Honestly people Google bluedio r+ 8 track they are astounding and cheap they have 8 speakers with 3d sound 2 subwoofers and 6 tops they sound amazing and leave beasts for dust atm they are on eBay for £60 which is 70% off they are a fantastic buy.
M8 - Audiophile thread
- Thread starter Jamal Ahmed
- Start date
the spec looks good but I dont know your past Headphone history so I cant tell what your listening preference or what to compare to.
---------- Post added at 05:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 AM ----------
they are good if you get on the planes a lot, the music is OK not as bad as many audiophile says they are, but the quality is slightly better than Beats.
I had the bose QC20, its really good at noise cancellation but because of that I get really irritate by it, its feels weird so I sold it.
look at Sennheiser PXC 450, I had that for 4-5 years, noise cancellation isnt as good as bose QC25 (no phone is) but sound quality really exceed it.
Mainly skull candy various models and a pair of Sony mdr, but my point was they are a great set of headphones.
your point is irrelevant because we have nothing to compare to...if we have your ears then that might be a different story.
How is it irrelevant, people were asking advice on which headphones are good for cheap and I suggested people take a look at the bluedio r+ 8 track, because there a really great pair of headphones and affordable.
So were the TinGo Croons TG-38s earbuds ... And they're absolutely horrific. The worst thing I've ever heard in digital sound. A good quality 24b Flac sounds worse than my grandads 1965 tape recording with so much electrical noise, screeching, hissing, leaking and tin sounding.
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Lol [emoji14] [emoji14]
I got the Pistons 2, and I must say, they are Very, very good.. Much better than the box earphones. Bass sounds nice and deep, not too much, not too much overwhelming mid bass, the treble is nice and sparkly, but gets a little harsh at high volumes.. The stereo separation is very good, and overall, I like them! I didn't like the ear tips though, they seemed a little *rough*, like matte finish tips instead of the usual glossy, so I used Samsung ear tips that I had. Build quality is good, packaging was very nice, and overall seem worth much more than the price. I'll attach some pics soon..
Has anyone tried out the Dolby audio mod for the M8 recently? I just switched to it from H/K (previously was on boomsound) I would say it does a great job bringing things to life for each song on its own without having to have any other EQ or effects enabled where I felt like I really needed an Eq with something like poweramp / neutron to keep music from feeling so 'flat'
(V-Moda M-100's as my reference which I LOVE btw, have a whole other pile of headphones sitting and collecting dust while I wear them all the time
)
Also.. thoughts on neutron vs poweramp? (sorry if wrong topic)
(V-Moda M-100's as my reference which I LOVE btw, have a whole other pile of headphones sitting and collecting dust while I wear them all the time
)Also.. thoughts on neutron vs poweramp? (sorry if wrong topic)
Either defect, of its really because of the earbuds. Its NOT possible, that the m8 is a bad source. I can promise you that (and i use 350€ in-ears + 400€ Headphones on them.)
EarBUDS are really not known for sounding any good, or even just having bass.
Thats also why even the cheapest in-ears sound way better than 98% of all earbuds on the market. The Soundquality is just very limited due to the construction.
I recently purchase Dunu DN 2000 for my iBasso DX50, but it works well with M8. Overall really happy with the performance.
Well they're supposedly very good, I'll tell you when they arrive
Looks like I got lucky, it's out of stock again..
any reviews?
Part number is ZBW4122IN
I think the last two alphabets of the part number are different for each region, IN for India.
---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------
Been an extremely busy week, haven't been able to sit down and make a review.. Hopefully I'll do it this weekend..
in short, it sounds very good. Better than HTC ones in every way. The mids are recessed, but the v4a DDC profile takes care of that. Stereo separation is good, you can somewhat make out instruments' position from the sound.. Small details are audible, but the treble sounds a little harsh sometimes.. Two things I don't like:
Sound isolation isn't much good.. I guess it's because the backs are open..
The housing finish, although looks good, hurts if it touches your ears.. It's like minute grooves, and they are pretty sharp.
