[DISCUSSION] Loudness and quality of the BoomSound stereo speakers on HTC One - One (M7) General

Hi, I wanted to open a new discussion related to loudness of the One and music quality overall.
So, HTC has two stereo big speakers on the front and they have some kind of amplifier.
HTC claims they are loud - 93dB. Are they? What are your experiences?
As of quality. HTC audio is in partership with "Beats Audio". It seems to improve quality of music.
Take a look at this video seems good.
And one more thing - speakers are on the front. Does it get on your nerves in everyday usage?
zdnet.com said:
"When I first heard HTC talk about the front-facing stereo speakers on the HTC One with the BoomSound branding, I thought it was just some kind of marketing gimmick. As you can clearly hear in the video below, with an HTC One and BoomSound, you can actually leave behind your portable speaker and enjoy quality audio without a headset.
My wife enjoys music and when she heard me rocking out down in the office she came to see what was going on. After seeing it was the HTC One, she told me I have to get her one on T-Mobile.
I had the volume up to the maximum and you can't even really tell there is any distortion in the audio quality. You will never miss another call or alarm if you crank the volume on the HTC One and may actually be blown out of your bed with the BoomSound. Keep in mind, you can individually control audio for ringtones, notifications, music, videos, and alarms, so make sure to do so before bed."
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Another from a DJ over here ...
and here's the original for comparison
Not too bad for a phone eh !!

depend on the recording device, there is some missing frequencies, but the HTC One does have very good clarity, i like it

The sound is immense, especially coming from a phone!

