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:
Related
I have a 5 year old samsung YP-P2 MP3, and it's sound quality far surpasses that of my girlfriends galaxy S2, my Desire Z, and my friends iPhone 4.
I was wondering if there are ANY apps or tweaks or hacks that will improve the sound quality generated by the phones?
Of course I am using 320 kbps bitrate songs for testing, and the same headphones.
My MP3 sounds crisper, much deeper bass, and seems to have a wider treble range.
It's subjective. You've gotten used to the sound of your own device and therefore the others don't sound as good to you. Anybody else may listen to all the ones you listed and decide that yours is the only one that sounds bad!
If you were going to change device i would use use it for a few weeks before making any decisions on how it sounds. It's often the case that once your accustomed to the new sound you may come to prefer it.
Either way, rather than looking around for DSP solutions, which only degrade sound quality, i'd invest in some good headphones... that is the best way to go.
I'm using Shure SE530's, which are amazing no matter what you plug them into, but not everyone wants to spend that amount of money! Check here for a recent review of some affordable headphones:
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/10/15/ten_in_ear_headphones_with_microphones/
Low quality sound?
convolution said:
I have a 5 year old samsung YP-P2 MP3, and it's sound quality far surpasses that of my girlfriends galaxy S2, my Desire Z, and my friends iPhone 4.
I was wondering if there are ANY apps or tweaks or hacks that will improve the sound quality generated by the phones?
Of course I am using 320 kbps bitrate songs for testing, and the same headphones.
My MP3 sounds crisper, much deeper bass, and seems to have a wider treble range.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In case you are rooted, try Viper4Android http://play.google.com/store/apps/d...m.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191223
I am currently using Galaxy Nexus GSM and it has a very low quality speaker sound. This app did wonders for me
Hello All !!!
I dont know if this is right forum to post this. This is my first review so please excuse any mistakes/blunders
I own both Nexus 5 and Galaxy Note 2(N7100), and from past 2 weeks I have been testing sound on both the phones. Following is the setup:
Headphones Used:
1. Monster Miles Davis Tribute
2. Monster Turbine Pro Copper
3. Shure SRH440
5. Sennheiser Momentus Over the ear(Not the on ear model)
6. HiFiman RE0
Music Used:
Please note all the albums were Flac Lossles 16bit
1. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
2. Slint - Spiderland
3. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
4. Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
5. Burial - Untrue
6. Broken Note - Terminal Static
Player Used: PowerAmp Pro (Flat equalizer)
Observation:
Before I begin, I would like to say that this is my subjective opinion which may vary from person to person.
Galaxy Note 2:
I love this phone. Been my daily driver from past one year. The ability to expand the memory and replaceable battery is amazing. More memory means more music for me :good: I only listen to flac so this is a huge plus for me.
This phone drives all headphones pretty well. Although one might feel that Momentus and RE-0 were kind of dull as compared to the other headphones. The sound seemed veiled.
So I changed the kernel to NEAK. This kernel have utility to increase the volume and some other fancy adjustments like oversampling etc. I was skeptical what changing kernel would do, and boy was I wrong. Not only did the volume increase but sound became fuller and had solid character. Instruments were perfect, texture was amazing and the bass wasn't sloppy anymore but controlled and very punchy. :victory:
Nexus 5:
Nexus 5 is totally a different beast. Coming from Note2 I was excited about this phone. The build quality and weight was quite better than Note2. I loaded up the albums and fired up the PowerAmp. From the start I could feel something was amiss. Although the resolution of the instruments was good and overall response of the headphones and music was not bad; but I was not blown away. Even after increasing the preamp volume to full, the headphones could not reach their full potential except Pro Coppers. So I broke out my trusty Fiio E5 portable headphone amplifier and sound did improve. After long listening sessions everyday my brain accepted the sound signature of this phone and by the end of 4th day I quite liked the sound.
In the end I had comparisons in a way that I listened the tracks going back-n-forth on both the phones. I definitely like my Note2 with NEAK kernel. But if you take out the kernel from the comparison, difference between the quality is not that huge although the sound from Note2 is lush compared to Nexus5. Both phones lack amplification to drive some headphones to their full potential.
