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Terrible Sound Distortion

C

charlie310

Well-Known Member
I've had this on 2 Bionics now (replaced my first one with a new one), and had this issue on both. Without warning, my phone's sound (speaker and earpiece) will become severely distorted. The best way to explain it is that it sounds like Nintendo (the 8-bit console).

I researched this issue, and found that other people have confirmed this issue. It doesn't happen frequently, but it does happen. This just happened to me before and during a phone call. I was dialing a phone number, and all of a sudden the number tones became heavily distorted. When the call went through, it sounded as if the lady on the line was underwater. I could hardly understand her.

Other times, it happens when I'm watching a video or listening to music on the speaker. The sound just gets extremely distorted and goes away after awhile.

Anyone else experience this issue?
 
Not here. I've had the high-pitched whine while using headphones, but that was fixed when I upgraded to 893.
 
had them from the get go. usually seems to appear in conjunction with a notification causing playback over speaker or headphones to be come tinny to almost muted. Also have had notifications come in over speaker that sound very distorted. have had my Bionic since 1 Nov
 
When it has happened to me, it has always been when the phone was in the car cradle. When I pull it from the cradle, the sound goes fine.
 
Hi Everyone, long time reader, first time poster here. I can usually find my answers without having to post, but this time I can't.

I've just spent the last hour and a half researching this, and the majority of the threads I see are related to the high-pitched whine issue that the Bionic has/had.

I have the exact same issue as the OP of this thread-- but it only presents itself through the headphone port. I've been experimenting today, and making test calls to the wife.

Using the handset, sound quality is fine. Plug in speakers into the headphone jack while call is in progress, and sound instantly becomes horribly distorted. Unplug them, sound is fine again.

This used to only randomly happen, but it has been ongoing for about a week. I work a desk job, and use my Bionic in the lapdock every day. I use it to stream Slacker Radio, as well as browse the web. I always play my music through a set of computer speakers plugged into the headphone jack.

Has been doing fine since before christmas, and now for the last week, my music is distorted (moreso the bass than the rest of the ranges). Phone calls are distorted so bad you can't understand the person on the other end.

I've played with, as well as disabled the equalizer settings on the Bionic.

I even disabled my "easy reminder" notification to see if that was causing a conflict like the other poster.



Just wondering if anyone knows a solution to this, as this is the best thread at describing my issue. (it's not the high pitched whine issue)

thanks everyone in advance :)
 
I have seen reports that the sound can be distorted in various ways when Lint or other trash gets in the jack Port. Easy to check and remove if that could be the cause.
 
You could also try going into settings, sound, scroll down to media audio effects, there are settings there for wired(headphones) and the phone speaker.. try adjusting these and see if it helps :)
 
Thanks for the responses :)

i will definitely check on the lint thing, as well as check the settings again. I'm pretty sure I did the settings for wired speakers, but will double check. I played with the EQ, as well as disabled it.

I doubt it's the lint thing, because it's only occurring on the bass notes. Sorta like a blown subwoofer. I'm listening to slacker radio right now, and every time a bass drum hits, it sounds like someone blowing a raspberry, LOL.

I'm pretty positive these speakers are not blown, as this has happened before but resolved itself. Still, I suppose I need to plug the phone into my car's AUX port and see if it sounds the same. Bad thing is, I took the motorcycle to work today, and when I get home I keep forgetting :/
 
charlie310 said:
I've had this on 2 Bionics now (replaced my first one with a new one), and had this issue on both. Without warning, my phone's sound (speaker and earpiece) will become severely distorted. The best way to explain it is that it sounds like Nintendo (the 8-bit console).

I researched this issue, and found that other people have confirmed this issue. It doesn't happen frequently, but it does happen. This just happened to me before and during a phone call. I was dialing a phone number, and all of a sudden the number tones became heavily distorted. When the call went through, it sounded as if the lady on the line was underwater. I could hardly understand her.

Other times, it happens when I'm watching a video or listening to music on the speaker. The sound just gets extremely distorted and goes away after awhile.

Anyone else experience this issue?
Click to expand...

Mine distorts horribly once in a while. On ring tones, on Pandora, etc. I can clear the distortion on Pandora by pausing and resuming a song, or skipping it. The distortion is best described as EXTREME!
 
I've had the same exact issue as OP before maybe three times, but when I reboot my phone everything is fine. No idea what causes it or how to permanently fix it. Not a big enough issue to really warrant significant attention imho.
 
I'm getting mine replaced due to the ear piece sounding like it lose or rattling and it makes the other person very hard to hear.
 
I had this happen to me for the first time a couple weeks ago. I thought maybe the speaker was blown or something. First it was just one call, but then I started hearing it all the time. I'm not exactly sure why but I pressed down on the speaker with my thumb for a couple seconds and it seemed to go away. It's been a couple weeks and I haven't heard it again. So hopefully it went away.
 
So it's still going on, and still only with external speakers/headphones plugged in. Calls are horribly distorted, as well as media.

needynerds said:
I've had the same exact issue as OP before maybe three times, but when I reboot my phone everything is fine. No idea what causes it or how to permanently fix it. Not a big enough issue to really warrant significant attention imho.
Click to expand...

Rebooting used to fix the issue, but I've been dealing with this for at least a couple of weeks to a month now. (with daily reboots when I get to work)

I use my phone for radio and internet at work, and it's a very big issue for me-- to the point where I've started pricing replacement bionics. (grandfathered 4g, and own a bionic lapdock)

If it was only sporadic as you've experienced, I wouldn't consider it worth the attention either. After a few weeks non-stop (and being the audiophile I am) my opinion changed.


MarvinAndroid said:
I had this happen to me for the first time a couple weeks ago. I thought maybe the speaker was blown or something. First it was just one call, but then I started hearing it all the time. I'm not exactly sure why but I pressed down on the speaker with my thumb for a couple seconds and it seemed to go away. It's been a couple weeks and I haven't heard it again. So hopefully it went away.
Click to expand...

man, I wish it would go away that easy for me. Mine sounds fine through the phone's speaker, but as soon as I plug in external speakers/headphones/aux port of my car's CD player, it goes distorted. Leads me to believe it's a software issue.

Have also contemplated a Factory Reset to see if it would fix the issue.
 
naga77777 said:
So it's still going on, and still only with external speakers/headphones plugged in. Calls are horribly distorted, as well as media.



Rebooting used to fix the issue, but I've been dealing with this for at least a couple of weeks to a month now. (with daily reboots when I get to work)

I use my phone for radio and internet at work, and it's a very big issue for me-- to the point where I've started pricing replacement bionics. (grandfathered 4g, and own a bionic lapdock)

If it was only sporadic as you've experienced, I wouldn't consider it worth the attention either. After a few weeks non-stop (and being the audiophile I am) my opinion changed.




man, I wish it would go away that easy for me. Mine sounds fine through the phone's speaker, but as soon as I plug in external speakers/headphones/aux port of my car's CD player, it goes distorted. Leads me to believe it's a software issue.

Have also contemplated a Factory Reset to see if it would fix the issue.
Click to expand...

I know what you are going through, it seems that there is some interferance generated by the 4G antenna. try switching to 3G while at work, or look at good shielded speakers.
 
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