Related
I really wanna get the amaze and really don't care for anything else recently released or pegged to be released this year. I can overlook all the other issues, since I think overall the phone is amaze-ing, but my biggest gripe is that the audio capture quality when recording video is horrendous. And they had the nerve to tout the camcorder by putting a dedicated button! It is earsplittingly sharp and distorted. Makes my ears hurt and hard to understand in general, not to mention all the stray sounds that sound like there's a lightning storm somewhere... I can't believe so many reviewers think it sounds good or tout the 44khz stereo recording. Blegh. It shares a lot of DNA with the Mytouch 4g slide and somehow inherited that phone's bad audio as well.
I'm thinking there should be a software fix, somehow, since I doubt the audio sounds like this when making a call. I don't know why there would be such a big difference in the first place. I don't think they fixed the bad audio in the mytouch 4g slide, so they are probably just gonna leave the amaze half-baked. Why does no one care about the audio quality of videos? At least the loudspeaker is decent I hear, with some wild polar opposite mixed reactions though...
katamari201 said:
I really wanna get the amaze and really don't care for anything else recently released or pegged to be released this year. I can overlook all the other issues, since I think overall the phone is amaze-ing, but my biggest gripe is that the audio capture quality when recording video is horrendous. And they had the nerve to tout the camcorder by putting a dedicated button! It is earsplittingly sharp and distorted. Makes my ears hurt and hard to understand in general, not to mention all the stray sounds that sound like there's a lightning storm somewhere... I can't believe so many reviewers think it sounds good or tout the 44khz stereo recording. Blegh. It shares a lot of DNA with the Mytouch 4g slide and somehow inherited that phone's bad audio as well.
I'm thinking there should be a software fix, somehow, since I doubt the audio sounds like this when making a call. I don't know why there would be such a big difference in the first place. I don't think they fixed the bad audio in the mytouch 4g slide, so they are probably just gonna leave the amaze half-baked. Why does no one care about the audio quality of videos? At least the loudspeaker is decent I hear, with some wild polar opposite mixed reactions though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i feel the same way. if audio is fixable, i will get this phone. if not, then camcorder is a useless feature.
Is a hardware issue with most htc phones. My G2 and mytouch 4g were the same way. The quality is not as terrible as people say, its just not on par with the quality of the rest of the phone making it an easy issue to point out. No phone is perfect. Sadly, they all have their down sides. Overall The phone is top notch!
Proud HTC Amaze owner
Darn its a hardware issue? Saying no phone is perfect really doesn't excuse the bad audio issue. It kind of breaks the camcorder for me. The bad audio isn't just hearsay, its half a dozen or more youtube videos with that really bad audio, and then all the other videos showing HTC's legacy of bad audio, like from the MyTouch 4g Slide. And the Amaze is damn sexy too. They seem to be the only Android manufacturer making those curvy nice unibody metal phones. Kind of disappointed with the Galaxy Nexus. lol. I'm jumping for the Atrix 2, cuz Motorola has gone up leaps and bounds on the camcorder with the Bionic and now the Atrix 2. It's also dirt cheap in comparison to the Amaze. Man decisions. But the Amaze feels so sexy...
there might be a software fix (like voodoo sound?) Once we start getting into the phone more...possibly a Mic filter?
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
I haven't really heard of one for HTC phones, or really a fix the bad audio recording on any phone ever. I don't really follow this stuff though so I could be completely wrong. The best I've seen is higher bitrate/sampling hacks, but it really doesn't fix a bad mic. I'm guessing it was engineered deliberately that way or left that way because they couldn't find a solution or were lazy and thought no one would care. I think its impossible to not hear the flagrant sound problems unless their sound engineers were turning Beethoven.
I've noticed the Amaze sound problems on all youtube amaze videos which are in stereo. the audio for GS2 videos is all mono, but much better quality.
Test mono audio with video...? what is result. Is it same problem?
marstodd said:
I've noticed the Amaze sound problems on all youtube amaze videos which are in stereo. the audio for GS2 videos is all mono, but much better quality.
Test mono audio with video...? what is result. Is it same problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, what is the difference between mono and stereo?
There is a thread for amaze recording for both mono and stereo.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1302710.
