Hello guys
I'm planning to get a lumia 800. Since I always use the phone as a music player with my westone, I would like to ask whose bought lumia 800:
1. How's the sound quality of lumia?
2. In what extent the improved sound quality with the firmware update? I read the review in GSMArena and shown a disappointing result
English is not my native language, sorry for my bad english.
Many Thanks!
Audio quality
I am very disappointed with the audio quality.
If it was my only phone and I couldn't compare it to anything else I would probably think it's ok but yesterday in bed with my earphones on watching a youtube video I kept getting interference noise and the quality isn't as good as on my iPhone 4S.
Also I have tested both Lumia 800 and iPhone 4S sending audio via bluetooth to my car stereo (Nissan Connect) and the difference is shocking. The iPhone sounds as if the cable was plugged in and the quality is great but the Lumia makes it sounds like your listening to FM in a bad coverage area.
Don't worry about your english, it isn't my first language either.
If you really love your music I would recommend you stay away from the Lumia for now, also because battery doesn't last even a day. heh
Hope I could help.
Lumia really miss an equalizer
vassilihk said:
1. How's the sound quality of lumia?
2. In what extent the improved sound quality with the firmware update? I read the review in GSMArena and shown a disappointing result
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a Westone 3 user and the sound on my Lumia is beyond disastrous. I can totally confirm the GSMArena results. This was such a shocker to me when I first plugged my earphones I couldn't believe it.
Some users though report that their sound is fine (although it's difficult to sort out people who test sound on stock headset and such stuff).
I still haven't received the update, so don't know whether it helps or not.
But definitely try to test sound before buying this phone! I mean, here it's not just bad. It's totally ridiculously awful.
Soundwise you should look at three things:
1 call quality with phone earpiece
2 call quality with phone internal speaker
3 audio quality of internal speaker
4 audio quality to external device
5 mic
All have different character and should imo be included in a review. Furthermore audio is very difficult to objectively review as user experience is based on personal opinions.
anyway, my experiences with the Lumia are these:
1) call quality earpiece: normal phone calls in office, phone calls with a lot of background noise, and sound quality while in call are very ok, what you'd expect from Nokia. the volume level is okay too, the lowest setting is not too loud like on most phones.
2) call quality internal: okay, loud enough, not too much treble which is very please on prolonged phonecalls.
3) audio on internal speaker, what do you expect from a 3 mm driver in a very small cabinet. I think it's fine, not harsh, much treble and don't expect any bass.
4) audio to external:
a) tested on hi end phones, sounds very well, includes all frequencies, converters sound a bit flat but i'm sure most users won't notice.
b) bluetooth i had someone verifiy and this seems good quality
5) I had someone else call me with Lumia800 and this is as expected from Nokia
But, I'm a bit worried about "audio quality updates" like in the latest firmware. I'm sure they fiddle with algorithms, noise cancelling, auto volume, and minimal levels. I live with the philosophy that whatever is good, doesn't need to be changed.
htc12345 said:
I live with the philosophy that whatever is good, doesn't need to be changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a great philosophy, but it's obviously not good for all users. Whether an update can fix anything or this is a faulty batch of phones is another question.
htc12345 said:
4) audio to external:
a) tested on hi end phones, sounds very well, includes all frequencies, converters sound a bit flat but i'm sure most users won't notice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't believe this. MANY users say the sound is awful and I can confirm it also. It just lacks MUCH low frequencies.
What is your HW version etc. ?
Many users have reported improved sound quality and better bass after update released yesterday.
Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express
mjl_79 said:
Many users have reported improved sound quality and better bass after update released yesterday.
Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll definetely check this, but I'm almost on my way to cashback.
Thank you all
You guys do help me a lot!
I went to shop with my pair of hf5 and um2 to test the phone's demo (It still didn't release at my place.... sigh........ and the phone had not updated with the latest patch)
That's my experience
- NO BASS
- Other frequencies -> medicore
- Stereo is good, it felt like the music is surrounding you ( Better than my xperia pro )
- There are some noise when completed silent...
To be honest, I quite disappointed with lumia , its music performance (I should rephase it, lol) even cannot compete with 5800 3 years ago!
I miss my i9000 with voodoo sound... it is so hard to have a phone with nice looking , good music performance and not-a-iphone
If the sound quality is the most need of you, how do you like the mobile phone "Meizu" in China?
vassilihk, with the UM2, are you using loudness or eq on other phones if that is available?
i agree the sound quality of phones has decreased. everything is made smaller, faster, and lighter and you can see this in the build quality
htc12345 said:
vassilihk, with the UM2, are you using loudness or eq on other phones if that is available?
i agree the sound quality of phones has decreased. everything is made smaller, faster, and lighter and you can see this in the build quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not use equalizer, what i believe a good music player is simply deliver accurate output, pure frequency response is the best.
Let the earphone do the job, not the equalizer, that's what i believe, lol~
kefty said:
If the sound quality is the most need of you, how do you like the mobile phone "Meizu" in China?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actucally I live in Hong Kong and Meizu planned to release MX on 1.1.2012
In fact, I do have a bias on china-brand phone for its built quality, goodwill... I did not know how's the foreigners think about Meizu
Ofcoz, I'll have a try on MX if it is good
vassilihk said:
I do not use equalizer, what i believe a good music player is simply deliver accurate output, pure frequency response is the best.
