Database Develop

Nexus 4 mic gain too high / distorted input

Please vote here to bring the issue more attention.
Hey guys, something I noticed. While testing several VoIP options, I found out that my voice with the Speex low bitrate codec was coming out on the other end significantly distorted. I thought at first it was the compression (the codec may apply dynamic compression). But as it turns out, it's the mic gain itself on the phone. The codec simply exacerbates the problem. I don't know if this is a hardware or an OS problem, but it's OS-wide.
If you're holding the phone like a handset on your face, then something a bit louder than a whisper will distort a bit. If you're talking loudly, for sure. This is not as noticeable with regular calls, cause the frequency range is limited, but for higher-quality streams it is a problem. If you don't have another smartphone at hand, you can test how high you can go with e.g. Skype's call testing service, or this number someone in another thread mentioned, where you can hear yourself in real time: (909)390-0003 (I'm in the US with T-mobile).
This is not only a problem with calls, which is my main concern, but also, if you're going for example to a concert, you better get something else to record your clips. There are some of the samples I could find with loud enough audio (which is not very loud) that it distorts.
First the most egregious one: http://www.symbiantweet.com/nokia-lumia-920-vs-google-nexus-4-audio-and-video-recording-comparison
Since that comes from a WP forum, some of you may be rolling your eyes (although, faking that would be pretty childish even for the most staunch fanboy).
Here are a couple other videos I found that show the problem:
http://youtu.be/iF4MBGQUJYY:
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http://youtu.be/1UJZYWqGNMQ:
The several VoIP apps that have a "mic gain" control (Groove IP, Talkatone, Sipdroid, CSipSimple) don't actually change the mic gain, but the app's gain which means the already distorted audio will go out with a lower volume, but the damage has already been done.
From searching, it seems that the only way to set actual gain lower in Android is if the kernel permits it, which means a custom kernel. Hopefully the CM guys or someone else can address this. Since the phone is not in the hands of too many people right now and it hasn't been long, the problem is not very widely known, but once people start going to concerts and trying to record clips, there's gonna be some complaints.

It seems that LG messed up a lot that's microphone related. But this problem actually needs attention paid to it.

The Nexus 4 doesn't seem to have auto gain at all (e. g. for videos and audio recording). I'm not sure if this is an Android problem or one particular to this phone.
Also the gain on handset mode is pretty much the same (even seems a bit louder) than in speakerphone mode. I assumed it was a given that it should be significantly lower.

Are there any kernels or ROMs or anything that fixes this yet that anyone knows of? I am using AOKP with Franco Kernel and it is really bad in the app Voxer that I use several times a day. My recordings sound terrible.

Right now all we can do is hope that LG fixes it in an update or a developer fixes the issue with a patch.

andy o said:
The Nexus 4 doesn't seem to have auto gain at all (e. g. for videos and audio recording). I'm not sure if this is an Android problem or one particular to this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its android problem ( no auto Gain ) which sucks if u r recording in loud environment u will get **** sound
(but in wolfson audio chips u can control mic gain with voodoo sound like GS1 or Nexus S )

And here I was thinking that latency was the worst problem for recording apps on Android. They even supposedly improved latency on 4.1 and 4.2, but this is way worse. For recording, Android is even farther behind iOS than I thought, and if this has always been a problem and nobody cares, probably everybody will keep not caring for the N4. Ideally the CM guys would take notice, I wonder how difficult it would be to implement it for them.

andy o said:
And here I was thinking that latency was the worst problem for recording apps on Android. They even supposedly improved latency on 4.1 and 4.2, but this is way worse. For recording, Android is even farther behind iOS than I thought, and if this has always been a problem and nobody cares, probably everybody will keep not caring for the N4. Ideally the CM guys would take notice, I wonder how difficult it would be to implement it for them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember, this phone hit a little over a month old a few days ago.

The problem with this phone in particular is that the gain is set too high, but since I first posted the OP I've learned that this was also a problem with the galaxy nexus, at least on a lesser magnitude. And the fact that there is no way for apps to adjust gain is an Android problem in general (and news to me as well).

andy o said:
The problem with this phone in particular is that the gain is set too high, but since I first posted the OP I've learned that this was also a problem with the galaxy nexus, at least on a lesser magnitude. And the fact that there is no way for apps to adjust gain is an Android problem in general (and news to me as well).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also having this issue most apparent in the voxer app when you play back the message you send ... you can tell it's way too over driven.
My nexus 7 doesn't do this

I myself am surprised nobody fixed it yet.

this explains why when i lower the volume during a call it doesnt appear to actually lower the volume of the call

Lockeskidney said:
this explains why when i lower the volume during a call it doesnt appear to actually lower the volume of the call
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure that this is the same problem. Do you mean the volume you're hearing on the phone? Cause we're talking about the input gain on the mic, which means that the app will get the sound very high, many times distorted as in the examples above, and then it can lower it, but the already distorted sound cannot be fixed and it will be sent that way. Lowering the sound does work here for incoming audio in calls.

