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Jabra BT3030 - Dog Tag

Does anyone know about this Blue Tooth headset - it's a dog tag with ear buds. Looks great, but can't seem to find it in the USA. Does anyone have one and if so how do you like it and where can I get it?

Fry's has them
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/54...prKSJ8pDg**.node1?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Thanks!
Does anyone have one? Pros? Cons?

BT3030 - my feedback
I just got a Jabra BT3030 a few days ago and I have used it a few times now. Here is a quick feedback.
First impression right out of the box is that the build quality is pretty good. The controls have a silicone / rubber 3D texture over a stainless steel backing that makes them easy to find and operate. The controls are also big enough to be used with gloves (important to me since I use it while doing outdoors activity). The most frequently used buttons are the largest (full width of the device) and at opposite ends, good design.
The BT3030 comes both with a neck strap (nice metal one, can be replaced with anything you like) and a plastic clip to clip it to a shirt pocket, etc... The clip looks and feels pretty flimsy and I wouldn’t trust it for anything more than just preventing the BT3030 from flapping around when on the neck strap.
Finally in the box there is a set of headphones (in the ear style), two pairs (small and large) ear bud shell, an AC charger, a “getting started” guide and the usual legal notices.
My BT3030 powered up right out of the box, but I still charged it for a couple of hours before using it. One of the great thing is that it uses a mini USB port for charging. This is a critical selection factor for me as I am trying to standardize on mini USB for as many devices as I can to make my like easier - and not have to carry one charger per device.
Pairing with my ATT Tilt was a breeze and I got it going within a couple of minutes.
As mentioned earlier, the BT3030 comes with a set of headphones (look nice enough), but since there is a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack connector, you can use you favorite headphones (I use a pair of Sony MDR-EX71 - not top of the line, but still pretty good one). The headset connector is on the side of the unit, which isn’t the greatest for cable management: I would have preferred it on top, where the neck strap attaches, but that’s a minor detail.
For music testing I used both the windows media player as well as PocketMusic 5.0. and there the results are mixed.
On the plus side, the BT3030 works as advertised.
I was able to record voice tag for contacts and use the voice calling feature with no problem.
I made a few phone calls with it and the sound quality was very good at both ends (or so was the persons I called claim).
Listening to music, I am able to start / stop / skip to next / previous track with both applications.
When a calls comes in while listening to music, there is a beep in the headphones and your can decided to take (click on the call button) or ignore (click and hold the call button) the call. You can terminate the call by pressing the call button. Music playing will resume automatically within a few seconds of the call been terminated (by either party). On the music application side, I found that Pocket Music would take longer (10+ seconds) to resume playing and it would reset at the beginning of the song that was played while interrupted while Window Player would resume within 5 seconds where it left off.
Finally, there are no independent volume settings for call / music, which could be a problem depending on what you listen / etc…
On the minus side, a few issues:
Volume management: when you press the volume up / down on the BT3030, it is not clear which volume it is controlling: the BT3030, the Tilt system volume or the music application volume. After some testing, I came to the conclusion that they all operate independently and that the volume buttons on the BT3030 control the internal amplification volume of the Jabra BT3030 itself.
Max volume: which bring the next complain. The max volume on the BT3030 is just shy of what I need (I am getting older, but I am not deaf yet ) . For regular listening (loud music, both ear buds plugged it), it is adequate. My major use is for listening to podcasts when I ride my mountain bike (got keep you brain occupied during these longs grinds uphill) and between the usually lower volume level of the podcasts and the wind noise generated around the ear buds, the max volume generated by the BT3030 is just a few click short of what I need.
Fast forward / reverse: This last issue has to do with the inability to fast forward / reverse through music. I was expecting that keeping either the << or >> buttons pressed on the BT3030 would fast reverse / forward through the current song. Well, it doesn’t work, it just skips to the previous / next song in the playlist. At this point I am not sure whether it is a limitation of the BT3030 itself or a issue with the Bluetooth profile.
Summary:
Plus:
- Works as advertised
- Mini USB interface for charging
- Small, rugged, splashproof
Minuses
- Flimsy clip
- Max volume not enough
- Fast forward / Reverse not working
Denis

Got mine today..
So far so good - it is wasy to set up and exactly what I needed. Not one for those big earclip type of devices.
As mentioned by Denis the volume on the BT3030 could be higher and I would like to see more detail in the instructions. Still figuring out what the light paterns mean.

