Plantronics Backbeat 903+ BT headphones review and latency - Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Accessories

Hi all,
I bought a pair of Plantronics Backbeat 903+ headphones yesterday.
Thought I'd put a quick review and warning for anyone that is thinking of using BT headphones for anything that is latency sensitive.
I will use them mainly for music. Probably rarely for phone calls unless I happen to be listening to music when I get a call.
Sound quality is quite good. They sound fuller and not as harsh as the stock headphones that came with the Note.
Better than I expected, but there is a lack of highs. It was very noticeable when compared to my cheap, corded, Philips SHL9500 foldable headphones that I usually travel with.
Had to nudge the highs up in the EQ of Power Amp to be able to hear the treble well.
Range is better than I expected too. I'm just in a small apartment, but I could walk all around the room and into the next room and around the corner (losing line of sight), with no noticeable difference in sound. This was further than the 10m range they claim.
I also put the phone in my jeans pocket and it continued to work fine. I'd read some reviews complaining that it needed line of sight or would drop out, but no such problems for me.
Battery life is awesome on these. They claim a full charge will last 7 hours. I used them for 3-4 hours last night.
When I turned them on this morning, they said they had 5 hours remaining. I probably wasn't listening constantly over the 3-4 hours last night as I was starting and stopping apps, so that is probably about right.
Also, when you turn them, a voice announces how many hours the battery has left which is handy since there is no visual indicators.
Comfort for me was very good. I had them on for almost 4 hours last night and didn't notice them most of the time. Although when I took them off, my ears were a little sore from the buds being in there, but with most in ear phones my ears get sore sooner than that and I notice it whilst they are still in there.
Note that the cord between each ear is quite short and only just reaches around my head. I can fit 2 fingers between the cord and my head, but only just, and I have a shaved head. I also tried on the Jabra Sports in the shop, but they didn't feel as comfortable to me, and also the cord was quite a bit longer and I thought it may get in the way or get caught on something when exercising. So best to try them on in a shop to check if they fit your head.
One thing I didn't realise about bluetooth headphones is that they introduce latency. It seems to be about 500ms.
You can test the latency by connecting the BT headphones and then changing your ring tone. When you audition different ring tones it will play them through both the phone speaker and the headphones, and you will hear the lag.
In addition to listening to MP3s, what I primarily wanted them for was for music apps and recording, so that I wouldn't have a cord getting in the way, or have to be restricted to the length of the cable.
It's not too big a deal with the multi track programs I use (Loopstack and Audio Evolution mainly, with FourTracksPro) as I can adjust the latency, but it means I have to change it depending on whether I'm using the BT headphones or not).
But for apps that require live input and monitoring (like drum, guitar, piano apps that you play and want to hear yourself playing live), the latency makes them not really useable.
I can still use these headphones to record guitars and vocals through the Note's microphone, but I just need to adjust the latency which is annoying.
Any music app that is program/sequence based like Caustic or Easyband, is not too much of a problem as you don't really notice the latency, apart from the fact that what you see on the screen is slightly out of sync with what you hear.
Also for games that require the audio to be in sync with the screen, the 500ms is not really useable (I have a game called Beats, which is a rhythm game and you need the screen and audio to be in sync).
For video, though using the stock video player, it is in sync, so there must be some latency compensation going on in the software which is good.
When I tried youtube, using the youtube app, it is out of sync at the start, but then it gets into sync, so there is some kind of buffering or compensation giong on there too.
So, if it's just listening to music or watching video is what you want them for, I thin they are really good.
If you want to use them for games or music apps that will be negatively impacted by the latency, then you are probably better off sticking with corded headphones.
I will probably end up carrying corded phones with me when I travel for the times when I don't want any latency.
But for walking around, exercising, just casual use, the Backbeat 903+ headphones are really good and am happy to be free from a cord for those situations.
Cheers,
Rich

