I have to say my Omnia 7 doesn't sound nearly as good as my Zune HD. I know nothing beats a dedicated player but I would have thought something about the Zune technology would have played a role in making my phone a decent music player.
There has been a topic on this before, the Omnia 7 is terrible for audio. It severely lacks any bass. I have tried with low end phones like Senheiser CX300, midrange Shure SE210's ) and high end Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10's and the only ones which produce any reasonable bass are the Ultimate ears, but they have their own dedicated bass drivers, so either they are doing some extra work or the Omnia is not distributing the bass frequently properly to standard headphones. Not really sure what can be done about it but it's definitely making me want to drop my omnia for a HD7 or something else.
wrong. sorry pezley but i have to disagree, peew971, i made a thread a while ago and this is what i discovered. in short, the supplied headphones are rubbish. you need to buy a better pair. it really is as simple as that. i borrowed 2 different pairs of headphone from a friend, one was in ear and the other was over the ear and the sound is Incredible! you just need a decent pair. unfortunately, the headphones i borrowed were very expensive, but it proved to me that the omnia 7 is a very capable audio player. the bass and treble were fantastically balanced, great thumping bass and crystal clear treble. dont make the same mistake i did, try, headphones out before buying a pair. the overall volume output on the omina is quite low, ( but it can be changed) so when getting a new pair of headphones look at their DB rating and go for a loud pair as well. it is highly advisable to find a store who `might` let you use their headphones as a test. i bought the sennheiser 400 CX II for £40 and althought the bass is awesome the mid and treble arnt that great. but anyway, the sound coming out of the omnia 7 is great but to get that great sound you must get a DECENT pair of headphones.
Actually yesterday I got a pair of Beats Solo HD that I tested on a iPod Nano. The Nano sounded 10 times better so I doubt it's just about headphones. Has anyone compared the sound on other WP7 and is the issue really specific to the Omnia? Could be sonething with the OS, no?
Sent from my Omnia 7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Peew971 said:
Actually yesterday I got a pair of Beats Solo HD that I tested on a iPod Nano. The Nano sounded 10 times better so I doubt it's just about headphones. Has anyone compared the sound on other WP7 and is the issue really specific to the Omnia? Could be sonething with the OS, no?
Sent from my Omnia 7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
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I listen to music on my HD7 quite a lot and my headphones (in ear from sony) were quite cheap. Something around 25 Euros. But I have to say the sound is great.
Peew971 said:
Actually yesterday I got a pair of Beats Solo HD that I tested on a iPod Nano. The Nano sounded 10 times better so I doubt it's just about headphones. Has anyone compared the sound on other WP7 and is the issue really specific to the Omnia? Could be sonething with the OS, no?
Sent from my Omnia 7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
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thats very interesting peew971, something i will have to check up on. i tried my headphones on a different mp3 player and the sound was maybe a bit louder but definately not better. but thats just in my case. my headphones (sennheiser 400 CX II) on both my phone and mp3 player is bassy with average mid and treble. still im convinced the the sound from the omnia 7 is brilliant if you have a good pair of headphones. perhaps spending another small fortune is the way to get the best out of it i honestly dont think that i could get a better sound from any other device if the right headphones are used. the headphones i tested them on were Shure E530PTH, and Grado SR80.... and both produced amazing quality on the omnia 7, i really dont think anyone would complain with these.
I own both a LG Optimus 7 and an Omnia 7.
I use one of the best bud headphones available: AKG K319 (I find them far better than the Shure or Senn CX400 for instance, especially for medium and bass).
I have to say that the sound of the LG Optimus 7 is indeed better. It's actually pretty good for a smartphone.
There is something wrong with the bass on the Omnia 7. They are not dynamic enough.
I would be glad to get Samsung's feedback on this.
...
Also (but this is another problem) the Omnia never displayed the Album art of my records (it appears in the Collection menu but not when playing). Weird. There are the same music files as on my LG Optimus 7 and have been properly tagged.
Just to add from a technical perspective, there are different qualities of headphone amps built into various smartphones and media players. A device with a lower-quality headphone amp will not sound that good even with the best headphones.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing doesn't show up in reviews too often.
Thank you guys... So is this something Samsung can improve with an update or is it pretty much a hardware issue?
Peew971 said:
Thank you guys... So is this something Samsung can improve with an update or is it pretty much a hardware issue?
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i suspect it is both however i must stress that you need a good pair of headphones for the Omnia 7. sadly, good headphones can be quite expensive. like i said before , the standard headphones are rubbish, the pair i bought (Sennheiser 400 CX II, £40) had fantastic bass but the treble and midtones were not great. i was a bit worried about the sound coming out of the omnia 7 after that was considering swapping it for a HD7, but that was until i tried these two headphones Shure E530PTH (£300) and Grado SR80 (£100) on my phone. These headphones made my omnia 7 audio sound awesome with great bass and crystal clear treble extreemly well balanced. what i really need to do now is to use those same headphones on another player of some sort, i know for a fact that the omnia 7 is generally but again a louder pair of headphones will help.
pezley said:
There has been a topic on this before, the Omnia 7 is terrible for audio. It severely lacks any bass. I have tried with low end phones like Senheiser CX300, midrange Shure SE210's ) and high end Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10's and the only ones which produce any reasonable bass are the Ultimate ears, but they have their own dedicated bass drivers, so either they are doing some extra work or the Omnia is not distributing the bass frequently properly to standard headphones. Not really sure what can be done about it but it's definitely making me want to drop my omnia for a HD7 or something else.
