Related
Are you guys having any problems with stereo sound quality playback or
sound quality (both ends) during calls?
I'm getting a black Jawbone for handling calls but I would like to be able to
listen to music or watch video on the commute to and from work without
having the 'train/subway' in my head.
Is the S9 from Motorola good at pairing up with the Hermes (X01HT in my
case) and holding the connection? Do all the remote features on the S9 headset
work with the S9/Hermes pairing?
Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.
hey man. the s9 are great...the best stereo headset hands down! its like jaw dropping. the controls on the side is very sensitive. its not like an actually button besides the talk/end button. the audio controls are like touch control. HOWEVER, the actual headset for phone calls is horrible...most stereo headsets use both sides to listen to the caller...however this one only allows hearing the caller on the LEFT ear...that is the only downside. if you're coming from the jawbone...it is night and day...but for music/video purposes its great. i use it for my ipod now
truciet said:
hey man. the s9 are great...the best stereo headset hands down! its like jaw dropping. the controls on the side is very sensitive. its not like an actually button besides the talk/end button. the audio controls are like touch control. HOWEVER, the actual headset for phone calls is horrible...most stereo headsets use both sides to listen to the caller...however this one only allows hearing the caller on the LEFT ear...that is the only downside. if you're coming from the jawbone...it is night and day...but for music/video purposes its great. i use it for my ipod now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, I was worried about stereo sound quality over BT since BT isn't known
for great sound quality to begin with. I have heard that the S9 are only
average for calls but that's going to be the Jawbone's job.
So all the button features like answer/end, volume up/down, play/pause
and forward/back tracks all work with the Hermes based phone?
I love the S9. the audio and the controls all work wonderfully.
The phone aspect isn't really good, it picks up a lot of background noise and it can be a bit difficult to annunciate into it.
As a music headset it is GREAT. great sound. Louder than it needs to be and great frequency range
I use the S9 quite a bit. The sound quality is fantastic and the volume can get quite loud. You'll often see me at starbucks listening to streaming internet radio with my S9/8525.
As far as call quality, it's not too bad. you only get call audio out of the left earbud, since the mic is in the right one. There's pretty good compression going on with the mic, so you really don't have to raise your voice at all. However, callers on the other end complain about background sound if I'm in a noisy place, so use it accordingly.
( I use the JawBone also, especially for long calls where background noise would be unacceptable. )
Radimus said:
I love the S9. the audio and the controls all work wonderfully.
The phone aspect isn't really good, it picks up a lot of background noise and it can be a bit difficult to annunciate into it.
As a music headset it is GREAT. great sound. Louder than it needs to be and great frequency range
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Louder than needed is always better than "I wish it could be louder". I was
hoping that it would not be underpowered. Thanks for bringing that point up
as I didn't read that in any of the online reviews out there. Plus, I always
think those reviews aren't so 'real life' anyways. Here on XDA-developers
you get the 'actual real life' reviews with no worries that someone is getting
paid to prop the product up for profit.
Call quality is a concern but I figured into that an ordered a Jawbone based
on the great reviews its received here on XDA.
Thanks for your input.
roboHaxx said:
I use the S9 quite a bit. The sound quality is fantastic and the volume can get quite loud. You'll often see me at starbucks listening to streaming internet radio with my S9/8525.
As far as call quality, it's not too bad. you only get call audio out of the left earbud, since the mic is in the right one. There's pretty good compression going on with the mic, so you really don't have to raise your voice at all. However, callers on the other end complain about background sound if I'm in a noisy place, so use it accordingly.
( I use the JawBone also, especially for long calls where background noise would be unacceptable. )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really good to hear that the S9 is NOT underpowered volume wise.
You can always turn it down but it really does suck when the sound is weak.
I would figure some of that loudness maybe due to what looks like a really
good fit (seal) of the headset to the ear causing a good block of surrounding
sounds.
It's too bad about call quality because that is usually one of Motorola only
strong points in most of their products. Oh well, I guess the other one being
looks has been achieved with the S9.
The background noise issue is the same reason I'm getting the Jawbone. I
have had the same complaint with the OEM wired headset that came with
the X01HT. People just don't want to talk to you when it gets hard to
understand you. Plus it really just doesn't help if you're trying to handle
a situation that needs no extra stress added like that loud background
noise. It's too bad because the caller's voice comes in nice and clear through
those OEM stereo headsets. Sometimes it's kind of creepy because it's too
clear and it sounds as if they're right in your head.
Thanks for your input.
I had the s9 for about a month. It was great for music and video via Coreplayer. No skipping on my 8525 with the lastest rom. Call quality was decent, but I bought it for the music. Now, the bad news, my S9 just died on me a couple days ago and wouldn't charge. I finally got it to work ,sortof, but the controls on the right side don't respond. Called Motorola and got a return authorization. Will be sending it back. Hope it was just a fluke. Just some info. With coreplayer the S9 controls play/pause skip/ff didn't work. But volume and phone control worked.
guamlaw said:
I had the s9 for about a month. It was great for music and video via Coreplayer. No skipping on my 8525 with the lastest rom. Call quality was decent, but I bought it for the music. Now, the bad news, my S9 just died on me a couple days ago and wouldn't charge. I finally got it to work ,sortof, but the controls on the right side don't respond. Called Motorola and got a return authorization. Will be sending it back. Hope it was just a fluke. Just some info. With coreplayer the S9 controls play/pause skip/ff didn't work. But volume and phone control worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you buy direct from Motorola? I just placed an order from an 'online shop'
so I hope I don't have any problems down the road. If I do, I hope I can deal
with MOTO directly since they 'sometimes' tend to be a bit more on the ball.