Do you think it is good for sports? I sweat a lot, and I'm afraid it might damage the headset/dogtag... I live in South America, but there's a friend abroad who might bring me one of those, and I was thinking about one of these or the LCD ones.

Sports
It seems tough enough for that kind of thing to me - it's metal and rubber. THe ear buds seems to been suitable as well plus comforatble

How's the sound quality with this thing for both calls and music? I have the Tritton AX Bluestream:
http://www.trittontechnologies.com/products/TRIBH102.html
AKA Sonorix C3:
http://www.sonorix.com/eng/index.php
and it's essentially the same thing. Mini review:
Pros:
-looks sleek
-OLED screen is very nice
-all features work well with Tilt (Kaiser), including music, calling, music controls, pairing
-Mic seems to work fairly well, but you have to clip it somewhere where your voice easily reaches it and don't expect any background noise cancellation.
Cons:
-maybe I'm picky, but the music sound quality sounds slightly worse than a 128kbps MP3 file, especially during complicated rock songs. In other words, if you're the type who always used the headphones that came with your audio players, it will probably be fine. Metallica sounds okay, but you lose some of the quality in the drums, guitar solos, and symbals. Bass is pretty okay. It seems it's mostly the higher frequencies that are lost.
-controls are very minimal and often confusing. There's like 20 different button combinations to do different things.
-Received sound quality during calls is fairly bad. You can understand what the other person is saying, no doubt, but its VERY "tinny" sounding. Like listening to headphones from a foot away.
-Doesn't automatically pair on power up.

Sound
The sound is good not great - It would be nice if it was just a touch louder. But here is what I really like - you get 3 different size ear buds - in noisy situations putting both in works wonders for calls. I just took it on flight and the ear buds are great for keeping out ambient noise.

Does anyone know if the fast forward / rewind is supposed to work?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I cannot do a fast FW or fast RW with te BT3030. Is that an issue with thie Jabra or with all BT headset (profile issue?)?
Thanks

epauldc29 said:
The sound is good not great - It would be nice if it was just a touch louder. But here is what I really like - you get 3 different size ear buds - in noisy situations putting both in works wonders for calls. I just took it on flight and the ear buds are great for keeping out ambient noise.
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In the other post ledrocnoc said that the volume controlled it's own internal sound. Were the Kaiser system volume and the music player sound at max and it's still slow?

Tilt and player volumes were at maximum...
jym04 said:
In the other post ledrocnoc said that the volume controlled it's own internal sound. Were the Kaiser system volume and the music player sound at max and it's still slow?
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In my case both the phone (ATT Tilt) and the player (Pocket Music and Windows Media Player) were maxed out. The volume controls on the BT3030 did not seem to affect either of these.

ledrocnoc said:
In my case both the phone (ATT Tilt) and the player (Pocket Music and Windows Media Player) were maxed out. The volume controls on the BT3030 did not seem to affect either of these.
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Oh, I see, but what I meant to ask was if you thought the volume was still low with all volumes (kaiser, player and dogtag) at max. I ended up writing "slow" instead of "low"

jym04 said:
Oh, I see, but what I meant to ask was if you thought the volume was still low with all volumes (kaiser, player and dogtag) at max. I ended up writing "slow" instead of "low"
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That's what I thought you meant ("low" instead of "slow") and what I thought I answered . I just wasn't clear, but yes, with the volumes on the phone and player application and the BT3030 maxed out, it still is fairly "tame" (not ear splitting as one would expect it). Maybe we can thank the lawyers for that (you know, if you physically can't make the volume very loud, you can't hurt your hearing), or maybe the engineers (trying to preserve battery life by limiting the volume)...
Bottom line, with all the volumes maxed out, even with a decent pair of headphones (Sony MD-EX71), it's just OK, not loud by any means (and not, I do not have any hearing problems).

