Develop Bugs

Samsung Supplied headphones, Volume+

Ok, so do these things just suck or is it something a good EQ could fix? they seem muffled and sadly my Klipsch headphones were the victim of my electric seats in my car so I don't have anything to compare them to. It seems like they sound better on my G2X, but Volume + seems to work on the G2X where it doesn't on my Galaxy S 2.
Oddly the free version of Volume + does seem to work, but it has no EQ settings. Anyone else noticed any issues here or have any advice?
Music is a big part of owning an android phone for me, if its gonna sound like crap over headphones then I'm gonna be hurting.

PowerAmp has some very nice EQ presets and controls. Now with Version 2.0 it is even better. I guess that Jugs ROM has DSP too for some sound tweaking.

Guess I'll DL DSP manager again I paid Volume+ and it was a great app for a while, guess I got my $0.99 worth for sure.

actually for once, these are very nice premium quality earplug headphones and functional, compared to previous ones from past phone releases, that were of low quality

AllGamer said:
actually for once, these are very nice premium quality earplug headphones and functional, compared to previous ones from past phone releases, that were of low quality
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And they don't sound muffled to you on the Galaxy S 2?
I think they sound better on my LG G2X so it makes me think it's a phone issue. I know it's not ROM as it carried over from the stock ROM to Juggs 1.1

what you are describing might the the audio chip people are complaining about all SGS2 using the yamaha instead of the worlfram whatever chip
have you tried hooking up the earplugs to another player?
i usually stream my music to by Stereo BT headset or car BT player

I don't like tons of treble, and especially hate the mid-highs. Compared to other OEM headphones bundled with phones, they're top notch. If you use SRS HD Audio Lab on your Windows computer, you can get some serious kickin bass out of them, bump up the highs and remove a ton of harshness.

i hate this type of headphones they just keep falling out of my ears lol...... I rather use the standard round ones from my htc lol

i too have small ear holes, so i can only use them for short periods of time, and when i'm not moving around, else they comes off on their own easily
i always buy the over the ear type, those that hangs on your ear
or simply use the big studio headset style which gives WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better sound quality.
in that remark, seems like Sony is now being over taken by skullcandy
you see them EVERYWHERE these days, subway, bus stops, school yards specially, some work places, etc.
if you see anyone using a Sony, it's like WOW! a needle in a haystack
other brands like the german Scheiner (whatever spelling), those are also rarely seen in public now in days

I actually think these are decent earbuds. I use them from time to time on my laptop. I have some better quality sony ones that I use with the gs2 though.

can anyone provide me with the controls for the headset?
(ex: press twice to ff a song, etc)

music audio processor

what chip is in this phone? i've heard it sounds better than the Yamaha in the GS II. is it Wolfson or anything people say is good like that? i get mine in 10 hours, but i don't want to take it apart. i will be turning off Beats Audio and listening to lossless files with normal sound through expensive headphones, so i'm wondering if i will be happy. if i'm not, i will add another name to my bad list with the Yamaha chip. thanks!

brent8577 said:
what chip is in this phone? i've heard it sounds better than the Yamaha in the GS II. is it Wolfson or anything people say is good like that? i get mine in 10 hours, but i don't want to take it apart. i will be turning off Beats Audio and listening to lossless files with normal sound through expensive headphones, so i'm wondering if i will be happy. if i'm not, i will add another name to my bad list with the Yamaha chip. thanks!
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One google it to find out what chipset your phone has. Second using beats audio is the whole point of listening to music. And without that it still gives you good sound. Do your research first before getting a phone
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

It uses the on board audio on the tegra as I've seen on the files for example is alsa files been given a tegra name but could be something else but just assume it's a nvidia chipset.
Sound is ok not bad maybe slightly better than the Yamaha but not as good as the Wolfson.
Also this phone had aptX for high quality streaming via Bluetooth. I've got my Bluetooth receiver yesterday which also has aptX and will be testing it over the next few days with my iems which are pricey themselves.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