Plus most online shops will tell you to go directly to the manufacturer to deal
with warranty issues anyways so you never know who's handling warranty.
Good luck with the warranty exchange and I hope it all works out for you.
Thanks for the heads up on the non-functioning buttons with Coreplayer.
I did want to point out a few details before I posted my review of them over at mobilitysite
Pro: USB charging... 1 cable to rule them all
Pro: only 1 blinking light, relatively subdued and it is facing the back of your neck while worn
Pro: will turn itself off after an hour if I fall asleep or an otherwise careless
Con: my fat fingers aren't really sensitive enough to find the little controls while worn
Con: it doesn't quite feel right on my big fat head... don't know if it is because it has to spread out a bit to get around my head or if I'm just not used to it. In any case it is very secure and isn't going to slip off.
Con: No way of determining battery life.. is it good for an hour or 8 hours?
Con: not quite flexible enough to store or a clip for a lanyard, although it is an easy fix to tie something to it
Radimus said:
I did want to point out a few details before I posted my review of them over at mobilitysite
Pro: USB charging... 1 cable to rule them all
Pro: only 1 blinking light, relatively subdued and it is facing the back of your neck while worn
Pro: will turn itself off after an hour if I fall asleep or an otherwise careless
Con: my fat fingers aren't really sensitive enough to find the little controls while worn
Con: it doesn't quite feel right on my big fat head... don't know if it is because it has to spread out a bit to get around my head or if I'm just not used to it. In any case it is very secure and isn't going to slip off.
Con: No way of determining battery life.. is it good for an hour or 8 hours?
Con: not quite flexible enough to store or a clip for a lanyard, although it is an easy fix to tie something to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for breaking it down into pros vs cons.
I did not know that the S9 would shut it self down after an hour of inactivity.
That's cool since it should extent battery life a bit. The blinking LED is
hopefully not too noticeable by others, I hope.
Yeah, I've heard that the buttons can be a bit of a pain to deal with simply
because of the way they are made. I guess I'll just see how I rate in finger
size when I get these S9s sometime next week according to the website I
ordered them from.
AquiEsta! said:
Did you buy direct from Motorola? I just placed an order from an 'online shop'
so I hope I don't have any problems down the road. If I do, I hope I can deal
with MOTO directly since they 'sometimes' tend to be a bit more on the ball.
Plus most online shops will tell you to go directly to the manufacturer to deal
with warranty issues anyways so you never know who's handling warranty.
Good luck with the warranty exchange and I hope it all works out for you.
Thanks for the heads up on the non-functioning buttons with Coreplayer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my S9 from an online shop as well, so i'm hoping that motorola wont give me a hard time when I turn it in for repair. In the meangtime I just ordered a sony hbh-ds-970 as a backup.
guamlaw said:
I bought my S9 from an online shop as well, so i'm hoping that motorola wont give me a hard time when I turn it in for repair. In the meangtime I just ordered a sony hbh-ds-970 as a backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's going to be Christmas in June for me when the Jawbone and the S9 arrive
this week and next week. Hopefully I won't have trouble with either one
of them because warranty returns are such a PITA.
Here is the link to my junior review...
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/...-s9-stereo-bluetooth-headphones-unboxing.html
Radimus said:
Here is the link to my junior review...
http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/...-s9-stereo-bluetooth-headphones-unboxing.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice review and pictures.
"geek jewelry" ROFLMA
For me its a 7.5 out of ten. Two things i dont like, it hurts my left ears just a little if i keep it in there for long, and that you only hear from the left side when talking on the phone... other from that i'm ok with it.
S9 - Not perfect, but very nice
The Motorola S9 is a really nice little headset.
I find it a bit weak on bass, but I’m coming from a Motorola V3i (non-iTunes) with Motorola wired USB stereo headset, and that is one of the most impressive low cost sets of ear buds I’ve ever worn. Not sure how they did that! Note that Motorola wired USB headsets do NOT work on the Hermes, which is a shame, because the HTC wired headset is real junk.
The only glitchy things I’ve seen so far with the S9 and the Hermes / 8525 are:
After hanging up a call, music resumes, but sometimes skips badly for 10-20 seconds. A couple times pressing answer has given only a hum in the left ear, and no ability to talk or listen. Hopefully, the final versions of the Win Mob 6 Bluetooth stack will take care of this.
The S9 ships with 2 different sets of rubber “nubs” to cover the speakers. The default ones that come installed are small, and can be removed and rotated to really direct the sound into your ear as best as possible for different sizes and shapes of ears. In a little bag, you will find a spare set of the default nubs, but ALSO a larger set that have a very soft rubber membrane that floats over a harder rubber inner tube. Some users may find these more comfortable, as they do not intrude into your ear as far.