Ow.. that's a shame. I was really looking into this, but there are situations where I need some volume. Guess I'll have to look for another Bt headset.
Thanks a lot.

jym04 said:
Ow.. that's a shame. I was really looking into this, but there are situations where I need some volume. Guess I'll have to look for another Bt headset.
Thanks a lot.
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Same here, I might end up returning this unit and give a try to the Motorola S705. Same price, not as "rugged", but includes a radio and hopefully a little more "ooomf" in the power department!

You may wanna wait for the motorola s605, seen 'em at CES, similar in size to the Jabra bt3030's but also include fm tuner, but unlike the s705's theres no dislay. They were quoting them at 59 bucks when they come out Q2 2008. I was impressed with 'em, if they hadn't been wired down they would have probably fallen in my pocket as I was leaving (kidding of course.....or am I?)

I've just also had a BT3030 for myself. About £40 including UK postage is not too high a price. I'd rate this headset 4 stars over 5 and recommend it to those who have a good phone that supports Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and AVRCP.
* Agreed with ledrocnoc that the miniUSB charging port is a unique and cool thing about this headset. I just wonder if I could simply use a USB-miniUSB cable to connect the headset to my laptop then I could throw away hasles of the charging adapter. (@ledrocnoc: do you think I could do this? would there be any problem with voltage or stuffs? Thanks.)
* I'm using the BT3030 with a PDA (HTC Universal / O2 Xda Exec) with built-in Bluetooth 1.2 and with a laptop with built-in Bluetooth 2.0 (both devices come with A2DP and AVRCP). To be honest, I'm so disappointed at the (music) sound quality when using with the PDA. There're much background noise and crack-sound; and even worse, sound distortion is quite noticable. On the contrary, when using with the laptop, the (music) sound is very very good and those disappointments disappear. I guess the main cause is the low transfer rate of Bluetooth 1.2 on my PDA, not the headset itself.
* Until now, I couldn't pair the headset with the BOTH devices (PDA & laptop) simultaneously as advertised. Anybody struggling the same problem? One more thing, pairing process isn't as easy and fast as I expected. Sometimes the laptop couldn't detect and connect the BT3030, but thing's going fine with the PDA.
* I especially love the idea of exchangable earphones. Now I can use my preferred SONY's earphones with this headset (bluetooth adapter, to be exact), although the accompanied Jabra earphones are also very good.

I got a Motorola S705 and I am pretty happy with it...
ngtrannam said:
(@ledrocnoc: do you think I could do this? would there be any problem with voltage or stuffs? Thanks.
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This should work. My understanding is that miniUSB is a standard and all devices are interchangeable electrically.
My experience is that if some "chargers" (or USB ports) aren't compatible with some devices it just won't charge them, I have never burned any devices by plugging them with other chargers, etc...
Now, as the title of my reply says, I've returned my BT3030 and I got a Motorola S705, for less $ and it provides more functionality! Here is a quick review:
The pluses so far:
- Mini-usb connection for charging (again, important to me, as I like to minimize the number of chargers I take on the road)
- LCD interface. It's just basic menus, but at least you know exactly what the device is doing instead of trying to decode a combination of LED colors and blinking rate (like on the BT3030)
- Radio... I didn't think I needed it, but it's actually pretty handy. A couple of times I was listening to a radio show in the car when I had to get out... I just tuned the S705 to the same radio station and off I was, show uninterrupted
- Joystick control: I was concerned early on that this would be a pain, but for my use it actually gives me a better control / feel (I use it mostly riding my mountain bike, so I have to be able to operate it with gloves). On the BT3030 I always pusked the wrong button, with the S705, the buttons for answering the phone is on the side and the joystick controls the audio functionality.
- Volume: the S705 can definitively crank out more volume out of the same headset than the BT3030. Not by much, but enough to make worth it (volume issue was a deal killer for me on the BT3030). Note on the volume issue: it will probably not be a problem for most people. What I found out is that the podcast that I listen to most frequently are actually recorded pretty low compared to other podcasts and regular music. Since I have yet to find an automated way of doing volume leveling on podcast (iTunes can, but it ain't compatible with my phone), this has been a key issue for me.
- Headphone jack positioning: on the S705 the headset plugs in at the top of the devices, just in front of the lanyard. This is great if you have a headset with a straight jack, as you can wrap the headset cord around the lanyard, up to your neck and keep the wires from dangling all over the place. On the BT3030, the jack in on the side, which I think would be goodif you had a headset with a right angle jack.
Neutrals:
- Battery life: seems pretty good, but honestly I haven't pushed it. I am sure I'll run out of battery on my phone (ATT Tilt / HTC Kaiser) before the S705 runs out.
- Durability: the BT3030 was "splash proof" and had a nice solid feel with the rubber thingy around it. The S705 feels more fragile, but I've had it during a couple of wet rides and it hasn't been a problem so far. Time will tell.
- Sound quality: good enough for my application (listening to podcasts and music will I ride my mountain bike. These long grinds uphills get really boring really fast without it!).
- Range: not critical for me as my phone is in my backpack or in my breast pocket, but I've been able to get 20 feet a couple of time where I had to walk away from the phone. Good enough for my application!
Cons:
- Bluetooth connection? I've had some instance of Bluetooth connection dropping on the phone side. This is weird because the symptoms are a dropped connection and when I look at the phone, bluetooth is turned off. I just need to turn bluetooth on again and everything works again. I've never had that happen with other bluetooth devices before on that phone, so it would point to the S705, but it doesn't make sense to me...
- Fast FW/ Rev: not sure if this is an issue with the device, the BlueTooth remote control profile or the music player on the phone, but there is no fast forward / reverse functionality. Hitting the >> or << function either with a stab of a continuous push only skips the the next / previous song. I had the same problem with the BT3030 and it's a pain when listening to podcast (where you might want to listed again to a section of particular interest or just skip over something boring).
- Lock switch: it would be nice if there was a switch to lock out the buttons to prevent unintended operation.
Overall 4.5 stars out of 5, so far so good! We'll see about the durability!

