[Q] Sound Quality - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Just wondering how people are finding the sound quality of their Nexus 4's when listening to music.
I use a nice pair of Klipsch headphones and thought they sounded great on my Galaxy Nexus, but finding the sound more harsh on the N4. However, the N4 is a fair bit louder which was a complaint I had with the Galaxy Nexus.

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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.

Head Phone Sound Quality

I've been looking through the forums in anticipation if getting an Atrix and have read the topics on the speaker quality. However, I didn't really read how the quality of sound is through headphones. I have a nice pair of headphones so I want it to sound good. So my questions are:
1. Does the Atrix have a Wolfson amplifier??
2. How does it compare to the Infuse or SGS2??
I can't answer your first question, but I have a pair of Dr. Dre Beats (yea i know i know, but they do sound pretty good) and I personally think the sound quality is better than the infuse. My cousin has an infuse and I played the same track on both phones with my headphones and I preferred the sound on the Atrix. Your best bet is to go to an AT&T store (or whoever your atrix provider might be) and bring your headphones and ask them to let you try out both and judge for yourself. Although music itself and even certain equalizer settings are subjective, I think you will get a pretty good idea on which one "sounds better".
Two thumbs up for sound quality.
I am probably one of the very few people here who replaced their SGS2 with Atrix 4G.
SGS2 sound quality is not bad, but its not great either. Specially if you are using it on EDGE network which does happen to me when I am not in 3G coverage area.
Anyway, coming to Atrix, its one of the best sounding handsets I have used after original Galaxy S. Output is clean, loud enough and free of distortions/clipping even at high volume on earphones and headphones.
To be honest, 8/10 people will not be able to decide which sounds better Atrix or SGS2 or infuse.
And with cheap headphones, its even harder to decide which one is better.
My opinions here are with Audio Technica ATH M50, Brainwavz M2 and Nuforce NE700.
My only problem is that it seems that the volume is overall pretty low (i.e. I find myself keeping the slider close-ish to the top). When I'm outside walking to and from class, the city sounds almost drown out my music even when I have it at max...I know it's not the headphones, because I use them on all of my music playing devices, and they are just fine elsewhere. The sound is good, but the max volume seems to be set low...Messing with the equalizer in my music player (PowerAmp) helps..
Yeah its a wolfson dac not amp which is what really matters. Overall the phone sounds very good especially considering its a freaking phone. Ive used Beyerdynamic dt 770 80ohm pros, etymotic mc5's, grado sr80i's, and most impressively my Magnepan MC-12 planar speakers with the phone. They all sounded just fine, not jaw dropping or anything but just fine and fairly balanced throughout. If you have good copies of your music and decent headphones the atrix will take care of you if your not too picky. Much more so if you have an external headphone amp. you'd be surprised how much something little like this
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E5-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B001P9EQH8
can improve sound quality not to mention get you to the volume you want.
Also don't mess around with equalizers too much they have a tendency to distort music no matter what your sourcing it from.
happy listening \m/d>_<b\m/
Im wondering how is audio via bluetooth a2dp, my SGSII sounds very bad, crapy and maybe Atrix could be a better solution for me with this matter ?
arkadius41 said:
Im wondering how is audio via bluetooth a2dp, my SGSII sounds very bad, crapy and maybe Atrix could be a better solution for me with this matter ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sound via a a2dp headset is fine, no where near as good as 3.5 jack but same can be said about the gs2. I will miss my Atrix as I loved the audio quility
Sound quality over bluetooth on Motorola S9-HD headset is great as far as I am concerned. No issues with volume either. I keep media volume maxed, and control headset volume from headset. It will go much louder than I use it at, and it drowns out any ambient sound easily.

The sound quality on my Nexus 4 is terrible.

