Database Users

[Q] Headphone Audio Quality

Hi All,
I'm looking for a replacement for my battered Galaxy S3.
The Sony Xperia range attracts me because of it's water resistant feature - I use my phone outdoors a lot.
I have looked at the Z1 and Z1 compact but the major thing putting me off buying is reports of poor audio quality through the earphones.
I had the original Galaxy and also now the S3 and something the both had in common was excellent audio quality (Wolfson DAC).
I have read plenty of stuff on the web about the noise cancelling abilities of the Z2 but nothing about the audio quality itself.
Anyone out there care to enlighten me?
Thanks

I am thinking same thing. My I9300 is still OK, but ... Problem is I have yet to hear a Qualcomm phone with exceptional audio. But maybe. Or maybe if there is a big iphone...

One of my gripes with sony phones since the xperia play/arc/arc s is the audio volume, on the xperia s/t/z/z1 is not loud enough atall never mind loud speaker peeformance

I'm having similar worries, also coming from SGS3. I'm just about to get the Dunu DN-1000 iems and wondering if the Z2 will give the output they deserve. Waiting to hear about this.

SuperMarioGalaxy said:
I'm having similar worries, also coming from SGS3. I'm just about to get the Dunu DN-1000 iems and wondering if the Z2 will give the output they deserve. Waiting to hear about this.
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I'm happy with the sound from my Xperia Z using Ortofon e-Q7. I think having high efficiency iems helps keep the distortion low, as there is no need to turn it up to max volume.

Earphone sound output/quality discussion

So there's a lot of discussion going around about the device, minus the sound output. Can the users (if there are any audiophiles out there) please share your reviews about the music quality output from the device. This is purely with earphones plugged in and not the boomsound speakers. How is the bass, treble, mids, highs, etc. How is the earphones quality that is provided with the m8.
The z2 seems to be getting mixed reviews, hence i am eager to know about the m8. I know gsmarena has posted a review but i wanted more inputs from actual users. Will appreciate any inputs.Thanks.

The M8 reviews all say good things about the headphone output. Personally I think it's fantastic, highs, lows and mids are all very clear and well balanced. The M8 drives a lot higher voltage output compared to the M7 too, I read someone who measured it.

kartoonz said:
So there's a lot of discussion going around about the device, minus the sound output. Can the users (if there are any audiophiles out there) please share your reviews about the music quality output from the device. This is purely with earphones plugged in and not the boomsound speakers. How is the bass, treble, mids, highs, etc. How is the earphones quality that is provided with the m8.
The z2 seems to be getting mixed reviews, hence i am eager to know about the m8. I know gsmarena has posted a review but i wanted more inputs from actual users. Will appreciate any inputs.Thanks.
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the_scotsman said:
The M8 reviews all say good things about the headphone output. Personally I think it's fantastic, highs, lows and mids are all very clear and well balanced. The M8 drives a lot higher voltage output compared to the M7 too, I read someone who measured it.
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I can confirm that the output quality is amazing. Partly due to there being a 2.5v amplifier next to the headphone jack, is this correct regarding the amplifier?
i don't miss beats much as the m8 has sound just like it and due to hardware not an equalizer

Yea the m8 has an amplifier for both headphone jack and loud speakers
And yes this phone has the best stock audio quality I ever had with an phone...
Gesendet von meinem HTC One_M8 mit Tapatalk

One-M8-Master said:
Yea the m8 has an amplifier for both headphone jack and loud speakers
And yes this phone has the best stock audio quality I ever had with an phone...
Gesendet von meinem HTC One_M8 mit Tapatalk
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and yes i damn well think i agree with you on that one!!
ot, didnt u used to be one-x-master? how do you change your name???

exocetdj said:
and yes i damn well think i agree with you on that one!!
ot, didnt u used to be one-x-master? how do you change your name???
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Haha yea my name was one-x-master before I just asked a moderator if I can change the name he said yes I said which name and he gave that name to the admins of xda and because I don't have the one x anymore the name was a bit strange then xD
Gesendet von meinem HTC One_M8 mit Tapatalk

One-M8-Master said:
Haha yea my name was one-x-master before I just asked a moderator if I can change the name he said yes I said which name and he gave that name to the admins of xda and because I don't have the one x anymore the name was a bit strange then xD
Gesendet von meinem HTC One_M8 mit Tapatalk
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cool, thanks mate

thank you all for sharing your views... so then m8 has the best sound output as of now, period... sounds great to me and +1 another reason to upgrade...
BTW are you guys using the stock earphones or other brands?