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Click to collapse
The HD7 is just as terrible as far as sound is concerned. I think it may be a driver issue. Through the headphones they sound okay, but the phone speakers are just borderline useless...
What about the HTC sound enhancer? I got a Focus, but I've never seen anyone mention it.
interesting point about the hd7, i heard it was susposed to be very good. Yesterday i decided to try my sennheiser 400 CX II headphones on an mp3 player of mine, and sure enough it was louder than the omnia 7 but not better in terms of sound quality, unfortunately, i now believe that to get the best sound out of the omnia 7 you must buy a decent pair of headphones otherwise it wont sound good. heres a strange twist to the original omnia 7 poor sound question. perhaps the omnia 7 sound is so good that it shows up how poor some headphones really are? perhaps someone else out there has a high quality pair of phones to confirm. the two i tried were Shure E530PTH, and Grado SR80 and and omnia 7 excelled with these to, but then again, 1 cost £100 (grado) and the other cost £300 (shure) low end headphones just dont cut it on the Omnia 7, mine £40 have great bass but that it. another pair of Sennheiser cost £80 and sounded pretty good and much clearer than mine..so basically, you get what you pay for. an pair of £20 headphone will sound rubbish on the omnia 7. get the hint?
If you read my earlier story I used £170 Beats on the Omnia 7 for poor result. On an iPod/iPhone the sound is amazing. I wish I still had my Zune HD to compare but the bottom line is the sound on the Omnia 7 isn't good.
Now if we start getting the same stories on HTC phones maybe the issue lies deeper in WP7 itself. We need more input from HTC, LG and Dell users.
Sent from my Omnia 7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
davidebanks said:
interesting point about the hd7, i heard it was susposed to be very good.
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It actually IS good, N8ter talks about "phone speakers". You wouldn't listen to music via the speaker intended for ringtones, would you?
The HTC HD7 did very well in our audio quality test. There are no notable flaws when you use it with an active external amplifier - the frequency response is great and so are the noise level, dynamic range and stereo crosstalk readings. The total harmonic distortion is pretty low too and generally the intermodulation distortion is the only thing about the HD7 ouput that was not particularly impressive (though it's still acceptable).
As you could expect things get a bit worse when you plug in a pair of headphones, but the HD7 still maintains a very good performance. As a matter of fact the degradation is so subtle that the device ranks higher up in this scenario, than in the previous. The stereo crosstalk increases and that's about that. There's no extra intermodulation distortion or ferquency response deviations. Now add the fact that the HD7 is pretty loud too and you get the idea that the HD7 is a pretty good music player indeed.
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http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_hd7-review-542p6.php
Omnia 7 is considerably worse, although note that it's on par with SGS and way better than, say, Desire HD which is total unusable crap due to horrible crosstalk:
Samsung I8700 Omnia 7 did well in our traditional audio quality test. It's among the quietest handsets we have seen but it makes up for that with nicely clean output with audio tracks sounding just the way they were meant to. When attached to an active external amplifier (i.e. your car stereo or your home audio system) the device is doing an impressive job with the cut-off extreme bass frequencies the only thing to frown at.
When headphones come into play, the Omnia 7 remained a pretty solid performer and the worsened stereo crosstalk and intermodulation distortions are the only things that changed.
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http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8700_omnia_7-review-522p5.php
Basically, the major problem here is that there's no equalizer. Since the audio is quiet, you need sensitive headphones to hear everything that the phone outputs, and can't compensate that by EQ settings.
Overall, it's ultimately amazing to see HTC outperform Samsung in this area. Samsung is the company that supplies audio chips to Apple for iPhones and iPods.
Samsung have a lot of buggs on there WP7 device, so maybe the sound is also a issue. Luckely for me i have expensive headphones so i feel i have good audio. Got Beyerdynamic's DT 77p Pro 250 OHM.
Sent from my Omnia 7 using Board Express
Peew971 said:
Now if we start getting the same stories on HTC phones maybe the issue lies deeper in WP7 itself.
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You can check out the gsmarena links in my post above to see that it's not the case.
Actually, I tried WM, Android and WP7 on my HD2. I had previously thought that software can't make a huge difference apart from some limited equalization and volume level tweaks and that it was all down to the DAC and the analog amp.
However, installing WP7 on HD2 was a true shocker, it sounded very well, while with both WM and Android I thought it was utterly useless as a player.
I have no idea why though. Basically, codecs can't really change anything with regard to mp3 playback. Since HD2 had a hacked custom ROM there were no device-specific tweaks. Go figure.
