Database Users

Magician is a great Mp3 player

Just bought 2gig Ipod Nano for my girlfriend for chrismast.. i need to say this: comapre to my SPV M500, nano sound is so lame. I use the same sony headphone and the same mp3 songs. The nano got no bass at all. The Nano's equlizer doesnt work well, it make the sound more horiblle.
Magician + the bass and treble setting software, makes a good mp3 player. the bass is deep and the treble is great. just wondering how come there are so many people using Ipod with the stock headphones all over..
happy christmas

parklife said:
Just bought 2gig Ipod Nano for my girlfriend for chrismast.. i need to say this: comapre to my SPV M500, nano sound is so lame. I use the same sony headphone and the same mp3 songs. The nano got no bass at all. The Nano's equlizer doesnt work well, it make the sound more horiblle.
Magician + the bass and treble setting software, makes a good mp3 player. the bass is deep and the treble is great. just wondering how come there are so many people using Ipod with the stock headphones all over..
happy christmas
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fashion statemeant. The included headphones are absoloute trash. I use my bose headphones, sweet.
For a £300 ipod, I would expect better headphones. Stop being bloody cheap appple.
I remember the good old days I used to get a case, firewire cable, charger, stand all included.
Who ever said something becoming popular was better. WRONG!!!!!

parklife said:
Magician + the bass and treble setting software, makes a good mp3 player. the bass is deep and the treble is great. just wondering how come there are so many people using Ipod with the stock headphones all over..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about Nano, but I bought Creative Zen Micro because audio section of Magician is too noisy and of poor quality. And I'm sure that special devices work better than multifunctional.

parklife said:
Magician + the bass and treble setting software, makes a good mp3 player.
happy christmas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi parklife,
Which bass & treble software are you on? I tried one, don't remember which. Found it through the forum, but it made the sound horrible full of clicks & ticks all caused by the bass setting. On the headphone it was ok, but navigation or phone functiond with front speaker :--(
Regards, M
Ps. good to hear from you again

yah, those white head phones are a complete fashion statement. i got the nano, and to be honest, i dont use it at all, i bought it the first week it came out and used it that entire week,then i saw too many other people using it, and realized i was just some other "guy" with an apple. and i haven't touched it since then. its rotting away in one of my drawers hehehe
well, about the jam, i just installed pocketmusic like 4 days ago and i honestly cant beleive how amazing this is. listen to mp3s, no need to carry another device around (even if its as small as the nano) and still have GREAT sound quality!?!?! i'm using the headphones that came with the jam and quality is superb... i'm not an audiophile so i'm not gonna ***** if it isn't out of this world. i also got the 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter so i can plug it into my car stereo. but the only problem... i got a 128mb MMC
but hopefully in two weeks i'm gonna trade in my jam for the k-jam and then i'll be gettin a 2gb mini SD :wink: (hopefully pocket music works well on wm5)

I use the jam as MP3 player in combination with MortPlayer. MortPlayer has a bass boost option which works great. You can find it in the effects settings. The Equalizer app mentioned isn't working that good because you often have to reactivate it manually. MortPlayer does this reliably and is for free.
As headphones I use Shure E2C which are a bit expensive (around 100 $) but sound very good with a bass boost. The mid-high sound quality is awsome. Also they isolate from environmental noise very well. In addition, I have the Expansys 2,5mm to 3,5 mm adapter.
What is concerning the sound quality of the Magician, I would say that a good MP3 Player definately provides better sound than it does. The sound is ok and powerful but there's some background noise audible also with high quality MP3s.

For me, I use TCMP player for all audio and video play back. It accepts almost every format that U can think of.
Now, I am planning to run my laptop in the car at a mp3/video file server using Apache(TCMP supports files playing over the network using HTTP). Therefore, # of songs I can play depends on the laptop's HD using bluetooth connection.

