Develop Bugs

[Q] Problem with audio clipping on screen lock

So I've discovered a pretty nasty bug that seriously affects my listening pleasure.
I should start by saying that I am a recent Android convert, the GN beeing my first foray into the realm of Android devices.
Having used an iPhone for the past 3 years (and mostly for rocking out to my favourite music on my daily commute) I was initially really excited with the quality of the audio on the GN, even when using the stock iPhone earbuds. This issue however, has nothing to do with the earphones, it happens even when the phones are disconnected
I noticed however that my music had a tendency to start clipping (clicking horribly while playing HQ files in most supported formats). My first step was to download pretty much every decent player I could find - right now, I have WinAmp and PowerAmp installed.
I eventually narrowed the problem down to the lock screen, more specifically when the screen blacks out after being idle for nn minutes. s
o long story short, if I play my music with the phone unlocked it all sounds really good, as soon as I lock the screen (clicking the power button at top right to switch to black screen) the music starts clipping horribly at very irregular intervals.
I've asked a mate to try the same steps on is GN and he says he can't hear any difference, so wanted to put this to the community to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Does this sound like a return job?
Being an android noob, I have no idea of any methods of providing debug info, so any input is welcome.
Thanks
Sky

i think all android phones do this...... at least my desire did this as well. Thats if you mean a very slight break when the screen goes black ?

wilbur-force said:
i think all android phones do this...... at least my desire did this as well. Thats if you mean a very slight break when the screen goes black ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not experienced this on my Nexus S and I listen to music a lot with my screen locked.

ruthlesset said:
I have not experienced this on my Nexus S and I listen to music a lot with my screen locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its just one fraction of a second blip as the screen locks in my experience.....

NO, in my case it's constant, like every few seconds... sounds like a case for replacement imo

Skysurfer69 said:
NO, in my case it's constant, like every few seconds... sounds like a case for replacement imo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya that's not a usual problem. Sounds defective. What file types are the music?

Skysurfer69 said:
So I've discovered a pretty nasty bug that seriously affects my listening pleasure.
I should start by saying that I am a recent Android convert, the GN beeing my first foray into the realm of Android devices.
Having used an iPhone for the past 3 years (and mostly for rocking out to my favourite music on my daily commute) I was initially really excited with the quality of the audio on the GN, even when using the stock iPhone earbuds. This issue however, has nothing to do with the earphones, it happens even when the phones are disconnected
I noticed however that my music had a tendency to start clipping (clicking horribly while playing HQ files in most supported formats). My first step was to download pretty much every decent player I could find - right now, I have WinAmp and PowerAmp installed.
I eventually narrowed the problem down to the lock screen, more specifically when the screen blacks out after being idle for nn minutes. s
o long story short, if I play my music with the phone unlocked it all sounds really good, as soon as I lock the screen (clicking the power button at top right to switch to black screen) the music starts clipping horribly at very irregular intervals.
I've asked a mate to try the same steps on is GN and he says he can't hear any difference, so wanted to put this to the community to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Does this sound like a return job?
Being an android noob, I have no idea of any methods of providing debug info, so any input is welcome.
Thanks
Sky
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when the screen is locked on any Android phone, the CPU is underclocked to save power.
what you're experiencing is audio buffer underruns due to the CPU slowing down. this is normal.
have you tried playing the music using the default music player? you shouldn't experience the problem using the default music player.

Try changing the encoding of your music. The phone is probably struggling to decode your current format in the underclocked state.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

I know where you are coming from but I don't experience this issue on my GN.
Go to power amp. Settings, audio engine, advanced tweaks and set the buffer to huge. I don't think it will work as it seems to me its when your device goes into sleep. Like the CPU is being undervolted too much. If it happens on the stock music app (Google music) I would send it back as defective.
OR - Maybe Google don't want you to use ****ty iPhone headphones after all.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

NatTheCat said:
I know where you are coming from but I don't experience this issue on my GN.
Go to power amp. Settings, audio engine, advanced tweaks and set the buffer to huge. I don't think it will work as it seems to me its when your device goes into sleep. Like the CPU is being undervolted too much. If it happens on the stock music app (Google music) I would send it back as defective.
OR - Maybe Google don't want you to use ****ty iPhone headphones after all.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is more likely going to be related to the third party apps he is using to listen to music, that don't know how to keep the CPU alive in a higher state while the screen is locked. I had the same problem on my Nexus S with Skype for a while, where I couldn't actually put the screen to sleep using the power button while in a call - the audio would buffer underrun like crazy. Skype eventually pushed an update and it fixed the problem.