Nexus 4 mic very sensitive
I'm surprised that this is not all over the web. I guess there are not many users with VOIP accounts on their Nexus 4.
This problem makes it unusable as a VOIP phone.
It seems during a VIOP call, the second mic is not used to surpress background noise... it actually amplifies it.
I think at least two things are happening here. The second mic amplifies background noise and also pics up noise from the earpiece since they are so close.
I have put a small piece of scotch tape over the second mic and with the earpiece at 50% volume, the issue is almost gone. This solution/work around would only be suitable if a. you don't mind tape on your $350 handset and b. calls are only made in a quiet environment. This is because at 50% earpiece volume it is very difficult to hear the caller.
Again this does not happen during cellular voice calls.
I have not fully tested, but I believe using a bluetooth headset will also eliminate the problem.
Symptom: during voip calls background noise is amplified including introduced echo from earpiece causing major distortion on the receiving callers earpiece.

Bump. Is there a fix for this because i rely in Weixin (we chat) and this makes it unusable.

bump it till it's half past bumped

jackierobinson said:
bump it till it's half past bumped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have modified my kernel to fix the mic issues (I believe) but since I don't use VOIP and I don't have account either. I can't test this myself.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if my kernel fixes made any difference.

faux123 said:
I have modified my kernel to fix the mic issues (I believe) but since I don't use VOIP and I don't have account either. I can't test this myself.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if my kernel fixes made any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I initially thought it wasnt much better, but after using it a bit I think it is actually quite an improvement over how it was before. It's not on the same level as my One X, but it is at least audible in most situations now, where before it was often just fuzz.
Thanks mate. What did you change in the kernel? In layman's terms.

faux123 said:
I have modified my kernel to fix the mic issues (I believe) but since I don't use VOIP and I don't have account either. I can't test this myself.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if my kernel fixes made any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the Kernel. I think there is a slight improvement but gain on VOIP calls is still way too high...not sure what the change in the Kernel is but maybe you can try and reduce the gain even more?
Thanks,

jackierobinson said:
Thanks mate. What did you change in the kernel? In layman's terms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faux is using the method that I describe over here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2092625
It's more of a trick than a permanent fix. The kernel exposes a few audio streams to Android apps such as
MIC, CAMCORDER, VOICE CALL, VOICE RECOGNITION and others. I discovered that CAMCORDER sounds
a bit better than the rest but most apps use the MIC stream. I proposed that kernel devs hardwire MIC and DEFAULT
audio streams to always output the content of CAMCORDER.
We can try tracing the kernel code and figure out what is CAMCORDER doing differently. I would guess it's simply
a noise suppression because the physical signal always seems to be coming from the bottom mic.
The problem with a high mic gain remains.
The best solution will be to find where the driver sets the mic gain and expose these values to the user. Depending on how
the driver code was written that could be obvious or impossible to figure out.

Sound related issues on Jellybean

Hi guys, I'm on the official LM5 Jellybean firmware, and have a couple of issues to share.
1. When I'm listening to music (speaker or earphones), during quiet portion of the song (ie. intro, outro) the sound doesn't come out when the volume is at level 1, like it'd be dead silent. As soon as the song progresses to louder portions, the sound comes back. This bothers me because I use noise canceling earphones and I don't need the volume to go higher than 1 or 2.
2. Also, another issue is when I unplug my earphones while the music is playing, the phone doesn't automatically pause the music (like it did on ICS), and it would continuing playing thru the loud speaker.
If anyone can confirm the same issues (especially on LM5) that'd be great!

You sure it's not your headphones dropping the sound? Tried others?

hkgrob said:
You sure it's not your headphones dropping the sound? Tried others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm almost certain that it's not my earphone's fault. I've tried two pairs, and even when music is playing through the loudspeaker at volume 1, when I put my ear up against it, I can hear silence when the song is quiet.
I don't think it's the mp3 file's fault either because I've tried playing youtube Vevo songs too.

