I am loving my Nook Color. Using it to replace a laptop and books I take with me on plane trips for movies and reading.
I am running 1.1 Stock and Auto Nootered. I have my file re-encoded for playing on the Nook and they look great. Problem is with sound all the way up and using my noise canceling headphones, the sound is not quite as loud as I would like.
Is there a way to increase the sound output to the head phone jack?
shaxs said:
I am loving my Nook Color. Using it to replace a laptop and books I take with me on plane trips for movies and reading.
I am running 1.1 Stock and Auto Nootered. I have my file re-encoded for playing on the Nook and they look great. Problem is with sound all the way up and using my noise canceling headphones, the sound is not quite as loud as I would like.
Is there a way to increase the sound output to the head phone jack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See this is an entirely different science.
Often, both noise canceling headphones and high quality headphones require a certain about of ohm's to power them. Many people even use headphone amplifiers to amplifier the amount of ohms the headphones recieve, which in turn boosts the volume.
Most players(like ipod) have artificial amplifiers built into the DAP(digital audio processor)
The Nook was made as an ereader. it doesn't have a powerful DAP. On some phones they have a dedicated headphone/headset amp which you can crank up.
The nook doesn't.
Therefore, the sound is quiter on these headphones.
comdei said:
See this is an entirely different science.
Often, both noise canceling headphones and high quality headphones require a certain about of ohm's to power them. Many people even use headphone amplifiers to amplifier the amount of ohms the headphones recieve, which in turn boosts the volume.
Most players(like ipod) have artificial amplifiers built into the DAP(digital audio processor)
The Nook was made as an ereader. it doesn't have a powerful DAP. On some phones they have a dedicated headphone/headset amp which you can crank up.
The nook doesn't.
Therefore, the sound is quiter on these headphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the great feedback! So it seems like something like http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2732095 should work well? I need local-ish as I am heading on a plane Saturday.
I was suffering the same problem. I could barely hear my NC when playing a movie while on the treadmill at my local gym. I bought a tiny little amp about the size of an iPod nano (Amazon for about $20). It turns out that it doesn't bump the volume up all that much. It's enough for my needs, but would not be enough for a plane trip. The little Radio Shack amp you linked to should work. As long as it you only turn it up to say, 5 or 6 (out of an assumed 10), and it's VERY LOUD (while sitting on your couch), that should give you sufficient headroom for a plane trip.
I recall reading a thread at this site about a kernel that would allow you to bump up the native volume. There's been sooo many kernels and updates that I can't recall which one did the trick...
Jgrimoldy said:
I was suffering the same problem. I could barely hear my NC when playing a movie while on the treadmill at my local gym. I bought a tiny little amp about the size of an iPod nano (Amazon for about $20). It turns out that it doesn't bump the volume up all that much. It's enough for my needs, but would not be enough for a plane trip. The little Radio Shack amp you linked to should work. As long as it you only turn it up to say, 5 or 6 (out of an assumed 10), and it's VERY LOUD (while sitting on your couch), that should give you sufficient headroom for a plane trip.
I recall reading a thread at this site about a kernel that would allow you to bump up the native volume. There's been sooo many kernels and updates that I can't recall which one did the trick...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about this one: http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E5-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B001P9EQH8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Is that the one you got by any chance?
Related
Here's my first try in a quest to make the Diamond into an usable audio device. This will focus mainly on earphones, but if i get annoyed enough by it, there may be some hardware mods to the internal speaker (that is, if i actually decide to keep the phone).
I think we can all agree that the Diamond sounds like garbage. It's stupid loud but stupid thin. It's like listening to piezo tweeters. So, is it possible to change it? Well, there is hope. I want to share my results so far. This is for the supplied earphones but as soon as i have time i'm gonna hack a 3.5mm jack on the handsfree and test various other 'phones.