Related

DHD music quality

hi all!
some of you are happy to have DHD already.
Tell me please how does it work as music player? Is it better than older HTC phones? (or generally phones) Can it play music as good as mid level mp3 players like iPOD, Creative, Sony etc.?
I mean with headphones, not stock off course.
best regards, Wojtek
I recall clock saying the sound was great using earphones. not sure if its the stock tho
The DHD has a good ADSP unit and as such, you should experience a good multimedia experience. This is of course dependant on other addons (DSPManager works great, but that requires modifying the framework) as well as upon the quality of your hardware (earphones - wired ones like Sennheinser and Bose work great).
You SHOULD bear in mind, that this is primarily a phone, NOT a multimedia unit.
Pozdrawiam ;]
I am listening to music on my HD right now!
It sounds incredible, awesome quality from the phone when using some quality earbuds. Sounds just like my iPod Video.
There is also the option of enabling Dolby Mobile, or SRS, or other EQ presets.
What's really nice is that you can scan the network for UPnP servers with the built-in Music app (eg. Windows Media, TVersity, XBMC and many more - I use foobar2000) and access music libraries stored on computers or NAS drives etc. Very handy! I think it works for pictures and videos too. Looks like part of HTC's DLNA implementation.
FM radio also sounds alright too. Haven't moved into a location where I could get full FM strength yet, but indoors on my headphones it's nice enough.
Can you tell me what are the settings available in dolby and SRS ?
Thanks
thanks guys, that was really helpful!
I was worried, because most phones sounds very flat. Mostly I listen to rock music so powerful low and dynamic high frequencies is a must have.
Now I use Nokia E65 with 3,5mm adaptor and KOSS earbuds. I hope there will be an major upgrade between E65 and DHD in case of sound + might consider changing earphones to AKG's.
is music and media playback can be enhanced with the dolby (via speaker) ?
The music quality is a way better than the desire. I would say it is on par with the iphone.
Is there any ex Galaxy S owners here who could provide an 'HONEST' opinion please.
The SGS is known as having an excellent Music App and delivers excellent quality audio.
It will be great to hear the DHD can achieve a similar result.
Thanks.
vicedens2002 said:
Can you tell me what are the settings available in dolby and SRS ?
Thanks
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In the Music app (at least; haven't looked at any video playback yet) there's a button at the top right and an item on the Menu button called Sound Enhancer.
On there, you have "No effects", "Dolby Mobile", "SRS enhancement", and "Equalizer (headphones only)". Next to Equalizer, there's a variety of presets like Pop, Rock, Bass boost, Treble boost, Vocal boost, and a few more. I haven't found any means of actually adjusting the Dolby or SRS - it just seems to be an on/off thing - same with the EQ, there's no manual band control that I can see. It's either Nothing, Dolby, SRS, or EQ+a preset.
override182 said:
is music and media playback can be enhanced with the dolby (via speaker) ?
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Dolby mobile and SRS makes a difference to the music being played in both the headphones, and out of the phone's speaker. Dolby seems to push more bass and adds a mild surround-like feeling. SRS seems to boost the bass and treble and make the sound "stand out" more. Both nice effects, worth playing with on various kinds of headphone. It's a preferential thing - the sound is fantastic even with no effects. They seem to make the external speaker a little louder (perhaps as a result of extra treble?) which, I must admit, is tinny and a little quiet, but I was expecting that.
Demiourgos said:
thanks guys, that was really helpful!
I was worried, because most phones sounds very flat. Mostly I listen to rock music so powerful low and dynamic high frequencies is a must have.
Now I use Nokia E65 with 3,5mm adaptor and KOSS earbuds. I hope there will be an major upgrade between E65 and DHD in case of sound + might consider changing earphones to AKG's.
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I used to have some KOSS The Plugs, and I miss them like hell, great earphones especially at the price. I lost mine It's a pity I don't have them any more to test on the DHD, but I'm certain you will find them to sound fantastic on this phone.
I'm using some generic Sony-Ericsson Walkman headphones with some custom earplugs, and they sound brilliant on this phone, so I can only imagine better headphones would sound... well, let's use some Apple lingo - "magical".
The bass is certainly powerful and upper frequencies are crisp. Hopefully you'll find it the same... I appreciate listening experience is a very subjective thing.
Demiourgos said:
thanks guys, that was really helpful!
I was worried, because most phones sounds very flat. Mostly I listen to rock music so powerful low and dynamic high frequencies is a must have.
Now I use Nokia E65 with 3,5mm adaptor and KOSS earbuds. I hope there will be an major upgrade between E65 and DHD in case of sound + might consider changing earphones to AKG's.
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I listen to deathcore and metalcore stuffs, having a low and dynamic Hi-F would indeed be superb with the open triplets, massive double paddle bass and all the squeaking pinching.. goes sexy on the distortion sound too
d0pefish said:
In the Music app (at least; haven't looked at any video playback yet) there's a button at the top right and an item on the Menu button called Sound Enhancer.
On there, you have "No effects", "Dolby Mobile", "SRS enhancement", and "Equalizer (headphones only)". Next to Equalizer, there's a variety of presets like Pop, Rock, Bass boost, Treble boost, Vocal boost, and a few more. I haven't found any means of actually adjusting the Dolby or SRS - it just seems to be an on/off thing - same with the EQ, there's no manual band control that I can see. It's either Nothing, Dolby, SRS, or EQ+a preset.
Dolby mobile and SRS makes a difference to the music being played in both the headphones, and out of the phone's speaker. Dolby seems to push more bass and adds a mild surround-like feeling. SRS seems to boost the bass and treble and make the sound "stand out" more. Both nice effects, worth playing with on various kinds of headphone. It's a preferential thing - the sound is fantastic even with no effects. They seem to make the external speaker a little louder (perhaps as a result of extra treble?) which, I must admit, is tinny and a little quiet, but I was expecting that.