kartoonz said:
thank you all for sharing your views... so then m8 has the best sound output as of now, period... sounds great to me and +1 another reason to upgrade...
BTW are you guys using the stock earphones or other brands?
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I, too, can confirm that the sound output quality on headphones and speaker are phenomenal on this device - even without any sound mods flashed.
Tested the HTC in ear buds and as well as a sennheiser headset and a pair of pro Beyerdynamic headphones. All sounded absolutely clear and nice, even on Google Play Music All Access streaming.
So far, I am VERY pleased with audio quality on this baby.

i purchased and use regularly a set of jaybirds bluebuds (wirless stereo ear bud type headset) when at work. i havent used these since getting my htc m8 (used them with my htc one x) only just paired them. reading this thread i decided to try the included wired headset that are usually rubbish. long story short, they are incredible. i can honestly say that they sound like im in my lounge room listening to my harmon kardon amp and denon dvd player with the bass of my 15 inch sub. they sound that good. just a shame about the wire.

wow so many good reviews... htc seemed to have nailed the sound department with this phone...

Perfect speakers, useing earphones is very good the loudest output I've heard.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Does anyone have a slight hissing sound when playing music on low I can hear it. Or after music is done playing its there.
Also, if I'm playing music and I turn the volume off I can hear hissing through the loud speakers
I have a small dead pixel, and I didn't want to return it just for that.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Would there be a need for vIPER4Android with this phone? Is it even compatible?
Sent from my Markox/Gustavo_s powered KitKatted S2

I use a Pair of Logitech ue900 (399bucks on Logitech), with Quad Drivers (and those are pretty sensible on bad outputs, or too high output impedance).
I hear absolutely nothing which lets me wich for a better quality. You will probably have to buy in-ears/headphones for around 700-1500 bucks so you might complain.
I read on head-fi.org, that viper4android is just an Equalizer which mostly raises the amount of bass (NOT the quality of bass), and most people think "more bass = better soundquality". So tonality gets changed. A bit like when you activate "Boomsound" on the settings with headphones plugged in. This raises bass, treble, and the volume level, and in direct comparison (mostly with bad/cheap headphones) it might sound better.
But its not, the soundquality gets worse with that.
I personally use this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39672554
But i cant tell you, if it really improves the audio quality. I only tried a half song with my ue 900, and i didnt really heared a difference. Maybe because the difference is too small, or that you HAVE to have a 2nd device to compare both at the same time, to hear any difference.
i also didnt heared any hiss or any distortions.
But i think.... Alot people are not turning "BoomSound" OFF, so the Treble is way too much, and this can be that hiss, people are complaining about.

Thread name changed
Since I think this thread really belongs here in General, I changed the thread title to a statement instead of a question. Please continue and act like I wasn't here.

xxquicksh0txx said:
Does anyone have a slight hissing sound when playing music on low I can hear it. Or after music is done playing its there.
Also, if I'm playing music and I turn the volume off I can hear hissing through the loud speakers
I have a small dead pixel, and I didn't want to return it just for that.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
was this problem also not present on the m7? thats a bit of concern if its so on the m8... have you tried another pair of earphones?
Darkseth said:
I use a Pair of Logitech ue900 (399bucks on Logitech), with Quad Drivers (and those are pretty sensible on bad outputs, or too high output impedance).
I hear absolutely nothing which lets me wich for a better quality. You will probably have to buy in-ears/headphones for around 700-1500 bucks so you might complain.
I read on head-fi.org, that viper4android is just an Equalizer which mostly raises the amount of bass (NOT the quality of bass), and most people think "more bass = better soundquality". So tonality gets changed. A bit like when you activate "Boomsound" on the settings with headphones plugged in. This raises bass, treble, and the volume level, and in direct comparison (mostly with bad/cheap headphones) it might sound better.
But its not, the soundquality gets worse with that.
I personally use this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39672554
But i cant tell you, if it really improves the audio quality. I only tried a half song with my ue 900, and i didnt really heared a difference. Maybe because the difference is too small, or that you HAVE to have a 2nd device to compare both at the same time, to hear any difference.
i also didnt heared any hiss or any distortions.
But i think.... Alot people are not turning "BoomSound" OFF, so the Treble is way too much, and this can be that hiss, people are complaining about.
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+1 its similar to the beats on the one x... it just increases the loudness... of course the bass itself is not that bad but are you saying that boomsound is amplifying the sound similar to beats??

