Musical quality using headphones - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

Here's a question. Currently I am on an iPhone 5, and it looks like I'll be making the switch to the S4. But before I do, I need to be reassured of one thing.
I use my iPhone 5 as my main and only music player. I have a pair of $150 Monster Turbines, and I take my musical quality very seriously relative to the iPhone 5. My question is, does the S4 have ATLEAST the same or better SQ in all ranges?
Is this app dependent? ROM dependent? I'm new to Android, but not technically unsavvy by ANY means..
Just need to know..

I had the same worries as you did. I came from the iPhone 4, running an ATH-m50 setup up with a fiio e5 amp and switched over to the HTC one x+and have transitioned very smoothly. I recommend finding a player per your taste though.
Take a look at power amp and neuron player! I hope this helps.
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda app-developers app

Well there is a feature called 'adapt sound' you go through a hearing test. After the test is done it auto EQ's the EQ's in the music player. I have monster inspirations (noise cancelling) and beyerdynamic T1. With adapt sound on in both cans there's better upper range clarity when differentiating between instruments. I like having the feature on. Makes the music more enjoyable of sorts.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

There seems to be a lot of mixed opinions. It's not that the Qualcomm audio chipset is bad, it's actually quite good, but it up samples audio from 24bit/44khz to 48khz if I'm correct, which kind of degrades the quality a little. I doubt a $150 pair of headphones is gonna be affected by this though. Now if you were rocking some real hardcore audio equipment like $500+ custom monitors, then this might be noticeable.

Apple products still are on top when it comes to audio player quality. I doubt it'll be noticeable with your headphones
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337

Don't even think a second about sound quality. It's awesome with S4. I use shure se530 head phones. You want to tweak the sound you may use Power Amp. That is what i use. I tried Iphone (3/4/4S/5) several times and sound is better with Power Amp in Galaxy S3/S4(Snapdragon also). Without Power Amp you may not like the sound that much.

varunkumars said:
Don't even think a second about sound quality. It's awesome with S4. I use shure se530 head phones. You want to tweak the sound you may use Power Amp. That is what i use. I tried Iphone (3/4/4S/5) several times and sound is better with Power Amp in Galaxy S3/S4(Snapdragon also). Without Power Amp you may not like the sound that much.
Click to expand...
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Actually I recommend trying Gone Mad Music Player, so much better then Power Amp in my opinion

As many have said. Power amp is worth the purchase.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

iphone 5 is a good music player of course.
in android some app can improve the SQ for us. such as poweramp and more.

If you can score an international version, it was supposed to get the much higher quality Wolfson audio chips:
http://www.sammobile.com/2013/04/18...-for-galaxy-range-of-smartphones-and-tablets/
I think the t-mobile version might also have the same hardware as the international version...?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

I'm using Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones with Westone cables. I find the S4 sound quality pleasing, but lacking in bass.

Screams from
d1esel daddy said:
I'm using Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones with Westone cables. I find the S4 sound quality pleasing, but lacking in bass.
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This is a major problem for me, as 90% of my music is hip hop.
My monster turbines were designed to accentuate bass
I have a 15' sub in my car, that I LOVE to flex, and if it gonna be as bassy and clean as it is like my iPhone (on hip hop EQ) then we've got problems...

EpicMango said:
This is a major problem for me, as 90% of my music is hip hop.
My monster turbines were designed to accentuate bass
I have a 15' sub in my car, that I LOVE to flex, and if it gonna be as bassy and clean as it is like my iPhone (on hip hop EQ) then we've got problems...
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Click to collapse
The S4 isnt lacking in bass at all. It has more bass than my HTC Vivid did...and that was a "Beats"-advertised phone. The S4 has terrific sound quality for a phone. And if you want a nice EQ, get Poweramp. It is well worth the purchase. And if you enjoy bass, don't worry - you can crank the bass up insanely high with Poweramp.
I was very worried about audio quality before getting the S4. And I am absolutely satisfied.
Oh and before you go looking at the HTC One, there have been reports of bluetooth audio streaming distorting the high frequency sounds. The S4 doesnt have this problem.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.

