[Q] ABX Double Blind - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4

Hi, I've recently discovered an audio format I'm looking into using on my device in the future, instead of MP3. The format I've recently discovered is opus. I know it's not quite as universal as MP3, but it appears as though it's becoming commonly accepted that converted files are nearly transparent at bitrates as low as 144kbps for a lot of people, even lower for some others. This would be awesome, as I'm out of space on my phone and have about 30GB of MP3s I'd like to have with me in addition to what's already on my device. I'd like to find a way to make sure the difference in audio quality between my V-0 VBR MP3s and my Opus files at 144kbps is undetectable to me.
I was looking for a way to test this reliably directly on my Galaxy S4, because the sound quality I get on this device (using V4A) is far better than the quality I get on my computer, even with lossless files. Does anyone know of an application that will allow double blind ABX sound tests on Android and that can support .OPUS, .MP3, and .FLAC files? I've searched in the play store, the forums here, and on Google and haven't been able to find any such application, but figured my last step was to ask people here on the forums before I gave up entirely.
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read my post and respond.

Related

real audio player

sorry if this has been asked before, but i have searched high and low searching by name and by the extensions it uses, but i have drawn a blank.
i want to listen to some cricket commentaries on the bbc via wi-fi and they use the real audio RAM format.
i cant find anything that will play it aside from a 3 year old v1 real audio player.
anyone point me in the right direction of something a bit newer, or let me know if thats my only choice.
thanks
no one know of anything that will play real audio files?
Get it from here it is free
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-real-player.html

[Q] wma support in xdanroid?

I know that cyanogenmod supports wma in the music player, I was wondering if anyone knows if that be easy or difficult to port to xdandroid? (or a good way to get wma support)
thanks!
so, made a bit of progress. I looked at a cyanogen rom
I copied over the pvasf related files (file format for wma/wmv files) (in system/etc and system/lib)
and the libomx_wma/wmv decoder files (in system/lib)
and now I'm playing wma files perfectly on my sprint touch pro 2.
though, don't have meta parsing and it seems cyanogen does have support for that.
any chance this can be rolled into an xdandroid build?
WMA is probably the WORST format for media. Statistics have shown that it's even worse than MP3 for acoustic reproduction.
I would advise avoiding that codec like the plague.
arrrghhh said:
WMA is probably the WORST format for media. Statistics have shown that it's even worse than MP3 for acoustic reproduction.
I would advise avoiding that codec like the plague.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#1, I've read many things that seem to imply that its not worse than mp3 (and definitely better at low bitrates)
#2, does it matter if I already have a lot of music in WMA format that isn't DRMd so that reencoding it would make things worse (I didn't choose WMA for these tracks, but I dont want to reencode)
#3, why would it be an issue if as I've shown support already exists in android and can be easily included at the loss of a small amount of space (been playing wma all day on my xdandroid sprint touch pro 2)
Eh, no reason it shouldn't be supported in Android, I just know that it's awful - especially at low bitrates.
OGG Vorbis and AAC are the ONLY codecs I would trust at any bitrate that would be considered 'low'...
Let me find the research...
ok, so we agree. I wouldn't use wma for anything I make either, its more of a historical artifact that I have it (and was mostly a windows mobile user before when I collected it, so didn't mind).
I'm not sure how to get metadata working, but not the biggest deal
Is this working yet?
if you follow my steps, it works to play (though doesn't get any info out of the files).
I've stopped doing anything with this as bought an Epic 4G.
I have tons of wma's. This would be great if I could use them with out converting them to MP3's
Hi kwoodyusa, I guess you'll have to tweak your build by hand, following thetoady's directives in post 2.
sad0felix said:
Hi kwoodyusa, I guess you'll have to tweak your build by hand, following thetoady's directives in post 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what was said, it was pretty easy, I just copied files over and then it just worked.
thetoady said:
what was said, it was pretty easy, I just copied files over and then it just worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about posting those files here? Please?
1) download hero rom from
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Latest_Version
2) unzip it.
3) files are where I say they are in post #2 (though for system/lib they are system/lib/libpvasf*
arrrghhh said:
Eh, no reason it shouldn't be supported in Android, I just know that it's awful - especially at low bitrates.
OGG Vorbis and AAC are the ONLY codecs I would trust at any bitrate that would be considered 'low'...
Let me find the research...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats funny every thing I've ever read says AAC is the worst. and WMA beats MP3. And lets face it OGG is a non-factor.
genaldar said:
Thats funny every thing I've ever read says AAC is the worst. and WMA beats MP3. And lets face it OGG is a non-factor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol we're talking about the same bitrates right? WMA has a 'lossless' option, so if you're comparing that to MP3 then it's not apples-to-apples anymore...
I mean let's take one file. Compress it to 64kbps. Same song, same bitrate, different formats - which would perform the best? AFAIK, OGG would be #1. Then AAC, then MP3, then WMA last... WMA is a horrible format from what I remember reading, but I can't find the dang report I read - which was years ago, to be honest... But MP3 is 17 years old...