Personally, I don’t mind the fact that it switches to left ear only for voice calls, I’ve never been all that keen on that “you’re inside my head” sensation of stereo headsets when used for monaural voice.
Remember that on a stock Cingular ROM with Win Mob 5, this headset will basically sound like “mono”, not stereo, but that’s not Motorola’s fault, it's M$'s atrocious BT stack!
Good points:
- really, REALLY light, yet stays in place no matter what
- AV and phone controls work properly with HTC Hermes & Windows Mobile
- Rubber ear nubs direct sound into your ears without need for itchy foam covers
- Really soft touch activation of volume and FF/REW buttons (prevents displacment of the headset while adjusting the most common controls)
Not so good points:
- No indication of how much battery charge is left
- A little weak on bass response
- Not enough tactile difference to easily distinguish between play and answer buttons vs volume and FF/REW buttons
- Picks up room noise really badly in phone mode - works best in quiet(er) locations.
haiti525 said:
The Motorola S9 is a really nice little headset.
I find it a bit weak on bass, but I’m coming from a Motorola V3i (non-iTunes) with Motorola wired USB stereo headset, and that is one of the most impressive low cost sets of ear buds I’ve ever worn. Not sure how they did that! Note that Motorola wired USB headsets do NOT work on the Hermes, which is a shame, because the HTC wired headset is real junk.
The only glitchy things I’ve seen so far with the S9 and the Hermes / 8525 are:
After hanging up a call, music resumes, but sometimes skips badly for 10-20 seconds. A couple times pressing answer has given only a hum in the left ear, and no ability to talk or listen. Hopefully, the final versions of the Win Mob 6 Bluetooth stack will take care of this.
The S9 ships with 2 different sets of rubber “nubs” to cover the speakers. The default ones that come installed are small, and can be removed and rotated to really direct the sound into your ear as best as possible for different sizes and shapes of ears. In a little bag, you will find a spare set of the default nubs, but ALSO a larger set that have a very soft rubber membrane that floats over a harder rubber inner tube. Some users may find these more comfortable, as they do not intrude into your ear as far.
Personally, I don’t mind the fact that it switches to left ear only for voice calls, I’ve never been all that keen on that “you’re inside my head” sensation of stereo headsets when used for monaural voice.
Remember that on a stock Cingular ROM with Win Mob 5, this headset will basically sound like “mono”, not stereo, but that’s not Motorola’s fault, it's M$'s atrocious BT stack!
Good points:
- really, REALLY light, yet stays in place no matter what
- AV and phone controls work properly with HTC Hermes & Windows Mobile
- Rubber ear nubs direct sound into your ears without need for itchy foam covers
- Really soft touch activation of volume and FF/REW buttons (prevents displacment of the headset while adjusting the most common controls)
Not so good points:
- No indication of how much battery charge is left
- A little weak on bass response
- Not enough tactile difference to easily distinguish between play and answer buttons vs volume and FF/REW buttons
- Picks up room noise really badly in phone mode - works best in quiet(er) locations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your review. You filled a few more of the blanks that I was trying
to figure out. I hope the bass response won't be an issue for me but then
again I like to 'feel' my bass and these are just headphones so I don't expect
be getting 'rocked' by them is what I'm telling myself long before they arrive.
OMG!!! BASS and lots of it!!! I am using GSPlayer with the sound settings
VERY tweaked to my taste and even with BassBoost at minimum I am getting
more bass then I would have imagined possible with a BT stereo headset.
Of course you must have really good, clean 192KBps or better MP3s to begin
with and if you ripped them yourself at 320KBps, then you're just enjoying
better then can be expected results with a BT stereo headset.
Me likely!
Once I manage to wipe the stupid smile off my face I will be back to
update my findings for anyone still on the fence thinking about getting
one of these Motorola S9's and needing a slight shove.
I put on the large silicon ear fittings and the bass is incredible.
With the latest ROM's and improved BT drivers I am now able to leave the phone next to the wall about 12 feet behind the basketball goal and shoot pro 3-pointers all day without skipping a beat. And that's while streaming with iPlay from my desktop at home. The microphone isn't the best but if someone calls you can talk, get rid of them, and get back to shooting and jamming in no time. We're getting there...
On my old HD2 the video wasn't bad but when i was in a club and took some vids the bass distortion was always there,i tried playing around with the settings but still couldn't get rid of the distortion, with the GS2 having more settings can someone recommend what settings i should set if if im looking to shoot some vids in a club playing dance music,basically i don't want heavy bass distortion i want it to be smooth and clear.
thanks
Basically, dont use your phone to record in such situations as the mic simply is not designed for such applications.
I really dont think any amount of tweaking the settings will help.
The mic is simply too small to cope with the levels it will be subjected to.
