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Hi Evry1. I am after an average quality bluetooth stereo headset for my HD. I love music and like to listen to my favourite tracks on the go (on the way to office and uni everyday & sometimes at home from my lappy). Ideally I would love to have amazing quality sound output but can't really be bothered to wear those chunky headsets that offer the sound quality to my satisfaction, so I decided to go for an average quality bluetooth headset for everyday use.
After going through some reviews I'm thinkin of buyin a motorola s9. I know it has issues with the buttons but I don't go to gym and don't get time for even light exercise, hence I have nothing to worry about, on that part. But, unfortunately, I can't seem to find any UK based dealer where I can get it from. Ideally I would prefer a shop where I can take the thing back if anything bad happens.
I would also like your opinion on my choice and if there is any other headset that you might suggest.
Cheers...
Doesn't anybody has anything to say?!
ah, here's my 3 cents...
Firstly, the new model is S9 HD...I considered that and some others and finally bought the Plantronics V855. I didn't need very good stereo music, and so the 855 is okay for me. At best, the call sounds are great. I didn't like wires and the 855 had just one simple wire that links to the other ear, unlike those like the SE DS980 (great stereo music).
The S9 HD (to me!) looked very out of place (aka awkward, ugly) on a person when worn - at least that what's I gather from seeing 2 persons wearing them on the streets.
Additionally, some reviews pointed to poor call voice sounds (ie. soft).
...it's really your preference in the end.
I think I'm gonna go with the DS980 then...
Dint get a bluetooth headset at the end, instead got a seenheiser CX 400-II headset... Mind blowing quality. glad that i made that choice...
Guys post your opinions on the audio quality of the device and if possible also a comparison with your previous phones.
Thanks.
Already quite heavily discussed...
Disappointed. Don't like the headset at all. got replacement and it's fine and waiting for the smart headset to come out.well hopefully it'll be the best, I love listen to music and this time I'm really disappointed with Sony for sure. (Sad Face)
Why disappointed? Everyone knows that standard headsets are bad.
Use your own, be happy.
chesterr said:
Disappointed. Don't like the headset at all. got replacement and it's fine and waiting for the smart headset to come out.well hopefully it'll be the best, I love listen to music and this time I'm really disappointed with Sony for sure. (Sad Face)
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Can you expand a little - what exactly are you unhappy about? When you say you 'don't like the headset' - is it the sound quality or the ergonomics/comfort that you don't like? what aspects exactly are bad?
When we assess the audio performance of a phone, there are several separate aspects:
1. Audio output signal quality, i.e. the analog signal coming out of the phone jack. I would argue that this is superb, as can be witnessed by connecting it directly to a quality Hi-Fi system or high-performance headphones.
Has anyone noticed anything different in this respect - like distortion, noise or other defects? I haven't.
2. The audio quality in the main use of the device: as a telephone (unless we have forgotten that it can also make calls). Taken for granted most of the time, this audio quality was disappointing in my previous X10 - but on the X-S is significantly better. Call audio quality (including volume) is on par with the best phones I've used.
3. The sound quality when listening to music 'over the air', i.e. form the phone's built-in speaker. There are limitations how much loudness and/or bass you can extract form a tiny speaker in a tiny box - I hope nobody expects it to sound like a 500 Watt stereo system On speaker, the X-S is on par with the following models found around my household: Xperia X10, SE C905, SE C902, Nokia 5800. Differences are minor and, at this compromise level, not worth analysing. Subjectively, on built-in speaker the X-S sounds to me slightly but certainly better than the X10.
4. Audio quality via the standard headset provided in the pack. NOT (!) any extra /additional headphones - those are subject to your taste (and investment), see (1) above.
The kit headset is a hands-free unit optimised for making calls and not for music consumption. Yes, they certainly can play music (and many models do it decently, depending on the listener's audio culture and expectations) - but they absolutely must not be assessed and criticised as a musical device, they simply are not that.
Anyone who has the ears to hear the difference and values audio quality normally buys dedicated musical headphones. (Or already has them - as technology in them evolves slower than phones and they need less frequent 'updates'. I keep them over the life of 2-3 phones).
When we rely on the headset provided in the box, we voluntarily agree with the limitations - that those are a compromise, designed for making calls and also designed to minimise the cost of the bundle.
- - -
I'd like to think that we all agree with the above logic. Please feel free to prove me wrong (with facts) on any aspect of it. In this light, I would like to hear:
- What aspects of the audio is @chesterr (and others) unhappy about?
