Develop Bugs

[Q] Omnia 7 Poor Audio?

Is it me or is the audio quality from the omnia poor? or is it the headphones which are supplied with the handset? i wanted to try some headphones from a shop but they wouldnt let me...hygiene issues. anyone else have this problem. if headphones are the cause which pair are recommended no more than £30 for in ear.

I am very satisfied with the sound of Zune on my Optimus 7.
I suppose that with Zune all WP7 devices will approximately have the same sound quality.
The Omnia 7 is one of the best WP7 device, so I think you should not worry.
Try some AKG earphones for instance. I've got the K319 and they are simply amazing.
http://www.digitalversus.com/akg-k319-p374_5037_170.html
For an in-ear version, AKG K370.
Otherwise I find Sennheiser quite good also.

According to GSMArena, the Omnia has like 10dB less dynamic range than the Galaxy S, plus stereo crosstalk like hell.

And no equalizer?

The equalizer is a HTC specific feature. Since Microsoft ostensibly supplied all drivers, I suppose the DAC used in the HTC devices has a hardware DSP that can do all the SRS and EQ stuff, controlled by the HTC sound application.

I did read a review somewhere stating the Omnia sound quality is not as good as other WP7 phones.
It feels like every manufacture has cut corners on the first generation of WP7 phones.

Phone quality and earphone quality seem fine to me. The external speaker though tends to struggle only when watching videos and sometimes games with the volume set to low (about 1/30 - 3/30), what I mean by struggle is some sounds dont get through, it just mutes at some parts. Playing music seems find though.

davidebanks said:
Is it me or is the audio quality from the omnia poor? or is it the headphones which are supplied with the handset? i wanted to try some headphones from a shop but they wouldnt let me...hygiene issues. anyone else have this problem. if headphones are the cause which pair are recommended no more than £30 for in ear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pick up some good in ear headphones. MEElec M6s are what I use.
And yeah, don't ever use the supplied headphones from your devices. They will almost always let you down.

Audio OMNIA 7
High quality audio and good volume level !
(after one week with it)

thanks for the feedback guys, most appreciated. ive managed to get hold of 2 pairs of headphones (whilst at work) and they are both much better than the ones supplied with the phone, even though they are not very good headphones. the only small issue now is that the omnia 7 isnt very loud at all. are there headphones that can improve this? the ones i used were 100db.

agp64 said:
I did read a review somewhere stating the Omnia sound quality is not as good as other WP7 phones.
It feels like every manufacture has cut corners on the first generation of WP7 phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The review (Engadget) said the supplied headphones were no good (they really were nitpicking), if you put in a good pair of headphones it will sound great.

davidebanks said:
the only small issue now is that the omnia 7 isnt very loud at all. are there headphones that can improve this? the ones i used were 100db.
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Yes, as said before the AKG K319 definitely make the volume louder. No comparison.

Tom Servo said:
The equalizer is a HTC specific feature. Since Microsoft ostensibly supplied all drivers, I suppose the DAC used in the HTC devices has a hardware DSP that can do all the SRS and EQ stuff, controlled by the HTC sound application.
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Well yes, but my point was "you aren't buying a phone that doesn't have an equalizer for quality sound, are you?". If they didn't build it in they didn't really care to make it a good music player.
I know that true kosher audiophiles don't believe in equalizers and only listen to flac on Cowon players and such, but that's religious stuff I don't want to touch. In reality, with crappy headphones (and that means everything that costs less than $300), and even with decent tolerable ones an EQ is a must have thing. Especially with the kind of crap hardware OEMs like HTC and Samsung put in their phones.

I can't totally agree.
Good music players don't use Equalizer (but I can understand that people like to use it)
Samely a good motor does not need a turbo.