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bobgodd said:
If you can score an international version, it was supposed to get the much higher quality Wolfson audio chips:
http://www.sammobile.com/2013/04/18...-for-galaxy-range-of-smartphones-and-tablets/
I think the t-mobile version might also have the same hardware as the international version...?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Tmobile has exact same hardware as att...has been discussed in one of the official bootloader unlock threads
slapdaddy said:
The S4 isnt lacking in bass at all. It has more bass than my HTC Vivid did...and that was a "Beats"-advertised phone. The S4 has terrific sound quality for a phone. And if you want a nice EQ, get Poweramp. It is well worth the purchase. And if you enjoy bass, don't worry - you can crank the bass up insanely high with Poweramp.
I was very worried about audio quality before getting the S4. And I am absolutely satisfied.
Oh and before you go looking at the HTC One, there have been reports of bluetooth audio streaming distorting the high frequency sounds. The S4 doesnt have this problem.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.
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I would definitely not say the s4 has terrific sound quality....you can't base it off the fact your vivid had beats as that's just a software eq...you've obviously never had a phone with a Wolfson dac....those phones have the best sound quality of every phone-,and with voodoo sound you can tweak it at the hardware level
When it comes to portable music....my infuse is my main player...it blows the s4 and HTC vivid sound quality out of the water
Now the s4 sound quality is acceptable and not bad in any way...just wouldn't say its terrific...this is coming from an audiophile with studio monitors and studio monitor headphones
BTW, I had a vivid too...think I remember your name
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

d1esel daddy said:
I'm using Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones with Westone cables. I find the S4 sound quality pleasing, but lacking in bass.
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Click to collapse
I am running the same setup (stock cables) and previously used a FiiO E6 amp when I had these with my Galaxy S 2... With the S4, I don't need the portable amp and like others stated, PowerAMP is my recommended player - well worth the purchase. I jumped onto PowerAMP right as soon as I found out that it does both FLAC and Gapless, and the interface is beautiful and easily links to the lockscreen (not rooted).
As far as audio quality, I love the V shape audio that PowerAMP(Techno preset) produces onto my IEM's and I also have an iPad Mini (I think Wolfsons audio chip) and yet still prefer the audio from the S4...
Audio becomes very subjective at this point, but I have NOT been disappointed with my S4 and audio quality - especially comparing it to my old Galaxy S II...

mg2195 said:
Tmobile has exact same hardware as att...has been discussed in one of the official bootloader unlock threads
I would definitely not say the s4 has terrific sound quality....you can't base it off the fact your vivid had beats as that's just a software eq...you've obviously never had a phone with a Wolfson dac....those phones have the best sound quality of every phone-,and with voodoo sound you can tweak it at the hardware level
When it comes to portable music....my infuse is my main player...it blows the s4 and HTC vivid sound quality out of the water
Now the s4 sound quality is acceptable and not bad in any way...just wouldn't say its terrific...this is coming from an audiophile with studio monitors and studio monitor headphones
BTW, I had a vivid too...think I remember your name
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2
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Nope never had a Wolfson unfortunately. And I said terrific...for a phone lol. I have never had a phone with sound quality this good. And it will only get better with newer Sammy phones because of their deal with Wolfson. As for the Vivid, I remember reading your name a few times over there and yeah Beats is a software adjustment on the Vivid, but the sound quality was better on the Vivid than it was on my Inspire...and now better on my S4 than on my Vivid.
And yes I am an audiophile as well...I have studio cans and when it comes to absolute pure music quality, I use my desktop comouter as the setup is fantastic for a quality listening experience. But for a modern phone on the market. ..well I dont know of any quadcore phones that have a Wolfson chip...not yet anyway that is. I'm very sure this will change soon though...and its about time manufacturers started to pay more attention to the audio quality in their phones. There are those of us who need it...to basically survive lmao.
Bottom line for me is that there may be better phones out there for music quality, but they lack the horsepower of the S4. And there is a lot more that I do with this phone than just listen to music. The sound quality may not be Wolfson good, but it's definitely good enough and gets the job done very well as far as I'm concerned.
Oh and if someone is very concerned about music quality, there are external DACs that can be attached to the phone's micro USB port which are phenomenal. Though they are as big as the phone is, they work well lol.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.

