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[Q] sound quality through headphones

I just spent some time at the local T-Mobile store checking this thing out in person. I'm very seriously thinking about picking one up but I have one thing I want to ask you guys that already have one....How is the sound quality when listening to music? If I get this phone, it will be my second android phone but my first htc. I currently have a samsung moment and I detest a lot of things about it. One of the things that bothers me is that I still carry around my outdated ipod because the sound quality of my moment is brutal. I never noticed with the generic ear buds that came with the phone but once I plugged in some quality cans, I realized the phone doesn't have any balls. My music sounds like I'm listening to cheapo headphones even though I have a pair of $100 dollar grados.
I'm a bit of an audiophile so if the thing can't sound high end, its a big drawback to me. I'm so tired of carrying an ipod in one pocket and the phone in another. Been doing that too many years and the idea of getting a smartphone was supposed to cure that need.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I have the JH5's.. will listen to music on my G2 for some time and report back. I'm pretty satisfied with the Galaxy S, that has good SQ. My iPad also has great SQ..

One major problem I have with most android phones is that they aren't loud enough. That's the main reason I still carry around my touch. I hope I am able to solve this soon...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

This question was bugging me, as I have the G2 on my short list of phones I want, so I went back to the T-Mobile store today and asked if I could see their live demo unit and test music playback on it.
They didn't agree, not wanting me to put an sdcard with music on it in the demo phone, but one of the employees had his own G2 with music already on it. He let me plug my headphones in (Head Direct RE2, not the most spectacular, but not cheap $20 earbuds either) and played a few tracks.
It sounded pretty good for an HTC phone.
Now, granted, these MP3s were not very high quality. They were 128kbps encodes, probably not LAME encoded. But I'll say it definitely sounded better than the utterly bass-lacking Nexus One.
It doesn't sound half as decent as the Samsung Vibrant, though.

greengoldmello said:
One major problem I have with most android phones is that they aren't loud enough. That's the main reason I still carry around my touch. I hope I am able to solve this soon...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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that desire hd has dolby srs or whatever, should sound good. really hoping t-mobile brings it to the US.

greengoldmello said:
One major problem I have with most android phones is that they aren't loud enough. That's the main reason I still carry around my touch. I hope I am able to solve this soon...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
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Exactly. I know in terms of specs the iPhones don't compare to Androids, but sound quality as I said is a big deal to me. I would tolerate a slightly slower phone for good sound.
As far as people noting that newer Samsung phones have good sound...that's nice to know but I've already decided I can never buy another Samsung phone for as long as I live. I'll spare you all the self-righteous diatribe but suffice it to say my Moment's lack of sound quality is only one of a number of issues I have with it.

That's why I have a Ipod touch 4G

Unfortunately this is all opinion so our opinion of good may not mesh with yours, however I use Klipsch S4s which have been reviewed by many different people as the best in the price range and better than many that cost twice as much...
I listen to FLAC all day on my G2 with these earphones at work and am happy with the quality.

Using the JH5's, the G2 sounds decent for average listening. Not as good as the iPad or iPhone 4, but good enough. It doesn't make the music sound bad, just the bass performance is not as good and its a bit focused on treble.

Kind of like the speaker for the phone.. sounds good but a little quiet.

Plenty loud IMO :/

I have to admit that my blackberry bold 9700 earphone jack yielded better results as far as pandora is concerned to my auxiliary port of my head unit (even with high quality)
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I don't know about the G2, but the Vibrant has amazing sound quality through its headphone jack. When tested by gsmarena.com, it beat the iphone on a few sound quality tests and was about the same on all the others. I've never heard better sound quality on a phone and its very customizable and pretty loud.

