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Hello!
I have searched now for several hours in different forums and many threads, but I did not find my specific problems or any solutions to them. Therefore I want to start a new thread.
One thing in advance: I have my HD2 now for about 3 weeks and generally I am very happy with it. Unfortunately, I am experiencing some really bothering problems with music playback, and as this is the second most important feature to me (after telephony), I really hope, that there is some solution out there.
1. According to some Internet pages the integrated music player of the HD2 should be capable of gapless playback of MP3 files since a software update. Well, I have installed the latest 1.66.xx ROM for my device, and unfortunately gapless playback does not work at all. When I am listening to a concert and one track ends and another starts, I always hear a small interruption in the applause. When I play back the exact same tracks on my PC with Winamp everything works fine and both tracks play back to back without any interruption at all. As far as I know Winamp prebuffers approx. 2 seconds and in my opinion for gapless playback the integrated music player of the HD2 should too, but obviously does not.
2. Especially when I am listening to tracks with a quite low volume (e.g. instrumental Soundtrack), I always hear a short "crackling" sound at the transition from one track to the next (or at the beginning of the new track). One forum entry claimed, that this "crackling" sound is caused by the fact, that the HD2 disables the headphones output after approx. 2 seconds of silence and just reactivates it again when there is sound again. The reactivation of the headphones output seems to result in the "crackling" sound.
3. I thought that I can get rid of both problems just by using another player software as alternative, I even bought one of these. I tested "Microfi Nitrogen", "MortPlayer", "Slide 2 Play" and "PocketMusic".
Using the "Cross Fade" mode of "PocketMusic" in fact solved the first two problems effectively, so I got gapless playback without a "crackling" sound between two tracks.
Unfortunately, with all of these alternate players I experienced one even more bothering problem: Every now and then (approx. 1 to 2 times per minute of playback) a short "clicking" sound is audible during playback, which reminds of an scratched vinyl disc. If I rewind the track, the "clicking" sound does not occur at the same position, but at another at a later time. These "clicking" sounds do not occur at all with the integrated music player of the HD2, but with ALL of the mentioned alternate music players I tested. Of course, the "clicking" sounds are audible better, when you are listening to instrumental or classic music with a relatively low volume than with loud Rock or Heavy Metal music tracks.
To avoid the obvious suggestions:
- The problems were already present with the 1.48.xx ROM and are still present with the 1.66.xx ROM.
- I tested several different headphones (cheap and expensive ones) including the original HTC ones which shipped with the HD2.
- I can rule out the MP3s as cause of the problems: There are absolutely no problems with them when they are played back on the PC with Winamp, a Sony-Ericsson phone, an iPod or when played back with the mentioned alternate players on Pocket LOOX N110, N120 (Prototype), 420, N500 and N520.
- It does not matter whether the MP3s are located on the internal memory of the HD2 or the SD card.
- I already tried to disable all data connections on the HD2 and closed all other programs using the Task Manager to avoid any interferences.
- I even performed a Hard Reset without installing additional software or tweaks (except for one of the alternate players).
- I tested "PocketMusic" with all possible settings regarding Cache, Buffer Priority etc..
- It does not matter, whether any Equalizer (if available) are enabled or not.
- I also tested my brother's HD2, and both devices - my own HD2 and my brother's HD2 - show the same problems.
My questions now are:
a) Can anybody verify the "clicking" sounds when using an alternate music player software? If not, which music player software do you use at which settings?
b) Is it possible somehow to disable the interruptions between two tracks with the integrated music player of the HD2 and thus enable true gapless MP3 playback, for example by an undocumented registry setting regarding (pre-)buffer size or Caching?
c) Is it possible to disable the deactivation of the Headphones output after some seconds of silence (which is said to cause the "crackling" sound), so that the Headphones output is always enabled when there is playback using the integrated music player of the HD2, for example by a Registry setting?
Generally, I would love to continue using the integrated music player of the HD2 (which I am doing now anyway, and it looks really nice, by the way), but the missing gapless playback and the "crackling" sound during the transition of tracks is really bothering me very much.
Many thanks in advance for your help!