slapdaddy said:
Nope never had a Wolfson unfortunately. And I said terrific...for a phone lol. I have never had a phone with sound quality this good. And it will only get better with newer Sammy phones because of their deal with Wolfson. As for the Vivid, I remember reading your name a few times over there and yeah Beats is a software adjustment on the Vivid, but the sound quality was better on the Vivid than it was on my Inspire...and now better on my S4 than on my Vivid.
And yes I am an audiophile as well...I have studio cans and when it comes to absolute pure music quality, I use my desktop comouter as the setup is fantastic for a quality listening experience. But for a modern phone on the market. ..well I dont know of any quadcore phones that have a Wolfson chip...not yet anyway that is. I'm very sure this will change soon though...and its about time manufacturers started to pay more attention to the audio quality in their phones. There are those of us who need it...to basically survive lmao.
Bottom line for me is that there may be better phones out there for music quality, but they lack the horsepower of the S4. And there is a lot more that I do with this phone than just listen to music. The sound quality may not be Wolfson good, but it's definitely good enough and gets the job done very well as far as I'm concerned.
Oh and if someone is very concerned about music quality, there are external DACs that can be attached to the phone's micro USB port which are phenomenal. Though they are as big as the phone is, they work well lol.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.
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Couldn't agree with your post more
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

Related

[Q] sound quality through headphones

I just spent some time at the local T-Mobile store checking this thing out in person. I'm very seriously thinking about picking one up but I have one thing I want to ask you guys that already have one....How is the sound quality when listening to music? If I get this phone, it will be my second android phone but my first htc. I currently have a samsung moment and I detest a lot of things about it. One of the things that bothers me is that I still carry around my outdated ipod because the sound quality of my moment is brutal. I never noticed with the generic ear buds that came with the phone but once I plugged in some quality cans, I realized the phone doesn't have any balls. My music sounds like I'm listening to cheapo headphones even though I have a pair of $100 dollar grados.
I'm a bit of an audiophile so if the thing can't sound high end, its a big drawback to me. I'm so tired of carrying an ipod in one pocket and the phone in another. Been doing that too many years and the idea of getting a smartphone was supposed to cure that need.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
I have the JH5's.. will listen to music on my G2 for some time and report back. I'm pretty satisfied with the Galaxy S, that has good SQ. My iPad also has great SQ..
One major problem I have with most android phones is that they aren't loud enough. That's the main reason I still carry around my touch. I hope I am able to solve this soon...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
This question was bugging me, as I have the G2 on my short list of phones I want, so I went back to the T-Mobile store today and asked if I could see their live demo unit and test music playback on it.
They didn't agree, not wanting me to put an sdcard with music on it in the demo phone, but one of the employees had his own G2 with music already on it. He let me plug my headphones in (Head Direct RE2, not the most spectacular, but not cheap $20 earbuds either) and played a few tracks.
It sounded pretty good for an HTC phone.
Now, granted, these MP3s were not very high quality. They were 128kbps encodes, probably not LAME encoded. But I'll say it definitely sounded better than the utterly bass-lacking Nexus One.
It doesn't sound half as decent as the Samsung Vibrant, though.
greengoldmello said:
