[MISC] Desire Z as Audio player - very positive surprise - G2 and Desire Z General

Just wanted to share my feelings about using Desire Z as audio player.
Before I got Desire Z, I had to buy Cowon iAudio 9 to get decent bass (thanks to very good custom multi-band equalizer on iAudio 9).
I used to use Shure SH530, wasn't happy with bass response.
I'm now happily using Hippo VB (Variable Base) earbuds ($79). Review of these is HERE (in short: "their bass is more or less as refined as the one coming from the $1150 UE11 – but the VB put less weight on midbass and provide more real sub-bass, so they win. Their midrange appears linear, without peaks and valleys, and it’s “lush” and “sweet” like the Shure SE530.")
So then I got HTC Desire Z, plugged my phones and used stock Music player and surprise, surprise - low deep base is there without even using any equalizer!
I then tried PowerAMP, have ONLY increased 30Hz band for even deeper sub-base (as these phones have response starting from 20Hz) and reslut is that I now tend to use Desire Z instead of Cowon iAudio9 player.
This means Desire Z is providing enough power to be able to drive my phones.
On a side note, my previous phones were not able to deliver such deep base without distortion or serious using of equalizer/amplification.
So one happy user here LOL
Update: stock Radio seem to produce nice bass too!

Seconded . I use the Desire Z with my Denon ACH-751s and the quality is very good.
This judgement is also backed by GSMArena who do indepth testing of Audio quality.
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire_z-review-535p5.php

haven't tried the audio output yet, but i started to wonder if the DZ has better or the same soundquality as the Htc Legend..? I was very surprised when i had my Legend recently.

Really stoaked with the desire z's audio reproduction, just for a quick test mainly to see if my bluetooth headphones were working with my desire z, so I tested them out and the sound quality on the stock music player with no equalizer blew me away. Especially as I was just using a cheap pair of bluetooth headphones, will try with my bose qc2s and my astro a40s for a comparason.

D3LTA9 said:
Really stoaked with the desire z's audio reproduction, just for a quick test mainly to see if my bluetooth headphones were working with my desire z, so I tested them out and the sound quality on the stock music player with no equalizer blew me away. Especially as I was just using a cheap pair of bluetooth headphones, will try with my bose qc2s and my astro a40s for a comparason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Astro a40! Niceee what game u been playing? Anything mlg related?
Sent from HTC Desire Z using XDA App

Well this is my 1st post to this forum.. Got my Desire Z yesterday - been playing with it since that.
Overall it's very impressive phone after using Nokia for years...
But one really disturbing "feature" is the clicks & pops when using headphones. If I listen music and someone chats with me (e.g. Google Talk), the music is interrupted with loud bang/pop whatever you want to call it..
Is there a way to get rid of the loud pops and bangs when connecting headphone, setting volume (when no content is playing) etc...?
I'm not familiar with HTC audio HW internals, but maybe it could be fixed with an sw upgrade.. Who knows..
Seems that the headphone output is not "ground referred" as in Nokia&iPhone for example.
I'm using usually Bose QC3's as headphones, they are "active" so it might also worsen the pops...
Despite this one audio related "feature", I'm still impressed of the phone overall.

Related

Compare Xperia sound quality to something like an iPod?

