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Hey Folks!!
I´ve read a lot about the very poor audio quality with the streak...what do you "initiated" guys can tell me about this (aside from the fact that they have positioned the audiojack on the SIDE of the device )? How would you rate the possibility to use this device as my no.1 mp3 player?
Will the update that everybody is waiting for compensate this issue?
Hi brooon
Well i don't know why you think the Streak has poor audio quality as that most certainly isn't my experience of using it to play my Music on and whilst i was on 1.6 i was more than happy using the Music player that was built into the Streak as i liked the Music Widget that came with it. Since moving to 2.1 and 2.2 Custom Roms i am using Lithium Player as like the Widget options it gives and i have no need for an EQ as have never used one on any device i use.
What is far more important IMO is how well you encode your Music as using low bit rates are never going to give you great results however good the hardware may be its restricted by to little information to work with when decoding it. All my Music is kept in iTunes although bought on Cd's and then transferred to it @256kbps AAC. The second most important factor is then your in ear phones as the supplied ones with any equipment are adequate at best IMO so dependant on your budget and the sound you like to hear upgrading your in ear or head phones is the other thing that will effect the quality of what you are listening to.
I listen to at least 2 hrs a day of Music either with my Shure EC2g's in ear phones plugged directly into my Streak or using my Nokia BH-500 and streaming the Stereo via Bluetooth to the same in ear phones and the sound is nothing short of stunning IMO. It produces a rich and full sound with good separation and sound stage with no need to use an EQ as IMO you shouldn't need to boost any frequencies as thats what a producer does when recording the Music for you to listen to in the recording studio.
So in answer to your question do nothing as I'm already running 2.2 and despite now using Lithium Player for the Widget options i have no issues with the sound quality my Streak delivers whilst listening to music or watching Videos.
Marc
brooon said:
I´ve read a lot about the very poor audio quality with the streak...[...]
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Where have you read it?
Streak has the best audio quality of all the devices I owned during last years. I was amazed when I first plugged the earphones and played some tunes.
Theres a lot of fud around.....
I'd agree with smoku it's the best (although the speaker isn't great maybe that's what he read)
I'm now using power amp for all my music needs, the eq in there really brings out the best of the sound quality on the streak... It even plays m4a and wma and can boost the sound level out of the rear speaker
This is a valid thread, thanks for starting it.
For my part I am interested in portable audiophile gear, Sennheiser IE8 with custom moulds, iBasso D10, iRiver H140, that sort of thing.
My music is encoded in FLAC and I haven’t yet tried the Streak as a music player. Possibly in part so as not to be disappointed and also I am waiting on final 2.2 or maybe even 2.3 so as to bring the platform to maturity and with it good quality media apps. The original 1.6 just seemed to be rough around the edges and with poor app support.
So the responses from Dogmann, smoku and fards are very encouraging and I shall give it go sooner rather than later.
i use the hf2,s from emotec and you need a diff player to play flac but the sound quality is ok just the standared head set that come with its pants
I think 2.2 has increased the sound quality for the speaker but still not good as HTC tilt2. The sound from earphone jack is good on both 1.6 and 2.2 for me.
im using a pair of klipsch images and the sound on my streak sounds horrible. I hear alot of popping and noise. You can even hear when the internal amp comes on when its about to start playing sound, and you can hear it turn off when sounds go off its rather noticable. I recently installed poweramp and the inbuilt eq does make the sound alot better. Maybe all our streaks aren't created equal id love to hear one that sounds good.
hi @all!!
Thanks for the comments and experiences, your impressions are really helping a lot here guys
shigga said:
I hear alot of popping and noise. You can even hear when the internal amp comes on when its about to start playing sound, and you can hear it turn off when sounds go off its rather noticable.
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That´s what i´ve read several times in reports that i´ve found during my googletrip ...it seems like you´re not the only one suffering under these (audio)circumstances. I must say, Im very surprised about the positive impressions here (although I´m happy to read such things )?!?
Don´t you guys hear those "poppings" and noises, too? What could be the reason for such a variety of impressions? Any idea?
This thread comes straight from the android knockers over at ilounge! i've owned both, there's no difference! i read the same stuff before i got android.
The only thing about the stereo system on the streak is the incredibly stupid placement of the headphone jack on the side of the device, meaning it sticks out sideways when in your pocket, the 'designers' even thought that you would carry the streak around in your pocket in landscape mode
tbh I'm not an audiophile, I've been a musician for way too long
never heard popping or buzz... except intentional as part of whatever I'm listening to..
My Streak does sound real good, even when listening to classical music. And I am using it straight out of the box.