good review...I was planning to pick one up.
richlum said:
Hi all,
I bought a pair of Plantronics Backbeat 903+ headphones yesterday.
Thought I'd put a quick review and warning for anyone that is thinking of using BT headphones for anything that is latency sensitive.
I will use them mainly for music. Probably rarely for phone calls unless I happen to be listening to music when I get a call.
Sound quality is quite good. They sound fuller and not as harsh as the stock headphones that came with the Note.
Better than I expected, but there is a lack of highs. It was very noticeable when compared to my cheap, corded, Philips SHL9500 foldable headphones that I usually travel with.
Had to nudge the highs up in the EQ of Power Amp to be able to hear the treble well.
Range is better than I expected too. I'm just in a small apartment, but I could walk all around the room and into the next room and around the corner (losing line of sight), with no noticeable difference in sound. This was further than the 10m range they claim.
I also put the phone in my jeans pocket and it continued to work fine. I'd read some reviews complaining that it needed line of sight or would drop out, but no such problems for me.
Battery life is awesome on these. They claim a full charge will last 7 hours. I used them for 3-4 hours last night.
When I turned them on this morning, they said they had 5 hours remaining. I probably wasn't listening constantly over the 3-4 hours last night as I was starting and stopping apps, so that is probably about right.
Also, when you turn them, a voice announces how many hours the battery has left which is handy since there is no visual indicators.
Comfort for me was very good. I had them on for almost 4 hours last night and didn't notice them most of the time. Although when I took them off, my ears were a little sore from the buds being in there, but with most in ear phones my ears get sore sooner than that and I notice it whilst they are still in there.
Note that the cord between each ear is quite short and only just reaches around my head. I can fit 2 fingers between the cord and my head, but only just, and I have a shaved head. I also tried on the Jabra Sports in the shop, but they didn't feel as comfortable to me, and also the cord was quite a bit longer and I thought it may get in the way or get caught on something when exercising. So best to try them on in a shop to check if they fit your head.
One thing I didn't realise about bluetooth headphones is that they introduce latency. It seems to be about 500ms.
You can test the latency by connecting the BT headphones and then changing your ring tone. When you audition different ring tones it will play them through both the phone speaker and the headphones, and you will hear the lag.
In addition to listening to MP3s, what I primarily wanted them for was for music apps and recording, so that I wouldn't have a cord getting in the way, or have to be restricted to the length of the cable.
It's not too big a deal with the multi track programs I use (Loopstack and Audio Evolution mainly, with FourTracksPro) as I can adjust the latency, but it means I have to change it depending on whether I'm using the BT headphones or not).
But for apps that require live input and monitoring (like drum, guitar, piano apps that you play and want to hear yourself playing live), the latency makes them not really useable.
I can still use these headphones to record guitars and vocals through the Note's microphone, but I just need to adjust the latency which is annoying.
Any music app that is program/sequence based like Caustic or Easyband, is not too much of a problem as you don't really notice the latency, apart from the fact that what you see on the screen is slightly out of sync with what you hear.
Also for games that require the audio to be in sync with the screen, the 500ms is not really useable (I have a game called Beats, which is a rhythm game and you need the screen and audio to be in sync).
For video, though using the stock video player, it is in sync, so there must be some latency compensation going on in the software which is good.
When I tried youtube, using the youtube app, it is out of sync at the start, but then it gets into sync, so there is some kind of buffering or compensation giong on there too.
So, if it's just listening to music or watching video is what you want them for, I thin they are really good.
If you want to use them for games or music apps that will be negatively impacted by the latency, then you are probably better off sticking with corded headphones.
I will probably end up carrying corded phones with me when I travel for the times when I don't want any latency.
But for walking around, exercising, just casual use, the Backbeat 903+ headphones are really good and am happy to be free from a cord for those situations.
Cheers,
Rich
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thanks for the reviews. I am looking for ones to go to the gym.

I actually own the same model. Owned the previous model up until i wore it out. It's a perfect set of bt headphones to work out with and it's discreet when wearing it around. It fairs well functionality-wise; haven't had an issue with my note.