oscillik said:
it is more likely going to be related to the third party apps he is using to listen to music, that don't know how to keep the CPU alive in a higher state while the screen is locked. I had the same problem on my Nexus S with Skype for a while, where I couldn't actually put the screen to sleep using the power button while in a call - the audio would buffer underrun like crazy. Skype eventually pushed an update and it fixed the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking the same. My GS2 had the same issue with power amp. But the stock app was fine. Crazy android phones but we love ya.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

oscillik said:
it is more likely going to be related to the third party apps he is using to listen to music, that don't know how to keep the CPU alive in a higher state while the screen is locked. I had the same problem on my Nexus S with Skype for a while, where I couldn't actually put the screen to sleep using the power button while in a call - the audio would buffer underrun like crazy. Skype eventually pushed an update and it fixed the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not related to the ****ty iPhone headphones (lol thanks for that Nat) or the 3rd party apps I'm afraid... the same issue happens when I use the built in speaker, the GN issued earphones, and also regardless of whether I use the default music app or poweramp/winamp.
Changing the encoding of my music is going to be an extensive task if I have to do this for my entire library (30K+ tunes) I'll be here til next year.

Skysurfer69 said:
Not related to the ****ty iPhone headphones (lol thanks for that Nat) or the 3rd party apps I'm afraid... the same issue happens when I use the built in speaker, the GN issued earphones, and also regardless of whether I use the default music app or poweramp/winamp.
Changing the encoding of my music is going to be an extensive task if I have to do this for my entire library (30K+ tunes) I'll be here til next year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what format is your music in, what sample rate and bit depth is it?
ie: FLAC 24bit / 192KHz

not sure oscillik, a range of formats (mainly MP3, some AAC) and bitrates (nothing less than 192k and mostly 320k) again not sure of the samplerate either, would have to check my library which I have no access to for now as I'm on the road

Skysurfer69 said:
not sure oscillik, a range of formats (mainly MP3, some AAC) and bitrates (nothing less than 192k and mostly 320k) again not sure of the samplerate either, would have to check my library which I have no access to for now as I'm on the road
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
those formats and bit rates should be just fine. just to let you know, bitdepth and bit rate (emphasis on the space also) are completely different things. i think it's safe to assume that the sample rate for your music is likely to be 44.1KHz (which is standard).
you may have a faulty handset, I would demonstrate the problem to the store you bought it from and get a replacement handset.

I get the clipping too but only with Power amp and not the stock player.
Never had this on any phone before.
Might have to get rid! Anyone want to buy a GN 2 days old?

Spewy1 said:
I get the clipping too but only with Power amp and not the stock player.
Never had this on any phone before.
Might have to get rid! Anyone want to buy a GN 2 days old?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yus.
10char

NatTheCat said:
OR - Maybe Google don't want you to use ****ty iPhone headphones after all.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
10char.

@spewy check NatTheCats post about settings in power amp, they did the trick on my device and strangely enough I'm no longer having the problem in the default player either. Thanks to Oscillix and Nat for your help.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

*Oscillik
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Music Stops playing randomly

Does anyone have this problem? I'm on the latest version of AOKP with Franco Kernal...Everytime I listen to music, it will randomly stop and I would have to press play again. This happens at random times, (seconds, minutes, hours). I'm using Google Music (Play Music). I have tried PowerAMP and other players, but they seem too all do it.
It's kind of bugging me

ogxjason15 said:
Does anyone have this problem? I'm on the latest version of AOKP with Franco Kernal...Everytime I listen to music, it will randomly stop and I would have to press play again. This happens at random times, (seconds, minutes, hours). I'm using Google Music (Play Music). I have tried PowerAMP and other players, but they seem too all do it.
It's kind of bugging me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be a bug with Franco's sound hacks he implements in his kernels. Perhaps try using a different kernel?

anton2009 said:
It could be a bug with Franco's sound hacks he implements in his kernels. Perhaps try using a different kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm...can anyone else confirm this that's also using Franco's Kernal....