NoobTerminator said:
One google it to find out what chipset your phone has. Second using beats audio is the whole point of listening to music. And without that it still gives you good sound. Do your research first before getting a phone
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
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Beats Audio is not a panacea for sound quality. All it does is essentially bass the boost and volume a bit. As a result, mids and highs suffer from the 'enhancement.' Just because its from the 'Beats' brand doesn't mean it has to boost sound quality. Beats headphones in general aren't exactly spectacular, and are insanely overpriced for what they offer as it is.
Its more of a marketing gimmick which equates to little more than a preset equalizer.
Many audiophiles prefer to disable the 'sound enhancements' these vendors provide, so that they can listen to their music as it should sound originally, or with their own equalizer tweaks.
So no, 'listening to beats audio' isn't the whole point of listening to music.

poofish said:
Beats Audio is not a panacea for sound quality. All it does is essentially bass the boost and volume a bit. As a result, mids and highs suffer from the 'enhancement.' Just because its from the 'Beats' brand doesn't mean it has to boost sound quality. Beats headphones in general aren't exactly spectacular, and are insanely overpriced for what they offer as it is.
Its more of a marketing gimmick which equates to little more than a preset equalizer.
Many audiophiles prefer to disable the 'sound enhancements' these vendors provide, so that they can listen to their music as it should sound originally, or with their own equalizer tweaks.
So no, 'listening to beats audio' isn't the whole point of listening to music.
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Yes you are right in what you say. It is just another equalizer. But still a good one to have and another reason in why this is a good phone to have. So for me at least Beats does make the phone sound better. Hence why i advised to use it. But my apologies sometimes i fall for the marketing gimmick instead of using common sense

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Headphones that get best use of the V20 audio

Title says it all. Post your suggestions and experiences with headphones that maximize the audio potential of this phone.
That quad DAC when wired and APTx when on BT.

CHH2 said:
Title says it all. Post your suggestions and experiences with headphones that maximize the audio potential of this phone.
That quad DAC when wired and APTx when on BT.
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I'm listening to my Sennheiser HD 598's right now using the quad DAC (high impedence). It is definitely driving them very well, I get my Audioquest Dragonfly black in tomorrow so I can try A&B comparisons with that vs the internal audio. I've also enjoyed using it with my Backbeat Pros but those do not have aptx.

I'm using my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 Ohm headphones, it's amazing. It's a step up from the V10, including the volume department (especially with high impedance headphones).

I'm currently listening music with the AKG K712s. No doubt an improvement from the V10. The best phone yet that truly brings out the detail in
WAV and FLAC formats. I swear this quad DAC reincarnated my cans

Should be getting my V20 some time today, I hope. I don't have anything truly God-tier, but I'm going to try to do a few comparisons if I can. I've got Shure SE215s on one hand (triple-flange tips) and Samsung earbuds for a baseline, compared to whatever LG's included in the box. In a few weeks, I can add the H3s to that list, but not until they arrive, and they won't arrive until I sign up for them on the 28th, so...
In the world of full-size cans, I don't have a solid baseline, and I'm not looking forward to the idea of spending $20 so I can have a pair of cheap cans I will never listen to again. So instead, all I've got are my Koss ProDJ100s and my V-Moda M100s.
But I'll try to give my thoughts when I can. (Also, posting so I make sure I remember that this thread exists.)
---
I didn't get to really sit down and do heavy listening. Phone arrived pretty late and my fiancee was a little sad so I didn't want to have my headphones blasting for an hour or two straight without being able to hear a word.
Noticing that there is a little more clarity (at least) between the on-off settings. Might be some EQ going on as well, though, which is not what I want. EQ is an easy way to make something sound more "clear" without actually making it clearer. My last car literally had a setting that I used that I considered the "clear" setting, and for everything other than podcasts. The bass was deeper, and yet more articulated, and the highs had sparkle. Every other setting was muddy.
So EQing to a muddy sound, and then having a "hi-fi" EQ that clears up the mud isn't good. Still, like I said, I don't actually know that to be what's going on. It's just a possibility I'm keeping my ears open for.