Let the earphone do the job, not the equalizer, that's what i believe, lol~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true... true ..
so while typing this i listen to music using good, very good headphones. clean and crisp sound, bass included. no overkill in the bass but the frequency are definetely there. just don't use tiny in ear drivers to generate booming bass sound...
My in-ear beats headphones that came with my Sensation XL improve the sound output on the Lumia 10 fold. it's al about the headphones.
i have an a lumia 800 since 1 week and i am also pretty disappointed by the sound quality. there is no bass, even with the update :-(
i really like the phone, but this is a no-go because i hear a lot of music. if nokia diesn`t change this, i'll switch to an apple or samsung device.
i think we're running round in circles or that different phone users have different ears. however to the suggestion above of comparin hw rev numbers, noone replied.
Okay, I have finally replaced my unit and got one that has great audio quality. The difference is massive.
It has the same hardware revision number and everything is exactly the same, the IMEI is different by about 700, so they have been built in the same production run most probably. There's no way to tell apart from plugging in your earphones and testing for yourself.
Is there anyway to manually increase some frequency values?
It's frustrating as the Lumia 800 sounds great using my Denons, but the very low frequencies are flat, very flat.
I really hope there will be some fix for this because as a whole i like the device a lot and the music experience is great. That said music to me on the phone is easily on the top 3 features so it needs to work.
Related
Guys post your opinions on the audio quality of the device and if possible also a comparison with your previous phones.
Thanks.
Already quite heavily discussed...
Disappointed. Don't like the headset at all. got replacement and it's fine and waiting for the smart headset to come out.well hopefully it'll be the best, I love listen to music and this time I'm really disappointed with Sony for sure. (Sad Face)
Why disappointed? Everyone knows that standard headsets are bad.
Use your own, be happy.
chesterr said:
Disappointed. Don't like the headset at all. got replacement and it's fine and waiting for the smart headset to come out.well hopefully it'll be the best, I love listen to music and this time I'm really disappointed with Sony for sure. (Sad Face)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you expand a little - what exactly are you unhappy about? When you say you 'don't like the headset' - is it the sound quality or the ergonomics/comfort that you don't like? what aspects exactly are bad?
When we assess the audio performance of a phone, there are several separate aspects:
1. Audio output signal quality, i.e. the analog signal coming out of the phone jack. I would argue that this is superb, as can be witnessed by connecting it directly to a quality Hi-Fi system or high-performance headphones.
Has anyone noticed anything different in this respect - like distortion, noise or other defects? I haven't.
2. The audio quality in the main use of the device: as a telephone (unless we have forgotten that it can also make calls). Taken for granted most of the time, this audio quality was disappointing in my previous X10 - but on the X-S is significantly better. Call audio quality (including volume) is on par with the best phones I've used.
3. The sound quality when listening to music 'over the air', i.e. form the phone's built-in speaker. There are limitations how much loudness and/or bass you can extract form a tiny speaker in a tiny box - I hope nobody expects it to sound like a 500 Watt stereo system On speaker, the X-S is on par with the following models found around my household: Xperia X10, SE C905, SE C902, Nokia 5800. Differences are minor and, at this compromise level, not worth analysing. Subjectively, on built-in speaker the X-S sounds to me slightly but certainly better than the X10.
4. Audio quality via the standard headset provided in the pack. NOT (!) any extra /additional headphones - those are subject to your taste (and investment), see (1) above.
The kit headset is a hands-free unit optimised for making calls and not for music consumption. Yes, they certainly can play music (and many models do it decently, depending on the listener's audio culture and expectations) - but they absolutely must not be assessed and criticised as a musical device, they simply are not that.
Anyone who has the ears to hear the difference and values audio quality normally buys dedicated musical headphones. (Or already has them - as technology in them evolves slower than phones and they need less frequent 'updates'. I keep them over the life of 2-3 phones).
When we rely on the headset provided in the box, we voluntarily agree with the limitations - that those are a compromise, designed for making calls and also designed to minimise the cost of the bundle.
- - -
I'd like to think that we all agree with the above logic. Please feel free to prove me wrong (with facts) on any aspect of it. In this light, I would like to hear:
- What aspects of the audio is @chesterr (and others) unhappy about?
- If Sony disappoints, who else doesn't? What are you comparing the X-S with? What is your example of the ideal mobile audio experience (straight out of the box)?
Anyone could recommend a headset at, at max 50 dollars, for listening to music that works on it. Cable at least 1 meter and has to be in-ear.
Sent from Xperia X10 Mini Pro using CM9 by paul-xxx
Since my kplisch x10i won't work with the Sony @) I have gone back to my trusty denon ach 360's
Very nice warm sound in my opinion even though they are considered an older model.
http://www.knowyourmobile.com/accessories/earphones/301807/denon_ahc360_review.html
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium
Using Soundmagic E10s with mine and have to say I'm impressed - easily on a par with my iPhone 4s for audio quality - sounds pretty neutral to me and more than adequate for a phone imho.
maistora said:
Can you expand a little - what exactly are you unhappy about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow man you're promoting Sony or something I thought that I was doing that..
well It's Sony dude they should've done more better than this, I don't blame it but I don't like the headset.Okay If you're telling me to be happy with what I get for the price that I paid for, Okay then.