I get this on stock. I thought it was related to another piece of software (pocketcasts) that I installed about the same time the problems started. Seem that the first song is played, then it pauses or stops.

Could be a buggy headphone connector (in the phone), where it send a faulty signal telling the system that you have unplugged the headphones. Does it only happen while using headphones?
My connector does that as well, but opposite. When not using headpones it sometimes signals that something has been plugged in, and all audio is routed to the non-existing headphones.

this bug definitively occurs on francoKernel!
Try flashing another kernel (Popcorn for example) and the bug is gone.
Seems to have something to do with the sound limit. If it's too loud it stops automatically. Try reducing the volume to 60% with the hard buttons and you'll see that it stops acting like that.

It's not a Franco's kernel only problem. I have the same issue on Stock 4.0.2 (GSM, unlocked, unrooted).
It is not the headphone connector that is buggy either since i'm experiencing this with bluetooth headset as well (A2DP headset).
The music app is not crashing either since it doesn't require a full "load" when i select the app. Press play again and all is good until next time.

It happens to me on stock as well. With both the music and listen apps. Seems to happen if I'm playing music for a half hour or so without using the phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I am running AOKP M3 and Franco's kernel and am experiencing the exact same thing.

Benxter said:
this bug definitively occurs on francoKernel!
Try flashing another kernel (Popcorn for example) and the bug is gone.
Seems to have something to do with the sound limit. If it's too loud it stops automatically. Try reducing the volume to 60% with the hard buttons and you'll see that it stops acting like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed this. When i turn down the volume it stops doing it. But when i turn it up to max it will start doing it again
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk

I experience this on google listen on stock 4.0.1. I thought it was a bug with the app losing audio focus. But then they updated and claimed an audio focus fix, yet it still happens. I can force this bug to happen by multitasking moderately. So i truly think this bug is related to the over aggressive memory management on this phone.

Yea I'm using Axi0m and I notice this. I think its an issue with the headphone jack. When I installed power amp, one of the features is to detect connection to the headphones... then the phone started to randomly start and stop playing music completely random.
I updated and it seems to be fixed. Still stops occasionally but at least I can listen for an extended period.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Franco Kernel updater
I'm running Lean Kernel and I get this all the time when I have the volume set to MAX on the device itself, I find if I turn it down just a bump then the problem goes away. This may be some type of fail safe for the phone itself. ??? But just turn your vol down one click and you're good to go.

I always had issues playing music with franco.kernel, it did me just like you are talking about. That **** used to drive me crazy! Anyways, no issues with CM10 M2. Also using the built in CM kernel.

yup, had this thing on both stock and codename android. google music app

Just gotta wake up this thread.
I'm having this issue on CM10.2... I had this same thing on stock JB some time ago when I connected to my BT headset..
Is there any fix for this?
Btw.
I don't use any custom kernels and this is not caused by any kernel and I don't think this to be caused by BLE.

Benxter said:
this bug definitively occurs on francoKernel!
Try flashing another kernel (Popcorn for example) and the bug is gone.
Seems to have something to do with the sound limit. If it's too loud it stops automatically. Try reducing the volume to 60% with the hard buttons and you'll see that it stops acting like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^This
I had the same issue and realized I had the volume up too loud with the mods I had installed. Keep the volume below 80% and the problem will disappear.

Possible solution
I used to have this issue as well, where after a certain period of not actually using the phone, the music playback would just pause itself.
I discovered that I had Play music "Greenified" which is basically a hibernating task manager. That was killing the background process of any music players I had open.
Wether or not you have the Greenify app, check for any automatic task killers and get rid of them.. Maybe that will help one of you guys, it sure helped me.

Only had this happen using headphone volume boost... don't use it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Google Music audio distortion

Is anybody experiencing audio distortion with google music and 4.0.4?
It happens a lot (3-4 times during a song) and it sounds the same as a scratched CD (it sorta "hangs" on part of a song for a few seconds).
This is not the same as screen off distortion issue that was reported earlier by a lot of people. This one happens both when I am using the phone and when the screen is off.

Not happening here. Does it only happen when streaming (not stored music)? And is this on WiFi or 3G?

martonikaj said:
Not happening here. Does it only happen when streaming (not stored music)? And is this on WiFi or 3G?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both wifi and 3g. I doubt it's network related beacause the app shows that the song is fully buffered. Even if I go to the begining of a cached song it still happens.

i experienced similar behavior couples times with screen on playing long track/radio podcast/mix(stored internally) running 4.0.2(google music version was 4.1.512 - before updated logo) while gnex was connect to car aux, but i haven't be able to replicate it again.