- If Sony disappoints, who else doesn't? What are you comparing the X-S with? What is your example of the ideal mobile audio experience (straight out of the box)?
Anyone could recommend a headset at, at max 50 dollars, for listening to music that works on it. Cable at least 1 meter and has to be in-ear.
Sent from Xperia X10 Mini Pro using CM9 by paul-xxx
Since my kplisch x10i won't work with the Sony @) I have gone back to my trusty denon ach 360's
Very nice warm sound in my opinion even though they are considered an older model.
http://www.knowyourmobile.com/accessories/earphones/301807/denon_ahc360_review.html
Sent from my LT26i using xda premium
Using Soundmagic E10s with mine and have to say I'm impressed - easily on a par with my iPhone 4s for audio quality - sounds pretty neutral to me and more than adequate for a phone imho.
maistora said:
Can you expand a little - what exactly are you unhappy about?
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Wow man you're promoting Sony or something I thought that I was doing that..
well It's Sony dude they should've done more better than this, I don't blame it but I don't like the headset.Okay If you're telling me to be happy with what I get for the price that I paid for, Okay then.
BTW I'm waiting for their new Smart Headset. and Hopefully it'll be better and yes the call quality is to the maximum comparing to the other devices and they've done a pretty good job with the equaliser and with the xLoud.But I feel like I'm not getting enough Bass. Anyways I hope Smart Headset will be out soon to get
Included earbuds are always crap. If earbuds cost less than €50/$75 they are crap by definition. I've heard the audio output quality of the Xperia S is brilliant and amongst the best of all phones ever made.
chesterr said:
they've done a pretty good job with the equaliser and with the xLoud.But I feel like I'm not getting enough Bass. Anyways I hope Smart Headset will be out soon to get
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Bass is very dependent on the headphones. I just tried on a pair of Sony MDR-EX81 and the bass is thumpin!
Tip: If you really wanna splurge, try the Sony balanced armature series...
I'm really impressed with the audio quality on the xs. I came from a Samsung Galaxy s2 which is a truly awful mp3 player.
The only criticism I can find with the Sony is that the highs and percussion are often more pronounced than vocals, but having said that the highs are very detailed and defined, and a pleasure to listen to!
This is the best performing phone for audio I have owned. That includes the Iphone 3gs...
Hi!
Could anyone compare the sound coming from the backside speaker to the Iphone 4 speaker output (music without headset).
Cause coming from the X10i and comparing to Iphone of my wife, x10i has a miserable sound (small tweeter behind speakerhole at the left side), Iphone4 has a much richer base when playing back music without headset.
Reading that SXS is "on par" with my X10i in that aspect is really not what i hoped to hear ....
Greetings,
Bax
Baxxx said:
Hi!
Reading that SXS is "on par" with my X10i in that aspect is really not what i hoped to hear ....
Greetings,
Bax
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Hi
When I compare the built in speaker of my XPS with my old x10 mini pro, the x10 mini pro has a better sound, but with stock hearphones I think XPS is better.
chesterr said:
Wow man you're promoting Sony or something...
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Click to collapse
No, I'm not promoting Sony. Unlike Appleheads, I am not a blind fan - every time I am buying a new device I research all products in the market, from all brands and makers. I have a (rather complex) set of comparison criteria and carefully score all available options. The fact that my last few phones happened to be Sony (Ericsson) is not brand loyalty, they just scored top marks according to my criteria. As a rationally-minded (stupid engineer) I can only compare facts and measurable parameters. 'Cool' factor, fashion trends and media hype are not among my criteria - otherwise I always gave Apple a chance in my shortlists.
Talking of audio, I cannot completely ignore the fact that among all phone makers Sony is the only one that has been making audio equipment for more than half a century, including high-quality HiFi systems and components. That includes a (very) deep vault of patents, but more important - a wealth of experience and expertise that no other phone maker has, and no 'think different' genius can easily replace.
Talking about cameras (sorry about straying off-topic for a moment) - apart from Samsung no other phone maker has any experience in making 'normal' cameras, and even they started much later and excel at the cheaper end. Sony have been making (photo) cameras longer and long before that they were making professional TV cameras used by every major broadcaster in the world. That counts for some (deep) understanding of electronic imaging that no one else has. In fact, Apple respect this and have chosen not to reinvent the steam engine, but have built a Sony camera in their phone. There can hardly be a higher recognition.
- - -
No 'Sony-heads' and blind fans here, just noticing objective facts and using my head, not my 'heart' (or other body parts).