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sweet, i love to hear that SRS and DOLBY makes media playback via the internal speaker a lil bit louder.. cuz it has been metallic and empty for the HTC Desire. Yes we all know that people dont enjoy music via the speakers but it would be handy sometime to have at least a decent one.. just for shortplaybacks or watching video with buddies..
does it work for youtube perhaps? cuz i see people tend to watch youtube vids with friends.. that is where a decent speaker goes along well or does it work only with the music player
override182 said:
I listen to deathcore and metalcore stuffs, having a low and dynamic Hi-F would indeed be superb with the open triplets, massive double paddle bass and all the squeaking pinching.. goes sexy on the distortion sound too
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I have no deathcore to hand at the moment, but can give it a shot when I get home and report back, ahhaha
override182 said:
does it work for youtube perhaps? cuz i see people tend to watch youtube vids with friends.. that is where a decent speaker goes along well or does it work only with the music player
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Since the sound enhancement settings are only accessible from within the Music application, I don't know whether these enhancements only affect the music played in this app, or if the settings "stick" and apply to all media. I have no data or Wifi available at the moment to test out YouTube, but will report back tonight unless someone else would like to try.
I wonder if the Dolby/SRS/EQ stuff is done in software, or in the DAC/audio chip. Would be nice if it was the latter, as in the future we may end up with an external app that may offer more control over it, like some older HTC phones used to have.
Thought id post some screen shots of the music player and settings and what have you.
d0pefish said:
I have no deathcore to hand at the moment, but can give it a shot when I get home and report back, ahhaha
Since the sound enhancement settings are only accessible from within the Music application, I don't know whether these enhancements only affect the music played in this app, or if the settings "stick" and apply to all media. I have no data or Wifi available at the moment to test out YouTube, but will report back tonight unless someone else would like to try.
I wonder if the Dolby/SRS/EQ stuff is done in software, or in the DAC/audio chip. Would be nice if it was the latter, as in the future we may end up with an external app that may offer more control over it, like some older HTC phones used to have.
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try Bring Me The Horizon : Visions and Asking Alexandria : The Final Episode.. tell me if it sounds awesome! Both songs have quite a dynamic range of tunes and even very low ones too
Beards said:
Is there any ex Galaxy S owners here who could provide an 'HONEST' opinion please.
The SGS is known as having an excellent Music App and delivers excellent quality audio.
It will be great to hear the DHD can achieve a similar result.
Thanks.
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Yes I can help, my friend is here with her HD and I had a galaxy s not long back..(sold this week)
Galaxy s vs Desire HD - music through loud speaker - Galaxy S kicks its butt.
Galaxy S vs Desire HD - music through standard supplied earphones - Galaxy S again sound better.
Galaxy S vs Desire HD - music with a set of sennheiser cx500 in the DHD (ebay £10, best earphones for the price, trust me) WOW, what a difference, lovely sound and good bass, on par with Galaxy S id say..
Basically the external speaker isn't that loud (its not bad but its just not loud enough...as always...thanks HTC)
The supplied headphons that come with the Desire HD are crap..
Get a good set of earphones (the sennheiser cx500 were just an example but I found them to be very good for the money)...the difference is like night and day.
So with a good set of earphones its easily on par with the Galaxy S and an IPod for that matter... Hope that helps.
EDIT- I also had a Desire and the sound even with the standard headphones was much better on the DHD
Nice to hear good stuff for music quality. Can anyone confirm If radio loudness is good or not with headsets (compared to mp3 listenning). Also It has got RDS support, right?
rixsta said:
Yes I can help, my friend is here with her HD and I had a galaxy s not long back..(sold this week)
Galaxy s vs Desire HD - music through loud speaker - Galaxy S kicks its butt.
Galaxy S vs Desire HD - music through standard supplied earphones - Galaxy S again sound better.
Galaxy S vs Desire HD - music with a set of sennheiser cx500 in the DHD (ebay £10, best earphones for the price, trust me) WOW, what a difference, lovely sound and good bass, on par with Galaxy S id say..
Basically the external speaker isn't that loud (its not bad but its just not loud enough...as always...thanks HTC)
The supplied headphons that come with the Desire HD are crap..
Get a good set of earphones (the sennheiser cx500 were just an example but I found them to be very good for the money)...the difference is like night and day.
So with a good set of earphones its easily on par with the Galaxy S and an IPod for that matter... Hope that helps.
EDIT- I also had a Desire and the sound even with the standard headphones was much better on the DHD
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Thanks mate, appreciate the honesty.
Beards said:
Thanks mate, appreciate the honesty.
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Hello matey, no problem, really it just comes down to Samsung ship far better headphones in box than the HTC, once you get a decent set the DHD sound is dam good.
rixsta said:
Hello matey, no problem, really it just comes down to Samsung ship far better headphones in box than the HTC, once you get a decent set the DHD sound is dam good.
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Yes Rich, appreciate that.
My problem though is I do use the external speaker a lot.
I take an awful lot of video's of my 3yr old granddaughter and pass the phone around to show the rest of the family (when out & about that is.... Near a TV and I either use the TV Cable or DLNA).
Taking these video's and playing them back through the speaker is sheer bliss.
Hence my nightmare..... The SGS has an excellent camera and bloody good loudspeaker to boot.
I've a strong feeling the DHD I'm ordering soon will disappoint.