Well, like I said, if you listen to lossless audio on perfect hardware using high end headphones, and also have perfect hearing - sure, you don't need an EQ. With mp3s on HTC and Samsung phones it's a must have feature. It won't make miracles and won't make those phones decent players but can at least make the sound somewhat tolerable.

thanks for the input, ill definately be getting a new pair of headphones, engadget were right to nitpick because it really does show up as being a quiet phone.

By the way, did anybody try the in-ear Sennheiser CX 400-II on its phone?
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheise...ssic-line_cxseries-in-ear-earphones-cx-400-ii
I heard they are pretty amazing. I am willing to purchase them, but if somebody could give me its feedback it would be nice

funny you should mention that, i was looking at getting a pair of the sennheiser CX 300 II but if 400 is better then i will do that instead.

Nice,
I will be happy to get your opinion on it.
PS: Don't buy it on the Internet. There are a lot of fake of this earphone.

arturobandini said:
I can't totally agree.
Good music players don't use Equalizer (but I can understand that people like to use it)
Samely a good motor does not need a turbo.
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Click to collapse
Not sure how you work that out, given it makes an engine far more efficient, however that's a debate for a different type of forum!

Bad music quality

So, I recently got my wildfire S and I've been having fun with it.
The only problem I found was the sound quality of music which I play on my headphones. There is COMPLETLY no bass, like it would have been filtered.
You cant hear drums nor bass on it.
Does anyone have any ideas why?
thanks in advance

Sounds all good to me. Get some decent headphones/earphones. That's what makes the main difference. Also using a music player with an equalizer helps.

Its sound good to me as well, even with supplied headphone.
manage to change your headphone to got a better quality! however I think gain of output power is not very high in WS. But quality is quite well.

The music quality is *ok*. It's not the best, and the maximum volume is very low, but it's good enough. I had to install an Equalizer to get a decent max volume, and that improved things a lot.
Though why the hell the default music player doesn't have a built in EQ is beyond me. Android/HTC is really pretty crap when compared to the usability of the iPhone. If companies using Android don't start stepping up their game, Apple is going to steamroll them all.

Apple has already been steamrolled by Android. HTC will start using beats technology. Which will be good because I have the beats studio and I can't reach the best quality with the phone. That's the point where the bass actually moves the headphones on my head haha.

[Q] Beats Audio

Okay, I guess this is more of a request, really, but I was wondering if porting Beats Audio was possible? I've seen it be ported to other HTC devices but I was wondering if it can be done to the Nexus. I mean all it is is code isn't it?

I was never fond of how Beats Audio would make the phone's audio quality better. Even phonedog says that Beats Audio is a gimmick,
But, the big “unfortunately” comes in the fact that Beats Audio is nothing more than a gimmick and one that’s not as versatile as it should be. The headphones are great, though – can’t count those out.
http://www.phonedog.com/2011/11/19/right-now-beats-audio-is-just-a-gimmick-in-the-htc-rezound/
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Beats Audio is overpriced and there are far more superior companies who offer better quality such as Sennheiser. If anything I'm more excited for Voodoo Sound but I don't think thats possible because the GN doesn't use a Wolfson Audio chip. Voodoo Sound is simply amazing and the difference is significant. Supercurio (dev of Voodoo) has a GN and is working on porting Voodoo Sound to the NS, so we might see some things from supercurio for Voodoo-related tweaks.
Edit:
supercurio François Simond
#GalaxyNexus sound is great&everything (in High-perf mode!) but after a quick comparison I still like WM8994 #VoodooSound magic touch better
20 Dec
supercurio François Simond
#GalaxyNexus #VoodooSound features I'll be able to implement (hardware) Analog HP gain, Mono switch. High perf instead of low power mode.
20 Dec
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Agreed
Sent from my LG-P925 using XDA App

Well I ask because I have the Solo HD beats and I am super jealous that iPhone users and Rezound users can use the buttons that come on the cable. Though I have used voodoo sound on my Transformer and that is definitely a worthy consolation.
I just really like the ease of pressing the buttons instead of pulling out the phone from my pocket every time I want to do something, music-wise.