To everyone in this forum (you must already have Sony phones, since you are here?) - and on topic: Enjoy the Sony sound, it's objectively better than others!
Sony actually include the package with livesound in malaysia .
The best bounded earphone i ever have inside phone box for the phone i brought .
Having moved from an iPhone 4 to the Xperia S I would say that the audio quality is ok but nothing special.
Listening through decent headphones (Klipsh Image X10s) the Xperia produces a good sound but I don't think it is as good as the iPhone. It is perfectly serviceable but the iPhone does a lot better in my view, especially with lossless files where you can really hear the difference on the iPhone and on the Xperia it is marginal at best compared to 320Kbps mp3.
I've no complaints about the Xperia and it beats the iPhone in most other respects but I think audio quality is an area where it could be improved.
I guess it comes down to the quality of the DACs used within it. Sony's audio experience may help but it cannot compensate for lower quality audio circuitry at the end of the day.
The output is also noticably louder on the iPhone and the Xperia may struggle to drive some headphones at a decent volume level. Its ok with mine but I find I am using 85% volume on the Xperia to get the same sound level as my iPhone running at around 70%.
Great phone though.
The sound quailty of the phones speaker is good.
The bundled headphones are poor.
The sound output via analogue is okay but not great.
The call quality is very good.
I moved from iphone 4 to xperia arc to samsung s2 to samsung note to xperia s.
Xperia arc's noise level is too high and both samsung s2 and note sounded too soft.
If lack of low frequency is not a concern to you, iphone obvious has a more open and detailed mid-range frequency reproduction (e.g. vocal voices). However, I still prefer XS for the more balanced sound.
output volume from XS is too low... hope it will be fixed by firmware upgrade.
anyway, XS is the best music player among all mobile phones i've ever had.
btw, I am using Shure 425 earphone and 840 headphone.
I don't think xs has good quality of sound indeed, I heard that there is a deficit for android or Qualcomm chips dealing with 48k (or 44.1k sound ). I am not sure about it but the default music player does improve music quality a lot.
Sent from my LT26i
So I've been looking all over the internets for good audio quality comparisons between all sorts of different phones and media players (just for the fun of it). I wanted to buy a nice pair of affordable headphones and to see which mp3 would let me get the best sound quality and user experience out of them. After a lot of research (approximately 5 days) I ended up getting the Koss PortaPros for a discounted price off amazon (and yes they are genuine). The sound quality is a real upgrade over most headphones I'v used for a period longer than a couple of days (Iv used Bose IE8, the pathetic Dr Dres, Senheisser HD280s, and the Grados S60s) .
But one thing kept bugging me. Everytime I have looked around for reviews on the Nokia 800's sound quality through headphones, all I'v heard is either complaints, even after the 12070 update, or people saying that the sound quality is mediocre at best. I do not consider myself an audiophile or an expert, but i tried my hand at this in any case.
I took out my Sansa Clip+, the Nokia E5 (that I had been using as my mp3 player even though I used the Desire S as my daily driver before the Lumia because of the ease of searching music and sound quality) and compared it with the Lumia with the Koss PortaPros, JVC Marshmellows and the Creative EP630s.
Now I listen to most of everything I can get my hands onto. There was a whole lot of Lana Del Rey, Drake and YMCMB, Guns N Roses, Coldplay, Ellie Goulding, Gotye and of course Nujabes. All my music is 320kbps .mp3. I'm not an expert or anything so please feel free to correct me where ever you think I'v made a mistake or said something wrong. Everything I heard was on the default equalisers with no effects on.
The Nokia E5.
Now according to GSMarena, the E5 has the cleanest output they've heard in a long time and audio quality is generally great. Putting on the JVCs and the EP630s, the E5 actually sounds pretty good. Its clean, its got that clean unmuddled thump and the mids are as good as those cheap headphones can deliver. The problem occurs when you put on the Koss. The sound widens up but it feels like its lacking somewhere. You can hear the vocals clearly but its cold and dull. As though theres a part of the song missing.
Sansa Clip+
Technically I should be using this as my main mp3 player if I really care about sound quality. The sound through these in every category, be it Bass heavy or adult alternative was better than the E5. They were louder, wider and i could here each and every instrument separately, they were bassier and the clarity was top notch. But going through a list of 800 songs on that tiny screen gives you a right headache. For what its worth, this is a winner right here.