Sound quality play back problems

Hi recently upgraded to a Nexus and am having problems with the sound quality.
I have downloaded several wmv to mp3 software programs and have also tried to copy them at different qualities and it makes no difference..
These are genuine CD's that I own not copys or songs or albums that been downloads
Its not the head phones that are a problem all 3 of my sets have been tried and work fine on my Galaxy S1 & my PC
How is the sound supplied on the Nexus is it software or hardware and software like a sound card in a pc?
Can any one help me please?
Regards Lee F
Anyone please I really want to keep this phone but without a decent sound its go to go back
I can't believe there are so many clever people on here and not one reply..
"O well the phone is going back to Vodafone now!"
You didn't even describe the sound problems you're having...
Click the link in my sig to see if that is the problem you're having.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Thanks for getting back to me...
The problem is that any music I convert to MP3 no matter how or what program I use the to convert the music comes out either like its underwater or if it is understanderable you hear the music but its sounds very dull mono tone like! also you can only vaguely hear the singing......No clarity at all.....I can best describe it as it sound like you are at the back of a giant concert on the back row.....
Regards Lee F
You might consider grabbing "Volume+" from the market. It has volume boost as well as a EQ that will work globally in that it will shape the sound regardless of music player. For my money I would just plunk down the cash and purchase "PowerAmp" It's one of the best music players for Android and contains a excellent EQ.
I bought the pro version of winamp with the same thoughts no difference...
I am beggining to think its something related to copying from the CD to my music file....it keeps coming up as a VLC file could it be associating them with video sound of less quality...?
Or what about that I am using a 32bit application in a 64 bit enviroment?
Any chance of a reply please?
Do the MP3's sound fine on your computer? If they don't I suggest ripping the CD's with EAC and then converting them with a LAME encoder.
If they do: Try out DSPManager and make sure the headphones are plugged in all the way.
My Galaxy Nexus doesn't have any playback issues (other than the loudspeaker's output not being very loud) so it's not the sound chip.
They sound fine on my pc and I have converted them using different software and nothing seems to work.....I will try EAC and let you know thanks for taking the time to respond to my post..
cash_13 said:
They sound fine on my pc and I have converted them using different software and nothing seems to work.....I will try EAC and let you know thanks for taking the time to respond to my post..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try downloading the same song just one file by normal mp3 format see if that works well.
Downloaded EAC and it was easy to use and the music no longer sounds remote but the quality is not very good....
Perhaps I have not got it configured incorrectly do you think you could write a a few instructions on how you set yours up for the best results......
I did try to copy the mp3 files to my nexus direct from EAC but it did not reconise my phone...
Here's a guide to set up EAC: http://blowfish.be/eac/Setup/setup1.html
You can substitute .flac with .mp3 and type 320 in to the kbps box or follow the guide completely and then convert it to .mp3 with something like WinLAME.
If the files play fine on your PC with the same headphones I'm not sure how much this will help. It's worth a shot if you saw some improvement before though.

[Q] Coming from Iphone - 2 questions

Hi everyone,
i just switched from an Iphone to the One X and i'm super happy with the hone, much better than the Iphone in most departments. There are only two things that bother me right now and i was wondering if there are solutions for them or at least upcoming software mods:
1. i have a great headset, the Sony XBA2-ip, with integrated Iphone controls, which I really want to keep. Right now I've gotten the play/pause button to work by downloading the headset button app. However the volume up/down buttons dont work and I cant seem to find a n app that will enable them. Is it impossible to make these buttons work?
2. The One X is a great phone for watching HD videos, esp. with Dice player. However I'm limited to 4GB file sizes when i transfer. I realize this is a limitation of the FAT32 formatting of the internal memory. What i wanted to ask was if there are ROM mods that allow to bypass that limit?
Thanks in advance.
I don't know the head set your referring to, however try some different players like power amp, winamp and n7 player and see what results you get, failing that a mod could be created but specifically for your headset i'm guessing that it won't happen so I would guess that there isn't a way around it, unless theres an app to map buttons to controls from within the device, u might get lucky, google it.
Not too sure about the 4GB limit, personally i've never had to transfer something so big onto a phone, if it's one file then i can only assume it's HD content, what i would do is split the file into smaller chunks using video editing software at least until a work around is in place.
Welcome to android by the way, it is better by the way More freedom, something apple knows very little about.
Also depends on the file systems that are natively supported by your PC's OS. Some custom ROMs will probably try try to format the internal storage into ext4 but it's not natively supported in Windows XP I think. By that I mean if you plug it into your pc, it won't recognize it as a USB Storage. I think Windows 7 supports ext4, but I think you need some driver updates or something. Ext4 has a much larger file size limit
I think PowerAMP is the most powerful one with lots of options and wouldn't be surprised to see it supporting those volume keys.