I,m understand what you are talking about I use the pocketmusic player, which have the best sound quality, and interface for me. I also have bought koss sporta pro headphones and 2,5mm to 3,5mm adapter, which produces great sound quality. When pda is used to listen music, I underclock it to 208mhz and it can play longer.

for me this is a new found side of the magician, i always new there were mp3 players and such but never gave them a shot. now that i am using them, can't believe i didn't do it before.
I still use my nano when working out and jogging because i dont feel like damaging my jam.
Also i started using resco radio. I connect activesync through BT and walk around myhouse while i stream my fav online radio, its great!!! it plays clear, no distortion, no buffering other than the initial buffer. Also resco radio has an option to record what your streaming, so a good song comes on, RECORD IT!! its great!
when i'm on campus i'll use the headphones supplied with the phone. but when i'm at home, i use my sony headphones (the ones that loop around the back of your head).

Me....i use the GS player. Though the interface wasnt that as goodlooking as the pocket music, or even the mort player....but the sound quality is just superb. So superb with the pocketpc audio bass and treblle enhancer software. In addition, i use the panasonic rp-hs-102. I jsut love the idea of having retractable wires......it just fits into my pocket perfectly.

private_rehamer said:
Me....i use the GS player. Though the interface wasnt that as goodlooking as the pocket music, or even the mort player....but the sound quality is just superb. So superb with the pocketpc audio bass and treblle enhancer software.
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As you should now, MortPlayer uses the GS Player libraries, so there should not be a difference in sound quality.
Anyway, there is a new Version MortPlayer 3.3 out, and the best thing, its free!

Just a question regarding the pocketpc audio bass and treblle enhancer software. Is there any way I can have it automatically "turned on" everytime I use my pocketpc? Tried putting it in the startup folder but still have to click the sliders before the changes takes effect. Thanks!

As far as I know, this is only possible with using a macro player like MortRunner which just imitates your stylus moves.
The equalizer software isn't needed, when you use the built in Equalizer functions of MortPlayer.

Guys..
apparantly that wonderfull bass/treble applet doesnt work on WM5!
I live by my magician with SONY NUDE-EX earphones.. like what parklife said.. it's totally awesome.
Now that i've gotten the Atom, I need to find an alternative way of getting that right kinda bass. Any help?

What's the best media player?
I'm currently using PocketMusic. It has lots of features the built-in Media Player doesn't have.
From the postings, it seems there are quite many other software: MortPlayer, TCMP,.... which i have not tried yet.
Which one is the best? In terms of:
1. User friendliness (thumb friendly, supports button mapping...)
2. Bass/treb/equalizer --> is this really important? It already sounds great without the enhancer.
3. Multiformat support (including video?)
4. Small footprint
5. etc.

The Magician makes good sound quality. I have a Sennheiser HD477, and also a Dell Axim X51v pocketpc. When comparing the Magician and Dell Axim x51v, the Dell Axim x51v wins with room to spare though.
I find the sound of the Magician a bit unclear, and not the best quality one would hope for.
Dell Axim x51v's quality is comparable to the high end Creative Media Players and the high end iPods with good earphones.
Magician is good, but not good enough in my opinion. And to be honest, WMP10 isn't the best media player available featurewise, but sound quality of WMP10 is definetly better compared to any 3rd party media player (on the Magician). I cannot hear the difference on Axim.

Audio quality: HTC default headset vs. Other wired vs. A2DP

Guys,
I've bought a 2GB MiniSD just to realize the audio quality of my Qtek is not very good - 192Kbps WMA sounds like a 32Kbps on my laptop. I am currently using the HTC headset that comes with the phone. So the options are:
- Headset is bad
- 'Sound hardware' is bad
So, can anyone share his experience of listening to music on Wizard. Would buying a better headset (like KOSS or Sennheiser) with a jack adapter help? Or is it the phone sound hardware that sucks? What about A2DP?
Thanks,
Ross

I've just bought a set of HP AD2P headphones off ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....name=STRK:MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=140054575540
And they are excellent! Very impressed and excellent price (£23 inc delivery). Smaller and lighter weight than other bluetooth headphones I've seen. Came with AC adapter for the built-in lithion-iron battery. Apparently runs for about 8hrs.
I've also got a set of AKG K26 wired headphones (however you'll need a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter)
http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/earpad/akg-k-26-p.php
The AKG K26 is renowned for fantastic bass so I was very surprised to find the HP ones were very comparable.

rkhomenko said:
Guys,
I've bought a 2GB MiniSD just to realize the audio quality of my Qtek is not very good - 192Kbps WMA sounds like a 32Kbps on my laptop. I am currently using the HTC headset that comes with the phone. So the options are:
- Headset is bad
- 'Sound hardware' is bad
So, can anyone share his experience of listening to music on Wizard. Would buying a better headset (like KOSS or Sennheiser) with a jack adapter help? Or is it the phone sound hardware that sucks? What about A2DP?
Thanks,
Ross
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the A2DP implementation in AKU2 that sucks. Once a decent AKU3 (conversion) is released with built-in REAL AKU3 (not that of AKU2), the problems will go away.
Please make sure you check out the General forum here; I've posted several articles in there on these matters. Certainly worth a thorough read.