Nokia Lumia 800
Now technically this should have the worst sound quality out of the lot. Its been dissed publicly, and the first post you get when you google its sound quality is a post on the Nokia forums talking about its disastrous sound quality through low impedance headphones before the 12070 update, and some even after it. Now listening through the JVCs and the EP630s it is clear as day. The Nokia Lumia 800 was never targeted to be used as a dedicated mp3 by anyone who cares about sound quality. The sound was just bassless and muffled. Not as bad as my Nokia C2, but quite bad. I felt disappointed until I listened to the same songs using the Koss PortaPros. I couldnt believe how good things sounded. Ellie Goulding's Home, Drake's Miss Me, Nujabes' Song of Four Seasons and Foster The People's Helena Beat. All of them sounded The Best I'd ever heard them. Now I dont know how. Or why. They sounded rounded, warm and nothing over the top but still really good. Listening to the same songs again on the Sansa Clip+ should have removed the placebo effect, but it was clear. The Sansa had better stereo separation and a wider sound, but the Lumia sounded better (to me) with more detail in the lows, very very good unmuddled bass (the sansa was bassier but it felt almost overpowering with the Koss), and clear vocals with it. The sansa Clip was alot louder on the highest volume setting but if you dont want to blow your ears ff, the Lumia does a commendable job. Plus the interface on Zune is miles better than anything that tiny screen can offer.
Now if I had my iTouch which I recently sold I wouldve loved to compare it with the Lumia as well, but the Sansa Clip+ sounds better than the iTouch so thats not a big problem. I would love to hear people who have Sony walkmans or Cowon's media players to make comparisons though.
Have you guys ever compared the sound on different media players or different headsets? Noone ever discusses the Lumia series as a media player. This might help. Please feel free to correct me and add your own experiences.
Nice review.
Before I got my Lumia 800, I had a Samsung Nexus S, and I can clearly tell that the Lumia 800 is the inferior media player. The main reason is not even the sound quality, but the fact that there's no equalizer settings on the Lumia 800. That, and it doesn't support FLAC. There's no such thing as Voodoo Sound either.
The sound quality itself is not bad at all on Lumia 800, but it's WAAAAAY worse than the Nexus S. Obviously because the Nexus S had a God-tier Wolfson DAC.
Hi Xperia users!
I've been doing some basic research into which of the 2012 Xperias have the best audio quality, as tested on sites such as
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_sola-review-766p5.php
The tests that this site does focuses on: Frequency response, Noise level , Dynamic range, THD and IMD Noise and stereo crosstalk.
I've tried pasting results here but it becomes a mess. If you have one of these phones already, you can click on your phone from here: http://www.gsmarena.com/sony-phones-7.php
and click on skip to review of music player to find out how your phone performs. From what I can see, Sony's 2012 phones on the whole, don't compare well. The audio output through the speaker is generally excellent, but through the earphones there is a significant drop in quality across the board. If you look through the results, you can compare a phone with almost anything you like, but I focussed on the Xperia S, Arc and all the Apple iPhones and the latest iPod classic. A key element in performance seems to be not performing well in just one area, but across all of them, which the reviewers from the site claim is what makes Apple products the best in the business.
Any comments? Any notes?
I'm in the market for a newer Xperia, but unfortunately, I'm not sure there is a good iPod replacement in this list. The more mid-range Go beats the S and Sola high end phones. I would love to hear Sony's reasoning for this. Also, one of my 2011 phones, while not expensive, beats all of the 2012 phones according to these tests which I don't understand. Any guidance or perspective? I really appreciate the results of tests like these which overcome human bias and subjectivity with terribly overused words such as 'crisp' and 'clear sound' etc. but on the other hand, I realise that numbers in a test don't indicate audio pleasure...so personal and practical use is relevant. :victory:
Are these results reliable do you think? Anything else to consider?
XS: the DAC (think 'soundcard') is great, the headphones themselves are ****ty. Get something better and you'll have really nice sound.
i am also interested in this. i am planning to but Xperia S in saturday but have my worries about the sound quality. its using the same sound chip with sensation xe and the sensation. i can tell that from the frequency graph of them all. they all have same vibrating between 1K 10K.. but when i look at the dynamic range (the ability of pruducing the most differet notes at the same time) and the noise level (basicly the loudness without losing the clearity) are worse than sensation brothers. we can adjust them easily with software (because the difference is something like %1).
but the most important part is the distortions. i mean you can listen your music with %1-2 less volume but no one would want to listen any distorted sound. sony seems like doing better on the IMD+ values but the most important is Total Harmonic distortion and it is very high on the xperia S. however, by looking at the positive values of the sensation XE i believe this problem can be sorted out with software too..
