[Q] Crappy Audio Quality with Headphones - Streak 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
I just got my Dell Streak last week, and I love it (except the akwardness when you hold it up to use it as a phone... lol). However, the sound quality through the headphone jack is pretty unacceptable... I have Googled around and found similar problems with other users (too much static and hissing, even when the volume is off). I tried using two different pairs of headphones (the included ones, and some Meelec M9s), and they both produce the hissing noise, which is not present at all with my iPod touch (which I wanted to replace with the Streak). Is there some app solution to this, or would I be better off trying to get a new phone?
Thanks!

With music, or calls?

bugmenotacc said:
With music, or calls?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both, with a headset (can't tell for normal calls, but I don't really care too much with calls, I only really care about when I'm listening to music).

From my experience it's due to the 3.5mm out not really being boosted, I have the home dock and audio out from that is boosted with more power, vast improvement. Not sure if the 2.2.2 update addresses it, but I think there are some rooms on here that address it.

If it's boosted, wouldn't that cause more noise since noise will also be boosted?
I'm having the same problem. Hissing noise in the background. I also got mine couple days ago. I bought it when it was $200 unlocked from dell.
I'm on stock 347. I should have tested the earphone when I had 351.
It makes the hissing noise in music, internet radio, wherever sound is being played. It has a constant level of hiss noise even if I raise the music volume or reduce it to minimum.

Didn't try with 347 but I don't have this issue with 351.

