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Z2 headphone sound quality (with mod) vs. M8

Hi all,
I currently own the m8 and love it for its awesome sound quality, however the camera is absolute pants!
The only other phone I'd consider is the z2 but I am worried that the volume and sound quality via headphones will be disappointing. Can anyone tell me if the z2 with the sound mod will be as good as the m8?
Thanks

jimxms said:
Hi all,
I currently own the m8 and love it for its awesome sound quality, however the camera is absolute pants!
The only other phone I'd consider is the z2 but I am worried that the volume and sound quality via headphones will be disappointing. Can anyone tell me if the z2 with the sound mod will be as good as the m8?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would admit loudspeakers are not as good as M8. But with the headphones, its so much better, background noise is cancelled out thus youre getting more out of your music. Bass and stuff. And its comfortable too. Just a small tip, try listening to music on landscape while on loudspeaker, magically improves music experience. No tricks, no software magic. Just how your ear works. Try it!

jimxms said:
Hi all,
I currently own the m8 and love it for its awesome sound quality, however the camera is absolute pants!
The only other phone I'd consider is the z2 but I am worried that the volume and sound quality via headphones will be disappointing. Can anyone tell me if the z2 with the sound mod will be as good as the m8?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I first purchased the phone I was very disappointed with the sound quality coming from a Wolfson Galaxy S3. Now with RomAur (Beats + Sound Mod + Viper) and Doomkernel (Faux Sound) I am very happy.
I use a combination of Faux/Viper/Walkman settings in combination with the preinstalled Beats and Z2 Sound Mod and the audio quality now rivals my S3 and surpassed my HTC One M7 (via my Sony ZX-600 headphones). Can't speak for the M8 sadly.
TLR - Z2 sound quality stock is disappointing. With mods it's great.
Regards.

Both phones use the same DAC. The difference in sound comes from software and the headphone port. The Z2 has a nice black background, so its headphone port must be decent. It also has a very nice bass boost in its built in equalizer, which works in any music app and not just the Walkman app. The reason I like the bass boost is because it boosts the lower end more than the higher end bass, so it doesn't bleed into the mids. I don't use the Clear Audio+ option as it just increases the treble but also narrows the soundstage.
The included IEMs are also very decent for bundled earphones. They have a nice flat frequency response but can also give punchy bass when you make them. They have decent instrument separation as well. They could maybe do with a little more clarity, but that's all really. The noise cancelling also works really well.
I've never had the privilege of listening to any Wolfson DACs, but the DAC inside my Z2 sounds quite comparable to the Texas Instruments DAC inside my JDS Labs C5D. It's to do with taste more than anything at this point. Again, the DACs in the M8 and Z2 are the same, so they shouldn't sound too different with software tweaks off. Can you not just try one out in a store anyway?

jimxms said:
Hi all,
I currently own the m8 and love it for its awesome sound quality, however the camera is absolute pants!
The only other phone I'd consider is the z2 but I am worried that the volume and sound quality via headphones will be disappointing. Can anyone tell me if the z2 with the sound mod will be as good as the m8?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im using z2. Sound mod with headphones enchanting is not working for me. Its comes bugging noises. So i do prefer using sound mod without headphone enchanted. For m8 i cannot tell. But for my z2, i fully satisfy. Amazing sound with my sennheiser ie-80. Deep and detail bass. Good for easy listening. The trebles is smooth. And great Vocal too. Over all surpassing my htc one sc. Im using original rom v 314. Doomkernel v10. And yes i prefer sound enchantment than clear audio +. Ram, camera, sound, waterproof. Its comparable device for me.

Can confirm that the sound quality you get out of the box is very good, playing with the eq settings makes it even better. It's noticeable better than the Z1.
I'm using the A-Jays Three earphones and I'm really pleased although I'm wondering if getting the noice cancelling earphones would give me a even better experience.
Are they worth getting it?
Sent from my Xperia Z2

Jiyeon90 said:
Can confirm that the sound quality you get out of the box is very good, playing with the eq settings makes it even better. It's noticeable better than the Z1.
I'm using the A-Jays Three earphones and I'm really pleased although I'm wondering if getting the noice cancelling earphones would give me a even better experience.
Are they worth getting it?
Sent from my Xperia Z2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For noise canceling they are great,sound quality is OK but not the best you can buy.