Was the other pair a regular headphone, or noise cancelling as well? Just sounds like some sort of noise cancelling effect. But you never know.
Never noticed it on mine.

hkgrob said:
Was the other pair a regular headphone, or noise cancelling as well? Just sounds like some sort of noise cancelling effect. But you never know.
Never noticed it on mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried the my Sony noise cancelling headphones, the stock Samsung ear bud earphones, and regular iPod earphones. And as I mentioned, it doesn't even play out of the loud speaker, so I'm sure it's not a hardware issue, more like something to do with the codecs. The relatively quiet sounds just doesn't come out at all when it's at volume 1 or 2.
For me, if I listen to this song's beginning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb9CuupX5-Q), at volume 1, it's really choppy because of the quieter portion. At volume 3+, it plays fine.
If you have time, can you try it on yours (LM5?). See if you can hear a difference between volume 1 and volume ~5.

What are you using to play? I don't have volume steps as in 1 or 3. Or are you just using this as one notch from mute etc.

hkgrob said:
What are you using to play? I don't have volume steps as in 1 or 3. Or are you just using this as one notch from mute etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I guess it's the same as one notch away from mute.
Stock music player:
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I am having this too.
Here is a thread with the same problem I think http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716804&highlight=low+sound

I can confirm this on my headset too.
Stock GALAXY S III Headset
1$ Headset
Phillips SHV-1900
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmvCpR45LKA

Birken said:
I am having this too.
Here is a thread with the same problem I think http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716804&highlight=low+sound
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep -- this is a bug that is still not fixed. It affects wired and speaker audio -- but supposedly not Bluetooth. A lot of people just don't notice it, because of the music they listen to, but try listening to Classical and it will drive you nuts.
We need to complain to Samsung...

Well looks like I'm not alone on this issue. The thing is this problem didn't exist before I upgraded to jellybean, I wonder what they did to ye firmware that made this happen.
Hopefully Samsung will fix this.

rcheung28 said:
Well looks like I'm not alone on this issue. The thing is this problem didn't exist before I upgraded to jellybean, I wonder what they did to ye firmware that made this happen.
Hopefully Samsung will fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It did exist before jellybean -- on both TouchWiz and CM ROMS. Perhaps it has been made worse with JB, but trust me it has always been there.

burtcom said:
It did exist before jellybean -- on both TouchWiz and CM ROMS. Perhaps it has been made worse with JB, but trust me it has always been there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It never happened to me when I was on ICS, and now it's here with JB, so I'm kind of disappointed.

[Q] Xperia T doesn't play next song in Walkman?

It looks like my XT won't play next song in Walkman when screen off,and It'll play if i wake up the screen. Please help.
XT: Stock JB (locked bootloader, rooted)

Benjoy Ericsson said:
It looks like my XT won't play next song in Walkman when screen off,and It'll play if i wake up the screen. Please help.
XT: Stock JB (locked bootloader, rooted)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have that same damn annoying problem. I dunno why it happens.. Sometimes it works fine though.

thedisturbedone said:
Yes I have that same damn annoying problem. I dunno why it happens.. Sometimes it works fine though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my Xperia T for 3 days, It's been updated to 4.1.2.
I'm experimenting the very same issue, I've tried with another player app (n7player), to no avail.
I'm very disappointed as I bought this phone because of Sony's Walkman software.
Nickola
[Edit]
Edited this post to offer some kind of bypass solution.
Using "Wakelock" to acquire "Partial WakeLock", I was able to get continuous music playing, even when the screen goes off, with either Sony's Walkman or 3rd party player.
The side effect is a probably higher battery drainage, as it prevents CPU going to sleep mode, for what I've understood.
[/Edit]

The music issue is a known problem with the JB 4.1.2 update on 2012 Xperia's. I have successfully used Poweramp with no problems. It is not free, but there is a 15 day free trial. You can see if that helps you. I don't work for Poweramp; just a suggestion to let you listen to music with no interruptions.
I was not happy with this either, but I've found Poweramp's sound quality to be so much better than any version of the Walkman app that I'll keep using it even if Sony fixes the Walkman problems. Even Google Play Music sounds noticeably better than Walkman. In addition to fixing the music pausing when the display is off, Sony needs to work on its sound quality IMO.
The UI for Walkman is very slick though. I hope Sony sorts all of this out.