Loud A2DP, a chimera, an uncatchable dream still, even if we are walking towards the end of the first 2K decade.
I've tried a lot of them, wasted a lot of money, all of them were dull, low volumed craps of silicon got me everytime going back to wires.
But now I discovered something really worth mentioning. It's not 100% perfect but yes it's 96% perfect (I had Motorola S705 and i'd give it 20%), loud, clear and screaming.
Gentlemen it's Nokia's BH-500. 3.5mm audiojack for your fave earphones and loud loud LOUD.. Espec on my kaiser this thing rocks. It's almost like listening to Pocket Music wired something like a volumeclick down no more..
After everything been through I HAVE to spread the good news guys. No more wasted money on A2DP. (They should allow testing before you buy but they don't. If they did I'be rich )
I'm looking for non-wired now. I'll give BH-503 a try (princess Leia kindastyle). It's new to the market and I trust Nokia in the sound dept. (N91 is the best and loud MP3 player ever ever) so I'll keep you informed..

Hissing/static noise everytime G1 plays sound. Both speaker and headset. Just me?

I have a noise problem, I don't think it's quite the same as previously posted noise problems.
I get a hissinh/static noise from the phones speaker (on the back) and from headphones. It is only happening while the phone plays sound (and some seconds later). Every time I up or down the sound with the volume keys, there are noise coming out of the speaker for some seconds. Please report if you have the same issue, especially eith headphones.
I could live with the speaker-noise, it's not that big a deal.. What's worse is it is in the headphones. I have a quite low impedance set of in-ear plugs from creative (I am able to hear the hard drive spinning up in my old mp3-player, but no constant noise) Crap. I want to use the phone for music listening. Question is: software or hardware related? Using JF 1.51 ADP for the record
I hope it is hardware related - I bought mine off ebay, allthoug brand new and everything, I don't know how I would go about getting it fixed/a new one with no receipt. Shipping it back and forth to England isn't really tempting either.

It's not just you, it's piss-poor rf isolation on the audio outputs. Listening with bluetooth doesn't solve the issue either as bluetooth has its own noise.

