I've had my TFP for 2 days now, very happy in general about the device. The on thing that does bother me though is the speaker volume. When I play the same youtube video on both my TFP and iPhone 4 (aiming the iPhone speaker away from me just like the TFP speaker is) the volume on the TFP is considerably lower than on the IP4. To be honest, and I am far from deaf, some youtube video's are just impossible to watch because of this low volume. MKV files in bsPlayer or Dice are very low in volume as well.
Is this normal?
edit: Two other q's:
2. Unlocking the device by keyboard using the mouse buttons/unlock key just stopped working, anyone else had this?
3. Is there a keyboard key to get into the Task Switcher/Recent Apps?
I honestly can say that my Prime is lovely and loud, never any issues with volume. Check all your volume levels in Settings > Sound > Volumes, mine are all at max. I assume you've probably already done that though.
Yea everything is set to max. I know there are apps in the store with which you can boost you volume, but im not sure how safe these are for the speaker. Since I don't know anyone with a TFP I have no one to compare my device with. It just seems strange to me that the TFP seems to have lower max volume than my phone.
I am using an app called Volume+. It works great at increasing the sound volume and customizing the bass, mids, treble.
And you are not afraid Volume+ will mess up your speaker forever?
pmuch12345 said:
I am using an app called Volume+. It works great at increasing the sound volume and customizing the bass, mids, treble.
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Click to collapse
+1 for this app, I've been using it on my nexus s since may and have had no issues. You can set it pretty high before it starts distorting your volume--as long as you don't set the volume to max all the time, it shouldn't do anything to your speakers. Just make sure the max volume isn't distorting anything
Volume+ is the ultimate app to boost volume. My prime sounds very loud n clear now. It works. Checkout the thread on it in themes n apps section.
I've had select youtube videos be lower than others, but the prime's sound is usually pretty loud. Its loud enough to turn to about 85% and it play music in a crowded room and everyone still be able to hear the music (e.g. hotel room party). I haven't used Volume+, but I I just installed it and will use it now.
mizzery85 said:
I've had select youtube videos be lower than others, but the prime's sound is usually pretty loud. Its loud enough to turn to about 85% and it play music in a crowded room and everyone still be able to hear the music (e.g. hotel room party). I haven't used Volume+, but I I just installed it and will use it now.
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Click to collapse
Make sure to follow the instructions. Best to use thread in themes n apps section as a reference. This also boosts headphone volume also if you check it off. After you installed n set it up, make sure to go into prime settings, then sound, then music fx. Make sure the volume+ one is checked off n press OK. Might have to press OK a couple times if it tries to throw up an error. Whatever you do, don't go trying to Max everything out in volume +. Best to leave sound on "good" quality.
Hello all,
I am experiencing a very weird volume issue. I'm debating sending the phone in for the insurance, but I heard that this phone has stopped being sent back as a replacement, my buddy with the same one had to pick a different one. So I would like to find a workaround
Problem:
The volume is inconsistent, very much so, but only at very intermittent times, sometimes frequently. It starts at one of the two levels, low and high, and switches between the two sometimes 5 times in a few min or once every few day. it occurs across every application and every re-install of the venom rom.
It is a problem because 1. it is annoying, and 2.I have a very loud sound system in my car.
Normal loud listening volume is around 20-23 out of 35. i can turn it all the way up with no distortion and it is extremely loud at this point, loud enough to damage ears easily. When I turn it up that loud(at festivals) I like to wear earplugs in it. When I'm just driving I don't need it that loud, but I always ride to taste with the volume. Sometimes i don't look at the volume level on my car, the volume on my phone is up all the way but it has decided to take a low level to start today. While driving and not looking at the volume, just listening to it, i will usually set my volume at 33-35, then the phone decides to jump to it's loud setting making me cringe and swerve in pain and surprise as I sound like a rattling venue driving around. I have mostly solved this by just using my ipod. But I really like having spotify and pandora in there. plus android kicks ass, my ipod feels like a backup hard drive in it's waterproof case
Have Tried:
Pushing volume button up(does nothing when low)
Rebooting
Re-installing os
Bluetooth vs aux (both same problem)
resetting Bluetooth connection
removing and and pushing in headphones
placing a call
Guess:
it appears to not affect calls or ringer volume, just media volume, even speakerphone is unaffected. my guess is something in the audio processing section due to it affecting bluetooth and aux out. I have ruled out speaker, installed programs, connection type, time of day, specific mp3's, temperature, movement and what i'm doing on it. It is really stumping me, usually I can figure out what is broken on the inside of things hardware related, but I don't know the inner workings of this phone exactly.
