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Help EVO + Pandora sound quality post-Froyo

Mongoos150

Mongoos150

Member
This only seems to have affected my EVO - after updating to 2.2, the sound quality through Pandora is very low, even with the "High quality" setting enabled. Before I updated, sound quality was at CD-like levels, even without the HQ option enabled!

What gives? Anyone else experiencing this?
 
[Already posted here, but it's worth restating given how fast the threads are getting buried and how severe the problem is for those experiencing it.]

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g...knows-what-else-not-working-after-update.html


Pandora and other audio streaming apps using the AAC+ codec are not working properly since updating to 2.2 OTA. Consider Pandora basically useless until the next Android OS update, _IF_ Google chooses to fix it. The problem was reported as long ago as May in numerous forums, but apparently that didn't prompt anything to be done about it for the past three months leading up to the official release. Had I known how bad the audio quality would be after Froyo, I absolutely would NOT have updated, even considering biggies like SD app storage and Flash support.


Reply from Pandora tech support:

"Froyo has a problem processing our AAC+ files. We have confirmed that this is an issue in the OS. Hopefully they will have it fix in the next Android release. Thanks for your patience in the meantime."


I feel bad to a point for all the app developers that just got soccer punched with Froyo slaughtering their audio quality, but I also cannot understand how they didn't see this coming if they tested it, unless Google decided to go ahead anyway with the release. The only temporary fix seems to be to root the phone and deactivate the StageFright player in 2.2, but that may introduce other problems.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=737111
Any Pandora users running Froyo - xda-developers


For the other 99% of users, including myself, who will not be rooting their phone, it could be anybody's guess how long we have to wait for the next OS update... 2.21? 2.3? Weeks? Months?

I already spent half an hour on the phone with Sprint telling them what I really thought of Froyo basically destroying streaming audio on my EVO. This is an embarrassment to all parties involved, nobody is denying it, but there seems to be no known ETA for resolution. Now that 2.2 is officially being unleashed on the public, Google/HTC/Sprint needs to state that resources will be directed to resolving this as soon as possible, with an estimate for how soon 2.x will be available.


For those who updated to 2.2 and have crap sound, _please_ add your comments to the Google Code Android thread #9308 and be sure to star the issue to raise the bug ranking:

Issue 9308 - android - eaac+ and aac+ decoding sound quality problems (Android 2.2) - Project Hosting on Google Code


For those who don't think they have the problem, have you tried with a decent pair of headphones? The issue and cause have been confirmed by Pandora tech support, but they cannot fix it as the bug also affects many other streaming apps (Slacker, Rhapsody, Sirius, etc.) and must be fixed by Google. This is not a figment of anyone's imagination, so given the technical explanation already described of the problem, it seems quite odd that anyone on 2.2 would NOT notice the sound degradation, unless they rooted and applied the temp fix as previously documented at XDA. Either there is another variable not being considered or different people seem to be judging the sound quality differently based on their hearing ability/sensitivity. I can assure you that to my and many other people's ears, it totally *SUCKS* now. :p
 
Maybe I am lucky? I did a factory reset last night (installed Froyo Monday) and noticed quality of Pandora sucked this morning. All I did was change it to high quality and reboot and now it is fine. I use good Sony headphones all day long at work. I didn't notice any difference after the Froyo update, only after the factory reset.
 
I'm mystified by this. Pandora sounds fine to me. I did the ota update Monday night. I have good headphones and a pro-audio background.
 
wow, just tried pandora for the first time since upgrading. I cannot believe how bad it is. Sounds like 48-64kbps, HORRIBLE for music. This has to be resolved. I'm caling sprint tomorow morning and complaining until they put an update to this.
 
I was playing around testing with a system I was installing...
I was able to use a Yamaha Mixer with onboard compression and EQ and was able to get something almost bearable out of Pandora for a awhile... However, it does remind me of the early days of mp3's or worse almost... Audio doesn't use that much bandwidth... I'm sorely disappointed to hear this and will be posting at the issue link as well!
I could have gone with an apple system but chose the android for it's user configurability...please don't prove me wrong... I mean I am tethered for free so there is that....hahaha:)
 
If you think is sounds good, try hooking it up to a good stereo. I played it for the first time on my car stereo today and it sounds like AM radio. Really sucks since that is all I was listing to for the last two weeks in the car. Oh well back to CD's for now.
 
At least I know my hearing hasnt gone to crap now. I thought Pandora sounded terrible all of the sudden.

This Froya update has been quite the disappointment for me. Battery life went to crap, and two of my favorite uses of the Evo was to listen to Pandora and Sirius @ work...Pandora sound quality is now toast (and sounds as if it will be for quite a while after reading the posts above), and the Sirius app is busted too (continuous random skips and loops as noted in other posts). :(
 
Just a thought, has any one thought about how much data Pandora uses? Maybe it could a be a strategic move on HTC as well as sprints part in order to keep the data use down until there 4g network is expanded enough to handle the load? Just a thought. Regardless Pandora has become essentially useless.
 
I thought there was something wrong with my Infiniti, picked up my new truck, plugged in the EVO to the aux input, and wow, worst sound quality I've ever heard from streaming audio. I used to listen to Pandora all the time with my old car, was cd quality for sure.

....Please FIX!!
 
I had Pandora streaming music for hours last night and didn't notice any quality drop.
 
Mine is working fine im using the leaked froyo, you have to shut down pandora when you change the quality from normal to high, than restart mine sounds cd quality on high but on normal itis horrible like you guys said
 
Pandora through Wifi sounds fine, through 3G yuck! Also my Thumbplay no longer even streams on 3G...oh well...I guess
 
Just change the sound quality, its under preferences. I had the same issue, and it seemed after the update to 2.2 the "normal" option sounds like crap, however under the "Cell Network Audio Quality" setting change it to high and it works just fine.
 
The audio quality has dropped for all Froyo users. The "normal" option sounds like 64kbps MP3, and the "high" sounds like 96kbps. It was not like this on 2.1. It has to do with the new AAC decoder in Froyo.

Everyone running Froyo is suffering from this. If you can't tell, be glad your ears aren't sensitive enough to tell. Because it's pretty obvious otherwise. But it is happening on /all/, not just some.
 
jsward12 said:
Just change the sound quality, its under preferences. I had the same issue, and it seemed after the update to 2.2 the "normal" option sounds like crap, however under the "Cell Network Audio Quality" setting change it to high and it works just fine.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I had actually changed the sound quality before listening to Pandora after the update (i read an early post about it), so i didn't notice a difference. I was about to call BS on the statement that "Everyone" is experiencing the issue until i noticed that i was already at high quality mode, which is why i never noticed a difference in sound...
 
Vincent Law said:
The audio quality has dropped for all Froyo users. The "normal" option sounds like 64kbps MP3, and the "high" sounds like 96kbps. It was not like this on 2.1. It has to do with the new AAC decoder in Froyo.

Everyone running Froyo is suffering from this. If you can't tell, be glad your ears aren't sensitive enough to tell. Because it's pretty obvious otherwise. But it is happening on /all/, not just some.
Click to expand...

This seems about right. I had posted earlier that Pandora sounded fine. After more listening I do notice a difference. I have been on the high quality setting all along. So I am hearing the difference between 128 and 96 bitrates. Out of curiosity I switched over to the lower setting and puked. Can anyone confirm if the subscription stream is higher quality as they state?
 
I have the Pandora subscription. and the Froyo 2.2 codec bug causes even high quality to sound like crap. There is nothing, whatsoever, fine about it.
 
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