Database Users

How Loud is the Speaker?

Hi. I haven't received my nexus yet, so I'm wondering how loud the speaker on the back of the phone is in comparison to phones such as the sgs3. I got an Inc s atm, so I'm sure the LG couldn't be any worse HTC have the worst speakers...

Cant' comment on it compared to SGS3 but compare to my galaxy nexus it is a big improvement in sound level and bass

I can't compare to the SGS3, but compared to my HTC vivid, the speaker on this is LOUD! So much so, on the vivid, my settings for volume were maxed and with the N4, they're a little over half way up.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

before this phone, i had a EVO3D and this thing BLOWS IT OUT OF THE WATER!
its pretty darn loud in my opinion...

pretty loud. don't need any volume hacks like the galaxy nexus.

Thanks for those replies guys. Let's face it, though. HTC phones, and the gnex had a bad speaker. I want to know how this phone's speaker compares to a decent phone's.

E3SEL said:
Thanks for those replies guys. Let's face it, though. HTC phones, and the gnex had a bad speaker. I want to know how this phone's speaker compares to a decent phone's.
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Click to collapse
well GN speaker was fine, just needed to be tuned up. it was fixed eventually in a OTA. software bug, wasn't hardware related.
speaker won't be any problems on the N4.

I just did a side by side comparison, the s3 speaker is slightly louder but a lot more clear sounding than the nexus 4.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

I am hoping that the nexus 4 is comparable to the s3 in loudness,love being able to listen to podcasts while taking a shower without resorting to using an external speaker.Putting the phone in a box works wonders wonders too when wanting to do this.why people listen to music with thier phones speaker is just madness to me.After a few minutes of a song i really miss the low end and go back to podcasts or just turn it off. I must say that the S3 speaker is quite good even for music and most of the spectrum of the music is audible.It is such a step up in loudness from the S2.

Alternatively you can try Volume+ which is a app that worked for me on the Galaxy Nexus. It should work on 4.2 as it did on my GN.
Give it a try and see whether or not it actually boosts your music (play it in background and boost it, see if volume goes up).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23326705 or register http://androidaudiohacks.com/ on his forums for a newer version.

ratm183 said:
I just did a side by side comparison, the s3 speaker is slightly louder but a lot more clear sounding than the nexus 4.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for that. As long as it's not too bad, I don't mind. The s3 has quite a good speaker for a smartphone, I think. For some reason phone manufacturers have forgotten that the speaker is a very important part to the phone, and have started putting the worst speakers on phones.
ReznakMoReznak said:
I am hoping that the nexus 4 is comparable to the s3 in loudness,love being able to listen to podcasts while taking a shower without resorting to using an external speaker.Putting the phone in a box works wonders wonders too when wanting to do this.why people listen to music with thier phones speaker is just madness to me.After a few minutes of a song i really miss the low end and go back to podcasts or just turn it off. I must say that the S3 speaker is quite good even for music and most of the spectrum of the music is audible.It is such a step up in loudness from the S2.
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Click to collapse
It's not for music, I like a loud speaker so I can actually hear my phone ringing, and so I can hear things such as videos clearly. Of course, sometimes for music playback if I want to hear a new song or show someone a song.

Compared to the SG3 I think you get better quality sound on the SG3. The nexus 4 is loud but it depends on the quality of the sound file, the only thing I'm finding really annoying about the nexus 4 is how weak the vibrate motor is.. I have missed a lot of notifications because of this, I'm using franco kernel and you can increase the vibrate setting but I still find it lacking at least for me.

Quite loud, as long as it's not resting on a flat surface

Its loud enough to hear that young jeezy clearly lol...but great volume on the N4 my man...

REALLY disappointed in the speakers!

Just received my AT&T note 3... first thing I noticed right away, before even comparing it to my I9500 S4, is how terrible the speakers sounded! I then whipped out my S4 and sure enough the speakers are actually WORSE on the Note 3 than on the S4... this is really disappointing!! Even my Note 2 had better speakers than the S4 so to hear this note 3 with even worse speakers than S4 is just sickening...