Audio technica ATH-M50x Have to say, I can't hear a difference at all toggling on and off using Poweramp/Spotify/USB Audio Player Pro or Car with Bose speakers setup. What can be the reason? I was thinking it would sound better (or as good) as V4A. Not close for me. Maybe my phone's defective?

vibrantliker said:
Audio technica ATH-M50x Have to say, I can't hear a difference at all toggling on and off using Poweramp/Spotify/USB Audio Player Pro or Car with Bose speakers setup. What can be the reason? I was thinking it would sound better (or as good) as V4A. Not close for me. Maybe my phone's defective?
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Not sure if they fix the issue were the DAC was only able to be used by the stock music player. On the PlayStore there's an app that allows the DAC to work with all music players. I think it's called lgv10fix something like that. You can tell when you turn the DAC when your music skips or mutes for a second.

j0a0a7 said:
Not sure if they fix the issue were the DAC was only able to be used by the stock music player. On the PlayStore there's an app that allows the DAC to work with all music players. I think it's called lgv10fix something like that. You can tell when you turn the DAC when your music skips or mutes for a second.
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Thanks. I found that and installed it but it's the same.

Sony MDR-EX800ST with Tape Mod via External (AUX) Audio Mode with adapter.

vibrantliker said:
Audio technica ATH-M50x Have to say, I can't hear a difference at all toggling on and off using Poweramp/Spotify/USB Audio Player Pro or Car with Bose speakers setup. What can be the reason? I was thinking it would sound better (or as good) as V4A. Not close for me. Maybe my phone's defective?
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There's probably nothing wrong with it.
Sound is an incredibly subjective topic.

?
Andrew025 said:
There's probably nothing wrong with it.
Sound is an incredibly subjective topic.
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So used to V4A nothing comes close.

I prefer PowerAmp Alpha...
Especially with my Sony MDR-100AAP in External Mode.

dragion said:
I prefer PowerAmp Alpha...
Especially with my Sony MDR-100AAP in External Mode.
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What's external mode, something on your headphones?

All Hi Res iem or headphones will do the job, but it's up to your ears to know what is best, as all headphones/iem all have their own sound stage, for me I use the Sony list in my sig.

I was actually considering getting a pair of the A-T 50x's but those Senn's look nice too. (I'm a big fan of over the ear.)

vibrantliker said:
What's external mode, something on your headphones?
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By plugging in the detachable headphone cable into the LG V20's headphone jack first before connecting the cable to the headphones, causes the Hi-Fi DAC to go into "An External Audio Device Is Connected" mode which produces a higher output compared to "Normal" mode.

dragion said:
By plugging in the detachable headphone cable into the LG V20's headphone jack first before connecting the cable to the headphones, causes the Hi-Fi DAC to go into "An External Audio Device Is Connected" mode which produces a higher output compared to "Normal" mode.
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I did not know that and will try it.

So excited to use my Custom Art Harmony 8 Pro, custom headphones with these. The V10 did a good job, I bet the v20 will be better!

