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I just acquired a Cricket Zio yesterday and have been playing around with it for the past 24 hours or so. Got the CWM "easy" working, reset it to the factory 2.2.1 stock Cricket ROM (from this thread) and then installed OpenZio 2.1.2 without any issues. Runs fine at 729 MHz, again without issues.
But the one thing that's disappointing me - and I mean seriously disappointing me - is the absurdly low audio volume. Videos, music, streams, doesn't matter, it's just insanely low. Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, I've got an HD2 that I've tweaked to hell and back oh, hundreds of times (currently the one listed in my sig), and we all know the HD2 can really crank out the sounds without problems. I have a set of Koss earbuds (IEMs, they go into the ear canal and seal it off), and I've got a set of Koss KSC-75 earclips (my primary listening device).
With either of those plugged into the HD2 or any other device I own, like my Dell Axim X51v, my original Motorola Droid, and several other devices including an iPod touch too, those earbuds and earclips bring out all the sound quality the device is capable of, without issues.
But I plug them into the Zio and it's... well... meh. With bleh on top of that...
I located the Louder Volume Hack in the hopes it would help, but it doesn't matter which version I try or on either ROM (stock Cricket or OpenZio) it just FCs and never runs.
So my question is: for those people that I've read posts by that say the Zio has 'excellent audio quality' I have to ask: am I missing something someplace?
I've enabled Stagefright (on the stock Cricket ROM and on OpenZio also), makes zero difference in audio quality or audio volume, although it does seem to smooth things out a bit. Let's face it: I don't know why people keep calling this phone "a beast" 'cause I see no evidence of it. But for $50 and a pure fully working fully functional Android phone, it's doing just fine.
Yes, I wish it had multitouch, yes I wish it was bigger, and yes, I wish it was faster (even overclocked and with all the tweaks I've been reading about it's still rather perversely sluggish even though the Quadrant scores put it above the original Nexus One, go figure).
But what I'd really love is to do something about that audio, boost it up in some manner that I might not be aware of just yet. The HD2? Oh, man that can push my KSC-75 earclips so high I can't tolerate it.
And again, I understand this is actually a very low quality Android phone, but can anyone make any suggestions that might help with the low audio volume issue? All the settings are maxed out and it's still just incredibly low (and yes, it's fairly tinny with hardly any bass at all but that's secondary to the actual volume itself needing some healthy raising).
If anyone has any advice, I'm listening... figuratively speaking.
I have noticed that after i flashed to openzio, awesome rom btw my volume is lower then what it was with the stock rom. Like for an example if i put the ringer volume to one notch below half way the ringer will not sound and the phone just vibrates. With the stock rom i can turn the ringer all the way down to it activates the vibrate only mode and then go up 2 notches and the phone would still play the ring tone on the incoming call. With openzio the volume meter has to be at least half way or over half way for the ringtone to sound.
I bought a Galaxy Note a month or so ago. I'm not sure if this happened before the ICS update or if it came with it as it's still all a bit new. I'm wondering if the following behaviour is a fault (hardware or otherwise), is a setting that I can alter or if it "just is".
I use the Note a lot to play music especially at night as I'm going to sleep, when I have the Note on either the quietest volume setting or something close to it. I have noticed that when the volume level is low on quiet passages in the music it drops out altogether. This is quite noticable as any background hiss (on older recordings) drops to silent then comes back in again as the music approaches a louder passage. It does the same on video.
It can be quite annoying and very distracting. If I turn the volume up (past about half way on quieter, older recordings) the problem vanishes completly so it looks like an issue with the pre-amp or DAC?
I have tried different audio players and different headphones with no change. I have also tried playing music without headphones (using the in-built speaker) and think that does it also, although it's harder to tell.
The wierd thing is googling around I can't find anyone reporting the same problem, which makes me think I possibly have a fault. Any ideas? Could someone else with a Note on ICS try the same thing and report their findings?
Test is: find somewhere very quiet. Play some quiet music on the Note and turn the volume right down until it is barely audible with the earphone pressed in. Try different pieces of music and see if the sound drops out on quieter passages - for me, it does.