I threw the earphones on TrueRTA and was horrified of what i saw. But with some serious tweaking of the EQ, the graph started to look better. Anyway, jump right in and set your Audio Booster like this:
+6 +6 +2 0 +1 +2 -6 -6 -6 +3
This will take a fair chunk of loudness away, however i still find it plenty loud (and i like to listen loud, believe me). The distortion limit is 50-70% in Windows Media Player (depending on song) with the system volume at the middle bar. Now you can actually hear bass! Incredible. The next best thing you can do is get a pair of those foam buds that go over your earphones. This will make them couple tighter to your ears (basically that's why in-ear phones always have more bass, you can have the same effect with just those foam buds). Try it and you won't be disappointed.
Whoever has tried this, let me know if you like it. If you do, i'll post some before/after graphs too, so you can also see what you hear. Edit: I just noticed that the ROM i was using was volume modded. On stock settings distortion sets in at 70% media player volume with full system volume.
You can get 3.5mm adaptors on ebay for not much. I got one recently one with a microphone for about £3 I think. Then you don't need to modify you headset
I can't ebay since i don't have a card to put money on my paypal, besides, shipping costs to RO are quite expensive too. I found such an adapter locally, but for $15... i'd rather slice the headset thank you.
Heads up, good stuff coming.
Alternate title: Why does my new eReader not make a great audio player too?
So, I went out and bought a Nook Color on Friday. I bought it for the Android hacking fun and doubt that I'll ever use it for its B&N "intended purpose". With that being said, I've noted that there is a hiss / static in the headphones any time the audio is enabled. There appears to be some self-muting going on on the device itself almost as if it is completely disabling the bias to the audio output transistors after some seconds wherein the hiss goes away but, any time there is active sound going on, the hiss and associated noise (likely RFI getting into poorly designed/shielded audio circuitry) is very clearly and annoyingly there.
I'm using very good headphones (Bose QC-3's) which sound wonderful on everything else I plug them into including my Droid and Milestone phones.
Has anyone else noted this very annoying audio issue on the NC? If I don't figure out some way to get rid of it, it's going to put a serious damper on using the NC to watch videos when I fly. (LONG trans-oceanic flights!)
I noticed a slight static noise from the built in speaker on my NC. I've not listened that much with headphones - and it was in a noisy environment.
johnopsec said:
Alternate title: Why does my new eReader not make a great audio player too?
So, I went out and bought a Nook Color on Friday. I bought it for the Android hacking fun and doubt that I'll ever use it for its B&N "intended purpose". With that being said, I've noted that there is a hiss / static in the headphones any time the audio is enabled. There appears to be some self-muting going on on the device itself almost as if it is completely disabling the bias to the audio output transistors after some seconds wherein the hiss goes away but, any time there is active sound going on, the hiss and associated noise (likely RFI getting into poorly designed/shielded audio circuitry) is very clearly and annoyingly there.
I'm using very good headphones (Bose QC-3's) which sound wonderful on everything else I plug them into including my Droid and Milestone phones.
Has anyone else noted this very annoying audio issue on the NC? If I don't figure out some way to get rid of it, it's going to put a serious damper on using the NC to watch videos when I fly. (LONG trans-oceanic flights!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually portable audio front ends include a mute circuit to suppress the pop when the power for the amp turns on and off to save power. But that's besides the point...
My ATH-M50s give a lot of hiss when plugged into the NC, and at 38 ohms are somewhat less sensitive than most cheapie headphones that these amps are usually designed to. When I get a chance I'll try some higher impedance phones.
johnopsec said:
Alternate title: Why does my new eReader not make a great audio player too?
So, I went out and bought a Nook Color on Friday. I bought it for the Android hacking fun and doubt that I'll ever use it for its B&N "intended purpose". With that being said, I've noted that there is a hiss / static in the headphones any time the audio is enabled. There appears to be some self-muting going on on the device itself almost as if it is completely disabling the bias to the audio output transistors after some seconds wherein the hiss goes away but, any time there is active sound going on, the hiss and associated noise (likely RFI getting into poorly designed/shielded audio circuitry) is very clearly and annoyingly there.
I'm using very good headphones (Bose QC-3's) which sound wonderful on everything else I plug them into including my Droid and Milestone phones.