Sound on my Z2 is quite decent with the official ROM, however if you flash CM and that would be gone instantly and the volume will be very low.
I prefer using headphones over loudspeaker anyways but it would be better with a Mod, can someone post a link to a thread or something?
Thanks.

Well I don't really like the sound and noise cancelling on the official Sony Rom!
You really have to tweak it to be good.
The really best wound comes when you have a CM Rom installed and the equalizer set to Rock! It's is fantastic for any type of music. And If you want it louder there is mod for that...
No noise cancelling, clear sound, Beats... whatever, can "beat" the sound that come out a CM rom... in my opinion of course...

Z2 Soundmod http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293589 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293589 this i can confirm so far can be installed and works.

angerousevil said:
Z2 Soundmod http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293589 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293589 this i can confirm so far can be installed and works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you need unlocked bootloader for that?
Sent from my Xperia Z2

Jiyeon90 said:
Do you need unlocked bootloader for that?
Sent from my Xperia Z2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can have custom recovery without unlocking bootloader. The answer is no needed. Because u need to flash zip with cwmr/twrp. Try to search xda forum about that. I lost my drm key and unlocking my bootloader on the first day this phone come out the box. So i never try to find out about that. And im using doom kernel v10 now.

angerousevil said:
If you can have custom recovery without unlocking bootloader. The answer is no needed. Because u need to flash zip with cwmr/twrp. Try to search xda forum about that. I lost my drm key and unlocking my bootloader on the first day this phone come out the box. So i never try to find out about that. And im using doom kernel v10 now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have custom recovery, thanks
Sent from my Xperia Z2

I started stock... the speakers were decent but just not loud enough for me
Then I bought the noise-canceling earphones and they made a world of difference
Still not satisfied I rooted, unlocked bootloader, and installed CM11
I just found it a little buggy and went back stock...
Then rooted again and installed SOUNDMOD by olokos
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2758189
Bought MDR-XB90EX earbuds
http://www.amazon.com/MDR-XB90EX-In...ie=UTF8&qid=1412894172&sr=8-1&keywords=xb90ex
Almost everything is perfect except for two things:
1) I get a crackling with Hangouts notifications (not all the time, comes randomly)
2) Call quality on the earpiece is SO quiet. Speakers sound great.

I dont know why. But other mod make my sq getting worse. Still using pure audio and stock now. Tried z2 mod by olokos. Got bugging noises. Tried m8 mod. Got breaking sound for sub.

Also tried sirius soundmod last night. And got same issue. Annoyingly noises came after installed.

I'm using noice cancelling headset with viper4android and fauxsound. It's enough for me.

Several months later, how I find the G4 (from an HTC fan view)

Hello!
So I have the G4 H815 for more than 4 months already and I wanted to share my experience as I was a long term HTC user and fan.
I ditched my M9 in end-August and got a brand new G4 because I hated the small repetitive 5'' screen of the M9, it's poor camera in everything but bright sunny days, and the fact that it did get very warm easily.
The G4 is superior in terms of screen and camera, and I really enjoy them.
Some people used to say: why putting a QHD on a 5.5''? it's a battery draining thingy...
Not really! The M9 had the same battery life as the G4 with a smaller and FHD screen, though the advantage of QHD are justified with the use of Google Cardboard, I can watch VR movies without pixels salad.
The camera is wonderful, whatever is the condition you can get superb shots, the Auto mode is already very good specially with MM, the RAW mode is more extended than M9. Of course low light and night shots are miles better with the G4.
Now there are 2 things I didn't like about the G4 and here's where the HTC flagships win:
-Sound loudness and volume are weak
-Poor custom rom choice
I tried nearly all sound boost options from V4A to xtrememusic passing by Dolby Atmos, yes you will get richer and louder output from the 3.5mm jack but even though not as loud as it should be, it just need an extra +15 to +20% to be good if you want to use it outdoor in fast paced sports like Ski. Yes I tried Faux sound,but I couldn't use more than +1 because sound was beginning to crackle. Thankfully BT audio sound is way better, not as a sound quality but as volume output, it's definitely louder than with the wired earphones!
As for the custom roms...I am very deceived by the rom dev scene for G4, I am not talking about the CM based roms, I am talking about the custom stock based ones.
We just have one dev actually working on a custom stock based rom for G4 and he (with all due respects) doesn't have the time and experience to build a stable version of MM rom. We had a very good dev S3V3N who had some attitude I reckon, but he used to build stable and rich featured custom roms every 2-3 days!!
The thing is that he doesn't have the G4 anymore. So we have many CM based roms but only 1 for stock based rom.
HTC flagship phones have this advantage to have numerous very good devs releasing quality rich roms like Leedroid, j to the 4n, Llabtoofer...
Will I switch back to hTC? Not as long as they release small screened flagships and bad cameras, the G4 is a keeper!
I am not complaining or asking anything, I am just giving my view about how good the G4 is and what it needed to be perfect.

