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Stock music player versus poweramp for sound signature

Man....I can't tell... with the stock music player versus power amp, is there a difference between sound quality? This comparison is with eq and tone controls off in poweramp.
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dman777 said:
Man....I can't tell... with the stock music player versus power amp, is there a difference between sound quality? This comparison is with eq and tone controls off in poweramp.
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there might be.. Try them out and see.
Edit: oops.. I guess if you can't tell it doesn't matter
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if you want differences in sound quality, try a kernel with Voodoo Sound. I recommend Netarchy's 1.2.5a/1.2.8 BFS or CFS. when you flash this kernel, get Voodoo Control from the market

I love the sound quality I get out of powersmp. But then again I haven't tried messing with the voodoo sound stuff.
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zephiK said:
if you want differences in sound quality, try a kernel with Voodoo Sound. I recommend Netarchy's 1.2.5a/1.2.8 BFS or CFS. when you flash this kernel, get Voodoo Control from the market
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^this. Voodoo sound will blow you away.
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ya'll didn't see my signature? can there be a voodoo patched kernel with color only? no.
i wasn't asking for a better sounding qaulity media player. i was asking if there is an actual diff. between sound quality/personality with stock media player versus poweramp(with it's tone and eq settings off).

Voodoo and poweramp is AWESOME. Non voodoo i like lithium player best

dman777 said:
ya'll didn't see my signature? can there be a voodoo patched kernel with color only? no.
i wasn't asking for a better sounding qaulity media player. i was asking if there is an actual diff. between sound quality/personality with stock media player versus poweramp(with it's tone and eq settings off).
Click to expand...
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And I wasn't being out of relevance but helping you by telling you to get Voodoo Sound.
Voodoo sound + Poweramp will make cause a eargasm.
So get it. If you don't like the kernel.. you can disable it or revert back to your previous kernel.

How did this topic become "Is Voodoo sound good"? I already have voodoo sound! I have had voodoo sound! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VOODOO SOUND. I just want to know if there is a diff. in sound personality between the 2 media players: Poweramp and Stock Media player

Poweramp is much better. It actually has an EQ plus a ton of other settings.
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This still ignores the OP's very good question - we know Power Amp has better eq and interface than the stock player, but does it actually sound better than stock with eq switched off? I tried to compare the two using my Etymotic Research ER4 earphones which are very revealing - for me the stock player sounded a bit muddier than Power Amp with slightly less detail coming through , but saying that it was a smoother sound easier on the ears which may benefit earphones with less bass. Winamp seems somewhere in between but I need to do more comparisons with different music. However good Power amp's eq may be, it is always better to have this switched off if your earphones and source material are up to it.
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Is there really a difference? Aren't they both (all music players for that matter) using hardware deciding and/or Android sound stream api? They should sound the same as if I wrote my own player in a dozen lines, right?
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I think the difference is in how the players are configured for flat response - the stock player, not having any built in eq seems warmer than power amp - this gives it good alround compabilty with a variety of earphones. Power amp on the other hand is less coloured to my ears resulting in a flatter spectrum - I think this is actually more accurate, but less forgiving of poor sources and earphones. Personally I get a better sound from power amp. Voodoo makes both sound fantastic though - easily as good if not better than my X series Sony Walkman.
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I find Power Amp to have a fuller sound (without tone or eq) than stock. It also seems to highlight treble sounds a little better. (I'm no audiophile) Just my opinion that's probably wrong
Sent from either my N1, Nexus S or telepathically using two tin cans and some string (I still can't decide I really love string)