StarFishUK said:
I bought a Galaxy Note a month or so ago. I'm not sure if this happened before the ICS update or if it came with it as it's still all a bit new. I'm wondering if the following behaviour is a fault (hardware or otherwise), is a setting that I can alter or if it "just is".
I use the Note a lot to play music especially at night as I'm going to sleep, when I have the Note on either the quietest volume setting or something close to it. I have noticed that when the volume level is low on quiet passages in the music it drops out altogether. This is quite noticable as any background hiss (on older recordings) drops to silent then comes back in again as the music approaches a louder passage. It does the same on video.
It can be quite annoying and very distracting. If I turn the volume up (past about half way on quieter, older recordings) the problem vanishes completly so it looks like an issue with the pre-amp or DAC?
I have tried different audio players and different headphones with no change. I have also tried playing music without headphones (using the in-built speaker) and think that does it also, although it's harder to tell.
The wierd thing is googling around I can't find anyone reporting the same problem, which makes me think I possibly have a fault. Any ideas? Could someone else with a Note on ICS try the same thing and report their findings?
Test is: find somewhere very quiet. Play some quiet music on the Note and turn the volume right down until it is barely audible with the earphone pressed in. Try different pieces of music and see if the sound drops out on quieter passages - for me, it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this happening on a fade out of a song (Bjork - Play Dead). On volume 1 the sound would cut out much earlier than on volume 2. It sounds like a classic noise reduction technique kicking in - designed to reduce hiss.
Not much pop music is mixed like this any more I don't think. You'd certainly notice it more on Classical music where the dynamic range is far greater than Pop.
krypton_the_slayer said:
I found this happening on a fade out of a song (Bjork - Play Dead). On volume 1 the sound would cut out much earlier than on volume 2. It sounds like a classic noise reduction technique kicking in - designed to reduce hiss.
Not much pop music is mixed like this any more I don't think. You'd certainly notice it more on Classical music where the dynamic range is far greater than Pop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect - yes, that describes my problem. And yes, it is classical music where I find it most noticeable (especially older recordings which tend to be quieter with quite a bit of background hiss). I wonder if there is any way to diable the noise reduction...?
Appreciate your help. At least I now know I don't have a faulty device. Massive thanks.
By the way the best answer I have so far is to play on higher sound levels and use an set of headphones with an old style (non digital) volume control to bring the sound back down to a reasonable level at the earphonesd. Pretty poor solution really - had hoped for better from my lovely new Note.
+1 big problem for my...and now...not solutions...waiting...
I have this issue since Samsung replaced my mainboard. It happens on stock ICS and CM9. I haven't tried Gingerbread.
Could this be a hardware problem?
Is there any fix to this yet, this is exactly my problem, good tip about using an in-line headphone volume control though
The same bug. Please fix it somebody.
I too have this problem with my new Galaxy Note (ICS 4.0.4). I'd be interested to hear from any Note users that *do not* have this problem when playing back audio at low volumes. If you don't notice the audio completely dropping out, please list what version of Android you're running. Thanks!
I guess we need some more experimentation to see if it's a hardware or software issue (or both).
naytheet said:
I too have this problem with my new Galaxy Note (ICS 4.0.4). I'd be interested to hear from any Note users that *do not* have this problem when playing back audio at low volumes. If you don't notice the audio completely dropping out, please list what version of Android you're running. Thanks!
I guess we need some more experimentation to see if it's a hardware or software issue (or both).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I am quite sure this is a software bug. When my note was using gingerbread, it was OK. It started to behave this wasy after the (official) ICS upgrade. Some of my friends are using unofficial ROMs (4.0.3 or 4.0.4) and it is ok - I tested it. So my conclusion is that samsung put some software trying to reduce noise in low audio volume, but it's not working as it should be...
More people are stumbling upon this noise gate problem:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=35861
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1717425
I experience it on ICS and also on CM9, only with headphones plugged in (not when listening to music via bluetooth on the Sony MW600).
It does not occur on Gingerbread, but I don't like to use that ROM as a daily driver...
Can anyone confirm if there are custom ROMS that do not have this behavior?