External Speaker Quality ?

Hello,
I was just reading a review on Hemorrdroids.
http://hemorrdroids.net/htc-desire-hd-review/
in the review it is quoted that the external speaker was something your mates will laugh at as the quality is that poor ?
I am hoping to upgrade to this phone in a couple of weeks. I was just wondering if that is that statement true ? I do use my external speaker sharing you tube videos with my mates at work. I can't imagine it being that bad.
Cheers for your help !!!
themonkster said:
Hello,
I was just reading a review on Hemorrdroids.
http://hemorrdroids.net/htc-desire-hd-review/
in the review it is quoted that the external speaker was something your mates will laugh at as the quality is that poor ?
I am hoping to upgrade to this phone in a couple of weeks. I was just wondering if that is that statement true ? I do use my external speaker sharing you tube videos with my mates at work. I can't imagine it being that bad.
Cheers for your help !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are familiar with the other HTC phones such as the Desire and Nexus One, then this is pretty much the same on the HD. Quality is "bearable", but it is simply not loud enough. Max setting on the Desire HD is approx60-70& of Milestone Speaker loudness.
Yep, its the worst I have had...but the quality of the phone makes up for it.
Well its not good but to say its really bad.. when you use dolby mobile its okay.. and when you use dolby mobile on headset its AWESOME!! best i've ever heard on any phone / mp3 player
Yes I can confirm that. I just got mine, first thing I tested is external speaker volume, media playback sound, ringtones, etc. For the so called media abilities touted for the DHD I have to say the exernal speakers for both sound quality & more importantly loudness is pathetic.
I have a normal Desire, a iPhone 4 & a Samsung Galaxy S to compare it to right here I'm afraid to say its definately not in the same league as the latter 2 & even the Desire which I find quite tinny seems to go louder.
Maybe someone will make an audio hack so it goes louder!
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
zen123 said:
Yes I can confirm that. I just got mine, first thing I tested is external speaker volume, media playback sound, ringtones, etc. For the so called media abilities touted for the DHD I have to say the exernal speakers for both sound quality & more importantly loudness is pathetic.
I have a normal Desire, a iPhone 4 & a Samsung Galaxy S to compare it to right here I'm afraid to say its definately not in the same league as the latter 2 & even the Desire which I find quite tinny seems to go louder.
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for me i don't care about listening to music through the external speaker, my concern is could i hear the phone when it rings?
NoEnd said:
for me i don't care about listening to music through the external speaker, my concern is could i hear the phone when it rings?
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Ring volume is not that great I'm afraid.
I'm the reviewer...
I just find it so annoying, look at the San Fran, £99 and it's speaker is FAR better. Come on HTC!!!
The speaker is rubbish, it's just not loud enough. You can't even hear the GPS talking in a car lol.
If you want to see how sad it is, ive just updated the video thread with it in the bugs/problems sections a guy had some laugh with it.
to be honest the sound quality through the headphones is far more important to me. I guess it depends how you use the phone. Im just glad that people say the quality through a good pair of headphones is awesome!
SupremeBeaver said:
to be honest the sound quality through the headphones is far more important to me. I guess it depends how you use the phone. Im just glad that people say the quality through a good pair of headphones is awesome!
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im skeptical of how awesome it is, ive been spoiled with sound quality with my cowon S9 and Q-jays IEM's, im hoping that the DHD will sound on par with the cowon however i doubt it will be
awesome compared to iphone/ipod ....now that i can see
Speaker is woeful
I can also confirm that the external speaker is really disappointing. I criticised the original Desire for poor speaker volume and the promise of Dolby Mobile and SRS was one of the deal breakers in choosing to upgrade to the HD.
The ringtone selection is limited because you need to look for ones that are naturally loud. Forget watching some videos on the awesome screen when you can't hear the audio. I guess SatNav is going to be difficult too.
I use MixZing to improve speaker output for music when earphones are not nearby. But unless a hack appears to increase native volume, it's going to be a problem for a lot of people.
As a plus point, sound through ear/headphones is very impressive. Still needs a volume boost but perfectly acceptable for music playback.
Reminds me of the streak when i got it on 1.6 the speaker was quiet and made odd noises when put up full then came 2.1 its louder and clearer....Quite possibly a retarded software safety limit implemented.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
this is a deal breaker for me!
i thought with the SRS and all other crap they advertised that the speakers would be a bit decent! i have the n1 and the loud speaker and earpiece just total crap even with the hack to make them louder...
been missing a lot of calls cuz can't hear the phone (don't like vibration) ringing and when listening to the other side i try to find a quite place to listen to them as if i raise the volume the sound become very high pitched ..
damn you HTC i though the loud speaker would be at least like the ones in the EVO which is quite good!
a 50 bucks Chinese phone has far way better speaker than this crappy 700+ phone
hmm maybe most HTC's employees are bats! use high pitched frequencies to communicate
Can anyone compare the loudspeaker with HD2 ? HD2 seems even too loud for me.