Stereo would be MUCH better, giving spacial dimension, and with headphones the youtube amaze stereo audio is nice but terrible quality. Noise and no low end. SG2 has good sound fidelity but is only mono, single source but fidelity is more important than stereo.
I did notice the SG2 XDA has 32 bit CD quality sound but don't know if it's stereo.
the first try to do an audio fix would be use an equalizer. Load a video (with audio) into a processing program on a PC or Mac and see if the sound quality is fixable. If someone has an in with HTC they should get a response about this from the engineers.
---------- Post added at 09:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 AM ----------
I know cyanogenmod has the graphic audio equalizer so yeah, thinking about it WE NEED AN APP! Take the damn stereo channels in the AMAZING videos, apply equalization according to the user's gui settings, and save the video!
this will definitely fix the stinkin amaze audio problems and preserve this precious stereo (with no external mic) and fix-a-de-problem. But maybe an external stereo mic is the way to go.....
(baby)
I don't think an equalizer is gonna fix this problem. I've also heard the mono recording from the amaze. It isn't that much better than the stereo. I'm not too concerned whether it is mono or stereo. You are using a phone to record, both mics being only a few cm away from each other and usually not even placed in a proper left/right configuration. The other mic should just focus on noise cancellation. The other problem is the Amaze is $550 even on ebay...
Maybe someone would plug a stereo (condenser probably) microphone in and see if it records well good fidelity with stereo.
Since SGS2 has a top and bottom mic and I think is mono, I wonder if they use them for decent low end. (as well as noise cancellation if that's necessary)
One problem with the Amaze is no low frequencies.
The other problem is clipping noise which cannot be corrected except by recording level adjustment.
---------- Post added at 01:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------
The stereo on the Amaze recordings is really great. (put on some headphones and compare). my opinion is it's really a good thing.
marstodd said:
Maybe someone would plug a stereo (condenser probably) microphone in and see if it records well good fidelity with stereo.
Since SGS2 has a top and bottom mic and I think is mono, I wonder if they use them for decent low end. (as well as noise cancellation if that's necessary)
One problem with the Amaze is no low frequencies.
The other problem is clipping noise which cannot be corrected except by recording level adjustment.
---------- Post added at 01:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------
The stereo on the Amaze recordings is really great. (put on some headphones and compare). my opinion is it's really a good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be clear, you like it and everyone else hates it?
thanx
To be clear: I like the stereo! that is very different than the fidelity. (frequency response)
The fidelity is the frequency response and the clipping problems. They are very bad but they might just be the microphones not the audio circuits, and the circuits might be connected to a stereo microphone input on the input jack so that stereo would be preserved, and it'd have decent sound. (by plugging in a stereo mic)
Is that clear?
Thanks!
The SGS2 has great fidelity but it is mono. At least from the phone's microphones which I assume are not stereo but are noise cancelling or maybe fix the frequency response. (Maybe the SGS2 has a stereo mic input I don't know that either!!)
P.S. We need hardware threads on xda-developers or maybe there is a hardware dedicated web site for cell phones (needed)
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but didn't want to start a new one.
I believe the problem is Sense 3.0 related and the gain HTC applied to the mics. I've come from a Sensation - and we had the exact same clipping problem on the phone with stereo recording and mono sounded a little better, but not much. When the Sense 3.5 leak came out, end of September for the Sensation the clipping problem went away in stereo recording. I went to a Sense 3.5 Rom for that reason alone because stereo recording sounded terrific. Once you bump up the media_profiles.xml to accept a higher bitrate it was a terrific stereo camcorder. No clipping at all.
I just got the Amaze and have given the Sensation to my wife with a Sense 3.5 Rom.
I love everything so far about the Amaze, the stereo clipping is the only issue I'd like to see fixed, at least for me.
BTW - I've listened to some YouTube vids of the Rezound camcorder and they sound fine in stereo. And the Rezound is Sense 3.5.
I've looked around for an adjustment in the smalis of the htccamera.apk but can't find anything that relates to the mic gain.
Anyone have any idea where the fix would be for this?
IDK if this will help but their is two thing that I did that seemed to help.
1) Make sure your finger isn't over the mic, it happens more than you think.
2)Use and External Mic, i have a pair of beats headphones that seem to have better audio than the mic it self.