Another small complaint is that it's really impossible to use the in line buttons without accidentally pressing another in line button.
M8 sound quality
Ive had a few hours of messing around playing FLAC files on the M8 then comparing the sound to the Nokia Lumia 630 and I have to say so far the Nokia seems to sound more true and alive. the M8 sound much more muddy with and without boomsound, Ive also tried EQ settings and the default players + poweramp with still the same isssue.
Has anyone else noticed the sound on the M8 lacking ? Im thinking I might try to put on the hamron Kardon version or Mod to another ROM to see if it improves the sound. Don't get me wrong its good but I was not expecting to be disapointed!. lol
Iv'e also listened to songs of my own music I recorded in FLAC and still the Nokia 630 much more natural and true engaging sound.
Ive had a few hours of messing around playing FLAC files on the M8 then comparing the sound to the Nokia Lumia 630 and I have to say so far the Nokia seems to sound more true and alive. the M8 sound much more muddy with and without boomsound, Ive also tried EQ settings and the default players + poweramp with still the same isssue.
Has anyone else noticed the sound on the M8 lacking ? Im thinking I might try to put on the hamron Kardon version or Mod to another ROM to see if it improves the sound. Don't get me wrong its good but I was not expecting to be disapointed!. lol
Iv'e also listened to songs of my own music I recorded in FLAC and still the Nokia 630 much more natural and true engaging sound.
I can tell you that I have amazing sound with the following combination:
- ViperOneM8 4.3.0 ROM
- HarmanKardon Audio Mod
- ElementalX Kernel
The combination of Harman Kardon Audio Mod and ElementalX Kernel enables floating point precision audio.
I listen to FLAC using Tidal and I am very very happy with the sound quality.
Elandroido, thank you very much for that info I will try this in the morning and see if I can get it to work. I've installed Rom,s on other phones before but not for a few years but will try to do it.
If you have any links to the correct files/posts to do this please share.
My phones on 02 network but I think the phones standard I guess.
I listen to a lot of FLAC too and my ears are tuned to music being a musician. I had thought originally about getting a phone with Wolfson/sabre DAC and good audio chip but everyone has been saying how good the M8 sound is so thought I'd try it.
Of course we don't know what DAC is in this phone , well I don't lol
External DAC is not an option for me as I want as light and portable as possible!
I was going to attempt to learn how to s_off, root and so on tonight but...... Those things are best done after a good sleep ! To avoid making mistakes!!!
Anyway cheers, if anyone else has any ideas please let us know.
Rixsta
If you have any links to the correct files/posts to do this please share.
My phones on 02 network but I think the phones standard I guess.
I listen to a lot of FLAC too and my ears are tuned to music being a musician. I had thought originally about getting a phone with Wolfson/sabre DAC and good audio chip but everyone has been saying how good the M8 sound is so thought I'd try it.
Of course we don't know what DAC is in this phone , well I don't lol
External DAC is not an option for me as I want as light and portable as possible!
I was going to attempt to learn how to s_off, root and so on tonight but...... Those things are best done after a good sleep ! To avoid making mistakes!!!
Anyway cheers, if anyone else has any ideas please let us know.
Rixsta
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21Sry in advance, too long post :<
How can you call this an Audiophile thread with these claims? (no offense tho).
Boomsound is the by far most horrible crap, you can use for headphones, if you truly want a high audio quality.
And i am not talking about, that you might "like" the different sounding, when the bass/treble is raised, and the mids are lowered.
I talk about the PURE quality of the sound. Its worse. It is. Noise and distortion are by worlds higher. With my Beyerdynamic T90 (yes, treble peak.. but still) and also with my pretty neutal Logitech UE 900 it was not listenable. The treble distorted in alot songs, it hurts in the ears etc.
I still DO think, if Boomsound would do the same, but NOT raise the treble, if would be by miles better as a "fun-setting". But like this, its not usable, tbh.
Also, if you want a sorce besides my ears: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8078/smartphone-audio-testing-htc-one-m8-and-samsung-galaxy-s5/2
Scroll down.
