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 the built in EQ seems to work lovely when I plug in my headphones on anything like Pandora, YouTube and even notification noises on my phone. However, if I just use the phone speaker the equalizer has no effect at all. Not a single change in sound from Extreme Bass to Vocalizer setting when watching YouTube and Pandora. Does anyone know why it only works via headphones and not over the phone speaker?
Seems to work just fine for me. Having owned an HTC One before this, the external speaker quality is a definite step back. That said, I can notice a difference when I change the equalizer settings, albeit the fact that the audio pauses between settings (when playing on YouTube) makes it harder to tell.
Sent from my SCH-I925 using Tapatalk
weird
Can you test it on Pandora too? I really can't tell a difference only when headphones are plugged in
I think I can, however like YouTube it is a very subtle difference between even what should be opposite ends of eq. (Extreme bass brilliant treble)
Edit: I noticed the largest difference when using Play Music.
Sent from my SCH-I925 using Tapatalk
I think Pandora is the only thing that doesn't let the equalizer affect for some reason. It's just weird on headphones it works amazing
Hi,
strangely, i find the audio quality to be very poor (much worse than the GNEX i'm coming from anyway).
- sound stage is much narrower using the walkman app.
- using poweramp has proven to be impossible : there is an awful background noize (that i don't get either with the walkman app, either with google play music, like a FM radio interference.) The sound stage seems wider (I suppose this is thanks to the "direct volume control" feature of poweramp)
I did the test with 320kbps mp3, and a wide range of CD quality FLAC files.
I have tried the high res usb DAC output, but will not be using it on a daily basis as :
- it requires the platic waterproof protection to be off
- with my usb dac (dragonfly 1.2) the phone cannot control the dac's volume control (100% output volume would smash to pieces my earphones, and my ears)
- having a cable attached to the microusb port is the best way to break the port...
I'm not using any of the rubbishy musiFX, clearaudio stuff.
My earphones are high end IEMs (westone W60).
Anyone experienced this too ?
Well, I have encountered similar problem with you..
For the noise floor, it seems that this problem appears only if you use Poweramp, I have tried to use walkman and folder player with creative in-ear 3 and ATH-AD900X, the noise floor is not very obvious. Generally, I think z3c has a relatively good control of noise floor, and the arising of noise is due to Poweramp.
For the sound stage, yes it is narrower when you use Walkman, open the Clear Audio+ will enlarge sound stage a little bit but then the problem of sibilance arises
YEEES. Thank you so much for confirming I'm not going nuts and my phone is not malfunctioning !
I've sent a bug report to poweramp devs. I hope it gets fixed...
I personally can't bare clearaudio-style features which tend to give the feeling the music was recording microphone was set up inside a can...
ps: btw I learnt a new word today : sibilance.
ps2 : please upvote the bug thread on poweramp's forum (http://forum.powerampapp.com/index.php?/topic/6857-horrible-noise-floor-on-z3-compact/)
ps3: forgot to mention, this noise problem is related to Direct Volume Control. disabling this feature in poweramp removes the noise issue, but also reduces sound quality and sound stage.
icsha said:
Well, I have encountered similar problem with you..
For the noise floor, it seems that this problem appears only if you use Poweramp, I have tried to use walkman and folder player with creative in-ear 3 and ATH-AD900X, the noise floor is not very obvious. Generally, I think z3c has a relatively good control of noise floor, and the arising of noise is due to Poweramp.
For the sound stage, yes it is narrower when you use Walkman, open the Clear Audio+ will enlarge sound stage a little bit but then the problem of sibilance arises
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, i'm too dissapointed about the music quality.
it was much better when i installed custom rom on xperia tipo with z1 features, clearaudio+ gave the huge quality boost
Hey y'all,
I've had my note 4 for a couple of weeks now and am decently satisfied with the phone (don't get me started on how laggy touchwiz is - waiting on L update). Anyway I'm having an issue with bluetooth that is driving me insane. My previous phone was a nexus 5 that I always paired with my car and my sony bluetooth headset. I had no audio quality issues and the sound was clean enough for bluetooth. I only play decently high quality music and have the ears to hear the difference in sound so after paring my note 4 to the same devices, the highs are very crackly and come through with ear piercing noise and the lows are mostly gone as I cannot hear the punchy bass anymore in songs. I then proceeded to turn off bluetooth then plugged in the device with an aux cable and to no surprise the sound quality increased tremendously. The bass of the song came through and the highs were perfectly clear.
I tried various songs of various quality, various music players (current is poweramp - always have had best quality music from it), but to no avail. Sound is still really bad quality. Other issues I've had is my plantronics bluetooth headset randomly transmitting white noise to my ears and to the person on the other end. This does not happen with an LG G3. And also my LG G watch tends to randomly disconnect for a minute or two when the phone is playing audio in the car over bluetooth (this doesn't change sound quality).
I've done some research about this issue and I've found some forums and people talking about the Note 3 having bad quality audio and that switching to an aosp rom fixed it since that switched the bluetooth stack from samsung to android/google. I've also seen someone noticing that the bitpool on the note 3 dropped significantly when playing music and having another device connected, however with or without my watch I still get low quality sound. So I've come to you guys. My phone is not rooted, knox counter is at 0x0 and I don't know what to do. I feel like this is a universal issue with the note 4 and the samsung bluetooth stack and am not sure how to tackle this problem. Let me know what you guys think or if you have a similar experience!
Hi, just got my nexus 6 and noticed that the top speaker is louder than the bottom speaker was just wondering if this was normal also the speakers become distorted on some music but is fine on other.
Wondering what yoir experiance is with the speakers.
My speakers sound perfectly uniform no volume differences between the two. I haven't really experienced any distortion but I suppose it would really depend on what type of music you are playing. In the end these aren't boomspeakers and they are small. But for what they are they still sound pretty good.
yea might have just been the music i was playing because when listening to some youtube videos the speakers seem to sound the same I just recon some of my music isnt proper stereo or something because some things sound uniform some doesnt.
Just restart the phone. This seems to happen to me from time to time.