Thanks for the review.
I have just bought my Note2 and Plantronics 903+ and as i am a normal user (phone calls and music) it is really awesome.
But I have few issues with this and i need your confirmation
1) The Music forward and backward buttons doesn't change the music track? I have my corporate mail and hence have set up PIN lock in my phone. Is that dur to auto locking of phone with PIN or the Bluetooth buttons are not compatible with Samsung Note2?
2) While making calls outside, the noise cancellations is pretty good, but at times i hear some disturbing sound/noise in the call and i am pretty sure it is only through the Bluetooth i hear the noise.

The forward and back buttons work on my Note 2.
You have to hold them for a few seconds otherwise they just do volume up and down.
I'm using N7 player.
I notice that the headphones get A LOT of wind noise when outside. I notice it a lot when riding my bicycle. But, also when just walking.
I've since bought a pair of Jabra Halo 2 and use them most of the time now. They are more comfortable and sound better. Plus, I can connect them with a cord for zero latency.
I use the Plantronics if I'm going to be sweating a lot.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

Nice review and good advice for all potential buyers. However, I feel a clarification about BT latency is in place. Not all bluetooth headsets introduce so much lag. I'm an avid Motorola S10 user and altough some delay is present, it's nowhere near the 500ms OP estimated for the Plantronics set. In fact, even rhytm games like Tapsonic are still playable on the S10, which leads me to believe the delay is more around the 50ms mark. Huge, half-second lag seems to be more a sign of bad implementation by the manufacturer than limitation of the bluetooth standard. Let's not forget that Playstation 3's joypad uses BT technology, but it's implemented so well that tests found it to be practically lagless down to less then a frame ([email protected]) compared to wired connections.

Is that low latency for media playback, or phone calls?
When you connect BT headphones to your phone (or PC) they make 2 connections. 1 for phone calls and 1 for media playback.
Both of my BT headphones have low latency for phone calls because they use a lot lower quality when in phone mode.
But both have high latency for media playback mode. (ie. Anything other than phone calls)
The amount of data required for the BT controllers is a lot less than that required for stereo audio.

Related

HS-12W:My preferred BT-Stereo Headset has no more warranty.

