Database Develop

Audio Output on P990

The sound output from the speakers while playing any MP3
songs etc is pretty low. I could hardly hear the music, though
the sound quality thru the head phones is awesome.
(I use a Media player application called PowerAmp.)
Initially I thought that this low volume and quality is due
to hardware limitations..internal amp and the speakers
located at the bottom of the phone.
The other day I tried out a Game called "Jetcar Stunts" .
( This game has good built in sound effects )
Surprisingly, the sound level and quality was superb !
I couldn't imagine that the Phone could have this output level.
So its all linked to the SW now..which means there is hope
we can soon find a good media player for this Phone to
display its real power.
It is really a good phone.

PowerAMP amplify the speaker or u can use volume+

I tried that apk..but not much improvement.
I believe the Hardware is there to produce good quality
sound from the LG P990 speakers.
Bust somehow the SW is unable to make use of it.
But , that game 'JetCar Stunts' seems to have got over
this shortcoming.

Already disscussed before. Hope voodoo plus will add speaker add on soon. My ringtone are so high and of good quality. I don't understand why music is so low
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App

just get cm7 with inbuilt dspmanager... that with the eq you can adjust the output

Possible workaround for a noisy mic

The microphone for the Nexus 4 is very noisy. A user on another thread described a video he recorded
to sound as if it was "recorded underwater".
I looked up the Android SDK and the MediaRecorder object has access to the following audio streams:
CAMCORDER, DEFAULT, MIC, VOICE_CALL, VOICE_COMMUNICATION, VOICE_DOWNLINK, VOICE_RECOGNITION, VOICE_UPLINK.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/MediaRecorder.AudioSource.html
I noticed that while audio and video recorders sound bad on Nexus4, voice calls are of decent quality.
Not all phones have the hardware to handle all these so most sound recorders use MIC or DEFAULT.
I found the source code to the MIUI Sound Recorder and it was easy to add a setting that lets you
manually select which hardware stream to record from.
I ran some tests on the Nexus 4 and came to the following conclusions:
- MIC, DEFAULT and VOICE RECOGNITION are probably the same stream and sound bad.
- the CAMCORDER audio stream is the cleanest.
I propose that until Google and LG fix this issue ROM developers alter the Android API on Nexus 4 (only)
so that the CAMCORDER stream always overwrites MIC and DEFAULT.
I'm attaching the modified MIUI Sound Recorder with manual stream select if anyone wants to do
tests on their own. Here's an amplified view of MIC vs CAMCORDER.

-Mindroid- said:
The microphone for the Nexus 4 is very noisy. A user on another thread described a video he recorded
to sound as if it was "recorded underwater".
I looked up the Android SDK and the MediaRecorder object has access to the following audio streams:
CAMCORDER, DEFAULT, MIC, VOICE_CALL, VOICE_COMMUNICATION, VOICE_DOWNLINK, VOICE_RECOGNITION, VOICE_UPLINK.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/MediaRecorder.AudioSource.html
I noticed that while audio and video recorders sound bad on Nexus4, voice calls are of decent quality.
Not all phones have the hardware to handle all these so most sound recorders use MIC or DEFAULT.
I found the source code to the MIUI Sound Recorder and it was easy to add a setting that lets you
manually select which hardware stream to record from.
I ran some tests on the Nexus 4 and came to the following conclusions:
- MIC, DEFAULT and VOICE RECOGNITION are probably the same stream and sound bad.
- the CAMCORDER audio stream is the cleanest.
I propose that until Google and LG fix this issue ROM developers alter the Android API on Nexus 4 (only)
so that the CAMCORDER stream always overwrites MIC and DEFAULT.
I'm attaching the modified MIUI Sound Recorder with manual stream select if anyone wants to do
tests on their own. Here's an amplified view of MIC vs CAMCORDER.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I modified my kernel to fix this and I used your apk to test for both mic and camcorder and I don't notice the difference with my updated kernel.
http://faux.androidro.ms/mako/beta/mako-jb-kernel-004b06.zip
check for me to see if I really fix it or not since I am not an audio expert

Thank you, faux!
I've been meaning to try your kernel for a while so now I just have to.
Please treat my ideas about how Android exposes the audio stream as a speculation for now.
I didn't run any in-depth tests and I didn't trace the kernel code.
To my ears the MIC/DEFAULT streams are very noisy. The CAMCORDER one is noisy also
and but somewhat less so. They all sound bandpassed (probably a microphone limitation).
I'd like to know what other users think of the sound.