I have recently bought a plantronics 590A stereo bluetooth headset and have been very happy with the sound. My only advice is do research on your headset before you make a purchase because although the quality is very good on the 590A, it has a blinking blue light that continuously goes on, which makes the headset look quite wierd. Anyway, in terms of quality, it has been surprisingly pretty good.
Even with the wired manufacturer headset I got with my 8125 the quality wasn't amazing, but was better that you described.
I also have bought an adapter and used my own headphones, and again, not great, but not that bad.
Something may be wrong with your hardware, or search the forum for various registry tweaks to improve sound quality. If you can, I would definetly see if you can get another phone (through warranty), because the sound should not be that horrible.

now if this only had a microphone too....

rkhomenko said:
Guys,
I've bought a 2GB MiniSD just to realize the audio quality of my Qtek is not very good - 192Kbps WMA sounds like a 32Kbps on my laptop. I am currently using the HTC headset that comes with the phone. So the options are:
- Headset is bad
- 'Sound hardware' is bad
So, can anyone share his experience of listening to music on Wizard. Would buying a better headset (like KOSS or Sennheiser) with a jack adapter help? Or is it the phone sound hardware that sucks? What about A2DP?
Thanks,
Ross
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it actually has something to do with the fact that the sound hardware sucks... I feel that any amount of bass or treble over the norm (even as little as +2dB) causes the thing to distort badly...
My old HP h2210 had an excellent sound chip in it, and also, i'm used to the X-Fi in my PC, and some sennheiser HD595s, so of course, it will sound poo...

TauTau said:
now if this only had a microphone too....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 590A does have a mike - if you meant that.

zakhir_n said:
I have recently bought a plantronics 590A stereo bluetooth headset and have been very happy with the sound. My only advice is do research on your headset before you make a purchase because although the quality is very good on the 590A, it has a blinking blue light that continuously goes on, which makes the headset look quite wierd. Anyway, in terms of quality, it has been surprisingly pretty good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try listening to any music that has *human singing* in it and compare it to the quality through wires (when you do the same by connecting the 590A to the Wizard with the wire that comes with the 590A)
Unfortunately, the 590A, being probably the best stereo headsphone, is *very* sensitive to this kind of distortion.

Update
I've bought an AD-18 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter from Nokia to try my Wizard with different wired headphones around my office.
First observation - the sound is much better with 'normal' heaphones (Seinheiser). I would switch to better conventional headphones immediately, however, the volume is really low and I don's seem to figure out how to get it up. Does it have to do anything with resistance? Was it the case for anyone else? May be it is the Nokia adapter causing trouble?
Ross

Actually, the audio hardware in the Wizard just sucks big time. I have a pretty high end audio system in my car. It also has a line input on the front for connecting an mp3 player or whatever (even though it already plays mp3 files). Anyways, I can connect my Wizard to that line in using a cable and the sound is really poor quality. Dynamic range is not very good and the high end is seriously cut off. I have to boost the crap out of it in TCPMP but still can't get it to sound right. I can play the same MP3 off a CD and the quality is much better, CD quality (I typically use high quality vbr encoding). I can take a cheapo $15 MP3 player we got for the kids and it has much better sound quality using the same cable and input so I know it's not there. I've also tried multiple 2.5mm->3.5mm adapters with no change. Different ROMs also don't seem to make a difference in it. I can only conclude, then, that it has to be the audio hardware.
I would like to find a device that uses the A2DP profile to sync with my phone and has a phono (headphone) or RCA output plug or jack so that I could hook it into my car stereo. Any one know of such a beast?

