Database Users

Any way to improve music audio quality? (hack)

I was wondering if there is any way to tweak the audio quality of the Magic?
..it has cut-off bass frequencies, have a look at gsmarena.com review, I'm sure there's some way to tickle more performace out of it! Of course I've changed the headphones already

I too am interested in a volume increase or overall quality hack. was advised the g1 hack by meltus does not work on mytouch... Any info or suggestions to increase volume

I have the same question. Actually, it's stopping me from buying one and I will get Diamond2 instead, if no solution comes up soon...
Here is a link to the page of the review which criticizes the sound quality:
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_magic-review-377p7.php
Here is a link to frequency responce graph from that review:
http://pic.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/htc-magic/gsmarena_a001.png
Here is a quote of what they say about it:
It has cut-off bass frequencies, probably due to some kind of high-pass filter meant to improve sound on small size headphones.
I'm planning to use high-end headphones which don't need any bass cut-offs and I'm wondering if this is a software thing, or a hardware low-pass filter?
For comparison, here's a link to Diamond2's frequency response graph:
http://pic.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/htc-touch-diamond2/gsmarena_a001.png
As you can see, even though lower frequencies are lowered a bit, it's not drastic by any means and is perfectly equaliseable.
Here is a quote of what they say about Diamond2 audio quality:
With the introduction of the Diamond2 HTC are making a huge step forward in matching the music phones' audio quality.
Please help us on this! I'm really sold to Android's UI philosophy and I'm ready to sacrifice 800x480 screen, better browsing experience with flash, exhange, wmp, etc. for it, but not audio quality..it's a deal breaker for me.

From personal test I found that the Hero sounds better than the Magic or Diamond2, a wider sound somehow with more "umpf", but if you're picky with sound-quality like me there's still no smart-phone around with Windows Mobile or Android which comares to the excellent sound-quality of the iphone 3gs or others..it's sad but true..
I'm not sure about the Samsung Galaxy sound quality, somehow I don't like the sound..like the extreme highs are missing..there's no EQ in Android, sadly, because I think upping the highs would improve the Galaxy with (my head phones at least)

I'm just talking about high pass filter, which cuts off bass.

I don't know if the high-pass-filter is hardware or software..
but I know that if you really have high-end head phones for 250€ or something..you're never going to be happy with any of the smartphones around right now..except the iPhone, the sad truth, I'm sorry..

I'm just talking about bass-cutting low pass filter (either software or hardware), which just removes any basses.
Diamond2 quality is more than decent for me.

yea, nobody seems to know if this is possible..it can't be very hard to hack! I know that Samsung improved their Omnia sound quality through a firmware update..so I hoped it was possible on any of the HTC devices..I'd be happy to have some improvement on a Diamond1, or a HTC Magic..

An EQ widget or app would be a gold mine in the market

phatmanxxl said:
An EQ widget or app would be a gold mine in the market
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I doubt that EQ is enough. You would have to turn up lows on EQ to the maximum just to get a straight frequency responce graph, which is still not possible, because 20hz is just infinitely too low. And extreme EQ settings ALWAYS cause distortion...

I think the sound quality of this phone is just adaquete for use on the go. I am currently feeding a head-direct re2 (bass light) through a fiio e5 and I am fairly happy with the sound quality. Of course it can never compare to my home headphone set up with delicated DAC and a tube amp, but when you use those on the road there will always be enough noise leaking in to cover the lower spectrum. I do find it to have enough mid bass to make none analytical listening to be pretty enjoyable.

Adequate. It can be a lot better on other devices - be good.

If someone can get true line out in this phone, which should bypass any of the nonsense, I bet people will rejoice. Optical out would be nice too.

I'd say streaming over bluetooth will give you the best quality out of these phones right now..not sure if this is true though

emugpp said:
I'd say streaming over bluetooth will give you the best quality out of these phones right now..not sure if this is true though
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It is not.

I've tried this with my super old hermes, once i tweaked up the bluetooth and get rid of the skipping I had much better quality music through my Sony-Erricson Stereo-Bluetooth headset..

EQ and Audio Hack
Check these out.
http://forums.androidclubhouse.com/showthread.php?t=30
http://forums.androidclubhouse.com/showthread.php?t=82
These threads are basically for G1/Dream. I'm pretty sure it would work with Magic.