Related

[Q] Bluetooth Audio Quality

Question,
Using bluetooth to play audio from Pandora sounds terrible. Lots of static, studdering, skipping, cut outs.
If i use a stereo cable it sounds great, so that rules out software.
My atrix sounded gorgeous over blue tooth, so that rules out the equipment.
Anyone else have any sound quality issues with the bluetooth?
No issue so far, use for about 4 hours a day for conference calls and then pandora/slacker or doubletwist for 2-3 hours more. Using Samsung sbh600 bluetooth.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
I use A2DP stereo streaming to two different devices (car and supertooth disco) and it sound excellent! Much better than my old evo and just as good as the nexus S I had for a while.
If you are using wifi for the connection to Pandora, try switching to 3G or 4G. Wifi and bluetooth can interfere with each other as they use the same frequency. I haven't had any issues, but have seen it before with other devices.
azwildfire said:
Question,
Using bluetooth to play audio from Pandora sounds terrible. Lots of static, studdering, skipping, cut outs.
If i use a stereo cable it sounds great, so that rules out software.
My atrix sounded gorgeous over blue tooth, so that rules out the equipment.
Anyone else have any sound quality issues with the bluetooth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed the same thing today streaming to my kenwood unit. My droid X had flawless sound, this was exactly as you described. Any fix yet?
One thing I noticed, my X had a check box for an enhanced bluetooth audio quality....not sure if that made a difference or not.
Been using the phone in my car with my alpine deck without issue. I have the add-on bluetooth from alpine and it works really good with the phone. Randomly the music cuts out for a second but my old blackberry did the same thing, and so did my iPod Touch (2nd gen).
Shutting off the wifi on the phone isn't a bad idea... might give that a shot to see if that helps your issue? My blackberry would randomly distort the music. I would close pandora and do a battery pull then it would usually be back to "normal".
I have the same issue with my Clarion deck. Of course...I've somewhat convinced myself the speakers are a bit blown...but it's worse on BT than wired. From what I've been able to read there is a "bitpool" setting which controls the quality, and by default it's pretty low in the 30's, while it can go up to the 50's and the sound quality is noticeably different. CM fixes this from what I've read, but that's all. Apparently Blackberry has a higher setting by default, and each manufacturer can set their's different.
I'm hoping that a combination of new speakers and CM7 will remedy my issue.
interesting I've got a pioneer premier DEH-P710BT
and it sounds amazing
maybe look for a firmware update for your receiver?
DigitalSileR said:
interesting I've got a pioneer premier DEH-P710BT
and it sounds amazing
maybe look for a firmware update for your receiver?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine is updated to their most current firmware. I'm more inclined to think it's a bad bluetooth stack like weiln12 mentions above. gonna try it out with my friends thunderbolt tonight and see if it is the same.
I also have a clarion deck and find the bluetooth audio quality to be horrific. I find it hard to believe that it's the head unit at fault since my old Droid1 sounded perfectly fine.
Is anyone aware of any roms or kernels that have a higher bitpool setting?
I haven't found any yet. I'm hoping when we see CM7 things will be better.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Sounds absolutely perfect on my Ford Sync audio.. I have a Scoche Bluetooth in my other car that I can test.. I haven't tested as it is currently off the road. I will let you know. With my Scoche and past phones I noticed the bluetooth is a little lower quality then the audio jack but not much and only with that unit.
I have a Motorola S305 headset that works very well with music (slacker, amazon mp3, and pandora). However, my bluetooth Samsung WEP570 sounds so bad, crackled, and quiet (even on max volume) that I don't even use it anymore for calls.
Boss428man said:
Sounds absolutely perfect on my Ford Sync audio.. I have a Scoche Bluetooth in my other car that I can test.. I haven't tested as it is currently off the road. I will let you know. With my Scoche and past phones I noticed the bluetooth is a little lower quality then the audio jack but not much and only with that unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is your call quality on the Ford sync? Specifically the incoming call volume.
I'm streaming Pandora to a MOTO roadster, then over fm to stereo, sounds great, no loss on the bass end either.
Have you tried another bt device?
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
I personally have tried a few and have problems. However, I've tried multiple thunderbolts and they all sound the same on my kenwood. I've definitely read about HTC using less than stellar bluetooth on their units before, so I am assuming that is the case here. I guess it just works ok with some and not with others. Testing my X on the same kenwood unit I have and it's crystal clear with no distortion.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the bluetooth hardware itself. Bluetooth is a wireless digital transfer protocol, nothing more nothing less. It does nothing to the audio quality during it's transmission. Where we have a problem is in the amount of "space" (the bitpool) provided to send the information from your device to the receiver. The lower the bitpool, the less space is available for your music and the more it must be compressed. Motorola may infact provide a higher bitpool setting in their devices than HTC which would account for them sounding better and I also know that the X has a "Use High Quality Bluetooth Audio" setting, which I'm sure enables a higher bitpool.
The type of music you listen to also has a significant effect on how this sounds. If you listen to something that is sonicly simple (ie hip hop, pop, etc etc) it doesn't need as much "space" to sound good. However, when you switch over to music that has more going on like heavy metal, it needs more room.
I can give you a perfect example. I was listening to Rage Against the Machine today. In the slower parts of the songs, it sounded GREAT, but then when it picked up and the song got more involved there was a huge loss of fidelity and it didn't sound very good at all.
Now, for those of you who are happy with how yours sounds, that's awesome, but for those of us who are not, we simply just want to know of a way to adjust the bitpool setting or find a developer who is willing to code it in to their kernel/rom which I believe is what needs to happen.
kkozma said:
This has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the bluetooth hardware itself. Bluetooth is a wireless digital transfer protocol, nothing more nothing less. It does nothing to the audio quality during it's transmission. Where we have a problem is in the amount of "space" (the bitpool) provided to send the information from your device to the receiver. The lower the bitpool, the less space is available for your music and the more it must be compressed. Motorola may infact provide a higher bitpool setting in their devices than HTC which would account for them sounding better and I also know that the X has a "Use High Quality Bluetooth Audio" setting, which I'm sure enables a higher bitpool.
The type of music you listen to also has a significant effect on how this sounds. If you listen to something that is sonicly simple (ie hip hop, pop, etc etc) it doesn't need as much "space" to sound good. However, when you switch over to music that has more going on like heavy metal, it needs more room.
I can give you a perfect example. I was listening to Rage Against the Machine today. In the slower parts of the songs, it sounded GREAT, but then when it picked up and the song got more involved there was a huge loss of fidelity and it didn't sound very good at all.
Now, for those of you who are happy with how yours sounds, that's awesome, but for those of us who are not, we simply just want to know of a way to adjust the bitpool setting or find a developer who is willing to code it in to their kernel/rom which I believe is what needs to happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen. You just summed up the situation perfectly. I forgot the X has the check box for high quality BT audio, that could very well be what makes it better. I'm going to check it out tonight w/o that checked and see how it fares. Not sure why HTC wouldn't have an option like that.
Just found a post here that seems very related. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=708685
Apparently CM uses an open source BT stack that has good settings to use the higher bitpool but HTC chooses the Broadcom stack that utilizes a much lower bitpool as stated above. They don't seem to have a way to raise this value though....
azwildfire said:
Question,
Using bluetooth to play audio from Pandora sounds terrible. Lots of static, studdering, skipping, cut outs.
If i use a stereo cable it sounds great, so that rules out software.
My atrix sounded gorgeous over blue tooth, so that rules out the equipment.
Anyone else have any sound quality issues with the bluetooth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've had no issues. I use Pandora w/ high quality audio over BT into my Ford Sync system.
Sounds great. Somewhere between satellite radio and MP3 player SNR ratio.
Ironically my streaming audio is fine from mp3's i put on the SD, but IN CALL volume is much lower then i am used too, i have a Jabra BT530, its weird because the media volume is fine, but as soon as a call comes in i have to switch to the handset to hear the other end well.
bigunzec said:
Ironically my streaming audio is fine from mp3's i put on the SD, but IN CALL volume is much lower then i am used too, i have a Jabra BT530, its weird because the media volume is fine, but as soon as a call comes in i have to switch to the handset to hear the other end well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that problem but it turned out to just be a volume issue, BT vol was set way higher...
Again, Streaming pandora to Motorola Roaster, which in turn broadcasts FM to my car stereo. It sounds fantastic.