One major problem I have with most android phones is that they aren't loud enough. That's the main reason I still carry around my touch. I hope I am able to solve this soon...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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that desire hd has dolby srs or whatever, should sound good. really hoping t-mobile brings it to the US.
greengoldmello said:
One major problem I have with most android phones is that they aren't loud enough. That's the main reason I still carry around my touch. I hope I am able to solve this soon...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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Exactly. I know in terms of specs the iPhones don't compare to Androids, but sound quality as I said is a big deal to me. I would tolerate a slightly slower phone for good sound.
As far as people noting that newer Samsung phones have good sound...that's nice to know but I've already decided I can never buy another Samsung phone for as long as I live. I'll spare you all the self-righteous diatribe but suffice it to say my Moment's lack of sound quality is only one of a number of issues I have with it.
That's why I have a Ipod touch 4G
Unfortunately this is all opinion so our opinion of good may not mesh with yours, however I use Klipsch S4s which have been reviewed by many different people as the best in the price range and better than many that cost twice as much...
I listen to FLAC all day on my G2 with these earphones at work and am happy with the quality.
Using the JH5's, the G2 sounds decent for average listening. Not as good as the iPad or iPhone 4, but good enough. It doesn't make the music sound bad, just the bass performance is not as good and its a bit focused on treble.
Kind of like the speaker for the phone.. sounds good but a little quiet.
Plenty loud IMO :/
I have to admit that my blackberry bold 9700 earphone jack yielded better results as far as pandora is concerned to my auxiliary port of my head unit (even with high quality)
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I don't know about the G2, but the Vibrant has amazing sound quality through its headphone jack. When tested by gsmarena.com, it beat the iphone on a few sound quality tests and was about the same on all the others. I've never heard better sound quality on a phone and its very customizable and pretty loud.
It's decent. The bundled earphones are pretty good quality, and the controls work flawless, without any lag. Perfect for gym. IMHO if you're using your phone for listening to music anywhere else, you're doing it wrong. At home a hi-fi system is obviously better, in the car... why bother. Unless you have a non-existent (or super ****ty) system in the car, why would you listen to music using your phone?
clivo360 said:
I don't know about the G2, but the Vibrant has amazing sound quality through its headphone jack. When tested by gsmarena.com, it beat the iphone on a few sound quality tests and was about the same on all the others. I've never heard better sound quality on a phone and its very customizable and pretty loud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, the Vibrant/Galaxy S uses a discrete Wolfson DSP ; thus its Sound Quality is superb. The iPhone 4 uses a discrete Cirrus Logic DSP, whereas HTC phones/Qualcomm do not have a discrete DSP, its integrated into the SoC.
So to answer his question, He's still going to have to carry around the iPod.
I've been using the included headset and am very happy with the sound quality and volume.
I haven't tested any other earphones yet.
On a related note, the speaker is only adequate. I wouldn't rely on it. Samsung phones seem to be much better in this regard.
Included headset sucks compared to the S4s, but to be realistic you can't expect HTC to waste money including a "good" headset when 95% of the buyers can't tell a difference or don't care. I hope they continue to include cheap headsets so I'm not paying a premium for a phone with a mediocre pair that I won't use anyway.
Are you using the stock music player to listen to FLAC? It doesn't seem to work for me. Neither does the cube player.
Audio quality isn't the best on this phone. I have a pair of Senn's CX500's and the bass gets distorted when listening to the default player. The mid's are okay and sometimes the highs get distorted also. This btw is coming from music with at least 192kbps bitrate on them.
But still love the phone!

