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Audiophiles

T

trick202

Android Expert
Hi all

I have been with my S2 for a week and a half now, coming from the iPhone4.

Overall, I am pretty happy - however, I am having a really hard time finding a decent music app.

I'm not interested in features - just sound quality.

The stock app is not bad, and I have tried Winamp too. However, both seem to distort the bass far too much even at low-ish volume.
I only use good quality senheiser headphones.
If I want high volume, I have to turn the bass right down.

I know the distortion is coming from the device rather than the music track or the headphones.

Any audiophiles on here? What are you using?
 
Oops, my bad. It was poweramp I tried (even paid for full version).

Lots of options to tailor the sound, but the more you tweaked, the less volume you had to play with. Increasing the preamp just highlighted the distortion issue.

AOSP player? Nope, haven't tried. Can I download it?
 
According to Head-fi.org users, the Yamaha Dac uses in the S2 isn't as good as the Wolfson in the original Galaxy and iPhone 4.

In fact it has been confirmed by an XDA member that the Yamaha DAC is faulty, thus producing the noise.

I find it adequate, though I do agree sound does lack with most of the music players. I find poweramp to be the best player out there due to the equalizer, it does a great job. I currently use custom (molded to my ears) In Ear Monitors. I've basically tried every player out there, I highly doubt you will find a better equalizer than poweramp. What music are you playing, and what bit rate is your music encoded? I noticed that one foo fighters album has major distortion, but I think it is just the way it was recorded and the fact that it is rock music. I will try to encode to a better bit rate since it is at 192kbps. All my other music sounds great, good enough for a smartphone at least. :)

Also, if your Sennheisers are power hungry, there is no way for a smartphone to drive them properly without a headphone amp. I've had the Sennheiser HD-650, it didn't sound well with my ipod until I plugged it into my old Ray Samuels headphone amp via line out.
 
It's looking like the stock app (on the S2) is the one - with 'rock' setting.

I'll pay mor attention to the bitrates when I have moment.

Thanks for the heads-up
 
Great find - thanks.

I'm going to give it a try - although I would imagine it's the same as poweramp but in two seperate apps.
 
Interesting you're having issues with the bass distorting - I find the audio quality on the S2 to be very good. I'm using Sennheiser CX400II headphones and once the correct size buds have been put on the bass is deep and powerful. I don't listen to the music too loud but have never had any signs of distortion at all. I have however come across significant distortion when using the microphone to record things, but that's a completely different story!
 
i ve had similar problems with poweramp but more with tracks with heavier bass but with indie and rock tracks poweramp is the best sounding on the market. the worst sounding tracks have lower bit-rates ive noticed
 
Well, I've tried everything. I can get decent volume, but usually at the expense of a richer sound. Clarity seems to rob volume.

My on-ear Senheisers seem OK, but the in-ear Senheisers really suffer with distortion.

Strange, since the in-ears are way better on the iPhone4 - so I know they are up to the job.

I think I may need to turn my attention to headphones........
 
You can also try a 75ohm attenuator, I actually forgot to mention that I soldered two resisters onto my pos and neg wires right where the plug is. You can buy one if your Sennheisers didn't come with one already.

For sensitive earphones like your IEMs, it really amplifies the "noise" from an unclean DAC, so give an attenuator a go and see if it makes any difference for you.

I have 100ohm of resistance on my custom IEMs, and the sound is CLEAN. But of course, the sound won't be as loud, but plenty loud enough for a city like Hong Kong, even right next to the engine of a double decker bus. Plus, I won't have to risk blowing my ear drums out just in case the volume is maxed out.
 
I had gotten into the bad habit of using equalizer settings on the Android players I've been using the two months I've had my phone - something I would never in a million years have dreamed of doing with other devices.
I'm a bit of a headphonephile - not to the point where I have insanely expensive equipment, but for home use (video, music, PS3 games) I do have a pair of Sennheiser HD 650 (their flagship model until the $1,000 HD800 was released a couple of years ago), a pair of AKG K601 and finally my old Sennheiser HD 595 hooked up to my PC.
For the HD 650/AKG I also have a headphone amp and an external DAC hooked up to my PS3.