Audio Whining/Squealing/Buzzing Noise

Just got my Rezound on Monday. It's my first HTC phone, and overall I love it... except for one problem.
When listening to music from the phone or Pandora radio, I notice a high pitched whine noise under the audio. It fluctuates between whining/buzzing/squealing and sounds like some kind of electrical interference. It's most noticeable during classical music or a quiet part of a song, or when switching MP3s/radio songs. The noise continues for about 2-4 seconds after stopping/pausing the song before it goes completely silent. It's bad enough that I've been getting headaches from it. I've tried multiple pairs of headphones and also toggling the Beats audio enhancement with no luck.
I saw a few threads where the Bionic had a similar problem. Anyone else experience this whining when listening to music through the 3.5mm jack on headphones or passing it through your car stereo?
Edit: I've now noticed that I can hear this noise even while the volume is muted, as long as some sort of audio is playing (MP3 from library or Pandora for example).
Yeah a bunch of us have it. It sounds like CPU noises and processing noises. Could be por shielding. I don't notice it that bad, and I've got reallllyy good ears (musician, too lol) and it doesn't bug me too much. But yeah, I can confirm its there. There's a thread on phandroid forums about it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Phew, I'm not crazy. I'm not a musician, but I guess I have really sensitive ears for it to bother me so much. It's especially obnoxious when hooked up through the car, since the whining doesn't seem to increase in loudness with the volume level, but the car volume DOES increase it.
A lot of people are reporting that the Bionic issue is/will be patched out. I contacted HTC but haven't heard back yet. I'm really hoping something can be done. My 2 year old OG Droid played audio without a hitch. : /
jayochs said:
Yeah a bunch of us have it. It sounds like CPU noises and processing noises. Could be por shielding. I don't notice it that bad, and I've got reallllyy good ears (musician, too lol) and it doesn't bug me too much. But yeah, I can confirm its there. There's a thread on phandroid forums about it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh man... I just ordered my Rezound this morning!
I hope it doesn't bother me.
if i can (and get super un-lazy, cuz i'm pretty lazy....) i'll record the noise from the earbuds into some of my sensitive recording mics to see if it picks it up to see if its the same noise. however, like i said, it doesn't bother me at all lol
shatteredhalo0 said:
Just got my Rezound on Monday. It's my first HTC phone, and overall I love it... except for one problem.
When listening to music from the phone or Pandora radio, I notice a high pitched whine noise under the audio. It fluctuates between whining/buzzing/squealing and sounds like some kind of electrical interference. It's most noticeable during classical music or a quiet part of a song, or when switching MP3s/radio songs. The noise continues for about 2-4 seconds after stopping/pausing the song before it goes completely silent. It's bad enough that I've been getting headaches from it. I've tried multiple pairs of headphones and also toggling the Beats audio enhancement with no luck.
I saw a few threads where the Bionic had a similar problem. Anyone else experience this whining when listening to music through the 3.5mm jack on headphones or passing it through your car stereo?
Edit: I've now noticed that I can hear this noise even while the volume is muted, as long as some sort of audio is playing (MP3 from library or Pandora for example).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed the same background whining sound on two different Rezound units when playing music through earbuds. I haven't tried my Motorola Stereo Bluetooth headphones to see if I can hear it through those yet.
The Beats sound quality is good, but this background interfaces is killing it for me. At this point the Audio from the Droid Bionic sounds better when using the different EQ settings.
Pretty inexcusable for an audio focused phone.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Yeah they all do it though. My incredible does it. Maybe its interference with the radio or the CPU.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
jayochs said:
Yeah they all do it though. My incredible does it. Maybe its interference with the radio or the CPU.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be a lucky one but I get no background noise at all. That is with the included earbuds, Sony low end headphones, and through my aux in the car.
Now having said that I was initially getting some background noise in the car but changed the car charger and the noise went away. That was not a whine but more like static.
NilsP said:
I may be a lucky one but I get no background noise at all. That is with the included earbuds, Sony low end headphones, and through my aux in the car.
Now having said that I was initially getting some background noise in the car but changed the car charger and the noise went away. That was not a whine but more like static.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which charger does not produce the noise? I'm getting worried about this noise. I'm switching carriers for this phone so I'm not sure what I'll do if it really bothers me. Mine arrives Tuesday and that's the day I'm driving 2.5 hours to Mom's house for Thanksgiving so I'll get a nice long chance to test it out in my car.
feralicious said:
Which charger does not produce the noise? I'm getting worried about this noise. I'm switching carriers for this phone so I'm not sure what I'll do if it really bothers me. Mine arrives Tuesday and that's the day I'm driving 2.5 hours to Mom's house for Thanksgiving so I'll get a nice long chance to test it out in my car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Belkin mini 5v 1a for lighter and usb
I tried two different brands of wired earbuds and a regular wired over-the-ear headphones and can hear the background whining sound with all of them. It doesn't matter if I'm using the default music player, Google Music, WinMap (or 3rd party player), I can also hear it when streaming YouTube videos.
But if I use my Motorola HT820 Stereo Bluetooth headphones, there is no whining sound, just a small background "hiss" that the Motorola HT820 always has done.
So it seems the background whining problem with the Rezound has more to due with using the 3.5mm headset jack for listening to music, as I don't hear it when using Stereo Bluetooth headphones.
Maybe someone else with Bluetooth Stereo headphones can double-check?
FAUguy said:
I tried two different brands of wired earbuds and a regular wired over-the-ear headphones and can hear the background whining sound with all of them. It doesn't matter if I'm using the default music player, Google Music, WinMap (or 3rd party player), I can also hear it when streaming YouTube videos.
But if I use my Motorola HT820 Stereo Bluetooth headphones, there is no whining sound, just a small background "hiss" that the Motorola HT820 always has done.
So it seems the background whining problem with the Rezound has more to due with using the 3.5mm headset jack for listening to music, as I don't hear it when using Stereo Bluetooth headphones.
Maybe someone else with Bluetooth Stereo headphones can double-check?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would be curious if someone else could try this as well. In a response to my ticket regarding this HTC support suggested I try a bluetooth headset, I dont have one and they told me to go to the store and ask to try one. I dont plan on doing that but would be interesting if someone has one laying around already to try and confirm.
I tried removing my back cover and listening as well at their suggestion and that seems to take care of it as well so it may be an antennae issue.
I put the cover back on but have 4g off today to save some battery life and havent heard it yet while listening to music on my device, so it may even be the 4g signal interfering if someone else would like to try that as well.
my 4g is off and i hear the noise, so it's not the 4g radio
I notice it only when the music player is not playing any audio. When beats kicks in, the noise seems to go away.
Like when an album is done and the player has nothing to do, when the phone is connected to my truck stereo, I hear noise that changes in pitch with the RPMs.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
I notice that on my GPS when I use Bluetooth through my stereo speakers...my Garmin GPS puts out a radio signal and u set the car to that frequency so u hear stuff through your speakers...I hear my.rpm changes in that lol
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Some of what you guys are describing, the stuff with car chargers, has to do with a ground loop. http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/index.html
Some of it sounds like poor shielding. This is the noise you hear when you have earphones plugged in and no audio is playing. The audio jack/circuitry on this phone is probably very poorly shielded as all of them probably are nowadays. A lot of this noise gets drowned out with louder music, which is might be what happens when Beats is on.
I would love to know objectively if this were better or worse than other phones but no one ever tests these things and I'm not gonna hold my breath for a phone that touts a real headphone amp, DAC, and superior signal to noise ratios, or anything a music lover (not just hip-hop) might care about.
The easiest way I've found to get around most of this is to use Bluetooth audio. It doesn't sound great by any stretch, but it has less noise than most jacks and doesn't have the ground loop issue.
All I know is there was no noise at all with my Incredible.
I was listening to sections of John Lennon's Rolling Stone Interview (recorded shortly after the breakup of the Beatles) via the YouTube app on my Rezound today. The noise would start right after one segment would end, and stop as soon as I selected the next one.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
yep
i hear it when I am using the ibeats headset on calls, it is very annoying. However it only happens if I have the audio all the way up, after putting it down two times it goes away.
I tried a suggestion of turning on the Airplane Mode to kill data while using the music player, and I can still hear the backgtound whining interference sound. Even with a song playing, and turning the music volume all the way down to mute, I can still hear it in the background. But once I pause the song, the whinging stops a few seconds later. This happens while using any brand of wiered earbuds or headphones, not just the red ones that come included.
The only time I don't hear it on the Rezound is when using Bluetooth Stereo headphones.
Since I also just got the Droid Razr, I tried music playback on it, and it doesn't have any backgroud interference sounds, though the actual music quality still sounds better on the Rezound. Hopefully its an issue that can be resolved with a future software upgrade, but it might be a hardware issue that can't be fixed.