But ive seen recordings taken by other people who's phone wouldn't be half as good as the GS2 and there is no bass distortion so im thinking there has to be a way, i don't particularly want to, and cant really afford a camcorder,if you've spent this much money on a phone that is capable of 1080 recording surely eradicating bass distortion should be able to be achieved, or can anyone even recommend an app that could be capable of this.
cheers
had the same problems with recording my son's rock bank music. We tried out many things and ended up putting a little cotton with a clear film on top of the mic . After this the bass came softer and didn't swallow the rest of the music. However, my son had the better idea, we recorded the sound with an external recorder and sync the sound later onto the video. that worked perfect except it is a little work but when you have to cut your video you can easily edit the sound during the cut.
hope this helped
RbbCHan said:
had the same problems with recording my son's rock bank music. We tried out many things and ended up putting a little cotton with a clear film on top of the mic . After this the bass came softer and didn't swallow the rest of the music. However, my son had the better idea, we recorded the sound with an external recorder and sync the sound later onto the video. that worked perfect except it is a little work but when you have to cut your video you can easily edit the sound during the cut.
hope this helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah covering the mic to attenuate the levels is a pretty good idea.
There are a lot of variables involved as well. Ie. distance from the sound source, where you are in the building, overall freq spectrum coming from the source at the time of recording etc.....
Trial and error.....
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face.......
Is there some type of app or program which can reduce bass distortion?
I haven't actually used the video yet at any gigs or clubs but i will be doing so.
Someone else is listening a noise like a fan coming from the rear camera when starting the camera app? It's normal or a product fault?
When recording a video the hiss is recorded too in background...
Same, someone help ?
Hi kristian12 for my experience I decided to not send rhe phone to assistance. After some weeks of daily use the noise/hiss has become slightly less and with a protective rear cover it's now better and not too annoying, but still present. Let me know what you think to do too.
Same problem here. Has it got any better since your last post (maybe the camera just has to warm-up )? Nevertheless, I am concerned about it and I think I will make a complaint...
Had the same issue with the Nokia 7.1 I received today. (4GB version, steel, in Denmark).
Went to the store and got the money back (the didn't have any other 7.1's in the store).
Went to another store and got another 7.1. Same issue.
Exchanged it for another one. Same issue again.
Ended up getting my money back.
So 3 out of 3 phones with audio noise coming from the camera itself. So weird.
Here's a guess for what might be causing the noise:
It might be from the ceramic capacitor used for the flash?
It doesn't pick up in any video recording I've done (super rare I record video anyway) but I can confirm mine has a strange almost-speaker sound hiss on my TA-1085 anytime the camera is active for photo or video. Almost sounds like listening in a seashell and more bass-y than I expected.
Today I went to yet another store that had the 7.1 on display.
And that too had noise from the camera. So for me it is now 4 out of 4 tested 7.1's that have had noise from the camera.
This leads me to suspect that it is an issue with all 7.1's. So I don't understand why there isn't a lot more people talking about this?
Do people not notice? or care? or maybe it is only in some versions, like the ones available in Denmark...
If the noice isn't picked up by the mic, like UCFJake experiences, then I could live with it myself.
I only had the opportunity to test the phone in a quiet area for a short time, so maybe I was mistaken by that part, and the noise I heard in a recorded video was just normal background noise amplified.
So to those of you with a 7.1, I would really appreciate it if you could help me by checking if your phone has noise from the camera, and then record a video in a quiet place, and see if there's audio noise picked up in the recording?
Because if there's not, I will go back and get the 7.1 anyway.
Morton_Fizzback said:
So to those of you with a 7.1, I would really appreciate it if you could help me by checking if your phone has noise from the camera, and then record a video in a quiet place, and see if there's audio noise picked up in the recording?
Because if there's not, I will go back and get the 7.1 anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
I got 7.1 in Germany yesterday and the noise is present. When you record a video, yes, there is a noise picked up but to hear it when playing you have to put the volume almost to the 70% level and then the noise from the loudspeaker is on the same level as the original one from the camera (you have to get really close to the loudspeaker to hear it). Hope that explains...
Also, a lot of people in the Russian forum complain for the same.
The biggest concern for me is that the noise won't get worse over time (like the dying capacitor in PSU, if one ever heard it) or the camera won't stop working.
Thanks for the info!
For me it's absolutely unacceptable that such a defect has been allowed to be present in the finished product.
So I'll start looking for another phone to get.
(If anyone in the Copenhagen area wants an unused clear 7.1 back cover, they can get mine)
From the other hand, I tried to record the video from the front camera and there's also a small noise when you play it on high volume, but that camera is silent. So this recorded noise might be a microphone issue (it's normal, more or less, you will never get an absolute silence). The difference in noise level between videos made on main and front camera is not significant, I can hardly tell, it's rather different frequencies of the noise - one is a little bit higher, another one is lower, like purple vs white noise.
So I don't know, @Morton_Fizzback, maybe you've heard exactly that noise on your recording when you had it, maybe you can still live with it...
I was just at the store looking at the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1, since it should have near stock android, but I was a bit annoyed by the pre-installed Facebook and Instagram apps that could only be disabled and not removed. So I'm considering the 7.1 again. Thanks for the testing @Summer Son !
So I tried again with another 7.1.
Again, as expected, it had the noise from the camera, but I think I might have been wrong with it being picked up by the mic.
I did some comparisons with another phone in a quiet room, and when recording and then playing a video with the volume turned up, they seemed to have about the same level of noise. So I guess what I heard the first time, might just have been normal static noise amplified.
So like others, my only small concern now, is that the noise isn't an indication that a part in the phone will be more prone to fail early.