This is bad news. I have been digging around trying to find an adapter that would allow me to use the phone as my mp3 player, whilst allowing me to plug in an external powered mic, so I can can cradle the phone in a mount and get decent talk volume to my caller. In fact, I just order a 4gb card to get more of my library on the go.
I'll have to give my daughters iPod a try and see if there is any difference. As much as I hate iTunes, maybe I'll have to spring for a new iPhone. I would upgrade to the 8525, if not for the micro SD, which is yet another rant for me. It irks me to no end that every device I have seems to use a different card format. I think HTC is not doing right by the customer to go to the micro SD format. As it stands, I could not use my SX66 cards in my Wizard. I have a hard time believing the micro to mini would drastically change the form factor.

If you mean the voice portion is totally muddled... you either have a defective headset or a defective jack. I suspect that there's a short from the sound to ground...

Avatar28 said:
I would like to find a device that uses the A2DP profile to sync with my phone and has a phono (headphone) or RCA output plug or jack so that I could hook it into my car stereo. Any one know of such a beast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bit of an old post, but if anyone's interested, Connects2 does an adapter that is just as you describe. It is a BTAV01 Bluetooth interface for A2DP. Connects to any aftermarket radio with RCA connectors

Hama 2.5 - 3.5mm headphone adaptor review

Got this from Amazon this morning along with a pair of Sennheiser in-ear type CX300 head phones.
My first thoughts positive : I seem to get along with the in-ear type headphones, there's certain no problem with the sound from my iMate JAMin - either in terms of volume or quality - even with just WMP.
Less impressive is the connection between the Hama 2.5mm adapter and the unit itself. Pluggin the headphones (3.5MM) to the other end gives a nice crisp click, and mild rotation of the join doesn't affect the sound with crackle. However, at the 2.5m end, into the JAMin ....it s a different story. Light rotation or manipulation of this join causes tons of crackle, signal loss, and can sometimes become dislodged.
It's proving to be a reasonable solution, but not perfect - you need to look after the connections and leave them fair undisturbed and immobile in your pocket. If you can do that, then the sound quality is marvellous and certainly good enough to mean you dont need to carry an additional MP3 players.
JJ

final conclusion the sound quality from the touch hd really really sucks

Ok well I went thru many testing options when it came to the sound quality out of the touch hd compared to other devices.
1- to test the sound quality I used the following players
a- core player 1.3
b- pocket music 5.1
c- touch flo player that came with the htc
d- pocket player
and all sucked big time, when I connected the device to a sony adapter cassette in the car. The sound is really awful comapred to all the devices I own like the iphone, or ipaq. WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM. I tried to use the equalizers in all the palyers, aslo the audio booster but the sound sucks. I tried to use also an adapter that has 3 rings on it to connect to the htc hd.
Please am I missing something here???

hykhleif said:
Ok well I went thru many testing options when it came to the sound quality out of the touch hd compared to other devices.
1- to test the sound quality I used the following players
a- core player 1.3
b- pocket music 5.1
c- touch flo player that came with the htc
d- pocket player
and all sucked big time, when I connected the device to a sony adapter cassette in the car. The sound is really awful comapred to all the devices I own like the iphone, or ipaq. WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM. I tried to use the equalizers in all the palyers, aslo the audio booster but the sound sucks. I tried to use also an adapter that has 3 rings on it to connect to the htc hd.
Please am I missing something here???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all comes down to how you have your HD setup. First, check the app called "Audio Booster", it comes out of the box configured to sound like ****, turn it off. Get the HD Tweak app and disable the 100db sound cut barrier and use the graphics equalizer that is in your chosen player. I use Mortplayer and now I can say that the playback with my Sony in ear headphones is really good.
HD Tweak has a setting that should reduce the ring delay.

me I also agree that audio booster sucks, when switched off sound gets much better

Also, a cassette adaptor is likely to limit the quality you can achieve. Better to compare through a decent set of headphones.

Seriously man, putting that line in your topic title is misleading.
I've tested Touch HD's sound on high quality headphones (Ultimate ears Super.fi 5XB) and the sound is great even on stock settings. In fact, my iPod is getting a lot less playtime since I bought THD.