I'm wondering about 4GB limit too, hoping there is a workaround or maybe custom ROMs will solve it. Most of my files are 4-9GB in size.
But as long as I'm in range of my network, DicePlayer plays them brilliantly over the network, I use ES File Explorer to map my LAN drives.
For players that are not able to play from networked drives, the solution is to use CIFSManager which mounts networked drives as a local subfolder, fooling player apps into thinking they are playing local files. DicePlayer doesn't need that workaround.
Thanks for all the info guys. I will try these solutions and will report what happens. Hopefully once custom ROMs start popping up many of these problems will be resolved, esp. the 4GB limit, it must something many users are struggling with...
just testing this theory but it should be possible to take the file that is bigger than 4GB, use a program such as winrar to split it into 2 or more files so that they are small enough for transfer, then use unrar from the play store to unpack them.
A long method, but a decent one when given the limitation of a fat filesystem.
Hopefully i'll confirm whether this works as soon as i've had chance to test it.
EDIT: I realise this won't work unless there is a media player that can play files straight from part-rars... don't know of any with this feature.
An alternative would be to split your video file into so many parts and just put them in a queue when watching.
Thanks for the extra info.
FYI, I tried different music players (DBpwoeramp, Winamp) and headphone apps and none of them even see my volume buttons. I did some more reading on the forums and it seems no one has ever found a solution for this. it sucks cause my headphones are great...
On the 4GB file size front no dice yet but I remain more hopeful that it will be fixed once people start tinkering with the file system.
i dont know if it will work but archos fans forum has a program that seems to split hd movies that will play
heres the thread
http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=42082
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im gona give it a shot when i have a few moments spare.
Hi everyone,
just wanted to update this tread to say i found a partial solution to the headset problem. I downloaded the free Jays app that controls headsets and mapped volume up/down to long keypresses of the main button. It's not perfect but at least i regain most of the missing functionality, and i dont have to change my headset (as i mentioned I really like the Sony headset).
Now if the ROM developers could find a solution to the 4GB limit (fingers crossed), I'd be all set.
great find on that headset app, i was about to buy headset control but jays is free!

Avoiding Android Mixer/48Khz upsampling of 44.1/16 audio

Is anybody aware of a system-wide solution to avoid the upsampling of 44.1KHz / 16-bit music to 48KHz?
With system-wide, I mean a solution that does not rely on certain player apps such as UAPP or Neutron, which we know can do it, but only when playing from inside that app. A solution which works with all (or most) audio sources and apps, modifying the default system behavior of upsampling 44/16 to 48KHz when playing to the Quad DAC.
Personally, I am looking for solutions to work with Tidal offline tracks. Others are looking for solutions to Qobuz, Spotify, Google Play Music or other apps.
Do some of the custom ROMs have fixes for this? Are there policy file or build.prop changes that are proven to fix it?
Googling and searching on XDA finds many references to Android's infamous 48KHz upsampling/re-sampling (SRC) but none that look to be actual, working solutions for our phones. I hope I am wrong and that there is a simple fix which I overlooked.
Background
The LG V series and G series (most models) are appreciated by audiophiles for their excellent ESS Sabre DAC (ES9218P, branded Quad DAC by LG). It can deliver amazing sound quality when paired with good headphones or IEMs (In-Ear-Monitors, earphones). (And no, that doesn't necessarily mean High-Impedance headphones/IEMs, but that's a whole other discussion.)
V30 in particular has gained a rather large following among audiophiles, many of whom congregate on head-fi.org, where you will find a huge V30 thread, a growing V40 thread and a dedicated V30 Music apps, tricks and tips thread.
When it comes to HiRes music (anything higher than 48KHz sample rate and anything 24-bit) most music apps play it correctly: Bit-perfect, without any processing or re-sampling, directly to the DAC -- exactly as audiophiles want it. A few apps are known to downsample HiRes music to Android's default sample rate of 48KHz, but those are the exception.
However 44.1KHz / 16-bit music is always routed through Android's Mixer, which upsamples it to 48Khz. This causes artifacts that are audible to good ears, particularly when played on sensitive IEMs. Since 44/16 includes anything CD quality (whether compressed or uncompressed) that means most music in the world gets molested before it reaches the DAC.
For whatever reason, LGs implementation of the ESS DAC throughout the V and G series have suffered from this inability to play 44/16 music without upsampling. It is the one thing that truly hampers their reputation among audiophiles (arguably even more so than the inability to select between gain modes, which is annoying, but not a deal breaker for most).
This can be verified by inspecting the Output Thread of audio_flinger dumps, showing whether an output stream is played through the DIRECT path (not the MIXER path) and with the offloadable flag (sent straight to the DAC for decoding and rendering). Of course it can also be verified by listening for those artifacts.