Bad news !!! Yamaha codec

Supercurio has confirmed that GNote has Yamaha audio codec , same as in galaxy note
Audio:
Codec: Yamaha C1YMU823 / MC-1N2 (Same as Samsung Galaxy S II)
FM radio receiver: Si4709 (Same as Samsung Galaxy S/Galaxy S II)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OSYgjDzPVaxzUIEOrc1RrPL2sWLJ5PziyEVt6Q7KeUs/edit?pli=1
This also appeared in engadget
I guess I came late to the party. Please explain what's wrong with it?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
calin75 said:
I guess I came late to the party. Please explain what's wrong with it?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
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Yes, I'd like to know also. If it's just a music sound thing, it isn't a problem for me, I don't use it for music, but I know many do.
calin75 said:
I guess I came late to the party. Please explain what's wrong with it?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
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+1 [[[[[10chars]]]]]
This is actually a long story but in short
The Galaxy S II uses Yamaha audio hardware. The Galaxy S II's predecessor, the original Galaxy S, used Wolfson's WM8994 DAC.
Galaxy SI has wolfson codec , which was open source.
Supercurio a well known developer and audio expert here in XDA was able to create good sound output using his voodoo app.
In galaxy SII samsung replaced wolfson with yamaha and this was closed source.
The sound quality for audiophiles using galaxy sII was terrible. ( not to my ears as I am a certified non-audiophile )
Being closed source no further development was possible.
IN the words of supercurio "
DAC Distortion
With today’s Android audio implementation, all kind of media are sent to the DAC as a 44100 / 16bit / Stereo stream. Despite the usage of a fixed rate, Yamaha’s codec is not able to provide a very clean output.
Galaxy S II DAC output quality is limited by several kind of distortions. So far, no firmware was able to fix those despite early Korean updates describing “audio clarity improvements”.
When playing music, those artifacts are perceived as “lack of clarity”, “reduction of stereo separation”, “loss of detail” and “lifeless sound” (opposite of lively)."
The good news is that with new firmware releases many people have said that the sound quality of Galaxy SII is much better. So i guess its going to be better in GNote.
However we wont get Voodoo sounds improvements.
You can see the links below for more detail
http://project-voodoo.org/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1053978
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.projectvoodoo.controlappdonate&feature=search_result
Isn't there a chance that the kernel/software might be slightly different and will fix the issue?
Besides I've got my hand on for few minutes and I didn't pickup anything being wrong with the sound quality. However I didn't have a chance to plug in my headphones so I might be wrong.
Fast answer
yamaha dac is pure crap if you listen music in headphones over 10€
GS2 + note = yamaha dac, so if you want to listen music with a little quality you need a dedicated mp3, the phone will not be suitable for that.
kersh said:
Fast answer
yamaha dac is pure crap if you listen music in headphones over 10€
GS2 + note = yamaha dac, so if you want to listen music with a little quality you need a dedicated mp3, the phone will not be suitable for that.
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Click to collapse
I see no problem with the sound thru headphones.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Honestly, supercurio must have super ears, cause i've been using my sgs2 as my primary mp3 for 6 months already and I have no complaints. But dude, thanks for ruin it for me. I won't see my sgs2 the same again. =(
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
calin75 said:
Honestly, supercurio must have super ears, cause i've been using my sgs2 as my primary mp3 for 6 months already and I have no complaints. But dude, thanks for ruin it for me. I won't see my sgs2 the same again. =(
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
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Lol, there are no facts, only interpretations. BTW Yamaha produces great electric pianos. Don't see how this is relevant but lol, maybe it helps to restore your hardware
For me the included white head set is worse than the SGS2 one (less bass) but when comparing with the SGS2 headset the sound of the Note seems better as the SGS2.
Especially the noise when scrolling lists and so on is gone for me. In combination with Poweramp as player I'm quite satisfied with the sound.
Niuseek said:
Isn't there a chance that the kernel/software might be slightly different and will fix the issue?
Besides I've got my hand on for few minutes and I didn't pickup anything being wrong with the sound quality. However I didn't have a chance to plug in my headphones so I might be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to fix if the sound is OK. Improvement/fix comes to something that is not good enough.
They're not that bad despite the dramatic title that this thread has
You do however need to pair it up with a good earbud/iem to get a lot out of it.
Currently i'm using phonak iems with the GS2 and it's been awesome experience so far
Unfortunately with a good pair of full sized cans, the difference is very noticeable.
Guess I will be skipping this phone. Pity... I was looking for an XL phone. Looks like its Galaxy Nexus or something from 2012 for me.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
sauron0101 said:
Unfortunately with a good pair of full sized cans, the difference is very noticeable.
Guess I will be skipping this phone. Pity... I was looking for an XL phone. Looks like its Galaxy Nexus or something from 2012 for me.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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um good pair of full size will make a difference in just about any mobile device. Even a voodoo'd SGS1 won't be able to drive a quality set of cans like akg701/702 or hd800
Sound on video record is better than sgs2. A big point.
A bit unrelated but I'd like to see integrated stereo speakers on such phones.
I remember some Nokia that had a quite great set of speakers turning them into a decent mini jukebox.
Use this size more Samsung!
For those non satisfied with the Yamaha DAC, why not investing in a high end Bluetooth headphone ?
Here you would not pass through the DAC of the Note but through the DAC of the headphone supposedly better...
I think that the note is capable of streaming audio with the Bluetooth connection.
DJKick_fr said:
For those non satisfied with the Yamaha DAC, why not investing in a high end Bluetooth headphone ?
Here you would not pass through the DAC of the Note but through the DAC of the headphone supposedly better...
I think that the note is capable of streaming audio with the Bluetooth connection.
Click to expand...
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Because there are not high end bt headphones with quality comparable as good iems.
Yes there are some, for example from Sennheiser but they are not cheap.
Anyway, one that says that there are noticeable differences without a good quality headphone is really making a subjective statement, since the non linearity and signal to noise ratio on an average headset even intra ears is usually horrible.
Even the best audiophile headphones have a THD that is only 0.02% at 1 kHz (about 74 dB). This is by far worse than even the crappiest DACs (some have less than 90 dB but the best ones have >100 dB THD).
Knowing this, in the combination DAC+Heaadphone, it is really the headphone that makes the difference in sound. The DAC non idealities are orders of magnitude below the headphone non idealities.