dredhead4 said:
Well I ask because I have the Solo HD beats and I am super jealous that iPhone users and Rezound users can use the buttons that come on the cable. Though I have used voodoo sound on my Transformer and that is definitely a worthy consolation.
I just really like the ease of pressing the buttons instead of pulling out the phone from my pocket every time I want to do something, music-wise.
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Yeah, I'm not 100% sure what "Beats Audio" actually do, I know they make headphones but I'm not 100% sure what they do on the software side.
But from the looks of it, it looks like it just adds functionality to bind the "buttons" on your headphones to skip / pause / play songs?

zephiK said:
Yeah, I'm not 100% sure what "Beats Audio" actually do, I know they make headphones but I'm not 100% sure what they do on the software side.
But from the looks of it, it looks like it just adds functionality to bind the "buttons" on your headphones to skip / pause / play songs?
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure the button functionality and a slight bass boost are the only things in beats audio but if someone could get this done and voodoo I will probably use my GNex for life lol

Beats are overrated, get the Klipsch Image S4A in-ears that are made for Android.

just download Equalizer from Market. you can set your global EQ to be just as good/better as the 'Beats Enabled' EQ setting from the Rezound.
that and on the Rezound, Beats Audio only worked via the default Music app.

Volume+ has beats emulation. i tried it and it sounded pretty damn good, but i turned it off since anything above +4 sounded really bad and i want my phone really loud, i have it at +9

Help! my old M7 Sounds better than my new HTC 10, whats going on?

Hello I am new to the forums.
I am very obsessed with good audio quality, this was the main reason why I got this new phone, but so far I have been very disappointed by its audio capabilities while listening with Bose Sound True earphones.
The first thing I did on my 10 was to download poweramp, configured my equalizer to a standard warm sound signature, then set bass to medium and sparkle to a little pass medium. Basically the same sound equalization I have on my m7. Next, I configured the headphone profile; in this case I end it up with the volume at the the lowest for all frequencies, as I was able to faintly hear all of them from the low to the highs at the lowest volume. Afterwards, I set up the dobly headphone effects to HTC ear buds.
I was very disappointed by the outcome, the low frequencies have a small distortion and the highs sound washed off. I no longer hear all the instruments playing as the lows drown more subtle instruments and the highs have very little clarity to them, they just sound loud and obnoxious. My m7 with Beats on picked up all the subtleties in my music and the lows had this pleasant fullness to them. The 10 is louder but that's about it, it now even hurts my ears when I listen past medium volume. How is this possible? Isn't the DAC on the 10 way better than that of the m7? Could this be faulty hardware? or could it be a software related issue?
Please help me figure out whats going on, I can't believe that my old phone sounds better. I almost feel like asking for a refund at this point. I have also tried using a plain sound player such as google music that has no EQ on it, but I can still pick a slight distortion, the m7 doesn't sound as loud in this case but it just sounds much cleaner.
PS. Just for reference all my tracks are 320kbs and I listen to mostly Metal.
Thanks for your help!

Try lossless flac, you'll probably find the DAC up converting 320mp3's hightlights the defects
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Turn off BoomSound/beats if you're really obsessed with audio. They absolutely destroy the balance to the point of it sounding like I'm listening with a beats headphone.
The 10 drives my cans better than any phone or tablet that I have/had. I listen to EVERYTHING and it handles every genre perfectly.
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk

richii0207 said:
Turn off BoomSound/beats if you're really obsessed with audio. They absolutely destroy the balance to the point of it sounding like I'm listening with beats headphone.
The 10 drives my cans better than any phone or tablet that I have/had.
What are you using to listen?
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
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Eh, I know many say that it is better to leave the EQ alone, but that is hard to do for me because 1) I most have 320 mp3s and very flew Flacs, some are even at 192k and 128k but thats because I have a very old and extensive library. 2) I do love warm sound signatures XD.
By the way, I am listening right now to Talos principle - Sanctuary in flac and at 0:25 when there are all those low frecuencies it just sound a little distorted, I would say it sounds abnormally loud on my 10, and it sounds clear on my m7. Check out The Talos Principle OST - Sanctuary on youtube for reference, I am prevented from posting outside links due to my newb status.
I use Bose true sound earphones, they are just mid-range phones nothing too special, but they do sound better with my old phone. Could it be this earphones can't handle the 10's frequencies?