It's decent. The bundled earphones are pretty good quality, and the controls work flawless, without any lag. Perfect for gym. IMHO if you're using your phone for listening to music anywhere else, you're doing it wrong. At home a hi-fi system is obviously better, in the car... why bother. Unless you have a non-existent (or super ****ty) system in the car, why would you listen to music using your phone?

clivo360 said:
I don't know about the G2, but the Vibrant has amazing sound quality through its headphone jack. When tested by gsmarena.com, it beat the iphone on a few sound quality tests and was about the same on all the others. I've never heard better sound quality on a phone and its very customizable and pretty loud.
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Yup, the Vibrant/Galaxy S uses a discrete Wolfson DSP ; thus its Sound Quality is superb. The iPhone 4 uses a discrete Cirrus Logic DSP, whereas HTC phones/Qualcomm do not have a discrete DSP, its integrated into the SoC.

So to answer his question, He's still going to have to carry around the iPod.

I've been using the included headset and am very happy with the sound quality and volume.
I haven't tested any other earphones yet.
On a related note, the speaker is only adequate. I wouldn't rely on it. Samsung phones seem to be much better in this regard.

Included headset sucks compared to the S4s, but to be realistic you can't expect HTC to waste money including a "good" headset when 95% of the buyers can't tell a difference or don't care. I hope they continue to include cheap headsets so I'm not paying a premium for a phone with a mediocre pair that I won't use anyway.

Are you using the stock music player to listen to FLAC? It doesn't seem to work for me. Neither does the cube player.

Audio quality isn't the best on this phone. I have a pair of Senn's CX500's and the bass gets distorted when listening to the default player. The mid's are okay and sometimes the highs get distorted also. This btw is coming from music with at least 192kbps bitrate on them.
But still love the phone!

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.

No bass?

Hi
I am really upset with the amount of bass that comes out of my omnia 7. I almost can't fell the bass at all when I listen to music. Is it just my phone or does others have same problem?
The problem is both in the headset and when connected to external sound system through mini-jack.
regards Zaiby

seems bassy enough to me...i think that means there is something wrong with your phone

Ok that's strange. The sound is better than my old iPhone's, both bass and trable are clear and strog on my both sennheizer headset HD418 and earphones cx300, didn't try to connect it to speakers yet.

Postive you're plugging them in all the way?
I haven't tried music off my phone yet, so I wil give it a go once I've found my headphones - I'm very picky/fussy when it comes to how my music sounds, so I will let you know what I think

I have exactly the same problem. Very very little bass with the following headphones:
Samsung Omnia 7 earphones
Sony MDR-7506
Klipsch
I've had better bass with my old Nokia phone. Is there a setting somewhere or maybe a tweak to make it better?
I've bought mine outright here in Australia.

It sounded OK for me with some high-end Creative ear-bud things... I will test it out with some more music tomorrow for you

Hi, I thought i had the same problem until i changed the rubber bits on the earphones as mine would never stay in. You need to get the earphones in your ear properly (all the way in) cause if not its sounds tinny. Once in then you will find that there really is a lot of bass

I do agree with the lack of bass, it does definitely come down to headphones used which should not be the case.
when running with shure se210's there is a limited bass range, when running with ultimate ears superfi 5's it was similar. Comparing this to my ultimate ears triplefi 10's and bose triport onears, both of these have a heavy bass. Im guessing they support a wider range of bass.
Its a shame as its one of the only drawbacks to this phone.
Please dont ask why i have so many pairs of headphones lol' quite the headphone fan

I think that we just need an equalizer like the HD7.

Coming from a HD7, the sound quality is awful in comparison, and I'm using Beats not some cheap earphones.
Luckily I bought a Zune HD to go along with it

Noticed no difference when listening to the same Song. Tested with ipod and omnia 7.

Bass is very poor with the standard headset, agreed an equaliser is needed asap, cant believe a handset this new is lacking it to be honest.

[Q] Is Music through earphones weak; Deciding Factor

Guys just want to confirm is the volume of S II at full (using equalizer app) same as legendry Galaxy S. As per one review on the net, they claim music playback through headphones also show distortions and noise. Is it true? Can we expect clear and loud output from other earphones, or is it actually manufacturing issue. Report say that Galaxy S II features an inferior audio chip from yamaha than the superior Wolfenson DAAC.
This would be a deciding factor for me getting this phone, morever after spending 30K (in India) for this, user will definitely look for good music through headphones.
Plz dont be LOVE n HATE biased give genuine verdicts folks. It depends on you people. Though I know replies we get here are very genuine, but being a galaxy S user for a couple of months, I am a bit biased and think Samsung makes best android phones. But at this price point money comes first and every feature included should be top notch, atleast music throgh head-phones.

