Headset microphone sound quality on Evo 3D (using headset jack) - HTC EVO 3D

One of the things that has kept me on the Evo 3D is simply the call quality. The internal speaker is excellent and the internal microphone has excellent pickup with minimal noise. In fact, a few times I had issues with making audio recordings on my computer, I used my Evo 3D to record and the quality was great!
HOWEVER....
When using a headset with a microphone, it is a different story. I have used a number of ear buds with microphones and still the recorded audio quality is noticeably inferior to the internal microphone. What really brought this to my attention was a recent experiment that I did.
I have a set of the newer styled Apple EarPods. Yes, the sound quality from the drivers is rather average, but... when I use the microphone on an iPod and make an audio recording, the microphone records very decent audio quality. I then used the same EarPods on my HTC Evo 3D to record and... there's a lot of background noise, as if there's absolutely no noise cancellation. When I had a call with someone where I switched between my usual earbuds and the Apple EarPods, the latter sounded flatter and more distant, but in both cases using the internal microphone resulted in much better sound. FWIW, I also adjusted the position of the microphone, from lying near my chest to held right up to my mouth.
So my question is this: Is there a known microphone quality issue with the headset jacks on the HTC Evo 3D?
I have 2 Evo 3D phones and conducted the same experiment on both with practically identical results, so I don't think there's a QC issue with the phones. Either the headset jack circuitry has a design problem creating sub par performance OR... do internal microphones always best headset microphones on cellphones?
Thanks....

Related

Any way to improve audio capture quality?