Hey, all!
So I had a Nexus 4 for a few weeks and loved everything about it...EXCEPT for its poor sound headphone sound quality. Music played on the Galaxy Nexus I had before this sounded fantastic on my Bose QC15s and Klipsch s4. I didn't even need to use the EQ; it was balanced and perfect right out of the gate. Not so on the Nexus 4; most of my music sounds muddy and bass was next to non-existent.
I was able to adjust for this on the EQ provided in the Cyanogenmod builds (I think it was an 8-band EQ), but could never do so on the 5-band EQs available on stock.
Is this a common problem?
Thanks!
Strange I'm listening to music as I write this and there's no problem with mine its clear and crispy with nice bass. I also compared it with my s3 about the same quality as my s3..
Give franco kernel a try
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
I installed mods with Xylon
Pick your poison:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2025486 (Really good, not complicated to set up)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923630 (Slightly better than above, more options, but harder to set up)
Warning:
Don't flash the above together. Only one can be installed.
Connor Baker
It sounds fine here.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Agreed. I like listening to music in my car and always connect my phone to the speakers with an AUX cable. However, the music sounds very low and dreadful. This was never a problem on my Galaxy Nexus or G2. It was clear and crisp. Bass on the Nexus 4 is absolutely pathetic and the volume is too low. Probably a software problem. I'm not rooted by the way.
Nexus 4 terrible sound quality
mrcrassic said:
Hey, all!
So I had a Nexus 4 for a few weeks and loved everything about it...EXCEPT for its poor sound headphone sound quality. Music played on the Galaxy Nexus I had before this sounded fantastic on my Bose QC15s and Klipsch s4. I didn't even need to use the EQ; it was balanced and perfect right out of the gate. Not so on the Nexus 4; most of my music sounds muddy and bass was next to non-existent.
I was able to adjust for this on the EQ provided in the Cyanogenmod builds (I think it was an 8-band EQ), but could never do so on the 5-band EQs available on stock.
Is this a common problem?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Even I face the same problem. I think it could be due to version 4.2.2 because people who said sound quality is good may be having 4.2.1 or earlier version
Please let me know if you got any luck in resolving this issue
Thanks
I actually did a test with two files, one with an excerpt of an mp3 from a well recorded album, and the other... the same mp3 played back on the phone, recorded from the phone's headphone output. No one was able to identify which was which more than 50% of the time.
I think the latest version of Nexus 4 has poor sound quality. Mine is updated with camera lens and have some 2 nubs at the bottom of the phone to prevent rear glass to touch surface
But the sound quality is poor. I don't understand
Can anyone confirm this?
I also think the sound of my N4 is not the best i heard on a mobile device... Plus the volume is dead low imo...
I can hear a big diffference when im listening to Mog on my i5 compare to my N4.
Sent from my iPhone 5
Try Franco kernel and the xlouder mod. Works well for me. Now my nexus 4 is no longer anemic on bass and volume and sibiliant on highs.
Sent from my Nexus 4
------------------------------------
Devices:
LG Google Nexus 4 16 GB
Samsung Google Nexus 10 32 GB
Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini ST15i (Retired * Sold)
Nokia C7 (Sold)
HTC TyTn II (Sold)
Motorola RAZR v3 (broken)
Sony Ericsson W705 (broken)
------------------------------------
Could be impedance mismatches between your headphones and the device. The frequency response of the headphone jack is pretty flat, though volume with the stock kernel is an issue.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Musical quality using headphones