video on how terrible the speaker is

just found a video on youtube that shows how bad the speaker is on the hd compared to a old n95
Yeah the speaker sucks, my old phone was the N95 and the speakers on that are a lot better than the DHD I have now.
who knows;9118124 just found a video on youtube that shows how bad the speaker is on the hd compared to a old n95
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I agree that the speaker on DHD is be low and "terrible" to people but I don't think it is fair to compare it to the nokia n95 which I think probably have one of the best speakerS (since it has 2 huge external speakers). Nokia is known for being a great music phone too.
aah, the N95, amazing sound. Used to have it for a long time, then got my first HTC (touch HD) and was extremely disappointed with the sound quality, and now that I got the desire hd, my ears got used to the crappy low-tech sound quality! well you cant have them all in one phone
wonder
I just wonder if there is HW problem with speaker or its simply limited by software ? because I really couldnt belive that it would be that big problem to add louder speaker..
To start with, I made that comparison video. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
I am utterly disappointed by the speaker quality of the Desire HD.
I fear that this is hardware related, as the speakers sound very high-pitched, without any low tones at all. Also, when at maximum volume playing high toned music, the sound starts to distort and crackle. As you can hear, you can hear the low tones pretty loud and clear on the N95, but on the Desire HD, you can't hear it at all. The volume is noticeably about 2.5x louder on the N95.
If you compare the Desire HD with the Galaxy S, you will quickly notice that the Galaxy S has even better speakers than the N95, with plenty of low tones, at a high volume. The volume of the Galaxy S is many times higher and clearer than the Desire HD.
All of this leads me to conclude that for a flagship phone as the Desire HD is, it really has crappy speakers, and I truly don't understand how they could make a ****up like this. How much would good speakers cost anyway? Cents?
I expect a flagship multimedia phone like the Desire HD is to have proper speakers, comparable or better than we had in the N95 time (the flagship multimedia phone 3+ years ago). Samsung seems not to have any trouble to achieve this, but for some reason HTC didn't -utterly unexpected-.
Now let me be clear: even with the bad speakers, the Desire HD is a much better choice than the Galaxy S for several reasons, but really, HOW THE HELL have they achieved to fail so miserably on this point?? I'll make another video soon to compare speakers of the Desire HD against the Galaxy S. Also check out the other video's in my channel, rate and comment!
I think in general HTC's phones have sucky speakers, even that new HTC 7 phone with that big speaker isn't that impressive.
tried poweramp and turned they volumes up on that and it just crackled looks like its gunna be a replacement speaker hopefully the samsung galaxy s is similar in design, if so ill try and make it fit lol
What a shame on DHD about that poor loudspeakers. I do not care about music because I am sure that most of people are using headphones like Sennheisser or something like that but about ring loudness and vibration feeling, it really sucks.
You pay so much to this phone and knowing that you will be left with those speakers are really annoying.
M
eozen81 said:
What a shame on DHD about that poor loudspeakers. I do not care about music because I am sure that most of people are using headphones like Sennheisser or something like that but about ring loudness and vibration feeling, it really sucks.
You pay so much to this phone and knowing that you will be left with those speakers are really annoying.
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The most Annoying thing is that I can't even hear it in my pocket as a matter of fact the speaker is so bad I even managed to miss 3 calls when the phone was layed speaker side down on the floor even though I was in the same room, really annoying
who knows said:
I even managed to miss 3 calls when the phone was layed speaker side down on the floor even though I was in the same room, really annoying
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Sorry but this seems a bit exagerated! You're saying that having the dhd on the floor and being you in the same room, you couldn't hear a phone call? Come on..you were looking to TV with highest volume, or listening to music with earphones, or something similar...otherwise, sorry, I can't believe you!
Anyway, apart from this, I admit the speaker is really CRAP. I hate this. Hopefully vibration is good enough to feel the phone vibrating in your pocket, because the speaker could make you miss calls when in a sound-crouded area.
p.s. did we all have N95s before the dhd?? I had the 8Gb and...its screen has gone! It had the greatest speakers I have ever heard anyway, so the comparison is not that fair. Most phones don't have good speakers, but the one on the dhd is really RIDICOLOUS!
ErMeglio said:
Sorry but this seems a bit exagerated! You're saying that having the dhd on the floor and being you in the same room, you couldn't hear a phone call? Come on..you were looking to TV with highest volume, or listening to music with earphones, or something similar...otherwise, sorry, I can't believe you!
Anyway, apart from this, I admit the speaker is really CRAP. I hate this. Hopefully vibration is good enough to feel the phone vibrating in your pocket, because the speaker could make you miss calls when in a sound-crouded area.
p.s. did we all have N95s before the dhd?? I had the 8Gb and...it's screen has gone! It had the greatest speakers I have ever heard anyway, so the comparison is not that fair. Most phones don't have good speakers, but the one on the dhd is really RIDICOLOUS!
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i was watching tv, and the phone was around 5/6 meters away and i didnt have vibration on.. to be honest i couldnt believe it myself i even rang the phone to see if any music was playing lol
so how is in-call volume? is it just external sound or in-call volume sucks too?
That extremely inaccurate, the speaker, if configured properly is very very good. I an audiophile, I love sound quality, I've experienced many devices. The Desire Hd stands out by far for the smartphone category. N97? Come on. I be owned one of these they were decent..
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
007K said:
That extremely inaccurate, the speaker, if configured properly is very very good. I an audiophile, I love sound quality, I've experienced many devices. The Desire Hd stands out by far for the smartphone category. N97? Come on. I be owned one of these they were decent..
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
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So that would mean that all of us have faulty speakers.
Someone else also said his speakers were great, so I guess a few people got decent ones.
Can we use SE Live View with this ? Does it have better speakers than this ? A option for not missing the calls ??
P.S- I m yet to buy DHD
007K said:
That extremely inaccurate, the speaker, if configured properly is very very good. I an audiophile, I love sound quality, I've experienced many devices. The Desire Hd stands out by far for the smartphone category. N97? Come on. I be owned one of these they were decent..
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
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Are you sure you are talking about de DHD? And how did you configure it properly, besides changing volume settings?
hansvk said:
And how did you configure it properly, besides changing volume settings?
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I don't know how he configured his DHD properly, but i think on DHD there're much more options to optimize sound quality than changing volume. I think abound de-/activate SRS and/or dolby mobile and there should be also an equalizer be integrated.
Think about that you shouln'd compare the quality of sound with any other devices than other smartphones or mobiles.
I've registered just to post a comment on the speaker quality. It's terrible. I'm not talking about headphones or the internal speaker. Specifically the loudspeaker. It's tinny, clips at higher volumes, and is worse than phones I had more than 5 years ago. I'm seriously considering sending the phone back on this basis.
Yep they are crap. I can't believe they've put something like this in one of the most expensive devices on the market.
Yesterday I was watching an episode of Family Guy and the quality of the sound was terrible. I thought it could be because of the codecs I used to convert the vid. I tried few mp3s (256bit) still crap. The louder I've put the volume the lower the quality went. Very very disappointing.
Still though... I love the phone and wouldn't change it for anything else. I wasn't expecting to get All-in-one device.

audioquality - really that bad? will 2.2 bring some improvements?