If I am not mistaken, this feature is supported by Android from version 4.3 onwards. So, witha Fiio E07k, E18~ you should be able to use it as a DAC. In the M8 audio quality thread on head-fi.org, one User uses the E18 with this, and can't disable Boomsound, while using an external DAC.
Even if i do absolutely not share your opinion about Boomsound via Headphones, you might still be interested in my opinion in this comparison.
Boomsound:
Just a cheap EQ setting. Works well together with the external speakers, but is pretty crap for Headphones (maybe its fine with dull headphones, which dont have good treble/clarity. Maybe Shure SE 215, or some other basshead headphones).
I truly cant recommend it. And like i said, its NOT because the EQ setting changes the "true sound" (i like the Use of EQs to do some fine tuning if needed), but because using this raises the noise AND distortion by a good bunch. You can hear that strongly. At least i can.
PLUS, theres one big thing: This is just ONE strong agressive Preset of an EQ. Bass below 120 hz gets +5db, lower mids (120-1000 Hz) gets lowered by up to -5 dB, while the frequencies from 2000 up to 10k+ Hz) gets raised by 4,5db. Above 10k Hz its even above 5 dB).
This makes the difference Bass/treble, to the Mids from 0 dB to 10 dB, since +5 and -5 adds to 10. Thats a really hard difference.
So, in conclusion: Depending on headphones, this might sound better, or actually MUCH worse.
Bassy headphones, lets take your M50s, already have strong bass. Depending on frequency response, that bass could even "overlap" the mids, if the bass is too strong. you can see that on beats headphones. With Boomsound, the bass gets even more stronger, and the mids will get even more back in the background. Alot Headphones, that have a V-curve (and so naturally weaks in the mids) gets even weaker mids.
Also, depending on your headphones also as with the Audio files, the distortion gets raised by a little, or maybe by A LOT.
If you are not happy with your Headphone sounding, you should maybe try another Headphone.
If you just need some fine tuning, then you are by MILES better, if you just use PowerAmp, and its Equalizer, since it can react like a million times better to the individual frequency response of the headphones, and to your own personal taste. Boomsound here is more like "boom in your face. be happy with it, or cry"
Harman & Kardon Soundmod:
Now, this thing is alot different. This is actually Not an Equalizer, like Boomsound. H&K's "Clear-Fi" technology tries to take a strongly compressed Audiofile, and tries to recreate the missing parts.
So, it tries to raise the pure "compressed" audioquality of bad audiofiles.
I personally have mostly 256+ kbit/s MP3s, and Flacs. So, this technology wont help much. it sounds almost the exact same --> not really usefull. You just wont hear much of a difference, unless your Files have a bad quality. And if they do, then get better quality files, instead of such a software, that might not even work well enough.
But, this Soundmod disables Boomsound. Yes, you can find a "trick", where you change the Boomsound parameter from false to true in a script, and enabling it back in the menu. But, it will NOT be active. its like just menu decoration. The "boomsound" sign in the task bar will not be there - Not even with external speakers.
Boomsound is made ONLY for the External speakers, they work together quite well. Without Boomsound (ergo, with H&K soundmod flashed), the External speakers will sound much more thin/tinny. I have yet to find a way to have Boomsound for the speakers, and H&K Soundmod for headphones. Unless theres something new here, this is not possible together.
Lets go a bit deeper into the Audiophile theorycrafting:
H&K's "Clear-Fi", and its purpose might sound awesome. But it has its negative sights:
- It only helps on Crappy Audiophiles. Someone, who cares about audio quality will not use <128 kbit/s mp3s. At LEAST 192, but more 256-320 Kbit/s or even flac. So this will not help you, as the compression on 256+ is not strong enough, to make a difference (also, because most songs have a crappy quality from beeing badly mastered)
- The thoughts behind clear-fi are adressing the "problem" at the totally wrong spot. On most songs, it just does not matter, what file quality (bitrate etc) you use, because most songs are just really really crappy mastered in the studio. Its because alot people dont care about audio quality. so they use cheap crap, like beats headphones, logitech speakers for 30 bucks, and 10 bucks earphones etc. Crappy mastered/produced music sounds better on cheap devices, than a high quality master.
