerAMP (not yet tested other third party players). Around 10dB louder if PowerAMP has direct volume control off and ~5dB louder if PowerAMP is using direct volume control. Since we wanted to use the same player in both devices we had to drop the HTC One volume down three notches for them to match closely (only one step to match with the S4 stock player).
Turned off Beats on the One.
Noted with interest that when blinding was removed we both preferred the S4 sound over the One overall, better instrument separation and clarity, less fatiguing and harsh. Generally preferred the bass on the One, although the One was quite boomy. There was one MAJOR problem with the S4 though - crackling with prominent low bass frequencies. This was absent on the T5p at 32ohm, noticeable on the 16ohm IEMs, and very noticeable on the 12ohm IEMs. If this is output impedance related as it appears to be this would put the S4 (i9505) output impedance somewhere in the 4-8ohm range, making it impossible to recommend to anyone using more sensitive IEMs.
ADDIT: Confirmation from users of CIEMs re: crackling on the i9505.
WARNING: DO NOT BUY THE INTERNATIONAL S4 i9505 IF YOU USE SENSITIVE IEMS and plan to use it as a music player without taking advantage of USB audio. This is why you cannot trust any of the major sites audio reviews for handsets.
I now urgently need to test the i9500...
ama3654 said:
I tried the HTC One in-store the other day, i agree the speakers on there is quiet good, but headphone wise, its not as good as compared to my Note 2. The Note 2 is much more cleaner and fuller audio quality without any tweaks, with wolfson audio kernel, the HTC One does not even come close.
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Click to collapse
+1. Obviously Stereo speakers in itself makes it HTC One hands down the best in that department. But nothing beats Wolfson DAC for headphone audio quality IMHO.
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
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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 ?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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zephiK said:
its a bug. http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus...one-and-software-may-be-hurting-what-you-hear
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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.
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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.
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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.
Is it just me or is the audio quality abysmal out of the Nexus 5's 3.5mm headphone jack? With my ATH-m50x it sounds like someone is making popcorn in the background of every song I play. The crackling is so intense that it ruins a lot of my tracks. One of the best examples I can find is Lamb of God - Black Label. If anyone can try this song out on Google Music or Spotify on their phone and let me know if it sounds abysmal as well I would highly appreciate it.
All of my music is on Spotify, and I use their "Extreme quality" download option which is 320kbps. Man, it sounds HORRIBLE!
I'm going to try a headphone amp this weekend because this is ridiculous. I tried out the same song my my Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 yesterday and it sounded crystal clear!
I use viper4android highest audio driver, Spotify extreme and ath-m50x and I LOVE my sound quality. The DAC is pretty poor though so viper is a must.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
rootSU said:
I use viper4android highest audio driver, Spotify extreme and ath-m50x and I LOVE my sound quality. The DAC is pretty poor though so viper is a must.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks RootSU, I just installed Viper4Android and the sound quality is definitely better and the crackling/popping is a little less but is still present. Do you think this is a hardware issue? Like I said, my i9100 sounds perfectly fine with stock drivers and so does my dad's i9300! Idk why I have this popping!
I haven't got any crackling or popping. I get a bit of hiss but that's to be expected with my set up.
It could be hardware or even software. Its hard to say.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
My Nexus 5 sounds better than my PC.
My PC has a SoundBlaster Recon3D PCIe lol..
Using Your Smartphone As A Dedicated Music Player Guide
Many people now own a smartphone, and most actually run Android. We all now (including myself) use our phones for music playback. It’s just easy to buy a song from Google Play then download it within the app or stream it. Their are people (including myself again) that prefer sound from a high end sound card or dedicated high end MP3 player to enjoy their tunes. However in recent times on-board sound has become surprisingly decent on computers, and just as good in our phones. In fact sometimes our phones can outperform that of the onboard sound in our computers. That though really depends on how much your motherboard costs and phone, as higher the price generally better sound card onboard of it, back on to phones though. Our phones have also had a recent upgrade with their sound solutions. Before most “smartphones” some phones had MP3 player functionality but they usually sounded just terrible with rolled of bass, and lack of detail in the highs department.
Thanks to the new smartphone race manufacturers are pushing themselves to create the best phone available on the market. However many forget about one thing - sound quality. Headphone sound quality on most Android’s is fairly decent however the built-in speakers are mostly described as atrocious. Still some phones excel at sound quality better than others, however this is almost very limited if you use stock earphones or cheap headphones to listen to music with. Hooking your phone up to powered speakers is also dependant on this, however it will not pull as much power from the DAC - so if the DAC is weak it will still sound plenty loud enough hooked up to powered speakers. Again, quality of speakers depend on the speakers and the phone.
Just because the phone has a good DAC will not mean great sound quality either. There are a few other factors within the phone itself. The DAC shielding is a big one this essentially blocks out unwanted CPU and radio noises because cell reception is radio waves that make sound, and some phones CPU’s may actually run at a similar frequency as the DAC and interfere which causes annoying static like noises. Where the DAC is placed, and how it was installed is also another one. This one is similar to the interference from other hardware but where the DAC is placed will determine the amount of interference and easy access to a headphone jack. How other components handle audio processing is another. For example the CPU may be to slow (almost never however) to render higher quality audio files this is now mostly eliminated with almost every phone now. The DAC might also sound a tad better if it also had a amplifier accompanying it - especially true on high end or difficult to drive headphones. You will find phones like the HTC One M series will have smoother bass and better definition on headphones because of it. If you own a phone without an amp, you can pick a portable one up to drive most headphones at a price as low as $30 like the Fiio E6 for example. Your DAC might be decent, but have you considered what the output is made from? Some lower end phones may be made from cheap materials which will create interference and strange noises in your mix.