Or is there maybe some way to replace the ICS media playback service with the GB one?
Well, all ICS-based custom ROMs I've tried suffer the same irritating behavior.
And it also turns out that GB has the same kind of noise gate, but the threshold seems to be a lot lower and therefore it doesn't kick in that often.
But I've just installed a CM10 nightly, and that seems to solve the issue.
my 2 cents
I can confirm, that I have similar problem.
I have the problems only when watching movies. the sound just cuts off when the character stops speaking, so it cuts off the background sound.
I tried different kernels, ROM´s... same problems on GB, ICS, CM9...
I have a hillBilly solution that works for me! When ever the sound cutting starts, I just change the volume for one level. The cutting will off course repeat... but it's indeed better than listen to the clipping...
For black clipping I use highest brightness and film screen mode. It does the trick for me...
But it just pisses me of when I realize that I have the phone with ****ty screen, sound and bricking danger...
wtf sammy... i just cant belive that i paid 540 eur for this, its sad
DonLaDroid
please delete....
double post....
This is bugging me too.
Would this be something controlled by the kernel?
---------- Post added 1st September 2012 at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was 31st August 2012 at 11:48 PM ----------
Also being discussed at http://code.google.com/p/android/is...s Owner Summary Stars&groupby=&sort=&id=35861
Please, can anyone using a non Touchwiz ICS or JB Rom tell us if this is happening for them?
burtcom said:
This is bugging me too.
Would this be something controlled by the kernel?
---------- Post added 1st September 2012 at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was 31st August 2012 at 11:48 PM ----------
Also being discussed at http://code.google.com/p/android/is...s Owner Summary Stars&groupby=&sort=&id=35861
Please, can anyone using a non Touchwiz ICS or JB Rom tell us if this is happening for them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just flashed latest PA, and its till there!
Im not an expert! Does anyone remember a background noise reduction option while making a call in GB??
I cant find it in ICS or PA. I think that this background noise redustion system is causing the cutting. It must be somehow connected.... im not an dev or anything but my gut tells me that this could be!
anyone?
Take care
DonLaDroid
OK all, let's figure out what ROMs don't have this problem, and start bugging the Devs to try to fix it on the others :laugh:
Well, I just noticed that the sound cut-off is also back on the unofficial 08/31 build of CM10. It was much less noticeable on the 08/28 build. :crying:
The difference between the two builds is a huge decrease in sound volume: build 08/28 was much louder than the latest one. Maybe the noise gate simply doesn't kick in so soon when the system volume is cranked up. You basically get the same effect when turning up the volume completely and turn it down with an inline analog control - as suggested by StarFishUK in post #3.
So my question would be what makes the volume louder on 08/28?
And how can I get that 'cranked up volume' on newer CM10 builds or preferably on ICS roms? Any ideas?
By the way, I totally agree with your 2 cents DonLaDroid. I never had this much trouble with my old Dell Streak...
Haven't noticed this myself (CM10), but i've noticed something incredible annoying in CM builds, and that's when i'm listening to music with headsets and i'm increasing the volume, it seems that it's "missing" a couple of steps. So when i'm increasing the volume it'll go from 5 to 8 in one step, and not 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,
It should be: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
But it is: 0,1,2,3,4,5,8
How to test this problem. ..
Go to a quiet room.
Set audio level to one (one click up from silence)
Play some music with soft passages.
For me, the sound shuts off during quiet audio for speaker and wired headset. Note that this isn't simply an absence of sound. The sound turns off then suddenly starts again in the middle of a louder passage.
Bluetooth doesn't have the problem.
A gentleman on one of the Kernel threads believes this may be a hardware issue. The sound clips to cover noise from the speaker.
All, it seems that this is a "feature" of our phone. We will need to contact Samsung for the word on if this is a hardware issue or of it can be fixed via software. Right now it seems this happens in all ROMs, Touchwiz or AOSP.
Workaround is to use Bluetooth or a wired headset with an analog volume control.