BTW I'm waiting for their new Smart Headset. and Hopefully it'll be better and yes the call quality is to the maximum comparing to the other devices and they've done a pretty good job with the equaliser and with the xLoud.But I feel like I'm not getting enough Bass. Anyways I hope Smart Headset will be out soon to get
Included earbuds are always crap. If earbuds cost less than €50/$75 they are crap by definition. I've heard the audio output quality of the Xperia S is brilliant and amongst the best of all phones ever made.
chesterr said:
they've done a pretty good job with the equaliser and with the xLoud.But I feel like I'm not getting enough Bass. Anyways I hope Smart Headset will be out soon to get
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bass is very dependent on the headphones. I just tried on a pair of Sony MDR-EX81 and the bass is thumpin!
Tip: If you really wanna splurge, try the Sony balanced armature series...
I'm really impressed with the audio quality on the xs. I came from a Samsung Galaxy s2 which is a truly awful mp3 player.
The only criticism I can find with the Sony is that the highs and percussion are often more pronounced than vocals, but having said that the highs are very detailed and defined, and a pleasure to listen to!
This is the best performing phone for audio I have owned. That includes the Iphone 3gs...
Hi!
Could anyone compare the sound coming from the backside speaker to the Iphone 4 speaker output (music without headset).
Cause coming from the X10i and comparing to Iphone of my wife, x10i has a miserable sound (small tweeter behind speakerhole at the left side), Iphone4 has a much richer base when playing back music without headset.
Reading that SXS is "on par" with my X10i in that aspect is really not what i hoped to hear ....
Greetings,
Bax
Baxxx said:
Hi!
Reading that SXS is "on par" with my X10i in that aspect is really not what i hoped to hear ....
Greetings,
Bax
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
When I compare the built in speaker of my XPS with my old x10 mini pro, the x10 mini pro has a better sound, but with stock hearphones I think XPS is better.
chesterr said:
Wow man you're promoting Sony or something...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I'm not promoting Sony. Unlike Appleheads, I am not a blind fan - every time I am buying a new device I research all products in the market, from all brands and makers. I have a (rather complex) set of comparison criteria and carefully score all available options. The fact that my last few phones happened to be Sony (Ericsson) is not brand loyalty, they just scored top marks according to my criteria. As a rationally-minded (stupid engineer) I can only compare facts and measurable parameters. 'Cool' factor, fashion trends and media hype are not among my criteria - otherwise I always gave Apple a chance in my shortlists.
Talking of audio, I cannot completely ignore the fact that among all phone makers Sony is the only one that has been making audio equipment for more than half a century, including high-quality HiFi systems and components. That includes a (very) deep vault of patents, but more important - a wealth of experience and expertise that no other phone maker has, and no 'think different' genius can easily replace.
Talking about cameras (sorry about straying off-topic for a moment) - apart from Samsung no other phone maker has any experience in making 'normal' cameras, and even they started much later and excel at the cheaper end. Sony have been making (photo) cameras longer and long before that they were making professional TV cameras used by every major broadcaster in the world. That counts for some (deep) understanding of electronic imaging that no one else has. In fact, Apple respect this and have chosen not to reinvent the steam engine, but have built a Sony camera in their phone. There can hardly be a higher recognition.
- - -
No 'Sony-heads' and blind fans here, just noticing objective facts and using my head, not my 'heart' (or other body parts).
To everyone in this forum (you must already have Sony phones, since you are here?) - and on topic: Enjoy the Sony sound, it's objectively better than others!
Sony actually include the package with livesound in malaysia .
The best bounded earphone i ever have inside phone box for the phone i brought .
Having moved from an iPhone 4 to the Xperia S I would say that the audio quality is ok but nothing special.
Listening through decent headphones (Klipsh Image X10s) the Xperia produces a good sound but I don't think it is as good as the iPhone. It is perfectly serviceable but the iPhone does a lot better in my view, especially with lossless files where you can really hear the difference on the iPhone and on the Xperia it is marginal at best compared to 320Kbps mp3.
I've no complaints about the Xperia and it beats the iPhone in most other respects but I think audio quality is an area where it could be improved.
I guess it comes down to the quality of the DACs used within it. Sony's audio experience may help but it cannot compensate for lower quality audio circuitry at the end of the day.
The output is also noticably louder on the iPhone and the Xperia may struggle to drive some headphones at a decent volume level. Its ok with mine but I find I am using 85% volume on the Xperia to get the same sound level as my iPhone running at around 70%.
Great phone though.
The sound quailty of the phones speaker is good.
The bundled headphones are poor.
The sound output via analogue is okay but not great.
The call quality is very good.
I moved from iphone 4 to xperia arc to samsung s2 to samsung note to xperia s.
Xperia arc's noise level is too high and both samsung s2 and note sounded too soft.
If lack of low frequency is not a concern to you, iphone obvious has a more open and detailed mid-range frequency reproduction (e.g. vocal voices). However, I still prefer XS for the more balanced sound.
output volume from XS is too low... hope it will be fixed by firmware upgrade.
anyway, XS is the best music player among all mobile phones i've ever had.
btw, I am using Shure 425 earphone and 840 headphone.
I don't think xs has good quality of sound indeed, I heard that there is a deficit for android or Qualcomm chips dealing with 48k (or 44.1k sound ). I am not sure about it but the default music player does improve music quality a lot.
Sent from my LT26i
So I've been looking all over the internets for good audio quality comparisons between all sorts of different phones and media players (just for the fun of it). I wanted to buy a nice pair of affordable headphones and to see which mp3 would let me get the best sound quality and user experience out of them. After a lot of research (approximately 5 days) I ended up getting the Koss PortaPros for a discounted price off amazon (and yes they are genuine). The sound quality is a real upgrade over most headphones I'v used for a period longer than a couple of days (Iv used Bose IE8, the pathetic Dr Dres, Senheisser HD280s, and the Grados S60s) .