I'm very disappointed with my Magic audio, despite the audio quality, the Magic produces noise and interference. Using earphones like sennheiser cx-300 for example, at lower sounds and when the music stop, I can distinctly hear noise, and some sort of interference, like I hear when I plug the earphones to my old computer.
using my nokia device with same earphones and same mp3 the sound is perfect!
I'm using original HTC accessory (YC A300) to convert to 3.5mm and have original firmware version, android 1.5.
Anyone with same problem? I don't know if this is hardware problem or not.

Sound output quality

http://pic.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/htc-hero/gsmarena_a001.png - this frequency responce graph doesn't look promising. I know that there are ways to correct it a bit on the Dream (where it is a little bit better to start off), but how about the Hero? I'm really considering of buying this phone, and the sound quality stuff could be a real deal breaker for me.
So I would appreciate any feedback on this, thanks.

honestly, ive never really noticed anything bad about the but ill check against a mates iphone 3g and report on the results, but i may not see him till next week

If you are not an audiophile like me, you could miss the points. What I am interested in, is the highs - close to 20KHz.
I would like to believe that the frequency responce graph I mentioned earlier does not represent how Heroes sound like. It's so choppy and lacks highs - they cut of at like 15KHz or so. Also, why is that graph so choppy? iPhones are just invincible in this aspect..
So I was just wondering if someone had managed to fix this with software modifications, especially after seeing threads like this.

Connected my hero to a decent separates system and it sounded great. It blew my friend's N95 away comparing the same tracks!

1. Check out the vertical axis on that graph. Considering that 3dB is about the smallest increment/decrement in intensity that the human ear can readily distinguish, that frequency response is actually impressively flat for a consumer device.
2. Check out the frequency response of your earphones. Or, if you hook it up to your expensive hi-fi sound system, your speakers. Your frequency response is NOT going to be limited by this device but by the speakers/headphones. To see what I mean, compare that graph, which for the most part stays within +/- 0.5 dB, with this one of a pair of good quality earphones, or this one of some excellent speakers. Note the peaks and troughs in excess of +/- 7dB in the earphones, and +/- 3dB or so in the speakers.
3. From the look of the graphs, I doubt they've used the same method to test both. I don't think you'd find them that different. Maybe one is a manufacturer's stated frequency response and the other isn't, or they were tested with different types of equipment.

Although not an audiophile myself I am pretty keen on getting the best sound quality I possibly can. Before I purchased the Hero I plugged in my own cans to check frequency response. I was actually pleasantly suprised how much depth was in the music.
Not immediately noticable however was a strange noise audible at the start and end of tracks, and in quiet sections - kind of like a hiss. Although this would probably only be audible in a decent set of cans (with a wide frequency response), as an audiophile where only the best sound will do this would surely annoy the hell out of you.
The other point to note is the lack of EQ on the Hero's music player, but as an audiophile I'm sure you would frown upon using EQ anyway.

g00nerz said:
Not immediately noticable however was a strange noise audible at the start and end of tracks, and in quiet sections - kind of like a hiss. Although this would probably only be audible in a decent set of cans (with a wide frequency response), as an audiophile where only the best sound will do this would surely annoy the hell out of you.
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I noticed that on my previous S60 Nokia but don't notice it on my new Hero. It's possible that differences in impedance or sensitivity between headphones might make this affect more noticeable on some headphones than others.
The other point to note is the lack of EQ on the Hero's music player, but as an audiophile I'm sure you would frown upon using EQ anyway.
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Absolutely right!
I wouldn't call myself an audiophile (who would?) but I do have a keen interest in the technical aspects of audio and equipment.

this is the only phone where i can say the audio is really bad. i have yet to try more than one set of wired headphones but the bt headphones i have make it sound much worse. i have had a few htc phones and this is the worst by far. mono actually sounds better than stereo. Maybe im just used to my e71's sound quality.

Oh Lol.
Audiophiles listening to music on their phones. There's absolutely no way anyone who genuinely has a critical ear would expect anything like high end (as in quality) reproduction of audio on a phone.
Either way, the Hero's got a crappy signal to noise ratio so best you move on before you get offended.