Beats Audio on Android Tablets

It would be nice to see beats audio show up on some new tabs coming out. I know a few phones have it like the htc rezound, wouldnt you think it would fit perfectly for android tabs?
azoller1 said:
It would be nice to see beats audio show up on some new tabs coming out. I know a few phones have it like the htc rezound, wouldnt you think it would fit perfectly for android tabs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't care for it much regarding the headphone jack and that's where it's normally implemented in these devices. I use my tablet speakers 100%.
On the HP Touchpad, I really can't hear much of a difference in the speakers in terms of being "better" than the Iconia. So I can only assume it's the earphone jack that uses it. The speakers do get the benefit of the software on the Touchpad, and it sounds very slightly more clean if that makes any sense, but that's about it.
The headphones too don't sound that different from any other device, but that may be because I have a $75 pair of earphones. Maybe it'd make all the difference if I used some Beats brand headphones. At this point, I prefer wireless (Bluetooth) so that's what I spend my money on.
If they do it for the speakers, that'd be nice and I'd be interested in hearing the difference vs. other speaker systems. But if it's just the jack then it wouldn't help me, and they'd better include Beats earphones as obviously the effect is somehow lost if you use regular ones.
I have a feeling though, that all of this is mostly for marketing. I'm not saying there aren't some engineering differences but I don't think the actual sound it puts out will be as profoundly changed as people think it will (or should) be.
A simple no would have worked.....kidding
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
I own a pair of Beats Audio ear buds, and I prefer their quality of sound compared to the similarly priced Bose and Shure headphones I previously owned. They really make the best out of lossy compressed music files, which is everything when dealing with media on our tablet. Skeptical as I was, I have to admit that Dre endorsed a premium product. In my opinion, a quality audio driver could really utilize the Wolfson chip and produce terrific sound. I would love to hear how Beats Audio effects the sound of our Iconia.
mahalocat said:
A simple no would have worked.....kidding
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
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Great post.....kidding.
Juq said:
I own a pair of Beats Audio ear buds, and I prefer their quality of sound compared to the similarly priced Bose and Shure headphones I previously owned. They really make the best out of lossy compressed music files, which is everything when dealing with media on our tablet. Skeptical as I was, I have to admit that Dre endorsed a premium product. In my opinion, a quality audio driver could really utilize the Wolfson chip and produce terrific sound. I would love to hear how Beats Audio effects the sound of our Iconia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You prefer them to Bose? Interesting. I've always liked Bose products as you can truly hear a big difference. I'll have to check out some Beats headphones sometime then. They make a bluetooth version which would be perfect for me, but it's $329. I'm not sure I feel comfortable dropping that on a pair of headphones I'll be using mostly during travel, plus I couldn't wear those to the gym. I agree that there's the potential to do it, but from what I've seen and heard the results are underwhelming. I also checked out Beats Audio on some of HP's newer laptops and it's somewhat better than normal speakers but isn't that great.
I have a hp notebook with it built in .I have to say awesome big sound from such small speakers.
Can I get sprinkles on my strawberry icecream please.
Giggles.
No!
For sure would be interesting, but just because your device has that "b" red logo, you would get a higher price also...
Aah Beats Audio, the Apple of the audio world. And for the same price as those headphones you could get some top of the range Sennheiser's!
Juq said:
I own a pair of Beats Audio ear buds, and I prefer their quality of sound compared to the similarly priced Bose and Shure headphones I previously owned. They really make the best out of lossy compressed music files, which is everything when dealing with media on our tablet. Skeptical as I was, I have to admit that Dre endorsed a premium product. In my opinion, a quality audio driver could really utilize the Wolfson chip and produce terrific sound. I would love to hear how Beats Audio effects the sound of our Iconia.
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I gave you a thanks. I felt bad when I saw a zero for your thanks count. Don't worry. I know how it feels to have a low thanks count. Just keep your head up. We will be fine.
melcali said:
I gave you a thanks. I felt bad when I saw a zero for your thanks count. Don't worry. I know how it feels to have a low thanks count. Just keep your head up. We will be fine.
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Cactus42 said:
Aah Beats Audio, the Apple of the audio world. And for the same price as those headphones you could get some top of the range Sennheiser's!
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Yes!! I own a pair of sennheiser headphones they are awesome