Cool story bro.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using xda app-developers app

JoJo2211 said:
Just received my AT&T note 3... first thing I noticed right away, before even comparing it to my I9500 S4, is how terrible the speakers sounded! I then whipped out my S4 and sure enough the speakers are actually WORSE on the Note 3 than on the S4... this is really disappointing!! Even my Note 2 had better speakers than the S4 so to hear this note 3 with even worse speakers than S4 is just sickening...
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Click to collapse
This has been pretty much brought up by everyone. I agree, very disappointing, and yes I do use the speakers often. I travel a lot for work and will use the phone in the bathroom while showering/getting ready, speakerphone for con calls, etc.

Mine sounds perfectly fine. You got a special edition that has more than one speaker?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk 4

americasteam said:
Mine sounds perfectly fine. You got a special edition that has more than one speaker?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk 4
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Click to collapse
If it came with dual speakers it would sound better, I think.

JoJo2211 said:
If it came with dual speakers it would sound better, I think.
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Click to collapse
Touche.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk 4

My speakerphone distorts on any volume 75% or higher. I will be exchanging my phone at AT&T as soon as they get a black one in stock which is on its way to the store.
I am hoping the replacement resolves the distortion/crackling sound.
Daniel

Does anyone actually purchase a cell phone for the audiophilia of the onboard speakers?

Banggugyangu said:
Does anyone actually purchase a cell phone for the audiophilia of the onboard speakers?
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Click to collapse
No but it SHOULD be better than the PREVIOUS version of the phone it is replacing. Right?

If it weren't for notifications and ringtones, I wouldn't even know my phone HAD an external speaker... And you can EQ the speaker to sound better (or worse, whichever you prefer).

i do wish it had a better speaker. mine, too, distorts over 75%. i use the phone speaker and it seems silly that a flagship device not spring for a little better speaker.

Banggugyangu said:
Does anyone actually purchase a cell phone for the audiophilia of the onboard speakers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I do purchase phones to talk on, and I often use the speakerphone to talk. So yeah, speaker quality is non-trivial to me. But with that said, at least mine is at least as good or better than the Note 1 that it replaced. Not great, or even good, but passable as long as I'm not trying to understand what's on the other end while in a loud place. But it would be nice to have a loud, clear speaker, for once, that was usable in more situations.

Man I can't STRESS this enought but these speakers a JOKE. I just got a message on my Note 3 and it sounded like it came from a TIN CAN. My S4 makes a more manlier sound than this JOKE of a speaker. I love the phone though, just wish they IMPROVED on the speaker from the LAST generation of the note line (note 2).
Speaker rating:
Note 2 > Note 1 > S4 > S3 > Note 3
Note 3 sux THAT much.

Since I use my phone for business use, including as a speaker phone in a conference with other coworkers, a phone with a bad speaker is a no go for me. Looks like I will need to pass on the Note 3 and keep using the Note II.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk now Free