Would like:
To know what is actually going on. A fix would be awesome, but I mainly want to know what it could possibly be. It has confused me for too long.
To know if the phone can be replaced for the same model to hold out until next summer
Would not like:
To be told to just get a new phone. I like this one and the rom on it. plus i already paid for it and a new battery. i will live with the issue until next summer if need be
Any ideas?
Which media player are you using? Since it only occurs during media playback perhaps a different media player will give you some insight
j13smiley said:
Which media player are you using? Since it only occurs during media playback perhaps a different media player will give you some insight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually use power amp.
Though the problem occurs across that, the stock media player, Pandora, spotify, youtube, flash videos. pretty much everything except for calls and ringer.
Try using a app that (re)sets the volume every time you connect to the radio via Bluetooth. I use a car dock that automatically launches my car app (car home ultra) when the phone is inserted, and the app then automatically sets the Bluetooth media volume to a preset volume every time.
Sent from my Fireball using Tapatalk Pro
Many of you included myself complain about stock music player. It has uncountable problems but as far as I know it is the only player which can use the built in high end DAC. The most annoying thing is that it plays song in alphabetic order if files appear at all and secondly it is very slow.
I would suggest a temporary solution what I did and it works perfectly so far.
Delete all playlist (m3u, cue etc.).
Remove a metadata from files too.
Remove all songs with metadata from the phone!!!
Delete all record from "My Playlist" in the initial screen. (I was able to do it just one by one)
Reset Music Player by deleting cache and data in Application Settings
Reboot phone
Then open Music Player and play songs from Folder option. It will be enough fast and all songs appear and in filename order.
In order to remove metadata from files I would suggest using Mp3tag
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/
If you collect your files in any structure on the PC, all you can do is to move root folder into Mp3tag screen, select all songs and remove tags by right clicking. Then you can copy files to phone.
!!! Be careful !!!
Don't remove tags from your archive music folder. You cannot undo. Always create temporary folder and copy wishing music files there in order to remove metadata (tags).
Good lock!
obladi64 said:
as far as I know it is the only player which can use the built in high end DAC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where the heck did you read this load of bull?
Flaîm said:
where the heck did you read this load of bull?
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Click to collapse
I have read discussions about it but no one was sure in any other player uses it obviously. If you know such please share it with evidence too. Thanks in advance.
obladi64 said:
I have read discussions about it but no one was sure in any other player uses it obviously. If you know such please share it with evidence too. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unless your device somehow is capable of utilizing magic to process and output audio there's nothing but the only active DAC to do this task, which you can set in your audio settings.
edit: sorry for being a sarcastic ****
Flaîm said:
unless your device somehow is capable of utilizing magic to process and output audio there's nothing but the only active DAC to do this task, which you can set in your audio settings.
edit: sorry for being a sarcastic ****
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except there is two DAC for output : AKM and SD820 built-in.
Flaîm said:
unless your device somehow is capable of utilizing magic to process and output audio there's nothing but the only active DAC to do this task, which you can set in your audio settings.
edit: sorry for being a sarcastic ****
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I was not so precize. Other players don't use AKM dac directly. They do it just via Android which convert all audio input to 48/16 output. Let me know if I am wrong but justify it with something please. Of course then this stream goes to AKM DAC but this not the way we wish it. I welcome any non stock player which can drive dac directly in same way as stock one does. Sooner or later it will be available hopefully but now I don't know any.
If the "Headset HiFi" control in Settings is to switch between SD820 and AKM DACs, then I'm able to use the AKM DAC with other media players that pass audio processing/decoding to the OS (as opposed to fancier players that utilize their own built-in decoding methods/codecs). In my music player of choice (Clean Music), I can switch between the two "Headset HiFi" options (Standard & Super) in the middle of a song and, after a pause to transition, hear a difference between them.
obladi64 said:
Ok I was not so precize. Other players don't use AKM dac directly. They do it just via Android which convert all audio input to 48/16 output. Let me know if I am wrong but justify it with something please. Of course then this stream goes to AKM DAC but this not the way we wish it. I welcome any non stock player which can drive dac directly in same way as stock one does. Sooner or later it will be available hopefully but now I don't know any.