I'm fairly happy with my Mozart (using Westone 3 as the headphones). iPhone 4 is better but its equalizer is much more limited so your ability to adjust sound to your particular taste isn't that great.
HP is licencing the Beats technology for their devices. Not everyone will agree about the quality of that tech (I personally think it's great) but I wish a WP7 OEM would come up with the same sort of deal.
Well HTC licenses SRS, so if you're into this type of sound embellishments you can have them on WP7. It's hard to make available on all phones because it is hardware dependant.
nakazul also agrees with me, you need Decent headphones! heres another test you could try. Connect your omnia 7 to a Proper stereo system via a 3.5 male to male connection, and see what it sounds like. ( yes it will be quiet we know that but what about the quality. again, the sound system needs to be a good one. let us know how you get on. or someone else try it. i have a £15 set so my speakers are rubbish. all i know is that good headphones make a huge difference.
Related
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.
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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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Click to collapse
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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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!
Well, after lurking XDA for about six months, I finally actually need to post about something. Also please note that I am not an audiophile by any means, I just listen to music a lot.
I have owned a Desire since its Australian launch, and it is unequivocally the best phone I have used since the venerable Nokia N95.
I also have an iPhone 3GS provided by my benevolent employer, which in general I don't particularly like.
There is only one thing about the iPhone that is going to make it hurt to give it back to my employer when I leave at the end of this month. Audio volume.
Specifically, when I have my Desire connected to an external amplifier such as the car stereo (a daily occurence) or the stereo in my loungeroom, while it sounds pretty good, it cannot match the iPhone for volume, or the general 'meatiness' of the sound, and in the car it means I have to turn the stereo's volume up way higher than I do compared to when I use the iPhone, while still not getting sound of the same quality.
I have looked at the Dell Streak based on positive comments about its audio quality, and I will buy one in a heartbeat if I can establish that its sound is noticeably louder and or better than the Desires.
My question is: Which Android phones have the best audio quality when connected to an external amp, and can any match the iPhone?
Or has anyone used both the Desire and the Streak for external audio that can give some feedback?
I have tried GSMArena, but their technical measurements of audio quality mean nothing to me.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Of all my phones so far, the only one that even comes close to matching if not exceeding the iPhones audio quality is the Samsung Galaxy S.
I have the exact same experience with my Desire. What helped me greatly was to install the music player PowerAmp, which is in the market. On the equalizer settings page increase the preamp slider to the point before it starts to distort. I still need to crank the volume a bit in my car but it's much better than before. The bass, treble & EQ also work very well. Hope this helps.
I am considering switching from the SGS2 to the X. The sound quality while listening to MP3's on the S2 was average at best even with tampering with all the settings etc.
What is the quality of the sound like on the X ? Anyone know what DAC is inside ? I have a set of Shure E535's and want to make best use of them. If the quality is the same as the SGS2 i think i will use the bit i have saved and buy a Cowan Z2 and keep the SGS2.
Thanks for any advice
I'm interested in this myself. I've already ordered the phone though, as I need a new one.
I'm hoping I finally can put away my mp3-player, but I guess it will still be some years until a phone reach Cowon sound quality. :--/
finduz said:
I'm interested in this myself. I've already ordered the phone though, as I need a new one.
I'm hoping I finally can put away my mp3-player, but I guess it will still be some years until a phone reach Cowon sound quality. :--/
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The original Samsung Galaxy S and any other device with a Wolfson DAC came close, with Supercurios Voodoo app. Best sound on a mobile device! But SamsUng dropped the Wolfson for a Yahama DAC on the SGS2! Wonder what DAC the HOX has!
i'm no mod, but i already made a thread about this.
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finduz said:
I'm interested in this myself. I've already ordered the phone though, as I need a new one.
I'm hoping I finally can put away my mp3-player, but I guess it will still be some years until a phone reach Cowon sound quality. :--/
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i don't think a phone is ever going to include good audio. the amount of people that actually use expensive headphones and lossless files are too small for the companies to care. i sold my Cowon D3 because they messed up trying to use Android 2.2 with insufficient hardware. i'm looking at the S9, J3, or X7 now. i'll use the beats audio eq bs until i have the spare 250-280.
brent8577 said:
i'm no mod, but i already made a thread about this.
---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
i don't think a phone is ever going to include good audio
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My good ol' Sony Ericsson w950 had a fantastic sound quality!
As a user of an iPhone with high end multidriver in ear monitors (Westone UM3x and Shure SE420) sound quality ranks very high in my list.
Thus i would appreciate if some owner of multidriver iems could chime in with an opinion on the headphone out sound quality. With all effects turned off. If the audio hardware is any good (low output impedance, low distorsion and low crosstalk) the sound should be very good (Just as it is off the iPhone headphone out) and no need of audio tweaking would be necessary.
elfary said:
As a user of an iPhone with high end multidriver in ear monitors (Westone UM3x and Shure SE420) sound quality ranks very high in my list.
Thus i would appreciate if some owner of multidriver iems could chime in with an opinion on the headphone out sound quality. With all effects turned off. If the audio hardware is any good (low output impedance, low distorsion and low crosstalk) the sound should be very good (Just as it is off the iPhone headphone out) and no need of audio tweaking would be necessary.