in real life? with a lossless music or comparison sound file we can feel the difference by listening to both an ipod and sony xperia s with the same earphones. and luckily we can change our sound chip software by flashing new mods. and we also can use cyanogenmod which enchances the sound capabilities of many devices.
so there is no way of measuring what we can do with a fully sound tweaked sony device (maybe we can ask gsmarena to run their regular test on a tweaked sony device) but there is room for development in sound department too for sure
That's a really interesting point about tweaking devices. I'm not totally sure I can rely on it though - my last Xperia phone had great audio tweaks but on my latest Xperia phone, all of the audio mods that I've tried detracted from quality, not added so I uses stock audio options.
Good to see someone else in the market for a new phone on the same line of thought as me. I was almost definitely going to get the Xperia Sola but the audio tests on that site indicate it is WEAK with audio! Other phones like the GO which are not marketed as multimedia devices have much, much better results. I cannot buy the Sola if the audio is that bad.
I was going to ask can there be any compromise on the performance indicated; there were around 5 criteria tested, would you buy a phone that ranked poorly on one of them, two of them?
K900 said:
XS: the DAC (think 'soundcard') is great, the headphones themselves are ****ty. Get something better and you'll have really nice sound.
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Do you have the Xperia S?
This is the first thing that i felt when i moved from Lg Optimus Black to Sony Xperia S: a drop in sound quality. I use a Koss Porta Pro in everyday listening.
I think the Xperia S has excellent sound quality. To give you some context, I used to own a Creative Zen Vision:M MP3 player, which sounded better than all the iPods and iPhones I compared it with (up to iPhone 4). I wasn't expecting my Xperia S to replace the Zen, but to my surprise it actually sounded better to my ears. The general frequency response is a bit flatter and it's a lot clearer.
I also compared it with a Cowon Z2 (which many people believe to be the best-sounding MP3 player out there) and there was very little difference. Believe me, the Xperia S is a very good music player indeed. The review on the site you posted said it: "A solid overall performance, which should please anyone but the most demanding audiophiles."
As the review states, the only limitation is a bit of distortion at higher volumes, but we're talking deafening volumes here. There's also a way around it, if you're really serious: a portable headphone amp (I use a cheap but very good Fiio E6), enables you to take the clean lower-volume signal from your phone and amplify it cleanly through your headphones. However, I can assure you it sounds fine without an amplifier.
That is very interesting ^^
I was hoping there might be people who take the holistic view too; looking at the stats but also just listening to what your ears tell you. I'm truly open to these ideas. I was particularly looking at the Sola, but of all the 2012 phones it's stats are the worst. Is that really something to worry about? That info. on the S really changes things...:fingers-crossed:
p.s. I found another site that does these tests. Some of the results differ a little, I guess different testing equipment and earphones. There are 3 very different results for the iPod 6th gen. With that kind of variance, maybe the results for the 2012 Xperias is one snapshot - and not definitive?? For anyone interested,
here's the list of devices tested: (no Xperias unfortunately) http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/rmaa complete - html.html
Here is the 6th gen iPod Classic: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iPodClassicFiiOE1/data.htm
The iPhone 4S: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iphone4s/data.htm
Also, on this site: http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html they keep talking about the audio chip used in devices. They mention that certain iPhones and Galaxies use the Wolfson audio chip, which seems to very highly regarded.
Here is a great article on smartphone audio, audio chips and stats comparison: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...ne-x-isnt-amazing-at-all-even-by-the-numbers/
SharpnShiny said:
That is very interesting ^^
I was hoping there might be people who take the holistic view too; looking at the stats but also just listening to what your ears tell you. I'm truly open to these ideas. I was particularly looking at the Sola, but of all the 2012 phones it's stats are the worst. Is that really something to worry about? That info. on the S really changes things...:fingers-crossed:
p.s. I found another site that does these tests. Some of the results differ a little, I guess different testing equipment and earphones. There are 3 very different results for the iPod 6th gen. With that kind of variance, maybe the results for the 2012 Xperias is one snapshot - and not definitive?? For anyone interested,
here's the list of devices tested: (no Xperias unfortunately) http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/rmaa complete - html.html
Here is the 6th gen iPod Classic: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iPodClassicFiiOE1/data.htm
The iPhone 4S: http://www.markuskraus.com/RMAA/iphone4s/data.htm
Also, on this site: http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html they keep talking about the audio chip used in devices. They mention that certain iPhones and Galaxies use the Wolfson audio chip, which seems to very highly regarded.