yes ,disapointed too with the sound...
but for the original G4 audio headset, it's scandalous for a hight phone like G4 ! (the same for Samsung recent S series ,note...,htc....)
==>> i have tested with an old optimus audio headset and it's very much better !!! nothing to do !!! i highly recomend to try anothers things...
The internal speaker is not very good too ...it's hardware problem ,not firmare...
but all other components are perfect :
-design very "simple" but fabulous and innovative
-very good network catcher and it's fast/optimised
-strong battery quality ,no strange behaviors of drain like others devices...
-removable battery/sdcard
-stock firmware enought reliable (pure and harmonious style)
-fabulous screen (color,contrast.... )
one of the best camera/video capture...
-no heat a lot very dangerously
- ...........
=> it's not Samsung !!! ^^ LOL :laugh: but objectively more superior to his S6,last Note.. in my own opinion !

I listen music via bluetooth with Apt-X, so this phone is really really great, I just need a fingerprint now... and why not of course a 3D Touch to be update.

vegetaleb said:
Hello!
So I have the G4 H815 for more than 4 months already and I wanted to share my experience as I was a long term HTC user and fan.
I ditched my M9 in end-August and got a brand new G4 because I hated the small repetitive 5'' screen of the M9, it's poor camera in everything but bright sunny days, and the fact that it did get very warm easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't help thinking had you waited a couple more months longer that maybe you would have got a v10 ?
You like and can handle big screens by the looks of it.
the Auto mode is already very good specially with MM, the RAW mode is more extended than M9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What improvements did you notice with the camera on MM compared to L ?
and what do you mean when you say raw mode is more extended ?
Now there are 2 things I didn't like about the G4 and here's where the HTC flagships win:
-Sound loudness and volume are weak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something i don't know whether the v10 would help with or not. Its supposed to have better quality dacs. Not sure about sound volume.
-Poor custom rom choice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What more are you looking for that root & xposed cannot give you ?
Will I switch back to hTC? Not as long as they release small screened flagships and bad cameras, the G4 is a keeper!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A9 has OIS and M10 will have it too. it will have louder sounds, retain front facing speakers and have the usual rom support.
I give it a month before you bite

One Twelve said:
Can't help thinking had you waited a couple more months longer that maybe you would have got a v10 ?
You like and can handle big screens by the looks of it.
What improvements did you notice with the camera on MM compared to L ?
and what do you mean when you say raw mode is more extended ?
This is something i don't know whether the v10 would help with or not. Its supposed to have better quality dacs. Not sure about sound volume.
What more are you looking for that root & xposed cannot give you ?
A9 has OIS and M10 will have it too. it will have louder sounds, retain front facing speakers and have the usual rom support.
I give it a month before you bite
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the M10 has screen 5.2'' and more I will, Google cardboard changed everything

What's the status of sound optimization for custom ROMs?

A big reason I got this phone was the audio experience.
Now, I'm using LineageOS (as it seems most are) and I'm wondering about how its audio quality compares to that of stock.
From what I can tell, it's not using Dolby Atmos as stock does, and I'd like to have that. But, I'm not really sure of anything beyond that. Any chance we can add that in custom, non-stock ROMs?
What else is there we can do? It just doesn't sound the same.