Ear buds

I'm having a problem hearing music using ear Buds / headphones and was wondering if anyone else was having this issue on titan. The sound goes real dull almost like non-stereo and I have to hold where the 3.5 mm jack is and wiggle the earbuds to get a clear sound. I bought new skoal candies and tried 3 other pairs so I'm guessing its my phone but was curious if anyone else was having this issue.
Thx
from Titan on XDA Windows Phone 7 App
ear buds and the like
It might just be your 3.5 mm connection...I tried mine out just now (I had not added music to my Titan previously) and plugged in and was very very pleasantly surprised at the sound quality. I had surmised for myself that my PDA was for phone and calendar etc, and the iPod or other MP3/4 player for audio - mostly for quality of sound. I won't make that mistake again. The Titan is good - very good.
galdal said:
The sound goes real dull almost like non-stereo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DId you use IE while listening to Music? I don't have any problems with Music playback (Used it to listen to my music collection during work hours whole last week) However I noticed that when I launch IE (search, or by launching IE on its own) sound quality suddenly changes, and degrades..
mvadu said:
DId you use IE while listening to Music? I don't have any problems with Music playback (Used it to listen to my music collection during work hours whole last week) However I noticed that when I launch IE (search, or by launching IE on its own) sound quality suddenly changes, and degrades..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, I think it has something to do with bluetooth stereo vs headset profile. Weird that it happens with regular ear buds.
Sent from my PI39100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
I think its defective, I'm going to call ATT tomorrow and have it replaced because I have to hold where the earbuds fit into the 3.5 connecter and put a little bit of pressure to get the sound to come thru. I'm glad to hear no one else is having an issue so thats good
I'm having issues too.
I had problems with my audio jack too. I was looking on here to see if anyone else had issues. At first, I thought that I had a failing headset but then I put another one in and after awhile it started doing the same thing. It's not right away but it seems to start up after a bit. It's really concerning me though. I'm considering getting a replacement and hope this is just a minor issue that affects a few units. I don't want to wait and have it develop into a bigger issue. It frustrates me though, because I had originally bought a focus s and the hands free button didn't work right. It seemed like an issue with the way it registered button presses. Now, I get this phone and the button works right but I'm having these audio issues. Argghh.
I don't have a problem with any earbuds , every one i tried works for me. It might just be your phone itself. maybe deffective? If i was you i would try regular ipod headphones or a friends to see if that really is the problem
hi all, question about the volume sensitivity on the titan. i used to have an iphone 3gs then switched to the skyrocket to try out android but i'm really unhappy with the android music players so i'm either going to trade it in for the iphone 4s or the htc titan (still within the 30 day period).
on my iphone i could set the max volume to wherever i wanted and would have plenty of intermediate volumes to get the level right where i want it.
however, with the skyrocket by the time i hit the 3rd volume level (0=mute, 1= up volume button pressed once) the volume physically hurts my ears and i like loud music.
i'm using the stock headphones that came with my iphone 3gs because i like the fit and the in-line remote. i know these have low resistance but still, only having 2 usable volume settings is ridiculously annoying because i can only listen to music really softly or a bit louder than where i want it to be.
how do you guys feel the volume sensitivity is on the titan? are there more than 2-3 acceptable volume levels for low-resistance (small earbud) headphones? thanks!
i use the included earbuds and the 30 level volume settings seem to fit most situations
Replace it since you're within the 30 days. I got a new one and the issue is cleared up, I had a defective unit. Very happy with it now