Very interesting.
I agree that N4 mic is so sensitive that it picks up a lot of background noises. I have been tweaking with mic volume to offset it.
If OP is true, then there's a hope for VoIP users who use Csipsimple. Without changing the kernel, csip can use CAMCORDER mode by changing the settings under media>audio troubleshooting.

The very high mic gain is the main issue with the sound quality. It needs to be adjusted from
the kernel driver which is not a trivial procedure. Gain from apps works on top of the hardware
gain and does not affect distortion that happens earlier in the signal chain.
One user put scotch tape on the mic to mechanically attenuate the sound and reported good results.

If the the sound system on the nexus 4 is built on top of ALSA, I.e. if the directory /proc/asound exists, then microphone levels can be adjusted in user-space. There is an app (ALSAMixer) available on the market that could be used here.

What would be the effect of covering the mic with something to reduce it's sensitivity?

chdloc said:
If the the sound system on the nexus 4 is built on top of ALSA, I.e. if the directory /proc/asound exists, then microphone levels can be adjusted in user-space. There is an app (ALSAMixer) available on the market that could be used here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if that will do it. The textbook audio recording chain goes like this:
microphone -> preamp -> analog-to-digital converter
If I'm not mistaken ALSA(the driver) will take over afterwards. We need a way to control
the hardware gain on the preamp. It's possible that preamp gain is permanently fixed by design.
On the other hand almost all modern preamps have automatic variable gain so it might just be
a matter of figuring out how to turn it on.
EDIT:
ALSAMixer doesn't work at all on my phone (stock 4.2.1 - rooted)
Do you know of any custom kernels for the Nexus4 that use ALSA?
donec said:
What would be the effect of covering the mic with something to reduce it's sensitivity?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aside from the ugly look it should work OK. I would suggest using some kind of soft thread fabric.
Wool is one of the best materials for sound absorption but you should try different materials.
The downside is that mechanical methods don't attenuate all frequencies linearly - they work much better
on higher frequencies so you will have to try and see what material works best.
If this works out it would be ideal to open the phone and plug the microphone hole on the inside with the proper material.

I don't have a Nexus 4, but I do know that the Nexus 7 uses ALSA. Have you checked for /proc/asound? If it exists, then you may need the proper ALSA libraries first.
Sent from my Nexus One using xda app-developers app

im starting to think LG just used cheap mics to keep cost down. From the buzzing to the sub par recording quality

-Mindroid- said:
Aside from the ugly look it should work OK. I would suggest using some kind of soft thread fabric.
Wool is one of the best materials for sound absorption but you should try different materials.
The downside is that mechanical methods don't attenuate all frequencies linearly - they work much better
on higher frequencies so you will have to try and see what material works best.
If this works out it would be ideal to open the phone and plug the microphone hole on the inside with the proper material.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my Nexus 4 in a case and thought maybe I could improve the quality by placing a piece of cloth between the case and the phone.

Lockeskidney said:
im starting to think LG just used cheap mics to keep cost down. From the buzzing to the sub par recording quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The specs for the microphone do not look bad either. http://www.knowles.com/search/prods_pdf/SPU0410LR5H.pdf is the spec sheet and it should be working to 116 dB, which is louder than I'd want to be in - though it is only the loud end of rock concerts. Noise also looks okay on the spec sheet, but you cannot expect Schoeps quality of course..
The underwater sounds I'm hearing with the sound recording tool remind me of processing, heavy compression andf such. Not what I heard on my camcorder tests, which had a pleasant sound.
Overload is more likelely to be caused by audio codec settings. A voice call has the mouth close to the mic, that is loud too, and works well. But applications like movie recordings crank up the gain to record sounds further away.

jutezak said:
The specs for the microphone do not look bad either. http://dl-bacon.bbqdroid.org/GeebCM/EN_LG-E973_SVC_ENG_121127.pdf is the spec sheet and it should be working to 116 dB, which is louder than I'd want to be in. Noise also looks okay on the spec sheet, but you cannot expect Schoeps quality of course..
The underwater sounds I'm hearing with the sound recording tool remind me of processing, heavy compression andf such. Not what I heard on my camcorder tests, which had a pleasant sound.
Overload is more likelely to be caused by audio codec settings. A voice call has the mouth close to the mic, that is loud too, and works well. But applications like movie recordings crank up the gain to record sounds further away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice find! Thank you for sharing!
Microphones in general are almost never bad. It's the preamps and digital processing that add more to the mix.
Regarding the "underwater" sound I now suspect a lack of a Low Pass filter. Check out my other thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=36856100&postcount=18