This has been discussed (to death) in the international forum. The N3's speaker is just as loud as the N2's and SGS4's. Those other two phones, especially the N2, do have more detail.
Here's my N2 taping a video playing playing on my N3 and vice versa. It's the same TV show (Modern Family) being played back on my cable company's video app minutes apart. Both phones are at max volume. The N3's flat on its back on a desk and the N2 is propped up in a Seidio kickstand case because it can't lie flat on its back without hobbling its audio. The recording distance is the same.
N2 recording N3
N3 recording N2
Speakerphone loudness test
From GSMArena...
A loudspeaker that is nice and... well, loud, is a nice asset for your mobile. Whether it's hearing the other person on the speakerphone or your phone ringing from the other room, or even playing music on your get-together's, a loud speaker is definitely something that's nice to have. And while the quality of the loudspeaker sound is difficult to measure and is for the most part a subjective matter, we can effectively measure how loud it is. For this, we use a digital noise/loudness meter which measures the peak loudness of the phones and tablets we review, in decibels (dB). We do our tests in a soundproof studio taking measurements with the handset loudspeaker facing the loudness meter at a distance of exactly 1 m. For each test we make several consecutive measurements - we usually disregard the highest readings and take the lowest of the maximum values, as that's least likely to have been misread. We test three different types of audio samples for three different scenarios:
A phone ringing. For the first part of the test we use a ringtone which resembles the ringing of an old rotary phone, because it seems that most phones do well when we use it.
Pink noise. Next we try a sample of pink noise. Our readings with it are pretty indicative on how well the handset loudspeaker can play most music.
Human voice, male. This is an important test, since if you tend the use the loudspeaker for speakerphone purposes, loudness is really important, regardless of whether you are in the conference room or in your car.
Once we have the results in db for all three sound samples, we sum them up and use a in-house developed formula to produce a qualitative description of the loudness levels: Below Average, Average, Good, Very Good and Excellent. As many of our results are separated by a difference of only a few decibels, it is important to keep in mind that the decibel is a logarithmic unit, which means that a reading of +3dB represents roughly two times the power. We'd like to reiterate again that this test is not about the quality of the sound produced by the loudspeaker. A mild, relatively deep-sounding loudspeaker that soothes the ear won't do well in this test. Instead, what we are after is pure peak loudness - it's our hunt for the loudest phone, ever.​​
And here are the results. What’s ironic is the N3 is better than most newer smartphones and the best selling smartphone in the world, the iP5/s.
And the editorial...
Note 3
We put the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 through our loudspeaker test and were pleased with the results. It's extremely loud and even managed to slightly top the HTC One's dual front speakers. While the One produces deeper sound the Galaxy Note 3 is louder.
Note II
We also ran our traditional loudspeaker test on the Note II. It scored a good all-round mark, meaning more often than not you'll hear it, save for the noisiest environments.
SGS4
It's extremely loud and even managed to slightly top the HTC One's dual front speakers. While the One produces deeper sound the Galaxy S4 is louder.​Conclusion?
Objectively, and without doubt, raw output wise the N3's external speaker is equal to the N2 and SGS4's. Subjectively, and with great debate, the quality of that sound isn't as good as the N2 and SGS4's.

Hmm, this is weird, because I had my Note 2 all kinds of tweaked out, and though it was louder with aftermarket kernel and mods, I definitely hear more clarity in the Note 3 speaker... Did they change sound card manufacturers?
No complaints from me...
The headphone output is DEF improved over the Note 2...

OK, please take this conversation to the sticky thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2466099

The audio quality on this thing melts my face

Picked this phone up today despite the complaints. The first thing I noticed is the sound. The included head phones sound pretty good, but on my bose head set it feels like my face is melting. I don't know what they changed between the S6 and the note 5 yet but holy cow. Keep giving it to me.

So it sounds better?

svengalis said:
So it sounds better?
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Click to collapse
I wouldn't say I have a "golden ear" but it definitely has better high's, better lows, and more drool coming out of my mouth from the sound. So I would say yes.

eousphoros said:
I wouldn't say I have a "golden ear" but it definitely has better high's, better lows, and more drool coming out of my mouth from the sound. So I would say yes.
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Click to collapse
the next update for the s6 and the edge has the audio improvement update in it

Totally agree...i use Gear circle and Gear level U wireless buds and the sound is amazing and so much louder with my note 5 compared to my Note Edge...love it

Any idea if the boosted headphone sound works for bluetooth enabled headphones like the JayBird X2?

what about the call quality? In ear speaker loudness, loudness over speakerphone etc. I don't understand why these things are always almost not mentioned in any reviews, it is a phone first of all, right?

I also noticed that the sound in my via Bluetooth is much louder and clearer. I'm very happy with it.
Sent from my SM-N920T using XDA Free mobile app

yes the new note five will be running a higher bit rate for audio which will make audio sound better. More so if you have higher quality music files. Makes me happy you posted about this because I heard about the improved audio and now I know its true if others are posting about it

The.sound is excellent
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using XDA Free mobile app

Yes just got my Note 5 yesterday also and did some testing between my iPhone 6 plus and LG G4 and the Note 5. The Note 5 is definitely the clear winner. The LG G4 is definitely sounding compressed, not sure why LG did this as the LG G2 had superb audio and was known for that. I honestly think the king now is the Note 5! ?
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app