I wonder how accurate the test was for the 3GS because I have never seen a frequency response graph that flat (even my HiFi tube amp has more variations).
And if you examine the hero graph more closely, you can notice that it's really very good. It has minimal gain loss in low freq. and it spans almost linearly up to 16kHz. And that's like very good. I noticed myself that the sound quality was far better then on the iPhone. But that is just my subjective opinion. But you can take in consideration that I used some HiQuality AKG headphones to test them both.
LP
B

flexte said:
this is the only phone where i can say the audio is really bad. i have yet to try more than one set of wired headphones but the bt headphones i have make it sound much worse. i have had a few htc phones and this is the worst by far. mono actually sounds better than stereo. Maybe im just used to my e71's sound quality.
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Any audio quality problems with bluetooth headphones/headsets have nothing to do with the hero, because the Hero is not actually producing the sound you hear, it's just following the Bluetooth spec, so it's not relevant to the graphs posted at the top of this thread.
Just so we're clear. You may already have known this.
oblika said:
And if you examine the hero graph more closely, you can notice that it's really very good.
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Just as I said above. I think the 3GS graph there is bogus; there's no way that was measured using the same equipment. Most likely it is the 'theoretical' frequency response and the Hero's is 'measured'. And when you look at the Hero graph and pay attention to the Y axis, it is actually a very good, flat frequency response.

There Are Apparent Differences Between The Audio Quality Of The HD2 and Iphone/Ipod T

Now i have been looking for an all in one solution mobile device for some time.
Audio is probably the most important feature for me aside from actually being a phone.
At first i was not sure if i was just hearing things, but after a little over a weeks testing i am absolutely sure that there are differences in the soundscape that comes out of the HD2 and Iphone 3GS(and Ipod Touch 1G on original firmware which is very similar to the Iphone in sound).
I have tested on a range of speakers from cheap to studio quality and headphones again from cheap to studio quality.
I would listen to entire songs on one then the other and i would listen to specific parts quickly switch to the other.
What i cannot figure out is why this is the case.
Shouldn't the same songs in the same encoding come out of the audio jack sounding exactly the same?
What differences in software and hardware would cause this?

the main factor is the quality of the DAC (digital to analog converter) hardware. Software is basically pushing bits to this hardware and is of little effect. There are software solutions like WOW driver and equalizers to cover where hardware lacks but I personally prefer the plain sound.

ozkaya said:
the main factor is the quality of the DAC (digital to analog converter) hardware. Software is basically pushing bits to this hardware and is of little effect. There are software solutions like WOW driver and equalizers to cover where hardware lacks but I personally prefer the plain sound.
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See, i have been playing with the WOW driver and i just can't get it quite the same.
It's the strangest thing, but when i listen to music on the Ipod/Iphone i want to dance lol , but with the HD2 the the music just doesn't have that effect.
Of course this is a very subjective issue and I'm personally very disappointed that the HD2 could not be the one for me music wise, it certainly beats out the 3GS in many other ways.
I hope that when windows 7 is released with it's built in Zune player, the hardware offer plenty of people the audio experience they are looking for, with some being comparable to the Iphone.
Right now however I think I've got to make the switch back

It should be same. However I would be surprised. There are aspects which are hard to 'make same'. It's not that there is no amplifier. Even the jack needs some low-power amplifier. And every audio circuit has SOME characteristics. Frequency curve is never totally flat, especially bases can be cut off on this level. There can also be noises (some MP3 players are non-listenable because of noise), distortions for louder sounds (this can be also common problem of software equalizers), DA converters also incorporate low-pass filter for clipping the sampling frequency and above. In phone there is also problem of interference from transmitters.
Some of these characteristics are clearly audible and you immediately know what is going on. Some are subtle. You 'feel' the difference, but you can't tell what is different. Sometimes it is mere illusion. There are endless arguments on audiophiles forums about technologies which from scientific point of view can have no impact on audio, but some people swear they can hear the difference (things like golden power sockets, static charge removers for CDs, and so on).
So yeah .. it's ok, unless there is really obvious 'problem' with the sound.
In my HD2 there is no such problem. Compared to anything it does feel different, especially if you can directly compare it, but that is normal.

It's funny you should mention this, as with my shure headphones i find the HD2 to blow my ipod touch out of the water in terms of sound quality. The audio booster i've found to also be the first equaliser i've truly thought improves sound quality to my preferences given the correct song. Shame with many roms it will only stay on for 1 song at a time.

You mean to tell me that different hardware produce different audio quality?!?!

lude219 said:
You mean to tell me that different hardware produce different audio quality?!?!
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Of course!
If this weren't the case, then why would anyone ever buy a BOSE sound system instead of a cheap one?

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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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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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.

Any audiophiles around, using their Streak as a music source ?