because in order to get it, I had to cut the original earbuds off...
How did I get to do this? (either read the story or jump to the end.... )
I had first tried out the Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 and found out that it was not enough compatible with the HTC Universal (e.g.: after a call it would not continue to tranmit the music stream)
I then tried the HS-12W. All important features are supported, just ID-Tags are not transmitted nore is the name of the caller (but the number is).
On top of it it has a RDS-FM radio built-in...and looks good too...I decided I wanted to keep it.
Only problem: I could hardly understand anything....the original earbuds had a shape/size that just sat so strangely in my ear that the front was not exposed to the inner ear but rather covered so that the sound level was just too low.
Since I am one of these guys who do not give up easily when they are convinced of an idea, I was looking for a solution to the problem.
I remembered an enhancement item for the original ipod earbuds: I bought a couple of Griffin Ear Jams. I cut them in a shape to fit the Nokia buds and glued them to the rubberborder of the ear buds. Not bad at all. It was loud and had much more bass than before.
It did not maybe look supergreat with these white add ons, and frankly, the more I was listening, I found the sound to be lacking treble and somewhat sounded like from under a pillow. My personal belief is that the original earbuds are lacking treble in order to reduce the transmission of some white noise caused by the BT connection...and with the Ear Jams in place that enhanced the bass the pillow sound was perfect. It was really not bad at all, but as I said, with the time I noticed it more and more...
Before buying the Nokia, I had used Sennheiser CX-300 headphones when listening to music. An excellent value for money, it rivals easily headsets of double the price.
Now, all of a sudden. with the Nokia, I had no use for the Sennheiser anymore.... It was just laying there, on the board, getting dusty.....
should I never ever be using it anymore? Such a good pair of headphones...if only the Nokia had better earbuds...
Do you guess the rest?
Yes, i did it: I cut the original earbuds from the Nokia, freed the Sennheisers from it's cables...and transplanted them onto the Nokia HS-12W....
Yes, it worked. And it sounds just soooo good.
where did you cut it? just near to the earbuds or at the connection to the neck? (the other end of the cable)?
My problem is with the Universal + HS12W combo is that its SOOOOOO stuttering :evil: . If its on me, the Uni is in my hand, it can stutter... it can always stutter... I ask: why?? Maybe it's not because of the reception quality because at home I can move to the other room and it doesn't loose the connection just the stuttering factor rises... Is it the bandwidth or lacking CPU?
I'm starting to think about throwing it to the wall...
other con: radio sensitivity is very BAD.
I cut them somewhere in beteen the earbud and the microphone so i did not lose the speaking function. (sennheiser is only headphone).
i agree with the suttering issue. i tend to believe that it is more the pda side..bad antenna construction..but at the end who cares if it does not work...i must say the way i am using the combo i can live with the shortcomings. i also feel the stuttering increases with the transferred bitrate.
as far as the fm reception is concerned: i am not unhappy with the quality, obviously it is n ot noise free most of the time, but i get my main stations in a reasonable manner, i find. (and then most of the time i am listening to internet radio streams..i am on a 5GB plan...
cheers,
Andy.
AndyME said:
I cut them somewhere in beteen the earbud and the microphone so i did not lose the speaking function. (sennheiser is only headphone).
i agree with the suttering issue. i tend to believe that it is more the pda side..bad antenna construction..but at the end who cares if it does not work...i must say the way i am using the combo i can live with the shortcomings. i also feel the stuttering increases with the transferred bitrate.
as far as the fm reception is concerned: i am not unhappy with the quality, obviously it is n ot noise free most of the time, but i get my main stations in a reasonable manner, i find. (and then most of the time i am listening to internet radio streams..i am on a 5GB plan...
cheers,
Andy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can agree with the bad radio construction on the uni side.. This was mentioned in an other topic too I think . It's good you have 5GB plan.. we have only 200MB for a reasonable price.
How do you control the bitrate between the devices? Does the mentioned registry setting (hklm\sw\ms\bluetooth\a2db\setting) working? I've started to play with it, but originally, this key hasn't existed.
i was thinking about the lifetime of this device, because of the battery (not replaceable)by user, and the fixed headphones... looking ath the price of that headset i don't want to throw it away after just one year..
Hi kchris,
sorry for late reply, I did not get a notification.
re. bitrate control I cannot comment. I just meant to notice that with higher bitrate e.g. different quality of radio streams, the connection is more sensitive since the buffer holds less seconds of sounds.
I only have a problem if i use the universal in the rear pocket of my pants. the body is a real obstacle for bluetooth waves, it seems. not very elegant, but it works: if you hang the display over your shoulder so it hangs down on your back, there is no stuttering if the htc is in the rear pocket....(at least in my case).
There is a screw at the back of the device...no I have not opened it yet...lol...but I would guess one can have access to the battery easily, the question is only where to get a new one from... :?
(Between you and me: gadget freek that I am, I would be surprised if I still have it in one year....but who knows...I really like it...)
Exchanging against the Sennheisers for me was a great solution, the sound has improved so much, I did not expect it, I must say.
I have to admit: I love to adapt things to my needs....
There are headsets where you can use the headphones of your choice, but I think in this case the mic must be in the device itself, so it will be quite far away from your mouth..or maybe it could have a mic on a cable that you have to clip somewhere high on the shirt..I don't know how good this is supposed to work or how convenient it can be...