DotWin
I dont get the crackling sounds you speak of but it is a little off putting when I'm listening to a non stop mix CD thats broken up into tracks, when a track abruptly ends it's followed by a half second silence only to head right back into the music.
Is there some registry tweak that we can use to either eliminate this gap or even shorten it?
I use Coreplayer, and it seems they screwed up the standby keepalive at least on the HD2. With BT headphones, if I start music and then turn the screen off with the power button, I'll start getting random skips. With wired headphones ith completely stops playing music. So I've bound long press windows key to "turn screen off" in AEBPlus, and I now have no more problem with that (when I remember to press that one instead of the power button, that is...). Works perfectly, never heard a skip anymore (I have a set of Sennheiser PX200II, way good enough to make anything noticeable )
Your problems with 3rd-party players could be linked, no idea...
Not sure about the crackling, as I listen to music for at least 2 hours a day on the way to work and I use a pair of Sennheiser HD-25 headphones (http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home...onal_headphones-headsets_dj-headphones_502188) and I don't hear any crackling between tracks or in periods of silence. Only hear vinyl crackle where the source for the MP3 is vinyl.
The lack of gapless playback, as jmwarren85 mentioned is really annoying as I listen to a lot of mix albums... one solution I use is to take all the MP3's from that disc and splice them into a single track and then listen to that on the HD2.
Also finally I can't say I have heard any clicking noises on my HD2 but I know what sort of clicking you are referring to and that may be due to the encoder used and/or its settings when the MP3's were encoded. Some of the codecs that players use for decoding MP3's aren't the best (ie not well optimised, which can especially be a problem on a mobile device) and you occasionally get audio artifacts.
I use LAME with VBR-0 with quality 0 (highest) and the minimum bit rate of 128 and maximum bit rate of 320 using 44.1kHz instead of 48kHz for compatibility and I don't seem to get any problems.
Hope this helps...
Hi!
Thank you for your messages!
After extensive testing, I have finally bought "Pocket Player" which has solved all of my problems.
But I still think, that the integrated player (which at least looks great) has some bugs in the audio department that should be fixed.
DotWin
DotWin said:
Hi!
Thank you for your messages!
After extensive testing, I have finally bought "Pocket Player" which has solved all of my problems.
But I still think, that the integrated player (which at least looks great) has some bugs in the audio department that should be fixed.
DotWin
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Hello there.
The crackling you've described may be in relation to network use, for example every time my phone uses the 'net connection (HSDPA) to get weather, location or email, the audio stops for a brief second and continues; this is almost like the crackle you describe.
This in turn disables the graphic equalizer, so I am regularly re-enabling this between songs or in the middle of songs.
Test the theory by putting your phone in airplane mode or disabling all data reliant services to see if this is the issue. Even if it is I can't offer a fix, but at least you know what the issue is at least with the built in HD2 audio app.
I have the exact same issues as the OP. I contacted HTC about the gapless playback and they said they're testing...
I hear a soft/small pop between tracks too when I'm using headphones.
I also sometimes experience another issue where sometimes instead of going to the next song after finishing the current one, it just stops. Time remaining shows 0 secs, it's 'playing' (pause button is shown) but it doesn't move on.
I know it's a little late to reply to this post, but it was just to say that you can remove the gaps between the tracks using Ogg Vorbis encoding instead of MP3 encoding. Winamp for Android can read ogg tracks
About sound quality, there is always a quiet background interferences noise that bothers me. It is particularly annoying when listening quiet music (OST, classical...)
The stock music player on the note, besides not being able to do gapless playback also has really annoying DRC - very noticable compressing going on if you use custom EQ - and a noise gate which chops out very quiet passages/the tail end of fades off.
Is there any music player out there that gets round these issues or is it Samsung thoughtfully building this into hardware?
I used to love the Note but the more time I spend with it the more I realise the only thing I like is the screen size
Music
My choice is power amp, flexible, has it's own eq & dvc limit facility + a free trial, I bought early days.
hope this helps
I like Winamp (paid) or Mortplayer (free).
Sent from my Galaxy Note running ICS
Do they still have Dynamic Range Compression and the noise gate on?