Happens sometimes. Doesn't matter whether its local or streaming, but it seems related to the phone locking up or running out of RAM/CPU usage. Something along those lines because whenever it happens (rarely) the entire phone skips or locks up for a second.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

Smokeey said:
Happens sometimes. Doesn't matter whether its local or streaming, but it seems related to the phone locking up or running out of RAM/CPU usage. Something along those lines because whenever it happens (rarely) the entire phone skips or locks up for a second.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be right. It does appear to happen more often when doing heavy multitasking.
It's kinda unusable for me right now because it's happening so lot.

Already a thread somewhere for this. But I do have the issue as well. As stated it doesn't matter if its streaming or local. Had it happen on cm9 an aokp. Also without heavy multitasking
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Thanks for the confirmation guys. It seems like I'm a lot more affected by this issue than the most of you.
Do you mind sharing your rom/kernel/governer/freq settings? maybe we can find a common ground?

Franco m2, it only happens on the interactive gov
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

Smokeey said:
Franco m2, it only happens on the interactive gov
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. I'm on lean interactivex. I'll try switching to on demand and see what happens.

ArmanUV said:
Is anybody experiencing audio distortion with google music and 4.0.4?
It happens a lot (3-4 times during a song) and it sounds the same as a scratched CD (it sorta "hangs" on part of a song for a few seconds).
This is not the same as screen off distortion issue that was reported earlier by a lot of people. This one happens both when I am using the phone and when the screen is off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are your mp3s encoded in the 48khz range? If so it's a bug in the google music player which cause it to 'lag' while it decode the mp3 file, no problems on mp3s in the 44khz range. Dunno about the new ver of google music player haven't try it and don't intend to after i migrate to Poweramp.

kensim781 said:
Are your mp3s encoded in the 48khz range? If so it's a bug in the google music player which cause it to 'lag' while it decode the mp3 file, no problems on mp3s in the 44khz range. Dunno about the new ver of google music player haven't try it and don't intend to after i migrate to Poweramp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I just checked and I have about 20 48khz songs. I'm not sure if they are the ones that get distorted. I'll keep an eye on those tracks. Thanks!

This has bugged me for the longest time. *Hopes for a fix*

Just go for Poweramp. It's worth the money and it can play 48khz mp3s silky smooth. Just remember to set the options to 'Highest Thread Priority' and '750ms' buffers. There's a 14 days full features trial version, download it and have a try.

All of my songs are 44khz.
It hasn't happened on 4.0.4 yet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

For those that are having issues when the screen goes off, the following worked for me.
When a song is playing, go to the top of the screen to the "..." and select sound effects. Turn on the Equalizer to whatever you want and it should work much better for you.

kensim781 said:
Just go for Poweramp. It's worth the money and it can play 48khz mp3s silky smooth. Just remember to set the options to 'Highest Thread Priority' and '750ms' buffers. There's a 14 days full features trial version, download it and have a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we're using google music for its streaming feature, not because we're not capable of using other players

ArmanUV said:
we're using google music for its streaming feature, not because we're not capable of using other players
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.
I'll try the sound effects thing as long as it doesn't interfere with DSP manager
Edit: lol it takes me directly to DSPmanager which is already enabled.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium

Gilbot said:
Exactly.
I'll try the sound effects thing as long as it doesn't interfere with DSP manager
Edit: lol it takes me directly to DSPmanager which is already enabled.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please keep us updated about whether using dsp manager works or not.

I only have this when i'm pushing my phone to the limit or when i'm making tracks available offline while listening
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

Music skipping, choppy etc

Hey everyone I recently flashed miuiv4 beta 1 I believe it was last night and I liked it (too much) so I made a nandroid back up of it and restored the nandroid I had for the people's rom v2 mtd I was running before. This isn't too big of a deal but I wanted to see if there were anything I could do to remedy it. I've been playing music and it'll start skipping and my entire phone will start getting all choppy when I'm trying to type or click on something etc.. it doesn't do it constantly but I think it's starting to do it more frequently. Again not a huge thing just a Tad annoying. The apps I'm using for music are mostly the modded Pandora I found somewhere on here and playerpro. Sorry if this is beyond noobish lol and thanks in advance for any help.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA

Don't worry I had the same problem when I flashed MiuiV4 as well
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

My music skips as well, i'd like to know if there is a fix, or just the downside of having a AOSP rom, currenly running MIUI, I haven't had a TW rom in awhile..
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

power amp?
if you willing to spend the money power amp is by far the most powerful user friendly music app and in the settings you can change the audio buffer and the music thread priority i recommend leaving that one alone and raising the audio buffer to large.