The last 1.5 years, audiophile V30 users have relied on UAPP or Neutron as music players because they are able to work around this upsampling. They do so by converting 44/16 format music to 44/24 on the fly, adding zero bits to convert 16-bit to 24-bit. Different from the 48KHz upsampling, this is a harmless conversion which doesn't affect audio quality. (Of course it's also much faster, requiring no interpolation.) And once music is in 44/24 format, it is no problem sending it directly to the DAC, as described above.
We recently confirmed that PowerAmp also is able to do this correctly now (which wasn't always the case). But only if you configure it to convert all music to 44/24, which obviously isn’t desirable for HiRes.
UAPP is my personal favorite, as it also supports streaming services Tidal, Qobuz and Google Play Music, in addition to network services and any PCM or DSD file you can throw at it. All of it pristinely bit-perfect. But it cannot support Tidal or Qobuz offline, which means when playing offline you are limited to HiRes music (only a small part of their catalog) unless you can tolerate the 48KHz upsampling of CD quality tracks in the Tidal/Qobuz apps.
Head-Fi titan @csglinux and I have set out looking for a solution to this, along with other interested head-fi members. csglinux has been testing various policy and build.prop edits (so far no cigar), while I have been digging through the ESS driver source code from the kernel (but I am not set up to actually build the kernel).
More background and discussion can be found in csglinux' V30 Music apps, tricks and tips thread on head-fi. I also recently had a brief (and more technical) discussion with @ctheanh about this over in the XDA V40 forum, starting here. Arguably those posts would be more suited here.
We have several ideas, but it is a steep hill to climb, as none of us are Android developers. But before posting pages of what we have already tried, or dozens of audio_flinger dumps from various setups, we wanted to throw the topic out there for input. Again, maybe there is already a solution we have overlooked.
Any input is much appreciated!
TL;DR
I personally recommend UAPP as the best $8 anybody can spend if they care about sound quality on their V30. This is not about avoiding that. But UAPP doesn't cover all scenarios, in particular offline Tidal and Qobuz.
That's why we're looking for a system-wide fix (mod or custom ROM) that avoids the upsampling.
Reserved (more technical background and evidence to come)
TheDannemand said:
Is anybody aware of a system-wide solution to avoid the upsampling of 44.1KHz / 16-bit music to 48KHz?
With system-wide, I mean a solution that does not rely on certain player apps such as UAPP or Neutron, which we know can do it. A solution which works with all (or most) audio sources and apps, changing the default behavior of upsampling 44/16 to 48KHz (when playing to the Quad DAC).
Personally, I am looking for solutions to work with Tidal offline tracks. Others are looking for solutions to Qobuz, Spotify, Google Play Music or other apps.
Do some of the custom ROMs have fixes for this? Are there policy file or build.prop changes that are proven to fix it?
Googling and searching on XDA finds many references to Android's infamous 48KHz upsampling/re-sampling (SRC) but none that look to be actual, working solutions for our phones. I hope I am wrong and that there is a simple fix which I overlooked.
Background
The LG V series and G series (most models) are appreciated by audiophiles for their excellent ESS Sabre DAC (ES9218P, branded Quad DAC by LG). It can deliver amazing sound quality when paired with good headphones or IEMs (In-Ear-Monitors, earphones). (And no, that doesn't necessarily mean High-Impedance headphones/IEMs, but that's a whole other discussion.)
V30 in particular has gained a rather large following among audiophiles, many of whom congregate on head-fi.org, where you will find a huge V30 thread, a growing V40 thread and a dedicated V30 Music apps, tricks and tips thread.
When it comes to HiRes music (anything higher than 48KHz sample rate and anything 24-bit) most music apps play it correctly: Bit-perfect, without any processing or re-sampling, directly to the DAC -- exactly as audiophiles want it. A few apps are known to downsample HiRes music to Android's default sample rate of 48KHz, but those are the exception.
However 44.1KHz / 16-bit music is always routed through Android's Mixer, which upsamples it to 48Khz. This causes artifacts that are audible to good ears, particularly when played on sensitive IEMs. Since 44/16 includes anything CD quality (whether compressed or uncompressed) that means most music in the world gets molested before it reaches the DAC.
For whatever reason, LGs implementation of the ESS DAC throughout the V and G series have suffered from this inability to play 44/16 music without upsampling. It is the one thing that truly hampers their reputation among audiophiles (arguably even more so than the inability to select between gain modes, which is annoying, but not a deal breaker for most).
This can be verified by inspecting the Output Thread of audio_flinger dumps, showing whether an output stream is played through the DIRECT path (not the MIXER path) and with the offloadable flag (sent straight to the DAC for decoding and rendering). Of course it can also be verified by listening for those artifacts.
The last 1.5 years, audiophile V30 users have relied on UAPP or Neutron as music players because they are able to work around this upsampling. They do so by converting 44/16 format music to 44/24 on the fly, adding zero bits to convert 16-bit to 24-bit. Different from the 48KHz upsampling, this is a harmless conversion which doesn't affect audio quality. (Of course it's also much faster, requiring no interpolation.) And once music is in 44/24 format, it is no problem sending it directly to the DAC, as described above.