Hi everyone
I have bought my 7.1 from France and i have notre had any noise problem from the camera until Pie update last weekend.
Since last sunday, noise from caméra is awful.
I suppose an update will arrive soon.
@Nathan03, it was there before, you just haven't noticed it.
Hello to everyone,first post.
I am stuck with a very peculiar problem, I hope somebody can help me here.
I have the v20 (my daughter inherited it), the v30 (as backup), my wife has the v50 and I just bought a v60. The musical experience is a key feature for us.
Now, I have a maddening issue with it. After setting it up, i immediately noticed that it sounded distorted when playing certain songs from tidal.
I have a pair of etymotic research er2xr iems and a custom made ciem pair (75 ohm impedance) that literally blows the er2xr out of the water.
However, I started listening to classical music, it began to drive me nuts. There is constant distortion when playing high frequency piano parts (Chopin for example). I have tried different sources (tidal, my own collection in various resolutions) and they all produce the same distortion.
Other than that the sound quality is awesome. That is the strangest thing.
With the er2xr it is less pronounced but with the more revealing ciems it is simply not enjoyable.
I have done my fair bit of research (read about tidal watermarks etc. ) , I have tried the ciems with the v50 and the others, they sound fantastic playing Chopin. I even tried them with my desktop dac without issues.
My conclusion is:
- the dac has a problem (that's strange because only one frequency range is problematic)
- the dac has been tuned like this by the factory - that would also be strange as obviously other people would listen to classical music on it and they would definitely hear it.
I would really appreciate it if someone could add their opinions and tips.
I bought the phone from Germany and it's covered by warranty but it would be a hassle to send it back, let alone explaining the problem to them as with the oem iems nothing is audible.
Other than this and the occasional dual screen flickering issue (that has to do something with UAPP player) In love this phone and would like to stick with it.
The V50 sounds very different (darker I would say) and it is better tuned in my opinion. All other things, however, are better on the v60.
Thanks for every suggestion.
Adam
adamcs said:
Hello to everyone,first post.
I am stuck with a very peculiar problem, I hope somebody can help me here.
I have the v20 (my daughter inherited it), the v30 (as backup), my wife has the v50 and I just bought a v60. The musical experience is a key feature for us.
Now, I have a maddening issue with it. After setting it up, i immediately noticed that it sounded distorted when playing certain songs from tidal.
I have a pair of etymotic research er2xr iems and a custom made ciem pair (75 ohm impedance) that literally blows the er2xr out of the water.
However, I started listening to classical music, it began to drive me nuts. There is constant distortion when playing high frequency piano parts (Chopin for example). I have tried different sources (tidal, my own collection in various resolutions) and they all produce the same distortion.
Other than that the sound quality is awesome. That is the strangest thing.
With the er2xr it is less pronounced but with the more revealing ciems it is simply not enjoyable.
I have done my fair bit of research (read about tidal watermarks etc. ) , I have tried the ciems with the v50 and the others, they sound fantastic playing Chopin. I even tried them with my desktop dac without issues.
My conclusion is:
- the dac has a problem (that's strange because only one frequency range is problematic)
- the dac has been tuned like this by the factory - that would also be strange as obviously other people would listen to classical music on it and they would definitely hear it.
I would really appreciate it if someone could add their opinions and tips.
I bought the phone from Germany and it's covered by warranty but it would be a hassle to send it back, let alone explaining the problem to them as with the oem iems nothing is audible.
Other than this and the occasional dual screen flickering issue (that has to do something with UAPP player) In love this phone and would like to stick with it.
The V50 sounds very different (darker I would say) and it is better tuned in my opinion. All other things, however, are better on the v60.
Thanks for every suggestion.
Adam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have Tidal but I can test the tracks on my V60 and G8 through Deezer (lossless CD quality). I'd be using the Focal Clear and HD800s. I don't really have IEMs other than a pair of Klipsch X10.
adamcs said:
Hello to everyone,first post.
I am stuck with a very peculiar problem, I hope somebody can help me here.
I have the v20 (my daughter inherited it), the v30 (as backup), my wife has the v50 and I just bought a v60. The musical experience is a key feature for us.
Now, I have a maddening issue with it. After setting it up, i immediately noticed that it sounded distorted when playing certain songs from tidal.
I have a pair of etymotic research er2xr iems and a custom made ciem pair (75 ohm impedance) that literally blows the er2xr out of the water.
However, I started listening to classical music, it began to drive me nuts. There is constant distortion when playing high frequency piano parts (Chopin for example). I have tried different sources (tidal, my own collection in various resolutions) and they all produce the same distortion.
Other than that the sound quality is awesome. That is the strangest thing.
With the er2xr it is less pronounced but with the more revealing ciems it is simply not enjoyable.
I have done my fair bit of research (read about tidal watermarks etc. ) , I have tried the ciems with the v50 and the others, they sound fantastic playing Chopin. I even tried them with my desktop dac without issues.
My conclusion is:
- the dac has a problem (that's strange because only one frequency range is problematic)
- the dac has been tuned like this by the factory - that would also be strange as obviously other people would listen to classical music on it and they would definitely hear it.
I would really appreciate it if someone could add their opinions and tips.