Did you notice any hiss in qiet moments or on gaps between tracks? For me that is exactly the same as it was on Kaiser

Yes I noticed a hiss and a small gap in a song, i even installed the hd tweak, and sd tune up. But still the problem remains.
I am not talking about using it with headphone, I am talking about using it on my car stereo, thru a sony cassette adapter. Aren't we all in need for a great sound in the car, and why all the other devices sound great on my car stereo except the hd

I only have Shure E2C for "in move" devices, but I remember them sound much better than with Touch HD

hykhleif said:
Yes I noticed a hiss and a small gap in a song, i even installed the hd tweak, and sd tune up. But still the problem remains.
I am not talking about using it with headphone, I am talking about using it on my car stereo, thru a sony cassette adapter. Aren't we all in need for a great sound in the car, and why all the other devices sound great on my car stereo except the hd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having similar troubles here! Turning down the volume to about 30% on phone and using car stereo volume helps a bit. Also try different players and get rid of the car charger! It truly sucks as my other ppcs & mp3 players do not need tweaking AT ALL! They all play & charge at the same time.

hykhleif said:
I am not talking about using it with headphone, I am talking about using it on my car stereo, thru a sony cassette adapter. Aren't we all in need for a great sound in the car, and why all the other devices sound great on my car stereo except the hd
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Click to collapse
Is this a joke? Sorry I am confused. You are talking about the needed GREAT SOUND an than you are talking about some funny CASSETTE ADAPTER?
Conclusion: If you want great sound in your car, you should not spend all your money for a phone - How about new car stereo - some of these funny new toys supporting funny things like LINE IN or USB-MP3 or Bluetooth A2DP / AVRCP (handsfree profile). I had a really hard time to remember how a cassette looks like.
The next one blames HTC becauese the HD doesn´t sound good when connected to the phono-in of his late ´80s stereo.
From my point of view, the HD serves a better quality as most of my "old" mp3 Players, better than my iPod but not as good as my MP3 from Philips. Even so, yes i´ve noticed these short lagggggs in playback. I wouldn´t have noticed them if someone here hadn´t mentioned them.... so thank you
What´s next? 8-track tape adapter doesnt work right on your high end car stereo?

lipa47 said:
Did you notice any hiss in qiet moments or on gaps between tracks? For me that is exactly the same as it was on Kaiser
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Click to collapse
My Kaiser didn't had any... But in the HD I notice it happens once in awhile using bluetooth phones. But in general i got tell the SOUND ROCKS.... (after you used HDtweak to disable the 100dB limit!)

The title is really misleading for a new costumer, it's not true that the sound output sucks in my tests it resulted better than my old n95 8gb and an ipod touch.
For the average costumer the sound output on headphones is good.

hykhleif said:
I am not talking about using it with headphone, I am talking about using it on my car stereo, thru a sony cassette adapter. Aren't we all in need for a great sound in the car, and why all the other devices sound great on my car stereo except the hd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are noticing differences between devices when using the tape adaptor in the car but not when using headphones, there has to be something different in the setup. (Or you're using apple-grade headphones )
The tape adaptor is designed to mimic the response of headphones, so that the player doesn't see a difference. I second the suggestions of turning off the audio booster and 100 dB cutoff, as these can and often will interfere with the signal.
Once you've turned off the equalisers, try setting the volume on the player to about 50 - 70% and then adjust the car stereo to your required volume. There may be a mismatch when the HD amp is either running at really low or high outputs, causing distortion.
It would also be helpful if you could characterise the type of problem you're having: Hiss, low level overall distortion, distortion mainly on peaks, poor frequency response, etc. Different effects will typically have different sources.
NB: don't rubbish the tape adaptor! It serves its automotive function for me as well, although I'll take my Grados and Westones when the wife isn't in the car
Edit: Just did a quick comparison with my iPod Nano and there is very little between them on good headphones.

I can't confirm that at all, using Koss Porta Pro headphones and Coreplayer for playback (audio booster off, 100 db limit disabled, equalizer enabled) I get fantastic sound for a portable device, something's wrong with your setup.

Just connected my HD to my Z-5500 500W sound system using the analogue connections. It sounds perfectly fine to me, as good as anything else analogue i have connected.