Testing the HD 650 and AKG K601 with the Galaxy S2 has been a waste of time without adding the headphone amp to the mix. The phone simply doesn't have the power to drive them properly, and they both sound anemic.
So yesterday I ran a little test with the in-ear Sennheiser CX 95 I usually use with the phone. I tried four different media players - Player ro (which is my overall favourite in terms of design, features, widgets etc.), PowerAmp, WinAmp and Cubed - all equalizer or other tone modifications turned off, with some music I know are good recordings.
I also tested the same music on my 2nd gen iPod Touch.

I would like to stress that I don't have "audiophile ears" that can pick up and distinguish between the slightest differences, and overall my test "result" was that without an equalizer thrown into the mix (more often than not making music sound worse - or at least too different from the original - if you're using good headphones/speakers in my opinion), those four Android media players sounded very similar, with only what I thought might have been some very minor differences in the high treble range and sibilance, but that might very well have been my imagination straining for something to set them apart.

I had previously been under the impression that my iPod Touch sounded better than my Galaxy S2, but it was so similar that I'm sure my judgment in that area had also been clouded by my recent unnecessary use of equalizer settings. With the use of equalizer however, I feel PowerAmp is the very clear winner.

But this little test means I'll be sticking with the music player I prefer for it's other aspects, PlayerPro.
 
LOL.
I was reading that with a sense of hope that you'd found a really good player hiding in the market.

With the Sammy, my decent headphones are pretty much wasted. The quality of what's being output is just so poor compared to my iphone4. This comes as no great surprise to me as its one of its main features.

For podcasts its fine, but for listening to music I'm just going to have to lump it I'm afraid.

Hey-ho. Its not the end of the world.
 
trick202 said:
LOL.
I was reading that with a sense of hope that you'd found a really good player hiding in the market.

With the Sammy, my decent headphones are pretty much wasted. The quality of what's being output is just so poor compared to my iphone4. This comes as no great surprise to me as its one of its main features.

For podcasts its fine, but for listening to music I'm just going to have to lump it I'm afraid.

Hey-ho. Its not the end of the world.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that you find the sound quality unacceptable, but for me the result of my little test wasn't that all the four Android players were equally bad, but that they were equally good :) - or at the very least equally okay.

I haven't heard the iPhone 4, but I just did another five minute test where I moved my Sennheiser CX 95 IEMs back and forth between the Galaxy S 2 (using PlayerPro) and my 2nd gen iPod Touch, listening to the same music for around 30 seconds at a time between headphone switches.
To my not particularly sensitive ears they sound very similar, with the GS2 perhaps being ever so slightly brighter and the iPod possibly packing a little more punch in the deep bass tones (not relevant for most of the music I listen to, but I did pick out a song for this test where it was).
I didn't notice any obvious differences in other aspects such as soundstage width or general impression of precision.

But I imagine the iPhone 4 probably doesn't use the same sound chip as the 2nd gen Touch, so you may very well be used to better sound quality. Or just have better hearing than me - because as I've said, while I do appreciate good sounds and like having decent sound equipment, I don't think my ears quite qualify as "audiophile" ears :).
 
I've had the Epic 4G Touch for almost 4 months and have recently discovered the best feature on the built-in music app. I have my EQ set to auto, but there is a Sound Effect feature. Music Clarity sounds incredible with headphones or speakers. Give it a try.
 
flyingandroid said:
I've had the Epic 4G Touch for almost 4 months and have recently discovered the best feature on the built-in music app. I have my EQ set to auto, but there is a Sound Effect feature. Music Clarity sounds incredible with headphones or speakers. Give it a try.
Click to expand...

If the device is decent through decent headphones/speakers, then flat everything should be good enough.

The iPhone 4 and 4S do sound slightly better than the S2. More instrument separation and kick. The S2 is thinner and slightly bright. But this is really not that noticeable, after all its MP3 via a portable device and amp.

Best I found through my Sennheisers is Power amp for extra boost with a fraction of stereo X and Bass everything else is flat.
 
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