I bought the phone from Germany and it's covered by warranty but it would be a hassle to send it back, let alone explaining the problem to them as with the oem iems nothing is audible.
Other than this and the occasional dual screen flickering issue (that has to do something with UAPP player) In love this phone and would like to stick with it.
The V50 sounds very different (darker I would say) and it is better tuned in my opinion. All other things, however, are better on the v60.
Thanks for every suggestion.
Adam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have some experience in this same subject but I would rather talk about it on the LG discord. To make it short, I have had 3 different V60 units and can confirm 1 sounded very distinctly different the the other two. All 3 units had the same distortion (usually on lower freq's in my case) you are referring to that I could confirm with my pair of IEM Audiosense T800. I also have had every V series device including 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and G7 and G8. I agree the V50 sounded darker bolder, more closed in and personal to my ears at times, the V60 seems a bit more detailed and brighter. I can expand in more detail of my findings and I still have my G7 to compare to back and fourth.
Thanks for the replies. I have taken the phone to an audio engineer and had it checked by oscilloscope. It seems to be working fine, no clipping. However, when connected to an external sound generator the noise was clearly audible, which would lead me to think that the iems have a problem. Btw, I modify my earlier assessment, it happens when there is an attack, for example, and low and high frequencies are played together. The sound generator showed that it's almost always there but clearly audible from 200 Hz to 600Hz.
Then I went back to the guy who made the custom iem.
Findings are the followings:
- the noise is definitely audible when using the v60 with the ciems.
- no noise is audible when I listen to the v60 with other professional grade iems
- no noise is audible when using the ciems with a cayin n8 dap or other players
The above seem to contradict each other.
The ciem developer says that the ciem and phone are just not compatible. I tend to believe him, if such a thing exists, at all.
Hi, before I saw your post I made a thread about what seems like the same issue on my Bell Canada V60. I first noticed it playing Chopin piano, lol. It's very clear playing piano tracks. I have a binuaral beats app that can generate a signal and I can hear it as well. It's only there Somewhere between minimum and maximum volume and only when HIFI Quad DAC is enabled. I was begining to think I have a single hardware defect associated with the Quad DAC until I saw your post. What firmware are you on? I'm on V600TM10q
Here is my post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/lg-v60-quad-dac-issues-with-noise-and-distortion.4227291/
jblparisi said:
I have some experience in this same subject but I would rather talk about it on the LG discord. To make it short, I have had 3 different V60 units and can confirm 1 sounded very distinctly different the the other two. All 3 units had the same distortion (usually on lower freq's in my case) you are referring to that I could confirm with my pair of IEM Audiosense T800. I also have had every V series device including 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and G7 and G8. I agree the V50 sounded darker bolder, more closed in and personal to my ears at times, the V60 seems a bit more detailed and brighter. I can expand in more detail of my findings and I still have my G7 to compare to back and fourth.
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Hi I'm also experiencing this with a Canadian Bell V60. Where can I find your LG discord discussion on this? Thanks
Himediadroid said:
Hi I'm also experiencing this with a Canadian Bell V60. Where can I find your LG discord discussion on this? Thanks
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Hi,
This thing is really driving me nuts. I had the V60 measured with an oscilloscope by an expert. He didn't find any distortions or irregularities. I have replaced the ciems with a more expensive pair. The high noise floor (or background noise has disappeared) but it has developed a new problem since then. It started to randomly give a mechanical popping sound which is not consistent (doesn't always happen in the same tracks). The developer of the ciem is certain that the problem is the V60. I am not convinced about it.
Nevertheless, yesterday I went and sat down with the developer of the ciem to show him the problem. Guess what! I sat there for an hour and no matter what I did I couldn't reproduce the problem. Then on the way home in the car, it reappeared again. It is audible if you turn the iem around and only listen to the faceplate from the outside it sounds something like a cricket (only slightly mechanical) . Then the same problem occured with my wife's V50., too.
So, I think the problem is with the ciem not the V60. On the other hand, the first pair of ciems definitely worked and listening with my wife's er2xr I heard the same problems (high background noise) only less audibly.
Basically, I am stuck between the V60 and the ciems. I could return the V60 under warranty, but I am afraid I would only make a fool of myself as they would not be able to hear the problem. It is like chasing ghosts.
To sum it up, I am leaning towards the opinion that there are certain iems that have an incompatible frequency response curve with the LG V60 (it is important to note that the V50 doesn't have the same issue).
adamcs said:
Hi,
This thing is really driving me nuts. I had the V60 measured with an oscilloscope by an expert. He didn't find any distortions or irregularities. I have replaced the ciems with a more expensive pair. The high noise floor (or background noise has disappeared) but it has developed a new problem since then. It started to randomly give a mechanical popping sound which is not consistent (doesn't always happen in the same tracks). The developer of the ciem is certain that the problem is the V60. I am not convinced about it.
Nevertheless, yesterday I went and sat down with the developer of the ciem to show him the problem. Guess what! I sat there for an hour and no matter what I did I couldn't reproduce the problem. Then on the way home in the car, it reappeared again. It is audible if you turn the iem around and only listen to the faceplate from the outside it sounds something like a cricket (only slightly mechanical) . Then the same problem occured with my wife's V50., too.