Hey Folks!!
I´ve read a lot about the very poor audio quality with the streak...what do you "initiated" guys can tell me about this (aside from the fact that they have positioned the audiojack on the SIDE of the device )? How would you rate the possibility to use this device as my no.1 mp3 player?
Will the update that everybody is waiting for compensate this issue?
Hi brooon
Well i don't know why you think the Streak has poor audio quality as that most certainly isn't my experience of using it to play my Music on and whilst i was on 1.6 i was more than happy using the Music player that was built into the Streak as i liked the Music Widget that came with it. Since moving to 2.1 and 2.2 Custom Roms i am using Lithium Player as like the Widget options it gives and i have no need for an EQ as have never used one on any device i use.
What is far more important IMO is how well you encode your Music as using low bit rates are never going to give you great results however good the hardware may be its restricted by to little information to work with when decoding it. All my Music is kept in iTunes although bought on Cd's and then transferred to it @256kbps AAC. The second most important factor is then your in ear phones as the supplied ones with any equipment are adequate at best IMO so dependant on your budget and the sound you like to hear upgrading your in ear or head phones is the other thing that will effect the quality of what you are listening to.
I listen to at least 2 hrs a day of Music either with my Shure EC2g's in ear phones plugged directly into my Streak or using my Nokia BH-500 and streaming the Stereo via Bluetooth to the same in ear phones and the sound is nothing short of stunning IMO. It produces a rich and full sound with good separation and sound stage with no need to use an EQ as IMO you shouldn't need to boost any frequencies as thats what a producer does when recording the Music for you to listen to in the recording studio.
So in answer to your question do nothing as I'm already running 2.2 and despite now using Lithium Player for the Widget options i have no issues with the sound quality my Streak delivers whilst listening to music or watching Videos.
Marc
brooon said:
I´ve read a lot about the very poor audio quality with the streak...[...]
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Where have you read it?
Streak has the best audio quality of all the devices I owned during last years. I was amazed when I first plugged the earphones and played some tunes.
Theres a lot of fud around.....
I'd agree with smoku it's the best (although the speaker isn't great maybe that's what he read)
I'm now using power amp for all my music needs, the eq in there really brings out the best of the sound quality on the streak... It even plays m4a and wma and can boost the sound level out of the rear speaker
This is a valid thread, thanks for starting it.
For my part I am interested in portable audiophile gear, Sennheiser IE8 with custom moulds, iBasso D10, iRiver H140, that sort of thing.
My music is encoded in FLAC and I haven’t yet tried the Streak as a music player. Possibly in part so as not to be disappointed and also I am waiting on final 2.2 or maybe even 2.3 so as to bring the platform to maturity and with it good quality media apps. The original 1.6 just seemed to be rough around the edges and with poor app support.
So the responses from Dogmann, smoku and fards are very encouraging and I shall give it go sooner rather than later.
i use the hf2,s from emotec and you need a diff player to play flac but the sound quality is ok just the standared head set that come with its pants
I think 2.2 has increased the sound quality for the speaker but still not good as HTC tilt2. The sound from earphone jack is good on both 1.6 and 2.2 for me.
im using a pair of klipsch images and the sound on my streak sounds horrible. I hear alot of popping and noise. You can even hear when the internal amp comes on when its about to start playing sound, and you can hear it turn off when sounds go off its rather noticable. I recently installed poweramp and the inbuilt eq does make the sound alot better. Maybe all our streaks aren't created equal id love to hear one that sounds good.
hi @all!!
Thanks for the comments and experiences, your impressions are really helping a lot here guys
shigga said:
I hear alot of popping and noise. You can even hear when the internal amp comes on when its about to start playing sound, and you can hear it turn off when sounds go off its rather noticable.
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Click to collapse
That´s what i´ve read several times in reports that i´ve found during my googletrip ...it seems like you´re not the only one suffering under these (audio)circumstances. I must say, Im very surprised about the positive impressions here (although I´m happy to read such things )?!?
Don´t you guys hear those "poppings" and noises, too? What could be the reason for such a variety of impressions? Any idea?
This thread comes straight from the android knockers over at ilounge! i've owned both, there's no difference! i read the same stuff before i got android.