My BT stereo journey - a mini review

After a long search for the perfect BT stereo headset for my 8125, I've found it.
The Plantronics Voyager 855.
Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to try a number of BT stereo options, from Motorola, Sony Ericsson and some lesser known companies like Sonorix and i-Clip, amongst others.
I was never quite happy with any of them though.
I take the subway to work, and every set of Motorola headset I tried would lose it's pairing to the phone whenever I either lost the cell signal, or regained it (which meant re-pairing 4 times a day). This also happend with non-stereo Motorola when working in conjunction with BTToggle.
The i-Clips actually functioned alright although the stereo quality was only so-so. For answering the phone, the sound quality was really poor unless I held that big clip close to my mouth, and cupped it if I was outside (even if it wasn't really windy).
The Sonorix, though cool because it allowed me to use my own headphones with it's jack, would need to be re-paired every 3 days or so. I don't know why. I was wondering if it was my phone, even though I had flashed to a ROM that everyone else enjoys.
The Sony earbuds sounded good, and functioned great (the only set who's audio controls functioned flawlessly to this point). Having the dangly stick and extra wires made me wonder why I'm bothering with bluetooth at all, though. Wearing a pendant with to earbud extensions running out of it wasn't as practical or cool as the promo material made it out to be.
In short, no bluetooth stereo headset quite met my criteria... either functionality wise, or form factor.
Until I tried the Plantronics Voyager last month.
It's design is perfect for my needs. It's a typical in ear BT headset, with a clip on ear hook. What makes it cool is the clip on ear hook is the connection to the second earbud (and the cord is braided to be more durable).
The sound quality is right up there with the best of the bunch.
I've not run into any re-pairing issues.
The slide out boom works flawlessly for answering/hanging up calls and all the controls work as they should (only the Sony matched that previously).
6hrs of stereo seemed a fair assessment for battery life from my tests.
The Plantronics comes with a good selection of ear buds (small, medium and large as well as the foam type that mold to your ear canal shape), as well as a couple of optional ear clips if you don't want the stereo dangler.
To conserve battery, I often just use BTToggle to get mono audio (out of both sides) when I'm listening to podcasts. It's definitely a hit on audio quality, but that's okay when it's just talking heads.
The only place where Plantronics loses marks is it's charging situation. Though they can be charged from a USB cable from a computer, Plantronics opted for a slightly different connector than a typical mini-USB one, even though there's plenty of space for one.
Of course the old Wizard barely manages to keep up if I'm running Core Player to watch a DivX vid and streaming BT stereo. If a call comes in, it's slowdown time. Then again, I'm usually watching the vids on the subway, so that rarely comes into play.
In short, I finally found the perfect BT stereo headset for me, and just wanted to share. They're discreet, multifunctional and just reek of quality (the braided cord made the difference in keeping them).
PS: I wanted to try out the Jabra 8010 but couldn't find them locally. The Jabra headset has call-display, and apparently a vibrate feature, so if anyone's tried them, I'd be curious to hear about their performance.
Cheers.
Any skipping like the Motorola s9 ?

So much for beating the iphone...