So, I think the problem is with the ciem not the V60. On the other hand, the first pair of ciems definitely worked and listening with my wife's er2xr I heard the same problems (high background noise) only less audibly.
Basically, I am stuck between the V60 and the ciems. I could return the V60 under warranty, but I am afraid I would only make a fool of myself as they would not be able to hear the problem. It is like chasing ghosts.
To sum it up, I am leaning towards the opinion that there are certain iems that have an incompatible frequency response curve with the LG V60 (it is important to note that the V50 doesn't have the same issue).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Adamcs,
I have an USB external dac "Topping NX4 DSD" and other devices as well. Ive compared the v60 with 4 different headphones with different impedances. The issues are not present when I use an external usb dac with the v60, I dont hear them with the internal Quad Dac turned off. For me the issue is the way LG decided to auto unable the Quad Dac for different headphone impedances. (Above 50ohm I assume).. And the way they tuned the v60 dac to handle them. It seems with certain headphones, more sensitive ones, the issue is more obvious. Painfully obvious with Quad Dac on and Sony Mdr-7506 and solo piano tracks, Chopin for example. I still like this device even though Android 10 has its issues. UAPP is a big help there even if not perfect. In my opinion, its not the headphones and not the v60 all the time, seems like the combination of its Quad Dac and some headphones. I'm still a little confused but im starting to get a more clear picture of the situation after a lot of troubleshooting and reading other posts. Hope it helps you.
I wish I was there when your expert measured it with the scope, wish I owned one tbh. I know how to produce the conditions for the noise distortion to appear every time using a signal generated wave. Measuring it would be really interesting.
PS. I just played a random track with UAPP and Tidal, Olivia Dear - Halfway, and the distortion is immediately noticeable from the start. Its like the bass crossover leaks into the treble and its incredibly noticeable with Sony Mdr-7506( kind of bright pro headphones I use for audio editing, mixing etc..) Turn Quad dac off and theres zero distortion present.
I have experienced this issue as well, and have taken some measurements. This is the first 10 seconds of 'The Last Geisha' by Isidor. Top in both pics is Quad DAC on, lower is DAC off. Obvious, measurable issues with this phone. I'm rather upset by this, as unless my device is defective (or should I say, OUR devices) then either ESS or LG screwed something up, and this phone has zero right to be considered 'audiophile' at all. Considering trying to use my warranty to get a refund, or hopefully a replacement without the issue.
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Have you guys tried to confirm whether your V60 identifies the earphones as audio devices or just "external device" and see if it makes a difference? You can tell the connection type by the app Hifi Status (LG).
23velyn said:
Have you guys tried to confirm whether your V60 identifies the earphones as audio devices or just "external device" and see if it makes a difference? You can tell the connection type by the app Hifi Status (LG).
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My V60 is always in high-impedance mode with my headphones, and that's when I notice distortion. I recall doing my distortion test on a pair of Carbo Tenore IEMs. Gain was not in high-impedance mode (normal audio device). Didn't hear the distortion. I'm not sure how to make it go into external device mode.
By the way, if we want to be sure that we're talking about the same issue, I can only hear distortion when the volume is between 30-50 and the Quad DAC is in high-impedance mode. The distortion affects the left ear much worse than the right, but right still has a little bit going on. Distortion only seems to happen on specific tracks that rub it the wrong way, like The Last Geisha, as I mentioned above.
What format is the sample file in?
blackhawk said:
What format is the sample file in?
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I streamed the song using TIDAL, Soundcloud, and Youtube. Same distortion every time. I tried using UAPP with the direct driver but also made no difference.
TheV60Doc said:
I streamed the song using TIDAL, Soundcloud, and Youtube. Same distortion every time. I tried using UAPP with the direct driver but also made no difference.
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Try using a recording, wav, HDCD or a higher resolution lossless file type through Poweramp and see if you can dial the DAC in with many audio processing options. All DSP engines are not create equal.
Might be some sort of artifact present in the TIDAL music not your hardware.
With piano and especially harpsichord music artifacts are easier to detect.
Ideally you should use a stereo open air driver system ie a set of monitor speakers in a acoustically suitable listening area in order to fully reproduce the soundstage... or hear the lack of it.
blackhawk said:
Try using a recording, wav, HDCD or a higher resolution lossless file type through Poweramp and see if you can dial the DAC in with many audio processing options. All DSP engines are not create equal.
Might be some sort of artifact present in the TIDAL music not your hardware.
With piano and especially harpsichord music artifacts are easier to detect.
Ideally you should use a stereo open air driver system ie a set of monitor speakers in a acoustically suitable listening area in order to fully reproduce the soundstage... or hear the lack of it.
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That the artifacts disappear when the Quad DAC is turned off leads me to believe that TIDAL isn't the issue, plus the other streaming services I tried. Believe me, the distortion artifacts are very audible with headphones. I'm using Clears and HD 650s. Soundstage was never an issue, just the crackling sounds that come from the peculiar crossover distortion.
TheV60Doc said:
That the artifacts disappear when the Quad DAC is turned off leads me to believe that TIDAL isn't the issue, plus the other streaming services I tried. Believe me, the distortion artifacts are very audible with headphones. I'm using Clears and HD 650s. Soundstage was never an issue, just the crackling sounds that come from the peculiar crossover distortion.