I was hoping to use this device as my music source but now that I've got it, I am highly disappointed. I expected it to be at least equal to my netbook's sound card but somehow it didn't perform.
Currently I am using Head Direct RE-0 with the Streak. Well these are high impedance IEMs and this may be the reason why I am not getting a good output so I am planning to try some other IEMs and thats precisely why I created this thread.
Can you guys recommend me something, if you've tried or already using them.
Did anyone try the Monster Turbines with the Streak ? Dell itself is selling these so I am hoping someone might have bought them. Can I get some impressions ?
I know I may be asking too much but and expecting too much from this device, but "One Device For All" was my thought behind buying this device.
BTW I've tried some other audio tools in the market (read poweramp) but the SQ of default player is way better so sticking to that and thus my only option left is another pair of IEMs. Suggest me some

Think you hop over to headfi for your quest which you might have a better chance of finding answers. I personally still using imod > amp > custom instead of a phone to achieve "audiophile" quality.

I have already posted my observations here on a similar thread a few months ago, so please bear with me if I don't repeat myself.
My interest in responding is that you have the very same IEMs as me. I also have IE8s with custom moulds which formed the basis my original post so I thought to try again with the RE0s in the light of your comments.
My experience with the RE0s is good, though my preference lies with the IE8s. I use PowerAMP with equaliser set to Off and my files are FLAC.
Having spent much time on HeadFi I know that these things can be subjective, so to each his own, but I am very pleased with the Streak as an audio player.
FWIW my reference is iBassoD10 and iRiverH140 with optical digital interconnect.

^^^
I am glad to hear that and thanks a lot for your observations.
Somehow to me the sound signature of PowerAmp did sound thin and with the already "not so warm" RE-0, the overall experience wasn't that great.
Another thing is that I am not in a position to spend a lot on the IEMs so IE8 won't be possible for me.
Can you suggest me something under 100USD or max 150USD, that you think can work great with the Streak ?

look around amazon. i got my ie8s for about 200 bucks US
I also use an audio technica portable headphone amp (one of those pocket ones) improves the sound quality a lot more

Somehow to me the sound signature of PowerAmp did sound thin and with the already "not so warm" RE-0, the overall experience wasn't that great.
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I would agree exactly with that. It is as if the Streak produces the wrong characteristics for the RE0.
I was very impressed when I used the Streak with the IE8s but less so with the RE0.
It is a sidetrack, on the other hand the Sansa Clip works well with the RE0. This sort of synergy is great when it works out in our favour and frustrating when it doesn't.
If you like I could try the Streak/RE0 combination with a Fiio E5 amplifier.

rebski said:
It is a sidetrack, on the other hand the Sansa Clip works well with the RE0. This sort of synergy is great when it works out in our favour and frustrating when it doesn't.
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I would prefer to use this device as my main source since I hate carrying multiple things all the time. Thats why looking for just an IEM upgrade to fix everything
rebski said:
If you like I could try the Streak/RE0 combination with a Fiio E5 amplifier.
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Yes please, if thats not much of a trouble. Would be highly appreciated.

This is a rather quick impression with the E5.
With the Bass Boost On the mid/lower range is much more filled out and emphasised and overall is preferable. However the treble correspondingly suffers which is not preferable. With the Bass Boost Off I would prefer the unamp’d Streak.
Contrary to the opinions over at HeadFi I am not a fan of amp’d headphone out signal. The only way it makes sense is to have a dedicated Line Out, preferably digital. Otherwise what is being amplified is the signal from an inferior source amplifier.
Maybe someone will make a PDMI Line Out Dock, now that would be something.
If you can get the E5 cheap enough it might be worth trying, I paid £7.50 for mine so can’t complain and worth it just to have the option available. But £17 seems a bit steep. Though you can get them on eBay for about £12. It is easy to get into a law of diminishing returns with these things.
Personally I would just accept the nature of the Streak/RE0 combination and enjoy the open spaciousness and clarity and see the lack of bass as a tradeoff. Not all music needs a strong bass.

Hi,
Personally I find that whatever I use as earphones, I have a hard time accepting the noise level on the streak. When playing music at a medium volume, the noise is really very very present.
I suppose there is no work around is there? Doesn't this bother you for serious listening?

Hi
You surprise me there. What do you mean by noise level? I don't understand.
My Streak is pefectly quiet apart from the the music that is playing.