I am experiencing the intensely annoying sound cut out bug. This appears to occur under the following circumstances
1. Headphones plugged in only (not speakers or blue tooth)
2. The phone volume is fairly low 1-3
3. Music / Video is playing and there is a quiet passage e.g. music fading out, whispering in a film, sharp drop in volume of a song
The effect is that rather than playing the sound the sound completely cuts out.
My current suspicion is that it is something like a headphone amplifier power saving measure. Essentially cutting off the sound amplification if the system believes just white noise / hiss is coming through the headphones.
I have tons of music that triggers this issue (only permanently up tempo music such as dance and most pop do not trigger this issue), I have tested in Cyanogen, PA & SlimBean. Others have reported this issue in Stock ICS.
Does anyone know if the current Stock Samsung has this issue or not, before I attempt to get support from Samsung who presumably have done all their audio testing with Gungam Style and therefore have managed to miss this massive issue?
Been asking for a fix for this issue for ages, I'm either being ignored or nobody has a fix, thus can't be fixed.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
Sadly there's no real solution to this annoying 'noise gate' problem, which I've noticed since ICS on every Stock or Custom Rom that I have tried on the N7000.
The issue is also discussed here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=35861
For now, you only have two workaround options:
1. Get a pair of headphones with inline analog volume control. Crank up the volume on your device and lower it within the headphones.
2. Program a Tasker profile to play an inaudible sound that keeps the noise gate open (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35047527&postcount=25)
I've used option 2 before, but decided a few weeks ago to switch to 1 (with the Sennheiser CX 400-II).
Also I've noticed that the problem does not occur when streaming media audio via Bluetooth.
This is good advice, I have an inline seinheisser controls somewhere
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
Audio dropout
Tesmond said:
I am experiencing the intensely annoying sound cut out bug. This appears to occur under the following circumstances
1. Headphones plugged in only (not speakers or blue tooth)
2. The phone volume is fairly low 1-3
3. Music / Video is playing and there is a quiet passage e.g. music fading out, whispering in a film, sharp drop in volume of a song
The effect is that rather than playing the sound the sound completely cuts out.
My current suspicion is that it is something like a headphone amplifier power saving measure. Essentially cutting off the sound amplification if the system believes just white noise / hiss is coming through the headphones.
I have tons of music that triggers this issue (only permanently up tempo music such as dance and most pop do not trigger this issue), I have tested in Cyanogen, PA & SlimBean. Others have reported this issue in Stock ICS.
Does anyone know if the current Stock Samsung has this issue or not, before I attempt to get support from Samsung who presumably have done all their audio testing with Gungam Style and therefore have managed to miss this massive issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi - I have this problem too and so do many others.
To my ears, it sounds like there is a noise gate being used on the headphone output to mask off system noise at low levels. Noise gates will close when audio drops below a certain threshold and you can use them to eliminate background noise during periods of silence in music. However, in this instance, it shuts down during quiet passages - especially when listening to classical tracks with a wide dynamic range.
IF it is a noise gate, it is likely to be implemented in the hardware (doing it in firmware wouldn't mask noise generated by the phones circuitry - which is he whole point). Consequently, there might not be anything that can be done to resolve the problem. However, it is possible that the phones firmware configures the audio chip during boot-up. This being the case, an industrious programmer might be able to do a few tweaks and disable or modify the behaviour of the gate. I hope so because all my music is on my Galaxy Note and it is painful to listen to at times!
That's the real reason I am here: is there anyone on this forum who knows enough to be able to write a fix for this as it appears that Samsung aren't listening? Some people report this problem on the Note 2 as well.
A
Ahkatootin said:
Hi - I have this problem too and so do many others.
-snip -
Some people report this problem on the Note 2 as well.
A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn it -- sorry to hear that about the Note 2, as I was thinking of upgrading to that. Hopefully the Note 3 will have it fixed, or I just might have to go to the S4
Yes, this bugs me immensely -- it affects music with soft passages (classical) at any volume level, and of course is irritating when listening to music at night. What I'd like to do is to find or make a headset or cord that supports the microphone and includes an analog volume control.
My N7000 has also this problem with every kernel and rom I tried. With Android 2.3.6 and 4.0 it was only happening with the videos, but after 4.1, it happens with the music too. So I think it can be fixed by software (I mean actually fixed, not the inaudible sound solution).