Yeah, I have yet to listen to a decent pair of BT headsets.
So this is a known problem, and it's definitely a HW issue? The fact that it's only there when sound is played, and is also there with a headset (where shielding around connectors is not and should not be a problem at ALL) made me hope this was softwar related. Argh, what to do then? The sound quality despite this seemed prety decent, although a headache today prevents me from really listening to music and say for sure. Shame.
*Pondering refund options.*
Any chance of isolating around the connector and fixing this, if it is "airborne" caused noise, or will the noice enter the equation before the connector (cabling, sound chip)?
I will try with a relatively high impedance headset (sennheiser 555) and see if it is better there. But can't take them on the bus anyway. But a couple of Ωs could always be added somewhere along the cable and might do some good. Have to have the sound at the lowest levels with the in-ears. Maybe a software fix to lower the volume output will help? Or won't it, if RF noise is the cause?
red: I will buy this item and hope it helps. And will look into lowering the volume output when using headphones as well. Should be possible (atleast it usually is with tweaks in WinMo.)

I have similar problem with HTC Magic: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=633035
Here is one more post regarding HTC Jade: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=463365

Headset jack doesn't fit well

Hi, does someone have the same experience when connecting a headset to the TF?
I have to adjust the plug very precisely, since it can be pushed further into the device. Otherwise I loose left or right channel.

Is it less than 3.5mm? Or is some of where the wire means the plug (usually chunk of plastic) cut off?

no, it's an almost brand new inear headset which came with my Xperia Neo phone. I assumed the problem being caused by a sloppy assembled connector. If it works fine for everybody else, then it must be an individual defect with my TF

yeah i have a cheap pair of sony headphones and they work fine. just the volume isnt the best....but i know that is a tf issue not a headphone issue.

Yes, volume is a horror. I expected better. Haven't tried volume+ yet, works fine on my android phone.

To be honest, I wouldn't necessarily attribute the volume to the TF101. I have a decent pair of headphones and the volume works fine. Also, I've never noticed anything about the plug being finnicky.

I wasn't complaining about the sound but about the max. volume level. It seems to be a little low on my device. It may comply to some EU laws - I assume.
Anyway since nobody else has issues with the headset connector, I have to check with my dealer.

i'm having a similar issue but not exactly the same.
i used to have a problem with the 3.5" jack only when i plugged it to my surround system- logitech x530. i supposed it was because the signal is being amplified. so when i touched the connection or rotated it at his place it made a lot of loud static noise. i've tried changing cables but the same.
so i've got the lab to replace my transformer's mother board or so, and it is still happening. in fact i've noticed a new problem, this time with just a simple earphones.
when i push the plug a little bit harder into the jack, the sound becomes a bit louder.
wierd stuff... and of course in general the max volume kind of sucks.

I've noticed a similar issue with several of my plug-in phones.... Some work great whilst others either have no sound or mono only.
To me it appears the connector on the TF is simply too picky.

I have a pair of meelectronic A151 armature iems as well as Vsonic GR07, and while i like my music loud, clear, and with a lot of instrument seperation, maxing volume is definitely not needed.
Quick fix would be to flash a Rom/kernel compatible with Supercurio's Voodoo control and install Voodoo. It will be louder and sound clearer.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14914293
Long term fix would be to buy a better pair of iems/headphones. Armatures like the A151s I mentioned above for clarity, a good dynamic driver like Meelec CC51, Sunrise X-cape, if you're a basshead, or VSonic's GR07 if you want a nice combination of both.
I'm quite a bit of an audiophile and while it surely isn't THE best DAC out there, the Wolfson WM8903 is very very good.
Also, depending on what phones you're using, you may just need an external amp, especially if their impedance is rather high.
Edit: I realize I went more into the sound aspect, as it was also being discussed above, but all my iems fit my TF snug just like all my other devices.
Sent from my HTC Eva 4G using Tapatalk

If anything mine is too tight a fit, but works perfectly with any headset I've tried.

Static / buzzing from speakers at low volumes

I just started playing a few games on this Nexus 7, and I turned the volume down to the lowest setting because it is late at night and other people in my house are sleeping. I immediately noticed a soft but very audible static buzz coming from the speakers... about the same volume as the audio itself. I held my ear up to the hardware and confirmed it is both top and bottom speakers.
Anybody else experience this?

copyists sorpeno
I didn't notice at first. Noticed this morning with audio low as well.
I'd like to know if anyone else has this too. Kinda wanna know if its hardware since I purchased at best buy and only have 2 weeks to return.