jutezak said:
The specs for the microphone do not look bad either. http://www.knowles.com/search/prods_pdf/SPU0410LR5H.pdf is the spec sheet and it should be working to 116 dB, which is louder than I'd want to be in - though it is only the loud end of rock concerts. Noise also looks okay on the spec sheet, but you cannot expect Schoeps quality of course..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Human speech can generate 116dB SPL measured at 1-2" distance fairly easily. I just measured the level my speech at 1" distance (with a lab-grade device) and I did not have to shout to produce 116dB SPL. The spec sheet says that the microphone produces about 10% THD typically at 118SPL for a 1kHz tone.
jutezak said:
Overload is more likelely to be caused by audio codec settings. A voice call has the mouth close to the mic, that is loud too, and works well. But applications like movie recordings crank up the gain to record sounds further away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Distortion of the microphone signal is generated (or amplified) in at least four locations:
1. The microphone itself (analog or digital if the microphone is a digital microphone as many MEMS are; the above referenced Knowles mike is analog)
2. The amplifier (analog)
3. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC) which is spec'ed with a maximum input voltage to generate a signal that hits "digital rail", i.e. 0dB FS (full-scale)
4. digital gain along the digital processing path
Potential "clipping" (i.e. signals producing 0dB FS at the ADC) can only be avoided if the analog amplifier (if there is one) can be controlled. By looking at the ALSA mixer settings for the Nexus 4 my only hope lies in the controls that are labeled "ADCX Volume" where X=[1,6], i.e. numid. I believe -Mindroid- shared his "idle" settings vs. settings during a call and only X={1,3}, i.e. numid={48,50} have changed. Give changing those two parameters a try...

I posted this in a different thread, but thought it would be useful here as well as a potential lead to a workaround:
Looks like the audio chip in question is a Qualcomm WCD9310.
It's used in a few other devices as well (eg: GS3 USA). If their audio runs fine, perhaps we could try running their audio drivers on our device?

[Q] Sound cut out bug on low volumes?

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

Nexus 6 Headphone jack gives unclean audio\Static

Hi there!
TL\DR - Stock Nexus 6 Headphone jack produces noise\unclean audio when playing at low volume . A bit annoyed and wonder if i can do something about it.
First poster and a new user of Android in general, and I got myself a Nexus 6 as a first android phone. Love it so far.
Except for one minor issue.
My audio quality with the headphone jack is a bit strange.
It has background static when audio is playing low, or if there is a low audio portion of a song or video the headphones.
My old Iphone 4[yes, I used that crap for four years] had no problems with this.
I've tried a couple different headphones, but they both have the issue.
My main ones are a pair of Shure SE425 inear. So I hear everything crystal clear, including this annoying static.
I have very sensitive ears when it comes to audio and usually listen to music with "one bar" volume, sometimes two when watching something.
Is this a common issue?
My thoughts are that either the WiFi antenna or something similar is interfering, because the jack isn't shielded or something.
Might be some kind of decoding issue?
The phone is untuched with it comes to rooting or installing apps.
It's basically as stock as it can be.
Kind regards.

Despite my tinnitus (not caused by listening to loud events, etc.), I have sensitive ears, as well.
I have a Nexus 6 64GB running stock 5.1.1. My Sennheiser headphones (both portable and heavier monitoring types) don't exhibit this static you described, even at lowest audible level. This is for playing high quality MP3 files using PowerAmp, as a quick test.
What audio source are you using, please?
- ooofest

I have the same issue, after the recent update on 6.0.1
Audio Player used: Google Play Music and Blackplayer
Video Player: MX Player, VLC and Youtube.
The issue is same as the above since the recent update.

Sounds setting changes in marshmallows

Before updating I was able to turn HSEE HX on along with adjusting sound effects. But after upgrading to Marshmallows, when HSEE HX is on the other options will be grey out. And I noticed the sound quality dropped ( or perhaps, not the same) using headphone and also speaker volume is lower, more quieter.
I have ask others who use Z5 they said it has been like this out of the box, but I am 100% sure it was not the same caae for Z3+
So, does anyone have any solution ? ( I used Poweramp before but the sound quality is not on par with Music app ( only apply for sony mobile, I think. Was tested in other devices the sound is the same) and I have problem with skipping between songs ( take too long). Another Music player apps has complicated UI so I'm not using them)
Thanks in advance.