MelloZ said:
A big reason I got this phone was the audio experience.
Now, I'm using LineageOS (as it seems most are) and I'm wondering about how its audio quality compares to that of stock.
From what I can tell, it's not using Dolby Atmos as stock does, and I'd like to have that. But, I'm not really sure of anything beyond that. Any chance we can add that in custom, non-stock ROMs?
What else is there we can do? It just doesn't sound the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock audio is the BEST, loudest, and clearest sounding phone experiences I've ever heard. Blows away any of the earlier HTC M7-M9, as well as the Moto X Pure/Play.
LoS has issues with the audio... It's not stereo, it's distorted unless turned down fairly low, but I think it's ok using headphones/ear buds?
About the only solution to cure the distortion is to turn the gain down using Viper4Android, or ARISE (which has V4a). It also has a great EQ, some like better than Dolby Atomos, but I prefer the Dolby Atmos. ARISE has a Dolby add-on, but not sure it works?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/r-s-e-sound-systems-auditory-research-t3379709
I tried this with AOKP, but I use the speakers too much and they still distorted or were really low with no distortion. So, back to Stock-ROOTed Nougat for me.

Internal Speaker Sound with Stock Rom and Lineage OS 15.1

I have two Le Pro 3 phones here, one has Lineage OS 15.1 and the other one is out of the box with stock rom. So it is very easy for me to test the sound for both roms at the same time.
I know already that stock rom offers the best audio quality with the built in internal spakers. Stock rom offers fuller and richer sound with also more bass with the internal speakers. There is no chance to have similar sound with the internal speakers using a custom rom without using any audio mods like dolby atmos or viper.
But even using these sound mods I was not able to tune the sound of the speakers similar to stock sound.
I made some longer sound tests with both phones and found that there is one big difference between stock and custom rom:
As the phone has Stereo speakers (upper one and lower one), the eqalization of both speakers is totally different with stock. While the upper speaker offers much more mid-range frequencies and nearly no highs the lower one is giving much more bass and high frequencies but nearly no mids. This effect is present with and without activated dolby atmos in stock rom.
So it seems to me that the stock rom uses different settings for left (upper) and right (lower) speakers. With headphones, both channels offer same sound, of course.
Using Lineage OS 15.1 without any sound mod, both speakers offer very similar sound characteristic. I am not able to hear different equalization between upper and lower speaker. The upper one has the same amount of highs, mids and lows like the lower one.
By using dolby atmos or viper, the sound quality improves impressingly but this effects both speakers in the same way.
Maybe becouse of this difference there is no chance to have the same sound characteristic with the speakers like in stock rom.
And maybe this info could help someone to imrove speaker-sound with lineage?

Hi @walking-desaster , maybe you can give the MIUI Ares ROMs a try and compare the sound quality.
This ROM are based on a clone of the X720 (Cool Changer S1 with JUI ROM) and should use similar or updated drivers with Nougat and MIUI 9 on top.
The ROM is posted both on 4PDA and by @tsongming in his Megadrive.
I am not sure why the version posted by Alex_Agir is different from Tsongmings megadrive, maybe he can explain.
Would be interesting to learn your experience.

Wortelstok said:
Hi @walking-desaster , maybe you can give the MIUI Ares ROMs a try and compare the sound quality.
This ROM are based on a clone of the X720 (Cool Changer S1 with JUI ROM) and should use similar or updated drivers with Nougat and MIUI 9 on top.
The ROM is posted both on 4PDA and by @tsongming in his Megadrive.
I am not sure why the version posted by Alex_Agir is different from Tsongmings megadrive, maybe he can explain.
Would be interesting to learn your experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no difference between the Rom Alex_Agir and the one on my Megadrive and I gave him credit.
I posted the file on the megadrive and will soon add it to AFH as well. Just to make it easier to get to. Alot of people use browser that do not translate sites as 4PDA very well. Plus, the Megadrive link includes additional addon, to enhance the MIUI Ares ROM, and to make installation quicker for someone new to Miui.
Like @walking-desaster, I am a big fan of audio.
In fact for me, as a hobbyist recording musician, its usually the most important aspect of my phone. But, I too have multiple Leeco's ( four) so its easy to tryout everything. Plus, I still have my old iPhone, which I use like an iPod for my car.
I agree that stock EUI sound is far superior, and modded EUI's out there seem to be just short of the stellar sound offered by stock. but its close. My issue with stock is that its using marshmallow, which I can't stand.
The Miui Ares rom has the best sound quality of any Rom that I have used since stock. To go on Stock sounds better with Dolby and custom Roms sound better with Dolby. Both sound better with Viper.
Viper is better than Dolby because it has all of the same tools. such as EQ and compression but takes it a step further with the option of being able to add profiles. The profiles include packets of .irs files. Which are convolution reverb impulses ( which are actual acoustic measurements of rooms or speakers) these convolution files allow you to simulate the sounds of room reverb and speaker acoustics. They are similar the impulse responses used in electric guitar amps and headphone emulators.
You can download profiles from my Google drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KtNtBOw1Hj7Rw4OVT2wWdE1ujDAZgo9x
or better yet use these instead
Use the profiles from my drive but use impulse files from sites such as these : https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2372750
Note, you have to manually add the profiles here: storage/Viper4Android/
BTW, were you aware the Leeco CDLA headphones has a DAC chip and use Dupont speakers?