^^^
I get that noise as well. Its there as long as the music application is working and goes away when the app is closed. Sure is irritating.
I've found another way to get my music working.
Found this app foobar2000remote control or something. If this works on my streak, I can just put away my audio rig away, snap on the earphones and lie down on my bed, leaving myself to the music. All the foobar controls will then be accessible from my streak.
But again, this app is not working YET for me. I was able to test it out on http, on my netbook. Just that the streak is still being able to communicate with my netbook's foobar.
Soon !!!!

rebski said:
Hi
You surprise me there. What do you mean by noise level? I don't understand.
My Streak is pefectly quiet apart from the the music that is playing.
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Click to collapse
O dear! You're a luck mann! I have a noise in the background whenever playing. When I put the music in pause, the noise disappears after a second (automatic mute control I think), but as soon as I play again, the nois is there, very present! It is a constant level of noise, independent of the volume I set the music to. When I set volume to max, the music is so loud (too loud!) that I don't hear the noise anymore. But when setting it to say 70 perecnt, the noise is too presnt. Its ok-ish... but it definetly is not good (no hifi installation or decent MP3 player produces that much noise).
Any idea where this might come from? How come you have no noise???
Thanks

I also have the noise problem. I am using a UM3X and the quality is good enough except the background noice is very annoying. Is there anyway to cancel the background noice?

gadaga said:
O dear! You're a luck mann! I have a noise in the background whenever playing. When I put the music in pause, the noise disappears after a second (automatic mute control I think), but as soon as I play again, the nois is there, very present! It is a constant level of noise, independent of the volume I set the music to. When I set volume to max, the music is so loud (too loud!) that I don't hear the noise anymore. But when setting it to say 70 perecnt, the noise is too presnt. Its ok-ish... but it definetly is not good (no hifi installation or decent MP3 player produces that much noise).
Any idea where this might come from? How come you have no noise???
Thanks
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Click to collapse
I really am sorry that so many have this as an issue. I only began using my Streak as a music player with DJ_Steve's 2.2 early builds. What version Android are you on?
Could it be Os related I wonder. I am on DJ_Steve's latest 1.7 build.

gadaga said:
O dear! You're a luck mann! I have a noise in the background whenever playing. When I put the music in pause, the noise disappears after a second (automatic mute control I think), but as soon as I play again, the nois is there, very present! It is a constant level of noise, independent of the volume I set the music to. When I set volume to max, the music is so loud (too loud!) that I don't hear the noise anymore. But when setting it to say 70 perecnt, the noise is too presnt. Its ok-ish... but it definetly is not good (no hifi installation or decent MP3 player produces that much noise).
Any idea where this might come from? How come you have no noise???
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too get this background noise, as well as a subtle "click" sound when the audio output is turned off/on. I've been contemplating Bluetooth headphones as a work around...
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

This really sucks.. Why are we having this hiss noise? I'm on build 347, stock from dell. It's only been couple days since I got mine.
I saw in DJStreak's mod, there's volume boost mod, but my earphone volume levels are perfectly fine. So I don't think I need any boost feature. It's just the background hiss noise. It stays on the same level of noise whether I up the volume or play music in low volume.

Everything is fine on my streak,no hiss electricity sound.Still,I think my philip mp3 can do a better job than the streak.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

No hiss for me either. I'm on 351. Didn't try with 347 when I got the Streak last week.

There are several things going on here, I think.
1. The majority of Dell's hardware is identical to the Nexus One, Incredible, etc. Those generation phones probably used the same hardware. That hardware is not particularly impressive when it comes to providing clear headphone audio. Its is possible that some phones are better than others, but unlikely. It is probably due to Reason #2.
Here is the RightMark test for the Nexus: http://www.swedroid.se/rightmark/Google Nexus One/googlenexusone.htm
Here is an iPhone 4 + couple of other phones: http://www.swedroid.se/rightmark/optimus2x/rightmark.htm
The iPhone has a lower noise floor and overall cleaner headphone amp (harmonic distortion esp).
2. The circuit buzz we hear mostly shows up with high end/high sensitivity headphone and in-ear monitors. I think it is a lot less noticeable with basic earbuds.
Also, everyone has a different level of hearing.
To conclude, no - this phone is not a good source for FLACs with good headphones. It is good enough for Pandora streaming and MP3s. If you are serious about portable sound quality, I would look for a dedicated DAP of some kind. It hurts me to say, but to this day many phones haven't matched the Apple headphone amp/DAC chips. I would love to finally own a phone where I can consolidate all my geeky needs.