I only had "Beats Audio" via Mod on my desire HD like almost 2 years ago. So i cannot give you an exact comparison. But yes, it should be pretty similar.
At least, on my headphones (Beyerdynamic T90 / UE 900) with boomsound activated, it was un-listenable, because of TOO heavy treble (due to boomsound). Without the treble changes on that setting, it might even be nice, to make the sound on neutral headphoens more fun when needed.

I haven't tried the earphones that come with the device ('cause I already had a pair I use and I've never used a pair of packed-in earphones in the past), but the audio quality through my Sony earphones are fantastic. I switched BoomSound on and off and it does make it noticeably better if you're comparing them "side-by-side" like that, and despite what others say, I didn't notice it raising bass all that much. It felt like the audio got a bit less tinny and...hollow, and sounded like it was more surrounding my head, instead of sounding like it was coming from the sides and slightly farther away. A very...untechnical explanation, but that's the way I heard it.
Some extra tinkering in PowerAmp and having moved from an iPhone 5 to this baby, the pure giddy bliss I dive into every time I listen to music with this device is unimaginable.
Earphone sound quality-wise, you can't get much better than this.

Fraught said:
I haven't tried the earphones that come with the device ('cause I already had a pair I use and I've never used a pair of packed-in earphones in the past), but the audio quality through my Sony earphones are fantastic. I switched BoomSound on and off and it does make it noticeably better if you're comparing them "side-by-side" like that, and despite what others say, I didn't notice it raising bass all that much. It felt like the audio got a bit less tinny and...hollow, and sounded like it was more surrounding my head, instead of sounding like it was coming from the sides and slightly farther away. A very...untechnical explanation, but that's the way I heard it.
Some extra tinkering in PowerAmp and having moved from an iPhone 5 to this baby, the pure giddy bliss I dive into every time I listen to music with this device is unimaginable.
Earphone sound quality-wise, you can't get much better than this.
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Click to collapse
The "Surrounding more around my head," is the sound stage. So a better sound stage is a good thing.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Sony still wont learn about sound output

I've owned the Z1, and the Z1 Compact. Now I'm hearing Z2 has the sale volume/crackly output.
I wear an earphone plugged directly into my phones jack when I talk and drive, and the audio quality on every sony phone is TERRIBLE. Crackly, distorted sound and every time the mic on the earphone touches any part of my shirt it cuts out all volume. I've tested this with 6 other android phones and no problems. Strangely though Windows Phone also suffers from this problem. Also audio output through a 3.5mm aux cable into the car produces extremely quiet sound on the highest volumes.
How has Sony not fixed this? I feel like this is bush league stuff.

TheNamelessMan said:
I've owned the Z1, and the Z1 Compact. Now I'm hearing Z2 has the sale volume/crackly output.
I wear an earphone plugged directly into my phones jack when I talk and drive, and the audio quality on every sony phone is TERRIBLE. Crackly, distorted sound and every time the mic on the earphone touches any part of my shirt it cuts out all volume. I've tested this with 6 other android phones and no problems. Strangely though Windows Phone also suffers from this problem. Also audio output through a 3.5mm aux cable into the car produces extremely quiet sound on the highest volumes.
How has Sony not fixed this? I feel like this is bush league stuff.
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My Z2 arrived today, it does NOT have that problem....go figure

My Z1 sounds awesome together with my MDR1 headphones, never had a better sound on a phone
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Free mobile app

Publicglutton said:
My Z2 arrived today, it does NOT have that problem....go figure
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So you're telling me when you plug in earphones directly into the jack, there is no change in sound, no crackling audio, no clarity or volume issues at all? Try plugging those same earbuds into another modern android phone or iphone and you'll hear zero interference or crackling issues.