Here is a great article on smartphone audio, audio chips and stats comparison: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...ne-x-isnt-amazing-at-all-even-by-the-numbers/
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Click to collapse
Just get the Sola, then get the Wireless Bluetooth Pro Sony headphones which have the new Wofson decoder which is about the best mobile decoder around. I have done that and it is great. Best of both worlds.
mrsatan said:
Just get the Sola, then get the Wireless Bluetooth Pro Sony headphones which have the new Wofson decoder which is about the best mobile decoder around. I have done that and it is great. Best of both worlds.
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I only seen the promo yesterday, she is a sexy beast! :highfive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVS36ggZz1o
hey,
just trust your ears, don't see bad or good depend on testing etc...
i have xperia s, arc, w995, aino, iPod nano 4
the best sound quality for me is
1.W995 (but lack of FLAC)
2. XS (can play FLAC)
3.Aino
4. Arc
5.iPod. ipod sounds great, but after i used itu 2 years, becomes crap sound (don't know why) maybe bad capacitor?
i used FLAC or WAV in my phone (85%)
Which phone do you have now? FLAC eeh? That must burn up the battery! Do you still have an iPod now too? Which one? The iPod I'm using now is the 6th generation Classic. I'll almost definitely have a new phone next week.
SharpnShiny said:
Which phone do you have now? FLAC eeh? That must burn up the battery! Do you still have an iPod now too? Which one? The iPod I'm using now is the 6th generation Classic. I'll almost definitely have a new phone next week.
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how can one get better once one've had the best? lol.. imo, FLAC is the best audio compression right now the battery drain isnt that much.. but the quality of the audio, is that much .. remember when talking bout audio, it's "garbage in, garbage out.."
and yeah, just trust your ears, and dont forget that synergy made better sound than all that graphs and frequency.. and what i meant in synergy is the hardware (dac, dsp, etc), the software (in sxs: walkman and its sound enhancement ), and of course the output (earphone, headphone, speaker, etc)
i did a quick test in flac-listening in SXS (unknown dac , walkman) and SGS3 (the so called wolfson dac, stock audio player), with Yuin PK3 (imho, a decent earphone), and i found out that SXS did sound better. well, i've seen there are mods for sgs3's audio, but didnt try them, both phone are at default (in terms of audio )
m1st3r1 said:
how can one get better once one've had the best? lol.. imo, FLAC is the best audio compression right now the battery drain isnt that much.. but the quality of the audio, is that much .. remember when talking bout audio, it's "garbage in, garbage out.."
and yeah, just trust your ears, and dont forget that synergy made better sound than all that graphs and frequency.. and what i meant in synergy is the hardware (dac, dsp, etc), the software (in sxs: walkman and its sound enhancement ), and of course the output (earphone, headphone, speaker, etc)
i did a quick test in flac-listening in SXS (unknown dac , walkman) and SGS3 (the so called wolfson dac, stock audio player), with Yuin PK3 (imho, a decent earphone), and i found out that SXS did sound better. well, i've seen there are mods for sgs3's audio, but didnt try them, both phone are at default (in terms of audio )
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Its many Sony's software and optimizations that make it sound good. Wolfson is the best DAC when tested, while Sony uses a run of the mill snapdragon DAC. Just goes to show Sony knows sound.
FLAC actually doesn't drain more battery because it uses less calculations to decode.
K900 said:
FLAC actually doesn't drain more battery because it uses less calculations to decode.
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i think we should not consider "compressed" music files like zip or rar files. because they are compressed in an unusable way and needed to be unzipped to become usable again and once they are uncompressed there is no loss in the actual data. so in order to be able to use (listen/watch/execute) a compressed data you need to make lots of procceses through CPU.
however that is not the case in the compressed audio. when compressing a lossless (just recorded the way it was played in real life) audio the codec (or whatever it is that has the alghoritm to compress) listens and analysis the audio and decides which sound to combine. for example; imagine 3 different waves are present at the same time and the alghoritm creates a 4th wave which has the very similar sound of those 3 played at the same time and it records that 4th one only instead of the first 3. and there are some certain signals that give the impression of surrounding when applied to human ear. finally the alghoritm writes these signals on to the "simulated" waves.
so, basically when we listen an mp3 or any other compressed audio we have the impression of hearing everything but actually we hear a replicated sound which is very very much similar to the total amount of the original sounds for the human ear.
since both FLAC and the mp3 formats are both read only and there is no real time compressing and uncompressing every time the, load on the CPU (or the DAC) should be measured by the "waves" or "codes" that needed to be read. according to this we can say there is much more signal to read and convert to analog in FLAC files..