phillevy said:
This still ignores the OP's very good question - we know Power Amp has better eq and interface than the stock player, but does it actually sound better than stock with eq switched off? I tried to compare the two using my Etymotic Research ER4 earphones which are very revealing - for me the stock player sounded a bit muddier than Power Amp with slightly less detail coming through , but saying that it was a smoother sound easier on the ears which may benefit earphones with less bass. Winamp seems somewhere in between but I need to do more comparisons with different music. However good Power amp's eq may be, it is always better to have this switched off if your earphones and source material are up to it.
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Yes, thank you.
Here are my findings so far...this is with using only the eq in cm7 rc2. Not using any tone adjustments in the players:
1) Stock- Has the best sound stage and mids. Meaning stereo seperation is really good. However, bass is not as tight as the others and highs not as sharp as the others. The sound signature did have a more full sound(all instruments were fully present without some being muted). This player had the best natural non colored sound also. Missing Que option...big burden for me.
2) PowerAmp- Had the punchiest tightest bass and the sharpest and cleanest highs. Mids were so so. Sound stage(stereo seperation) was the worse of the three. lestioning to regage some detail on instruments were muted since the mids were recessed and sound stage was minimal. The sound signature was the most colored...unnatural(this was with the eq and tone settings off). This had the best GUI interface.
3) Winamp- inbetween the stock player and Poweramp. Although the stock player still had a significantly better sound stage. Interface was ugly. But had good functionality like Poweramp(like que option).
If the stock player had a que option I would just stick with that. Wish it did
I used Super hi pro inner cannal buds to test. I will test again with Shure headphones which will be a better test.

I'd be interested if supercurio had a take on this?
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Really? I'd love a developer's explanation if there is an actual difference in audio stream playback. I just can't imagine any of the devs reinventing the wheel for decoding mp3.
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I feel like PowerAMP has some issues with flat non-EQ playback. Def sounds way off compared to any other players, and devices as well. I can play the same file off PowerAMP, Winamp, stock player, and an MP3-CD, and the latter 3 will sound relatively the same. PowerAMP, on the other hand, sounds quiet, completely lacking mid and bass, and too heavy on the highs

To restate the op's observation that they can't tell the difference, I would still love to hear some objective comparison. With eq off, shouldn't poweramp sound exactly the same?
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I have a very faint memory of hearing something about PowerAmp uses its own decoder? If that's the case, then I can imagine it would sound different. I personally use Rockbox, it uses its own highly efficient and quality decoder. Though, I've not really compared the sound quality to the stock player, can't really say which sounds better.

Sound quality over headphones

Hi guys. I want to get this table, but first of all i want to make sure this has best Sound quality with the headphones(i don't care about the speakers). How does it compare with Galaxy S3 in terms of sound quality ??

I do own a galaxy S3 and a Nexus 10. The sound quality of S3 is awesome specially with the Siah kernel. The sound with the same headphones is good but not at par with the S3.

There are some MODs you can flash to improve the stock sound, like the ACID Audio Engine: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1923630

I think the dac isn't enabled good by niw with alsamixer you can do a lot of mods to get it working i don't know what switching this does but for me it sounds better for you it can sound the same and it is maybe a placebo but we have a wolfsondac so maybe is supercurio compiling voodoosound for us
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Edit: on gnex we also have some sort of audiomode with high performance sound

Improving headphone audio on N4?

I never really used the N4 as an MP3 player but after the death of my iPod I have no other choice, 2 things I have noticed. The audio volume when up full is about 60% of what an iPod can go to, and even at that some songs especially base heavy distort and go muffled. Secondly audio isn't even that crisp. 320Kbps songs are a hell of alot clearer on an iPod. Does the N4 have a rubbish audio chip or is there anything that can be done to improve audio. I am stock 4.4 I should add but don't mind putting a ROM on or rooting if it improves things.

2 things I use, but you will need to be rooted. Franco kernel will allow you to boost the output and gain of your headset. And I also use viperaudio to boost and clean the sound.
Viper http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191223
Franco http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002782
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+1 for Viper
HUGE difference in sound quality.

Get the best of S3's sound

Hi,
I am not much of a hard core audiophile and I can settle with almost any sound quality, but I recently bought a decent mid-range IEM, the Sony HM1. So, I wonder if there is any way to be sure that I get the best S3 has to give. I use:
-Sony HM1
-Rocket player (paid version, the one with the unlocked equalizer).
-At least 192bit rated MP3s.
-Volume enhancer mod
So, is there any other mod, program or anything else that can take full advantage of S3's potential, if any? Thanks!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1704138
Your question has been posted multiple times . Forum rules require you to search before posting .
Google <<< I9300 your search terms > xda
Sound Thread .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1633685
Try Viper4Android .