Can anybody compare the music sound quality of the Xperia to an MP3-player like the iPod? How would you rate the sound quality?
I've listened to an Xperia in a store and the constant hissing was pretty noticable, worse than the iPod Touch I used to have. I couldn't really rate the sound quality itself, because the store wouldn't let me put in my SD card with my own music on it. The music that was on the Xperia (jazz music) sounded a little flat to me.
If you ditch the headphones that come with the xperia and get a decent say £30 pair of buds it sounds much better than the ipod
i have a x1 and an ipod touch
cant hear difference
only truely objective way to compare is
hook both up to a spectrum analyser and
play the same music and compare
i have xperia and ipod touch when i'm connect it to the speaker i think ipod has a little bit better sound quality
don't know for 100%
but i use now my xperia as mp3 and it works great sound is good but it hasn't have equlizer builtin thats the only thing i miss
commodoor said:
i have xperia and ipod touch when i'm connect it to the speaker i think ipod has a little bit better sound quality
don't know for 100%
but i use now my xperia as mp3 and it works great sound is good but it hasn't have equlizer builtin thats the only thing i miss[/QUOTE
I have noticed that my sony mp3 with digital equalizer built-in has the edge over my sony x1. Ipod generally doesnt not have this particular feature so you cant possibly tell much difference from the x1.
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I didn't test with any equipment, but I've worked in the music industry for over a decade listening to music for a living and also own both devices.
Compared to an ipod touch using the same pair of Shure se530s at equivalent volumes and testing at both halfway and at full, I'd personally give a slight edge to the ipod. You should listen to both side by side for yourself though. There really isn't a huge difference apart from the max volume (the ipod can go louder than an untweaked stock xperia. I haven't tried the registry sound fix on the xperia yet, to make it louder). I also haven't tried the stock headphones either to be honest.
The bass seems a bit richer (using headphones, not speakers) on the xperia, but the overall sound is crisper on the ipod with sharper mids and highs. Again this is just my opinion and the difference is slight, they both have great sound. Just see if you like the other features. The sound is above par and I'd be surprised if anyone passed up an xperia because of it's sound quality.
I didn't notice any extra "hissing" sound with the xperia compared to the ipod. Might have come from the track they were using or poor headphones? These were the exact same mp3s (tried a wide range) that I was listening to on both devices.
jhoffa said:
I didn't notice any extra "hissing" sound with the xperia compared to the ipod. Might have come from the track they were using or poor headphones? These were the exact same mp3s (tried a wide range) that I was listening to on both devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed the hissing as soon as I plugged in my headphone in the Xperia, before any music was playing. It's not the biggest problem for me as both my iPod Touch and iPod Classic (sold both) had hissing as well. Maybe my headphone is too sensitive (although it's a cheap Creative EP 630).
But judging from everybody's comments the Xperia should shound pretty good. It's one of the reasons I want to buy a new phone: music playback and quality. I'm trying to decide between an iPhone and an Xperia (used). I know the iPhone is a great music player, but the Xperia has extra features the iPhone can only dream of at this point, so I'm leaning towards the Xperia, even if sound quality may be worse.
Oh, by the way, you can get the Touch HD equalizer if you install Touch Flow 3D on your Xperia. Does that make a positive difference in sound quality?
I have an ipod nano and x1. Ipod has a slightly better sound quality. I use a Bose in ear headphone which is 10 times better than the stock in ear headphone that comes with the x1.
If you got the audio booster prog from htc+advanced config prog, the sound can be tweaked nicely.
I've put the 3D sound level to 'High', the equalizer to 'ROCK' and I use the UE superfi 5 pro earphones. Now I got to say that this sounds really good. Much better compared to an ipod touch
ipod never reach sony level in music ^^
I haven't done any serious listening yet on my x1 however did notice the hissing when plugging in my Ultimate Ears 5's. It annoyed me and convinced I had a problem I sent the handset back to 02 for a new one. On the new one - I get the same hissing so I feel it is a feature of the x1 sadly. I get the same on my Creative Labs X-Fi however less pronounced. Probably won't notice the hiss though when I am on the bus with background noise but do notice it at home.
Indeed, the Xperia Hisses, ALOT.
However, I am spoiled since I am used to a Creative Zen Vision (non-M, VGA version) which is Dead silent with even the most sensitive headphones.
My Creative Aurvana in-ear (my favorite sub-$100 in-ears) on the Xperia is a big no-no since their sensitivity is 115dB/mW. The hissing is very bad. On my portable headphone, a Phillips SBC HN110 the hissing is totally non-existant with its low 102dB/mW sensitivity, and the sound quality is truely a joy.
By the way, the stock Sony in-ears aren't half bad, but they too are too sensitive for the Xperia IMO.
Wow, according to GSMArena's tests the Xperia sound quality is quite good:
Only since recently are Windows Mobile devices considered seroius music handsets. Before that their business orientation has served them as a pretty good excuse for the poor audio quality.
However, the latest HTC devices were a clear sign that this is about to change. Therefore we were quite eager to understand if the XPERIA is the next step forward on this way.
As it turned out the handset has the best frequency response we have ever seen on a mobile handset. In addition it also achieved superb noise level, dynamic range and stereo crosstalk readings. In fact its results on those are even better than the dedicated Apple iPod music player - how is that for a change?
Unfortunately a price had to be paid and that is the rather high total harmonic distortion and intermodulation distortion levels. Nonetheless it seems that there is not too much left before the WinMo devices start to directly compete music-oriented ones.
I have both Itouch and X1:
X1 sound much better cause of the software I installed. The ficking Wifi on itouch just die on me and it's 14 months old so out of warranty. Spend $400 for the ficking thing...Don't buy apple.. Piece of sh*%$#@...apple. The other 8GB itouch I bought for my nephew also broke after 16 months...