Anyone comparing the sound to the S6 or S6 edge? I have the S6 edge and the audio quality is not good, especially over bluetooth. Using the bletooth in my car or over my bluetooth speaker sounds hissy and pretty terrible while the same car and speaker sounded great with the htc one m8.

rx7boy22 said:
Yes just got my Note 5 yesterday also and did some testing between my iPhone 6 plus and LG G4 and the Note 5. The Note 5 is definitely the clear winner. The LG G4 is definitely sounding compressed, not sure why LG did this as the LG G2 had superb audio and was known for that. I honestly think the king now is the Note 5!
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
I agree with everything you said and I had those same devices. The only one that comes close to the Note 5 for me is the Sony Z3+, but I have so many complaints about that device that I'm not going to keep it. Anyway, my findings match yours and I couldn't be happier.
Wrathor said:
Anyone comparing the sound to the S6 or S6 edge? I have the S6 edge and the audio quality is not good, especially over bluetooth. Using the bletooth in my car or over my bluetooth speaker sounds hissy and pretty terrible while the same car and speaker sounded great with the htc one m8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if this helps you since I don't use BT, but with IEMs via the headphone jack I find the Note 5 to be warmer and fuller sounding with less emphasis on treble like the S6 Edge I have. Also, while I initially thought the "UHQ Upscaler" was going to be a gimmick, it adds a surprising amount of punch to the audio! Overall, I'm like a kid in a candy store with this thing. I should also mention I use several high-end pairs of IEMs (Sony XBA-A3, MDR-EX1000, Dunu DN-2000j, etc.).
-Collin-

Sound is noticeably better but after using m8 and Nexus 6 nothing to write home about
---------- Post added at 12:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 AM ----------
Why must Samsung insist on putting the speaker grill on the side where it covers it up.

Love the audio quality I am so happy. So happy.

The UHQ setting is actually enabling 192khz hardware output on the audio chip.

CollinFX45 said:
I agree with everything you said and I had those same devices. The only one that comes close to the Note 5 for me is the Sony Z3+, but I have so many complaints about that device that I'm not going to keep it. Anyway, my findings match yours and I couldn't be happier.
Not sure if this helps you since I don't use BT, but with IEMs via the headphone jack I find the Note 5 to be warmer and fuller sounding with less emphasis on treble like the S6 Edge I have. Also, while I initially thought the "UHQ Upscaler" was going to be a gimmick, it adds a surprising amount of punch to the audio! Overall, I'm like a kid in a candy store with this thing. I should also mention I use several high-end pairs of IEMs (Sony XBA-A3, MDR-EX1000, Dunu DN-2000j, etc.).
-Collin-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey buddy you seems like an audiophile....do you think note 5 sound matches those of some dedicated players like fiio x3 ?
and do you know exactly what is done internally when we switch on the UHQ Upscaler ?
and do you or anyone knows what DAC is used this time in Note 5 ?

saj2001ind said:
hey buddy you seems like an audiophile....do you think note 5 sound matches those of some dedicated players like fiio x3 ?
and do you know exactly what is done internally when we switch on the UHQ Upscaler ?
and do you or anyone knows what DAC is used this time in Note 5 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there - I'm not an audiophile, but I do appreciate a good, quality output. I actually haven't used a dedicated player; the most I've done is got an E17 DAC/Amp for headphones, but it wasn't worth the trouble for me personally.
The DAC is anyone's guess, but it should be Wolfson (as were most, if not all the Samsungs before it with Exynos processors).
Cheers,
-Collin-

CollinFX45 said:
Hi there - I'm not an audiophile, but I do appreciate a good, quality output. I actually haven't used a dedicated player; the most I've done is got an E17 DAC/Amp for headphones, but it wasn't worth the trouble for me personally.
The DAC is anyone's guess, but it should be Wolfson (as were most, if not all the Samsungs before it with Exynos processors).
Cheers,
-Collin-
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Click to collapse
Hey buddy it's good u use E17. ..so compared to ur E17 does the note 5 sound better or same quality?
I had E18 but like you I found that too combursume
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

saj2001ind said:
Hey buddy it's good u use E17. ..so compared to ur E17 does the note 5 sound better or same quality?
I had E18 but like you I found that too combursume
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I haven't tried the E17 with the Note 5 yet, but I suspect it will only make it louder. I'll give it a try tonight. E18 would be the better choice for the Note 5, but oh well
-Collin-