_delice_doluca_ said:
i think we should not consider "compressed" music files like zip or rar files. because they are compressed in an unusable way and needed to be unzipped to become usable again and once they are uncompressed there is no loss in the actual data. so in order to be able to use (listen/watch/execute) a compressed data you need to make lots of procceses through CPU.
however that is not the case in the compressed audio. when compressing a lossless (just recorded the way it was played in real life) audio the codec (or whatever it is that has the alghoritm to compress) listens and analysis the audio and decides which sound to combine. for example; imagine 3 different waves are present at the same time and the alghoritm creates a 4th wave which has the very similar sound of those 3 played at the same time and it records that 4th one only instead of the first 3. and there are some certain signals that give the impression of surrounding when applied to human ear. finally the alghoritm writes these signals on to the "simulated" waves.
so, basically when we listen an mp3 or any other compressed audio we have the impression of hearing everything but actually we hear a replicated sound which is very very much similar to the total amount of the original sounds for the human ear.
since both FLAC and the mp3 formats are both read only and there is no real time compressing and uncompressing every time the, load on the CPU (or the DAC) should be measured by the "waves" or "codes" that needed to be read. according to this we can say there is much more signal to read and convert to analog in FLAC files..
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I know how it works. Yet, due to specifics of the implementation, FLAC is faster to decode in the specific case of Android.
Ok.. after reading this thread, I decided to compare the audio quality of my SXS with my good old Samsung wave (having wolfson DAC), and my cousin's ipod nano. I am no audiophile here, but to my ear the SXS sounds the best with wave & ipod definitely sounding louder (but bit harsher). I used the default music players and philips shp 2700 to compare them. Tbh my eyes (wrt camera output) n ears (wrt sound quality) really don't go along with the gsmarena test results! Thats just my opinion.
BTW, has anyone tested the auido quality through bluetooth? since i ll be using it with my cars bluetooth i wonder if i ll get any problems with the audio quality or the bluetooth itself..
Dpk1 said:
Ok.. after reading this thread, I decided to compare the audio quality of my SXS with my good old Samsung wave (having wolfson DAC), and my cousin's ipod nano. I am no audiophile here, but to my ear the SXS sounds the best with wave & ipod definitely sounding louder (but bit harsher). I used the default music players and philips shp 2700 to compare them. Tbh my eyes (wrt camera output) n ears (wrt sound quality) really don't go along with the gsmarena test results! Thats just my opinion.
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Thanks for sharing your results! I was beginning to wonder which devices everyone has here, we could mention which you think works best for you and run with it.
I've been using and testing music on various Xperias and iPods over the last few years. My nanos beat my classic and yet my 2011 Xperia has clearer sound with less hissing, especially at higher volume.
As I've been exploring on another thread, to get the best out of your Xperia on Android, it seems we need better class SD cards (I'm now looking at only class 10) to overcome the longer 'distance' that the data has to travel (computer, cable, phone, SD vs iPod 'distance' of computer, cable, iPod) and such an SD would boost transfer speed of course. I want to get each piece right; quality of audio on phone, better SD and perhaps cable and better earphones.
So they came today!
I literally went to the registration site at 12:03 (17/10) and put in my phone and supplier details. Got confirmation of the freebies and they have arrived.
Not bad for a 14 day cooling off period.
Ok time for some hard truth.
I'll tell you why they are giving these things away.. It's because they don't really give you higher than 44khz well at least that's what I'm getting from the Dev BT debug info. which keeps reverting to 44khz 16bit.
They DO sit very snug though almost feel like you're wearing nothing. If they could shrink these down to just sit in your ear canal without the extra hardware then that would be something.
AAC @ 44100 which I'm guessing the AAC makes up for in the highs and lows.
I can't force the audio quality to go any better than this. I've tried just setting up to only 2 Bluetooth audio devices but doesn't seem to make this any better.
That being said the quality of the audio is a factor. Find some HQ dolby atmos audio demos and you might be able to apreciate these. You need HQ audio files and not MP3
The Audio is very good don't get me wrong but if you are expecting to get 96Khz at 32bits out of these then forget it.
So Dolby Atmos it is then.
DSEE HX is only for Wired Headphones.