I hate Apple with a passion and I was rather excited to have a viable (superior) alternative to the iphone with the Touch Pro2. Everything about this phone has been fantastic until just now when I plugged in my headphones. I'm something of an audiophile and thus use some decent headphones. In the course of my listening, here are my findings:
The Touch Pro 2 performs great with less sensitive headphones (like Beyerdynamic DT770 80ohm), but with sensitive headphones like Grado's it sounds like CRAP.
Even more disappointing, using sensitive high end earbuds like my Super.Fi Pro 5's reveal SIGNIFICANT and DISTRACTING electrical noise. If you listen to quiet music like some classical or jazz, you will definitely notice it. While annoying, at least with music, the music itself usually overwhelms the noise.
Unfortunately, watching a video is a completely different story. In short, watching a video on this phone is like Chinese Water Torture with the electrical noise easily heard 100% of the time.
It's simply unacceptable for a manufacturer to produce a device in this day and age that has this kind of interference. They should really test a $500 device with earbuds that cost more than $10.
The whole point of this phone is for power users, and power users like us are the exact demographic that would have expensive (usually high sensitivity) headphones.
The noise is worst in the left channel.
This is on a Verizon TP2 for reference. Is this possibly just a defective phone or do others experience the same noise? FWIW you probably won't notice it with normal ibud's.
I have a pair of Sony MDR-EX71SL Fontopia's and dont have any issue with device feedback or interference. While they arent as nice as your headphones, they do a pretty good job, and have been a fantastic match on my Sprint TP2. Video/Music, no difference. I did tweak the equalizer a bit (Audio booster in programs menu), but that was for personal preference, and my music tastes.
What add-on programs have you installed? There could be something that got screwed up...
Otherwise take it in to the store with another MP3 player that has the same mp3 on it as your tp2 and have the rep listen to both, and ask to try it on a demo phone they have there, I'm sure they'll fix you up.
headshok said:
I have a pair of Sony MDR-EX71SL Fontopia's and dont have any issue with device feedback or interference. While they arent as nice as your headphones, they do a pretty good job, and have been a fantastic match on my Sprint TP2. Video/Music, no difference. I did tweak the equalizer a bit (Audio booster in programs menu), but that was for personal preference, and my music tastes.
What add-on programs have you installed? There could be something that got screwed up...
Otherwise take it in to the store with another MP3 player that has the same mp3 on it as your tp2 and have the rep listen to both, and ask to try it on a demo phone they have there, I'm sure they'll fix you up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, your Fontopia's look like they only have 100db sensitivity rating compared to 119db of my headphones. That could be why you don't hear the noise (please note that I'm not putting down your headphones, as sensitivity has very little to do with actual sound quality - it's simply an electrical measurement).
I can't hear any noise on my Sennheiser eh150's, nor on my 6.5" component speakers in my car.
Well... I'm surprised you would expect good sound quality from a device aimed squarely at the business market. The iPhone is designed for multimedia and does some businessy stuff on the side. The TP2 is designed for business use and does some multimedia stuff on the side. The performance is what you would expect, given that goal.
Shasarak said:
Well... I'm surprised you would expect good sound quality from a device aimed squarely at the business market. The iPhone is designed for multimedia and does some businessy stuff on the side. The TP2 is designed for business use and does some multimedia stuff on the side. The performance is what you would expect, given that goal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
If I want to listen to music I pull out my mp3 player and Shure's.
computerpro3 said:
Hmmm, your Fontopia's look like they only have 100db sensitivity rating compared to 119db of my headphones. That could be why you don't hear the noise (please note that I'm not putting down your headphones, as sensitivity has very little to do with actual sound quality - it's simply an electrical measurement).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that sucks your not happy with the audio quality. I'd try to check the same song with your buds on another persons phone, and rule out a faulty device.
But if its not specific to your device I guess in this case more expensive isnt always better.
I'm very happy with the sound quality of my Fontopia's, I have a 16gb gen 2 ipod touch and I there is no quality difference between it and the TP2....
Absolutely no noise-floor issues here, using Shure se530s. In a direct comparisonj between my TP2 and the 3GS I would say the TP2 is easily as good, if not better.
Sounds like you have a faulty phone. Not to be patronising but did you try a different USB/3.5mm adapter? I had one that was very "crackly", swapped it and that was perfect.
barneypooch said:
Absolutely no noise-floor issues here, using Shure se530s. In a direct comparisonj between my TP2 and the 3GS I would say the TP2 is easily as good, if not better.
Sounds like you have a faulty phone. Not to be patronising but did you try a different USB/3.5mm adapter? I had one that was very "crackly", swapped it and that was perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, your shures have the exact same sensitivity as my UE's, so it should be able to pick up the noise. Have you tested with video using HTC Album?
What about background hiss while music is playing?