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate, appreciate the honesty.
Beards said:
Thanks mate, appreciate the honesty.
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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

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
Click to expand...
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

Great Audio Playback on Xperia Play

I am really impressed by the audio quality of the Xperia play. I originally bought it last year purely for running emulators but have recently started using it for audio and video playback. I have been surprised by the great quality of the audio playback. When i started listening to my MP3's with the stock audio player/headphones i had a double take. Everything sounded really crisp, the clarity/bass was really good and the stereo seperation was really noticible. I was playing the same tracks that i listened to over and over again on other devices but it was as if i was wearing a £300 pair of headphones as the detail suddenly stood out.
I have bought and swappped various phones in the past and currently have an Iphone 5 as well. None of my previous handsets including the Iphone 4,Galaxy S3 as well as the current Iphone 5 can touch this phone for audio playback using the stock headphones. The stereo seperation in particular is so much better than the Iphone. When i looked at reviews for the Xperia Play GSMarena mentioned that there was lots of crosstalk with the Play however i don't agree, i can actually notice the stereo better on this handsetmore than any MP3 player i've ever had.
Does anyone else agree, I know its subjective. This is the only Sony phone i've purchased and was wondering if all the Xperia devices have a similiar sound chip.
Wow that's really good to hear !
Your right it does have superior sound quality. The speakers are proper loud and crisp when played without earphones,
I agree, it's the best audio I've gotten from any media player I've currently tried. For as long as my Play functions, it will always live as my music player. With Xloud, even the speakers are brilliant, which is a rare plus
Actually, the Galaxy S and SIII use Wolfson DAC like the iPhone, and when coupled with Voodoo compatible kernel it is very good sounding. See included attachment.
However, I have to say the Xperia does have excellent sound quality and decent camera as expected from Sony. I do like the smooth sound signature.
Either a Play or Samsung Vibrant would make a good 'music player phone' without spending too much. In the end the earphone you're using is the still most important factor. I can't justify using stock eabuds no mattee how good the source is. From this list of earbuds, I have the Blox TM7 and the Sennheiser MX580: http://www.inearmatters.net/p/earbuds-roundup.html. The MX580 is very good sounding, I think its recently discontinued though. Though earbuds do have very high diminishing qualities compared to larger headphones.
Sent from my Nexus S
i too agree i have beats and xloud installed on my play and compared to my friends ipod, iphone4s and my others S3 they can not touch my phone especially with the speakers i just drown out there phones... and my brothers droid x sound through the head phones sound degreated withe the same exact song with same bitrate.....overal this phone is a media beast
Was looking for xperia pro forum and came across this thread.
My xperia pro would be coming in a day or two. Will it have the same audio quality as that of xperia play?
I also agree, the quality is very good, and even without Xloud the volume is pretty loud.
Does using xLOUD damage the speakers ?
sufy1000 said:
Does using xLOUD damage the speakers ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It shouldn't unless you always have your Vol. At max
Sent from my GBTweaked V7.1 R800x using Tapatalk 2
sufy1000 said:
Does using xLOUD damage the speakers ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'Twould be quite silly to implement harmful software into stock firmware, wouldn't it? xLOUD should be harmless
I hadn't really thought about it but I suppose the quality is good for a smartphone.
Well, the sound in my XP is not pure
I think it is ROM related
I love the audio too, but I wish they would have an srs or Bongiovi sound plugin that you could download from the store.
Sent from my R800x using Tapatalk 2
Agree, compare to my old gaming phone, n-gage, that has good audio playback too.
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
Yes !
Though for my enjoyment, all of my previous phones have had great audio quality. (nokia 6151, nokia N81 8GB and now Xplay)
The sound quality with builtin speakers was horrible at first (I listen heavy stuff, sounds were messed up and muffed and it hurted my ear) but woth 2.3.4 XLOUD its "seems like" xperia play "manipulates" songs better
My only complaint is that using anything else than stock earphones with stock eqvalisator setup sounds mediocre at best and you cant tweak them by yourself... Only preset values.
me like audio xperia 2
personally i think it has the best sound with the stock earphones and also with bluetooth headset the sound is incredible.
ive had many mp3 players before creative ,zune player, samsung galaxy player(wich isnt bad either)
and together with the poweramp mediaplayer for me this is the best music player sofar imo.
glad to know there are others who feel the same way i do:good:

Sony win ! Xperia Z3 Audio quality

So I have received my Z3 D6633 today. Luckily, XDA members had thread about which model work with tmobile in the US. Here are my impressions, and why I took a risk to purchase my Z3 despite my Z1 is only 1 year old.
I hear Sony rave about their high-res Z3 capability. I thought it was a marketing tool. I had been following Iphones, Galaxy, and lately Sony for portable music. They all had been very disappointing, until the Z3.
Now, my question was, how could Sony claim it ? Was it just a Software to color the music ? the Equalizer of some short ? I did a lot of research, and I was lucky that I found my answers.
From Sony "Z2 had the capability to play HD audio, but you will need a converter, where as the Z3 has it built in, as long as you have an HD head sets, then you can listen to your HD Music"
1/ Z3 use WCD9320 Audio Codec which is Qualcomm
2/ Z3 also use TFA9890 (2x) chips. Now, this is an DAC amp with each single one can sample the music rating at 8-48kHz. Two of these brings the Z3 to be able to sample up to 96kHz.
So how is this different from the other Android phones and or Iphone 6 ?
I am not a nerd with full knowledge of Music Technologies, but what I do get is
"It is a Phone together with a Portable Amp.....?" It may not be the S-Master chipset, but this is just already too good
Yeah, and that was the deciding factor for me to went ahead and made my purchase. Any other phones may claim to be able to play HD audio, but non of them have these good built-in AMP!! Z3 also has the software to restore loss bits from MP3 songs >.< Don't know how it work....tongue.gif
Xperia Z3 tear down picture can be found here
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony...ar-component-layout-is-easy-to-repair_id61323
TFA9890 DAC chip can be found here
http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/TFA9890_SDS.pdf
I will update as soon as my Z3 arrived. biggrin.gif
I didn't know where to post this, and I research about headphones a lot in this section. I thought I would post it here for whoever is curious about the Xperia Z3 Audio Quality.
Please feel free to fix my mistakes as if I misunderstood any of the new technologies. Thank you
Review
I am super impressed by the performance of Z3 with music playback "FLAC" or lossless files. I only have time to test this, and FLAC is the only source I have for now.
Details, details, details are everywhere. Low, Mid, High, all are more clear, more separated, sound fuller, and smoother. Now this is the comparison to the other cell phones.
Do you remember the time Sony had Walkman CD player ? Yes, this is it, but it is more technological advanced, as you can purchase, download songs, keep it over the cloud and ....etc. Even though this phone doesn't have the S-master chip set, but I assure you that you will not be disappointed.
For the last few years, I had been following, purchasing headphones, earbuds, headset, and ended up giving them away. I could never find a good pair of headset to make me love my music again as the CD walkman before. I kept on seeing oh how wonderful the music will be, and what you are losing out. Now, it doesn't matter what pair of headphone I have, Z3 will blast away, bring full details and music to my ears, I just need to play around with the EQ bands to my taste.
Thank you Sony, my heart is full of joys and tears. You had answered my prayers and thoughts
1/ Cell phone
2/ Portable music player
3/ Quality music without external amp
I am in love with the Xperia Z3. When the original Iphone came out, I was impressed with their ability to youtube, touch screen....etc. Now, I am impressed with Z3 high-res audio.
Conclusion, music are very detailed, full spectrum, full over take, full syncing and instrumental details are awesome. I am not an expert audiophiles, sound engineering, high-end rich person. But I do enjoy music, and sound system. If you love music, and always wonder what detailed music mean, you will love this new Xperia Z3.
**I had never combined external portable amp with any cellphone for music due to the inconvenience and on top of that I have a very good stereo system.**
Thanks for this awesome review. I'm getting more and more excited about the Z3 coming to T-mobile.
I got my Z3 yesterday and put 24/96 flac track and the same song as a direct CD rip and the difference was incredible! Only thing I would like was a bit more volume, but seeing as I rarely listen to music vis earbuds/headphones, I can't complain. Although I may start listening in this manner a lot more due to the hi-res capabilities, if I keep the phone? But that is for another thread...
The volume via headphones from the Z3 is about the same as the Z1/2. I agree that it could use a bit more volume, but with 2x chips TFA9890 I think the Z3 is capable of much more. Now we just need some one to hack it, and remove the limit. I think this limit is to make the battery last longer.
I wonder if the Voodoo sound hack work on it.
I too have been really impressed with the sound quality from the phone. Its night and day compared my S3, I dont usually appreciate sound modes etc but enabling "studio mode" made a massive difference especially when I was streaming music via BT in the car.