Yup, I was going to report this too, but since it only occurs at minimal volume I didn't bother. I lost my good headphones so I can test the audio jack. Does it happen to you with them on too?
Btw- if this the trade off with the fantastic (for tablet speakers) surround sound I'll take it. Watch the test video on the Play Videos app.
Sent from my Nexus 7

I don't hear it. on mine. But My hearing is horked.

It's because the Nexus 7 uses a crappy digital volume control that simply reduces the volume of the digital waveform before it hits the DAC, instead of having a real analog volume control -an op-amp that adjusts the volume of the signal before it hits the headphone/speaker amplifier.
What you're hearing is quantization noise as at the lowest volume the audio uses only 2-4 bits of dynamic range instead of the full 16 (or 24, dunno what DAC is in this thing). It's the same as the bit-crushing effect you hear in some dubstep and other electronic music that degrades the audio into a robotic crunchy mess, only here it's not on purpose, it's just cheap design.
There is nothing you can do about it.

I've also noticed this (at first I was like, WTF? Is it raining in my game?). If what was said above is true, that makes me sad that nothing can be done about it.

siraltus said:
It's because the Nexus 7 uses a crappy digital volume control that simply reduces the volume of the digital waveform before it hits the DAC, instead of having a real analog volume control -an op-amp that adjusts the volume of the signal before it hits the headphone/speaker amplifier.
What you're hearing is quantization noise as at the lowest volume the audio uses only 2-4 bits of dynamic range instead of the full 16 (or 24, dunno what DAC is in this thing). It's the same as the bit-crushing effect you hear in some dubstep and other electronic music that degrades the audio into a robotic crunchy mess, only here it's not on purpose, it's just cheap design.
There is nothing you can do about it.
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I'm not sure how you know that but if you're right I guess that means it would happen on all of them... which.. sucks.. Is there anyone that doesn't have this issue to disprove this?

smurfqq said:
I'm not sure how you know that but if you're right I guess that means it would happen on all of them... which.. sucks.. Is there anyone that doesn't have this issue to disprove this?
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I'm a professional audio engineer, I know exactly how these things work. Most cheap devices do volume controls that way, because adding a dedicated op-amp for analog volume control increases costs of the device, and the Nexus 7 is a budget device.
It does happen on mine, too, in every app that plays sound.

I love when pros come in here and give the technical explanation haha hats off to you, sir!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

siraltus said:
It's because the Nexus 7 uses a crappy digital volume control that simply reduces the volume of the digital waveform before it hits the DAC, instead of having a real analog volume control -an op-amp that adjusts the volume of the signal before it hits the headphone/speaker amplifier.
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As the others have said, thanks for the explanation. Nice to hear from somebody who understands it, and if the problem is present in all units that actually makes me feel better since I don't have to worry about returning my otherwise perfect unit.
Question though, how come I don't hear the static when using headphones, even on the lowest volume settings where I hear the static from the built-in speakers? That makes me think it's related to the speakers and not the audio hardware... but you obviously know more than me on this.

mrmartin86 said:
I've also noticed this (at first I was like, WTF? Is it raining in my game?). If what was said above is true, that makes me sad that nothing can be done about it.
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Yeah, funny thing is the first game I played was Bad Piggies on some levels with an ocean tide moving back and forth at the bottom of the screen. I thought the static was the tide sounds... until I heard it in another game too.

tweaked said:
I don't hear it. on mine. But My hearing is horked.
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It only happens at the absolute lowest volume setting... i.e. one notch up from muted. It sort of happens at the next notch up too, but is most noticeable at the quietest setting, and you need to be in a quiet room. I only noticed because I was using the device in a small echoey mostly tile room (you can probably guess where) and because of the room having such acoustics I put the device on the lowest setting just above mute.