Crap statement. It's not spectacular, but for a mobile phone device it's very satisfactory. I use it as a player both in my car and when I'm on the train and it sounds phenomenal.
Obviously it is not spectacular, lol. How could the sound on such a small device ever be spectacular? I was comparing it to other mobile devices (my wife's iPhone 3G, my old HTCs) and I am pleasantly surprised.
I switched to bluetooth headphones and they deliver much better sound quality, than the original streak's earplugs.
HansTWN said:
Obviously it is not spectacular, lol. How could the sound on such a small device ever be spectacular? I was comparing it to other mobile devices (my wife's iPhone 3G, my old HTCs) and I am pleasantly surprised.
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Didn't mean to directly attack your statement . I'm actually agreeing with you, I think the sound quality is good on the Streak, and I'm calling the "reviewers" who said that the sound is bad on the Streak crap.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Its weird there is such differing opinions on it.
I've owned two and returned both for bad audio. I even had an email from the executive support team saying they're aware of an audio issue!
I just wondered whether maybe, as mine were both from the very first Carphone Warehouse batch in Brighton that I got a bum lot!?
Just tried the demo display at my local best buy and brought my earbuds and it sounded equally as bad as mine. My captivate, aria and nexus sound so much better.
shigga said:
im using a pair of klipsch images and the sound on my streak sounds horrible. I hear alot of popping and noise. You can even hear when the internal amp comes on when its about to start playing sound, and you can hear it turn off when sounds go off its rather noticable. I recently installed poweramp and the inbuilt eq does make the sound alot better. Maybe all our streaks aren't created equal id love to hear one that sounds good.
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This is my only gripe with the audio quality. If you listen at low volumes, you can hear fuzz/hiss sounds. I also can hear the amp/DAC/whatever it is turning on and off when I start/stop my music. Course, you can crank up the music to drown out the noise, but I like to be able to hear what's going on around me when i listen to music (so the yard gnomes et al can't sneak up on me.)
If you're in a reasonably quiet room, try playing some music with headphones and the volume turned all the way down to 0 (yes, zero). I can hear audio noise over the sound of my apartment heater blowing air around.
side note: I've confirmed this with the earbuds that came with the streak, as well as a set that came with my old iphone. i'm guessing if you have less sensitive headphones, this will be less of a problem cause you'll be pushing the audio out at higher volume levels.
After the encouraging observations here I decided to finally check out the sound quality for myself. My reference portable rig is a pair of Sennheiser IE8’s with custom ear moulds, iBasso D10 Headphone amplifier with an optical digital interconnect to an iRiver H140.
The music I like tends to be recorded as low-fi, e.g. The National, Bon Iver, Cymbals Eat Guitars. Last night I loaded up a selection of Calexico on both the Streak and iRiver. While these are clean recordings they are certainly not Hi-Fi reference standard, you know, the sort of stuff that is used to demonstrate high end audiophile equipment.
Basically my subjective comparison is just me listening to the sort of music that appeals. The cognoscenti over at Head-Fi may well have finer tuned ears and a more analytical framework and disagree of course.
I approached this with some trepidation bracing myself for a degree of disappointment in the Streak as a music player. No way did I expect what I found.
To summarise, given the choice of listening to the iRiver/iBasso rig or the Streak I would probably select the former. However I would be hard pressed to actually explain why. Perhaps because it has the ability to go louder - though the Streak is quite loud enough.
TBH after a couple of hours listening to the same tracks back and forth on both devices, I couldn’t discern any difference. Dell has really come through on this device in so many ways.
Kudos also to PowerAmp which is a joy to use and a bargain at $5.
For reference, the last time I performed this exercise was to compare with my old iPhone 3GS and there was no doubt then that the iRiver/iBasso was superior. I can’t say the same with the Streak, the best I can manage is ‘neck and neck’.
I am sorry for those who are having audio problems but this shouldn’t be so and your device could be faulty.
hows the audio quality of the phne as i will be using it as my main my3 player so i wont have to carry around a bunch of devices but hows it sound when listining to mp3 files.also give it a rating on a 1-10 scale! thanks
kanametosen007 said:
hows the audio quality of the phne as i will be using it as my main my3 player so i wont have to carry around a bunch of devices but hows it sound when listining to mp3 files.also give it a rating on a 1-10 scale! thanks
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I recently got rid of my iPod touch and now I'm using this full time and it's on par with my iPod touch, which I thought was great. To my ear i'd give it a 9.
I am a fan of all in one devices and I don't really have anything to compare against besides an old Sansa MP3 player. But I use mine with the UE TripleFi 10. And they sound great. The only negative I have of this device is their is no built in support for FLAC files. I am using andless for FLAC which is ok for now.