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Click to collapse
On every iPhone/iPod I've tried since their inception the DAC hasn't been the talking point, and flaked out when the eq is modified, even with a decent pair (sennys/shures) of 'phones.
I think buying a phone to replace a (good/non-ipod) portable player is a bad idea.
It's also entirely subjective; you could have a Cowon S9 and top-end in-ear sound-cancelling headphones, but if you're listening to 192kbps CBR mp3s you may as well be using your phone and a pair of £20 Porta-Pros - in most situations the source is the bottleneck, then the headphones, then the DAC. (IMO, of course)
qpop said:
On every iPhone/iPod I've tried since their inception the DAC hasn't been the talking point, and flaked out when the eq is modified, even with a decent pair (sennys/shures) of 'phones.
I think buying a phone to replace a (good/non-ipod) portable player is a bad idea.
It's also entirely subjective; you could have a Cowon S9 and top-end in-ear sound-cancelling headphones, but if you're listening to 192kbps CBR mp3s you may as well be using your phone and a pair of £20 Porta-Pros - in most situations the source is the bottleneck, then the headphones, then the DAC. (IMO, of course)
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I just asked for an opinion from a high end iem user about the HTC One X headphone out. Honestly I don't need your view on portable audio. But thanks for enlightening me.
Parameters like the impedance output impedance are nothing but subjective. iPhones output impedance is lower than 2 so they will always get a linear signal to your multidriver iem where a high z source like the galaxy S2 will get a pretty skewed signal that will ruin the frequency response of the iems.
Sound and electricty are sciences even if some people find it hard to believe and prefer esoteric approaches to the matter (That's specially true amongst Cowon fans
elfary said:
As a user of an iPhone with high end multidriver in ear monitors (Westone UM3x and Shure SE420) sound quality ranks very high in my list.
Thus i would appreciate if some owner of multidriver iems could chime in with an opinion on the headphone out sound quality. With all effects turned off. If the audio hardware is any good (low output impedance, low distorsion and low crosstalk) the sound should be very good (Just as it is off the iPhone headphone out) and no need of audio tweaking would be necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is way more to those 3 factors for sound quality, plenty of things have those but don't sound good.
Anyways for most multidriver IEMs to make the most out of the IEM you will want some sort of amperage, even my Cowon C2 isn't powerful enough to make some IEMs shine (power doesn't always need to equal volume, but power to drive with authority)
My Soundaudio Rocco-P however, at the same volume, blows the Cowon out of the water, and there was a time you could of gotten it only for $1 + shipping on head-fi
But the SGS > SGS2 that is IMO but neither hold a candle to the C2 or the Rocco.
To the OP the cowon is a fine DAC but if you just need music playback (and if you need FLAC) there might be better options in your budget
I'm still looking for portable setup that doesn't involve carrying a brick around that will power my modded Fostex T50RP
---------- Post added at 03:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 AM ----------
qpop said:
On every iPhone/iPod I've tried since their inception the DAC hasn't been the talking point, and flaked out when the eq is modified, even with a decent pair (sennys/shures) of 'phones.
I think buying a phone to replace a (good/non-ipod) portable player is a bad idea.
It's also entirely subjective; you could have a Cowon S9 and top-end in-ear sound-cancelling headphones, but if you're listening to 192kbps CBR mp3s you may as well be using your phone and a pair of £20 Porta-Pros - in most situations the source is the bottleneck, then the headphones, then the DAC. (IMO, of course)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, many ipods and the iphones sound great, their EQ sucks but their SQ is quite good, really good if you pass the headphone out, and use the line out into an amp via a LOD.
They are not the end all of players though.
Porta pros are amazing IMO, they are one of my fav headphones under $100
Any update on DAC? Audio Quality?
Personally waiting for GSM Arena to do their audio test. Below from The Verge's review:
AUDIO
Audio quality on the One X is superb across the board. The earpiece offers clear, loud calls, and the rear-mounted loudspeaker does as well — for whatever reason, HTC's managed to make this placement of the loudspeaker work far better than Samsung did with the Galaxy Nexus, which produces exceptionally quiet, easy-to-muffle sound. Callers reported that I was easy to hear even in significant background noise and wind, a good sign that this phone's dual-mic noise canceling system is really well tuned.
The 3.5mm headphone jack outputs clean, noise-free music — clean enough that I was easily able to pick out the depressingly low bitrate of Rdio's tracks. Of course, the One X carries the Beats Audio branding, as most HTC devices are now expected to (HTC owns 51 percent of Beats, after all). I find it ironic that the One series' tagline is "Amazing Camera, Authentic Sound" when Beats' audio processing is anything but authentic — in fact, if anything, it intentionally diverges from the artist's intentions. Every time I hear music with Beats enabled, it just sounds like bass boost to me, which is a trick we've seen in various forms in portable audio products for at least 30 years.