I'm using my Touch HD with a pair of Sennheiser HD550 and some BOSE Quietcomfort 2 headphones. By no means super high-end, but good enough that I can say that the sound on my Touch HD is very good. No hiss at all, good clarity and overall good sound.
I have installed hd tweak and I tested the sound with Coreplayer and the inbuilt one in TouchFlo.

razorblader said:
I can't confirm that at all, using Koss Porta Pro headphones and Coreplayer for playback (audio booster off, 100 db limit disabled, equalizer enabled) I get fantastic sound for a portable device, something's wrong with your setup.
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Click to collapse
Well Shure E2C are isolating earphones you put into ear channel. They are very sensitive, you hear everything louder than on any other type od headphones especially noises. And there is hiss/noise trust me. I also have headband Sennheiser HD580 & PX100 they are ok with HD. The trouble is that there is no hiss/noise at all if I plug shure's into my computer (SB X-Fi Extreme Music) and quality is also bit better.

I also have isolating earbud type headphones and the HD sounds no worse than any other Mp3 player ive used, including an iPhone or N95 8GB. Its not a high end audio device, comparing it to a 24bit reasonably high end PC sound card is not fair.

OK pass, I'm an audio-freak type. Maybe I just expect to much from HD

using UE triple.fi 10 vi's and the sound from my MP3's on the HD is very good... i have no complaints.

FLAC & General BT A2DP 'Quality' Question...

First of all, thanks to Cyanogen and contributors for his G1 and N1 ROM's.
Recently, I've been using FLAC for music playback ripped from my CD's for tracks that I want lossless (especially for classical music). Most of the time, I'm using my Motorola S805 (Bluetooth) for the cans that I got on Black Friday back in 2009 from Newegg for a low price of $20 USD, shipped. -- Best money I spent for Black Friday Granted they're normally overpriced but they perform fairly well for the price I paid.
So after using FLAC and the S805 on my ASUS notebook which has built-in Bluetooth, I moved some of the FLAC files onto my Nexus One and paired my S805 to the N1 and started some FLAC playback...
The difference in quality blew me away. It's so much clearer playing back FLAC files on the N1 to my S805's than it ever was using VLC under Windows 7. I'm at a loss on why the difference. -- Yes, I've attempted to adjust the "volume" on both the Windows Mixer and the S805 internal volume controls as the same on the N1. There's virtually *no hiss" when playing back FLAC files on the N1 than on my ASUS notebook. I have a very noticeable "elevated" noise floor on the ASUS among "compression artifacts" which I don't think I should have.
Does anyone know what might be the cause?
Thanks!
Cheers,
Kermee

Happened to come across this so I'll reply even though it's quite old.
The audio output on the Nexus one is average. I believe you can find the frequency graph of the Nexus One at the gsmarena.com review of it. So while it's not stellar, it's not bad. More than likely you're hearing a difference because your notebook's output is low quality.
Notebooks generally have poor audio quality and tend to generate a lot of noise. You'll especially notice it when your computer is under load or when you plug it into a powersource. It's like electronic interference, afterall everything on the laptop is packed together pretty tightly. The other reason is just poor hardware. Sound gets neglected frequently on notebooks. The best solution is to pickup an exteranl soundcard (I know soundblaster makes a few usb ones) or even better get yourself a usb DAC (digital analog converter) and a headphone amplifier. ibasso.com has several versatile ones.
Goto head-fi.org for some audiophile info.

pongalong said:
Happened to come across this so I'll reply even though it's quite old.
The audio output on the Nexus one is average. I believe you can find the frequency graph of the Nexus One at the gsmarena.com review of it. So while it's not stellar, it's not bad. More than likely you're hearing a difference because your notebook's output is low quality.
Notebooks generally have poor audio quality and tend to generate a lot of noise. You'll especially notice it when your computer is under load or when you plug it into a powersource. It's like electronic interference, afterall everything on the laptop is packed together pretty tightly. The other reason is just poor hardware. Sound gets neglected frequently on notebooks. The best solution is to pickup an exteranl soundcard (I know soundblaster makes a few usb ones) or even better get yourself a usb DAC (digital analog converter) and a headphone amplifier. ibasso.com has several versatile ones.
Goto head-fi.org for some audiophile info.
Click to expand...
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This doesn't explain why Bluetooth headphones, completely disconnected from the computer, sounds bad
I'd say the most likely reason is some difference of A2DP implementation between the two. Maybe the standard Bluetooth stack on a computer lacks polish on this part.