Good example of the noise gate kicking in is track 12 of The Feeling's Twelve Stops and Home when it drops to the pub noise and walkign home the sound cuts in and out as the (unwanted) noise gate kicks in. I can understand having it on phone calls but why the ferk does it need to be on in music player?
I don't think it's the stock music player. I've noticed this DRC/noise gate thing everywhere, in the flash plugin, in vplayer, stock music player, ...
Whenever a certain volume level is not reached, it gets muted. E.g. the heavy breathing of Tony Soprano in the Sopranos when he's at his shrink's are muted, and totally ruining the experience.. Doesn't matter if it's in vplayer or in the standard video player app.
smashmash said:
Do they still have Dynamic Range Compression and the noise gate on?
Good example of the noise gate kicking in is track 12 of The Feeling's Twelve Stops and Home when it drops to the pub noise and walkign home the sound cuts in and out as the (unwanted) noise gate kicks in. I can understand having it on phone calls but why the ferk does it need to be on in music player?
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Click to collapse
Why don't you try? All three propositions (Mortplayer, Winamp, Poweramp) doesn't cost you a dime if you want to try them. There is a trial version of poweramp, a light version of Winamp and Mortplayer is generally free. So take a look at the players yourself in order to see whether they suit you or not.
Background noise
Well there's no point trying, the thing is hardware related - no equalizer or software player can cure it.
I'm coming from HD2 and it had the same problem, way more audible.
Basically every phone I've tried had this kind of backround noise, the one with lowest levels of it is HTC Desire S.
This noise is barely audible or not audible at all when you're using low quality phones, but when using good ones (Fischer Audio Eterna here) you can easily spot it..
Currently my player of choice is PowerAmp - it has the best quality of MP3 decoding libraries, sound stage is rich, wide and detailed, so I can live with a little amount of noise. When I can't, I'm using Desire S as a MP3 player
So that's what its called, noise gate
I have had this since I bought the Note, through Gingerbread now ICS, watching films with headphones or listening to music, the low quiet bits are cut and simply go silent, hate it, as I listen to lots of music and watch films, its constantly cutting sound out and back on...starting to think its a hardware fault, but others are obviously getting this too, so surely there is a fix
Huawei P9 Lite (VNS-L21C432B150)
Hi, i noticed a situation in which sound of music on max volume level is variable. When i listen music on headphones (ajays two), then someone call me on WhatsApp, and i finish talking, music again turn on but with +30% louder. I need that boost on audio because normally half of my music library is quiet on max volume. Someone know?
(rip english)
I noticed this issue too, and also have You noticed that music jumps when locking your phone?
dariomrk said:
I noticed this issue too, and also have You noticed that music jumps when locking your phone?
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very rarely, but yes
First I need to add that I find the so much advertised two DACs of the Axon very highly exaggerated in terms of power. They are just too weak, even compared to my previous Note 3, both on headphones and speakers.
Second, they seem to not be able to be effectively used on almost any app since 98% of apps do not utilise them by default and one cannot change it.
If you tweak Dolby Atmos a bit you can get it to amplify the general audio output, both on speakers and headphones, and this is why I use it predominantly. I am on the B09 update on A2017G and it is still very buggy. No matter what setting I choose, i.e. Music, Voice, Game, Custom, when I leave the Dolby Atmos screen it drops sound for a second and always resets to Movie, no matter what. Also the sound regularly interrupts, especially when unlocking screen or doing things in the background, or just on its own.
What annoys me most however from when I bought the phone is that at very low or low volume (only on speakers), when there is speach or the music starts, there is some kind of hissing, ss/sh-ing sound corresponding to the words said or the tiny beats of the music played. It's like a background noise added on purpose simultaneously with special, mostly high frequencies, i.e. words, tiny/starting percussions or similar, no matter the Dolby Atmos setting. This noise stays apparently at all times, it just is not heard when more, mostly low and middle frequencies get in. This "noise" is not available when no Dolby Atmos is used, however the volume then drops by a few levels down. Good or bad, Atmos also adds some spatial effect to the sound, which is why I like it for...
Does anyone of you, an A2017G or A2017U user, observe similar behaviour on your device? Is Dolby Atmos working better for you, i.e. unconditionally steady settings, no low volume added speakers noise, no sound interruptions?