I'm not saying some users don't appreciate Beats — it definitely makes music more "exciting" sounding — but if you're looking for "authentic" music reproduction, Beats definitely isn't the answer. Personally, I'll be leaving it turned off. And fortunately, it's easily toggled either from Settings or from the notification tray while music is playing. It should also be noted that Sense 4.0 (and Sense 3.6 as found on HTC's Android 4.0 upgrades for older devices) makes Beats processing compatible with any audio app, which is a big improvement; previously, it only worked with HTC's baked-in apps.
Now that a few people are receiving their One X's can anyone answer my question please
Daemos said:
To the OP the cowon is a fine DAC but if you just need music playback (and if you need FLAC) there might be better options in your budget
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Yeah its just music playback i want if i have to get another device. What do you think of the Cowon J3 ??
I agree nikzDHD about waiting for the GSM Arena review. I read the Verge review earlier and it sounds good though i would prefer a more detailed review on the subject.
darrenjdoc said:
Now that a few people are receiving their One X's can anyone answer my question pleaseYeah its just music playback i want if i have to get another device. What do you think of the Cowon J3 ??
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Honestly, I wouldn't trust the verge's gsmarena's or most other techsite's for their "audio quality" reviews.
just FYI. having fancy bar charts, graphs etc isn't the end all, having someone be able to compare it to another device, with tons of experience, using high end audio gear is MUCH more important.
Unfortunately phones usually don't get tested in audiophile type things and you are better at looking at audiophile forums and seeing if experienced members have used them.
I'm just saying for SQ, cowon isn't the best there is, but their EQ system is one of the best, but EQ can't replace energy, soundstage, or detail reproduction, all it does is emphasize certain regions of the sound changing the "sound signature" like I said my RoCoo P is superior to the Cowon but is far cheaper, but the UI sucks, and it's missing features, but I use it almost every day when I need to walk somewhere.
I suggest reading here: http://www.head-fi.org/f/15/portable-source-gear then after reading through there potentially asking your question there, but please do list your headphones, source type, type of music, and if you *need* eq or not.
It all depends on your budget and how large of a device you want to carry. I can recommend things like the ibasso DX100 or hifiman HM-801 which are basically almost as good as you can get in a portable audio player, but they cost more than a new phone, and they are very bulky.
um.. no disrespect/no intended banter to the above poster
but we simply just want to find out if the audio quality is sufficient for use of mp3s
in comparison to say the S2, which everyone knows has disappointing sound quality . Yes we all know the S1 had a good DAC etc, this thread is more so about the phones sound quality and not about how much of an audiophile we are etc.
I need to know as if it's good enough, I don't have to bring my Cowon J3 with me everyday to work as well : )
darrenjdoc said:
Now that a few people are receiving their One X's can anyone answer my question pleaseYeah its just music playback i want if i have to get another device. What do you think of the Cowon J3 ??
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I can't recommend the sansa clip enough. Cheap, good battery, flac support and even better with a portable amp! One of the best sounding players I've had.
thanhson87 said:
um.. no disrespect/no intended banter to the above poster
but we simply just want to find out if the audio quality is sufficient for use of mp3s
in comparison to say the S2, which everyone knows has disappointing sound quality . Yes we all know the S1 had a good DAC etc, this thread is more so about the phones sound quality and not about how much of an audiophile we are etc.
I need to know as if it's good enough, I don't have to bring my Cowon J3 with me everyday to work as well : )
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What is "sufficient"? What is "good enough"? It varies for different people.
If you want to know if it plays music, yes it'll play mp3s. If it's good enough to you or not, I can't say.
I can tell you this, in terms of SQ I'd rank what I've used as this SGS2 << SGS1 < rockboxed Sansa Clip/fuse (first gen) < Rockboxed earlier ipod < Cowon players < RoCoo P
This is of course FLAC, if we add mp3 playback I'd say the iphone/ipod touch fits in better than the SGS1 but can = sansa clip/fuse
These are also only what I'd consider portable DAPs.
The OP wanted to know if they should keep the SGS2 and get a J3 or get a one X instead and was focused on audio quality.
I just happened to say I think he could get better than the J3 for better SQ for the money. I'm just trying to help the OP.
Most people just want to carry one device, I've also got a rockboxed Sansa Clip its small enough to take anywhere and sound quality is very good. Again to OP Sansa Clip is the cheapest way of getting some good sound but good sound is only good if you pair it up with a good set of headphones to take advantage of it.