We recently confirmed that PowerAmp also is able to do this correctly now (which wasn't always the case). But only if you configure it to convert all music to 44/24, which obviously isn’t desirable for HiRes.
UAPP is my personal favorite, as it also supports streaming services Tidal, Qobuz and Google Play Music, in addition to network services and any HiRes PCM or DSD file you can throw at it. All of it pristinely bit-perfect. But it cannot support Tidal or Qobuz offline, which means when playing offline you are limited to HiRes music (only a small part of their catalog) unless you can tolerate the 48KHz upsampling of CD quality tracks in the Tidal/Qobuz apps.
Head-Fi titan @csglinux and I have set out looking for a solution to this, along with other interested head-fi members. csglinux has been testing various policy and build.prop edits (so far no cigar), while I have been digging through the ESS driver source code from the kernel (but I am not set up to actually build the kernel).
More background and discussion can be found in csglinux' V30 Music apps, tricks and tips thread on head-fi. I also recently had a brief (and more technical) discussion with @ctheanh about this over in the XDA V40 forum, starting here. Arguably those posts would be more suited here.
We have several ideas, but it is a steep hill to climb, as none of us are Android developers. But before posting pages of what we have already tried, or dozens of audio_flinger dumps from various setups, we wanted to throw the topic out there for input. Again, maybe there is already a solution we have overlooked.
Any input is much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm i suggest bit perfect mode on USB audio player pro
Mrxyzl said:
Erm i suggest bit perfect mode on USB audio player pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. Again, I already use that, and have for the last 1.5 years. But UAPP doesn't cover all scenarios, in particular offline Tidal and Qobuz, nor Spotify and other popular streaming services.
That's why I'm asking if anybody knows of a system-wide fix (mod or custom ROM) that avoids the upsampling.
I seem to recall that you did some work into this in a custom ROM, right?
Edit: It's a long opening post, so maybe I should state this briefly:
1) This is about a system-wide fix to avoid the Mixer and upsampling of 44/16 audio when playing through the Quad DAC.
2) This is not about avoiding UAPP or Neutron. I personally recommend UAPP as the best $8 anybody can spend if they care about sound quality on the V30.
So my settings sucks?
TheDannemand said:
snip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
BROKEN1981 said:
So my settings sucks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, yes and no
Personally I wouldn't do it. I would set PowerAmp to output at 44.1KHz and 24-bit, which should avoid any re-sampling and just convert to 24-bit. Make sure you disable Dither (somewhere else in those Settings) so that it just adds zero bits in that 16-to-24-bit conversion. That way your 44/16 music should be sent unchanged to the DAC in 44/24 format.
But then you need to change your settings when you play HiRes music in PowerAmp, since otherwise it will be downsampled to 44.1KHz.
That said, as a fixed setting you are much better off letting PowerAmp upsample to 352Khz than letting the Android Mixer upsample to 48Khz. 44-to-352KHz is a harmonic upsampling (8x44=352) so it can be done perfectly, whereas 44-to-48KHz is just ugly. And when playing HiRes 88KHz and 176KHz music, it will be harmonically upsampled to 352Khz as well.
Ideally, PowerAmp would have had a way to only convert 44/16 to 44/24 and pass everything else through untouched. That's what UAPP does when it detects that it's running on a V30.
Another benefit of UAPP is it understands MQA and knows how to set a flag to enable the V30's hardware unfolding and rendering. (Note that you don't have to buy UAPP's optional MQA decoder for this.) With PowerAmp, the MQA will either be lost (if you re-sample or process the stream in any way) or ignored because the flag to enable MQA decoding won't be set.
Disclaimer: I don't use PowerAmp myself, so I cannot say if it it does something other than what those settings imply. I am completely open to corrections if any of my assumptions about it are wrong.
The DAC itself will upsample internally as part of so-called "noise shaping" to minimize the rounding errors that occur when trying to fit a digital sample into an analog sine wave. But we want to leave this process just to the DAC, and not add another step of upsampling (or any other digital modification) before sending music to the DAC. And particularly not an ugly upsampling like 44-to-48KHz, which simply cannot be done in a pretty way.
TheDannemand said:
snip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that detailed answer man, I appreciate it!
I tried neutron, hated the UI. I'll try out USB audio pro. Looks like it's a bit updated to MD. It's not as nice looking as PA, but that's ok lol.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
BROKEN1981 said:
Thanks for that detailed answer man, I appreciate it!
I tried neutron, hated the UI. I'll try out USB audio pro. Looks like it's a bit updated to MD. It's not as nice looking as PA, but that's ok lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am the same: I tried Neutron and absolutely could not stand that UI. But I know some who love it. And they deserve credit for being first to crack the 48KHz upsampling on V30 (as I understand).