TheNamelessMan said:
I've owned the Z1, and the Z1 Compact. Now I'm hearing Z2 has the sale volume/crackly output.
I wear an earphone plugged directly into my phones jack when I talk and drive, and the audio quality on every sony phone is TERRIBLE. Crackly, distorted sound and every time the mic on the earphone touches any part of my shirt it cuts out all volume. I've tested this with 6 other android phones and no problems. Strangely though Windows Phone also suffers from this problem. Also audio output through a 3.5mm aux cable into the car produces extremely quiet sound on the highest volumes.
How has Sony not fixed this? I feel like this is bush league stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you check your source material of what you're listening to? It may be compressed on the high end.
And owning Z1, Z1 Compact and now the Z2 is kind of unbelieveable if you just want to come in an trash the Z2. (Not that I'm accusing you of this but I would have posted this issue on this forum if it was discovered on the Z1)

Publicglutton said:
My Z2 arrived today, it does NOT have that problem....go figure
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Lolento said:
Can you check your source material of what you're listening to? It may be compressed on the high end.
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Click to collapse
I'm talking about listening to spotify on extreme quality over a 4G LTE connection, or simply speaking to somebody while driving hands free.
I had an HTC ONE and plugging in the same iphone headphone into it it sounds like im speaking on a landline with no interference or static at all. Every sony phone ive used experiences this, it's very strange.

TheNamelessMan said:
So you're telling me when you plug in earphones directly into the jack, there is no change in sound, no crackling audio, no clarity or volume issues at all? Try plugging those same earbuds into another modern android phone or iphone and you'll hear zero interference or crackling issues.
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That is correct..
I have the digital noise cancelling headset (MDR-NC31EM) and there is NO crackling..NO issues at all.
Totally agree with krabappel2548 , fantastic sound quality..:laugh:

I used the Bose noise cancelling headset and it's awesome. No issues. One thing i noticed, with the case you have to be sure the earphone jack is seated properly.

TheNamelessMan said:
I'm talking about listening to spotify on extreme quality over a 4G LTE connection, or simply speaking to somebody while driving hands free.
I had an HTC ONE and plugging in the same iphone headphone into it it sounds like im speaking on a landline with no interference or static at all. Every sony phone ive used experiences this, it's very strange.
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I don't have Spotify so I don't know what it means in terms of extreme quality. They could be upsampling a bad source and call it extreme quality.

Lolento said:
I don't have Spotify so I don't know what it means in terms of extreme quality. They could be upsampling a bad source and call it extreme quality.
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Spotify extreme quality = 320kbps encoding. The best you can get for streaming right now.

No problems here, the noise cancelling headphones are excellent too,

I had that same crackling on my Lumia 800, I could hear it when on low volume or on pause, really annoying.
I think most people just don't notice.

@krabappel2548 Give us some AOSP love mate
Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

waynekirby said:
@krabappel2548 Give us some AOSP love mate
Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I will do that soon
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Free mobile app

TheNamelessMan said:
I've owned the Z1, and the Z1 Compact. Now I'm hearing Z2 has the sale volume/crackly output.
I wear an earphone plugged directly into my phones jack when I talk and drive, and the audio quality on every sony phone is TERRIBLE. Crackly, distorted sound and every time the mic on the earphone touches any part of my shirt it cuts out all volume. I've tested this with 6 other android phones and no problems. Strangely though Windows Phone also suffers from this problem. Also audio output through a 3.5mm aux cable into the car produces extremely quiet sound on the highest volumes.
How has Sony not fixed this? I feel like this is bush league stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have sound problem, he had mic problem, I m had camera overheat problem. Sony details make the problem.
sent from my sm-n9005 samsung

Never notice any cracking sound on my z, z ultra, nexus 10 nor lumia 525.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Free mobile app

Yh i have the same issue on my Z1. I checked with CM11 or AOSP and there is no crackling in low volume so this is definalty not a hardware problem.
To reduce this Crackling sound while ising Stock i download a custom Kernel like DoomLord's and use Pimp My Z1 (or any app you prefer) to turn down the gain the in the sound options. The downside is that the volume becomes lower. This method doesnt get rid of it completely but it does reduce it. I honestly dont even bother with stock anymore i just use CM11 or PA on my Z1.
BTW i think this Noise is called Sibilance. G3 users are experiencing the same problem.
Also turning off ClearAudio+ reduces the crackling sound.

Cracking insinuates that there is a popping noise. I hear none. As far as noise, yes. There is a faint hiss at low volume, extremely faint. Sony isn't exactly a leader in SNR but the audio isn't necessarily bad. Anyone who is using ClearAudio+ (which is total s***) shouldn't even comment on audio issues, definitely turn that off. Clear Phase on the old 4.2.2 ROM caused some definite extreme distortion and cracking over Bluetooth (but not the headphone jack) but that has been removed in the new ROM.
Sibilance is the hiss sound you hear when people make "S" sounds into the microphone. It can be really harsh, but usually reducing frequencies around 4-6KHz will reduce the problem. Sibilance is extremely prevalent in analog FM Radio.