S7 Edge sound quality

Hi There,
First time posting here =]
I wanna make a move and ditch that boring iPhone and get the Galaxy S7 Edge.
I was wondering how is the sound output through the 3.5mm port compared to that of the iPhone.
When i plug my iPhone into a headset or my car's aux port, i get a loud and clear output, but when i used my brother's Nexus 5 or 5X, eventhough the output was as clear as the iPhone's, it wasn't as loud.
I was wondering where the S7 falls in this equation.
Cheers!

Wanting to know this also. Having a custom dsp inside hopefully the sound is decent somewhat

Am waiting to know the details as well before I shell out the dough. Everything else about the S7 sounds amazing, so, hoping they have really upgraded the audio dac from S6 era, and meet LG G5s B&O Dac half way if not more.

It uses Sound Alive and it's decent. V4A coupled with Dolby Atmos will obviously be better though.
I can only compare it to the M9 and S5, M9 being my last phone. S5 being my last Samsung phone. I can say that the speaker quality is good and it's surprisingly loud. I don't need to cup my hand over it.

ahrion said:
It uses Sound Alive and it's decent. V4A coupled with Dolby Atmos will obviously be better though.
I can only compare it to the M9 and S5, M9 being my last phone. S5 being my last Samsung phone. I can say that the speaker quality is good and it's surprisingly loud. I don't need to cup my hand over it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it work system wide ?? Can you verify if its active when using SoundCloud please ??

I plugged in my $30 Xiaomi pistons into my S7 edge, iPhone 6s, S6 edge, Nexus 5x, and Nexus 6. I'm no audiofile and I don't know jack feces about audio quality but I thought I'd have a listen. Anyways here's the differences that I could(n't) tell between them:
The S7, S6, and 6s sounded the same to me. Pretty good.
The Nexus 5x sounds a tiny bit different to me but I'm not sure in what way. Still good though.
The Nexus 6 sounded the worst to me, but it's by no means bad in my opinion. Again, I can't put my tongue on what it is that sounds different or why it sounds different.
Bottom line, S7 edge sounds find through headphones if you're just the average music listener.

idksomuch said:
I plugged in my $30 Xiaomi pistons into my S7 edge, iPhone 6s, S6 edge, Nexus 5x, and Nexus 6. I'm no audiofile and I don't know jack feces about audio quality but I thought I'd have a listen. Anyways here's the differences that I could(n't) tell between them:
The S7, S6, and 6s sounded the same to me. Pretty good.
The Nexus 5x sounds a tiny bit different to me but I'm not sure in what way. Still good though.
The Nexus 6 sounded the worst to me, but it's by no means bad in my opinion. Again, I can't put my tongue on what it is that sounds different or why it sounds different.
Bottom line, S7 edge sounds find through headphones if you're just the average music listener.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How was the volume compared to the iphone (with earphones)?
Btw is it SD or Exynos?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DroidBiteApple said:
How was the volume compared to the iphone (with earphones)?
Btw is it SD or Exynos?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Snapdragon version on T-Mobile. So I don't know if by volume you meant how loud the phone gets or something else. Anyways I listened to how loud the phones got on max volume and I damn well blew out my eardrums so thanks a lot you poopy face
In all seriousness though, the iPhone 6s sounded just barely louder than the S7 and the S6 edge is a quieter. I didn't try with the Nexus though. Brb I think my ears are bleeding.

idksomuch said:
I have the Snapdragon version on T-Mobile. So I don't know if by volume you meant how loud the phone gets or something else. Anyways I listened to how loud the phones got on max volume and I damn well blew out my eardrums so thanks a lot you poopy face
In all seriousness though, the iPhone 6s sounded just barely louder than the S7 and the S6 edge is a quieter. I didn't try with the Nexus though. Brb I think my ears are bleeding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha! Sorry about that!
And yeah i meant how loud it can get
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The effects are system wide.