Next review
Connected to a 3.5mm jack to a 2000W amplifier. Uhm, what can I say ? It can totally be used as a High-res Audio player. That is all I can say. Totally worth it. The first and only smart phone to output this much details in music over the 3.5mm jack. I have tested many phones my family member went through, including all Iphone models, Galaxy....HTC. Now, I am not talking about how "LOUD" the music can get...remember this is a 2000W system. It can blow your roof off. I am talking about how "Detailed" the music can get to. Z3 is the worthy member to download and purchase FLAC songs and utilize my Stereo system
If you Z3 owners haven't tried this
Power Amp, get to Music FX and hold it for couple seconds it will allow you to utilize Walkman Equalizer and clean bass as well. Try it...muahahaha :good::good:
I agree the sound quality on the Z3 is absolutely excellent - Sony Win
For the headphone issue though, i'm afraid for the majority of us who won't be unlocking due to the camera issues (I say that as in the majority of people won't even be here let alone rooting), hacks to increase headphone volume are an utter waste of time.
I for one will just have to learn to live with quiet headphone volume - Sony lose
I will not be hacking my Z3 for headphones volume neither. I use it with JVC HA-FX40H purchased from Adorama online store. They are under 20$ and worth every pennies and 3x more :good:
I could always crank up the whole thing to almost deafen myself, but I wouldn't do that. Try Power Amp with Music FX within the app, the Power amp app open up almost 2x louder than the Walkman app
I am totally satisfied with Z3 as a premium smart phone, premium portable music player, and water proof....well, I won't be testing it :victory::victory::victory::victory:
How much louder are the speakers compared to the Z1? The Z1 has a big speaker grille on the bottom but the speaker is only on one small side of it(If you cover half the grille the sound is the same), which when I realized, made me very disappointed.
I like using my phone in the shower for music so just wondering.
Z3 vs Z1 loud speaker will be about almost 1.75x difference. You have better bass in the Z3 loud speaker. I don't use it too much, so I will not have much details about this. But in the Loud speaker department, which will throw away most of the music details and leave only bass and treble to play, you better buy M8. All the reviews and tests point to the HTC M8 being superior to Loud Speaker music playing.
Z3 is High resolution music play back, which I recommend a good pair of Headphones, doesn't have to be expensive, and you can enjoy what music really meant to be heard.
Enjoy
Sound quality is great but the volume is too low. Once we have root these types of things will be fixed.
Making the speakers louder with root won't damage the phone?
I am waiting for people unwittingly playing 128kb files and raving about HD quality
Z3 seems to be a nice device
Has anyone actually connected a USB DAC and tried USB audio with the Z3?
I am getting all kinds of crackling noises which is very annoying. Makes the phone next to useless since it has relatively little power to drive high end headphones.
This post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55735812&postcount=4
seems to indicate that the hi-res audio can only be output via the DAC. if its true, then it would be kind of a turn off.
But i think maybe he is incorrect. Because according to this
http://drippler.com/updates/share/xperia-details-hi-res-audio-explained
"Xperia Z2 was compatible with Hi-Res Audio but you needed a converter to listen to it. So in Xperia Z3, we’ve built that converter into the phone. If you have Hi-Res compatible headphones you can just plug them in to the headphone jack like any other pair and listen away."
So it seem that it doesn't require a DAC afterall.
No it doesn't require a dac. The required hardware and software are built into the phone.
Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
Okay so I transferred one or two stock pre installed FLAC files from the LG G2 that I had. Vienna Boy's Choir I think. Now using the DSEE HX i noticed a major improvement in the audio quality, tones were richer and more defined. That is just using my cheap sony earphones. I can't imagine what it would sound like wearing powerful quality headphones. Bear in mind that I am a noob when it comes to enjoying HQ music.
However, even a noob like me could notice that my Z3 was noticeably richer, bassier and had better fidelity than my iPhone 6+, using the same low cost earphones. Granted, I was just playing a random Maroon 5 track from youtube on both devices to control the variables as much as I could.
I'm really pleased with the audio quality also. However, I do share the same sentiments as others in this thread, it needs a bit more volume.
Bluetooth for me is a great experience. Headphones... I get about 1/5th of the power that I was getting from my note 3. Using a set of klipsch ear buds, does sony hate other brands of headphones or am I missing something? Anyone else having this issue?

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