It's very annoying, I bought the note fot its big screen, to watch videos and now I can't do it because the sound sucks. Also I can't lisent to music anymore in the night...
Solution for annoying noise suppression!
This seems to be the solution:
Start 'phone', go into settings, and disable 'noise suppression'!
Seems to be working...
There is a patch that fixes the problem for my N7000 with OmniROM:
github.com gustavoss android_kernel_samsung_smdk4412 commit 3019675d57c4046c30f82d04ce41913150df0d6e
(Sorry for the distorted link, as a new user I am not allowed to post links yet...)
The question is: How to get it into CM, OmniROM, and co.?
Also see:
jira.omnirom.org browse OMNI-561 ("Sound cuts off at low volume playback".
Kind regards
Clackwell
I have a problem with my speaker sound, while listening to any audio whether it be YouTube, Netflix, Music player etc... After about 6 minutes the sound quality changes it's as if the bottom. Speaker gets lower and the front speaker gets louder if you close the app and then try again it's fine until 6 minutes again. I have already received 2 replacements and all 3 phones have the same problem. Is anyone else experienceing anything like this?
I have the opposite problem, the bottom speaker is too loud and the front facing speaker is too quiet. I have unsuccessfully been trying to find an app to balance them with no luck.
If you have had your device for less than 14 days, I would take it back to the retailer for a replacement. As there is a chance that you were given a faulty unit. Otherwise take it to a Samsung Service Center and let them take a look at it.
Billyrouth said:
I have a problem with my speaker sound, while listening to any audio whether it be YouTube, Netflix, Music player etc... After about 6 minutes the sound quality changes it's as if the bottom. Speaker gets lower and the front speaker gets louder if you close the app and then try again it's fine until 6 minutes again. I have already received 2 replacements and all 3 phones have the same problem. Is anyone else experienceing anything like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not the only one. I made a thread about this a while back but nobody here really noticed. It still happens on my latest software update (ARJ1, September security patch). On Samsung Community there's a lot more complaints:
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5...ote9QuestionsandAnswers/page/1/thread-id/1440
Some people tried contacting Samsung but the staff had a hard time detecting it. I got mine overseas in Taiwan and can't readily communicate with them at the moment. I always get a "due to we don't understand your message" reply if I use my phone's feedback option. I did try to email them directly but the reply seemed somewhat generic like "try using safe mode". I haven't done this myself but other users have said it still occurs in safe mode.
The fact that replacements have it lead me to think it's a software bug - the bottoms speaker is supposed to emphasize bass a bit more than the top speaker but it almost sounds like the left and right speaker EQ gets swapped (even though the stereo channel polarity is still constant). When it happens the top speaker becomes bass-heavy and bottom speaker sounds bass-light and treble-heavy. It also seems "worse' in some apps than others. For example I barely notice it in music as only the bass seems to drop on the bottom speaker but on other occasions it sounds like the bottom speaker is sucked down in volume.
Really hoping Android Pie fixes it.
I haven't noticed this issue, but I did post a few days ago regarding sound skipping and corrupting on wired headphones.
I've tracked this down to the EQ not playing well with the UHQ Upscaler. If you have any EQ set other than Normal the sound gets distorted through headphones.
Maybe it's related? I know the UHQ Upscaler is disabled when playing through the speakers but the EQ isn't, do you use anything other than 'Normal' EQ settings?
It has only started on ARJ1 (Oct Security patch level) for me. I've fed it back to Sammy.
Oh, you can download Sound Assistant from the Galaxy Store and that lets you play with the left / right balance.
I didn't try Sound Assistant yet, but I forced the speaker output to mono in the phone's settings, and the problem still occurred. So the problem isn't related to the stereo imagery, but rather how each speaker is tuned regardless. Some have suggested it could be a defect in the amplifier but I think if this were the case the effect would be more permanent. I think it occurs more frequently in the ARJ1 update compared to the update before that. I don't recall it occurring in Samsung Music very often before but now it seems to happen after about 4-5 minutes. I temporarily exited the app (without closing) and played music from Poweramp, stopped, then played music on Samsung Music and it sounded normal again.