But one thing kept bugging me. Everytime I have looked around for reviews on the Nokia 800's sound quality through headphones, all I'v heard is either complaints, even after the 12070 update, or people saying that the sound quality is mediocre at best. I do not consider myself an audiophile or an expert, but i tried my hand at this in any case.
I took out my Sansa Clip+, the Nokia E5 (that I had been using as my mp3 player even though I used the Desire S as my daily driver before the Lumia because of the ease of searching music and sound quality) and compared it with the Lumia with the Koss PortaPros, JVC Marshmellows and the Creative EP630s.
Now I listen to most of everything I can get my hands onto. There was a whole lot of Lana Del Rey, Drake and YMCMB, Guns N Roses, Coldplay, Ellie Goulding, Gotye and of course Nujabes. All my music is 320kbps .mp3. I'm not an expert or anything so please feel free to correct me where ever you think I'v made a mistake or said something wrong. Everything I heard was on the default equalisers with no effects on.
The Nokia E5.
Now according to GSMarena, the E5 has the cleanest output they've heard in a long time and audio quality is generally great. Putting on the JVCs and the EP630s, the E5 actually sounds pretty good. Its clean, its got that clean unmuddled thump and the mids are as good as those cheap headphones can deliver. The problem occurs when you put on the Koss. The sound widens up but it feels like its lacking somewhere. You can hear the vocals clearly but its cold and dull. As though theres a part of the song missing.
Sansa Clip+
Technically I should be using this as my main mp3 player if I really care about sound quality. The sound through these in every category, be it Bass heavy or adult alternative was better than the E5. They were louder, wider and i could here each and every instrument separately, they were bassier and the clarity was top notch. But going through a list of 800 songs on that tiny screen gives you a right headache. For what its worth, this is a winner right here.
Nokia Lumia 800
Now technically this should have the worst sound quality out of the lot. Its been dissed publicly, and the first post you get when you google its sound quality is a post on the Nokia forums talking about its disastrous sound quality through low impedance headphones before the 12070 update, and some even after it. Now listening through the JVCs and the EP630s it is clear as day. The Nokia Lumia 800 was never targeted to be used as a dedicated mp3 by anyone who cares about sound quality. The sound was just bassless and muffled. Not as bad as my Nokia C2, but quite bad. I felt disappointed until I listened to the same songs using the Koss PortaPros. I couldnt believe how good things sounded. Ellie Goulding's Home, Drake's Miss Me, Nujabes' Song of Four Seasons and Foster The People's Helena Beat. All of them sounded The Best I'd ever heard them. Now I dont know how. Or why. They sounded rounded, warm and nothing over the top but still really good. Listening to the same songs again on the Sansa Clip+ should have removed the placebo effect, but it was clear. The Sansa had better stereo separation and a wider sound, but the Lumia sounded better (to me) with more detail in the lows, very very good unmuddled bass (the sansa was bassier but it felt almost overpowering with the Koss), and clear vocals with it. The sansa Clip was alot louder on the highest volume setting but if you dont want to blow your ears ff, the Lumia does a commendable job. Plus the interface on Zune is miles better than anything that tiny screen can offer.
Now if I had my iTouch which I recently sold I wouldve loved to compare it with the Lumia as well, but the Sansa Clip+ sounds better than the iTouch so thats not a big problem. I would love to hear people who have Sony walkmans or Cowon's media players to make comparisons though.
Have you guys ever compared the sound on different media players or different headsets? Noone ever discusses the Lumia series as a media player. This might help. Please feel free to correct me and add your own experiences.
Nice review.
Before I got my Lumia 800, I had a Samsung Nexus S, and I can clearly tell that the Lumia 800 is the inferior media player. The main reason is not even the sound quality, but the fact that there's no equalizer settings on the Lumia 800. That, and it doesn't support FLAC. There's no such thing as Voodoo Sound either.
The sound quality itself is not bad at all on Lumia 800, but it's WAAAAAY worse than the Nexus S. Obviously because the Nexus S had a God-tier Wolfson DAC.
Hi Xperia users!
I've been doing some basic research into which of the 2012 Xperias have the best audio quality, as tested on sites such as
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_sola-review-766p5.php
The tests that this site does focuses on: Frequency response, Noise level , Dynamic range, THD and IMD Noise and stereo crosstalk.
I've tried pasting results here but it becomes a mess. If you have one of these phones already, you can click on your phone from here: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony-phones-7.php
and click on skip to review of music player to find out how your phone performs. From what I can see, Sony's 2012 phones on the whole, don't compare well. The audio output through the speaker is generally excellent, but through the earphones there is a significant drop in quality across the board. If you look through the results, you can compare a phone with almost anything you like, but I focussed on the Xperia S, Arc and all the Apple iPhones and the latest iPod classic. A key element in performance seems to be not performing well in just one area, but across all of them, which the reviewers from the site claim is what makes Apple products the best in the business.
Any comments? Any notes?
I'm in the market for a newer Xperia, but unfortunately, I'm not sure there is a good iPod replacement in this list. The more mid-range Go beats the S and Sola high end phones. I would love to hear Sony's reasoning for this. Also, one of my 2011 phones, while not expensive, beats all of the 2012 phones according to these tests which I don't understand. Any guidance or perspective? I really appreciate the results of tests like these which overcome human bias and subjectivity with terribly overused words such as 'crisp' and 'clear sound' etc. but on the other hand, I realise that numbers in a test don't indicate audio pleasure...so personal and practical use is relevant. :victory:
Are these results reliable do you think? Anything else to consider?