If only Supercurio lived in the UK I would of let him borrow my phone his analysis is very good.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
I have a Sansa clip+ lying in a box that i haven't used in a long time and just rockboxed it. Teamed with my Shure E535's and a few flac albums this little guy sounds heads and shoulders above my SGS2. Actually shocked how such a small player can sound so good. Going to get a portable amp and this will save me a few quids. Many thanks for the replies
nice! Yeah a rockboxed clip+ is definately the way to go for small awesome sound. They are also basically impossible to beat at the price you can get a clip+ and fuze for
if you want my help, let me know how much you want to spend on an amp and i'll point you in the right direction
But basically in terms of portable (and affordable amps) ibasso, jds labs and fiio (if you get their higher end stuff)
Good luck with your search, hopefully you can find a good amp that pairs well with the 535's
Im thinking about buying the new LG optimus 4x. But I cant find a single review, that mentions the audio quality on this phone. But it has the Tegra 3 chipset, so if the DAC is part of this, I could check a one x, to get an idea of the audio quality. Would be great, if someone could help me out
Sent from my R800i using XDA
I'm sure if you asked in a phone shop they might let you plug your headphones in and listen to some of the pre loaded music files.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Hmmm, well then I need a good headset first here in Germany they never have the phones in shops, I am interested in so I have to rely on what the internet says
Sent from my R800i using XDA
the GS3 have a wolfsonn,no one know what have the HOX?
I don't know what's in the HOX but it pretty much sucks balls. You can even hear a *poof* when the music starts and a few seconds after it stops, not to mention the crappy sound itself.
@Gibeon - you must have a faulty phone as I don't get any of that
OP - Really is very reliant on the quality of your audio files I find, poor quality mp3's will sound TERRIBLE, worse than on some other phones. If it's high quality FLAC rips then the sound quality is really very good for a phone, better than the Desire I used to have for example and miles better than the iPod I used to have.
I have Denon in ear for going out and about with and a couple of quite high end (full size over ear) headphones and good quality files sound really good through them. The one thing I would say is that the output volume is not as high as some other phones I have tried, so you do need quite sensitive headphones if you like your music loud.
No idea what the DAC is but for me it's a great portable music player. No such thing as audiophile in any phone but it's definitely one of the better ones i have tried.
SartoriXX said:
@Gibeon - you must have a faulty phone as I don't get any of that
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Really? I've heard several cases of this behavior so I guessed it a widespread problem.
GSMarena has put the real specs to the test, here they are.
I also find the OneX sound much worse than on the desire. Beats only changes it from tinny to plasticky. It is so much worse, actually (both on stock earphones and via car stereo) that I no longer enjoy listening to music from the phone in my car, the sound gets on my nerves.
Instead of shelling out gazillions for having the name of a makebelieve gangster on their stuff, htc could have bought millions of decent audio chips and still give them a catchy name That would be the htc spirit I always liked.
Gibeon said:
Really? I've heard several cases of this behavior so I guessed it a widespread problem.
GSMarena has put the real specs to the test, here they are.
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I've seen the GSM Arena article, and I can only talk from personal experience based on my phone not yours. I do not have the issues you mention at all. Could be a bad batch of components hence why some are better than others. I've seen plenty of people say it's great quality, plenty of people say it's crap, so would seem to point towards that logically.
Gibeon said:
Really? I've heard several cases of this behavior so I guessed it a widespread problem.
GSMarena has put the real specs to the test, here they are.
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This is due to the player you're using. I swear by neutron. The ui might be a bit overwhelming for non audiophiles, but I'm getting some great sound with this app and beats disabled.
After some time with this phone, I'm finding the hox's sound to be quite different, but not necessarily of lesser quality compared to my old sgs1 with voodoo.
My advice would be to just change your music app and if you don't like neutron as I proposed, you could go with power amp or player pro with dsp pack.
On a final note, make sure you get your hands on a decent pair of headphones before commenting on the quality of a Dac. You can't really make any assumptions about these kinds of things if your basing your experience on a free or a $30 pair of ear buds.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
mr_pio said:
I also find the OneX sound much worse than on the desire. Beats only changes it from tinny to plasticky. It is so much worse, actually (both on stock earphones and via car stereo) that I no longer enjoy listening to music from the phone in my car, the sound gets on my nerves.
Instead of shelling out gazillions for having the name of a makebelieve gangster on their stuff, htc could have bought millions of decent audio chips and still give them a catchy name That would be the htc spirit I always liked.
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Well mine has perfect sound , you either have a faulty phone or your expectations were unrealistically high.
Hydrony said:
Im thinking about buying the new LG optimus 4x. But I cant find a single review, that mentions the audio quality on this phone. But it has the Tegra 3 chipset, so if the DAC is part of this, I could check a one x, to get an idea of the audio quality. Would be great, if someone could help me out
Sent from my R800i using XDA
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The sound is not the best in the world but its much much better then Galaxy S with voodoo sound while playing at the highest volume, at highest its just awesome stable with this beatsaudio thingy tested using Sennheiser HD 555, mind you galaxy S3 has a cheaper version of op amp used in S1.
The HTC One X have the very best sound in every angle: microphone/speaker/headphones/ear speaker
The volume and quality through the headset is good, unfortunately the loudspeaker is rather poor and doesn't go very loud. Typical HTC though, their speaker components tend to be rather low quality.
LG tend to have alright speakers (The Optimus 2X went fairly loud), but I can't say whether the 4X's will be any good or not
EDIT: I realise you were specifically asking about the quality rather than the volume. The quality is pretty good, you wont be disappointed by it. The Galaxy S III supposedly has fantastic audio quality though, which is likely to be better than the One X's due to the fact that the One X uses 'Beats' (which sucks) and the SIII has a Wolfson Micro WM1811 which is apparently pretty awesome (http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/products/audio_hubs/WM1811/).
yeah right "ultra-low power" is just rubbish
schiphol said:
This is due to the player you're using.