I really wanna get the amaze and really don't care for anything else recently released or pegged to be released this year. I can overlook all the other issues, since I think overall the phone is amaze-ing, but my biggest gripe is that the audio capture quality when recording video is horrendous. And they had the nerve to tout the camcorder by putting a dedicated button! It is earsplittingly sharp and distorted. Makes my ears hurt and hard to understand in general, not to mention all the stray sounds that sound like there's a lightning storm somewhere... I can't believe so many reviewers think it sounds good or tout the 44khz stereo recording. Blegh. It shares a lot of DNA with the Mytouch 4g slide and somehow inherited that phone's bad audio as well.
I'm thinking there should be a software fix, somehow, since I doubt the audio sounds like this when making a call. I don't know why there would be such a big difference in the first place. I don't think they fixed the bad audio in the mytouch 4g slide, so they are probably just gonna leave the amaze half-baked. Why does no one care about the audio quality of videos? At least the loudspeaker is decent I hear, with some wild polar opposite mixed reactions though...
katamari201 said:
I really wanna get the amaze and really don't care for anything else recently released or pegged to be released this year. I can overlook all the other issues, since I think overall the phone is amaze-ing, but my biggest gripe is that the audio capture quality when recording video is horrendous. And they had the nerve to tout the camcorder by putting a dedicated button! It is earsplittingly sharp and distorted. Makes my ears hurt and hard to understand in general, not to mention all the stray sounds that sound like there's a lightning storm somewhere... I can't believe so many reviewers think it sounds good or tout the 44khz stereo recording. Blegh. It shares a lot of DNA with the Mytouch 4g slide and somehow inherited that phone's bad audio as well.
I'm thinking there should be a software fix, somehow, since I doubt the audio sounds like this when making a call. I don't know why there would be such a big difference in the first place. I don't think they fixed the bad audio in the mytouch 4g slide, so they are probably just gonna leave the amaze half-baked. Why does no one care about the audio quality of videos? At least the loudspeaker is decent I hear, with some wild polar opposite mixed reactions though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i feel the same way. if audio is fixable, i will get this phone. if not, then camcorder is a useless feature.
Is a hardware issue with most htc phones. My G2 and mytouch 4g were the same way. The quality is not as terrible as people say, its just not on par with the quality of the rest of the phone making it an easy issue to point out. No phone is perfect. Sadly, they all have their down sides. Overall The phone is top notch!
Proud HTC Amaze owner
Darn its a hardware issue? Saying no phone is perfect really doesn't excuse the bad audio issue. It kind of breaks the camcorder for me. The bad audio isn't just hearsay, its half a dozen or more youtube videos with that really bad audio, and then all the other videos showing HTC's legacy of bad audio, like from the MyTouch 4g Slide. And the Amaze is damn sexy too. They seem to be the only Android manufacturer making those curvy nice unibody metal phones. Kind of disappointed with the Galaxy Nexus. lol. I'm jumping for the Atrix 2, cuz Motorola has gone up leaps and bounds on the camcorder with the Bionic and now the Atrix 2. It's also dirt cheap in comparison to the Amaze. Man decisions. But the Amaze feels so sexy...
there might be a software fix (like voodoo sound?) Once we start getting into the phone more...possibly a Mic filter?
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
I haven't really heard of one for HTC phones, or really a fix the bad audio recording on any phone ever. I don't really follow this stuff though so I could be completely wrong. The best I've seen is higher bitrate/sampling hacks, but it really doesn't fix a bad mic. I'm guessing it was engineered deliberately that way or left that way because they couldn't find a solution or were lazy and thought no one would care. I think its impossible to not hear the flagrant sound problems unless their sound engineers were turning Beethoven.
I've noticed the Amaze sound problems on all youtube amaze videos which are in stereo. the audio for GS2 videos is all mono, but much better quality.
Test mono audio with video...? what is result. Is it same problem?
marstodd said:
I've noticed the Amaze sound problems on all youtube amaze videos which are in stereo. the audio for GS2 videos is all mono, but much better quality.
Test mono audio with video...? what is result. Is it same problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, what is the difference between mono and stereo?
There is a thread for amaze recording for both mono and stereo.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1302710.
Stereo would be MUCH better, giving spacial dimension, and with headphones the youtube amaze stereo audio is nice but terrible quality. Noise and no low end. SG2 has good sound fidelity but is only mono, single source but fidelity is more important than stereo.
I did notice the SG2 XDA has 32 bit CD quality sound but don't know if it's stereo.
the first try to do an audio fix would be use an equalizer. Load a video (with audio) into a processing program on a PC or Mac and see if the sound quality is fixable. If someone has an in with HTC they should get a response about this from the engineers.
---------- Post added at 09:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 AM ----------
I know cyanogenmod has the graphic audio equalizer so yeah, thinking about it WE NEED AN APP! Take the damn stereo channels in the AMAZING videos, apply equalization according to the user's gui settings, and save the video!
this will definitely fix the stinkin amaze audio problems and preserve this precious stereo (with no external mic) and fix-a-de-problem. But maybe an external stereo mic is the way to go.....
(baby)
I don't think an equalizer is gonna fix this problem. I've also heard the mono recording from the amaze. It isn't that much better than the stereo. I'm not too concerned whether it is mono or stereo. You are using a phone to record, both mics being only a few cm away from each other and usually not even placed in a proper left/right configuration. The other mic should just focus on noise cancellation. The other problem is the Amaze is $550 even on ebay...
Maybe someone would plug a stereo (condenser probably) microphone in and see if it records well good fidelity with stereo.
Since SGS2 has a top and bottom mic and I think is mono, I wonder if they use them for decent low end. (as well as noise cancellation if that's necessary)
One problem with the Amaze is no low frequencies.
The other problem is clipping noise which cannot be corrected except by recording level adjustment.
---------- Post added at 01:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------
The stereo on the Amaze recordings is really great. (put on some headphones and compare). my opinion is it's really a good thing.
marstodd said:
Maybe someone would plug a stereo (condenser probably) microphone in and see if it records well good fidelity with stereo.
Since SGS2 has a top and bottom mic and I think is mono, I wonder if they use them for decent low end. (as well as noise cancellation if that's necessary)
One problem with the Amaze is no low frequencies.
The other problem is clipping noise which cannot be corrected except by recording level adjustment.
---------- Post added at 01:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------
The stereo on the Amaze recordings is really great. (put on some headphones and compare). my opinion is it's really a good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be clear, you like it and everyone else hates it?
thanx
To be clear: I like the stereo! that is very different than the fidelity. (frequency response)
The fidelity is the frequency response and the clipping problems. They are very bad but they might just be the microphones not the audio circuits, and the circuits might be connected to a stereo microphone input on the input jack so that stereo would be preserved, and it'd have decent sound. (by plugging in a stereo mic)
Is that clear?
Thanks!
The SGS2 has great fidelity but it is mono. At least from the phone's microphones which I assume are not stereo but are noise cancelling or maybe fix the frequency response. (Maybe the SGS2 has a stereo mic input I don't know that either!!)
P.S. We need hardware threads on xda-developers or maybe there is a hardware dedicated web site for cell phones (needed)
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but didn't want to start a new one.
I believe the problem is Sense 3.0 related and the gain HTC applied to the mics. I've come from a Sensation - and we had the exact same clipping problem on the phone with stereo recording and mono sounded a little better, but not much. When the Sense 3.5 leak came out, end of September for the Sensation the clipping problem went away in stereo recording. I went to a Sense 3.5 Rom for that reason alone because stereo recording sounded terrific. Once you bump up the media_profiles.xml to accept a higher bitrate it was a terrific stereo camcorder. No clipping at all.
I just got the Amaze and have given the Sensation to my wife with a Sense 3.5 Rom.
I love everything so far about the Amaze, the stereo clipping is the only issue I'd like to see fixed, at least for me.
BTW - I've listened to some YouTube vids of the Rezound camcorder and they sound fine in stereo. And the Rezound is Sense 3.5.
I've looked around for an adjustment in the smalis of the htccamera.apk but can't find anything that relates to the mic gain.
Anyone have any idea where the fix would be for this?
IDK if this will help but their is two thing that I did that seemed to help.
1) Make sure your finger isn't over the mic, it happens more than you think.
2)Use and External Mic, i have a pair of beats headphones that seem to have better audio than the mic it self.
In reality their isn't really an easy fix like flashing something. Its a hardware thing overall of the phone. Hope this helps this is all I could think of that might help.