Has anyone else noted this very annoying audio issue on the NC? If I don't figure out some way to get rid of it, it's going to put a serious damper on using the NC to watch videos when I fly. (LONG trans-oceanic flights!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be worth taking your headphones into a B&N store and trying another NC out to confirm its not just an issue with your unit.
Have the same issue with the NC and bose QC3 head phones. Plugged in a cheap pair of ear buds from the airlines and no hiss.
The amp is definitely noisy-- the worst I've heard since my 1st Gen iPhone. I guess they had to skimp somewhere.
Yes, pretty hissy sound. I can live with it, I think, but it's bit disappointing.
Ditto. The hiss using my Ultimate Ears makes the Nook Color unusable for audio or video in a quiet or normal environment.
It might work on a plane where the ambient noise is so high.
Pretty loud hissing sound with both apple earbuds and image s4's.
I noticed this too the first time I used Pandora...
Typically, for me and I assume it's the same for most pepole...
A reader likes to read in a quiet environment and therefore when they do decided they want to use the audio on their nook it is for music at a lower volume in a quiet setting. So this static / auto shutoff problem is blaringly obvious.
Any chance this will/could be fixed with an update?
If not then the audio feature will be useless for me
*edit*
Also... the static only gets worse (louder) as you up the volume. So listening to the music at a higher volume doesnt mask the static it only makes it worse
I have the same noisy audio. I am very serious about my audio equipment, but I don't put the NC in that category. Yeah, it would be nice if it sounded great, but the hiss would not bother me for video & I prefer to listen to a quality MP3 player if I listen to music. I would actually rather make adjustments to a dedicated player, while reading, than use my ereader to change screens & make adjustments. The other factor is the impact on the battery life. I guess maybe not a big deal on the NC?, but surely with an eInk reader. I hope you can find a way to live happily with yours.
Cheers,
kev
Ditto for me too. Hiss makes Pandora unusable when using my ultimate ears. I'm definitely disappointed, and a little less eager for flash support now.
Sent from my Nook Color using XDA App
I have no problems at all with audio on my nc. In fact i haven't had any of the problems i've heard on the forums as yet. Hope i never do
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
I think there might just be inconsistency in the NCs, neither mine nor my brothers have this audio hissing problem, or the problems with the bezel/frame, or any of the other problems the have come up on the forums. Maybe they are being built at multiple factories and some just suck? or maybe they just don't do any quality control? Who knows, I would check out the NCs with other headphones (although it sounds like you use these headphones all the time, so it's unlikely that they are the problem) and your headphones with other NCs.
OMG... the nook color sucks at playing music when using the Panasonic RP-HC700 Noise Cancelling headphones. The static is almost unbearable. I posted a recording of it on youtube under the user name MilkManMOM. (I can't post links and be helpful yet) Grrrr...I'm angry now at B&N.
No audio hiss from headphones on mine. If yours does, it's defective. It's also still under warranty. Stop just complaining to us about it and have B&N fix it.
MilkManTech said:
OMG... the nook color sucks at playing music when using the Panasonic RP-HC700 Noise Cancelling headphones. The static is almost unbearable. I posted a recording of it on youtube under the user name MilkManMOM. (I can't post links and be helpful yet) Grrrr...I'm angry now at B&N.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try a different set of headphones. My Bose IE2s are fine, but my Senhiessers have a lot of hiss, especially when I use an inline amp.
My quick test leads me to belive that earbuds meant for mp3 players work fine, but head phones have issues. This might be an impedence issue.
sent from my NC
jerrykur said:
Try a different set of headphones. My Bose IE2s are fine, but my Senhiessers have a lot of hiss, especially when I use an inline amp.
My quick tests hav led me to belive that earbuds meant for mp3 players work fine, but head phones have issues. Perhaps this is an impedence issue.
sent from my NC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sent from my NC
jerrykur said:
Try a different set of headphones. My Bose IE2s are fine, but my Senhiessers have a lot of hiss, especially when I use an inline amp.