Oops! Forgot to rate it. But I would give this thing a 9. Only because it doesn't have built in support for flac and no equalizer. But that is just my opinion.
Its bad...as in anything else is waaaay better. I had an iPhone before this, and the mt4g don't even come close. First I thought it was the headphones, but plugged in a receiver it sounds like there's a blanket in front of the speakers.
I had a g2 afterwards, that was an improvement. Now I'm trying a Vibrant, which is better that the other 2, but still can't touch the iPhone when it comes to sound quality. That's weird, cause last time I checked the audio hardware on iPhones was made by Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
It sounds better than my iPod. Really pleasantly surprised as I didn't expect to use this as an iPod replacement, but with how great it sounds and the convenience of only carrying one device has me switch. I also like how you don't have to unlock the device to change the volume (the volume up/down buttons work even with the screen off) and I like how the lock screen shows the current song as well as pause, skip forward, and skip back when a song is playing. All in all I think its great.
I think sound quality is awful unless you're on CM and able to use DSP.
On stock rom: Sound quality - 3, features - 8
CM Rom: Sound quality - 7, features - 9.
Does that help?
I would also say this phone is at a 9 for sound quality, but I use PowerAMP (without any EQ settings) with my Etymotics or Sony earphones, along with my Sony MDR-V6 headphones. I've had the 3rd gen and 5th gen iPods, and this sounds at least as good as them (better, actually). I've had a variety of portable players (Sony and JVC portable CD players, and MP3 players back to my Diamond RIO PMP300) and I've found the G2 and myTouch 4G to be wonderful. I will say that there is a slight difference in sound quality between the stock Media Room app and PowerAMP, but I'm not sure why since I was under the impression PA used the stock CODECs for MP3s. I think PA will play FLAC though, if that helps.
I really don't get all these people saying g the sound quality is awesome. Not trying to be a douche, but I am a musician and sound engineer, I found the quality of the audio playback on the mt4g to be awful.
If you pay attention to it, you'll hear a lot of white noise on the upper frequencies whenever there's audio playback. It actually comes up bout a second before the audio starts.
For the people saying it's better than an iPod, do a blind test through a receiver.
I'm glad to hear the sound improves with custom roms.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
The OP asked for opinions, and you've already stated yours. Negating the opinions of others does, in fact, start pushing you into "douche" territory. Maybe it's better to just let the other people in the audience (who may also just happen to be engineers and know pro audio people) state their opinions.
If you like, maybe he should state the expected noise floor of the surroundings, along with a specific range of support and any bias(es) he's looking for or against. Or maybe, just maybe, we should accept that this person is HERE looking for opinions (in this demographic) and not in the head-fi forums looking to hook this up to a tube amp with his favorite Grados. You know, just sayin'...
I was hoping to use this device as my music source but now that I've got it, I am highly disappointed. I expected it to be at least equal to my netbook's sound card but somehow it didn't perform.
Currently I am using Head Direct RE-0 with the Streak. Well these are high impedance IEMs and this may be the reason why I am not getting a good output so I am planning to try some other IEMs and thats precisely why I created this thread.
Can you guys recommend me something, if you've tried or already using them.
Did anyone try the Monster Turbines with the Streak ? Dell itself is selling these so I am hoping someone might have bought them. Can I get some impressions ?
I know I may be asking too much but and expecting too much from this device, but "One Device For All" was my thought behind buying this device.
BTW I've tried some other audio tools in the market (read poweramp) but the SQ of default player is way better so sticking to that and thus my only option left is another pair of IEMs. Suggest me some
Think you hop over to headfi for your quest which you might have a better chance of finding answers. I personally still using imod > amp > custom instead of a phone to achieve "audiophile" quality.
I have already posted my observations here on a similar thread a few months ago, so please bear with me if I don't repeat myself.
My interest in responding is that you have the very same IEMs as me. I also have IE8s with custom moulds which formed the basis my original post so I thought to try again with the RE0s in the light of your comments.
My experience with the RE0s is good, though my preference lies with the IE8s. I use PowerAMP with equaliser set to Off and my files are FLAC.
Having spent much time on HeadFi I know that these things can be subjective, so to each his own, but I am very pleased with the Streak as an audio player.
FWIW my reference is iBassoD10 and iRiverH140 with optical digital interconnect.
^^^
I am glad to hear that and thanks a lot for your observations.
Somehow to me the sound signature of PowerAmp did sound thin and with the already "not so warm" RE-0, the overall experience wasn't that great.