I currently have an issue where sometimes I only get sound out of one of the noise cancelling headphones. I have to rotate the headphone socket in the jack to get sound to come out of both. Sometimes I also get crackling on my e10s when the phone is in my pocket. I think I have a faulty headphone jack as the MDR1 work perfectly on my Z3TC.
Speaking with Sony UK they asked me to do a repair on the phone which seemed to help a little but the problems still exist. I expect my headphone socket has some damage or has become faulty.

Iv noticed that when i plug in my phone to the soundsystem i have to crank the volume up allot higher to get the same soundlevel out of the spekers as other phones. Anyone have a solution to get the volume up out of the phone? (3.5mm output)

Audiophiles out there!

Hello all audiophile Z5 owners!
How is the headphone output on this phone?
Is the quality good and loud?
Where can I find more specifications of the headphone jack and internal amp?

TordFuglstad said:
Hello all audiophile Z5 owners!
How is the headphone output on this phone?
Is the quality good and loud?
Where can I find more specifications of the headphone jack and internal amp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't say I was a proper audio file but the audio on the z5 is good its really clear and louder than previous Z phones but once again sony have missed the loudness trick.
After reading GSM arenas review of the C5 ultra and the M5 saying without headphones the volume levels were 'excellently high' and with headphones they fell to below average on the C5 and fell on the M5 too but it was so high on the M5 to start off with that that it still remained a good volume. So this means that the M5 is louder than the Z5 range, I had high hopes for the Z line then they tested the Z5C and it just got a average.

According to GSM Arena.
Audio quality has its ups and downs
The Sony Xperia Z5 Compact did a very good job in the first part of our audio quality test, where it's connected to an active external amplifier. The scores it got were great top to bottom but it only matched them with an average volume level so we can't quite call it perfect.
Plugging in a pair of headphones harm the stereo crosstalk but it remained decent, but it also introduced a bit of frequency response deviation and brought the volume down a notch. Not too bad of a showing, but certainly not one worth bragging about.

I can't consider myself an audiophile but I will say the Z5 audio is an.improvement over the Z5 in both clarity and volume. It doesn't approach ZTE Axon level of quality and HTC M9 volume but it is adequate for the casual listener. I have dsee hx switched on which disables all other audio settings.

how is the volume in z5 compare to z3

entra6 said:
how is the volume in z5 compare to z3
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louder than Z3 but imo could be louder yet still

RCJ89 said:
louder than Z3 but imo could be louder yet still
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Exactly, well stated.

Coming from the Z1 it's a massive improvement on just about every level: Cleaner, wider and louder. It's very good, I'd say - I've certainly enjoyed listening to music on it very much!
"Loud enough"? How loud do you need it to be? Any louder than it is and I'm sure you'd hurt your hearing: it's plenty loud.

Timaustin2000 said:
Coming from the Z1 it's a massive improvement on just about every level: Cleaner, wider and louder. It's very good, I'd say - I've certainly enjoyed listening to music on it very much!
"Loud enough"? How loud do you need it to be? Any louder than it is and I'm sure you'd hurt your hearing: it's plenty loud.
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Tbh there are many phones alot louder than the Z5 and the whole sony range and people are not complaining. There are phones from HTC, Iphone, Note 4/5/Edge Plus and especially Xiaomi and Meizu that are alot louder.

RCJ89 said:
Tbh there are many phones alot louder than the Z5 and the whole sony range and people are not complaining. There are phones from HTC, Iphone, Note 4/5/Edge Plus and especially Xiaomi and Meizu that are alot louder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of that I have no doubt but do people put those phones to max volume? Do they need to? The ability and necessity are two separate things.
The Z5 is plenty loud for just about any headphone need, so far as I can make out. I'd certainly never put it to max.