Beats audio

Has anyone tried this?
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/beats-audio-now-available-on-any-gingerbread-rom/
I'm on ICS currently but kinda a music buff so if this gives a significantly better results on gingerbread i might switch.any reviews?
Blueangel180 said:
Has anyone tried this?
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/beats-audio-now-available-on-any-gingerbread-rom/
I'm on ICS currently but kinda a music buff so if this gives a significantly better results on gingerbread i might switch.any reviews?
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Beats Audio is just a parlor trick.
Just use an equaliser to crank up the bass and drop the mids..........then you'll have Beats without needing actual Beats!
Blueangel180 said:
kinda a music buff
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so then you know about how over-hyped this whole "Beats" thing is in the market...
Agreed with all replies, and I'll take it a step further: what exactly are these libraries supposed to do for the sound output?
-the internal speaker is the same
-the internal digital-to-analog components are the same
-the output stage (amplifier) is the same
-the frequency response can already be manipulated with music apps
So I can't imagine what 'beats audio' or any other kind of software files
can do to improve the audio quality when the components that affect
the sound quality are all untouched.
Also a music buff- so I will assert the ONLY thing you can do to improve
the sound out of your Android phone is to extract digital audio from the
HDMI port, use a digital signal via fiber optic, etc (because 1s and 0s can't be
degraded, they can only shift in time) into a superior D/A
converter, to a superior pre-amp,amplifier and speaker arrangement.
The speakers are easily the largest factor now that electronics have
become so reliable.
Just do some research on a music player like player pro same thing
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Beats Audio is the biggest scam since Monster cables started being sold.
There is a difference in quality beats and monster in general are not a scam its for sure better quality sound or cable what ever is the difference in quality noticeable to most users? Probally not. With the beats head phones u can hear a huge improvement over most headphones. I don't think they are worth that kinda of cost. Just depends in the user tho
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Pbwizkid said:
There is a difference in quality beats and monster in general are not a scam its for sure better quality sound or cable what ever is the difference in quality noticeable to most users? Probally not. With the beats head phones u can hear a huge improvement over most headphones. I don't think they are worth that kinda of cost. Just depends in the user tho
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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Monster Cable = psychoacoustics
There are WAY better sounding headphones for less money than beats
headphones. I know, I have some. Not everyone likes the overbloated
bass, horrible resolution headphones that made me curse out loud in best buy.
Precise reproduction takes so much more than MOAR BASS. Precise reproduction
doesn't sound like mud. Precise reproduction doesn't rely on a washed-up
rapper to sell it. If you want serious headphones, check out head-fi.org.
O I am no saying they are the best out there. But if u turn down all the bass they do have a nice sound to them compared to a lot out there. I would prefer to have many other ear buds nut my ibeats were free and a crap ton better than any set of 10 to 30 dollar head phones
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SkullCandy Titanium >Beats
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wolfson chip or not, the s4 sgs3 has great sound quality