Here's a question. Currently I am on an iPhone 5, and it looks like I'll be making the switch to the S4. But before I do, I need to be reassured of one thing.
I use my iPhone 5 as my main and only music player. I have a pair of $150 Monster Turbines, and I take my musical quality very seriously relative to the iPhone 5. My question is, does the S4 have ATLEAST the same or better SQ in all ranges?
Is this app dependent? ROM dependent? I'm new to Android, but not technically unsavvy by ANY means..
Just need to know..
I had the same worries as you did. I came from the iPhone 4, running an ATH-m50 setup up with a fiio e5 amp and switched over to the HTC one x+and have transitioned very smoothly. I recommend finding a player per your taste though.
Take a look at power amp and neuron player! I hope this helps.
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda app-developers app
Well there is a feature called 'adapt sound' you go through a hearing test. After the test is done it auto EQ's the EQ's in the music player. I have monster inspirations (noise cancelling) and beyerdynamic T1. With adapt sound on in both cans there's better upper range clarity when differentiating between instruments. I like having the feature on. Makes the music more enjoyable of sorts.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
There seems to be a lot of mixed opinions. It's not that the Qualcomm audio chipset is bad, it's actually quite good, but it up samples audio from 24bit/44khz to 48khz if I'm correct, which kind of degrades the quality a little. I doubt a $150 pair of headphones is gonna be affected by this though. Now if you were rocking some real hardcore audio equipment like $500+ custom monitors, then this might be noticeable.
Apple products still are on top when it comes to audio player quality. I doubt it'll be noticeable with your headphones
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Don't even think a second about sound quality. It's awesome with S4. I use shure se530 head phones. You want to tweak the sound you may use Power Amp. That is what i use. I tried Iphone (3/4/4S/5) several times and sound is better with Power Amp in Galaxy S3/S4(Snapdragon also). Without Power Amp you may not like the sound that much.
varunkumars said:
Don't even think a second about sound quality. It's awesome with S4. I use shure se530 head phones. You want to tweak the sound you may use Power Amp. That is what i use. I tried Iphone (3/4/4S/5) several times and sound is better with Power Amp in Galaxy S3/S4(Snapdragon also). Without Power Amp you may not like the sound that much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I recommend trying Gone Mad Music Player, so much better then Power Amp in my opinion
As many have said. Power amp is worth the purchase.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
iphone 5 is a good music player of course.
in android some app can improve the SQ for us. such as poweramp and more.
If you can score an international version, it was supposed to get the much higher quality Wolfson audio chips:
http://www.sammobile.com/2013/04/18...-for-galaxy-range-of-smartphones-and-tablets/
I think the t-mobile version might also have the same hardware as the international version...?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
I'm using Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones with Westone cables. I find the S4 sound quality pleasing, but lacking in bass.
Screams from
d1esel daddy said:
I'm using Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones with Westone cables. I find the S4 sound quality pleasing, but lacking in bass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a major problem for me, as 90% of my music is hip hop.
My monster turbines were designed to accentuate bass
I have a 15' sub in my car, that I LOVE to flex, and if it gonna be as bassy and clean as it is like my iPhone (on hip hop EQ) then we've got problems...
EpicMango said:
This is a major problem for me, as 90% of my music is hip hop.
My monster turbines were designed to accentuate bass
I have a 15' sub in my car, that I LOVE to flex, and if it gonna be as bassy and clean as it is like my iPhone (on hip hop EQ) then we've got problems...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The S4 isnt lacking in bass at all. It has more bass than my HTC Vivid did...and that was a "Beats"-advertised phone. The S4 has terrific sound quality for a phone. And if you want a nice EQ, get Poweramp. It is well worth the purchase. And if you enjoy bass, don't worry - you can crank the bass up insanely high with Poweramp.
I was very worried about audio quality before getting the S4. And I am absolutely satisfied.
Oh and before you go looking at the HTC One, there have been reports of bluetooth audio streaming distorting the high frequency sounds. The S4 doesnt have this problem.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.
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bobgodd said:
If you can score an international version, it was supposed to get the much higher quality Wolfson audio chips:
http://www.sammobile.com/2013/04/18...-for-galaxy-range-of-smartphones-and-tablets/
I think the t-mobile version might also have the same hardware as the international version...?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile has exact same hardware as att...has been discussed in one of the official bootloader unlock threads
slapdaddy said:
The S4 isnt lacking in bass at all. It has more bass than my HTC Vivid did...and that was a "Beats"-advertised phone. The S4 has terrific sound quality for a phone. And if you want a nice EQ, get Poweramp. It is well worth the purchase. And if you enjoy bass, don't worry - you can crank the bass up insanely high with Poweramp.
I was very worried about audio quality before getting the S4. And I am absolutely satisfied.
Oh and before you go looking at the HTC One, there have been reports of bluetooth audio streaming distorting the high frequency sounds. The S4 doesnt have this problem.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would definitely not say the s4 has terrific sound quality....you can't base it off the fact your vivid had beats as that's just a software eq...you've obviously never had a phone with a Wolfson dac....those phones have the best sound quality of every phone-,and with voodoo sound you can tweak it at the hardware level
When it comes to portable music....my infuse is my main player...it blows the s4 and HTC vivid sound quality out of the water
Now the s4 sound quality is acceptable and not bad in any way...just wouldn't say its terrific...this is coming from an audiophile with studio monitors and studio monitor headphones
BTW, I had a vivid too...think I remember your name
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2
d1esel daddy said:
I'm using Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones with Westone cables. I find the S4 sound quality pleasing, but lacking in bass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am running the same setup (stock cables) and previously used a FiiO E6 amp when I had these with my Galaxy S 2... With the S4, I don't need the portable amp and like others stated, PowerAMP is my recommended player - well worth the purchase. I jumped onto PowerAMP right as soon as I found out that it does both FLAC and Gapless, and the interface is beautiful and easily links to the lockscreen (not rooted).
As far as audio quality, I love the V shape audio that PowerAMP(Techno preset) produces onto my IEM's and I also have an iPad Mini (I think Wolfsons audio chip) and yet still prefer the audio from the S4...
Audio becomes very subjective at this point, but I have NOT been disappointed with my S4 and audio quality - especially comparing it to my old Galaxy S II...
mg2195 said:
Tmobile has exact same hardware as att...has been discussed in one of the official bootloader unlock threads
I would definitely not say the s4 has terrific sound quality....you can't base it off the fact your vivid had beats as that's just a software eq...you've obviously never had a phone with a Wolfson dac....those phones have the best sound quality of every phone-,and with voodoo sound you can tweak it at the hardware level
When it comes to portable music....my infuse is my main player...it blows the s4 and HTC vivid sound quality out of the water
Now the s4 sound quality is acceptable and not bad in any way...just wouldn't say its terrific...this is coming from an audiophile with studio monitors and studio monitor headphones
BTW, I had a vivid too...think I remember your name
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope never had a Wolfson unfortunately. And I said terrific...for a phone lol. I have never had a phone with sound quality this good. And it will only get better with newer Sammy phones because of their deal with Wolfson. As for the Vivid, I remember reading your name a few times over there and yeah Beats is a software adjustment on the Vivid, but the sound quality was better on the Vivid than it was on my Inspire...and now better on my S4 than on my Vivid.
And yes I am an audiophile as well...I have studio cans and when it comes to absolute pure music quality, I use my desktop comouter as the setup is fantastic for a quality listening experience. But for a modern phone on the market. ..well I dont know of any quadcore phones that have a Wolfson chip...not yet anyway that is. I'm very sure this will change soon though...and its about time manufacturers started to pay more attention to the audio quality in their phones. There are those of us who need it...to basically survive lmao.
Bottom line for me is that there may be better phones out there for music quality, but they lack the horsepower of the S4. And there is a lot more that I do with this phone than just listen to music. The sound quality may not be Wolfson good, but it's definitely good enough and gets the job done very well as far as I'm concerned.
Oh and if someone is very concerned about music quality, there are external DACs that can be attached to the phone's micro USB port which are phenomenal. Though they are as big as the phone is, they work well lol.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.
slapdaddy said:
Nope never had a Wolfson unfortunately. And I said terrific...for a phone lol. I have never had a phone with sound quality this good. And it will only get better with newer Sammy phones because of their deal with Wolfson. As for the Vivid, I remember reading your name a few times over there and yeah Beats is a software adjustment on the Vivid, but the sound quality was better on the Vivid than it was on my Inspire...and now better on my S4 than on my Vivid.
And yes I am an audiophile as well...I have studio cans and when it comes to absolute pure music quality, I use my desktop comouter as the setup is fantastic for a quality listening experience. But for a modern phone on the market. ..well I dont know of any quadcore phones that have a Wolfson chip...not yet anyway that is. I'm very sure this will change soon though...and its about time manufacturers started to pay more attention to the audio quality in their phones. There are those of us who need it...to basically survive lmao.
Bottom line for me is that there may be better phones out there for music quality, but they lack the horsepower of the S4. And there is a lot more that I do with this phone than just listen to music. The sound quality may not be Wolfson good, but it's definitely good enough and gets the job done very well as far as I'm concerned.
Oh and if someone is very concerned about music quality, there are external DACs that can be attached to the phone's micro USB port which are phenomenal. Though they are as big as the phone is, they work well lol.
Sent from my Galaxy S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree with your post more
Sent from my SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