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Click to collapse
didnt know of that. any sources that this is the case?
edit:
according to this documentation it should be a systemwide default value - unless ZTE ****ed that up
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/AudioFormat.html
xtermmin said:
If the "Headset HiFi" control in Settings is to switch between SD820 and AKM DACs, then I'm able to use the AKM DAC with other media players that pass audio processing/decoding to the OS (as opposed to fancier players that utilize their own built-in decoding methods/codecs). In my music player of choice (Clean Music), I can switch between the two "Headset HiFi" options (Standard & Super) in the middle of a song and, after a pause to transition, hear a difference between them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have bad news which is good news actually. SD820 DAC is not used in A7 at all. There are two additional DACs and one ADC. "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". This later is what you turn on when set "Headset HiFi" option. So SD820 ADC/DAC don't play at all.
http://www.androidauthority.com/taking-audio-next-level-zte-axon-7-706898/
and same is on ZTE site as well.
I have doubts that you can hear the difference between the two AKM chips while you don't between Clean Player and the built in ZTE player. Although I don't listen 4961 but I do Clean Player. The difference is significant especially if record is 44.1 kHz because conversion of it to 48 kHz is more difficult than of 96kHz record.
obladi64 said:
I have bad news which is good news actually. SD820 DAC is not used in A7 at all. There are two additional DACs and one ADC. "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". This later is what you turn on when set "Headset HiFi" option. So SD820 ADC/DAC don't play at all.
http://www.androidauthority.com/taking-audio-next-level-zte-axon-7-706898/
and same is on ZTE site as well.
I have doubts that you can hear the difference between the two AKM chips while you don't between Clean Player and the built in ZTE player. Although I don't listen 4961 but I do Clean Player. The difference is significant especially if record is 44.1 kHz because conversion of it to 48 kHz is more difficult than of 96kHz record.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the SD820 DAC is used and enabled. People with fancy players like PowerAmp (the latest alpha) report that in the app's settings, the only DAC that shows up in the list is the SD820 DAC. No AKM DAC listed.
I'm not an audiophile or anything, but when I have Super selected, the audio has a little more of a "punch" to it, while Standard I can kinda hear a bit of a ceiling. (this is all without ATMOS, of course)
xtermmin said:
Actually, the SD820 DAC is used and enabled. People with fancy players like PowerAmp (the latest alpha) report that in the app's settings, the only DAC that shows up in the list is the SD820 DAC. No AKM DAC listed.
I'm not an audiophile or anything, but when I have Super selected, the audio has a little more of a "punch" to it, while Standard I can kinda hear a bit of a ceiling. (this is all without ATMOS, of course)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD820 in Poweramp: I cannot say anything pro or contra. I try to be smart from commercial b...ts. I don't know any well detailed technical quide. Based on these as engineer I would say that SD820 DAC is not used at all. Phone reports SD820 DAC for third party softwares due to compatibility reason but in real AKM chips works. Like I said I don't know it surly but most likely. I am also searching for the correct answer.
I believe that you hear the difference especialy if PowerAmp turns SD820 on somehow.
Otherwise the two AKM chips are different therefore they should sound differently. To hear it is just question of headphone price. Of course it is without ATMOS.
guess we need @rikin93 to use his contacts to get a definitive answer
Flaîm said:
didnt know of that. any sources that this is the case?
edit:
according to this documentation it should be a systemwide default value - unless ZTE ****ed that up
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/AudioFormat.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. It is justify my concern rather.
"Expressed in Hz, the sample rate in an AudioFormat instance expresses the number of audio samples for each channel per second in the content you are playing or recording. It is not the sample rate at which content is rendered or produced. For instance a sound at a media sample rate of 8000Hz can be played on a device operating at a sample rate of 48000Hz; the sample rate conversion is automatically handled by the platform, it will not play at 6x speed."
obladi64 said:
No. It is justify my concern rather.
"Expressed in Hz, the sample rate in an AudioFormat instance expresses the number of audio samples for each channel per second in the content you are playing or recording. It is not the sample rate at which content is rendered or produced. For instance a sound at a media sample rate of 8000Hz can be played on a device operating at a sample rate of 48000Hz; the sample rate conversion is automatically handled by the platform, it will not play at 6x speed."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you missed the important part:
As of API M, sample rates up to 192kHz are supported for AudioRecord and AudioTrack, with sample rate conversion performed as needed. To improve efficiency and avoid lossy conversions, it is recommended to match the sample rate for AudioRecord and AudioTrack to the endpoint device sample rate, and limit the sample rate to no more than 48kHz unless there are special device capabilities that warrant a higher rate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which means that it can be programmed to output at 192 khz, but 48 khz should be the default value if there's no additional hardware.
or am i just misinterpreting this whole paragraph?
so either no player can play at 192 khz, or every player plays at 192 khz
Flaîm said:
you missed the important part:
which means that it can be programmed to output at 192 khz, but 48 khz should be the default value if there's no additional hardware.
or am i just misinterpreting this whole paragraph?
so either no player can play at 192 khz, or every player plays at 192 khz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, someting like that. Since it is Androud part it is 48 kHz. I used Clean player as altarnative and I prove that there is difference between this and stock.