With UAPP I was instantly comfortable with its UI, features, and of course the sound quality -- the latter being as good as it can get, since it plays everything bit perfect and even supports MQA. If it could handle Tidal offline, I wouldn't even need a solution to bypass the Android Mixer, as that is the only big thing missing for me. Again, with others it's Qobuz offline or Spotify or some other music service.
TheDannemand said:
I am the same: I tried Neutron and absolutely could not stand that UI. But I know some who love it. And they deserve credit for being first to crack the 48KHz upsampling on V30 (as I understand).
With UAPP I was instantly comfortable with its UI, features, and of course the sound quality -- the latter being as good as it can get, since it plays everything bit perfect and even supports MQA. If it could handle Tidal offline, I wouldn't even need a solution to bypass the Android Mixer, as that is the only big thing missing for me. Again, with others it's Qobuz offline or Spotify or some other music service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying it out, I like it but have a few issues that are getting on my nerves.
1) no cross fade into the new track.
2) It separates my albums for whatever reason. PowerAmp will not do this. My tags are the way I want them. I did my own edits.
Edit, the EM album that's solo is also in the EM album collection. Just chose to list it 2 times.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
BROKEN1981 said:
Trying it out, I like it but have a few issues that are getting on my nerves.
1) no cross fade into the new track.
2) It separates my albums for whatever reason. PowerAmp will not do this. My tags are the way I want them. I did my own edits.
Edit, the EM album that's solo is also in the EM album collection. Just chose to list it 2 times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize for the tardy response. Swamped these days.
1) Ahh. I don't use cross fading myself, but I see what you mean, it's a valid request.
2) My entire music collection is carefully curated as well (manually edited tags) and I've never seen any problems with UAPP handling albums correctly. You could try Clearing the database and Scan again. But you probably already did...
I suggest you write to the Dev about both issues. You can either email [email protected] or post in their support thread on Head-Fi. I've found them very response to user requests and issues.
BTW, also check this recent Head-Fi post by @csglinux: It appears LG really screwed up the Quad DAC in Pie, so it now re-samples even some HiRes files (which all play perfectly on Oreo from most apps). It also sabotages UAPP in the process.
I don't know why LG is so hellbent on messing up music playback, when they spend good money putting a high-end audiophile grade DAC in their phones
TheDannemand said:
I apologize for the tardy response. Swamped these days.
1) Ahh. I don't use cross fading myself, but I see what you mean, it's a valid request.
2) My entire music collection is carefully curated as well (manually edited tags) and I've never seen any problems with UAPP handling albums correctly. You could try Clearing the database and Scan again. But you probably already did...
I suggest you write to the Dev about both issues. You can either email [email protected] or post in their support thread on Head-Fi. I've found them very response to user requests and issues.
BTW, also check this recent Head-Fi post by @csglinux: It appears LG really screwed up the Quad DAC in Pie, so it now re-samples even some HiRes files (which all play perfectly on Oreo from most apps). It also sabotages UAPP in the process.
I don't know why LG is so hellbent on messing up music playback, when they spend good money putting a high-end audiophile grade DAC in their phones
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I did send an email to the Dev. We tested a few things and then I guess he quickly made a newer version of the app and gave me a download link. It's a beta but he seen what the issue was and fixed it. Total time with emails and download link took about 30 minutes. I never expected the guy to reply so fast that a few minutes would go by with me not seeing his new email.
Awesome support! Just wish the UI would be gesture-based. Having to back out of a current playing album is a pain in the butt. PowerAmp definitely did this correctly.
Sent from my LG-H932 using XDA Labs
I've edited three config files from US998 30b which I attached to this post. With this mod I always get 24bit and 44.1kHz output through Mixer. Now I can't hear the noise, but I'm curious if anyone can so please test it after making a system backup in TWRP. The mod contains the files without any script.
@TheDannemand and everyone who is interested.
I was trying to get direct output, but it's maybe impossible. I tried to have direct output instead of deep_buffer, but only UAPP wanted to use direct and other apps "moved" to primary output. Also the primary output does not tolerate any messing cause it's a p...y. So I'm not able to do what even @csglinux couldn't.
Solutions:
1) It's not possible due to most apps just don't support direct output even if we convert it to 24bit on the fly. Apps can use primary output instead of deep buffer but direct is like an isolated thing lol. I did enough tests with policy files to get bored of it.
2) Maybe I can try replacing or somewhat in mixer_paths_tavil.xml in vendor/etc to get the direct output. (?)
3) We need to do hard modifications in source codes and codec driver. Or just accept this Mixer and use it with some mod. So sad.
DooMLoRD77 said:
I've edited three config files from US998 30b which I attached to this post. With this mod I always get 24bit and 44.1kHz output through Mixer. Now I can't hear the noise, but I'm curious if anyone can so please test it after making a system backup in TWRP. The mod contains the files without any script.
@TheDannemand and everyone who is interested.