I thought this was a problem with all ICS Roms. I use Spotify and my music gets choppy whenever my radios change. For example at home it will work well on wifi, as soon as I leave the house and am out of wifi range it switches to 3G and the music gets choppy. Whenever I'm out and the radio switches to 4G the music gets choppy as well. I thought it was fixed in CM9 beta 2 but I started getting it a lot more after 2 days of flashing it.

[Q] Music playback randomly stopping...

So this has been happening over the last 2 or 3 days, and it's getting pretty annoying.
Sometimes when I am listening to music, the playback will just stop as if I've paused the music.
This has happened 4 times today, in different situations.
First, I was listening to a podcast in the stock ICS music player while making breakfast, and the playback stopped 3 times. Each time, the phone was in my pocket, and the screen was locked.
The fourth time, I was listening to some music using Poweramp while texting a friend, and the song I was listening to randomly stopped again.
Any idea what's causing this?

Probably a rogue app. I was having the same problem with RocketPlayer, and it turned out the offending app was CBC Music. Even though I hadn't opened it in days, for whatever reason it thought it needed to steal audio focus periodically to resume a stream. The result was spontaneous random pauses. You can try installing alogcat, and next time it happens, filter the log for "focus" or "audio" or "media" - I forget what I used - and you should find a hint as to the culprit.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

This used to happen to me pre 4.0.4. Since then I haven't had an issue.

cmstlist said:
Probably a rogue app. I was having the same problem with RocketPlayer, and it turned out the offending app was CBC Music. Even though I hadn't opened it in days, for whatever reason it thought it needed to steal audio focus periodically to resume a stream. The result was spontaneous random pauses. You can try installing alogcat, and next time it happens, filter the log for "focus" or "audio" or "media" - I forget what I used - and you should find a hint as to the culprit.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AHA, I JUST installed CBC music before this started to happen!
I'll uninstall it now and see if that fixes it!

It definitely stopped after I uninstalled that bugger. Clearly the cuts at the CBC have been deleterious enough that they had to go with the lousiest programmers they could find!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Happens to me in Google Listen often. Never happened in the stock music app though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Matt08642 said:
AHA, I JUST installed CBC music before this started to happen!
I'll uninstall it now and see if that fixes it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had I seen your post originally from a full browser rather than Tapatalk, I would have noticed your CDN location and then CBC would have been even more likely a candidate

I actually have this problem with certain headphones that started it of no where. I found that I had to unplug then a little bit so that they aren't completely plugged in and then it's working fine again.

If any of you are on lean kernel...
I've documented and provided logcats...which were confirmed by quite a few users.
__________________________________-
In recent (3.8+, I believe) builds...imoseon updated his sound control mods (courtesy of ezekeel, so Glados may have the same problem?).
HQ audio seems fine for all users, myself included.
But the sound boost mod causes the headphones to think they're being unplugged.
Low boost (for me) allows my headphones to work.
Medium and it'll cut out in a couple minutes.
High and it'll cut out within a minute.
Highest and it cuts out instantly.
This is ONLY on certain headphones, as well.
Actually, all of my headphones (five that I've tested) are fine.
But if I have sound boost enabled and plug in my AUX cord...it cuts out.
Strange stuff!
And the developers seem not to care too much, sadly...
But for me I just disable sound boost an all is well. So no harm no foul, I suppose.

Matt08642 said:
AHA, I JUST installed CBC music before this started to happen!
I'll uninstall it now and see if that fixes it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So did that fix it?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

cmstlist said:
So did that fix it?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't tried it yet, but I'll be on the bus for a few hours soon, so that will give me plenty of test time
EDIT: Problem fixed, stupid CBC!

I also had this problem after I installed the CBC Music application. Just uninstalled it and we'll see if that fixes it.