Fix for sup-par sound quality

***(Update: I've found a fix! Being in stock room and installing Ainur Sauron mk ii.ii has improved the frequency response of the phone. The volume is same as before (but it's still adequate), so PowerAmp/Firefox/VLC is still much louder. But now the sound signature is similar. No more pathetically weak bass and overly bright sound!
BTW, Ainur Sauron doesn't work on LineageOS, RRemix, etc. I think Ron's made with Shivam Kumar Jha's trees are incompatible with Sauron. So I'm using stock 318)
I'm sure I'm not the only one that has noticed how badly Asus has tuned the audio of this phone (esp. through the 3.5mm jack).
The Snapdragon 636's SoC is capable of providing pretty decent audio quality. But in the ZMPM1 only the sound through a select few apps (Firefox, PowerAmp with hires 24bit + 88/176/352/384khz audio, VLC, etc) is good. The sound from almost all other apps and audio mods like V4a is pretty bad.
For example, the sound produced by Firefox when playing YT videos is quite full and rich and has a seemingly accurate and linear frequency response. The same video when played through the YT app not only has much less volume, but also has a completely different sound signature with reduced bass, harsh treble, and an overall tinny and compressed feeling. (BTW, it's definitely the phone and not my headphones/IEMs)
Now in previous phones I've experienced that Firefox's audio is not changed by mods such as V4a or other equalizers. This makes me believe that Asus has, for some reason, purposely worsened the sound (perhaps due to some issue with the amp? IDK)
So is there any way to revert/override/bypass the changes made by Asus in all apps? So far I've tried the following-
1. Used Lineage Os 15.1 by Shivam Kumar Jha. It boosts the volume so there's no difference in volume between the good and bad sound, but the sound is still bass-lacking and tinny in most apps while full and rich in Firefox.
2. Used Ainur Sauron mk ii - Didn't fix it.
3. Used V4a- Not only did it not fix it, but installing the V4a driver means audio is now capped at 48khz and 16bit, so even PowerAmp hires breaks.
4. Other equalizers- doesn't really remedy the problem, only masks it somewhat (that too pretty badly).
So is there some way to maybe modify the audio effects or mixer paths files to remove this? Or is this just baked into the device in such a way that it's not fixable? I hate being limited to Firefox for YouTube and PowerAmp hires for local audio, and not being able to use viperDDC/IRS for headphone compensation makes things worse. So any help would be very much appreciated.

For me with V4A sound is great by using Convoler/IRS mod, and some tweaks in compatible mode.

GryTEcHoG said:
For me with V4A sound is great by using Convoler/IRS mod, and some tweaks in compatible mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
V4a just changes the sound, it doesn't improve it. And with it's 48khz 16bit limit even PowerAmp's hi res output becomes average quality.
Even if you neutralize the frequency curve with v4a, it can never improve the slightly garbled and compressed nature of the Zenphone's sound. Instrument separation cleraly suffers because of it.