Headphone vs Headset Volume/Sound Quality Differences

Hello all,
Just a curiosity I noticed. When using the included headphones with the in-line mic, the sound quality is really very good and the volumes far higher. However, when I try to use my Sennheiser HD 202-II headphones, I notice that the sound volume decreases greatly. For instance, what used to be loud at 12/30 with the headset, doesn't get loud until 22/30. I know it's a small annoyance, but the sound quality seems to suffer as well. Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm coming from a Zune HD whose quality spoiled me completely?
Anyway, was wondering if this could be alleviated by buying a pair of headphones with an in-line microphone. Can anyone recommend any? This Sony set is definitely intriguing (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294) but there aren't any reviews yet.
Thanks for any suggestions.
It's more likely due to differences in impedance and sensitivity - I have no problem with earbuds that do not have an inline mic.
For headphones with low sensitivity, consider an external headphone amp like one of the FiiO amps.
Thanks, didn't realize the included earbuds had an in-line mic. I bought a pair of Klipsch s4's that improve the sound a great deal. I don't think I'd ever need a mic, the one built into the player seems to pick up very well.

concert audio is baaaad

I was using my note at a concert the other night and the audio is terrible in a loud venue, any thoughts on how to make it better? you can see the moment when mine starts is where the singer grabs his iphone and shoots with it. There's gotta be a way to make it not clip the audio I think its a software issue not hardware.
I'm loving this phone though!!!
note
http://youtu.be/pJ6QPqV0u7M?hd=1&t=4m6s
Iphone4s
http://youtu.be/6a8B2Fvgod8?hd=1
Coming from a captivate and a infuse 4g I really miss voodoo sound for this reason.
Sent from my SGH-I717R using XDA
I'm sure someone will come up with something somewhat useful for you... but my suggestions? don't record concerts with a phone, they're not made for it. zoom makes some nice recorders with mics designed for recording live audio.
You will need some sort of buffer, such as a cotton ball over the mic, as the sound pressure produced by the speakers at a concert is way too overwhelming for the mics on phones. You're basically maxing out what the mic can collect in terms of loudness, so the track will clip and sound like sh*t.
Agreed with previous poster... The problem is at a concert you are getting more bass than your Mic can handle so it crashes your midst and highs.
And no, there is no way to fix the audio on the videos previously recorded. If you want to record with the phone in the future the best idea is to use a cotton ball or clothing to cover the Mic To reduce bass or stand farther from the speaker while recording
Kony 2012 is Propaganda.
www.Facebook.com/freeyourmindcampaign

speakerphone quality just meh...