My quick test leads me to belive that earbuds meant for mp3 players work fine, but head phones have issues. This might be an impedence issue.
sent from my NC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its either a Impedance issue or Frequency issue. When using my good Sony Headphones which are Frequency Response : 5-24,000Hz I get a Ton of Hiss, but when I'm using my Crappy Work Speakers which are Dell 215, which has a Frequency Response of 100 - 20000 Hz I get No hiss at all.
I have not tried the Official Nook head phones but they are Frequency response: 20 Hz-18,000 Hz
My guess is that our Head phones are just too good for the Nook and we are hearing the Hiss in the Higher Frequency Range that "Normal" Headphones often can't reproduce. I have had the same issue with cheaper MP3 players you end up hearing the electronics in the device working. Good MP3 players and other media device normally have this sound filtered out or have things shielded in such a way that it minimized the effect.
therealguppy said:
Its either a Impedance issue or Frequency issue. When using my good Sony Headphones which are Frequency Response : 5-24,000Hz I get a Ton of Hiss, but when I'm using my Crappy Work Speakers which are Dell 215, which has a Frequency Response of 100 - 20000 Hz I get No hiss at all.
I have not tried the Official Nook head phones but they are Frequency response: 20 Hz-18,000 Hz
My guess is that our Head phones are just too good for the Nook and we are hearing the Hiss in the Higher Frequency Range that "Normal" Headphones often can't reproduce.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ummm, no. First, anything above 20kHz is inaudible. Second, if you do have extraordinarily rare "miracle ears" and can hear slightly above the normal range, nothing above 20kHz would sound like a hiss... it would be an incredibly high-pitched whistle. Try playing around with a tone generator and see for yourself what extreme high-frequency sounds are like.
Oh, and I assure you that your Sony headphones cannot produce 5Hz and 24kHz tones, no matter what their marketing department claims.
So, music was one of the things I was hoping my NC could do, but haven't had much occasion to try out in the month I've had it. Today I devoted a little time and attention to it:
My only headphones at present are some worn-out Apple earbuds, and I used them once to listen to an audiobook--the only thing I noticed was that the volume was quite low, but otherwise I won't base any impressions on that experience.
Today, however, I decided to compare some music player apps for sound quality, and tried out the NC on three different sound systems in the process:
The Nook Color's speaker.
Lined in to an iPod dock with an unshielded 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable.
Lined in to a shelf stereo system with a 3.5mm-to-dual-RCA cable.
Okay, the built-in speaker is crap, obviously. It's tiny, points backwards, and there's only one. My cell phone speaker can drown it out, though the sound is marginally better on the NC. It's actually halfway impressive the sound quality they get out of the tiny speaker, but I still couldn't imagine using it for music. It's serviceable for tv shows, but I would probably still pop in earbuds if I had them handy.
Connecting to an outside sound system was what really underwhelmed me. For the two systems I tried, the NC produced drastically lower volume than anything else I've ever plugged into them. At what would be a loud volume for my phone, iPod, or an instrument, the NC's output (at its maximum volume) was barely audible. With the systems cranked to achieve an ambient volume, the sound was tolerable, but washed out in comparison to other sources.
There was also occasional skipping or stuttering in playback, which is really odd considering how well the thing handles video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this consistent with everyone's experience? Is there any difference between stock and CM7 output?
I've seen threads here and there about improving volume and disappointment with output through the headphone jack, but I had no idea. I guess I've been sheltered using iPods and/or at least somewhat music-optimized phones (SE Walkmans), because I did not realize that audio output on a device capable of playing MP3s could be this bad.
the sound on my nook is good, the speaker isnt the best but its decent and audio with my panasonic headphones sound is awesome.
EDIT: i use cm7 and cant remeber much of when it was stock rooted, as that only satisified me for a whole 2 days before i went to nookie froyo then cm7.
I have no idea how sound works on the stock or rooted stock Nook since I put CyanogenMod on my Nook as soon as I got it. The sound seems to work fine on my headphones. I can almost reach the threshold of pain with a few tweaks of the DSP settings.
I do not use the built in speaker for much, but even it is better than nothing.