I posted these questions right after I read some pages of that threat and I was just hoping for a medium-sized sum or a small guide with the steps necessary. I will move my question there then, thanks and sorry.

one word. poweramp. no other mods/apps needed. Best audio comes from poweramp. Must be stupid to argue against that.

Sammy GS3 + Nothing = Decent Audio
Melissakis said:
Hi,
I am not much of a hard core audiophile and I can settle with almost any sound quality, but I recently bought a decent mid-range IEM, the Sony HM1. So, I wonder if there is any way to be sure that I get the best S3 has to give. I use:
-Sony HM1
-Rocket player (paid version, the one with the unlocked equalizer).
-At least 192bit rated MP3s.
-Volume enhancer mod
So, is there any other mod, program or anything else that can take full advantage of S3's potential, if any? Thanks!
Click to expand...
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In all honesty, to get the best sound you need good source and as you rightly did, at least 192kbps audio. But I have numerous songs that sound much better at 320 than 192 and when played back side by side, you hear the diff. My father who is half deaf heard it.
My recommendation for music is simple, highest bitrate you can afford given the storage you have (getting a 64gb Micro SD card remedies that issue quickly, the Samsung model is the best i've use so far), equalisers and volume normalisers are just to flavour the music to your taste, more bass here, a little mid there, or to compensate for a particular bias your headphone may have. I use a Senheisser HD 201 and HD 202. The 201 is flat and pure, the 202 is bassy and wild so i adjust to suit. FYI I'm current using JetAudio Pro with the AM3D Effects set to 40 and 50.
Hope this helps.
Btw, if you just looking for louder, the tablets, Nexus 7 and the like have higher volume outputs on their headphone jacks so be aware of that.

veer01_42 said:
Hope this helps.
Btw, if you just looking for louder, the tablets, Nexus 7 and the like have higher volume outputs on their headphone jacks so be aware of that.
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It sure did, thanks! Having high bitrate and a decent IEM, I just wanted to be sure that S3's hardware has no room for improvements, a better kernel or some other tweak.
About Nexus 7, are you sure it has higher output? I have both S3 and Nexus 7 and I just tried it, on the same volume level, S3 is way more louder. Just bear in mind that I used this sound enhancement tweak on S3.

Pure audio and Wolfson Sound engine, Poweramp with all post processing turned off.
That is all

Cameltoemcgee said:
Pure audio and Wolfson Sound engine, Poweramp with all post processing turned off.
That is all
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Poweramp, check.
About the other two, could you be more specific? I'm a noob. About the Pure audio, I know that's it's a flashable zip, does it give me after the flashing a app that tweaks the sound? And what about wolfson sound engine, could you please give me a link?
Currently I use googy-max kernel, which enables the wolfson sound engine via STweaks. Would it be better to use something else? Maybe all of these questions have already been answered, but it's very difficult to collect all the info available. Thank you all!

Melissakis said:
Poweramp, check.
About the other two, could you be more specific? I'm a noob. About the Pure audio, I know that's it's a flashable zip, does it give me after the flashing a app that tweaks the sound? And what about wolfson sound engine, could you please give me a link?
Currently I use googy-max kernel, which enables the wolfson sound engine via STweaks. Would it be better to use something else? Maybe all of these questions have already been answered, but it's very difficult to collect all the info available. Thank you all!
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Click to collapse
Sure! i use googymax too with the wolfson engine, my settings are: headphone equalizer: Enable WITHOUT saturation Prevention.
EQ Presets: Use graphical equalizer
at the bottom of stweaks i turn on DAC direct and DAC oversampling but leave the others.
Pure audio - flash the zip, make sure that DSP manager isn't installed otherwise it'll do nothing. remove it with titanium backup if you hvae it.
pure audio doesn't give you options to adjust because you don't need it. it won't give you any indication that its running when you're listening to music either... but you'll know if you've done it right
If you do feel the need to adjust eq, then use the eq in Stweaks, or poweramp even if you find it easier.
Hope it helps!