In reality their isn't really an easy fix like flashing something. Its a hardware thing overall of the phone. Hope this helps this is all I could think of that might help.
Hello,
I have read in reviews that the ear piece speaker and external facing speaker are not the best in our phone, HTC Amaze, however, I was wondering if any one had tweaks or an app to "boost" them, outside of manually adjusting the volume on the phone of course?
I think I saw 2 apps that were developed for the nexus galaxy that improved the LED and the speakers respectively.
Thanks for any ideas
windcan said:
Hello,
I have read in reviews that the ear piece speaker and external facing speaker are not the best in our phone, HTC Amaze, however, I was wondering if any one had tweaks or an app to "boost" them, outside of manually adjusting the volume on the phone of course?
I think I saw 2 apps that were developed for the nexus galaxy that improved the LED and the speakers respectively.
Thanks for any ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you say that cuz of the reviews you have read or cuz you really feel they are not the best?
I have found that I would like a louder ear piece and speaker.
It is OK in a quiet environment however, if there is exterior or ambient noise I feel myself working harder than I would like to ensure I hear clearly the person speaking.
You don't have a similar experience?
I'm fine. Everyone's hearing is different however. Are you talking about direct ear contact or strictly headphones?
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using xda premium
direct ear contact I find the volume level and quality not as good as I would like.
windcan said:
direct ear contact I find the volume level and quality not as good as I would like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.bang-olufsen.com/earphones
These are amazing better the bose, beats audio or anything you have ever listened to...the base is not crazy like beats audio, clarity is unmatched I have had these for 5 years I paid around 200 for them...absolutely worth it...very clear, you won't believe your ears...you can try them at a bang and olufsen store if you have one near you... They are so comfortable and stay on, you won't even feel them...best comfort best sound. what else do you want...fully adjustable..
http://www.amazon.com/Bang-Olufsen-A8-Earphones-Aluminum/dp/B000QW70AK
Have_you_ever_had_your_ears_cleaned?Either_a_doctor_or_ear-candles...
It's_amazing_how_dirty_a_human's_ears_get_and_thus_limits_aural_perception.
TheSneakerWhore said:
Have_you_ever_had_your_ears_cleaned?Either_a_doctor_or_ear-candles...
It's_amazing_how_dirty_a_human's_ears_get_and_thus_limits_aural_perception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jeesh! It is a common problem in a noisy environment. I have excellent hearing and no ear wax...ewww. I have a terrible time hearing through the earpiece and find myself constantly moving the phone around on my ear trying to find the sweet spot.
If you enable the "hearing aids" option in settings/call, it will amplify the sound considerably but then it sounds like a speakerphone with no privacy. Maybe in a very noisy environment, that wouldn't be a problem. I tried it in my local very noisy grocery store and it worked fine but still sounded too much like the speakerphone. At least I could hear what the other person was saying!
I have moved the phone around my ear a lot to figure out where the loudest sound is coming from and when I sort of point the very top of the phone at the ear canal, the sound is much louder. Maybe this will help but it is still frustrating. Never had a phone that is so hard to hear in a noisy environment.
Ever since I booted up the DNA, the speaker sounded outrageously loud distinguishably.
I pulled out my old Samsung Fascinate and tested its decibel level at full volume...and guess what; the full volume from the Fascinate is close to what the DNA produces at the lowest volume level!!!
At full volume from the DNA, it clearly eats up the sound from my laptop at its full volume.
Nonetheless the sound quality even at full is just superb with no distortion nor uneven dynamics of each frequencies (From standards of a phone of course), but it is just too damn loud even at the lowest level.
Yeah I like how loud and clear it is, but I also find it annoying that this thing is still quite loud at the literal lowest volume setting haha. Oh well...
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda premium
Mine isn't very loud .. is it broke?
Sent from my HTC Droid DNA
Yeah, it really cramps my style watching videos in my work bathroom. I have to lug my N7 around now because of it!
Using speakerphone is a bit quiet for my taste.
x4sper said:
Mine isn't very loud .. is it broke?
Sent from my HTC Droid DNA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could test your DNA's decibel levels and have HTC determine if your device is functioning as it should be. But I doubt that yours is a faulty one, as HTC would test all products during the manufacturing stage.
