Low volume - Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note5

Not sure if I have a defective speaker but I noticed notification volume really sucks, anyone else else notice low volume?

Coming from the HTC One Max (M8), the speaker on the phone just isn't that loud, especially if you cover the bottom side of the phone.

The HTC One series had the best speakers/volume of any phone, bar none. I'm coming from the M8 and realized I'm back to just "normal" speakers, which suck by comparison.

Related

Post here if you have speaker issues.

Being as some people already bought the phone at Costcos and AT&T's release is tomorrow, I wanted to start a thread for people having speaker issues.
If anyone has read my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=949878 You will notice I and a few others who recently got an Inspire early have noticed very tinny call quality in the earpiece and speaker phone, and very low speaker volume on the rear external speaker to the point where you can bearly hear it ring or hear the notification tones.
So of anyone else is experiencing either of these, please post in here.
I have a report filed with our local HTC rep and she passed it up the chain. So we'll see if it goes anywhere.
just sounds weird when using pandora
Mine has excellent in-call volume, thru ear speaker. External speaker a little weak.
Boo boo speaker
Speaker is garbage. Phone speaker is phone, but the rear one sucks.
My n1 doesn't have very good speakers. Its not faulty though, just not very good. Ive heard its a problem with htc. Regarding the inspire, are we talking about defective or just poor quality?
So far its been ok. Call Quality has been good and loud enough but the speaker volume is weak compared to my iphone 4.
Very low ringtones and notifications, even with volume turned all the way up...
Does anyone know how the volume compares to the Aria? Because it's damn quite, especially if you ever set the phone down face-up, covering the back speaker...
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
See this thread for a possible fix: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=773449
Ill be trying a few things myself, hopefully not run into a boot loop in the process. hahaha
Anyone able to compare the earpiece volume to the Captivate and Aria? I thought Aria was way too low and Captivate is about right... don't want to switch to a phone with lower call volume.
simulatordos said:
Anyone able to compare the earpiece volume to the Captivate and Aria? I thought Aria was way too low and Captivate is about right... don't want to switch to a phone with lower call volume.
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The captivate is definately louder. Not as loud as an iPhone, but louder than the Inspire.
Also the captivate doesn't have that tinny sound like the Inspire does in the earpiece.
Well we sold out of Inspire's today, as did a a few other stores that I know of.
So far we have been getting good reviews of the phone in general, but many people are complaining of the low external speaker volume. I can see this is going to be a big issue with a lot of people.
I've had a few people comment on the tinny trebly sounding earpiece and speakerphone, but it appears that different people have various tolerences when it comes to sound pitch.
For people wanted to compare it to the Captivate, I would have the say the Captivate definately has better sound quality and the external speaker is a tad louder, but still not on par with the iPhone. So it just seems the Inspire although better in "almost" every way from the Captivate, is definately a step lower as far as the speakers.
I'll keep everyone informed when I hear some more back from our HTC rep. I'm hoping this can just be corrected with the software update.
this phone is AMAZING, but i agree with you choco,
the speaker is pretty much useless...its tinny, and the volume is too low. That being said,
the in ear speaker is one of the best i have used. It seems like the loud speaker, battery, and front facing camera is how HTC managed to keep this one at $100
Edit:
We nearly sold out of them as well today...people are responding very well to this phone, much better than they did with the captivate.
I bought it. I must say, I think its a little louder in call than the captivate. I think the external speaker is ok, so my feeling is that theres a production line issue here.
Speaker Issue
The speaker for notifications and ringtones is horrible. I can barely hear it when I get a call. Im thinking about returning it. Whats the point of a phone if you cant hear when someone is calling. (other than that it is a decent phone, I will test battery life tommorrow)
simulatordos said:
I bought it. I must say, I think its a little louder in call than the captivate. I think the external speaker is ok, so my feeling is that theres a production line issue here.
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Click to collapse
Either that or varying parts. My incall speaker sounds fine. The external speaker is....well just crap. Luckily, I don't use the phone's external speaker for much anyway.
Coming from a Captivate
I bought the phone yesterday, and well I haven't had extensive use of it yet both the external and the earpiece volume are fine to me...no problem with ringer volume.
I will agree that the sound is a bit tinny.
picked mine up yesterday and the rear speaker is a bit quite for notifications. the earpiece sounded a little tinny on the first call i made with it, but i'm thinking it might have been the fact that it was to a buddy of mine on a cm7 nightly and using speaker phone. i didn't notice the tinny sound on any of the subsequent phone calls, so either i got used to it and it doesn't bother me any more or it was his phone not mine
This thread should be rename to post here if u think the speaker level is too damn low. Its not a problem when all the phone are the same. Hopefully it is fixable with a software update.
Yeah speaker sucks I mean look at it... they didn't even try

Speaker volume vibration??

Had to do a swap out with my first one x.... but.. does everyone else's one x vibrate through out the phone at medium to high volume?
noticed this right away not sure if my first handset did this didn't have much time with it..
I'm thinking could be normal because the uni body design and the plastic? just curious if anyone else noticed this. btw i don't here any rattle or odd sound just strong vibration from the sounds resonance
I just tested a couple songs at full and it distorts a bit but no real crackle unless I use a app with a vol boost like MX player.
So if it's bad enough, I might consider an exchange.
Jmtc
WR
Sent by WR's O/C'd One-XL on CR-V
No distortion, just the phone vibrates thoughout strong....
Sound is vibration... but I can only feel mine vibrating around the speaker and middle of the phone, not the top.. but my speaker cracks and pops... I'd rather have the whole phone vibrate
Sent from my HTC One X-
thanks all !!

One E8 bottom speaker distorts at loud levels.

Hi! Can someone please use the HTC One E8 diagnostic tool to test their speakers to see if the bottom speaker under the HTC logo distorts / rattles at the highest volume settings?
The diagnostic can split sound in two channels. My phone sounds fine in the upper speaker and also sounds fine in both speakers at quieter volumes. But when I raise the volume above 75% the bottom speaker rattles/distorts. The rattle is produced most by frequencies in the 300-600hz range(it's more profound when those frequencies are playing).Please can someone enlighten me if I have a defective phone or not.
Sorry for the late reply, you've probably sorted this out already.
Had the same problem after using mine for a year so I just went on bought a cheap M8(!) speaker and changed it over.
Since then it's spotless

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!
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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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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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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.
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Does this run in the background and drain battery much??
synplex said:
Does this run in the background and drain battery much??
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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?
Click to expand...
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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Click to collapse
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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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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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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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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

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