I've come to the SGS2 from a Nokia 5800, which was of course built primarily as a music playing phone.
Listening with earphones:
I think the sound quality of the Nokia was a *little* better. The Sammy sounds a little harsher at the top end. But I'm perfectly happy with my new phone.
I think the maximum volume is actually louder on the Sammy, I couldn't listen to the music at max in a quiet room, it'd be too much. I think there are tweaks available to make it even louder, if you feel the need.
As for sound quality at max volume - no problems with distortion - the slightly harsh top-end doesn't get any worse.
(For reference, I'm using some very cheap but fairly decent headphones - JVC Marshmallow in-ear, the same as I used with the Nokia. I've not tried the supplied headphones as I heard they're rubbish)
Listening with the loudspeaker:
The Nokia absolutely blows it away, but then it's probably got the best stereo speakers of any smartphone. The Sammy doesn't have the volume, and it sounds thin and harsh compared to the Nokia.
However, other reviews suggest it's better than it's main competition (the HTC Sensation)... so basically I've been spoiled by the Nokia, and the Sammy is perfectly serviceable.

Thanks to RostokMcSpoons
Guys I am very happy to receive the first reply I would like to see more 7 more replies as honest as RostokMcSpoons'. I would be even glad if I can get replies from the experts like the senoir members I guess.

Perfectly acceptable for me even using stock headphones .
Nokia 5800 >> SGS1 >> SGS2
jje

Is it same of same quality and volume level as Galaxy S I9000 or is different.

I cannot tell the difference but some have said the SGS1 was better .
jje

quality is much better than any htc or motorola phones i have used. you never have to turn the volume anywhere near the top. highs, mids and base are great as well.

I am overwhelmed and one straight comparison with galaxy S music would be Icing on the cake.

I've used my SGSII with both my cheap old Sony MDR-G42's and my much-loved open-back Sennheiser HD-238 Precision and both sounded surprisingly great.
I do read some people saying about quiet sound but that's always puzzled me as the output seems no quieter than say my Creative Zen MP3 player and certainly loud enough to drive both styles of headphone well enough.

Probably S II is a good buy, I believe I am going for it this weekend.

mobfest said:
Is it same of same quality and volume level as Galaxy S I9000 or is different.
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Volume is about the same. Sound quality through the HP out is decent enough, borderline good - it's good across the frequency range and has a decent amount of detail - if a bit congested. However, when Compared the the SGS1 with voodoo sound - it's nowhere near as good. No suprises there, as a SGS1 + Voodoo sound may have the best SQ of all mobile devices, including mp3 players (such as the ipod touch and sony walkmen). Please keep in mind that this subjective.
Having said that, the SQ is good and will definitely be good enough for most people - especially if you add poweramp to the mix.

Thank you for your response
I believe voodoo sound is a mod, is by any chance in future this mod can be ported for s II as well.

S II wins heart but very big in size
My doubt has finally come to an end the music through headphones is good enough (using creative ep-630), not used the default ones yet. But truly the EQ widget boosts the music.

[Q] How is the audio quality with headphones?

Hi,
can anybody say anything about the audio quality with decent headphones? I have pretty good Shure headphones, which don't work very well with my current phone, which is one of the reasons I consider buying the U8800. I'd change my mind if I knew the quality was bad.
So, how are the quality overall and how loud does it get (I usually don't listen very loudly).
Thanks!