Another thing is that I am not in a position to spend a lot on the IEMs so IE8 won't be possible for me.
Can you suggest me something under 100USD or max 150USD, that you think can work great with the Streak ?
look around amazon. i got my ie8s for about 200 bucks US
I also use an audio technica portable headphone amp (one of those pocket ones) improves the sound quality a lot more
Somehow to me the sound signature of PowerAmp did sound thin and with the already "not so warm" RE-0, the overall experience wasn't that great.
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I would agree exactly with that. It is as if the Streak produces the wrong characteristics for the RE0.
I was very impressed when I used the Streak with the IE8s but less so with the RE0.
It is a sidetrack, on the other hand the Sansa Clip works well with the RE0. This sort of synergy is great when it works out in our favour and frustrating when it doesn't.
If you like I could try the Streak/RE0 combination with a Fiio E5 amplifier.
rebski said:
It is a sidetrack, on the other hand the Sansa Clip works well with the RE0. This sort of synergy is great when it works out in our favour and frustrating when it doesn't.
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I would prefer to use this device as my main source since I hate carrying multiple things all the time. Thats why looking for just an IEM upgrade to fix everything
rebski said:
If you like I could try the Streak/RE0 combination with a Fiio E5 amplifier.
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Yes please, if thats not much of a trouble. Would be highly appreciated.
This is a rather quick impression with the E5.
With the Bass Boost On the mid/lower range is much more filled out and emphasised and overall is preferable. However the treble correspondingly suffers which is not preferable. With the Bass Boost Off I would prefer the unamp’d Streak.
Contrary to the opinions over at HeadFi I am not a fan of amp’d headphone out signal. The only way it makes sense is to have a dedicated Line Out, preferably digital. Otherwise what is being amplified is the signal from an inferior source amplifier.
Maybe someone will make a PDMI Line Out Dock, now that would be something.
If you can get the E5 cheap enough it might be worth trying, I paid £7.50 for mine so can’t complain and worth it just to have the option available. But £17 seems a bit steep. Though you can get them on eBay for about £12. It is easy to get into a law of diminishing returns with these things.
Personally I would just accept the nature of the Streak/RE0 combination and enjoy the open spaciousness and clarity and see the lack of bass as a tradeoff. Not all music needs a strong bass.
Hi,
Personally I find that whatever I use as earphones, I have a hard time accepting the noise level on the streak. When playing music at a medium volume, the noise is really very very present.
I suppose there is no work around is there? Doesn't this bother you for serious listening?
Hi
You surprise me there. What do you mean by noise level? I don't understand.
My Streak is pefectly quiet apart from the the music that is playing.
^^^
I get that noise as well. Its there as long as the music application is working and goes away when the app is closed. Sure is irritating.
I've found another way to get my music working.
Found this app foobar2000remote control or something. If this works on my streak, I can just put away my audio rig away, snap on the earphones and lie down on my bed, leaving myself to the music. All the foobar controls will then be accessible from my streak.
But again, this app is not working YET for me. I was able to test it out on http, on my netbook. Just that the streak is still being able to communicate with my netbook's foobar.
Soon !!!!
rebski said:
Hi
You surprise me there. What do you mean by noise level? I don't understand.
My Streak is pefectly quiet apart from the the music that is playing.
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O dear! You're a luck mann! I have a noise in the background whenever playing. When I put the music in pause, the noise disappears after a second (automatic mute control I think), but as soon as I play again, the nois is there, very present! It is a constant level of noise, independent of the volume I set the music to. When I set volume to max, the music is so loud (too loud!) that I don't hear the noise anymore. But when setting it to say 70 perecnt, the noise is too presnt. Its ok-ish... but it definetly is not good (no hifi installation or decent MP3 player produces that much noise).
Any idea where this might come from? How come you have no noise???
Thanks
I also have the noise problem. I am using a UM3X and the quality is good enough except the background noice is very annoying. Is there anyway to cancel the background noice?
gadaga said:
O dear! You're a luck mann! I have a noise in the background whenever playing. When I put the music in pause, the noise disappears after a second (automatic mute control I think), but as soon as I play again, the nois is there, very present! It is a constant level of noise, independent of the volume I set the music to. When I set volume to max, the music is so loud (too loud!) that I don't hear the noise anymore. But when setting it to say 70 perecnt, the noise is too presnt. Its ok-ish... but it definetly is not good (no hifi installation or decent MP3 player produces that much noise).
Any idea where this might come from? How come you have no noise???
Thanks
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I really am sorry that so many have this as an issue. I only began using my Streak as a music player with DJ_Steve's 2.2 early builds. What version Android are you on?