Blah - is it just me or has this issue become somewhat more easily replicated, but more inconsistent? I was watching some videos with narration, and it sometimes feels like it pans left and right at the same timepoints when I replay that section.
Also, Horizon Chase sounds pretty awful now. The music volume seems to dip out and the sound effects are too loud.
hi all after 1 week of trying i figure out how to fix the problem simply delete the file with name ((SoundBoosterParam.txt)). in the root/system/vendor/etc
you're done
You need root in order to delete the SoundBoosterParam.txt file, and I'm not comfortable rooting a $1k phone under warranty. I turned off Dolby Atmos and changed sound to mono...EQ is normal. While mono isn't the quality sound I want, this has stopped the issue. A user at https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/...thread-id/1440 though said it didn't fix his.
Like FYL21, I tried emailing Samsung but got the usual "this is another canned robotic answer that doesn't address the issue" response. So I just spent about an hour on the phone with them. After continually trying to explain the issue and being told everything to try that's been tried, I finally spoke to a manager who made note of the links to the issue on their forum. She is escalating this as an issue for the technicians to read the complaints and look into this. Maybe it'll be fixed by the time the Note 10 comes out.
That was me as well in that thread. The thing is the speakers are still tuned differently even if they are in a mono configuration - the bottom one is EQ'd for bass and the top for treble (I'm not sure if this changes if you rotate the phone). I got Android Pie but am still testing out if it happens. Some apps or videos still have brief panning at specific time points, but this might just be related to the equalization and it doesn't seem as long-term as it was before (where you had to restart the app or plug/unplug headphones to fix it). I can live with that but it's annoying when it abruptly dips on the bottom speaker and even worse for calling.
you guys should think of this phone as a sound bar.
in that type of configuration, its one device generating sound that appears as stereo even though there is 1 device and not 2 .( or more)
the position and tuning of the speakers within that bar is tuned so that it feels like stereo/multichannel.
so in the same way is the phone tuned that way. plus if you think of it, you hold your phone 90 %of the time upright. the speakers on that position are not left to right but top and bottom...
so again don't look at the position of the speakers on the phone to deduce which is the left or right speakers but as how the devixe as a whole is reproducing the feel of stereo without an array of speakers like on home cinemas or in your car.
think of it, the space between the speakers is so narrow that youd have to be a small mouse to be able to enjoy real left and right channel audio from the speakers in landscape...
anyways this has nothing to do with the audio fading out but more towards our expectation of multichannel audio and how the phone reproduces it.
Dear All,
from the beginning I am facing the issue with the volume levels on my Note 9 (Exynos version). The last two volume levels decrease the volume overall so it is like the maximum volume of the phone is at 80%. Anyone faced similar issue ? Any idea how to solve this ?
I have already tried the factory reset, uninstalling 3rd party apps, used samsung music apk but issue remains..
Yes, even mine but this is not an issue but a way to avoid to break the earphones or the phones speakers because the level of the sound will be to high for them. Also that behavior doesn't make distorsions that otherwise will be present at that volume level. The same thing happens (volume goes down) when rising the cursors of the equilazor when selecting costum sound or selecting valve sound option because all these causes distorsions at high level volume. Also this thing is generally used in all Samsung phones and I remember it since galaxy s5... So, not an issue at all.
I remember the same behavior happening even in all the old stereo systems amps and even car steroes when putting on the loudness function that boosts the basses and the trebles on low and middle volumes and goes out in the same way and for the same reasons as our phones near the max volume.... so, even old stuff and even not a samsung invention.
I don't know the answer but I did notice the volume changes in Pie, I was always annoyed by the fact that notifications weren't loud enough, now they seem too loud. Might be an audio bug.
daLareid said:
I don't know the answer but I did notice the volume changes in Pie, I was always annoyed by the fact that notifications weren't loud enough, now they seem too loud. Might be an audio bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not on pie, still on 8 and it's not a bug for music . For the rest, like notifications, never noticed something and so I don't know.. maybe what your experiencing is a bug.