Sugetsu1 said:
By the way, I am listening right now to Talos principle - Sanctuary in flac and at 0:25 when there are all those low frecuencies it just sound a little distorted, I would say it sounds abnormally loud on my 10, and it sounds clear on my m7. Check out The Talos Principle OST - Sanctuary on youtube for reference, I am prevented from posting outside links due to my newb status.
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Just had a listen to Sanctuary on Spotify and it sounds very impressive to me.
I'm using Shure 535 and everything sounds crystal clear to me.

There are two settings when headphones are plugged in under the boomsound setting. One is the Dolby headphone effects setting, the other is the custom profile you set up with your headphones. Try turning off the Dolby headphones effects. My HTC 10 can drive headphones like no other HTC product I have owned in the past, and it sounds better to me with the Dolby effects turned off.

Dunno man.... mine sounds freaking amazing.
using a custom EQ (set up with the frequency thing) and I'm just using a cheap set of Skull Candy headphones I use mostly for gaming

@isnoc I think that did away with the distortion! disabling the dobly effects has a positive impact on sound reproduction, the music doesn't sound as loud. However, the m7s bass sounds a little cleaner. It could be matter of sound signatures at this point. Where I really hear the difference is in the song Machine Gunn Eddie by Nitro. The m7 seems to sound slightly better due to the cleaner bass. I was expecting a night and day difference between these 2 phones =_(

Out of curiosity what mods are you running on the m7? When I had mine (still looking for where I left it...) I had zeroinfinity's and some extra buildprop changes and a kernel that supported the audio changes lol. I don't them side by side to test, but in my car and my porta-pro's from the sound I remember the 10 sounds a lot better to me.

Sugetsu1 said:
@isnoc I think that did away with the distortion! disabling the dobly effects has a positive impact on sound reproduction, the music doesn't sound as loud. However, the m7s bass sounds a little cleaner. It could be matter of sound signatures at this point. Where I really hear the difference is in the song Machine Gunn Eddie by Nitro. The m7 seems to sound slightly better due to the cleaner bass. I was expecting a night and day difference between these 2 phones =_(
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You mentioned using beats on your M7. The beats eq exaggerates the bass which is probably what you're hearing. Have you tried turning it off and hearing the difference?
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk

Ok I just noticed that my phone distorts at higher volumes, namely anything on medium high or above, no matter the bit rate of the song. This is where bass and highs start to suffer. My m7 plays music beautifully with 0 distortion at all levels. Does anyone else here suffer from distortion problems with the 10? Do I have a faulty phone?
@joeyrushlow I never bothered rooting or isntalling a custom rom on my m7, never saw the need for it. All I use for sound is the included beats audio dsp and poweramp and plays everything beautifully with distortion of any kind.
@richii0207 The m7 without beats audio does sound very flat, it is true that the main characteristic of Beats is enhancing the bass, but it also increase the volume across the spectrum in a more subtle way, in any case I get no distortion and everything sounds crystal clear.

I wonder, other than the EQ setup on the 10, and the potential of the quality of the DAC, there might not actually be a significant difference between DACs. Subtle definitely. Discernable for sure. But a significant difference that the 10 has over past phones is the amplifier driving the headphones. Could you be overdriving your headphones on the 10, and not on the M7? There are many things to consider that I do not have the skill to properly discuss like impedance for example. Or it could be a slight difference in your EQ settings.
I can say this, comparing my M9 to my 10. The sound is very very similar to my ears (disappointing I know right?) with two exceptions. One, the 10's sound is more expansive, or I should say there is more separation, so I know that with better recordings the 10 will sound better than my M9. Two, the 10 has more power at volume. I don't want to say louder, but it is louder, but clearer as well, as the volume goes up. It has more juice than my M9 does. I could dig out my M7, but I expect a similar experience. I like my 10. Perhaps you could listen to one in a store, a live demo one, to see if your phone has an issue.