Well the N1 isnt a good audio player at all since the frequencies are cut off. Also flac really wouldnt make a difference until you buy a high end set of headphones (UM3x, Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 etc.) and a source to match it (nice DAC, amp). Instead of wasting all the space on flac you should just go for vbr or the like since bluetooth will not be able to fully take advantage of it. Head-fi is a great place to start, but be careful since your wallet will hate you if you really do start getting into buying nicer headphones.

If you're just using your nexus one and an A2DP headset, there isn't a difference in audio quality between a file ripped at V0 bitrate and flac. You're only going to really hear the details a FLAC file has with a high end audio setup or good headphones with an amp, and your nexus+the motorola headset do not fall into those categories It isn't a criticism of your setup, they literally cannot reproduce the details.
As far as your question, it might have to do with the bluetooth stack as well as the hardware/interference in your laptop, but that's just a guess as I'm not too knowledgeable on the workings of bluetooth audio.

The N1 is barely a year old, and since it's designed primarily as a phone, it should have a fairly new Bluetooth radio and stack, probably much newer than whatever you have bundled in your Asus laptop. In fact both the desktop dock and the car dock use Bluetooth to stream the audio to the auxiliary audio port, which may seem a bit roundabout to audiophiles, but thanks to the new hardware there's very little noticeable loss to the average consumer, and it makes it easier to connect and disconnect from the dock.
That said, being such a new technology, Bluetooth has only recently improved to the point of being a decent quality source for streaming audio. I have an old USB Bluetooth adapter in my desktop that I bought right about the time when A2DP was first available, and its audio quality is pretty bad, too. And like any standard for streaming data, Bluetooth's perceived streaming quality is highly dependent on the hardware on both ends, meaning that the maximum quality you'll get is that which is achievable of the older of the two devices.
Any audiophile will tell you that if you want true quality, you should just ditch wireless technologies altogether, which I too have done. But for your purposes, and in the interest of saving money, you can bring your laptop up to par with your N1 by simply installing a new Bluetooth stack, or, if that doesn't work, buying a new USB Bluetooth adapter, preferably one that is advertised to work well for music.

Wow. I completely forgot about this thread. LOL.
I figured it out in the end what was happening. -- The negotiated 'bitpool' setting between my Windows 7 BT stack and the A2DP headphones was somehow negotiating at the "min" which was somewhere around the low 30's. Using some BT diagnostic tools on my MBP (different machine than the ASUS Windows 7 machine), I found the "max" bitpool rate which the A2DP headphones supported was 53.
I found out that the N1 was connecting to my A2DP headphones at the "max" bitpool rate which my headphones supported. The sound quality between a bitpool rate of "53" vs "30" is huge. Hence why playback on the N1 sounded so much better.
I never did find out how to force the 'bitpool' rates in Windows 7 and gave up. I did under Snow Leopard 10.6 on my MBP.
Cheers,
Kermee

The default Microsoft Bluetooth stack in Windows 7 does not include the ability to change the bitpool settings, nor does the standard Broadcom WIDCOMM stack.
Most people opt to use the BlueSoleil Bluetooth stack for more advanced functions, and I can confirm that BlueSoleil does have the ability to adjust bitpool settings. Unfortunately the product costs about $25, and you will need to check to make sure that BlueSoleil is compatible with your laptop's integrated Bluetooth.

Ok, I just have to put this out there, unless you have a very good sound card, a good amplifier, and good headphones, there is no reason to use FLAC audio files unless you just feel like wasting HD space.
Bluetooth audio has really bad bitrate and won't even come close to flac.

wolfcry0 said:
Ok, I just have to put this out there, unless you have a very good sound card, a good amplifier, and good headphones, there is no reason to use FLAC audio files unless you just feel like wasting HD space.
Bluetooth audio has really bad bitrate and won't even come close to flac.
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I agree bluetooth audio quality leaves a lot to be desired. It is so nice to be able to drag flacs over to the phone and listen, though. Definitely one of my favorite features of Android and that 32gb card investment made it happen!