I noticed the speakerphone quality during calls is average at best? I am coming from a Motorola Atrix 4G which had crisp/clear speaker phone quality but with the ONE I get a lot of hissing and light static. Is that typical for HTC smartphones?
stray_pube said:
I noticed the speakerphone quality during calls is average at best? I am coming from a Motorola Atrix 4G which had crisp/clear speaker phone quality but with the ONE I get a lot of hissing and light static. Is that typical for HTC smartphones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think it's meant to be a speaker phone... But no I don't have that problem
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
stray_pube said:
I noticed the speakerphone quality during calls is average at best? I am coming from a Motorola Atrix 4G which had crisp/clear speaker phone quality but with the ONE I get a lot of hissing and light static. Is that typical for HTC smartphones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The speakers on the One are much higher quality than those on the Atrix. I would imagine if you are hearing more hiss, it's because of the higher fidelity audio. For example: When you use cheap $10 earbuds, music of all bitrates/quality sound the same. When you upgrade to high quality headphones you can actually tell when audio is low-fidelity. Voice calls are as low-fi as audio gets! The quality of connection, nearby radios, and what type of phone your partner is talking on all make a difference as well.
The system-wide Beats EQ could also be the culprit, but I don't have a One yet so I can't say for sure
I think the speaker on my one is pretty awesome. But my previous phone was an iPhone 4s. Sounds super clear and people on the other end don't even realize they are on speaker.
Sent from my M7 using Tapatalk 2
stray_pube said:
I noticed the speakerphone quality during calls is average at best? I am coming from a Motorola Atrix 4G which had crisp/clear speaker phone quality but with the ONE I get a lot of hissing and light static. Is that typical for HTC smartphones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the static but for music and YouTube videos and movies I think it's quite awesome compared to any phone. The stereo sound coming out of the speakers has almost like a 3d effect to it.
As far as how the phone speakers sounds while speaking to someone else? I guess they sounds about as good as any good sounding speaker phone.
What kind of sound you expecting out of them?
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
It could be a defective phone, and/or
your carrier is not supporting HD VOICE
or ATT doesnt enable the HD voice on HTC One
gridlock489 said:
The speakers on the One are much higher quality than those on the Atrix. I would imagine if you are hearing more hiss, it's because of the higher fidelity audio. For example: When you use cheap $10 earbuds, music of all bitrates/quality sound the same. When you upgrade to high quality headphones you can actually tell when audio is low-fidelity. Voice calls are as low-fi as audio gets! The quality of connection, nearby radios, and what type of phone your partner is talking on all make a difference as well.
The system-wide Beats EQ could also be the culprit, but I don't have a One yet so I can't say for sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed! If the call sounds bad, its most likely the network considering this phone is designed for HD Voice.
The calls sound just OK when I have them on speaker. When it's silent I hear this faint hissing and static that I didn't hear on my Atrix, and sometimes voices sound muffled/static-y if the other person isn't speaking loud enough. I don't think there is anything wrong with the phone itself as the speakers sound fine when playing music. Like some of you said probably just a network thing.
maybe you can change your network and try again.
i think maybe you can change your Network operator and try again.
moto has Crystal Talk technology, and htc 's technology shorter than moto maybe/

[Q] External Microphone in Headset Jack?

There are some external stereo microphones for IOS that plug into the headphone jack rather than the dock connector. For instance, the IK Multimedia iRig MIC Cast.
They claim that they work on Android as well.
Well, they may work, but do they provide better sound quality than the internal phone microphone, turning it into a decent digital recorder for music, for example? (with the right software, of course).
My question isn't really whether those microphones are better quality than the internal microphones, as I assume they are. But does the headphone jack on Android phones (mine is the Galaxy S4) really provide the input capability for better quality sound, including in stereo?
Of course that jack can transfer sound in both directions, headset and microphone, as it is a phone. For output, the phone provides quality stereo music output to headphones, as modern phones are also music players. However, the microphones on phone stereo headsets are generally low quality monaural microphones only suitable for phone calls, usually not better than the internal microphone, might be worse.
So the question is--is the input function of that jack capable of providing quality stereo input, if one has a quality stereo microphone attached? (No matter how good quality the microphone is, if that jack really cannot transmit that quality sound, but reduces it to a very low resolution and frequency-reduced monaural sound, no point at all in attaching such a microphone.
Anyone know about the input capabilities of the headphone jacks on Android phones. (If it varies from phone to phone, then how about mine, the Galaxy S4?)
Thanks in advance for your input.
Anyone?
Excellent line of thought. Where are the audiophiles? This may be a better option than an expensive Rode mic.
Bump
http://rungunshoot.com/can-you-ditch-your-wireless-lavalier-microphone-for-a-clip-on-voice-recorder/

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