Had something like this on my original nexus 7
Except it happened regardless of the volume setting. Wasn't that audible- had to put my ear against the speaker to really hear it, but it did interfere with other devices, such as my radio, or keyboard with a head phone jack. It would make a sound like a quick DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH...DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH. My nexus 4 can sometimes cause static interference with other devices, too. Haven't gotten the new nexus 7 so I cannot say whether or not my new one has this issue

Well.. mine's not only happening at the lowest volume notch. If I put it to my ear (never actually going to do this for normal use) it's there at every volume level, just hard to hear once whatever I'm playing gets loud enough. The display unit at a local best buy does the same. I can hear it in a quiet room at the first couple notches (normal use), which is annoying. Also, since someone asked - No it doesn't happen through headphones.

The111 said:
As the others have said, thanks for the explanation. Nice to hear from somebody who understands it, and if the problem is present in all units that actually makes me feel better since I don't have to worry about returning my otherwise perfect unit.
Question though, how come I don't hear the static when using headphones, even on the lowest volume settings where I hear the static from the built-in speakers? That makes me think it's related to the speakers and not the audio hardware... but you obviously know more than me on this.
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My pleasure! There's tons of FUD on XDA about many things, so I try to contribute on stuff I know well to reduce that.
Without looking at the schematics of the thing I can only guess:
The speaker amplifier is probably just a simple design that outputs 100% power all the time, so you have to control the volume of the signal that enters it, whereas the headphone amp probably has an integrated analog volume control.
A volume control is much easier (read: cheaper) to do in an integrated chip with low power signals (headphone out) than higher power (speaker out), and again, cheaper was the way to go with the Nexus 7.
Hence, there are two separate outputs from the audio chip - one that feeds the speaker amplifier and uses the bit-crushing digital volume control, the other outputs full-scale audio to the headphone amplifier which controls the volume in analog.

siraltus said:
My pleasure! There's tons of FUD on XDA about many things, so I try to contribute on stuff I know well to reduce that.
Without looking at the schematics of the thing I can only guess:
The speaker amplifier is probably just a simple design that outputs 100% power all the time, so you have to control the volume of the signal that enters it, whereas the headphone amp probably has an integrated analog volume control.
A volume control is much easier (read: cheaper) to do in an integrated chip with low power signals (headphone out) than higher power (speaker out), and again, cheaper was the way to go with the Nexus 7.
Hence, there are two separate outputs from the audio chip - one that feeds the speaker amplifier and uses the bit-crushing digital volume control, the other outputs full-scale audio to the headphone amplifier which controls the volume in analog.
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Makes sense. Thanks again.

siraltus said:
My pleasure! There's tons of FUD on XDA about many things, so I try to contribute on stuff I know well to reduce that.
Without looking at the schematics of the thing I can only guess:
The speaker amplifier is probably just a simple design that outputs 100% power all the time, so you have to control the volume of the signal that enters it, whereas the headphone amp probably has an integrated analog volume control.
A volume control is much easier (read: cheaper) to do in an integrated chip with low power signals (headphone out) than higher power (speaker out), and again, cheaper was the way to go with the Nexus 7.
Hence, there are two separate outputs from the audio chip - one that feeds the speaker amplifier and uses the bit-crushing digital volume control, the other outputs full-scale audio to the headphone amplifier which controls the volume in analog.
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Is this something they can fix (or at least mitigate) in a software update?

paxunix said:
Is this something they can fix (or at least mitigate) in a software update?
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No, this is how the hardware is designed.

Noticed this too from the speakers regardless of volume, and regardless of what is playing audio. It's a high pitched squeal to my ears which I can't stand. I've thrown out computer power supplies and video cards that have made similar(obviously, louder) noises.
Was hoping it could be something improved in software, but I guess not. Time to sell this.

http://youtu.be/c9aQnuOrTY8
Recorded what it sounds like at lower volumes with a small condenser mic next to it. Let me know if that's similar to what you guys are hearing too.

Running at high volume safe?