DroidBiteApple said:
How was the volume compared to the iphone (with earphones)?
Btw is it SD or Exynos?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Compare to iPhone 6s Plus the sound quality from phone jack are about same but Galaxy s7 has better eq setting. iPhone 6s Plus volume is 20 percent larger tho. I mean thro head phone not loud speaker
---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------
DroidBiteApple said:
How was the volume compared to the iphone (with earphones)?
Btw is it SD or Exynos?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I mean the sd version .

It's 20% less loud then the iPhone through the headphone jack? It doesn't have a loud digital amp then, that is a bummer. I was hoping it could drive a decent pair of over-ear headphones like my ipod can.

IPhones generally are loud out of the box. Most android don't get near as loud. Quality wise, idk about the snapdragon variant but I know Samsung with the exynos pairs a Wolfson dac...the dac in the s6 could handle loudesound but Samsung just didn't make it that loud for Quality purposes
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

MDaveUK said:
It's 20% less loud then the iPhone through the headphone jack? It doesn't have a loud digital amp then, that is a bummer. I was hoping it could drive a decent pair of over-ear headphones like my ipod can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Sony xda-a3 and it can get very loud on Galaxy s7. Not sure about over ear tho

bear in mind that the SD 820 version of the s7/s7 edge will have the integrated QualcommsDAC and I think the exynos version of the phone will use the much better WOLFSON DAC. I have heard both variants through headphones and the exynos version sounds louder and more richer.

The S7 Edge is louder than my last phone the S5. I would say that Samsung improved the speaker in the S7 Edge.
I would have loved to see a dual speaker on the S7 Edge. The other speaker could have went where the headphone jack is and the headphone jack could be up top in between the Sim card drawer and microphone.
I'm not a fan (ascetic wise) of front facing speakers on a phone. Yeah I know the sound would be better but the phone loses it elegance.

DroidBiteApple said:
Hi There,
First time posting here =]
I wanna make a move and ditch that boring iPhone and get the Galaxy S7 Edge.
I was wondering how is the sound output through the 3.5mm port compared to that of the iPhone.
When i plug my iPhone into a headset or my car's aux port, i get a loud and clear output, but when i used my brother's Nexus 5 or 5X, eventhough the output was as clear as the iPhone's, it wasn't as loud.
I was wondering where the S7 falls in this equation.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came from the Harmon Kardon M8 and I'm seriously considering trying to find another phone because the audio is so "meh" on the S7. It's about half as loud as the M8, the sound is not nearly as clear. I listen to classical music and have never had a problem until this phone. I plugged it into the audio jack in my car today and had to turn both the car and phone volume all the way up in order to even hear any minorly quiet parts of the opera I was listening to (Fidelio isn't exactly quiet).
The tracks are muddy most of the time and certain vocal timbres are randomly accentuated, overpowering the rest of the track.
I understand that Samsung isn't in the market to satisfy audiophiles with their audio quality, but it's a far cry from acceptable in my mind.
I will say that pop music provides a much better experience as it's recorded at higher volumes, but it's still extremely lacking.
Just to clarify, I tried every audio mode and even tried modifying the decibel levels manually with very little noticeable variation. On the flip side, I tired out the LG V10 a couple of weeks ago and it's brilliant. I haven't heard better audio in a phone. Too bad it's design and battery life is under par.