GSM arena tested it
x4sper said:
Mine isn't very loud .. is it broke?
Sent from my HTC Droid DNA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GSM arena tested it and it did very well it is supposed to be 83.1 decibels so I suppose if yours is less than that then your speaker is faulty. I feel like mine is not that loud of a speaker so I may have the same problem as you.:crying:
True.
I would agree, it seems rather loud, especially for some of the ringtones. It also depends on the ambience of the room obviously. In a quiet house where no noise is made for several hours, a simple tone on low volume seems too loud. Though when I go outside, sometimes the speaker is not loud enough. I can't ever find that happy medium.
Ha! OK, I thought I was the only one to think this phone was loud. In fact, I even seem to remember seeing another post on here about the phone being too quiet. Whaaaa?!? I find myself attempting to turn down the earpiece volume even though it's already on the lowest setting. Sometimes I think people sitting next to me are listening in... I can use the earpiece as a speakerphone in a quiet setting. Any devs out there planning on creating a custom ROM would do themselves good to add a wider sound range for the earpiece speaker.
Mine is noticeably loud but not like, exceptionally so. I usually keep it like 2 notches below full and the ringtones are kind of "normal volume".
This is interesting. I have found my DNA to be too quiet even with volume at 100%. I can barely hear (let alone understand) the navigation voice when driving in my car. Though I do find the earpiece to be ridiculously loud. Other people around me can easily hear the caller speaking when I'm on the phone. I'll have to see if I can find a way to test it.
Put me in the "too loud on speakerphone" category. The sound is clear, but it is WAY too loud at the lowest volume setting on speakerphone. It's a real problem for me, as I ALWAYS use the speakerphone, but I don't want everyone within 50 feet to hear my conversation. It's crazy-loud.
Is there any way to tweak this? Some dbproperties, or whatever? Also, has anyone been able to root this phone? I can't find any instructions that actually work. Thanks
ClarkSt,
Adjusting output level from software or kernel isn't yet possible on this device, but you can reduce the speaker volume manually; simply cover the speaker bar with your finger or some rubber or wood material to the length which you want it to be.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Yeah, it's pretty loud for me too, but only on the second setting level, the first level is perfect on mine, I compared it to a Galaxy S2 and Nexus.
So... Not sure what's going on. But my m8 seems to only be loud on the last 3 clicks of the volume slider. Anything below that is almost inaudiabe.
Is this normal?
Sound just doesn't travel far either. I'm running skydragon with the hardon karmon thing. So maybe that's bugged?
Just need to know what volumes I should expect.
Definitely abnormal. I have to keep my phone reasonably low or else my ring tone is obnoxiously loud. One thing I know I have on my phone is that the speaker grills are a little bit occluded with what looks like where they drilled holes for the speakers. They are filled with material which does impede sound. Doesn't impact my experience enough to degrade the experience as a whole but check it out
Sent from my HTC One_M8
Assume you are talking about the speakers (versus headphone volume), as you don't specify, but do mention how the sound "travels".
Similar to the above response, I find the volume to be just great. The loudest speakers on any smartphone I've owned, by far. Normally have it at about 2/3 max volume when listening to music with the device somewhat nearby (maybe about 5-10 feet from where I am) and find it plenty loud enough to enjoy and hear details in the sound, etc. But still able to hear people in the room talking to me. The last couple "clicks" on the volume slider are too loud for me under most circumstances, actually. Of course that depends a bit on your own tastes (on how loud you want it), what you are listening to, how far you are from the phone, etc.
Ringtone volume anywhere above maybe 1/3 is obnoxiously loud.
I'd try a different ROM. I'm presently on InsertCoin, which has Harmon Kardon, but does not seem to have affected the overall volume significantly. It might be the ROM you are on, or some result of your settings/configuration. Hopefully its just the ROM, and not some sort of hardware defect.
redpoint73 said:
Assume you are talking about the speakers (versus headphone volume), as you don't specify, but do mention how the sound "travels".
Similar to the above response, I find the volume to be just great. The loudest speakers on any smartphone I've owned, by far. Normally have it at about 2/3 max volume when listening to music with the device somewhat nearby (maybe about 5-10 feet from where I am) and find it plenty loud enough to enjoy and hear details in the sound, etc. But still able to hear people in the room talking to me. The last couple "clicks" on the volume slider are too loud for me under most circumstances, actually. Of course that depends a bit on your own tastes (on how loud you want it), what you are listening to, how far you are from the phone, etc.