I'm running phiremod 6.1 on mine. I have found that the volume was inconsistent between versions, but I'm pretty pleased with the current setup. I do however have a different issue, which is related to the headphone jack. When I plug in my headphones, it seems like 75% of the time they don't work quite right. The obvious symptom is that one speaker is noticeably louder than the other, and generally the audio sounds like crap. Unplugging them and plugging them back in a few times will get things back to normal, but its a little annoying. This has been the case on every OS I have run on it.
there are terrible impedance issues with NC. If you buy this:
m.crutchfield.com/mt/www.crutchfield.com/p_127SNI135/PAC-SNI-1-3-5-Noise-Filter.html?tp=2653&osid=969403309&un_jtt_redirect
they will all go away. I know it says it is a "noise" filter, but it fixes impedance too. I own two of them, they keep me from pulling my hair out. Hint: if it doesn't work one way with a certain device, plug it in backwards using a M/F adapter.
i run cm7. using dspmanger... the nook color sounds awesome. I hook it up to my logitech thx speakers and cry.... because it sounds a helluva lot better than the $160 sound card in my pc.
without dspmanage... it sounds like garbage.
have fun.
I found this thread discussing NC audio in a little more depth:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=864064
I haven't heard the hissing they're talking about so much as a slightly washed-out sound and the crazy low volume. Someone else testing the NC with external speakers found that yes, it was considerably quieter than their Sansa MP3 player and iPod Touch, but the newest Kindle is quieter still.
technicalsquash said:
I do however have a different issue, which is related to the headphone jack. When I plug in my headphones, it seems like 75% of the time they don't work quite right. The obvious symptom is that one speaker is noticeably louder than the other, and generally the audio sounds like crap. Unplugging them and plugging them back in a few times will get things back to normal, but its a little annoying. This has been the case on every OS I have run on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had this issue with my crap Apple earbuds in my iPod before, and rather than yanking them out and jamming them back in, I found turning them in the socket and/or moving them in or out just a couple millimeters let me 'tune' them to where I was getting the best sound from both speakers. I actually found the same thing with my NC lined-in to my iPod dock via 3.5mm male-to-male cord.
If you are having trouble with low volume or hiss i suggest you use my app here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1104039
It requires kernel support so only my kernel works with it for now until the next CM7 nightly.
Note: My kernel works with both B&N 1.2 Froyo and CM7.
Hey Guys,
Mentioned this on a couple of other threads, but I feel it needs a dedicated one.
Firstly, the output from the headphone jack to the line in on my car is poor, the level is so low i'm cranking it up to 20 just to get a decent listenable volume level, my previous phones (Atrix, Nokia N900) didn't require this.
Secondly, if I use my car charger with the phone and try and use the line in, there is massive interference that is louder than the output its self making it impossible to listen to music. Again another issue not present on my previous phones using the same charger.
I am going to attempt to make a recording of the noise, and I'll upload this later.
Can a few other people test this out and see if you get the same result please?
Cheers
Andy
Just get a ground loop filter for $5 and you are golden.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I have noticed low headphone output also. I use a ground loop filter so I haven't noticed too much white noise but having to turn up the volume louder than normal to make up for the low output makes it worse. I only hear it in-between songs.
Hmm I'll try and find a ground loop isolator and see if that makes any improvement.
Just don't understand why it is such an issue on the Nexus 4.
The noise for me is louder than the audio that is being output rendering it useless. Going to upgrade my car with bluetooth at some point so that will solve all the problems.
This phone has the absolute worst headphone output. It is SO low. Plugging the device into my car through an auxiliary port is horrible. I can't believe Samsung makes the headphone output so incredibly low on a flagship device. How can they get away with this? It's almost half of the iPhone 5S?
Care to explain a little more in detail? Why 'slow'? Do you mean the sound quality coming through the headphone jack of the headphone jack itself?
I am simply referring to the fact that when you plug in a pair of headphones the output volume is extremely low, compared to the HTC M9, or iPhone. I have tried several headphones and even plugged a pair into a demo unit at best buy. Turn up the volume all the way and it's simply not loud enough. Plug the same pair of headphones into an iPhone or HTC One M9 and the volume output is much louder. I do not understand how Samsung can get away with making the volume so loud. Defeats the purpose of having the phone play music.