The only thing about the stereo system on the streak is the incredibly stupid placement of the headphone jack on the side of the device, meaning it sticks out sideways when in your pocket, the 'designers' even thought that you would carry the streak around in your pocket in landscape mode
tbh I'm not an audiophile, I've been a musician for way too long
never heard popping or buzz... except intentional as part of whatever I'm listening to..
My Streak does sound real good, even when listening to classical music. And I am using it straight out of the box.
Crap statement. It's not spectacular, but for a mobile phone device it's very satisfactory. I use it as a player both in my car and when I'm on the train and it sounds phenomenal.
Obviously it is not spectacular, lol. How could the sound on such a small device ever be spectacular? I was comparing it to other mobile devices (my wife's iPhone 3G, my old HTCs) and I am pleasantly surprised.
I switched to bluetooth headphones and they deliver much better sound quality, than the original streak's earplugs.
HansTWN said:
Obviously it is not spectacular, lol. How could the sound on such a small device ever be spectacular? I was comparing it to other mobile devices (my wife's iPhone 3G, my old HTCs) and I am pleasantly surprised.
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Didn't mean to directly attack your statement . I'm actually agreeing with you, I think the sound quality is good on the Streak, and I'm calling the "reviewers" who said that the sound is bad on the Streak crap.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Its weird there is such differing opinions on it.
I've owned two and returned both for bad audio. I even had an email from the executive support team saying they're aware of an audio issue!
I just wondered whether maybe, as mine were both from the very first Carphone Warehouse batch in Brighton that I got a bum lot!?
Just tried the demo display at my local best buy and brought my earbuds and it sounded equally as bad as mine. My captivate, aria and nexus sound so much better.
shigga said:
im using a pair of klipsch images and the sound on my streak sounds horrible. I hear alot of popping and noise. You can even hear when the internal amp comes on when its about to start playing sound, and you can hear it turn off when sounds go off its rather noticable. I recently installed poweramp and the inbuilt eq does make the sound alot better. Maybe all our streaks aren't created equal id love to hear one that sounds good.
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Click to collapse
This is my only gripe with the audio quality. If you listen at low volumes, you can hear fuzz/hiss sounds. I also can hear the amp/DAC/whatever it is turning on and off when I start/stop my music. Course, you can crank up the music to drown out the noise, but I like to be able to hear what's going on around me when i listen to music (so the yard gnomes et al can't sneak up on me.)
If you're in a reasonably quiet room, try playing some music with headphones and the volume turned all the way down to 0 (yes, zero). I can hear audio noise over the sound of my apartment heater blowing air around.
side note: I've confirmed this with the earbuds that came with the streak, as well as a set that came with my old iphone. i'm guessing if you have less sensitive headphones, this will be less of a problem cause you'll be pushing the audio out at higher volume levels.
After the encouraging observations here I decided to finally check out the sound quality for myself. My reference portable rig is a pair of Sennheiser IE8’s with custom ear moulds, iBasso D10 Headphone amplifier with an optical digital interconnect to an iRiver H140.
The music I like tends to be recorded as low-fi, e.g. The National, Bon Iver, Cymbals Eat Guitars. Last night I loaded up a selection of Calexico on both the Streak and iRiver. While these are clean recordings they are certainly not Hi-Fi reference standard, you know, the sort of stuff that is used to demonstrate high end audiophile equipment.
Basically my subjective comparison is just me listening to the sort of music that appeals. The cognoscenti over at Head-Fi may well have finer tuned ears and a more analytical framework and disagree of course.
I approached this with some trepidation bracing myself for a degree of disappointment in the Streak as a music player. No way did I expect what I found.
To summarise, given the choice of listening to the iRiver/iBasso rig or the Streak I would probably select the former. However I would be hard pressed to actually explain why. Perhaps because it has the ability to go louder - though the Streak is quite loud enough.
TBH after a couple of hours listening to the same tracks back and forth on both devices, I couldn’t discern any difference. Dell has really come through on this device in so many ways.
Kudos also to PowerAmp which is a joy to use and a bargain at $5.
For reference, the last time I performed this exercise was to compare with my old iPhone 3GS and there was no doubt then that the iRiver/iBasso was superior. I can’t say the same with the Streak, the best I can manage is ‘neck and neck’.
I am sorry for those who are having audio problems but this shouldn’t be so and your device could be faulty.