[Q] Hissing noise on Audio

Hi all! I have been reading alot of post about Streak's low quality sound output, and I'am experiencing it too, when I plug in my head phones there is no hissing sound, but when I click play or receive a call hissing sound starts and does not end till audio output end.
There is alot of post from people that have the same issue, I will Quote them below. I'm posting this because everyone that has posted this issue has been "overrun" with other people posts that they do not have that background noise.
I just want to expand on this problem, could it be Android version, or perhaps different hardware? Any suggestion is welcome.
----------------------------------------------
gadaga said:
Hi,
Personally I find that whatever I use as earphones, I have a hard time accepting the noise level on the streak. When playing music at a medium volume, the noise is really very very present.
I suppose there is no work around is there? Doesn't this bother you for serious listening?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
donalgodon said:
The sound quality is absolutely abhorrent in comparison to the Galaxy SII or any other smartphone I've ever used, including the HD2, Vibrant, several Nokia devices, etc.
There is a constant and definitely audible signal noise in the Streak that really bugged me. As a recording engineer, I can definitely hear the difference between the audio systems on the two devices. When the playback system kicks in, you can literally hear the hiss in the background. When the playback stops, the hiss vanishes. Upon further investigation, it seems that this is a known issue that found its way into several reviews. If I hadn't heard it for myself, I'd have not believed how terrible it actually sounded, and frankly, it's SO bad that I find it inexcusable on such a high-end device.
I sold my iPod and bought a larger MicroSD to use my phone as my main portable media device, and the Streak really let me down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hp79 said:
If it's boosted, wouldn't that cause more noise since noise will also be boosted?
I'm having the same problem. Hissing noise in the background. I also got mine couple days ago. I bought it when it was $200 unlocked from dell.
I'm on stock 347. I should have tested the earphone when I had 351.
It makes the hissing noise in music, internet radio, wherever sound is being played. It has a constant level of hiss noise even if I raise the music volume or reduce it to minimum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it's the hardware. Doesn't matter what OS level you're running (I've experienced it on 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
I've actually found it to be more tolerable on the Dell oem headphones when compared to my nice headphones (etymotic research er6i)
cyapalmpos said:
I believe it's the hardware. Doesn't matter what OS level you're running (I've experienced it on 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
I've actually found it to be more tolerable on the Dell oem headphones when compared to my nice headphones (etymotic research er6i)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope its OS because some don't have this issue, maybe MIUI 2.3.2 Rom wont have this problem (when they fix the problem with headphones not being recognized).
And yes, on Dell oem headphones it is less noticable but compared to 50-100$ better headphones, Dell's are low quality, although they are one of the best in box headphones that comes with device.
I have some basic knowledge in Java and C. Could anyone point in the right direction so I can try to edit/tweak some setting of audio output. Any info would be appreciated.
It's also noticible on the S7 and venue. At least on the S7 you can only really notice it in a room that's completely silent, but at least for that i'm talking about the external speakers.
All I can say is that it's pretty much not noticible for me as long as it's not silence/very low volume music. At least for me it's very easy to drown out the hiss by raising the volume as it does not/minimally scales with the volume.
Keep in mind that the speakers/headset jack simply do not recieve power when not in use, the hiss on them could be part of the inherent design of it. It might be noise after the DAC as it doesnt scale anywhere near 1:1 with the audio. But I'm just blindly guessing
TheManii said:
It's also noticible on the S7 and venue. At least on the S7 you can only really notice it in a room that's completely silent, but at least for that i'm talking about the external speakers.
All I can say is that it's pretty much not noticible for me as long as it's not silence/very low volume music. At least for me it's very easy to drown out the hiss by raising the volume as it does not/minimally scales with the volume.
Keep in mind that the speakers/headset jack simply do not recieve power when not in use, the hiss on them could be part of the inherent design of it. It might be noise after the DAC as it doesnt scale anywhere near 1:1 with the audio. But I'm just blindly guessing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did they came up with any fix for S7 and Venue?
In DSC rom update there is a line that says:
I'm using MIUI so can someone confirm if this changes anything?
_n0p_ said:
v1.0
[*]DSC Gain tool. Controls audio driver parameters.
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The V has pretty much no perceptable hiss, and I believe the V and S5 share the same audio drivers (dont quote me on this), it might merely be a hardware issue on the S5.
I cant really say much about the S7's headset out, as it's rather unwieldly to use that way.
Also I'm very sure that it ISNT dependant on volume, like previously mentioned unless your current headset is loud to begin with, just turn up the volume and it drowns out nicely.
But yes it will be noticable on the quiet parts of music or during track changes.
tl;dr: turn up volume, V's got a cleaner output
Equipment tested on:
S5: CM7.2
S7: SD7-r9 (514-xx)
V: SD4-250 (408)
headset: iphone in ear headphones
I think its just the poor SNR ratio of the streak, its only -79db or something, its very poor.
Scroll down in this Dell Streak review to see RMAA audio benchmark measurements.
_n0p_ said:
soul_train, 100% hardware issue.
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Makes me sad

[Q] Note's audio quality hiss?