For average Joe: If you are using lossy music and use headphones which are mediocre, then this phone is pretty good for you. You wont be able to tell the difference between sound quality of Nexus and any other phone.
For my Audiophile friend: To be honest this phone will leave you wanting for more. Although Nexus have good DAC but amplification is poor. I would recommend you to grab a good but cheap headphone amp and you should be good. Although 32 GB is real deal breaker if you you use lossless music. For that OTG cable comes to rescue. I would also recommend getting your hand on a kernel/utility which improves sound. I have not come across any yet.:fingers-crossed: Also battery becomes a concern when using such utility/kernal.
My rating: 3.5/5
Pros:
Exceptional pricing
Good DAC
Build Quality
Ability to play Hi-Res FLAC
Cons:
Poor Amplification
Lack of expandable storage (You can use OTG cable though)
Poor Battery (Especially if you will be using utility to improve sound)
Sound quality is so subjective. Some people like how Denon sounds and others like Yamaha. And then there are those who like Bose!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Nice review. Can you use OTG w/ a E18 Kunlun?
kenbhaji said:
I would also recommend getting your hand on a kernel/utility which improves sound. I have not come across any yet.:fingers-crossed: Also battery becomes a concern when using such utility/kernal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this:
Volume Mod
Report back.
The Note 2 has the Wolfson DAC. It totally crushes anything Qualcomm has.
No contest. I have the S3 and have had a host of Qualcomm based devices, but for sound quality, nothing has ever touched the Wolfson DAC on a smartphone.
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
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.
Ok, so I have an LG V20 with built in quad DAC and Dolby atmos installed. I used the wired head phones that came with the V20 (B&O) which are maybe a little better than mediocre. The quad DAC works only with wired head phones. (yes there is a way around that, but I didn't do it) My LG Bluetooth platinum head phones sound better than the B&O, but then the quad DAC doesn't kick in on the V20.
I'm using Poweraudio Free for a music player. There are no ads and I don't see much difference between free and pro. (If I keep it, I'll buy the pro)
I first got the sound level of each phone as close together as I could.
To get close to the sound of the V20, I first selected in moto audio "music" and "flat". I then chose the Rock setting from the Poweraudio list of presets, then bumped up the 60 hz and 230 hz setting in the equalizer. I then increased bassboost to 4.8 and virtualizer to 6.6.
I played a song from Black Sabbath's 13 album which is fairly new so the recording quality is good. It is also heavy on bass and guitar.
Results: Very, very close. The V20 sounded a little more open, probably because of the Atmos app, and the Stylus sounded a little cleaner. Overall, hardly any difference.
Much better headphones may yield different results, but I won't be buying any of those. Cheaper head phones you might not be able to tell any difference. The bottom line is that the stylus has very good sound.
Edit: I did a Bluetooth comparison. I had to bump the the 60 hz and 230 hz back down, reduce bassboost to 4.2 and virtualizer up to 7.0 to get a similar sound. The V20 was a little more "open", but the Stylus was very close. Whenever the gym opens back up and I'm there doing a workout, I'll never know the difference. $800 phone 3 years ago versus a $300 phone now.
A DAC aware music player, and a USB-C DAC dongle of course, with wired headphones are the best combination I've found. As to music players that are DAC aware and will directly drive your dongle, bypassing the limitations of the Android Audio stack, HibyMusic is free and sounds good. I strongly dislike the interface. Neutron is a bit pricey but has a decent interface and is what I currently use. Onkyo has a paid version that is DAC aware but I've not tried that one. FiiO is free and should work as well, but again, I've not tried it.
A DAC will do a lot for your music and is worth the extra bulk and hassle.
huge manatee said:
A DAC aware music player, and a USB-C DAC dongle of course, with wired headphones are the best combination I've found. As to music players that are DAC aware and will directly drive your dongle, bypassing the limitations of the Android Audio stack, HibyMusic is free and sounds good. I strongly dislike the interface. Neutron is a bit pricey but has a decent interface and is what I currently use. Onkyo has a paid version that is DAC aware but I've not tried that one. FiiO is free and should work as well, but again, I've not tried it.
A DAC will do a lot for your music and is worth the extra bulk and hassle.
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A good news: Dolby now can be disabled with USB C digital headphones. It gives 100% unaltered audio