So as I understand it says that every source is converted to 48kHz and this is sent to dac. You can play 44.1 or 192 kHz source it doesn't matter streams will be converted to 48. Stock player alone can bypass it so far. And it is important in case of CDs as well becuase 44.1 to 48 conversion is the one of the ugliest thing can happen here.
obladi64 said:
Yes, someting like that. Since it is Androud part it is 48 kHz. I used Clean player as altarnative and I prove that there is difference between this and stock.
So as I understand it says that every source is converted to 48kHz and this is sent to dac. You can play 44.1 or 192 kHz source it doesn't matter streams will be converted to 48. Stock player alone can bypass it so far. And it is important in case of CDs as well becuase 44.1 to 48 conversion is the one of the ugliest thing can happen here.
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Click to collapse
i just tested listening to some flacs in my regular player, vlc player and the zte player with my beyerdynamic custom one pro. either all of them were outputting the same format, or i am just not able to hear the difference.
Flaîm said:
i just tested listening to some flacs in my regular player, vlc player and the zte player with my beyerdynamic custom one pro. either all of them were outputting the same format, or i am just not able to hear the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I am not fan of VLC Player therefore it is not installed on my phone. May be I felt wrongly and there is no difference because it doesn't exist at all and every player drives DAC appropriately. All I know is that I listened music by Clean Music for weeks and than I exchanged to ZTE player. Going through the music repertoire I was surprised. Anyway I am human too.
After all the fact is that you didn't here difference proves only one thing, namely you cannot hear the difference. Here and now.
I will study developer link what you suggested more thoroughly and also I am still waiting for the correct technical details from Android experts. Until I use ZTE player which works fine in above mentioned way. All song appears, all in order, no lag and sound brilliant. What else is needed?
Music Player DAC issue **Fixed**
Hi, I have a fix to using the DAC on non-stock music apps.
So I received my Axon yesterday.
Ipgraded from the Lenovo Vibe X3. I first ran in on the DAC problem on the X3.
In my experience all of these dedicated DAC phones follow the same approach, i.e., LG V10, Vivo Xplay 5, Vibe X3, Axon 7, and (I as sum) LG V20 as well.
There is already a thread on XDA explaining this in detail. -> http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v10/general/music-apps-using-dac-t3252596
In short, the apps listed on the V10 page will use the DAC. Although the Vibe X3 had a dedicated DAC toggle, and the Axon 7 doesn't.
To test whether the DAC is being used by a music app on the Axon 7 is:
1. Plugin high fidelity headphones (so you will be able to hear and verify the difference in music), if you can do it with regular earphones/headphones, good for you. and kickass hearing btw
2. Play music on the music app you want to test. (Refer the LG link I posted)
3. while the music s running in the background, go to Settings -> Sounds & Vibration -> Headset Hi-Fi -> and switch between Standard & Super settings.
IF that app is using the DAC, you'll notice a slight pause (when the DAC switches on/off) and of course the difference in sound quality.
Note: Switch Dolby off or ignore it when testing the app, cos for some reason switching Dolby Atmos on/off produces the same gap in playback as the DAC.
On the Vibe X3 it didn't.
I used to use PowerAmp earlier, cos I found that best for my taste.
Then I discovered Neutron, and fell in love with that.
However then I bought a DAC phone & both Power-amp & Neutron don't use the DAC(or I wasn't able to make them)
As per a lot of users online "Poweramp Alpha" can be made to use the DAC on such phones, somehow. I tried fiddling around with it, got fed-up & left it.
If someone has the patience to figure it out AND explain it to me, I'd be grateful, cos Poweramp is my player of choice in terms of UI & ease of usability.
Neutrons latest changelogs mention it can use DAC usage as an update. But I can't notice the difference in the method listed above, or maybe its referring to USB DACs.
Now my player of choice adter going through the list of DAC supported music apps is Pulsar. - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rhmsoft.pulsar
Reason being, I found it to be the lightest/cleanest player which supports the DAC and can relatively smoothly handle my 10K+ collection of 320kbps MP3 & FLAC collection.