Audio Quality?

I'm looking to buy a new phone. The audio quality is an important aspect for me..
Right now I have a Galaxy S6 which is OK. Not the best,not the worst.
Would it be a downgrade or an upgrade?Also,if anyone can compare it with the OP3(which is mediocre) ..that would be great.

Robert- said:
I'm looking to buy a new phone. The audio quality is an important aspect for me..
Right now I have a Galaxy S6 which is OK. Not the best,not the worst.
Would it be a downgrade or an upgrade?Also,if anyone can compare it with the OP3(which is mediocre) ..that would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant speak for a comparison to the OP3, but I've heard very good things about the headphone jack (if thats the kind of audio quality you're looking for) on the moto z play, and I have actually used it with my ATH-M50x headphones and it works very well. Headphone jack plays loud and clear with no background hissing. Speaker quality, I think its pretty good, its fairly loud and sounds pretty good. If you really want amazing audio quality you can use the jbl moto mod which will give you very good sound and be really loud (I own one and I love it).

jon7701 said:
I cant speak for a comparison to the OP3, but I've heard very good things about the headphone jack (if thats the kind of audio quality you're looking for) on the moto z play, and I have actually used it with my ATH-M50x headphones and it works very well. Headphone jack plays loud and clear with no background hissing. Speaker quality, I think its pretty good, its fairly loud and sounds pretty good. If you really want amazing audio quality you can use the jbl moto mod which will give you very good sound and be really loud (I own one and I love it).
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I have some nice Momentum In-Ear ...I just hope it's loud enough .
Thanks

Anyone having issues with music sound quality through the headphone jack should try making sure the equalizer in the stock google play music app is completely off, and then disabling the app in settings. After that reboot the phone. For me it was a night and day difference...

metalmike6 said:
I didn't even have a chance to test this nor did I think about it until you asked. but I have a pair of Shure SHR440's they are amazing reference headphones. The sound coming out of this phone is well, it's... sound. Honestly if you're an audiophile look elsewhere. So far that's the only thing I really don't like about the phone. Like it's so bad I may return the thing. My ears are telling me that the sound is heavily compressed for some reason. The cymbals in every song sound all washy and weird like when you download a ****ty MP3 by mistake. The bass has no punch and the mids sound like your listening through a metal garbage can. For me personally it's near unlistenable but I enjoy good quality sound in my music and have a tough time listening when it doesn't sound the way it's supposed to. My LG G3 has better sound to a degree that's almost hard to imagine... I'm gonna keep running tests but I think it's the DAC in the phone itself. It just sucks. Like yeah it's loud. But that's all.
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Idk what you are talking about. I am coming from a z3 and I like the sound quality from the 3.5mm. Have you tried using poweramp?

I was using player pro... I'll give Poweramp a try. But I will say this even on YouTube the sound difference through the jack is crazy noticeable between this and the LG G3 I literally just tested it. Also what lind of music are you listening to? Because if it's dance or hip-hop or any kinda pop you're not gonna notice much of a difference.
---------- Post added at 04:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 AM ----------
So weird discovery? ... Rebooted the phone out of frustration but prior to rebooting I went into the google play music app disabled all the equalizer settings then disabled the app in settings. Upon reboot the sound quality seems better? Like a lot better? I have no idea why or how? But that seems to have done it. Also I did download Poweramp just for kicks and it's nice, I'll give it a shot for a while and see if it's worth buying.