Cameltoemcgee said:
Sure! i use googymax too with the wolfson engine, my settings are: headphone equalizer: Enable WITHOUT saturation Prevention.
EQ Presets: Use graphical equalizer
at the bottom of stweaks i turn on DAC direct and DAC oversampling but leave the others.
Pure audio - flash the zip, make sure that DSP manager isn't installed otherwise it'll do nothing. remove it with titanium backup if you hvae it.
pure audio doesn't give you options to adjust because you don't need it. it won't give you any indication that its running when you're listening to music either... but you'll know if you've done it right
If you do feel the need to adjust eq, then use the eq in Stweaks, or poweramp even if you find it easier.
Hope it helps!
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Thank you so much for the reply, you've cleared everything out!

Audio Quality

Having some issues regarding audio quality. over 92% of my phone's use goes to listening to music through headphones. ALL my past phones have all been HTC running PowerAmp and i have been happy. Unfortunately the audio quality in my Samsung is whack. i changed my mixer settings to get it to be a bit louder at least but when it comes to applying any sort of EQ, the quality is severely damaged. I can't really touch the PowerAmp EQ without bass distortion. i Also tried applying the MusicFX tweak but that only worked once upon enabling. Disabling broke it. and it didn't really work great anyway.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Is there a mod for KitKat that is worth checking out?

billybag said:
Having some issues regarding audio quality. over 92% of my phone's use goes to listening to music through headphones. ALL my past phones have all been HTC running PowerAmp and i have been happy. Unfortunately the audio quality in my Samsung is whack. i changed my mixer settings to get it to be a bit louder at least but when it comes to applying any sort of EQ, the quality is severely damaged. I can't really touch the PowerAmp EQ without bass distortion. i Also tried applying the MusicFX tweak but that only worked once upon enabling. Disabling broke it. and it didn't really work great anyway.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Is there a mod for KitKat that is worth checking out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My opinion on this:
if you use ANY equalizer, your headphones are crap. Buy some better headphones.

billybag said:
Having some issues regarding audio quality. over 92% of my phone's use goes to listening to music through headphones. ALL my past phones have all been HTC running PowerAmp and i have been happy. Unfortunately the audio quality in my Samsung is whack. i changed my mixer settings to get it to be a bit louder at least but when it comes to applying any sort of EQ, the quality is severely damaged. I can't really touch the PowerAmp EQ without bass distortion. i Also tried applying the MusicFX tweak but that only worked once upon enabling. Disabling broke it. and it didn't really work great anyway.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Is there a mod for KitKat that is worth checking out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Viper4Android :good:
I owned a HTC One and that's my regret… HTC is the best for music…
Now, I use PlayerPro with DSP Pack but sound not equal the HTC…

JacK_Sparr0W said:
Try Viper4Android :good:
I owned a HTC One and that's my regret… HTC is the best for music…
Now, I use PlayerPro with DSP Pack but sound not equal the HTC…
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks i am looking into Viper now actually.

billybag said:
Thanks i am looking into Viper now actually.
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Click to collapse
Ok but äon is right. If your headphones are crap, any app or mod make your headphones magical… :angel:

I use viper4android right now on my galaxy note 3 and it works amazingly with my "unbranded" beats headphones that came with my HTC One
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I have used Neutronmp music player on all phones over the last year, including HTC One, Nexus 5 and Note 3.
If you're looking to get better audio quality then try flac files rather than mp3.
If you want very high quality audio then use flac files via usb otg cable to external dac / headphone amp such as Fiio E17 provided you have good quality headphones (not iem ear buds irrespective of who makes them )
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speedyjay said:
I use viper4android right now on my galaxy note 3 and it works amazingly with my "unbranded" beats headphones that came with my HTC One
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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+1
Same combination as me pretty much, also I use Faux sound and set to quality audio depending on what kernel I am using