Work around for Walkman bug on JB

It is working on my LT30p with rooted JB. I don't know why.
1. uninstall update of Smart Connect.
2. disable Smart Connect
3. power off then power on the phone
after these step, Walkman works with headset again in sleap mode.
EDIT: Stop playing the next track again. So it is NOT a replicatable solution. Forget it.
Sent from my LT30p using xda premium

I don not even have Smart Connect installed, I removed it from the phone as I don't use it... guess what, Walkman does not work :/

just set unlock pattern and walkman will be OK

Supersonic335 said:
just set unlock pattern and walkman will be OK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's gotta be more to it than that, I use an unlock pattern and it still pauses between songs.

it looks that every user have to do something uniqiue to get it work...

Its just because the sleep policy of our JB its still not optimized. Look at teh batterystats. Our device isnt sleeping. And there is mismach wit handroid LMK killer. And if you do some stuff like you mentioned. Soemthing its changed and it starts working. But not for a long time ...

Searching around and I found that there are many people countering this bug too --> http://talk.sonymobile.com/message/408382
The solution is using another temporary music player like poweramp or rock music player, and wait for the next update. Hope this bug will be fixed soone.

Supersonic335 said:
it looks that every user have to do something uniqiue to get it work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be.
I also applied the unlock pattern solution, but it did not work for me.

MrTapa said:
Its just because the sleep policy of our JB its still not optimized. Look at teh batterystats. Our device isnt sleeping. And there is mismach wit handroid LMK killer. And if you do some stuff like you mentioned. Soemthing its changed and it starts working. But not for a long time ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed bbs too.
When update to JB through sony Update Service, the device does not fall in deep sleep and with a bad battery strain than ICS.
After rooted (thanks to TiMiN8R), disable google now and some location related options of google maps, now it falls in deep sleep every time when screen locks.

MrTapa said:
Its just because the sleep policy of our JB its still not optimized. Look at teh batterystats. Our device isnt sleeping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's weird.
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Taken on 4.1.2.
It appears to me like the device is, in fact, sleeping normally.
I'm pretty sure Walkman issues are app-specific, otherwise other players would suffer too.

Gasai Yuno said:
That's weird.
Taken on 4.1.2.
It appears to me like the device is, in fact, sleeping normally.
I'm pretty sure Walkman issues are app-specific, otherwise other players would suffer too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone said Amazon Mp3 Player had the same issues.
And the ICS version Walkman in JB had the same issues too.
I did not verify these.
If these are ture, the issue should not be app-specific.

Here's the problem: PowerAMP and DeaDBeeF both play music fine.

lucascao1 said:
Someone said Amazon Mp3 Player had the same issues.
And the ICS version Walkman in JB had the same issues too.
I did not verify these.
If these are ture, the issue should not be app-specific.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i think this was in the sony forums. So it could be something related to the android media server or something. I have never used amazon player, but if we find out whats the difference between Amazon and Walkman and other media apps, i think we can find a solution.

Weird. I never noticed this problem with Walkman on .489 fw (modified - I must say).
No problem when playing on speaker and no problem when playing on bluetooth car radio.

peetr_ said:
Weird. I never noticed this problem with Walkman on .489 fw (modified - I must say).
No problem when playing on speaker and no problem when playing on bluetooth car radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It only happen when using headphone via cable, not with bluetooth.
Sent from my LT30p using Tapatalk 2

forest1971 said:
It only happen when using headphone via cable, not with bluetooth.
Sent from my LT30p using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, bluetooth plays fine, but couple of bugs there too.
1)volume is low when first connected to bluetooth... (unless you dial a number for even a second and end call)
2)started to notice lately that audio quality (specially bass) is pretty choppy on bluetooth.

Yes, bluetooth volume problem is there. But playing alarm sound in volume settings solves it for that one connection. (no need to make a call)
But how many songs do I need to listen with headphones, to notice that Walkman bug? I tried 3 without any pause.

That Bluetooth volume thing, is that only on walkman? Becausei just tried it myself on PowerAmp and I didn't notice any difference (don't have Walkman on my phone anymore since I got a license for PowerAmp which I think is ten times better)
Not even after a short phone call of playing alarm sound from settings.
Please try it, because if it isn't then I did something in my Rom that fixed it (and maybe I will share CrazyBuild v1.3 a little sooner then)
Sent from my phone using XDA Premium

crazymister said:
That Bluetooth volume thing, is that only on walkman? Becausei just tried it myself on PowerAmp and I didn't notice any difference (don't have Walkman on my phone anymore since I got a license for PowerAmp which I think is ten times better)
Not even after a short phone call of playing alarm sound from settings.
Please try it, because if it isn't then I did something in my Rom that fixed it (and maybe I will share CrazyBuild v1.3 a little sooner then)
Sent from my phone using XDA Premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only use the Walkman app...so notice the volume issue on it so far. Just reinstalling JB after flashing ICS to test audio quality.. Will have a go with PowerAmp afterwards.