Robert- said:
I'm looking to buy a new phone. The audio quality is an important aspect for me..
Right now I have a Galaxy S6 which is OK. Not the best,not the worst.
Would it be a downgrade or an upgrade?Also,if anyone can compare it with the OP3(which is mediocre) ..that would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far the best smartphone I owned in the audio department was the HTC One M9, with its frontal dual speakers, as they were stereo, loud and clear, it always blew me away whenever I saw YouTube, Netflix or listened to music (without phones). Listening to music using the audio jack (or Bluetooth phones) it was an OK experience, nothing extraordinary, compared to the previous smartphones I owned (obviously with improvements phones have over the years).
As the HTC One M9 is last year's phone, I'd be logical to look into HTC One M10 (or better), as it should have better processing and screen configurations (and if HTC is smart enough, they kept or improved the already awesome frontal speakers).
The Moto Z Play has just one frontal speaker and (for me) is good enough, nothing compared to the HTC, but packs a decent punch if you want to see a video or listen to an audio, but to really listen to music or videos out loud, I'd advise you buying the JBL Mod, I personally do not own one but I've read good reviews about it, and you'd have a little more battery, I guess this Mod also comes with its own battery to power the speakers
Sorry not to compare with the OP3, but I don't have enough knowledge with this phone to have a relevant comparison.
Hope this helped! Cheers!

metalmike6 said:
I was using player pro... I'll give Poweramp a try. But I will say this even on YouTube the sound difference through the jack is crazy noticeable between this and the LG G3 I literally just tested it. Also what lind of music are you listening to? Because if it's dance or hip-hop or any kinda pop you're not gonna notice much of a difference.
---------- Post added at 04:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 AM ----------
So weird discovery? ... Rebooted thej phone out of frustration but prior to rebooting I went into the google play music app disabled all the equalizer settings then disabled the app in settings. Upon reboot the sound quality seems better? Like a lot better? I have no idea why or how? But that seems to have done it. Also I did download Poweramp just for kicks and it's nice, I'll give it a shot for a while and see if it's worth buying.
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Click to collapse
Some software glitch maybe.
I listen to metal and classical mostly, with a bit of jazz and blues. Opeth, Dt, Tool, The Aristocrats Yada Yada.

arides said:
So far the best smartphone I owned in the audio department was the HTC One M9, with its frontal dual speakers, as they were stereo, loud and clear, it always blew me away whenever I saw YouTube, Netflix or listened to music (without phones). Listening to music using the audio jack (or Bluetooth phones) it was an OK experience, nothing extraordinary, compared to the previous smartphones I owned (obviously with improvements phones have over the years).
As the HTC One M9 is last year's phone, I'd be logical to look into HTC One M10 (or better), as it should have better processing and screen configurations (and if HTC is smart enough, they kept or improved the already awesome frontal speakers).
The Moto Z Play has just one frontal speaker and (for me) is good enough, nothing compared to the HTC, but packs a decent punch if you want to see a video or listen to an audio, but to really listen to music or videos out loud, I'd advise you buying the JBL Mod, I personally do not own one but I've read good reviews about it, and you'd have a little more battery, I guess this Mod also comes with its own battery to power the speakers
Sorry not to compare with the OP3, but I don't have enough knowledge with this phone to have a relevant comparison.
Hope this helped! Cheers!
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I only care about audio quality through the jack . How is that compared to your M9?

Robert- said:
I only care about audio quality through the jack . How is that compared to your M9?
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Click to collapse
The HTC One M9 is better equalized, the bass in the Moto Z Play is more noticeable, but if you get a third party app that best equalizes the Moto Z Play it'll be just as great.
I haven't downloaded such app yet, but it shouldn't be hard to find. And use your own phones, the one that comes with the Moto Z Play sucks big time (at least for me).
I'd also be better for you to have more feedback from other users of the Moto Z Play, as audio is a very particular subject which varies from person to person.