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Yeah that doesn't sound good. If you have Developer options you could look at what audio options are available. Double check the settings.
Since you want to listen to music and know the difference... it will only grate on your nerves more as times passes. I toss it back.
Sorry you're having so much trouble.
TheV60Doc said:
That the artifacts disappear when the Quad DAC is turned off leads me to believe that TIDAL isn't the issue, plus the other streaming services I tried. Believe me, the distortion artifacts are very audible with headphones. I'm using Clears and HD 650s. Soundstage was never an issue, just the crackling sounds that come from the peculiar crossover distortion.
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I'd return the phone to the merchant if you're still in the return window or initiate a warranty exchange with LG.
Hi. I have a question regarding the sound/stereo/atmos quality on the S23 Ultra. I have noticed that when turning the phone sideways the sound is much louder from the bottom side of the screen. I used the codes to test the sound and bottom and top speakers work, but top is a lot softer then the bottom. I do understand that the opening for the speaker on the top is a lot smaller. Almost the same as S22U. On my S22U I got a lot better atmos experience than on the S23U. A lot more left and right audio seperation/stereo and atmos effect. I have also noticed that when holding the phone normal the sound is stronger from the bottom. If I close the speaker grill I can still barely hear the top speaker. I have enabled and disabled atmos and tried every setting, but there is almost zero difference....I basically hear only "mono" if that makes any sense. Anyone else have something similar or is there a setting/config I'm missing or that I can try?
Samsung has given the audio department a massive upgrade for the S23 compared with S22 or the S21. Compared with S21U, the 23U is a sea of change. I'm unsure how you can achieve atmos on such tiny speakers mostly firing forward! Yes, the top speaker is quieter than the bottom one but isn't that the case generally with most dual speakers on the latest devices?
On the S22U you would get a stereo/atmos effect when turning the phone sideways. Not huge, but definitely noticeable. On the s23u for me the sound comes through as mono, because the bottom speaker is so much louder, there is no separation between top and bottom. I know on the phone the atmos effect won't be as strong, but having equal level of sound between the 2 speakers would be nice and that is not what I'm getting
termdj said:
On the S22U you would get a stereo/atmos effect when turning the phone sideways. Not huge, but definitely noticeable. On the s23u for me the sound comes through as mono, because the bottom speaker is so much louder, there is no separation between top and bottom. I know on the phone the atmos effect won't be as strong, but having equal level of sound between the 2 speakers would be nice and that is not what I'm getting
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Now that you have put it that way, I need to test this out. But I'm not sure that I would notice the atmos effect much!
It's not so much the atmos effect, it's more that the sound comes mainly from the bottom speaker when playing music etc. Playing the 2 phones side by side, I can hear the difference from a mile... The s23u does sound a bit louder than the s22u, but the stereo effect is better on the s22u. Definitely better separation on s22u
I don't get the atmos . I was under impression atmos is a registered processing coding that can take what ever sound channel input and simulate more channel.
In example : give a atmos no-channel-defined audio source, and the receiver will output 6ch (5.1), so all your PHYSICAL speaker can play different sound to have the surround effect.
Atmos can simulate up to 128 channels.
so no matter how many speaker, and what height, it can simulate the right sound to the right speaker.
Not so sure if it's been developed to simulate the opposite ; surround over 2 speakers (on same height and close distance) based on a multi-channel atmos source...
You can achieve something very similar with stereo X (mixing few frequencies of both channel so the sound seems to come from a bigger room)
Anyway, S23 U I like the speaker at the bottom , since I can ear the phone ringing while walking, this compensate for the weak haptic feedback.
I tried the Pixel 4a, and damn for a budget phone is very close to the S23U.
termdj said:
On the S22U you would get a stereo/atmos effect when turning the phone sideways. Not huge, but definitely noticeable. On the s23u for me the sound comes through as mono, because the bottom speaker is so much louder, there is no separation between top and bottom. I know on the phone the atmos effect won't be as strong, but having equal level of sound between the 2 speakers would be nice and that is not what I'm getting
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I got stereo sounds blasting from both speakers simultaneously, obviously more on the bottom given the much space when its sideways. It's like sounds move like a little bubble in a level tube prioritizing whichever position (speaker) you place it over the other (speaker) and balances when horizontal. Its subtle but its there.
It doesn't sound mono on my end. I ramped all the frequencies to the max. Typically the same experience I got on my previous S22U but way better on S23U. Maybe you should try that option as well. Also, I use Poweramp equalizer if that helps.
LuthorKid said:
I got stereo sounds blasting from both speakers simultaneously, obviously more on the bottom given the much space when its sideways. It's like sounds move like a little bubble in a level tube prioritizing whichever position (speaker) you place it over the other (speaker) and balances when horizontal. Its subtle but its there.
It doesn't sound mono on my end. I ramped all the frequencies to the max. Typically the same experience I got on my previous S22U but way better on S23U. Maybe you should try that option as well. Also, I use Poweramp equalizer if that helps.
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I will try poweramp for music as I'm using stock samsung music currently and see if it makes a difference