Could it be Os related I wonder. I am on DJ_Steve's latest 1.7 build.
gadaga said:
O dear! You're a luck mann! I have a noise in the background whenever playing. When I put the music in pause, the noise disappears after a second (automatic mute control I think), but as soon as I play again, the nois is there, very present! It is a constant level of noise, independent of the volume I set the music to. When I set volume to max, the music is so loud (too loud!) that I don't hear the noise anymore. But when setting it to say 70 perecnt, the noise is too presnt. Its ok-ish... but it definetly is not good (no hifi installation or decent MP3 player produces that much noise).
Any idea where this might come from? How come you have no noise???
Thanks
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I too get this background noise, as well as a subtle "click" sound when the audio output is turned off/on. I've been contemplating Bluetooth headphones as a work around...
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
This really sucks.. Why are we having this hiss noise? I'm on build 347, stock from dell. It's only been couple days since I got mine.
I saw in DJStreak's mod, there's volume boost mod, but my earphone volume levels are perfectly fine. So I don't think I need any boost feature. It's just the background hiss noise. It stays on the same level of noise whether I up the volume or play music in low volume.
Everything is fine on my streak,no hiss electricity sound.Still,I think my philip mp3 can do a better job than the streak.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
No hiss for me either. I'm on 351. Didn't try with 347 when I got the Streak last week.
There are several things going on here, I think.
1. The majority of Dell's hardware is identical to the Nexus One, Incredible, etc. Those generation phones probably used the same hardware. That hardware is not particularly impressive when it comes to providing clear headphone audio. Its is possible that some phones are better than others, but unlikely. It is probably due to Reason #2.
Here is the RightMark test for the Nexus: http://www.swedroid.se/rightmark/Google Nexus One/googlenexusone.htm
Here is an iPhone 4 + couple of other phones: http://www.swedroid.se/rightmark/optimus2x/rightmark.htm
The iPhone has a lower noise floor and overall cleaner headphone amp (harmonic distortion esp).
2. The circuit buzz we hear mostly shows up with high end/high sensitivity headphone and in-ear monitors. I think it is a lot less noticeable with basic earbuds.
Also, everyone has a different level of hearing.
To conclude, no - this phone is not a good source for FLACs with good headphones. It is good enough for Pandora streaming and MP3s. If you are serious about portable sound quality, I would look for a dedicated DAP of some kind. It hurts me to say, but to this day many phones haven't matched the Apple headphone amp/DAC chips. I would love to finally own a phone where I can consolidate all my geeky needs.
Haven't got the G2 yet, but after browsing through youtube for some video test samples, I found that the audio is terrible. I currently have a Nexus 4 and it too has terrible audio recording. You know what? I think they are the same since both 1) sound starts okay, but, after one second, sound starts getting distorted and 2) distortion sounds like your in a fish bowl.
Obvious sample of G2 mic distortion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRM3DJ4tLMQ
Nexus 4 sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f0b2hQZ9Yk
I might have been able to forgive the N4 because of its price, but its quite disappointing for premium priced phone as a G2.
Was that even using up to date software or pre-release? We dont know.
I think the video sound is fine.
Also, considering you do not have the device I would hold opinions until you have your own hands on and can then give your opinion.
Too many variables in this video. Maybe settings were or weren't ticked. Seemed very loud etc.
We all know that in the past Nexus the audio recording in videos in loud places (ex. night club) was really bad, specially the bass that was recorded all distorted....
My question is, how's the audio recording in videos in loud places with the Nexus 6P?
Audio at any loud music event sounds bad on every phone I've ever had. But, I like to get decently close. And go to loud events.
Sent from my Nexus 6P
I have to say I've recorded a couple times while listening to live music and have been really happy with the audio quality.
I'd like to know this as well as it was really terrible on past phones I've owned (HTC Sensation XE, Nexus 5).
In my experience, it sounds OK if you're not directly in front of the stage/speakers. I took some videos that sounded OK from the middle-ish part of the room (small venue), and some more recent ones that peaked out when recording closer to the stage.
OK sound: https://goo.gl/photos/t5yTZ8z9iPq2S6os6
Also not terrible: https://goo.gl/photos/rkJrKLpfSJAY67Ea7
Not as good up close: https://goo.gl/photos/DvNeiwBRkAdyBGmh8
audio recording with the 6P in loud places has been better than expected. check out this short video i took on the 6P. Tpain at the jack daniels Motel Number 7 Party. Right next to the stage and speaker
https://goo.gl/photos/waeEzuJx5oKjn35RA