Poor Headphone Audio Quality on Desire HD

Hey everyone,
i know there have been a lot of threads about the poor audio quality of the speaker. While it is not perfect, i can live with the quality revolution HD brings.
But when i use my earphones/headphones, i always notice how bad the Desire HD performs when playing music. Even when i compare the quality to a cheap MP3-Player, it doesnt sound good.
Can someone explain why the quality is so bad and if there is any way to improve the audio quality?
My Ideas would be:
-Bluetooth Audio adapter (but then again it is wireless, can't really be better)
-get a micro-usb to 3.5mm adapter (wouldnt help probably)
Any Ideas?
well, the DHD isn't famous for it's audio quality... there is nothing you can do about that.
it's probably related to a cheap sound chip used in the dhd.
Sent out of my Free Candy Van.
Just how "bad" quality are you talking about? Currently I'm using Nokia BH-503 and I'm pretty much satisfied with it. Good bass, clarity and range. It may not be the best, but "good" enough.
well, i use it as my default music player as well and it doesnt perform miserably, but whenever i connect my 150$ earphones, i always feel underwhelmed.
The highs just don't perform well, they lack a certain clarity. They sound a bit like tin cans
strange. i have the best audio quality on headset of all mp3 player i ever had with my DHD. i am still astonished how decent it is.
all of my friends have confirmed this.
At least DHD is far better than cheap MP3 player. But from where I am, I can't judge directly your claim. But you could use person near you to judge it. Ask if the sounds are truly bad as you said. Better if you could find another DHD for comparison. If it is the same, it seems that you set your standards a bit too high. No offense.
Strange to see this thread^^ I think the audio quality of the dhd is superb. I've been using an iPod for the last years and the quality is about the same i guess in normal mode. But when i enable SRS its like another level. I hear details on my tracks that i didn't even knew where there before.
So i really can't give any complaints. But anyway about 80% of the music quality comes from your headphones. I'm using stage in ears from shure because I'm a musician, and those headphones are much better than the average 30 bucks ones.
well, i recently noticed this when listening to a sony MP3-Player. When Comparing it to an LG P990, i also found the quality to be a bit clearer on the LG.
The SRS Sound does make it a little punchier, but it doesn't really fix the sound quality in my opinion.
I installed Volume Ace which gives you full control of all volume settings and I also have an app called Equalizer installed which, yes allows you to set various profiles/presets of music including bass, reverb, spacializer, echo etc etc. My DHD has SUPERB sound with this. If you use the stock music app it even switches profiles automatically provided the mp3 has the metadata for genre of music etc. I use Mortplayer which is now available for Android and I used it on WinMob too. It is THE best music player imho. I also use the HTC bluetooth headset and the sound quality is equally good with rich bass etc etc.
I use Moboplayer for movies/videos and the sound is equally superb. I am not sure what problem your device might have?
i will give the equalizer app a try, will report back whether i am more satisfied with the sound then.
UPDATE: The sound does seem quite a bit better when i use the equlalizer, thanks for that!
Well just wait for the new HTC devices with integrated dre beats audio
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA Premium App
Aamir.Badat said:
Well just wait for the new HTC devices with integrated dre beats audio
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
Dre? As in the c...rapper? I refuse to have that Name associated with my phone. hehehehe
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
i use a good AKG Headset and the sound is superb... on my DHD
I use Poweramp with these settings (iBeats headphones)
Equaliser preset: Techno (You can try Rock too, I dont listen to these but they offer clean bass and good highs)
Bass knob: About 40%
Treble knob: About 55%
Tone: Enabled
DHD: SRS Enhancement
Try it, its better than anything else I've seen on basically any other device.
I totally agree,
The HTC in comparison to different ipods and MP3 players is not in the same league.
Even the power is much lower on the HTC...
Currently i'm using iPod for my music (for the "real" music), along with the DHD for ...m.... calling ?
Gentlemen, lets not generalize. The DHD might not be on par with iPods/iPhones.
But that doesn't mean whole HTC is not on par. Example, my HD2 sounds better than my gf ipod, but that might be the music player (android ginger) tweaks.
Another example, on the world of smartphones, the olddy HTC Kaiser has one of the better speakerphones, i haven't seen nothing better (except some old nokias like the ngage 1st gen, yet this one usually would burn the speaker)
So, though the sound might not be that good, i rather have a phone that plays good sound, than a phone and a mp3 player. Honestly, most my musics are on FLAC, so any mp3 player would sound bad to me. No... i'm not a audophile. I don't have a better ear than anyother, but i can see difference between a 320kbps mp3 and any flac.
I have found that audio quality is very poor through the HTC supplied headset, but through my personal headphones really good, plus the ARHD ROM adds some volume and aswell to the sound.
peter9991 said:
Hey everyone,
i know there have been a lot of threads about the poor audio quality of the speaker. While it is not perfect, i can live with the quality revolution HD brings.
But when i use my earphones/headphones, i always notice how bad the Desire HD performs when playing music. Even when i compare the quality to a cheap MP3-Player, it doesnt sound good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious if you're using the stock ROM (that came with your phone) or a custom one (CyanogenMod, MIUI, etc.)
I'm on Miui.us ROM and my audio through headphones is quite clear, if rather loud.
I am using ARHD.
With the Beats Audio add-on it seems quite a lot better (the highs don't oversteer that much anymore).
My DHD performs quite correctly in the matter of sound !!
Check out the radio updates, roms and softwares
They can change a lot already

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