My phone is starting to develop the oil slick problem so I might just swap it out anyway.
Also, just a note, the Verizon phone has the 3.5mm jack, so no need for a dongle. Internally though, I do wonder what the electronics look like, and if it's just a hardwired (though smaller) dongle.
I use the Sennheiser CX300-B ear buds and can definitely hear background hiss. I can hear it when I initially plug them in then, if I don't do anything the hiss goes away until it plays something. Sounds like when the amp turns on then I hear the hiss. I hear it for music, voice prompts everything. You can hear the same thing by pausing the music and you will hear a hiss for a couple seconds, then it goes away.
When I have music playing I cannot hear it, but do hear it during the quiet times of the song.
I've found this to be true with these earbuds for pretty much any player I use that is not dedicated to audio only. I always figured they just do not spend the $$ to put in good audio capabilities in the multi-use devices.
dave
If I listen to the FM radio I can definitely hear interference, usually listening to NPR (talk radio). Though not sure if it is slightly less then perfect reception or an actual sound issue. I feel as though the mini usb connector is less then ideal. It has a lot of wiggle. Wonder if that is part of the problem.
This is with the factory ear buds.. have yet to really listen to music on it, or with good ear buds.. or through my car stereo(where I usually listen to music with my phone)
OK, after typing all that I guess I am not sure if mine has this problem! LOL But I will leave this post here so I can update it after I use the sound output more.
I think it is laughable to use the word audiophile and earbuds in the same sentence.
Your best headphones for monitoring are over the ear
Don't have any issues with my Verizon unit. I have hooked it up directly to RXV3800, Sennheiser HD380, and M-Audio DSM2 and hear nothing I have not heard with other MP3 players including the ipod.
I noticed my Verizon TP2 had flatter sound than my mp3 player with the same phones, but after a little EQ adjustment in Nitrogen, they sound just fine.
You guys have way too much time on your hands to complain about those things.
dezoris said:
I think it is laughable to use the word audiophile and earbuds in the same sentence.
Your best headphones for monitoring are over the ear
Don't have any issues with my Verizon unit. I have hooked it up directly to RXV3800, Sennheiser HD380, and M-Audio DSM2 and hear nothing I have not heard with other MP3 players including the ipod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it's laughable that you don't know what you're talking about.
My earbuds are every bit as good as your headphones, and earbuds exist (like the UE11) that obliterate even the best studio monitors in detail, frequency response, linearity, immediacy, transient resoponse, etc. In fact, they obliterate studio monitors in literally everything MAYBE soundstaging and impact.
www.ultimateears.com
Besides, you completely missed the entire point of the thread by saying "Nope, everything good driving my low sensitivity headphones!"
For the umpteenth time, you will not be able to hear this noise with low sensitivity headphones (as I confirmed with my DT770's). This problem only relates to driving high sensitivity cans.
lovingHDTV said:
I use the Sennheiser CX300-B ear buds and can definitely hear background hiss. I can hear it when I initially plug them in then, if I don't do anything the hiss goes away until it plays something. Sounds like when the amp turns on then I hear the hiss. I hear it for music, voice prompts everything. You can hear the same thing by pausing the music and you will hear a hiss for a couple seconds, then it goes away.
When I have music playing I cannot hear it, but do hear it during the quiet times of the song.
I've found this to be true with these earbuds for pretty much any player I use that is not dedicated to audio only. I always figured they just do not spend the $$ to put in good audio capabilities in the multi-use devices.
dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This confirms what I was saying. The sensitivity of your earbuds is 112db, which is far higher than the other posters 100ish range.
It would appear that this might not just be a defective phone that I have, and that it could actually be a more widespread problem.
computerpro3 said:
This confirms what I was saying. The sensitivity of your earbuds is 112db, which is far higher than the other posters 100ish range.
It would appear that this might not just be a defective phone that I have, and that it could actually be a more widespread problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except that he claims to hear it on several devices, not just this phone. Also he claims to hear it only during the quiet parts, not during actual sound reproduction, whilst you hear it at all times...
It could be the adapter, a faulty phone, or just a phone not designed for high-end hedphones.
Good luck with this. I love high quality headphones but use bluetooth to listen to music (yes, I hear the difference, but when I have cables they always get wonky and stop working properly).
Now if the phone had KLEER technology I'd happily go for that
This sounds more like thread on bragging about your super duper headphones than anything to do with the TP2.
But maybe they arent so super duper if cheaper ones sound better.
Get past it, if you want a dedicated music player that lets you become immersed in 1024bit crystal clear audio go get whatever that is.
If you want a music player that sounds pretty damn good, can also take phone calls, browse the web, manage your schedule, send/receive emails and txt, take pictures, go buy a cheaper set of headphones.
why use expensive earpiece
why use all that fancy stuff .. can you really hear a difference? whats wrong with the set of stock headsets that come in the box with the phone?