You guys can go through the list of apps on the LG V10 page and decide. which suits you best.
h/t @stupc. I've found his thread to be the most informative and bang on in solving the problem of 3rd party DAC phones throughout the net. And trust me, I've searched. Went crazy trying to solve this when I first bought the X3
Hope this helps.
Mods: Please move the post/thread to the appropriate section if required and close the thread as solved.
Hit Thanks if this helped.
Evil0verlord said:
[...]
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thank you for your answer.
the method to check whether the seperate DAC is being used supports my observation, that i wasnt able to hear a difference between all 3 players i've used.
but i guess the question remains whether the output is in 48khz or 192khz for all of them :/
I'm sceptical about the differing sound quality when switching the "Headset HiFi" setting. I noticed that the volume increases significantly when the setting is on, and goes quieter when switched off. This is a well known and proven psychological sales tactic for audio. The human brain subconsciously associates louder sound to be of higher quality.
In this case it would be very difficult to perfectly volume match the on/off setting of the "Headset HiFi" toggle for a proper blind test. I don't believe any user testing can be trusted unless it's done blind, as confirmation bias could easily take precedence.
Some good reading:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics
EDIT: I just did some more rudimentary testing with consumer quality mp3s and the ZTE music app, toggling the Headset HiFi setting on/off. The difference in frequency response is very noticeable even when not using high end FLAC encodings. There are significant bumps in bass and treble, even when compared to other sources I have with known flat sound signatures.
So you're asking, what does this mean? There's two scenarios:
1) if the Headset HiFi toggle is indeed switching between the Axon high end DAC and the SD820 standard DAC, the Axon DAC is far from neutral and has a coloured sound with unnaturally increased bass and treble response. This is arguably positive for the average consumer who likes the visceral sensation of an unnatural U-shaped equalizer, but will be disappointing for audiophiles looking for a flat sound signature.
2) the second possibility is that the Headset HiFi toggle does not change which DAC the system is using, but rather is like a Loudness button found on many stereos. When volume decreases, the human ear perceives low and high frequencies dropping off faster than other mid range ones. Loudness buttons are added to stereos so that low volume listening frequency response sounds closer to what the ear perceives at higher volumes.
I am developing a sound level meter app for Android. (I use standard AudioRecord and then process the buffers with JTransforms FFT to get the amplitudes and eventually calculate the dBA value)
My app is currently working very well (I have compared it to a real SLM, and I have tested various devices)
Currently I am having the following device specific issues: (Take note that I am recording with an external (AUX) microphone)
- Samsung J2 (J200H): The dB does not step correctly.. In a certain range, if I step the noise down 5dB it goes down 5dB, but in some ranges it steps 10dB when I step down 5dB. I have recorded the audio and by measuring the recording I can see it not stepping correctly, which means that the fault is happening on the device level, and not my app. I have two other J2 models (J200G & J200F), on both of these it is working perfectly. Any ideas what could be causing this? Where should I look?
- On Xiaomi devices (Redmi Note 4 & Redmi 4A) it seems like there is some kind of Automatic Gain Control enabled. (getEnabled() for AGC returns false). When presenting a tone the dB reading goes very high, and then after about a second lowers by 10-20dB. If anything in the audio changes it "jumps" again and then lowers again. Once again, I can hear the effect when recording a tone - the tone starts high and then lowers, even though there is no change in the source.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have no idea how to move forward...
Hi everyone, as stupid as it sounds, after many years of using android I just noticed that using equalizers ( and i've tried many of them ) causes the volume to drop. I have discovered that this is standard behaviour since android lowers everything by -6dB to avoid clipping when setting frequencies to +6dB.
Since my phone can't really drive my headphones much, is there a way to bypass this behaviour without using apps or rooting the phone?
Note that the maximum Volume is limited by the hardware. So the only way to have equalizing at maximum Volume is to lower the overall volume. You may be able to work around this by using an audio player that ships its own audio library or has an amplification function. Maybe BlackPlayer works. Note that this will only change the behavior of the music player and that you may experience clipping.
If you want to do changes for all apps there is no way around a custom kernel (or rooting at least) that I am aware of.
The thing is that the stock presets inclued for example in my JBL Headphones app work fine, but as soon as i try to modify one of them the volume drops. This is true for other equalizers too, for example the stock samsung one. It has something to do with how the personalization is handled i guess.
I am currently using a rooted phone with MyAndroidTools to check inside the databases to see if i can find something to tweak but no luck so far.