I haven't seen this posted about the Note. Does anyone else have a bad hiss when listening to music? Using Google Music and spotify, there is a definite hiss in the background.
I realize the Note's audio chip isn't great but I wasn't expecting this. Coming from the Captivate, this is really annoying me at the moment.
I hear it only in headphones
I don't hear it on the speaker or via BT. Haven't used the headphone jack yet.
Right, only on headphones. Quite loud and intrusive. I listen to my good quality in-ears at work for hours every day. I can't believe just how crappy the sound is on this otherwise fantastic device.
Ok, you got me wondering so I put on a decent pair of over-the-ear cans and spent 10 minutes flipping through a half-dozen channels of XM (128 kbps streaming). Then 5 more minutes going through several high-quality MP3s (variable bitrate with a max of 224 kbps).
No hiss, no background noise at all during the soft parts. Cranked the volume up to max, no distortion. Very happy with the results - much better than my last phone, the onboard sound on that sucked.
I'm on the stock rom, are you using something else?
For mere there's some noise when I'm not listening to anything, but I only hear it on my headphones.
In car Hiss
have not noticed it with headphones...but.....While using the car dock, any pause in the music whether it be on Pandora, Google Music, or just no app selected, There is a really annoying hiss/feedback through the speakers in the car. This is using the audio output connected to my stereo's AUX input.
It's just like a bad ground "whine" on a stereo...speeds up and down with the car. Never did this before with any other phone/device, so I know it's the note or the dock. I have not tried connected directly to the headphone jack on the note, I'll have to try that out.
Yeah the skyrocket did that too. I have a video up on you tube of it.
rknight68 said:
have not noticed it with headphones...but.....While using the car dock, any pause in the music whether it be on Pandora, Google Music, or just no app selected, There is a really annoying hiss/feedback through the speakers in the car. This is using the audio output connected to my stereo's AUX input.
It's just like a bad ground "whine" on a stereo...speeds up and down with the car. Never did this before with any other phone/device, so I know it's the note or the dock. I have not tried connected directly to the headphone jack on the note, I'll have to try that out.
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Sent from my SGH-I717R using XDA App
techntrek said:
Ok, you got me wondering so I put on a decent pair of over-the-ear cans and spent 10 minutes flipping through a half-dozen channels of XM (128 kbps streaming). Then 5 more minutes going through several high-quality MP3s (variable bitrate with a max of 224 kbps).
No hiss, no background noise at all during the soft parts. Cranked the volume up to max, no distortion. Very happy with the results - much better than my last phone, the onboard sound on that sucked.
I'm on the stock rom, are you using something else?
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As stock as can be here. The hiss is most apparent at the beginning of the track when it starts playing but no music yet. As soon as the track starts playing, you can here it click on with the hiss.
Did I get a defective one?
I'm using a very good pair of in-ears (UE700s). I'll try to dig up some cans later to try it. Maybe directing sound directly onto the ear drums via in-ears picks up the hiss better (less natural filtering?).
Another thought: is there an internal amp volume/gain? Listening to the in-ears, it seems the media volume is very loud even at low settings and amps up quickly with each keypress. Maybe there is another sound tweak I can make somewhere.
rknight68 said:
have not noticed it with headphones...but.....While using the car dock, any pause in the music whether it be on Pandora, Google Music, or just no app selected, There is a really annoying hiss/feedback through the speakers in the car. This is using the audio output connected to my stereo's AUX input.
It's just like a bad ground "whine" on a stereo...speeds up and down with the car. Never did this before with any other phone/device, so I know it's the note or the dock. I have not tried connected directly to the headphone jack on the note, I'll have to try that out.
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A common problem if you are also charging - you are setting up a ground loop. You can add a ground loop isolator on the audio cable (big and clunky), unplug the power, or unplug the audio (and use BT in its place).
---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 PM ----------
flintdragon said:
Did I get a defective one?
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While I'm not a die-hard audiophile (I won't spend 10K on a sound system) I do consider myself to be pretty selective. Partly why I ripped my CD collection @ 224 and not something lower - I did lots of tests beforehand and still could hear subtle differences @ 192. Also why I rarely buy 128 kbps mp3s. Anyway, for better or for worse I just don't hear anything negative so maybe yours is defective. I will bust out some in-ear buds tonight and take another listen.
Another thought: is there an internal amp volume/gain? Listening to the in-ears, it seems the media volume is very loud even at low settings and amps up quickly with each keypress. Maybe there is another sound tweak I can make somewhere.
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Often media players will have a separate volume from the phone's "media volume". Then there are separate "media volume" settings for BT and the jack. Then don't forget internal volume on BT headphones. It can take some fiddling to find the best combination.
rknight68 said:
have not noticed it with headphones...but.....While using the car dock, any pause in the music whether it be on Pandora, Google Music, or just no app selected, There is a really annoying hiss/feedback through the speakers in the car. This is using the audio output connected to my stereo's AUX input.
It's just like a bad ground "whine" on a stereo...speeds up and down with the car. Never did this before with any other phone/device, so I know it's the note or the dock. I have not tried connected directly to the headphone jack on the note, I'll have to try that out.
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http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Re...sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332269457&sr=8-1-spell
I had the same thing with all my devices. Its just bad ground. That cable will get you set straight.
I never listened to my note with headphones, just with my car stereo with that cable. I hear absolutely no hissing or whining noise, just absolute beautiful sound and bass. This phone is mounds better than the Captivate.