I can't make comaparisons with other smartphones and in the month I have had the IDEOS X5 I find the sound quality pretty good through the headphones.
I've used different headphones that I have lying around. All were better than the headphones that came with the phone.
At home I use an old Koss full padded headphones that I normally use on the PC or when watching TV late at night. (It has a very long cable). I find the qality pretty good, warm bass without it being too punchy.
I also bought a set of cheap (AUD$3.50) stereo headphones from e-bay. The sound was crisp, perhaps a little too much treble but you can balance it out depending on the music app you use.
I recently bought a Sony Bluetooth stereo MW600 headset which work nicely with the IDEOS X5 using the stock music player. Sound is clear and well balanced.
Neither of these are very loud but I've had it turn it down a little depending on the outside noise level.
Having said all that there is a huge difference to sound quality depending on the type of bit rate used on the MP3's. The higher the bit rate the better the sound quality and volume...but I think that goes without saying but music listeners possibly don't allow for the quality of the re-encoding.
AND...the quality of audio is about 100 x better than through the speakers

The sound quality is bad. The bass is good but it also "spreads" out and muffles other sounds so it all sounds hazy. My PC/cowon I7 does not suffer from this.
The headphones I use daily are IE7's. Shure SE420 also sounded hazy with U8800. Tested with FLAC and MP3's with similar results on both.

Thanks for your answers.
Varatesh: Considering what high quality earphones you use, I guess your expectations might be somewhat higher than mine.
Sadly I don't know own anybody withe an U8800 so I can't test the audio quality and it's rarely tested in reviews, so no "objective" info there.

pragmatick said:
Hi,
can anybody say anything about the audio quality with decent headphones? I have pretty good Shure headphones, which don't work very well with my current phone, which is one of the reasons I consider buying the U8800. I'd change my mind if I knew the quality was bad.
So, how are the quality overall and how loud does it get (I usually don't listen very loudly).
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't now if I help w/ my case:
I only use the U8800 heaphones/mic and I must not change because the pinout is different (begining by the point):
Sound.L/Sound.R/Mic/Ground.
The others like Samsung, LG, etc. the pinout is:
Sound.L/Sound.R/Ground/Mic.
If we chage it the sound is bad because it return by Mic, not by ground. And the Mic also work bad.

That's interesting, ValenteL. So that means it would be possible to solder an adapter? It's just a matter of switching two channels.

pragmatick said:
That's interesting, ValenteL. So that means it would be possible to solder an adapter? It's just a matter of switching two channels.
Click to expand...
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Helo
It's possible. For music only, no problem, I use one w/ 3 contacts.
W/ Mic I encountered only one same the U8800, is the ZTE Blade one.
Cumps.

Using ideos x5 + poweramp (it uses ffmpeg's codecs = better quality than the stock android codecs) + sony mw600 = eargasm.
Deep bass, rich high's and great fidelity, even on low bit rate HEAAC files. Although one thing to note, i had problems and dropouts using by bluetooth handset over a2dp with the stock froyo roms. That problem vanished as soon as i moved to the 2.3.5 roms floating around here (My personal favorite is MIUI and i'm waiting for an official cm7 nightly )
I'm not an audiophile or something - i wouldn't use my smartphone for music if i was one - but for the price tag and the hardware we get, music quality is superb, especially compared to the crappy sound output my previous htc wildfire had.

pragmatick said:
Hi,
can anybody say anything about the audio quality with decent headphones? I have pretty good Shure headphones, which don't work very well with my current phone, which is one of the reasons I consider buying the U8800. I'd change my mind if I knew the quality was bad.
So, how are the quality overall and how loud does it get (I usually don't listen very loudly).
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sound is normal but you always can hear empty noise..the current noise.. there is no silence when there is no audio (yes it shuts down audio after 5secs of no audio) but it always have noise if you listen at more then 25% of volume then you will not hear it but if you listen at night you can clearly hear it.

Tommixoft said:
Sound is normal but you always can hear empty noise..the current noise.. there is no silence when there is no audio (yes it shuts down audio after 5secs of no audio) but it always have noise if you listen at more then 25% of volume then you will not hear it but if you listen at night you can clearly hear it.
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I agree with this. It's very apparent when listening to audiobooks, not a big problem with music though.

I can confirm the "current" noise too....