I would like to add that the Z Play doesn't support every audio format out there. The hardware decoder is weak therefore I'd strongly recommend the "Neutron" music app which comes with its own software decoder. Or even the JetAudio or basically any app with a S/W decoder.

metalmike6 said:
Anyone having issues with music sound quality through the headphone jack should try making sure the equalizer in the stock google play music app is completely off, and then disabling the app in settings. After that reboot the phone. For me it was a night and day difference...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do I need to disable the Google Play Music app or Equalizer app?

Warkratos said:
Do I need to disable the Google Play Music app or Equalizer app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man, what I did was go into the google play music app under settings and then equalizer, make sure its all set to OFF. then go and disable the Google Play Music app in system settings and then reboot...

Robert- said:
I only care about audio quality through the jack . How is that compared to your M9?
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Click to collapse
ya agree , i am using z play rooted with viper4android installed. & it sounds Best with 3.5mm jack it can beat any device if configure proper

Quickly tested the audio quality of my new Z Play against my old Note 4 910C with Wolfson audio chip.
I use a pair of Ultimate Ears Triple FI 10. (IEM's which costed about 300€ some years ago.) Listened to some fast Punk songs.
I would not call me an Audiophile - I can't hear a difference between 320 KBit MP3 and Flac. But of course between 128 kBit and 320 kBit.
So I do care about good audio quality.
I could not notice a significant difference between the Note and the Moto. Even if there was one I wouldn't be able to tell which one was better. Different headphones or a heavily compressed audio file will for sure make way much more of a difference.
To be sure I ordered this external DAC: http://hifimediy.com/tiny-dac
It's an external Sabre DAC with improved Jitter and noise level at a very tiny size. Curious to see if I find a difference, but I don't expect very much.
I think the Moto as all recent phones delivers a very neutral and loud enough sound output at pones that don't need to much pwer.

its good but not the best

Coming from the V10, it's definitely a step down but not bad. For over-ear or on-ear portable headphones that are designed to be efficient,it's not bad at all. For sensitive IEMs, the signal isn't clean enough, you can hear a background hiss and interference from the cell radio, etc. And of course driving higher impedance headphones well like the V10 can do is out of the question.

how is the external speaker? I have seen some reviews that say its average.. I know I want to make sure its decent...
I understand it can't compete with dual front facing speakers... but how does it compare to other similar speaker setup phones? I am glad it is at least front facing!

noisyriver said:
Quickly tested the audio quality of my new Z Play against my old Note 4 910C with Wolfson audio chip.
I use a pair of Ultimate Ears Triple FI 10. (IEM's which costed about 300€ some years ago.) Listened to some fast Punk songs.
I would not call me an Audiophile - I can't hear a difference between 320 KBit MP3 and Flac. But of course between 128 kBit and 320 kBit.
So I do care about good audio quality.
I could not notice a significant difference between the Note and the Moto. Even if there was one I wouldn't be able to tell which one was better. Different headphones or a heavily compressed audio file will for sure make way much more of a difference.
To be sure I ordered this external DAC: http://hifimediy.com/tiny-dac
It's an external Sabre DAC with improved Jitter and noise level at a very tiny size. Curious to see if I find a difference, but I don't expect very much.
I think the Moto as all recent phones delivers a very neutral and loud enough sound output at pones that don't need to much pwer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did today also a small comparison with the 180 $ Sony walkman of my GF: Could not find a difference.
With high impedance headphones the Hifimediy Android DAC http://hifimediy.com/tiny-dac did a very good job to me. Tested it with 600 Ohm AKG K 141 - was still loud enough. Didn't seem to influence my battery.
So I have no concerns any more using the Moto as my portable audio device.

The sound signature thro' headphone jack is better than average. However, please don't buy moto z play if you love listening to music at lower volume thro' headphone jack. The background static, crackling sound is much higher as the radio antenna band is located very close to it ( a white band over usb type c port). Better the headphone quality more prominent is the static. I tried multiple in-ear headphones ( shure se 125 , Sennheiser cx 275s). It is design flaw.