I know there is a big question as to whether the American gs3 has the wolfson audio chip. I can tell you right away that using poweramp with the rock preset produces some of the best audio I have heard out of any media player. Just so you understand my level of audio history I currently own Shure e500 pth, Phonak audeo pfe 232, klipsch x10, velodyne vpulse, ultimate ears super fi .5 eb, klipsch s4, shure se535, klipsch image one, audio technica m800. I have owned cowon d3, j3, ipod touch ipod classic, toshiba gigabeat s60. I am just giving you guys a heads up that it also is powerful enough to drive all the headphones (except for th Audio technica) without an amp. Hopefully this post helps a music fanatic like myself.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using xda premium
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using xda premium
That's good to hear. My exynos version is very soft driving my Akg monitors directly.
Yes it sounds great except the noise floor is high. A lot of noise on quiet music. Great dynamic range though.
stonew5082 said:
Yes it sounds great except the noise floor is high. A lot of noise on quiet music. Great dynamic range though.
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Yeah, it's almost obscenely noisy. With rock music I'm not sure I'd ever notice, but anything with quiet parts drives me batty. Hopefully it is an internal amp setting that can be tweaked in software (my volume level is often at 2 or 3 so trading volume for reduced noise is an easy choice).
Even the speaker is nice and crisp! Also the APT-X on this phone and my Bluetooth dongle...is great!
I do like the audio output, it sounds great in my car. I didn't realize how bad my SGS2 was until I tried this! I'm actually NOT disappointed by the earbuds Sammy bundled with the phone! They deliver a surprisingly punchy bass. They are a warmer tone I think, so they don't sound as crisp as they could. I just don't feel like the music is *right there*, it's like it's behind a small film or wall. It's close, just not going directly into my ear. It's like it's going through a filter. Anyway. Good quality output in my opinion, as least much better than it could have been.
With poweramp and my IEM's (Earsonic SM-3) I don't notice any background noise at all. This is the best portable digital player I've had, and I can't wait to get a 64gb card for it. Definitely beats spending $200 on 64gb of permanent storage from apple.
gary
yokken said:
I do like the audio output, it sounds great in my car. I didn't realize how bad my SGS2 was until I tried this! I'm actually NOT disappointed by the earbuds Sammy bundled with the phone! They deliver a surprisingly punchy bass. They are a warmer tone I think, so they don't sound as crisp as they could. I just don't feel like the music is *right there*, it's like it's behind a small film or wall. It's close, just not going directly into my ear. It's like it's going through a filter. Anyway. Good quality output in my opinion, as least much better than it could have been.
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I agree the included headphones aren't bad at all. I installed awesome beats app on mine via the diet ics rom and the music sounds wonderful!
I used my Sennheiser HD280s with and without my Fiio E5 amp and it sounded relatively the same. But for some reason, it sounded somewhat empty, lacking body... Almost translating what I noticed with the earbuds to the headphones. Maybe the DAC really isn't that good.
cloudyphiz said:
With poweramp and my IEM's (Earsonic SM-3) I don't notice any background noise at all. This is the best portable digital player I've had, and I can't wait to get a 64gb card for it. Definitely beats spending $200 on 64gb of permanent storage from apple.
gary
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See I'm the opposite. I noticed more background noise (mostly during quiet parts of songs) with poweramp than the stock player, but the eq and interface in poweramp is just so much better that I can't leave it.
Voltage Spike said:
Yeah, it's almost obscenely noisy. With rock music I'm not sure I'd ever notice, but anything with quiet parts drives me batty. Hopefully it is an internal amp setting that can be tweaked in software (my volume level is often at 2 or 3 so trading volume for reduced noise is an easy choice).
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We need headphone amp control. If Supercurio doesn't support us gs3 I'm going to kill myself or write a control app.
stonew5082 said:
We need headphone amp control. If Supercurio doesn't support us gs3 I'm going to kill myself or write a control app.
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You're making me want to pull down Samsung's kernel source to see if I can identify what is bound to be an initialization problem...
Actually, just tried the phone on a less-sensitive set of earbuds, and the noise is much less noticeable. I'll have to give the in-box earbuds a try for comparison.
My iem's are relatively efficient and with aiff files the sound is fantastic. I'm using poweramp with eq off. Clarity, resolution, inner detail and fidelity in spades.this is going to make me buy a 64gb card. Or four.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
poweramp with DVC (direct volume control) enabled gives distortion, especially with the tone adjustments such as the bass control, so far the best sound i have heard is the stock player with the rock setting or custom with the rock settings and bass turned up a bit, i hope poweramp devs resolve the distortion as i really don't think the problem is the phone itself, and for what its worth i am very picky with my music and have tested the settings with high end audio technica headphones and my competition subs in my car.
BlazingBeast7 said:
poweramp with DVC (direct volume control) enabled gives distortion, especially with the tone adjustments such as the bass control, so far the best sound i have heard is the stock player with the rock setting or custom with the rock settings and bass turned up a bit, i hope poweramp devs resolve the distortion as i really don't think the problem is the phone itself, and for what its worth i am very picky with my music and have tested the settings with high end audio technica headphones and my competition subs in my car.
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turning off DVC did help some
sure turning dvc off helps but at that point using the stock player produces better sound so as of now poweramp is a no go for me.
Could be lounder
The sound quality is great, was pleasantly surprised with the included earbuds and fit kit. Big improvement from the S-II.
One gripe is the volume. While louder than the S-II it is still a little quieter than I refer. Anyone know how to boost the volume?
I still slightly prefer the GS1 with voodoo sound, but this phone does better than I was expecting and absolutely rapes the GS2 on audio quality. Great for what I use it for.
toiler1 said:
The sound quality is great, was pleasantly surprised with the included earbuds and fit kit. Big improvement from the S-II.
One gripe is the volume. While louder than the S-II it is still a little quieter than I refer. Anyone know how to boost the volume?
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hearing aids?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Good tip on the stock music player. I never even thought of trying it. Much better sound than my other apps.
Looking for a hearing aid app after I find my bifocals.
.
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