How would you consider the S5's Audio Quality?

There are some blogs and reviews that I've read, including that from GSMArena that says both the S5 and M8 are almost superb in sound quality, the M8 stands out because of the dedicated Speakers and Audio Hardware and better volume levels. For me, I don't care much for the Speaker, but it's the phones music quality thru the headset that counts for me. I was happy with the S3 back then, but was disappointed when I tried The S4 (i9500) which has the same Wolfson Audio Chip that the S3 has. Till AndreiLux used the Wolfson Audio Control in his Perseus Kernel, which vastly improved the audio quality of the S4. I was happy with that.
Now, there is a Sound Boost Mod available here. If I were to use that, would you think that it can be on the same level of the M8, or even surpass it?
Hoping for anyone's response to this.
Many thanks.
Call sound quality is good for me tbh. It's very clear so far even when i'm at a loud setting such as bar/clubs. Actually, just yesterday at a post run party in an event I attended, I was able to hear the people I was talking to, despite being in a semi-concert environment and the phone being inside a zip lock plastic bag. Speaker and default ring volume are crap though.
Sound quality is and never will be as loud and clear as the M8. However the S5 does have a better speaker than a lot of other high end smartphones.
But one thing that I got annoyed with is the back vibrating when using the speaker!! due to the rubber on the back to keep it waterproof.
Root the S5 & install Viper4Android and you will be satisfied, I'm currently using the HTC Beats Audio IRS on my S5 and it sounds great.
Thanks to the developer of Viper4Android!!

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