XS: the DAC (think 'soundcard') is great, the headphones themselves are ****ty. Get something better and you'll have really nice sound.
i am also interested in this. i am planning to but Xperia S in saturday but have my worries about the sound quality. its using the same sound chip with sensation xe and the sensation. i can tell that from the frequency graph of them all. they all have same vibrating between 1K 10K.. but when i look at the dynamic range (the ability of pruducing the most differet notes at the same time) and the noise level (basicly the loudness without losing the clearity) are worse than sensation brothers. we can adjust them easily with software (because the difference is something like %1).
but the most important part is the distortions. i mean you can listen your music with %1-2 less volume but no one would want to listen any distorted sound. sony seems like doing better on the IMD+ values but the most important is Total Harmonic distortion and it is very high on the xperia S. however, by looking at the positive values of the sensation XE i believe this problem can be sorted out with software too..
in real life? with a lossless music or comparison sound file we can feel the difference by listening to both an ipod and sony xperia s with the same earphones. and luckily we can change our sound chip software by flashing new mods. and we also can use cyanogenmod which enchances the sound capabilities of many devices.
so there is no way of measuring what we can do with a fully sound tweaked sony device (maybe we can ask gsmarena to run their regular test on a tweaked sony device) but there is room for development in sound department too for sure
That's a really interesting point about tweaking devices. I'm not totally sure I can rely on it though - my last Xperia phone had great audio tweaks but on my latest Xperia phone, all of the audio mods that I've tried detracted from quality, not added so I uses stock audio options.
Good to see someone else in the market for a new phone on the same line of thought as me. I was almost definitely going to get the Xperia Sola but the audio tests on that site indicate it is WEAK with audio! Other phones like the GO which are not marketed as multimedia devices have much, much better results. I cannot buy the Sola if the audio is that bad.
I was going to ask can there be any compromise on the performance indicated; there were around 5 criteria tested, would you buy a phone that ranked poorly on one of them, two of them?
K900 said:
XS: the DAC (think 'soundcard') is great, the headphones themselves are ****ty. Get something better and you'll have really nice sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the Xperia S?
This is the first thing that i felt when i moved from Lg Optimus Black to Sony Xperia S: a drop in sound quality. I use a Koss Porta Pro in everyday listening.
I think the Xperia S has excellent sound quality. To give you some context, I used to own a Creative Zen Vision:M MP3 player, which sounded better than all the iPods and iPhones I compared it with (up to iPhone 4). I wasn't expecting my Xperia S to replace the Zen, but to my surprise it actually sounded better to my ears. The general frequency response is a bit flatter and it's a lot clearer.
I also compared it with a Cowon Z2 (which many people believe to be the best-sounding MP3 player out there) and there was very little difference. Believe me, the Xperia S is a very good music player indeed. The review on the site you posted said it: "A solid overall performance, which should please anyone but the most demanding audiophiles."
As the review states, the only limitation is a bit of distortion at higher volumes, but we're talking deafening volumes here. There's also a way around it, if you're really serious: a portable headphone amp (I use a cheap but very good Fiio E6), enables you to take the clean lower-volume signal from your phone and amplify it cleanly through your headphones. However, I can assure you it sounds fine without an amplifier.
That is very interesting ^^
I was hoping there might be people who take the holistic view too; looking at the stats but also just listening to what your ears tell you. I'm truly open to these ideas. I was particularly looking at the Sola, but of all the 2012 phones it's stats are the worst. Is that really something to worry about? That info. on the S really changes things...:fingers-crossed:
p.s. I found another site that does these tests. Some of the results differ a little, I guess different testing equipment and earphones. There are 3 very different results for the iPod 6th gen. With that kind of variance, maybe the results for the 2012 Xperias is one snapshot - and not definitive?? For anyone interested,
here's the list of devices tested: (no Xperias unfortunately) http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/rmaa complete - html.html
Here is the 6th gen iPod Classic: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iPodClassicFiiOE1/data.htm
The iPhone 4S: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iphone4s/data.htm
Also, on this site: http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html they keep talking about the audio chip used in devices. They mention that certain iPhones and Galaxies use the Wolfson audio chip, which seems to very highly regarded.
Here is a great article on smartphone audio, audio chips and stats comparison: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...ne-x-isnt-amazing-at-all-even-by-the-numbers/
SharpnShiny said:
That is very interesting ^^
I was hoping there might be people who take the holistic view too; looking at the stats but also just listening to what your ears tell you. I'm truly open to these ideas. I was particularly looking at the Sola, but of all the 2012 phones it's stats are the worst. Is that really something to worry about? That info. on the S really changes things...:fingers-crossed:
p.s. I found another site that does these tests. Some of the results differ a little, I guess different testing equipment and earphones. There are 3 very different results for the iPod 6th gen. With that kind of variance, maybe the results for the 2012 Xperias is one snapshot - and not definitive?? For anyone interested,
here's the list of devices tested: (no Xperias unfortunately) http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/rmaa complete - html.html
Here is the 6th gen iPod Classic: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iPodClassicFiiOE1/data.htm
The iPhone 4S: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iphone4s/data.htm
Also, on this site: http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html they keep talking about the audio chip used in devices. They mention that certain iPhones and Galaxies use the Wolfson audio chip, which seems to very highly regarded.