roycedavies said:
I came from the Harmon Kardon M8 and I'm seriously considering trying to find another phone because the audio is so "meh" on the S7. It's about half as loud as the M8, the sound is not nearly as clear. I listen to classical music and have never had a problem until this phone. I plugged it into the audio jack in my car today and had to turn both the car and phone volume all the way up in order to even hear any minorly quiet parts of the opera I was listening to (Fidelio isn't exactly quiet).
The tracks are muddy most of the time and certain vocal timbres are randomly accentuated, overpowering the rest of the track.
I understand that Samsung isn't in the market to satisfy audiophiles with their audio quality, but it's a far cry from acceptable in my mind.
I will say that pop music provides a much better experience as it's recorded at higher volumes, but it's still extremely lacking.
Just to clarify, I tried every audio mode and even tried modifying the decibel levels manually with very little noticeable variation. On the flip side, I tired out the LG V10 a couple of weeks ago and it's brilliant. I haven't heard better audio in a phone. Too bad it's design and battery life is under par.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry to hear that.
I don't understand why in 2016 we can't get a "complete" all rounded device..
It just feels like we have to settle for an almost perfect device, even though we pay a hefty price for it...
By the way are you using the SD version or the Exynos version?
I heard that the Exynos version has a supposedly better DAC... Maybe an owner can comment?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would not compare anything with a nexus 5 (not sure about 5x). The Nexus 5 and 6 were good at performance, but they really skimped out on everything else like camera, battery life (n5), sound, and probably some other things but can't think off the top of my head. Point being, these early nexus phones should be more considered like entry/beta phones for google to help develop their UI and iron out their OS.
Think about it... what's the best way to get real life user data to help develop something quick enough to catch up to their competitors? Build cheap phones with a good enough processor/memory to run their OS.
Don't get me wrong, they are great performance phones, but hardware specs... they skimped... I'm not even sure if they had a stock built in equalizer for the nexus series, but that wasn't really what they were aiming to achieve unlike the HTC series with their boom,beats,dolby,harmon, etc sounds they partnered up with.
Just my 2 cents.

DroidBiteApple said:
I'm sorry to hear that.
I don't understand why in 2016 we can't get a "complete" all rounded device..
It just feels like we have to settle for an almost perfect device, even though we pay a hefty price for it...
By the way are you using the SD version or the Exynos version?
I heard that the Exynos version has a supposedly better DAC... Maybe an owner can comment?
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I agree with you about the almost perfect phone situation. I must say that compared to the phones already on the market, the S7 is pretty amazing. Maybe I am just spoiled from using my M8.
To answer your question, I was unaware there were different versions so I do not know which one I am using. All I know is that it's black and from At&t. It's a 32gb model all stock. Haven't even unlocked the bootloader yet.

Speakerphone (loudness, clarity)

Proper etiquette aside (hint: don't use speakerphone while doing your "business" in a public bathroom), rate this thread to express how you think the Samsung Galaxy Note 8's speakerphone performs. A higher rating indicates that you love it: it's loud and it's clear.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Had some time with note 8 display unit in Samsung store. I liked everything, but the external speaker. It is too high pitched, making listening to it a discomfort. I had the same issue with Note 7.
Today will go there again to double check. So far, this is the only thing holding me from preordering this phone
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Abu-khulzat said:
Had some time with note 8 display unit in Samsung store. I liked everything, but the external speaker. It is too high pitched, making listening to it a discomfort. I had the same issue with Note 7.
Today will go there again to double check. So far, this is the only thing holding me from preordering this phone
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I really miss the nexus 6p speakers.

For me, note 5 speaker was the best of all note phones. It was loud and had much more bass
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marvi0 said:
I really miss the nexus 6p speakers.
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I'm using a 6P right now but will preorder the Note 8 when it will be available in my country.
I'm afraid of the speaker quality on the Note 8 because it's so frickin' good on the 6P.

Had some more time with note 8 display units in Samsung store. I was surprised to find out that equalizer settings were applicable to the external speaker sound. For some reason I had been thinking that those settings are for earphones only.
So I reduced the high frequencies and that's it, the sound became much more better without causing discomfort for the hearing. For those who will find volume level low, you can boost all frequencies and get much louder sound.
Finally I made my pre-order for a black 64 GB unit.
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What about the clarity and crispness of sound? Samsung aren't known for.producing good sound even their TVs speakers are poor.
After using Axon 7 and nexus 6p I've got used to good loud clear speakers, this is my major concern with note 8.

For music it's miles away from iPhone 7 (not Plus, I have the "small" one) but not in the good way, it has smaller amount of bass and is more high pitched. I use my phone to play some music in a dinner room or in the bathroom so this is kind of disadvantage on Note 8 side.
Don't have any comparison on calling loudness and clarity but for music... it's shame that Sammy didn't make a stereo setup like Apple did with iPhone 7 which helped a lot.