Stick with Wired Headphones if you want true high fidelity. I'll keep you posted once I start walking around with these outside (praying not to get mugged for wearing these) to see just how good the noise cancellation is. Seems to overcompensate in a quiet room so you just need to turn this off or down otherwise you'll hear noise.
and the most no go at this set is u can't change the volume at the speakers....u always have to take out your cell phone and change volume with the phone only
I don't use nc on mine. Or ambient. I crank em up anyway.
I use mine everyday for walking the dog, had em some time. I will say, for my small ears, I surely feel wearing them when walking. And need from time to time to resnug em in, not that I'm afraid I'll loose one, I just loose snugness. This I'll compensate by wearing a beanie. No issues then.
I'll guess, this would eliminate the chances of being muged. Even though, not even worth stealing imo. Way to expensive, to what it is. So being a thief for this, is stupid. ????? So the question is, who would mug you?? Lol whoever must be stupid. ?
What did you pay for the bundle?
In Denmark it was 3336,- Dkk / 495,- US / 445,- EUR with carrier deal ofc. Phone Xperia now alone is stunning 830,- US in Denmark, with a following 300,- us wf 1000 mx3 that's 1100,-+ us. Wtf. Pretty glad got it all for under 500
One of few. Comes from Japan.
DanielMode said:
and the most no go at this set is u can't change the volume at the speakers....u always have to take out your cell phone and change volume with the phone only
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Well u don't have to take it out, as button layout is pretty easy,even in case and through pocket. This is one of my least concerns. Why on Earth no LDAC codec for bt. As is Sony's own standard. Hi-res? They got the apple part. And released a Android. Makes sense. On the other hand. The mh version, as this is supposed to mimic, is oem but is far superior, and nothing alike to this iem. With a similar pricetag. I'll even go to my 950n'1s if it came to features. And real life buttons, no touch. Volume controll is the least missing. ? And I'll actually prefer em to my mh, I'd admit, imma basehead, the 950's for oem
Wired I'd use my ah-d7100 but then I gotta carry a dual set fiio combo besides. They are mostly just for looks at the desk. Lol
And I can only use the left one alone. Unless I start paring both. Besides. If I leave on the table, yes I'm like that, don't really care, then the left one will shut off, in 5 min, as supposed if not wearing. The right one will stay alive till draind. Is this just here?
They a supposed to connect to the box, and to what ever. Problem is, I think, they do not. As I can easily leave my case behind.
Sony broke their own codec this time around. ? It was a bundle. ??
No LDAC/ no hi-res
No auto shutoff
No individual listening.
To heavy if not dumbo the elephant
To expensive
Not even starting on the phone it self, ****less fpc. No impressive sound. Dolby atmos. Right. No dark mode on pie??? Like Huawei???? So it continues. Unfortunately.
You can get around. Sure. But it's surely not otb
Still might overall be the best iem nc bt. Or they are. So much room for improvement.
But all this before Volume controll. Hi-res listner has an amp. You'll never controll unless its by hand. ??
But all together, top tier for what's possible, and do count on like 100hours Play in.
Why hate. Sony is true underdog, but not for any fun.
These headphones are some of the best i've ever used. The noise cancelling works great. They don't seem to be suited for heavy music, like Metal, but i haven't played with the EQ yet. But listening to something like Pink Floyd or Steely Dan they sound amazing. They play every detail.
I highly recommend these, good for office use if you want to disconnect from your surroundings for a while.
pookiethebear said:
These headphones are some of the best i've ever used. The noise cancelling works great. They don't seem to be suited for heavy music, like Metal, but i haven't played with the EQ yet. But listening to something like Pink Floyd or Steely Dan they sound amazing. They play every detail.
I highly recommend these, good for office use if you want to disconnect from your surroundings for a while.
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Surprised to hear that. I find the sound quality underwhelming. Even my old HTC wired earphone sounds better.
I bought it for the noise cancelling though.
maybe not the best but I'm pretty satisfied with this headset,especially the durability of the battery
davidletterboyz said:
Surprised to hear that. I find the sound quality underwhelming. Even my old HTC wired earphone sounds better.
I bought it for the noise cancelling though.
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Sound reproduction is a personal thing however I sincerley fail to see how you find these "Underwelming" I have been buying high end hifi for nearly 50 years and can safely write the Sony's are outstanding and only 'bettered' by the much more expensive Sennheisers. Wired headphones are in a different catagory all together from wirelss. unwise to compare apples with oranges.