Now that we have chopped down the hardware side of things, lets change the subject a little bit to the software implementations and restrictions. Just because every side of the hardware is great, don’t expect stellar audio quality if the OS or software your using is not “bonding” with the hardware or not well optimized you could experience poor quality or stuttering. Most Androids overcome this now, it is not so troublesome anymore. Okay so if the OS is optimized then what equalizers or sound mods are actually implemented? Audiophilles complain that eq’s do not do their ears justice nor the audio mods but some of us like to punch up our music (especially MP3 files). With factory mods and equalizers like BeatsAudio, Sony Clearaudio, Wavesmaxx and SoundAlive we can sparkle up music to make it sound how we like it. However if you are one of those that are a purist best you turn these features of or not use them - you could always just look for another phone without these mods at all.
We have now talked about the DAC, software and hardware side of things, now lets have a look at how the music is actually made.
So a digital music file is a bunch of 1’s and 0’s, however how are those 1’s and 0’s captured? We must first use a microphone the hook that up to an ADC (analog to digital converter) to capture sound. That sound is then captured by the ADC, processed by a computer and finally outputted as a digital file (the 1’s and 0’s).The quality of this file depends on similar things to how your phone computes the music, however the quality of the microphone also has a drastic effect. Obviously, the better the quality microphone the better the quality of the recorded sound. Some microphones excel at recording different frequencies or sounds. For example the mic in your phone is specifically tuned best for voice recording to assure smooth voice calls. However a microphone that is advertised as recording percussion might be tuned to accurately record that specific instrument range - and other instruments might sound inaccurate or less lively.
The DAC to the ADC now choosing the best headphones or earphones for you. If you are still using the stock earphones that came with your phone - stop! The will sound extremely mediacore and maybe alright at best. Consider three things price, quality and comfort and if you prefer headphones or earphones. Headphones are the big mostly bulky things that usually sit on your head. These things are usually much better than earphones and can sound much better for just over half the price of earphones. Headphones are more accurate, and can create really low subwoofer like bass unlike earphones which are usually pretty good but are unable to accurately display low bass properly and without some decent volume bass like headphones. Some earphones also fall short for quality defined highs as some lower end earphones may have these higher frequencies boosted, but sound nothing like a good much more high end pair. Also take note headphones are much too bulky to wear all the time which could hurt your head or ears and they look just so goofy!
Comfort and quality fall under the price and brand you are willing to pay for. Some lower end earphones and headphones may sound better, but have less comfort or vice versa. High end listening devices will combat both, but cost you more. DO NOT buy these things just because of the brands - do homework just because you like bass do not always just look at Beats By Dre their are by far much better bass driven headphones out their. But if you are willing to pay for these sorts of brands just to look cool, go ahead - i’m not stopping you, just informing you.
The next chapter is the type of file you are playing (format), and where you are playing it from. Google Play Music streams music as MP3 files @ 320Kbps which can be changed to a lower value if your going over your monthly data usage by streaming. Spotify also streams in 320Kbps with MP3 files, and you can also set a lower quality rating. As per say, lower quality streaming use much less data maybe half as much but some songs may lose their “sparkle” or interesting parts. This also applies to offline use, you have more flexibility here as you can buy either MP3 files, FLAC’s and other types of music files. Note that Flacs hold the best sound quality and are not trimmed of their sparkle or detail as supposed to a MP3 file. Many will not tell the difference between a 320Kbps MP3 as supposed to a FLAC file either because they just can not naturally tell or their headphones or DAC are just not up to the job. MP3 files still sound good but do not buy anything under 256kbps quality in MP3 as you are getting ripped of for true quality. Flacs usually cost more, and are less commonly available but do sound better. Do note, a single Flac file can use 100MB of space, so be careful of your remaining storage space.
Into the last can of worms finally, *phew*! And that is things you can do the simply improve quality of your music being played. You could try shopping for an amp or even amp+dac combo. Portable amps and dac’s are quite cheap now and Fiio sell quite a comprehensive amount of decent products like so. I first started with the Fiio E6 amp and on my sort of low impedance headphones (64ohms) I heard differences in how tight bass was. It was no longer afraid to show itself, and the Fiio’s bass boost option gave it a bit more mid bass (6DB+) for a warmer listener experience. That was just a $30 amp I picked up for cheap. Later on unfortunately it died so I was forced to buy a new amp. This time I looked into one, but it also included a built in DAC - it was a combo 2 in 1! When i plugged this into my phone it never worked at first, I had to download USB Audio Player from Google Play as my Galaxy Nexus could not natively play from a usb DAC. When I listened to music from it for my first time, I was astonished at how well it fared against my friends PCI sound card. Comparing it to my phones built in DAC the USB DAC was an improvement, but my phone still sounded pretty good for it’s age.
Some more things i’d like to add is that specs are not as always as they seem. When you hear big fancy things like 8Hz-32Khz frequency response for example it’s good but to be honest you can not typically hear anything under 20Hz, and over 20Khz. Also watch out for SNR and THD. A SNR of 100 and up will sound acceptable, try to get something beyond that for better quality audio. These specs will not determine how much bass will be shown, nor how the headphones/DAC will sound but will give you an educated guess at it.
Another thing I would like to mention is Audio Mods. There are various Audio Mods amongst the XDA community. These mods improve sound quality by means of post processing and updated sound files. The post processing is fast, and not very CPU intensive at all. These mods will dramatically increase sound quality where possible - whether it be perceived detail and bass it will have your audio senses tingling at mercy’s end. You can try my mod out and see for yourself here. Just flash it with your recovery, and you are all good to go.
Thanks for reading!
I'll update this thread in the future if something changes or I decide to post more info. :good:
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.