Allright, so I purchased the graphite black Z5 yesterday. I have done some quick listening to the audio out of the jack through my ATH IM50 in ear monitors and haven't broken in the hardware yet. But I can definitely hear a difference from the Z3. All over the sound is very clear, it seems like a good separation and I can definitely get some really smooth low tones and crisp higher tones as well. I haven't been fooling around with the EQ yet. But feel like I don't need to.
About the loudness, I feel it is louder than the Z3 and very much loud enough to run a pair of good IEM's like the IM50's. I am listening now and have the volume two down from maximum. Probably won't be as loud with some big headphones. But any a person with a little self respect will have a headphone amp for that purpose. :good:

Timaustin2000 said:
Of that I have no doubt but do people put those phones to max volume? Do they need to? The ability and necessity are two separate things.
The Z5 is plenty loud for just about any headphone need, so far as I can make out. I'd certainly never put it to max.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough for me its the bigger expensive headphones that make the difference with less expensive headphones like in ear or on ear it is never loud enough, in a busy street i still can hear noise around me.
I know some people who do have them on max volume definitely. I always had my note 4 on max volume and my HTC M7 and my 6S but only with lesser expensive headphones on headphones £200 and over no need to but even when are not at max they are still louder than Z5 at Max volume. Each to their own at the end of the day but sometimes its not always practical for me to carry around my larger headphones so I use in ear ones than I can just put in my pocket.

Hi,
I'm also trying to squeeze perfect sound from android. I use this portable DAC
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audioquest-dragonfly-v12-usb-dac/
via USB OTG cable. For playback I use "USB audio player pro". It can stream very high resolution audio files. At the moment I'm listening music on Audio technica ATH M50x headphones.
Sound with external DAC is a way better than directly from audio jack

RCJ89 said:
Tbh there are many phones alot louder than the Z5 and the whole sony range and people are not complaining. There are phones from HTC, Iphone, Note 4/5/Edge Plus and especially Xiaomi and Meizu that are alot louder.
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Click to collapse
That's unfortunate. One of the reasons I sent back my iPhone 6s, and opted to get a Z5 Compact is because I didn't think the sound of the 6s was much of a step up from my iPhone 4s. I was hoping the Z5 would be louder and fuller, especially for in-ear headphones at the gym. Might just be the headphones I've been using though. Maybe an upgrade in that department would resolve any potential issues I might have with the Z5.

I use sennheiser mm50 ip in ear phones with poweramp set to rock preset and to me the sound is nice crisp quality at loud enough volume levels
Sent from my Xperia z5 by Tapatalk

@TordFuglstad & @Timaustin2000 I've been enjoying your camera works (on 'that' thread) very much. Maybe you guys could post on the 'regular' photo thread at times
Don't get me wrong, guys. Before dropping > $100 on a pair of cans, maybe an 'audiophile' should get a cheap $50 DAC first. But it's not very convenient - we all know. That's why I'm looking at LDAC for the first time (wireless SQ is usually terrible compared to wired). LDAC could still be over-hyped, I'm willing to give it shot for the first time. But I can't find too many LDAC headphones to choose from. Any suggestions?

I read that there is no custom DAC in the Z5 (vs. Z3), but they added LDAC support. Unfortunately, I can't find almost any headphones that support it. I was really hoping they would have added it to the SBH bluetooth line by now.

How does the audio quality compare to HTC Butterfly s (which I have now) or I9505 Galaxy S4? What about HTC M9 or iPhone 6?
I take GSMArena's results with a grain of salt. I bought the Butterfly s partly based on their review saying the volume was loud and that there was no distortion. Unfortunately, while the audio quality is great at medium-high volumes the bass distorts above 12/15, and there is hissing with IEMs.
My questions are 1) do these hiss? and 2) do they distort with bass? (test track would be Daft Punk - Touch)

I'm a hardcore SONY audiophile, and while the Z5 is fantastic, the Walkman ZX2 is still by FAR my favorite mobile music player when coupled with the XBA-Z5 in-earphones ( made in Japan ) and/or Z7 headphones ( made in Japan) by Sony,
followed in close 2nd place by the newer less pricey ZX100 Walkman, which is a step up from the A series.

Lol even the A series is stomping on the Z5. No point to compare it to the zx2/1/100
Sent from my E6653

Speaker and headset (3.5mm Jack) - audio quality

Hello. I'd like to buy Moto G5+ but I read so many negative opinions about sound from speaker and headphones (Jack 3.5 mm). I'd like to know what do you think about speaker and headset in G5+. What's your opinion about audio quality, volume level, etc.?

It seems to be about the same as my S6 was. I have no complaints at all.

Dolby Atmos!
I think we must do something so that Lenovo owned Motorola must also give us Dolby Atmos in the next update!!

The speaker in my G5+ is pretty good, imo. Gets fairly loud, and generally remains clear even at high volume levels.
The headphone jack, however, is a little underpowered though. You have to turn up the volume to higher levels as compared to the G3, and even the E2. 3 volume up clicks above 0 was my staple, and now its 4, and sometimes 5. The audio quality is ok though.