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It's not. I've tried a number of different music players, different EQ's, different thread priority for the audio. All exhibit the same fundamental problems arising from a poor quality DAC. Heck, even the volume up/down sound causes the pop/crackle issue.
schiphol said:
On a final note, make sure you get your hands on a decent pair of headphones before commenting on the quality of a Dac. You can't really make any assumptions about these kinds of things if your basing your experience on a free or a $30 pair of ear buds.
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I've tried 5 different sets of headphones on my One X, some in ear, some open back, one Bluetooth. The same problems could be heard on all of them in varying degrees.
If your guys phones are rooted, flash the latest dspequalizer on this phone. Helps tremendously with sound quality. I agree with the person talking about flac files. You don't even need to have flac, just try to get high bitrate mp3s. I listen with Beyerdynamic headphones which take more power to drive, but it's enough for me and sounds great.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Nos0x said:
It's not. I've tried a number of different music players, different EQ's, different thread priority for the audio. All exhibit the same fundamental problems arising from a poor quality DAC. Heck, even the volume up/down sound causes the pop/crackle issue.
I've tried 5 different sets of headphones on my One X, some in ear, some open back, one Bluetooth. The same problems could be heard on all of them in varying degrees.
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I totally agree and I don't think my Grado SR60i's or Shure SE215's are to blame. Really, the quality just sucks on the HOX I own.
No biggie for me though, since I have a PMP for music.
Gibeon said:
I totally agree and I don't think my Grado SR60i's or Shure SE215's are to blame. Really, the quality just sucks on the HOX I own.
No biggie for me though, since I have a PMP for music.
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Of course the dac is not the best. The point I was trying to make is that I was able to eliminate most of the hissing and strange pops upon volume changes etc by switching to the neutron player leading me to be believe that these are not necessarily related to the Dac itself.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
With my beats headsets i have excellent audio quality, didnt try the original one...and the sound from the speaker? Well i dont know what you expect, in my eyes it is good enough (i dont listen to music over it) ... and BTW, i use well ripped mp3s because over the beats headset you can hear every single detail in songs ... youtube is also great ...
I dont know, but probably i have a special OneX i dont have any single issue the guys so far had reported ... i am just confused now why i dont get a S-OFF device
As far as I know, the beats audio plugin is only a peace of software, isn't it? It has nothing to do with special hardware, its just an equalizer setting. But I'm confused some sites say, the one x's audio chip is the same, that is build in the one s, but the explanation of the Tegra 3 chipset says, that it is able to handle 7.1 surround sound, which means it includes an audio chip. I think I have to wait for reviews of the optimus 4x to solve this problem
Sent from my R800i using XDA
I was lucky and got an HTC 10 with high res earbuds but now my other headphones suck except the beyerdynamic DT 770 pro but they are not for everyday use
What do you guys use?
Btw. Are the Apple Earpods working for you? Mine are not recognized by the phone...
there really isn't a specific recommendation.... it's totally dependant on your tastes...
I will buy your hi res headphones from you
Hehe I don't sell them
I have beats Tour and beats power and they sound aweful.
My beloved earpods are not recognized by my phone, sadly.
Maybe they are too old.
I also tested some Philips and they were aweful too.
I need some recommendations
I bought 1more dual driver and im really satisfy
Enviado do meu HTC 10 através de Tapatalk
I'm using ultimate ears triple fi 10 with headphone amplifier. Works great, but i have to put off boom sound software feature to get full range music. The bass boost with boom sound is just rubbish and kills the mids completly. So i dont really use 10's special music features unless the enhanced powered headphone jack. Besides that every 820 device should sound the same as they are using the same DAC.
xperia x root said:
... every 820 device should sound the same as they are using the same DAC.
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HTC claimed they worked with Qualcomm to optimise the output circuitry to work with the DAC so it would be better than other implementations. I don't know how much difference it made...
What type of earphones are you looking for? In ear, on ear, over ear?
Sent from my HTC 10 using XDA-Developers mobile app
No in ears
Something like https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B0080..._SR100,100_&psc=1&refRID=WSNP2ASJPR562DCAQCKY
Or.
https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B014W...bo+play+h7&dpPl=1&dpID=419IfVJf+sL&ref=plSrch
I've been very satisfied with the RHA Ma750s. If you like cheaper earpods I've tried Samsung's ear pods that are included w/ the gs6 which sound pretty good.
I've also found on bass heavy sets (in my case Bose IE2s, in your case beats tour) it helps to create an audio profile and set the first 2 frequencies to minimum, set mid to 3-4, and set the two high freqs to 9-10. This helps with the lack of treble response on bass heavy earbuds.