Ringtone volume anywhere above maybe 1/3 is obnoxiously loud.
I'd try a different ROM. I'm presently on InsertCoin, which has Harmon Kardon, but does not seem to have affected the overall volume significantly. It might be the ROM you are on, or some result of your settings/configuration. Hopefully its just the ROM, and not some sort of hardware defect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah! Thank you mate. That gives me a much better idea of the phone's potential.
Also...I'm very gentle with my electronics, how durable are the speakers to damage?
Locklear308 said:
Also...I'm very gentle with my electronics, how durable are the speakers to damage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean like blowing them out? I don't think you will do that just by playing MP3, streaming music, etc. Once you have the low volume issue resolved, you might just keep the volume a notch or 2 below max volume to be safe. But I wouldn't worry about it too much.
TheEmpyre said:
One thing I know I have on my phone is that the speaker grills are a little bit occluded with what looks like where they drilled holes for the speakers. They are filled with material which does impede sound. Doesn't impact my experience enough to degrade the experience as a whole but check it out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The speakers actually do not span the length of the speaker grill. The obstruction you're seeing on ~50% of the bottom grill and ~40% of the top grill are other hardware components (headphone/usb ports on bottom, camera module, etc. on top). The actual speakers are only on the left half of both grills, which you can test by playing music and covering the right sides with your thumbs, then the left sides.
---------- Post added at 12:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 PM ----------
Locklear308 said:
Also...I'm very gentle with my electronics, how durable are the speakers to damage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I regularly blast them on max volume in lieu of the radio my piece of **** car doesn't have. I do this twice a day for about 30 minutes both ways, and haven't noticed any damage or degradation.
modest_mandroid said:
I regularly blast them on max volume in lieu of the radio my piece of **** car doesn't have. I do this twice a day for about 30 minutes both ways, and haven't noticed any damage or degradation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's awesome. HTC kicker box!
I'm looking for a bluetooth headset for phone calls with following preferences:
Mono & fits well on ear, i.e. without headband.
Supports voice commands
Excellent background noise reduction
Auto-answers when placed on ear.
Comes with charging dock. (optional)
Budget is $75 or less.
It does not need to be good with music or movies. This is dedicated to phone calls.
EDIT: By noise reduction, I mean noise isolation, i.e. the ability of the microphone to focus on my voice and not other noises in the room.
I can tell you I bought the Amazon Buds thinking they'd be good for this. They are not. Microphone is far too sensitive. I've tried a bunch of Chinese One's and they also are pretty bad. I've just ordered the $50 newegg refurb of the Jabra 65t earbuds as the reviews say they are spectacular from a sound isolation - but wont know first hand until this weekend... And there's also the risk of getting duds and having to return. But if you find a set, please post on here.
---------- Post added at 07:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 PM ----------
phillsimpson said:
I can tell you I bought the Amazon Buds thinking they'd be good for this. They are not. Microphone is far too sensitive. I've tried a bunch of Chinese One's and they also are pretty bad. I've just ordered the $50 newegg refurb of the Jabra 65t earbuds as the reviews say they are spectacular from a sound isolation - but wont know first hand until this weekend... And there's also the risk of getting duds and having to return. But if you find a set, please post on here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[Update], rereading I see you ask for a mono.single ear, I've not got anything to add there. I was looking for dual earbuds. I'll leave my response in case it's useful to others in a similar situation. Sorry about that.
You should consider Plantronics Edge, or 3200. I had the 1st one, I have the 2nd one. Excellent sound quality. HD voice, Noise cancellation. Only windy environment doesn't isolate. If there is a place too crowded, still the person on the other side of line, hear you well.
I'm on a lot of calls for work, and the Jabra Stealth has been my go-to for years after trying many others. A huge plus is that it has a dedicated button that allows you to mute the call you're on, which is a huge feature for me.
EDIT: Jabra re-branded their products. The Stealth is now called the Talk 45: https://www.jabra.com/bluetooth-headsets/jabra-talk-45#/#100-99800900-02