Sattero said:
For music it's miles away from iPhone 7 (not Plus, I have the "small" one) but not in the good way, it has smaller amount of bass and is more high pitched. I use my phone to play some music in a dinner room or in the bathroom so this is kind of disadvantage on Note 8 side.
Don't have any comparison on calling loudness and clarity but for music... it's shame that Sammy didn't make a stereo setup like Apple did with iPhone 7 which helped a lot.
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You're saying you'd be glad to give up your headphone jack for dual speakers?
Honestly, Samsung should've followed Sony, HTC, or other phone companies that enabled speaker output from the earpiece alongside with the main speaker.

Lol hell no, I am not saying this. I am talking about the dual speaker setup you mentioned also.
Absence of jack is different story, maybe even fairy tail of greedy king who wanted to make all customers to buy wireless headphones which are expensive and most of them sh**ty af. Don't worry, that's what I hate about iPhone 7 the most from the start.

Coming from a 6P using Arise, in comparison, the Note 8 speaker is horrible.
Maybe I need to get acclimated to it, but I can hardly hear my alerts and texts as they come in. With notifications volume cranked to 11, switching ringtones in an area where a conversations happening, I really can't hear the tones. It sucks to be honest.
It's not a deal breaker but if I miss to many texts it could be. My 6p speakers are freaking amazing....Almost as amazing as the screen on my Note 8!
The speakers poor quality is absolutely the only thing on this device that I am not happy with

CtrlZThis said:
Coming from a 6P using Arise, in comparison, the Note 8 speaker is horrible.
Maybe I need to get acclimated to it, but I can hardly hear my alerts and texts as they come in. With notifications volume cranked to 11, switching ringtones in an area where a conversations happening, I really can't hear the tones. It sucks to be honest.
It's not a deal breaker but if I miss to many texts it could be. My 6p speakers are freaking amazing....Almost as amazing as the screen on my Note 8!
The speakers poor quality is absolutely the only thing on this device that I am not happy with
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You are right the speaker on this phone gets a thumbs down. But everything else is great. I can live with that.
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jason504 said:
You are right the speaker on this phone gets a thumbs down. But everything else is great. I can live with that.
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It's not as bad as I guess I made it out to be but it's not an impressive speaker. However this phone is so bad ass that a little less volume is tolerable. I'm so impressed with everything else on it, I feel like an idiot for complaining that the one speaker isn't as loud as my 6p's 2!
Love my Note8 and happy to have my 6p as a backup!

CtrlZThis said:
It's not as bad as I guess I made it out to be but it's not an impressive speaker. However this phone is so bad ass that a little less volume is tolerable. I'm so impressed with everything else on it, I feel like an idiot for complaining that the one speaker isn't as loud as my 6p's 2!
Love my Note8 and happy to have my 6p as a backup!
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Ha ha ha you are correct.
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Is there anything like a mod with no root to boost and or tweak the speaker settings?

iteam said:
Is there anything like a mod with no root to boost and or tweak the speaker settings?
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I remember there was a mod on the LG G5 that would let you use your earpiece as a twitter and you regular bottom speaker as a woofer and it sounded great. I which wi would see something similar on the Note 8.

Edu616 said:
I remember there was a mod on the LG G5 that would let you use your earpiece as a twitter and you regular bottom speaker as a woofer and it sounded great. I which wi would see something similar on the Note 8.
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I think we would need root for mods like that.. I don't want to root... I wish we could do that. It kills me that I was comparing my S8 to my Note 8 yesterday and I then realized how much louder and still clear the S8 was over the Note 8. Now the size of it in my pocket and the dismal speaker loudness are the 2 things making me want to go back to the S8 until the S9.... I've only got 6 days to make my move..... Anyone else know of anything that can be done to boost external volume??
---------- Post added at 08:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 AM ----------
This works without root!!! Speaker Booster from the play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.omegacentauri.SpeakerBoost&hl=en
be careful, I found 10-20% boost was enough!!!

Must say the speaker phone sound quite good. Still want stereo dual speakers but a step upfrom my S6 edge+.
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That speaker boost app isn't working on my unlocked note 8 on Sprint FYI?

Miss my axon 7 speakers..note 8 is not nearly as loud. But still like the phone overall