I also noticed browsers do not get use of the DACs/Dolby Atmos, i.e. YouTube, online videos, many video players. My favourite before Aimp was unable to do so also so I had to transfer to Jet Audio and PlayerPro, both of which can work with the Dolby.
Why did ZTE add (two) DACs when they couldn't be used by 95% of the apps and games by default and even manually, also there seems to be no gain in output at all? Was this the case with the Lenovo Phab2 Pro's Dolby Atmos? For the "regulated hiss" (not present on headphones at all) I cannot currently watch any movies on the phone with Dolby Atmos enabled, unless at very high speakers volume. It hisses so badly every time a word is pronounced or some subtle 'invisible' sound plays. The same is with playing music...
I dont use Dolby when I listen to music - it makes everything so much worse and much quieter. Listening to flacs on stock music player with Super HiFi on. No hisses on low or high sound levels. Silence is silent. as for speakers - no hiss also.
ZTE did not add 2 DACs for music, 1 is for music other one is for audio recording which is records at 128kbps. and quality.. I dunno it's quite clear, I had recorded a room full of people, with two girls singing and some people chatting in backgroud and I can hear everything. but sound itself if on the lower end, girls vocals are lower than they are, everything seems shifted to lower sound spectrum.
Tooks some time and checked spectrum of that sound file 50-2000Hz. everything over 2kHz is just a noise.
and a little edit: it records nothing less than 50Hz - total silence there.
The stock player is OK but it's lacking on features, also not sure if it can play video.
I have noticed the low volume speakers "noise" with Dolby on when watching movies using almost any player - VLC, BS, MX and more. If I go above 30-40% volume it seems to disappear, but more like you don't hear it and it stays. I say "noise" but it is like a hissing/ss-ing sound added to sole frequences only, i.e. speech only or single instruments. When more frequencies get in, you don't hear it. Weird these don't exist at all with the Snapdragon amplifier, i.e. when Dolby is off.
https://community.zteusa.com/thread/12853, here is a similar thread in the ZTE USA community. I believe it has something to do with the Axon's own amp or its software and happens at low volume only. There was a thread in Reddit exactly about what I am reporting but I can't find it now.
If you go to your phone's Music\Settings\Dolby Atmos app, then move all sliders up you will notice that it significantly increases the overall volume when Dolby is on. So it's not low, if you change it, it boosts up the volume by at least 30%. On another note, the Axon's mic recording quality is quite poor/muffled, even compared to the old Note 3, hopefully they will improve it at least a bit by some future update.
I bought the A7 exclusively for its audio capabilities so am disappointed that I have to report insufficiencies in this exact area.
Does your Dolby Atmos set itself to Movie only if you exit the Music app? Are there any drops in sound when it's on and you do something in the background?
There are two DACs. "AKM AK4961 DSP CODEC, which can be considered the primary chipset for Hi-Fi audio playback and recording. The AKM AK4490EN DAC is an independent Hi-Fi audio sampler". So AK4961 works in standard mode and AK4490EN in Super mode. ADC is only in AK4961.
You can consider rooting your device and install ViperFX or the whole A.R.I.S.E. sound system. That will solve all the problems with sound output. However the sound recording filtering is surprising, leaving only the vocal spectrum is not normal. There should be a setting somewhere.
I have the Chinese A2017 model running Oreo & have just noticed this hissing sound which can be heard at lower volumes when I keep speakers close to my ear. I don't hear any hissing sound using headphones. I wonder if it's always been there or it's a hardware/software issue. I'm probably gonna hard reset the phone to see if it goes away. Anyone could fix it?
Hi,
My bluetooth headphone problem.
I am using boat rockerz 235 v2.
It runs fine and loud with all audio except during calls.
i did search a lot of places, no luck.
media volumes are good, video playback, mp3 players, online music apps, you tube, whatsapp calls all are ok, get loud output at max volume,
when i receive or make call through service provider ( normal incoming and out going) volume suddenly is almost 50% reduced even all sliders in my phone are @ maximum and bluetooth device volume is also maximum.
i tried to change some settings. in developer options like disabling absolute volume but no luck.
hope will get some help. XDA is my last place . If i cant get it done here, there is no place left..