Here is a great article on smartphone audio, audio chips and stats comparison: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...ne-x-isnt-amazing-at-all-even-by-the-numbers/
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Just get the Sola, then get the Wireless Bluetooth Pro Sony headphones which have the new Wofson decoder which is about the best mobile decoder around. I have done that and it is great. Best of both worlds.
mrsatan said:
Just get the Sola, then get the Wireless Bluetooth Pro Sony headphones which have the new Wofson decoder which is about the best mobile decoder around. I have done that and it is great. Best of both worlds.
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I only seen the promo yesterday, she is a sexy beast! :highfive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVS36ggZz1o
hey,
just trust your ears, don't see bad or good depend on testing etc...
i have xperia s, arc, w995, aino, iPod nano 4
the best sound quality for me is
1.W995 (but lack of FLAC)
2. XS (can play FLAC)
3.Aino
4. Arc
5.iPod. ipod sounds great, but after i used itu 2 years, becomes crap sound (don't know why) maybe bad capacitor?
i used FLAC or WAV in my phone (85%)
Which phone do you have now? FLAC eeh? That must burn up the battery! Do you still have an iPod now too? Which one? The iPod I'm using now is the 6th generation Classic. I'll almost definitely have a new phone next week.
SharpnShiny said:
Which phone do you have now? FLAC eeh? That must burn up the battery! Do you still have an iPod now too? Which one? The iPod I'm using now is the 6th generation Classic. I'll almost definitely have a new phone next week.
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how can one get better once one've had the best? lol.. imo, FLAC is the best audio compression right now the battery drain isnt that much.. but the quality of the audio, is that much .. remember when talking bout audio, it's "garbage in, garbage out.."
and yeah, just trust your ears, and dont forget that synergy made better sound than all that graphs and frequency.. and what i meant in synergy is the hardware (dac, dsp, etc), the software (in sxs: walkman and its sound enhancement ), and of course the output (earphone, headphone, speaker, etc)
i did a quick test in flac-listening in SXS (unknown dac , walkman) and SGS3 (the so called wolfson dac, stock audio player), with Yuin PK3 (imho, a decent earphone), and i found out that SXS did sound better. well, i've seen there are mods for sgs3's audio, but didnt try them, both phone are at default (in terms of audio )
m1st3r1 said:
how can one get better once one've had the best? lol.. imo, FLAC is the best audio compression right now the battery drain isnt that much.. but the quality of the audio, is that much .. remember when talking bout audio, it's "garbage in, garbage out.."
and yeah, just trust your ears, and dont forget that synergy made better sound than all that graphs and frequency.. and what i meant in synergy is the hardware (dac, dsp, etc), the software (in sxs: walkman and its sound enhancement ), and of course the output (earphone, headphone, speaker, etc)
i did a quick test in flac-listening in SXS (unknown dac , walkman) and SGS3 (the so called wolfson dac, stock audio player), with Yuin PK3 (imho, a decent earphone), and i found out that SXS did sound better. well, i've seen there are mods for sgs3's audio, but didnt try them, both phone are at default (in terms of audio )
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Its many Sony's software and optimizations that make it sound good. Wolfson is the best DAC when tested, while Sony uses a run of the mill snapdragon DAC. Just goes to show Sony knows sound.
FLAC actually doesn't drain more battery because it uses less calculations to decode.
K900 said:
FLAC actually doesn't drain more battery because it uses less calculations to decode.
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i think we should not consider "compressed" music files like zip or rar files. because they are compressed in an unusable way and needed to be unzipped to become usable again and once they are uncompressed there is no loss in the actual data. so in order to be able to use (listen/watch/execute) a compressed data you need to make lots of procceses through CPU.
however that is not the case in the compressed audio. when compressing a lossless (just recorded the way it was played in real life) audio the codec (or whatever it is that has the alghoritm to compress) listens and analysis the audio and decides which sound to combine. for example; imagine 3 different waves are present at the same time and the alghoritm creates a 4th wave which has the very similar sound of those 3 played at the same time and it records that 4th one only instead of the first 3. and there are some certain signals that give the impression of surrounding when applied to human ear. finally the alghoritm writes these signals on to the "simulated" waves.
so, basically when we listen an mp3 or any other compressed audio we have the impression of hearing everything but actually we hear a replicated sound which is very very much similar to the total amount of the original sounds for the human ear.
since both FLAC and the mp3 formats are both read only and there is no real time compressing and uncompressing every time the, load on the CPU (or the DAC) should be measured by the "waves" or "codes" that needed to be read. according to this we can say there is much more signal to read and convert to analog in FLAC files..
_delice_doluca_ said:
i think we should not consider "compressed" music files like zip or rar files. because they are compressed in an unusable way and needed to be unzipped to become usable again and once they are uncompressed there is no loss in the actual data. so in order to be able to use (listen/watch/execute) a compressed data you need to make lots of procceses through CPU.
however that is not the case in the compressed audio. when compressing a lossless (just recorded the way it was played in real life) audio the codec (or whatever it is that has the alghoritm to compress) listens and analysis the audio and decides which sound to combine. for example; imagine 3 different waves are present at the same time and the alghoritm creates a 4th wave which has the very similar sound of those 3 played at the same time and it records that 4th one only instead of the first 3. and there are some certain signals that give the impression of surrounding when applied to human ear. finally the alghoritm writes these signals on to the "simulated" waves.
so, basically when we listen an mp3 or any other compressed audio we have the impression of hearing everything but actually we hear a replicated sound which is very very much similar to the total amount of the original sounds for the human ear.
since both FLAC and the mp3 formats are both read only and there is no real time compressing and uncompressing every time the, load on the CPU (or the DAC) should be measured by the "waves" or "codes" that needed to be read. according to this we can say there is much more signal to read and convert to analog in FLAC files..