SD008 said:
V4a just changes the sound, it doesn't improve it. And with it's 48khz 16bit limit even PowerAmp's hi res output becomes average quality.
Even if you neutralize the frequency curve with v4a, it can never improve the slightly garbled and compressed nature of the Zenphone's sound. Instrument separation cleraly suffers because of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. Can you give me an audio sample file where you could see diff clearly ? So i can test it our myself with with and without v4a, and might be able to figure out.
Thanks

man thanks for this post, i am raising this issue in asus offical forum and xda alos, but mostly people are only worried about the camera quality and gaming perfomance, nobody even in youtube reviews talked abut worst sound quality of this phone, i dont know why.
i even raised service request with Asus but they did not provide any solution, more and more developer need to fix in future custom rom. other else this phone is total waste, i am movie and music loving guy, the movie sound is terrible from earpone jack, in night when i want to watch movie and listen to music , i cant do it, because its not pleasant,
the speaker is good, but 3.5 jack sound is very very bad, i request all rom developer please fix this in your custom rom, as asus is not listening
There are kernel avaible so may there is a way to enhance or tweak the sound from that level, please do it, if i had know that this is the issue, i would have gone for RN5 Pro phone, instead of this one, i need a great experience, even phone selling at 5000 have clear and loud sound i had Lenovo A6000 Plus, which was almost half of this phones price, but man the sound was so great
Asus Please fix this in updates, other else this is waste, not only sound, there are many more bugs in this phone, Asus just rushed this half backed phone to market, the phone should be balance of Hardware and Software, only having good hardware at competitive price is not enough, you need to have a great software to use the hardware properly, asus missed onthis one
even the LED notification and front flash is of cheap quality, even in dark night or dark room LED notification does not glow enough why Asus why
Camera software is patheric, but thanks to some mod, now we can use Google camera, i will use it for few months and then sell it, because its not pleasant to use due to many software issue and some cheap parts used by Asus.

Update: Using Ainur Sauron while on the stock room and enabling FMAS drivers using the Sauron useroptions file improved the sound (I think, or it just might be me slowly losing my mind, lol). I've also increased the volume of hphl and hphr in vendor/etc/mixer_paths.xml to 12, that may or may not have had something to do with it. The volume is still much lower than PowerAmp/Firefox, but the sound signature seems to be more neutral. Using splitscreen it seems that Firefox @ volume 6 and YouTube app @ volume 10 sound almost identical, and both of these sound pretty similar to an ancient s4 (which has a pretty linear frequency response).

I received my phone a about a week ago and I agree, coming from my old oneplus one the audio was lacking depth, it had recessed vocals with high interfering in between, and shrill highs. After carefully listening many flac and other audio files back and forth on my old phone and Asus, I came to the conclusion that the entire audio output spectrum of zenfone max pro m1 is shifted towards the right, which explains all the aforementioned issues. I have posted the same on zentalk and I really hope that this issue gets fixed soon. Too bad very few people look for decent audio quality in budget segment otherwise this wouldn't have been an issue at the first place.

Those that are still facing this problem, I stock room+Ainur Sauron. I've updated the OP with some relevant info.

This sounds great. Don't know why all people are complaining about 3.5 mm jack sound. I can hear each and every note of all songs same as I can on my pc. I've tried a lot of different earphones/headphones (2 sennheiser, 1 flipkart smart buy in ear, 1 Sony (over Ear) don't know the model was my friend's, 1 boat and 1 Philips. All sounded different but were very clear and fine.

SD008 said:
Update: Using Ainur Sauron while on the stock room and enabling FMAS drivers using the Sauron useroptions file improved the sound (I think, or it just might be me slowly losing my mind, lol). I've also increased the volume of hphl and hphr in vendor/etc/mixer_paths.xml to 12, that may or may not have had something to do with it. The volume is still much lower than PowerAmp/Firefox, but the sound signature seems to be more neutral. Using splitscreen it seems that Firefox @ volume 6 and YouTube app @ volume 10 sound almost identical, and both of these sound pretty similar to an ancient s4 (which has a pretty linear frequency response).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to enable 'FMAS drivers using sauron useroptions'... I have installed Ainur sauron

So after all these days I've found the perfect fix for speaker and headset audio quality improvement, install viper4android xHiFi from magisk and tweak the setting to your taste. the best part is all these changes are global, so unlike music FX or similar apps, these effects will not be limited to music players. I was also able to remove the sharp audio output from earphones and the loudspeaker using the EQ within viper. The addon also processed bluetooth audio but I haven't tested it yet.

Bro ,i am on the same boat ,but got good quality output using vlc player with audio output set to Open SL ES..Do it ,live with it till we get an update from ASUS.

Since i Love music i flashed a custom rom and now i'm enjoying music as i use to. Shane on Asus for ****ing up the audio on the device

Easiest way if you don't want to root
Just install vidmate and listen songs in it.
Try it just once.