I've recently fitted an Xtrons PB88UNVP (MTCE_GS_V2.88_3) PX5 headunit. The speaker power is 4x45W (probably pretty standard on these things) and generally sounds good.
However, it's quieter than my previous WinCE unit and I find I have to run it higher up the volume scale for a decent listening volume.
Sometimes I like my music loud, and I can turn it up to MAX (30) without deafening myself or even experiencing clipping from the headunit's amplifier - output is still clean and undistorted. I'm running the EQ fairly flat and Loudness is set to ON.
My question is - NOT what volume should I be listening at in my car to still hear the engine, traffic around me and be safe on the roads - BUT is it safe to run these headunits at 25-30 (83-100%) continuously/for extended periods? Will it overheat or be damaged by running at this sort of volume?
Thanks

I noticed the exact same thing - again, compared to my previous WinCE units, just like you. These Android units just seem significantly less powerful in comparison. I have a feeling that the 45Wx4 max rating (I know it's not RMS) is a little on the "wishful thinking" side. My WinCE units (18->25Wx4 RMS, 50Wx4 max) seemed considerably more powerful.
I haven't seen these Android units list the RMS power, but I have a feeling it's lower than a lot of the older WinCE units. It also seems like the volume scale is just "different" - it doesn't start getting even somewhat loud until the volume is 2/3rd's of the way up or higher.
It's really hard to say if they are clipping or not in those upper ranges, but I have a feeling they may be - depending on how you have the EQ set - even if you can't hear the distortion.
To me, it seems like you have to sacrifice a lot on the audio side of things for the flexibility that you get from Android.

@jtrosky: I have noticed distortion when the EQ is set to the Rock preset, which is very bass-heavy, and is turned up high. I don't personally like heavily biased EQ profiles and would prefer to run it as flat as possible across the frequency spectrum. A little bit of tuning seems to help these units particularly though. I agree with you that their amplifiers are weak, or rather underpowered. That said, my experience so far is that at medium volumes it sounds alright, to the extent that I didn't notice my sub wasn't working at first.
So do you regularly run yours at two thirds volume or above and do you think they can handle it for a sustained period?
Has anyone ever fried one of these?

Honestly, I connected an amp shortly after installing, so I can't say how they would last over time if used at louder volumes frequently with the internal amp. To me, it seems like they have the volume control setup in a way where it doesn't get very loud until at least 2/3rd's volume - and then every click makes a substantial difference. So I wonder if they just have the volume scale "tuned" differenlty than other head-units? But my point was that the unit can be clipping without you even hearing any distortion - clipping is not always audible. I had a LOC hooked up for testing briefly and it had a "clipping" light - and I was seeing clipping way before any distortion was audible. I think these units use pretty poor quality amps.
I've actually removed the Android head-unit completely and went back to my older WinCE-based unit. Just was not happy with the Android unit (sound quality, noise-related issues, etc).

I've actually removed the Android head-unit completely and went back to my older WinCE-based unit. Just was not happy with the Android unit (sound quality, noise-related issues, etc).
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That's sad to hear. I deliberated for so long before taking the plunge and buying one. I like the Android platform, and the few niggles I have with mine aren't sufficient to make me want to change it... yet.
I must admit though, when I made my first post I had been listening to DAB, which is probably the quietest source. FM is probably 15% louder at the same volume setting, and is the loudest of all the sources. I don't know if there is any way to make this louder, as a USB device, and there is no volume 'boost' option within realzoulou's DAB-Z app (only a <= 100% setting).
FM on full whack does distort a bit, but it's too loud to listen to constantly, so while a bit weak I think the on-board amp should be capable of more.
Better control of volume on different sources within Android would be nice, do you know if this is possible?

You can alter the volume of each source in the Factory Settings, under the "Voice" tab...
If you are coming from a stock radio with stock speakers, the Android head-units may be an upgrade in terms of sound-quality. But for me, coming from an aftermarket, high-quality WinCE unit, the sound quality just wasn't up to par. The WinCE unit I'm referring to (Dynavin N7) has high-quality audio components though (4V pre-outs, "high-resolution Burr Brown 24-Bit Digital to Analogue converters", etc) - so once I got used to the sound quality of the Dynavin (or even the Rosen GM1010 befoer it), it was hard switching over to the Android unit. Believe me, I went to great lengths to make it work, but it just wasn't mean to be, considering the sound-quality downgrade and the noise-related issues I had with the Android unit.
Don't get me wrong - I liked almost everything about having full-blown Android as the OS - it's just the sound quality that I wasn't 100% happy with - which, to me, is very important.