I'm using black player and the sound quality is way better than default play music.play with 3rd party players u"ll get some excellent music experience.

Does the job well
I agree with all the answers in this tread: It gets fairly loud and clear. It's not the best but it gets the job well done. The quality of the 3.5mm headphone jack is also fair.

The audio quality depends on the type of hearing aids you use, usually I use some that mark the bass

For whatever reason, using Bluetooth audio (Moto Surround), I am getting an unusual distortion at higher volumes in contrast to my Moto X Pure Edition and my Droid Turbo. Turbo was spitting harsh treble on some songs but the MXPE held up fine in both regards. Interesting how even Bluetooth audio can vary.
Over 3.5mm though, it seems a bit "spacious" to me, like there is almost a slight reverb and a tiny muffle. Still more than listenable, it's something I can adjust to.

kcipopnevets said:
For whatever reason, using Bluetooth audio (Moto Surround), I am getting an unusual distortion at higher volumes in contrast to my Moto X Pure Edition and my Droid Turbo. Turbo was spitting harsh treble on some songs but the MXPE held up fine in both regards. Interesting how even Bluetooth audio can vary.
Over 3.5mm though, it seems a bit "spacious" to me, like there is almost a slight reverb and a tiny muffle. Still more than listenable, it's something I can adjust to.
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Never heard of Moto Surround. Things sound fine via Bluetooth via SoundCloud and also Poweramp (app). It respects the equalizer settings when using PowerAmp. For SoundCloud though i have no power over the sound signature but it is similar to what I had for the MXPE and MX2014. That said my reciever has APT X driver, but even when connected to one that doesn't it all sounds fairly standard. Little to no difference so I'm curious about your statement for sure.
For me headphone volume via 3.5 jack is loud (and you can use the preamp in Poweramp to give it a significant boost for your audio). Regardless, I'm fairly pleased with output and I have it at around 75% volume to listen to music in the New York City Subway.

Ptikjp said:
Never heard of Moto Surround. Things sound fine via Bluetooth via SoundCloud and also Poweramp (app). It respects the equalizer settings when using PowerAmp. For SoundCloud though i have no power over the sound signature but it is similar to what I had for the MXPE and MX2014. That said my reciever has APT X driver, but even when connected to one that doesn't it all sounds fairly standard. Little to no difference so I'm curious about your statement for sure.
For me headphone volume via 3.5 jack is loud (and you can use the preamp in Poweramp to give it a significant boost for your audio). Regardless, I'm fairly pleased with output and I have it at around 75% volume to listen to music in the New York City Subway.
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aptX support is in full swing here too, this is why I share your confusion. But I do recommend the Surround, it's not advertised to have noise cancelling but it makes the harsh screeching the 6 train makes at 14th Street bearable when listening to music.

kcipopnevets said:
aptX support is in full swing here too, this is why I share your confusion. But I do recommend the Surround, it's not advertised to have noise cancelling but it makes the harsh screeching the 6 train makes at 14th Street bearable when listening to music.
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I wonder if Motorola has included a dsp to enhance the sound signature... that would explain the change in sound. I found the product on Amazon's site. Its pretty inexpensive now, I might just buy it just to test out your notion. lol.

Sound very satisfied
.czarodziej said:
Hello. I'd like to buy Moto G5+ but I read so many negative opinions about sound from speaker and headphones (Jack 3.5 mm). I'd like to know what do you think about speaker and headset in G5+. What's your opinion about audio quality, volume level, etc.?
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I've purchased the phone and the sound of speaker is loud , clear and higher than my previous sony z3
For the headphone I didn't try it but from the reviews,comments and it's build I think it's not good
But I'm using third party headphone called panasonic you will find it in this link :
amazon/ Panasonic-RP-HJE120-K-In-Ear
The best ever headphone I've used , better than my apple headphone and working charm ,loud and ultra bass on my moto G5 plus
Now I'm very satisfied with my moto

kcipopnevets said:
Over 3.5mm though, it seems a bit "spacious" to me, like there is almost a slight reverb and a tiny muffle. Still more than listenable, it's something I can adjust to.
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I agree. Comparing to my Moto X play the G5 Plus is much more bassy, too much like a bass boost option is on and it does sound a bit harsher. Yes it does sound a bit spacious too. The X play sounded just like a line out, as it should. There is something going on here with the G5 Plus.