For reference, here's the playlist I used to compare. I didn't want to spend all day doing tests, so this is mostly stuff I can listen to while I work, but trying to hit as many different sound signatures as I could. I don't have any classical in my collection, though probably I could have used some. I listened to most of the playlist (skipped around a little getting details) on my laptop for a little while before picking up the phone. Probably going to do some listening with the S4 mini I've got on loan from my wife, too. Would have been nice to compare the Note7, but it's already back in T-Mobile's hot little hands. Played using the
Acoustic Guitar
Leo Kottke (FLAC)
Vaseline Machine Gun
Watermelon
The Fisherman
Earl Klugh (MP3 320)
Alice in Wonderland
Moon River
Autumn Leaves (VBR V0)
Country/Folk
The New Lost City Ramblers (MP3 320)
Talking Hard Luck
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
Old Fish Song
Charlie Daniels Band (MP3 320)
The Devil Went Down To Georgia
Uneasy Rider
Anais Mitchell (M4A VBR)
Epic, Part I
Hey, Little Songbird
Epic, Part II
Pop
The Killers (MP3 VBR, not V0)
Mr. Brightside
When You Were Young
Sia (FLAC)
Chandelier
Eye Of The Needle
Elastic Heart
Electronic
Super Eurobeat Presents: Initial D Special Stage Non-Stop Mega Mix (FLAC)
Killing My Love
Running In The 90s
Grand Prix
Kavinsky (MP3 320)
Night Call
Night Runner (OGG VBR)
After Hours
Nuclear Countdown
Hip-Hop/Trip-Hop
KA (MP3 320)
Just
Wax Tailor (FLAC)
Exordium
From the Dark
As for my thoughts:
First, I was surprised that as far as I can tell, LG hasn't included any headphones. That seems weird. I'm glad now that I have a million bajillion of the things lying around because if I just bought this off the shelf, it would be a long wait for LG to send me my "only" wired headset option. At least a few weeks. Disappointing, but not a deal-breaker by any means.
Started with the Samsung headset, Hi-Fi DAC off. It's not super comfortable, not at all isolating. I'm still listening to the last couple tracks and I can easily hear myself typing with the volume at around... well, in the Hi-Fi volume it would be 45. I should note that it goes much higher (I believe the highest is 65 or 75) but 45 is where I would typically listen to music. Louder than that started to strain my ears a little. Louder is generally better for detecting little things in a song, but I don't want to suffer, and I certainly don't want to suffer for the time it takes to listen to a 90 minute playlist 4 times at painful volume.
(Incidentally, someone above complained that it wasn't as good as V4A--I haven't listened to V4A in a long time, but my recollection was that it does 2 things: EQ and boost. All their stuff comes down to highly advanced adaptive EQ and a volume boost. Essentially an Instagram filter for your audio. That's all you really can do with a software solution, so I don't blame V4A's team, but what we're looking for with a hi-fi hardware DAC is closer to putting your glasses on if you're near-sighted: increased clarity without changing or coloring the sound any more than necessary, including volume changes. That's what your choice of headphones and your EQ settings are for, not your DAC.)
Moved to the Shures next. The SE215 has a slightly bassy sound, IMO, much better for dance music than e.g. the Koss cans. Not quite basshead cans. I was impressed by performance, and volume. I felt "comfortable" for the first half of the playlist before checking the volume and discovering it wasn't at 45, where I'd wanted it--I had it at 30! Turned it up to 45, and I was at a point where it wasn't quite uncomfortably loud. Which is to say, these things can push power to a pair of headphones no problem.
Equally surprised that the Koss cans didn't have an equivalent bump in volume from what I'm used to (which is maxed out on the Note7, and remember that I'm nowhere near maxed out on the V20). Oh, sure, I could have turned them up, but I didn't. Clarity was as-expected. Much better, I think, than the SE215s.
What I'm looking for here is silence and separation. On the country tunes, in particular, you end up with a mandolin, banjo, and guitar all fighting for 'space' on the recording, so I was listening to make sure I could make out guitar chords from banjo rolls from mandolin... whatever mandolin players do. I'm sure they're very important musicians. The other part I listened to carefully was the intro to Chandelier; There's an etremely isolated snare in the beginning, and it should fade to nothing, not fade to sort-of-nothing. I didn't get that with the Shures as much as I wanted, but I did get it with the Koss headphones.
V-Modas don't do much to change my opinion. The bass is defined, clear, not boomy. I'd say the V20 seems to have a fairly balanced sound signature, which makes sense because that more-or-less matches what I've heard about the B&O sound signature. If the V20 DAC was developed with their input, that would make a lot of sense.
So in the end, I'd agree with kms108:
kms108 said:
All Hi Res iem or headphones will do the job, but it's up to your ears to know what is best, as all headphones/iem all have their own sound stage, for me I use the Sony list in my sig.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

TheJesus said:
I'm using my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 Ohm headphones, it's amazing. It's a step up from the V10, including the volume department (especially with high impedance headphones).
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Can't wait to try my beyer's. Have exact same ones and custom one pros. Cop's are a more fun sounding headphone and a burning can push it. The 770's and cop's can put out mind rattling bass, and by that I mean rattle your chest, with the right content and amp. Can't wait to hear the sound signature of the 9218 with my assorted cabled gear.

Audio Quality?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

its good but not the best

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

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

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

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