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I know how it works. Yet, due to specifics of the implementation, FLAC is faster to decode in the specific case of Android.
Ok.. after reading this thread, I decided to compare the audio quality of my SXS with my good old Samsung wave (having wolfson DAC), and my cousin's ipod nano. I am no audiophile here, but to my ear the SXS sounds the best with wave & ipod definitely sounding louder (but bit harsher). I used the default music players and philips shp 2700 to compare them. Tbh my eyes (wrt camera output) n ears (wrt sound quality) really don't go along with the gsmarena test results! Thats just my opinion.
BTW, has anyone tested the auido quality through bluetooth? since i ll be using it with my cars bluetooth i wonder if i ll get any problems with the audio quality or the bluetooth itself..
Dpk1 said:
Ok.. after reading this thread, I decided to compare the audio quality of my SXS with my good old Samsung wave (having wolfson DAC), and my cousin's ipod nano. I am no audiophile here, but to my ear the SXS sounds the best with wave & ipod definitely sounding louder (but bit harsher). I used the default music players and philips shp 2700 to compare them. Tbh my eyes (wrt camera output) n ears (wrt sound quality) really don't go along with the gsmarena test results! Thats just my opinion.
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Thanks for sharing your results! I was beginning to wonder which devices everyone has here, we could mention which you think works best for you and run with it.
I've been using and testing music on various Xperias and iPods over the last few years. My nanos beat my classic and yet my 2011 Xperia has clearer sound with less hissing, especially at higher volume.
As I've been exploring on another thread, to get the best out of your Xperia on Android, it seems we need better class SD cards (I'm now looking at only class 10) to overcome the longer 'distance' that the data has to travel (computer, cable, phone, SD vs iPod 'distance' of computer, cable, iPod) and such an SD would boost transfer speed of course. I want to get each piece right; quality of audio on phone, better SD and perhaps cable and better earphones.
Hi, I have three questions.
1. On the Nokia Lumia 920 datasheet it's there saying "Audio: 3 distortion free high amplitude mics" but I can only find two of them. One on the down side and one at the top. Where is the third?
2. The output audio from video is Mono, are any news or tweaks that can change that to stereo? I would be great! Maybe some update. I thought that would be present in Portico update...
3. Also the output audio from video is unbalanced, the bass is very strong and the treble and midrange are very weak. Update coming maybe?
I just think the WP8 is more like a standard basic OS right now and with more time maybe they can tweak it to every single features that the phones have like Lumia 920.
Please let me know what you think
cheers
digipix said:
Hi, I have three questions.
1. On the Nokia Lumia 920 datasheet it's there saying "Audio: 3 distortion free high amplitude mics" but I can only find two of them. One on the down side and one at the top. Where is the third?
2. The output audio from video is Mono, are any news or tweaks that can change that to stereo? I would be great! Maybe some update. I thought that would be present in Portico update...
3. Also the output audio from video is unbalanced, the bass is very strong and the treble and midrange are very weak. Update coming maybe?
I just think the WP8 is more like a standard basic OS right now and with more time maybe they can tweak it to every single features that the phones have like Lumia 920.
Please let me know what you think
cheers
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Click to collapse
do not know but 1080p video is still in MONO :crying:
Im sorry, I dont know where the third mic would be, but the point of having multiple mics is not for stereo sound, but for active noise cancellation. I suppose that when recording video, noise cancelation isnt needed, but that is the reason for multiple mics.
I personally thought that the sound from the mics sounded quite good, at least in comparison to other phone recording.
Moylans said:
Im sorry, I dont know where the third mic would be, but the point of having multiple mics is not for stereo sound, but for active noise cancellation. I suppose that when recording video, noise cancelation isnt needed, but that is the reason for multiple mics.
I personally thought that the sound from the mics sounded quite good, at least in comparison to other phone recording.
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I know that the point of having multiple mics is not for stereo but like the 808 PureView I thought that would record in stereo on the movies...
And the sound from mics are good but seems the levels recorded are too low for the standard sensivity that we hear...
Hopefully they send a patch to fix that :S
The 808 supports stereo Audio recording, the 920 does not - by specification so I guess it won't change anytime soon if at all. They would have designed it another way if they intended to Support it. It's possible that the Placement of the Mics simply does not lend itself well to recording balanced Stereo Sound.
Well I don't know really about that but I have experienced that the upper mic turns into the main mic to pick up the voice when you have hands-free call...
Using N6P for the last few days, N6P sound output from the headphone jack is poor, it gets loud but quality is lacking, N6P doesn’t even have the power to drive high efficiency headphones (high sensitivity (dbl/mW or dbl/W) and low impedance (ohms)), I listen on my Triple Fi 10 headphones (Input Sensitivity - 117dB/mW; Impedance - 32 ohms) and the sound quality is disappointing.
I am coming from N6, N6 has very good sound quality from the headphone jack, N6 has the power to drive my Triple Fi 10 and doesn’t need an Amp.