I have PoweAmp license too, but I like Walkman more.
I don't have that bug causing pauses between tracks, but BT volume after connection is always low.
Already uninstalled Smart connect, because it started to be annoying. Now I am using A2DP Volume app. This doesn't help. Volume slider is at maximum, but volume is low. Playing alarm sound by moving alarm volume slider solves this.
I started to do some modifications, but I can test it only in my car.

Google voice search prompts do not obey volume sliders

On a Bluetooth headset, Google (voice) search prompt tones are intolerably loud. I use Persist+ & with all sliders @ zero, it just does its own loud prompt.
Is there a solution?
My workaround is to disable Google Search & let voice search 2.1.4 handle voice dialing.
Frustrated & not rooted!
Edit
My solution. http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/general/workaround-fix-loud-prompt-google-voice-t2725610

This is my biggest gripe with this phone, and android in general... Bluetooth sucks. For me, the initial prompt is so low you can't hear it while driving, and then the command response is like 20dB louder.
That's when it manages to send it over Bluetooth. Half the time it comes over the speaker, and sometimes half of it comes over one and then switches to the other.
I'm gonna ask Santa for an Android Bluetooth stack that actually works as expected; seems pretty clear Google and/or Motorola is incapable of delivering one.

Solutions Etcetera said:
This is my biggest gripe with this phone, and android in general... Bluetooth sucks. For me, the initial prompt is so low you can't hear it while driving, and then the command response is like 20dB louder.
That's when it manages to send it over Bluetooth. Half the time it comes over the speaker, and sometimes half of it comes over one and then switches to the other.
I'm gonna ask Santa for an Android Bluetooth stack that actually works as expected; seems pretty clear Google and/or Motorola is incapable of delivering one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you unrooted & what build?
I am glad to have voice search anyway!
My ERA, the mini, is great. Battery life is poor if you leave it on, but is great via the manual switch.

aviwdoowks said:
Are you unrooted & what build?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unrooted, stock 4.4.2.

I got a FRU for a dim & slightly yellow screen with my month old phone. It worked with a much lower prompt tone.
Both phones have identical SW. So it could be a hardware issue.
BTW. After complaining about the bad FRU with WiFi not switching on at times & soft keys disappearing, Vzw CS is now sending a new phone out!

If you are talking about the prompt after you say "Okay Google Now" with that response volume being very low, this is an issue that Moto is aware of. For a temporary fix, from your home screen you can press the volume down button a few times, then turn it back up. That fixes it for me, usually until I have to restart the phone.
Try that and see if it works for you.

hbar98 said:
If you are talking about the prompt after you say "Okay Google Now" with that response volume being very low, this is an issue that Moto is aware of. For a temporary fix, from your home screen you can press the volume down button a few times, then turn it back up. That fixes it for me, usually until I have to restart the phone.
Try that and see if it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't work for me. Bluetooth volume is seriously borked in 4.4 (and 4.4.2), and it behaves erratically. Even if I lower the volume, it jumps back up when playing podcasts after accessing touchless control. I have tried to fix it (re-pair bluetooth, clear cache, clear dalvik cache, factory reset, etc.).
Really sad that one of the biggest reasons to buy this phone doesn't work as expected when you would need it most (while driving). I keep hoping for a fix, but the last two that came down from Motorola (for the Assist app) broke more than it fixed. And Google's tainted history with its bloody bluetooth stack does not have me feeling confident that this will get cleared up anytime soon.
FWIW, it was working fine in 4.2.2, and it works fine in 4.4.2 with a Moto bluetooth headset... but third party bluetooth devices (Kinivo, LG, Logitech) act as if they are haunted.
Maybe its time to just roll over on Android and go back to iPhone.
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Solutions Etcetera said:
This doesn't work for me. Bluetooth volume is seriously borked in 4.4 (and 4.4.2), and it behaves erratically. Even if I lower the volume, it jumps back up when playing podcasts after accessing touchless control. I have tried to fix it (re-pair bluetooth, clear cache, clear dalvik cache, factory reset, etc.).
Really sad that one of the biggest reasons to buy this phone doesn't work as expected when you would need it most (while driving). I keep hoping for a fix, but the last two that came down from Motorola (for the Assist app) broke more than it fixed. And Google's tainted history with its bloody bluetooth stack does not have me feeling confident that this will get cleared up anytime soon.
FWIW, it was working fine in 4.2.2, and it works fine in 4.4.2 with a Moto bluetooth headset... but third party bluetooth devices (Kinivo, LG, Logitech) act as if they are haunted.
Maybe its time to just roll over on Android and go back to iPhone.
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I was talking about a different issue. There is a strange issue with the Moto Assist where, even if your volume is turned all the way up, the Moto Assist voice is extremely low. Adjusting the volume down, then up, is a temp fix to bring the Moto Assist voice back in line with the regular volume. The volumes jumping around issue is something different that I have not experienced yet with 4.4.2 (and I have my phone currently paired to no less than 4 different bluetooth speakers: a Miccus and a Jabra in the car, a Westinghouse speaker in the house, and a set of Plantronics ear buds).
Occasionally, when the Moto Assist voice is really low, the current song that is playing will also become low, but skipping the song fixes the problem. I have chatted with Moto techs, and they are working on the issue. (And I recall 4.2 bluetooth being more unstable in my use... 4.4 has fixed issues I was experiencing.)
You've listed several devices that have the volume jumping issue. Since you don't have any issues with the Moto headset, I wonder if maybe the receiving device isn't exactly compatible? What models of devices don't seem to work with your X? What version of Bluetooth are they on? Maybe that's something to investigate. And, yes, Google's bluetooth can be messy sometimes.
You may, of course, leave Android for the iPhone (or Windows phone). That is a personal choice. But I have several friends who have iPhones, and they have different issues that I, personally, couldn't put up with. If yours is the current state of bluetooth with certain devices, and you are certain that switching to an iPhone will fix that issue, then by all means do the switch.