Now I have used many many Galaxy smartphones, and while I have complained of this issue before, the S6 by far as the absolute lowest volume. Wouldn't be an issue if a volume mod could be flashed. But we need the boot loader unlocked first.
That's weird, maybe since it's a demo unit, my gs6 gets uncomfortably loud and it's almost on pair with my ipad.
vontokkerths said:
That's weird, maybe since it's a demo unit, my gs6 gets uncomfortably loud and it's almost on pair with my ipad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To each their own with sound, I guess. It was enough for me to return the phone.
So this can't just be bothering me.
Once you plug it in, make sure to turn the volume up on the phone. By default, the headphone jack is set very low so you dont blow the external speakers.
Also, try a headset and see if its still low for you. If it is, then its a bad port... if it isnt, then something is up with your aux port or car unit.
Red5 said:
Once you plug it in, make sure to turn the volume up on the phone. By default, the headphone jack is set very low so you dont blow the external speakers.
Also, try a headset and see if its still low for you. If it is, then its a bad port... if it isnt, then something is up with your aux port or car unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried many headphones. It gets loud, but nothing like the iPhone. Very difficult to hear your music in the gym. Samsung should not make the headphone volume this low. It's beyond frustrating for us audiophiles. FWIW, I don't think my phone is defective, I just think its me. Either way, I returned it.
MattMJB0188 said:
I have tried many headphones. It gets loud, but nothing like the iPhone. Very difficult to hear your music in the gym. Samsung should not make the headphone volume this low. It's beyond frustrating for us audiophiles. FWIW, I don't think my phone is defective, I just think its me. Either way, I returned it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand where you're coming from. I was quite frustrated at first until I started playing with the equalizer and adapt sound. Now it's much better. I've plugged my headphones into the iPhone and while it does get louder it also gets more distoreted.
Have you gone into settings / sounds / sound quality and effects.
The tinkered around with the SoundAlive+ & Tube Amp? Also try using adapt sound to really tailor your sound.
Maybe one of those needs to be enabled to increase the output of the volume, not sure..
There's a post in general secton to increase the volume of the phone. It requires root tbough so be aware.
MattMJB0188 said:
I have tried many headphones. It gets loud, but nothing like the iPhone. Very difficult to hear your music in the gym. Samsung should not make the headphone volume this low. It's beyond frustrating for us audiophiles. FWIW, I don't think my phone is defective, I just think its me. Either way, I returned it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude seriously,, Thank you. I thought i have started having issues with my hearing. The output is so low that when in the subway, there is no way for me to hear my music. Only when i rotate the earpeace in an unusuall position, i am able to hear what i am actually listening to. The worst thing is that it seems to be recognized by u and me only... I don't know what to do and i for sure don't want an iphone..
Yep, ridiculously low volume output from the headphone jack. Compared to an LG G4 on the same speaker set to the same volume level, the S6 output is almost inaudible over background noise in the kitchen. Only way to get any usably loud audio from it is Bluetooth, which has its own set of problems with this phone.
Yes the sound from ear phones is too low. With my previous I9070 my ears used to bleed at 3 with Poweramp but now ven with the Volume turned upto 5 I can barely hear them..!
badmanog said:
Dude seriously,, Thank you. I thought i have started having issues with my hearing. The output is so low that when in the subway, there is no way for me to hear my music. Only when i rotate the earpeace in an unusuall position, i am able to hear what i am actually listening to. The worst thing is that it seems to be recognized by u and me only... I don't know what to do and i for sure don't want an iphone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, i had same problem but when i did the adapt sound tune, i did it at home without surrounding noises and heard all the beeps.. I redid it while on the train and heard aboit 30 % of the beeps and now i have a loud volume also disablwd the effects..
My headphones were also not working well. I thought to try some other brands. I searched alot but all were very expensive. Then my gym trainer suggested me to look for SoundMAGIC. I got affordable audiophile headphones online at exclussive offer. The sound is fantastic. I am very happy with it now.