PhoneArena measured the N6 at .98 volts and the 6P is .34 volts, for comparison IP6+ is 1.014 volts
See below comments from Head-fi forum about the poor sound quality:
“The 6P's sound is extremely forward and punchy, but has a real digital grittiness to it. Almost like running through a preamp with the gain wound up too far, with a weird high mid resonance that eventually becomes fatiguing. The weird grit sort of reminds me of my motherboard's onboard Realtek sound, from circa mid-2000s. It feels like the frequency response is not flat at all, I'm expecting tests to show a big peak around high mids to low treble. It's kind of like listening on cheap earbuds.”
http://www.head-fi.org/t/785067/nexus-5x-and-6p-sound-quality/30
I hate to return N6P as I love the phone otherwise, but sound quality is very important to me as I listen to music a lot.
The 6p has so many strong points, wouldn't it be worth using a headphone amp instead of returning the entire thing? Obviously that won't solve audio quality, but investing in an iPod or a walkman isn't too bad when your then able to use IMO the best android phone of 2015...
Get high quality Bluetooth headset. I have jaybird x2 and sounds beautiful connected.
Jamie bell said:
The 6p has so many strong points, wouldn't it be worth using a headphone amp instead of returning the entire thing? Obviously that won't solve audio quality, but investing in an iPod or a walkman isn't too bad when your then able to use IMO the best android phone of 2015...
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Must listen to this guy.
Sent from my Nexus 6P
I couldn't tell you the last time I plugged in headphones... No to wires!
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Only use them on airplanes!
im very happy with my Nexus 6P and headphone jack sound quality with my vmoda headphones. I use poweramp to listen to music and used one of the apps preset equalizers, sound quality is great to me, I've also used it during phones calls and it sounds just fine.
ga9213 said:
Get high quality Bluetooth headset. I have jaybird x2 and sounds beautiful connected.
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Smallsmx3 said:
I couldn't tell you the last time I plugged in headphones... No to wires!
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Bluetooth is not there yet in terms of music quality, I have tried and returned 10 -12 bluetooth headphones in the last year including Jay bird x, they are no match to the good quality wired headsets like my Triple Fi 10, you won’t get any sound stage on Bluetooth headphones.
Sony’s new high resolution Bluetooth headphones are promising but it needs LDAC codec support on the phone, also these headphones are expensive at $399.
I wonder if someday we will see a pair of cans sporting USB-C with an inline Digital to Analog converter. There would be many benefits to this really. I could see a trackpad that supports gestures or scrobbling, etc.
I understand that as for high end audiophile one can spend thousands in the pursuit of audio bliss. But as for my common daily use my 6P with Viper and my JayBird X and Bose sounds is just fine:good::good::good:
Get poweramp and apply these settings.
People still use those headphone jacks? Hmmm... Interesting
anglerstock said:
Get poweramp and apply these settings.
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Thanks for the suggestion, but software enhancements mostly ruins music experience, I prefer to listen the music the way musician intended to..
I used poweramp but prefer Neutron - the best music player on Android..
perXway1 said:
People still use those headphone jacks? Hmmm... Interesting
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yes...only if you listen to real music..and have a discerning ears..
droidguy22 said:
yes...only if you listen to real music..and have a discerning ears..
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Real music you say? Lol so those with discerning ears don't use Bluetooth? #snobbery
If you wish to listen to music "as musicians intended" then you can only get inside their collective heads to hear it. Everything else is influenced and changed by acoustics, recording, engineering and production.
Jamie bell said:
The 6p has so many strong points, wouldn't it be worth using a headphone amp instead of returning the entire thing? Obviously that won't solve audio quality, but investing in an iPod or a walkman isn't too bad when your then able to use IMO the best android phone of 2015...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree that 6p has many strong points, but amp defeats the portability, a premium phone ($700 - 128gb with tax) in 2015 should give a decent sound quality, what's the point of 128gb storage if it can't output decent sound.
kboya said:
If you wish to listen to music "as musicians intended" then you can only get inside their collective heads to hear it. Everything else is influenced and changed by acoustics, recording, engineering and production.
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the way you described is not possible, that's why you want to buy a device with better DAC and use good quality headphones and you can be as close as possible to the musicians intent..
perXway1 said:
Real music you say? Lol so those with discerning ears don't use Bluetooth? #snobbery
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you are not so bright, are you?
Why Bluetooth Audio Used To (and Still Largely) Sucks:
The problem with Bluetooth audio has always been digital compression: in order to send your audio to your headphones, you were forced to sacrifice quality. Traditionally, especially on older devices and with older Bluetooth versions, this meant the sound was so badly compressed that the result sounded robotic, buzzy, noisy, and all around awful. Listening to podcasts and spoken word through them wasn't a big deal, but when it came to music, they were just the worst. You got none of the richness or warmth of sound that a pair of wired headphones offers.
if you're the type who really enjoys listening—and I mean actively listening—to music on high-quality headphones, and you use terms like "soundstage" and "frequency response" to judge one pair of headphones over another, you may be disappointed, especially when you compare your wireless listening experience to a wired one.
http://lifehacker.com/does-bluetooth-audio-still-suck-1505063323
droidguy22 said:
the way you described is not possible, that's why you want to buy a device with better DAC and use good quality headphones and you can be as close as possible to the musicians intent..
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My comment was not a flame. The difference is that I see all this as impossible for the very reasons I gave. Perhaps Steve Albini can make this clearer: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep05/articles/albini.htm