hbar98 said:
You may, of course, leave Android for the iPhone
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That was more tongue in cheek than anything else.
In 4.4, Google attempted to unify bluetooth volume control. Beforehand, volume controls on hardware (LG Tone+ for instance) was independent of the bluetooth volume on the phone. This was no different than connecting an aux cable to an amp with its own volume control; adjusting the amp's volume control did not affect the output volume of the phone.
This makes a lot of sense as different devices have different sensitivities, and it is desirable to leave your phone's BT volume at a median level, and fine tune the audio level of each device using their own volume controls.
In 4.4, Google decided that BT devices that had their own volume controls should actually control the BT volume of the phone, and not their own input sensitivity. This may or not be a desirable feature for most (it wasn't for me), but that would be under the assumption that the implementation actually works as intended. It doesn't. Certainly not on the Kinivo BTC450 and the LG HBS730. These are popular, highly rated devices, and the end result of 4.4's changes are jumpy, nonlinear volume settings, where spots along the midpoint of the volume slider interface are significantly louder than those above it, and volume levels change depending on what you're doing on your phone.
I suppose one could write off these devices as incompatible, but these issues did not exist with them prior to 4.4, and do not exist on devices on other platforms running BT 4. And of course, BT is a standard that is supposed to be backward compatible for the protocols (A2DP in this case) that are supported.
I'm aware that 4.4 and above fixed some issues that existed in prior builds, but my recollection is that these were mostly connectivity problems. The changes to volume behavior was simply rancid icing on the cake. I just hope a fix is imminent as this is the single most frustrating bug I am experiencing on the Moto X.

Solutions Etcetera said:
That was more tongue in cheek than anything else.
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I figured as much, but I'm of the opinion that if a piece of technology does not work how you want it to, or there are issues that are deal breakers for you, and a different piece of technology does address those issues, then you should switch. The comment was by no means intended to be snide or off handed: that is how I view technology (when I am able to afford it, natch).
In response to the new way that Android handles BT audio... I suppose I'm a different use case than you. Most of my stuff is either jerry rigged to work, or I don't notice the great difference in how it handles audio volumes. I can imagine how this can be frustrating when your volume jumps up and down, and for your sake I hope they do fix the issue.
I'd still be interested in seeing if there was a common theme to devices that do the audio shifts. However, it appears that it can be fixed. According to the following link, the volume controls work properly for the LG device you listed on the Nexus 5, running 4.4.2. Unless the Moto X has issues with that particular chip, you may (eventually) be in luck. (The Kinivo device is also listed, but not much more is said than the audio quality being awesome).
http://forums.androidcentral.com/moto-x/346424-moto-x-bluetooth-apt-x-vs-nexus-5-sound-quality.html

Persist + may have made a difference for me on my FRU replacement, it was (being returned due to buggy HW & getting a new phone) working much better but had no time to test everything on 442.