Well, I retried some EQ/volume apps that I might has used recently to make sure there isn't any overboost feature enabled but nothing I can do to solve my problem. argh...
I never tried headphones in my Note with the stock sound equalizer. I had already installed the Beats by Dre mod in the developer's forum.
Zero hum whatsoever, and my happy hardcore sounds amazing.
I too have hiss from the headphone jack. I just returned my first Note yesterday hoping that the hiss would go away. It did not. I use mine in the car with an adapter that hooks directly to the back of my radio (JVC proprietary style).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
dakleenupman said:
I too have hiss from the headphone jack. I just returned my first Note yesterday hoping that the hiss would go away. It did not. I use mine in the car with an adapter that hooks directly to the back of my radio (JVC proprietary style).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
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Huh... I was about to return mine today but maybe it might be fruitless? Or maybe there is a large quantity with hiss and others without?
For those with no hiss, do you find the volume to be very loud? What I'm talking about is even at low settings, just 2-3 notches above silent, the volume is already pretty loud. My phone feels like the internal "gain" was set too high.
I know on my captivate, I could set the media volume to about 40% and still be comfortable. On my Note, it's about 20-30% if that.
Does volume of the note sounds real low to you compared to smaller phones???
klee2000 said:
Does volume of the note sounds real low to you compared to smaller phones???
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No, it is TOO LOUD. just a couple notches above zero and some music is already getting too loud. This is with headphones not internal speaker.
I just got back from swapping my phone from the AT&T store. Both models (black/white) on display had the hiss. I decided to go ahead and swap and maybe a new shipment had an updated phone. NOPE, the hiss is still there.
I've used 3 different in-ears (couldn't find any over the ear cans) and also tested on a captivate and galaxy tab 10.1. It's the Note that is doing the hissing and very noticeable even at low volumes. Easiest to hear is right when you track begins but before the music starts.
I think this might be a deal breaker for me. I love this thing though. Especially irritating with spotify between tracks.
music end -> hiss -> soundless gap -> hiss 0> music starts
Anyone know of an app (probably one that requires root) that can adjust the internal gain like what voodoo sound did?
This older thread I just found (post #5) seems to describe my problem as well.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538573
In order to quantify if this is hardware or not, try doing a factory reset (since you've returned your phone it shouldnt be that big of a deal).
Then, using the stock player on the phone (feel free to update Google Music or any other apps that came with the phone) see if you have the same hiss.
The factory reset is to determine if its possibly an app you installed at some point that is 'boosting' the sound internally without your knowledge. Sound boosting can create signal to noise problems.
Make sure your phone isnt plugged in / charging to anything (not plugged into a PC for example).
And try moving around to different locations, for example, in your house, try going into your front / back yard and see if the problem persists.
You also might try a different set of headphones and see if you have the same issue.
And lastly, if you plug in the headphones and reboot the phone, once the phone is fully booted, check to see if you hear any hiss WITHOUT any apps open?
As a side note, I just tested this (believe it or not, Ive had the Note for 3 weeks now and never plugged in headphones) using Seinnheiser studio HD 600 headphones (very expensive at around $600 for a pair and VERY power efficient) and have no hiss. However, the sound quality isnt all that great but that is a different issue.
littlewierdo said:
In order to quantify if this is hardware or not, try doing a factory reset (since you've returned your phone it shouldnt be that big of a deal).
Then, using the stock player on the phone (feel free to update Google Music or any other apps that came with the phone) see if you have the same hiss.
The factory reset is to determine if its possibly an app you installed at some point that is 'boosting' the sound internally without your knowledge. Sound boosting can create signal to noise problems.
Make sure your phone isnt plugged in / charging to anything (not plugged into a PC for example).
And try moving around to different locations, for example, in your house, try going into your front / back yard and see if the problem persists.
You also might try a different set of headphones and see if you have the same issue.
And lastly, if you plug in the headphones and reboot the phone, once the phone is fully booted, check to see if you hear any hiss WITHOUT any apps open?
As a side note, I just tested this (believe it or not, Ive had the Note for 3 weeks now and never plugged in headphones) using Seinnheiser studio HD 600 headphones (very expensive at around $600 for a pair and VERY power efficient) and have no hiss. However, the sound quality isnt all that great but that is a different issue.
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Thanks for your helpful tips. Unfortunately, I've tried all that. Factory reset and all. As soon as the phone is ready to go, I listen to some music and hear the hiss immediately. Home or office, no difference. Not plugged in. Different in-ears. 4 different Notes.
I'm using very good in-ears (UE 700s, dual armature) and also decent SuperFi.3s.
Something interesting. Took a listen to a friend's good headphones just now and do not hear any hiss. Even if the media volume cranked up close the max, sounded fine, no hiss and listenably loud. With the in-ears, I can barely get half way up in volume because it becomes too loud.
Anyone here use in-ears? I know most prefer headphones or earbuds.
I'm going to try an inline attenuator tonight to see if that helps (if I can find it!).
What do you mean 'as soon as the phone is ready to go'?
As in, the instant you plug in headphones the hiss is there?
My guess is likely that the in-ear headphones are putting the sound right up to your ear drum and they likely are super sensitive.
The sound chip in the Note is not near to as good as the sound chip in the Captivate.
Im going to do a bit more experimenting with this as the only headphone I have are the seinnheisers and they arent exactly great for portable listening. I have a friend coming over tonight who has some very high quality in-ear headphones and Ill see if I hear anything with those.

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