I was trying to get direct output, but it's maybe impossible. I tried to have direct output instead of deep_buffer, but only UAPP wanted to use direct and other apps "moved" to primary output. Also the primary output does not tolerate any messing cause it's a p...y. So I'm not able to do what even @csglinux couldn't.
Solutions:
1) It's not possible due to most apps just don't support direct output even if we convert it to 24bit on the fly. Apps can use primary output instead of deep buffer but direct is like an isolated thing lol. I did enough tests with policy files to get bored of it.
2) Maybe I can try replacing or somewhat in mixer_paths_tavil.xml in vendor/etc to get the direct output. (?)
3) We need to do hard modifications in source codes and codec driver. Or just accept this Mixer and use it with some mod. So sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huge thanks to you, DoomLoRD77, for your efforts on this. Major props also to TheDanemmand, who has been relentlessly pursuing this little problem with LG's phones.
So, I took your config files, and voila, they work as promised, at least according to audio_flinger:
Output thread 0xeb1034c0, name AudioOut_15, tid 1804, type 0 (MIXER):
I/O handle: 21
Standby: no
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
HAL frame count: 1792
HAL format: 0x6 (AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_24_BIT_PACKED)
HAL buffer size: 10752 bytes
Channel count: 2
Channel mask: 0x00000003 (front-left, front-right)
Processing format: 0x6 (AUDIO_FORMAT_PCM_24_BIT_PACKED)
That's the good news. The bad news... for reasons I don't completely understand, all the exact same re-sampling artifacts are there, just as audible as before. (I think most of us are using the same test track here - Speak to Me, from The Dark Side Of The Moon.) Either audio_flinger is misreporting, or being fooled, or there's something else going on here that I don't understand.
I'd mentioned to some of the other headfi folks that Amazon's new lossless streaming service doesn't display these digital artifacts (it still doesn't sound quite as good as Tidal to my ears, but the SQ gap is much closer). Amazon re-samples everything on Android to 48 kHz using 32-bit float. I would have thought doing no resampling at all and shifting to 24-bit for the digital volume control would be enough, but apparently not. My best guess is those extra zeros we're packing into those remaining 8 bits aren't actually being used by the digital volume control.
DooMLoRD77 said:
I've edited three config files from US998 30b which I attached to this post. With this mod I always get 24bit and 44.1kHz output through Mixer. Now I can't hear the noise, but I'm curious if anyone can so please test it after making a system backup in TWRP. The mod contains the files without any script.
@TheDannemand and everyone who is interested.
I was trying to get direct output, but it's maybe impossible. I tried to have direct output instead of deep_buffer, but only UAPP wanted to use direct and other apps "moved" to primary output. Also the primary output does not tolerate any messing cause it's a p...y. So I'm not able to do what even @csglinux couldn't.
Solutions:
1) It's not possible due to most apps just don't support direct output even if we convert it to 24bit on the fly. Apps can use primary output instead of deep buffer but direct is like an isolated thing lol. I did enough tests with policy files to get bored of it.
2) Maybe I can try replacing or somewhat in mixer_paths_tavil.xml in vendor/etc to get the direct output. (?)
3) We need to do hard modifications in source codes and codec driver. Or just accept this Mixer and use it with some mod. So sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a ton for your efforts here and for sharing these modified files!
Unfortunately I won't be able to test them myself, both because my V30 is still on Oreo (and I have no plans to update it yet) and because I am currently unrooted, waiting for LG to approve a warranty claim (at which they're dragging their feet).
I think with your work and @csglinux' feedback we have established that there is something going on beyond just the re-sampling of the Mixer. The fact your changes eliminated the noise you were hearing, but NOT the artifacts csglinux has reported, would indicate that maybe we have two different problems going on. And so far only playing DIRECT (bypassing the Mixer) solves both problems.
Re your point (3) I did actually spent quite a bit of time studying the source code for the ESS codec driver for the various LG models (es9218p.c and es9218p.h in the kernel source code). Interestingly, 44100 is NOT one of the sample rates listed in there as being supported. The rates and formats listed below are references in the snd_soc_dai_driver structure towards the end of the driver, with which the codec driver declares its capabilities. I've been puzzled how DIRECT play of 24/44 is even possible given this fact. But audio_flinger claims to do it -- and it sounds great when it does.
Code:
#define ES9218_RATES (SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_11025 | \
SNDRV_PCM_RATE_16000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_22050 | \
SNDRV_PCM_RATE_32000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_48000 | \
SNDRV_PCM_RATE_96000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_192000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_176400 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_384000 ) //|SNDRV_PCM_RATE_352800 TODO for dop128
#define ES9218_FORMATS (SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S16_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S16_BE | \
SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S20_3LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S20_3BE | \
SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_BE | \
SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S32_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S32_BE)
I am completely swamped with work at the moment, so I have no time at all to play (neither play music NOR tinker with my phone). I promise I will contribute more actively again once I have more time AND once I have a phone I can root.