I recommend checking out head-fi forums for some advice, but for ear buds, I love my AKG K318s. They are open back ear buds and the have pretty fantastic clarity and openness to them for being ear buds. They are great in the mids to highs, but bass response isn't that great - depends on your music tastes. They are perfect for rock/classical/vocals stuff like that. For bassier stuff, I use a pair of V-Moda BassFreq but I dont believe either of these are made anymore. I use mostly Sennheiser Momentum over-ear and on-ears at work, and Philips SHP9500/Grado SR80 at home.
I use klipsch x12i in ears.
They're pricey but well worth it.
Came from klipsch x10i and x11i.
Once you've had a pair, you're hooked.
They sound amazing...
The HTC 10 is a great audio device but it certainly doesn't sound the same as any other mobile device using the Qualcomm 820 SoC....
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2016/06/02/qualcomm-aqstic-sets-new-standard-audiophiles
Audiotechnica ATH-M50 headphones for the win!
I use the headphones at work and there is a SIGNIFICANT sound quality difference from when I plug it into my PC vs my HTC 10. The 10 adds another dimension to the music and makes it sounds more... vibrant?
chetly968 said:
The HTC 10 is a great audio device but it certainly doesn't sound the same as any other mobile device using the Qualcomm 820 SoC....
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2016/06/02/qualcomm-aqstic-sets-new-standard-audiophiles
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Not quite my friend...
Taken from:
http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-10-audio-testing-boomsound-evolved
"Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 does a lot of things right, but clear audio isn't one of those things. Something in the digital to analog converter circuit introduces an extreme amount of noise and crosstalk into the analog output, and phones like the U.S. Galaxy S7 and LG G5 sound pretty poor because of this. After doing some testing, I was presented with results that just didn't make sense from the HTC 10 — it was better than it should be, even with extra work and attention to the analog circuit that brings signal from the DAC output to the headphone jack. You can only do so much magic to a bad signal. I asked HTC how they did it, and found out that some assumptions about the HTC 10 audio hardware that the internet (and myself) has are incorrect. The HTC 10 uses a stand-alone DAC as well as headphone amp and isn't using the Snapdragon 820 DAC. This is pretty important, and why the HTC 10 sounds as good as it does.
We use a discrete DAC (not one on the SoC) in addition to the amp and have done a ton of PCB engineering to insure the best possible signal-to-noise ratio. Credit to HTC engineering, not off-the-shelf components.
So much for relying on the internet. That's a mistake I won't make again.
Needless to say, the results of my benchmark testing with the HTC 10 are pretty damn outstanding."
The discrete DAC is the Qualcomm Aqstic and it sounds awesome, the best I've ever heard in a phone.
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2016/06/02/qualcomm-aqstic-sets-new-standard-audiophiles
Xiaomi Piston 3's sound AMAZING for the price, which is around $12, but for best SQ you need to be careful to avoid fakes, replace the tips (included tips are rubbish), and burn them in for ~50 hrs.
I currently use the Audio-Technica ATH-CKR10 and it sounds amazing for my type of music (edm, trance, vocal trance) although they are quite expensive at around 200 your best bet is to get them from amazon and make sure its fulfilled by amazon, for some reason the other listings are always 300-600 bucks....
Ordered some Sony bluetooth over the ear headphones on Amazon prime day, work great. They were 50% off
Sent from my 2PS64 using XDA-Developers mobile app
whatthefunk said:
The discrete DAC is the Qualcomm Aqstic and it sounds awesome, the best I've ever heard in a phone.
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2016/06/02/qualcomm-aqstic-sets-new-standard-audiophiles
Xiaomi Piston 3's sound AMAZING for the price, which is around $12, but for best SQ you need to be careful to avoid fakes, replace the tips (included tips are rubbish), and burn them in for ~50 hrs.
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Would you mind sharing a link of a legit seller for the Xiaomi earbuds? I tried purchasing a set last summer but got burned by eBay seller and received a knock off. One of the earbuds volume was significantly lower (almost nonexistent) than the other earbud. Would like to try out some quality hi-res earbuds, my 2013 Beats Tours are pretty disappointing in both the sound department, as well as them constantly falling out of my ears.
But as far as Headphones go, My Beats Studio 2.0's sound amazing when I Calibrate the sound profile to them. The Dolby effects "Studio" setting really helps separate the sound stage nicely. So nice, it's allowed me to fight off the itch to mess around with V4A and all the other sound mods I have run in the past, and a much nicer richer listening experience as well.
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
For bang for the bucks, try VSONIC GR07, despite the lame plastic chassis, it really does sound like a ~200-dollar-headphone. I like it more than my UE triple.fi, even UE900, sound-wise.
So i'm using the "Bose Soundsport" while in gym, on the bike or just walking outside. Although i'm not a big fan of Bose products i can highly recommend these because they are so damn comfortable as they are between real In-Ears and EarPods and sound excellent for their size. (way better than the High Res HTC In-Ears)
At home or while working i take my "Bowers & Wilkins P7", which were brought on a new level when i switched from HTC M7 to HTC 10!
But in the end it depends on what sound you like and the quality you use...for me it was always hard to find good headphones as i hear very different genres like Hiphop, Rock, Punk-Rock, House, Jazz etc.