[REVIEW] BlitzWolf 20W Bluetooth Speaker

NOTE: HD photos are available here in a share Google Photos folder: https://goo.gl/photos/hzpaVsQhr3xDXU89A
This speaker has got to be the absolute best-sounding bluetooth speaker that I've had the pleasure of using.
It's exceptionally well made, nice and heavy, and doesn't look like a toy sitting on your desk.
It fills the room with sound and has a fantastic range of highs and lows I've tried louder speakers, but they didn't have the range, and quite frankly they just felt .... cheap.... NOT THIS ONE! You've got to consider the price and size of the speakers - speakers this small have limitations. This one has 3 built-in speakers which really rounds out the sound. My selections ranged from 1980's alternative to modern rock, top 40 and even some rap - all sounded really good on it! Something I could recommend this speaker for is to give you better sound off of your laptop (unless you have a super-high-end gaming laptop that has a subwoofer and some really kick-butt speakers in it) - just because you have an inexpensive laptop doesn't mean that the sound needs to be shallow and tinny - by connecting to this speaker , you really get some rich sound.
Over the past 2 days I've used it to play music at both work and home and it's lasted a good 8 hours on full volume with each charge.
It is capable of also being used on a wired connection - I've got a few "toys" that I could use that functionality with, but for the initial workout I am sticking with just wireless.
If you're looking for an moderately-priced speaker that doesn't leave you embarrassed to play loudly, this one is definitely worth your time and you won't be disappointed!
Here's a link to the product on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JRG6HCC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

USB audio messed up after Oreo update?

Hello everyone! Been a while since I last posted here, so it's good to be back!
Now, on to the problem at hand. Let me start by saying that I listen to a lot of music and much of it on my phone, mostly during my commute. I'm also not quite an audiophile, but I do like my sound when it's high quality, so I mostly use my pair of Audio Technica MSR7 (or a pair of Beyerdynamic Byron IEMs) and I also have a Fiio Q1 USB DAC/Amp because, well, the quality of the onboard audio on the OnePlus is, like most devices, quite bad.
This combo worked perfectly as long as I was using Nougat. However, since the first Oreo beta I installed it's been acting up. It works, but it puts out a popping sound every now and then. Other times it does it every minute or so, others it does it a couple of times per second, so it's quite annoying. The sound it makes is the same as when you plug in your headphones to the phone's 3.5mm jack, that pop, crackle, spark sound, whatever. It doesn't stop working and I think the quality is otherwise unaffected (or maybe it's introduced a bit of noise, but I can't be sure because my frustration with the thing makes me focus on the annoying sound), it's just really really annoying.
So far I haven't been able to narrow down what may be causing it. It does the same whether I'm listening to music through Spotify or if I play FLAC through PowerAmp or if I play a video or whatever. The only time it reliably acts up is after a reboot. For the first couple of minutes it happens a lot more, then it quiets down, so maybe it's related to CPU stress or IO operations? I doubt both, but dunno.
Worth mentioning is that I think the USB-otg connection is compromised generally. If I connect a thumb drive the connection usually drops out after a while when copying files. Still, not as consistent as the sound thing by a long shot. Also, the same Fiio DAC/Amp works perfectly from a PC, so that's not it, and the phone's built in jack also works perfectly, as bad as it may be.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance guys!

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