Once again thanks a lot for your contribution! :good::good::good:
csglinux said:
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You're welcome. Yes, I played the Speak To Me song at the volume level of 10/75 from about 0:14 to 0:40. It can be possible that it's just misreporting, but it's weird that you hear the same artifacts and I hear just very very little noise instead of big. So we hear 2 different thing separately. From my experience it seems that the extra 8 bits are used for volume control. Or 24bit is more accurate for interpolating as you wrote something on head-fi. I will see more results later with GR09.
Also, thank you for the efforts and for this test!
I can mention an app for 16/44.1 lossless it's called D**zl#ad*r (replace "*" with "e" and "#" with "o"). I know it's not great to get files for free but I can play it offline through direct. It's for Android too and there are some funny facts how it can work.
TheDannemand said:
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You're welcome, too. Something is really weird about the Mixer as there is 2 kind of issue, indeed. I will just probably give up this soon for now, but I'm thankful for the support as I could achieve a small improvement.
If it's really a declaration as you said and I looked a bit into it then it's also weird how it can support 44.1 without resampling.
To replace Tidal offline there is an app above but it requires re-downloading everything. I solved it by automation. Life is just short to be always a good boy:silly:
Looks like deep-buffer is used for high latency low power output and this is ok for music. As I'm new I can't post proper link here, but googling "android audio deep buffer" gives answer.
To enable deep-buffer for music we need:
adb shell setprop audio.deep_buffer.media 1
So it looks like without it android is still using 48kHz from primary output and still resamples internally or I'm missing something. I own V30 but I'm not rooted yet so can't test this.
In the meantime I've looked into policy and there's additional MQA policy available. Maybe UAPP is using it to play MQA on LG?
I've also tried to use 16bit direct output from UAPP and there's noise on all recordings when V30 volume is low and I set my amplifier to almost full. This is unrealistic scenario but easily shows 16bit limitation. @DooMLoRD77, @TheDannemand could you check this UAPP setting if it plays through mixer or directly: MQA enabled and 16 bit hi-res driver audio format. Could tou also check if setting mixer into 32bit float mode works? This setting works for UAPP.
Eneen said:
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You are right that mixer is using 48khz upsampling either through deep buffer or primary output or call it whatever. Deep buffer for music is by default. Where did you found that MQA policy?
I can't help you now as my V30's motherboard is dying and it will take some time to replace it, but I can tell you that modifying the mixer to give 32bit output gives nothing just mute sound and lagging youtube playback maybe because of buffer size or idk.
You can have 32bit with direct, of course. Anyway, what recordings are giving noise? Vinyl? 16 bit does not have limitations like that. I guess you hear the noise generated by AVC in the Quad DAC. It has a high SNR but not enough if you amplify it with don't know what at max volume. I just assume that. I appreciate your interest.
DooMLoRD77 said:
You are right that mixer is using 48khz upsampling either through deep buffer or primary output or call it whatever. Deep buffer for music is by default. Where did you found that MQA policy?
I can't help you now as my V30's motherboard is dying and it will take some time to replace it, but I can tell you that modifying the mixer to give 32bit output gives nothing just mute sound and lagging youtube playback maybe because of buffer size or idk.
You can have 32bit with direct, of course. Anyway, what recordings are giving noise? Vinyl? 16 bit does not have limitations like that. I guess you hear the noise generated by AVC in the Quad DAC. It has a high SNR but not enough if you amplify it with don't know what at max volume. I just assume that. I appreciate your interest.
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Recordings from Tidal app (except MQAa) and when UAPP is set into 16bit mode inside "HiRes driver audio format" give noise. When I change this option to "Auto" then noise is gone. To hear it I just set sound level to 1/70 (lowest possible) and amplify rest on my amp. I'm not sure it's due to digital volume control or something else, but noise is there and I'm still above my NAD C372 noise level (100dB). How to check output path? I can do it myself but haven't found how...
If music is using deep buffer then your solution is very elegant IHMO and should work. Is youtube also using deep_buffer? Is deep_buffer always used or only when phone is sleeping?
MQA policies are inside /vendor/audio_output_policy.conf: direct_pcm_16_mqa and direct_pcm_24_mqa. As I see /etc/audio_policy.conf is depreciated but looks like /vendor/etc/audio_output_policy.conf is used and there are two different audio_policy_configuration.xml files. Is there documentation for android audio available?
Eneen said:
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I think direct does not support 16bit. It can be DVC or just the not really perfect mixer makes noise or what kind of interpolation error. You should have SDK platform tools to check it. Start inside an adb connection in cmd. Command: "adb shell" or "./adb shell" then "dumpsys media.audio_flinger" and it should read much thing about path and so on.
YouTube uses deep_buffer if it's available. It's used when music is played not only when sleeping. Primary is more like for notifications maybe some games. Sorry, what solution? LoL. 24bit modification?
I will check that policies again, thanks.

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