I mean, how are you supposed to "guess" the higher quality, if the artists arent producing high quality music?
I think, the following is a perfect comparison:
You create a 480p Movie, and try to upscale it into 1080p using a cheap software... Do you honestly think, that will raise the quality? I personally don't..
So, to make it pretty short: The worse your File quality is (and higher the file compression), the more "Clear-Fi" might make a difference.
The higher the file quality, the less difference this will make.
To get a high audio quality into your ears, you need a different priority:
1. The Song must be produced in a good/high quality. Much more important, than Bitrate. For example: Michael Jackson's Thriller album at 128 kbit/s will sound much better, than the new Linkin Park Album in 320 kbit+. (i like linkin park, but the new album has such an incredible low quality... its like zero fun listening to it, when you have really good headphones)
2. You need good headphones (Besides the master quality headphones are responsible for like 70-90% of the Audioquality. The REST comes from the DAC/AMP)
3. DAC / AMP Quality
The "Chain" is important. If just one part of it has a low quality, the whole chain will sound low.8We seriously need a sound quality-related thread for this phone.
I'll start first.
I think this phone's audio is OK, best I've seen by far, but not as detailed as I'd like it. I seldom change phones, so I will compare it (very neutrally) with my previous phone: Note 3.
The Note supports 24-bit/192 kHz, while this phone's international model supports 24-bit/96 kHz.
This phone's Boomsound software is actually a pretty good feature and raises just the right frequencies to the right extent, without distorting the authentic experience. But it was so loud/wild that it started to blow even my studio monitor Audio-Technica M50, which was something purely related to not up-to-the-mark coding, blowing off relatively neutral headphones.
But I just updated to 4.4.3 firmware, and they have actually improved a lot on that software deficiency. The headphones do not feel blown even at full volume, which is a giant leap considering how "sensitive" audio equalizers like BoomSound are to reach perfection. Sure, they still haven't reached perfection; audio loses detail nearly last 2 steps of volume, but it's nice to see they are actually improving on that.
Of course, I can turn off Boomsound anytime and be as authentic as anything, but for me boomsound is just a priceless software I'm yet to find in any mobile yet.
Note 3 had Adapt Sound, which is a great equalizer to tweak sound to the best too. But I like how you don't have to take an audiometry-like test just to improve sound on your phone in M8. (Not bashing Note 3's audio at all, just my preference).
I think I read in the official features of Android L that external DAC will be natively supported (correct me if I'm wrong), so I'm really looking forward to the future of audio in this phone.
P.s. I would give an arm and leg to try out Harmon Kardon mod for this phone, but I can't because of no S-Off. I really can't wait to hear the difference between Boomsound and Harmon Kardon myself. Well, until the day I can get the mod!
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app44
If you're brave, you'll test yourself with an ABX test...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABX_test
Series of videos describing lossess vs lossy (mp3/aac), how ABX tests work, and how to run an ABX test yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDp6fyvziq0jlKT_r6WX0lfWxURVCestj
---------- Post added at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:35 PM ----------
That extra "sparkle" is very likely intermodulation distortion introduced by the higher sampling frequency...
http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html#toc_1ch
---------- Post added at 01:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:37 PM ----------
For playback, 16/44.1 is all we'll ever need. For mastering, 24bit audio has benefits (lower noise floor), but those benefits are not needed on playback. There is no way 24bit will add anything, esp. if you are listening on a phone while on a bus or a train.
I encourage anyone who wants to learn the science behind digital audio to start with the xiph.org link. From there, you can dive deeper, but that article is a really good explanation from a high level the science behind digital audio.
Edit:
A few more videos for those so inclined:
Lachlan on 24bit audio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLEhfieoMq8
(He downsamples the 32bit source audio to 8bit and 4bit. Amazing to hear the only difference is the noise floor gets higher, but the music still sounds the same).
Monty at xiph.org has a couple really good videos
http://xiph.org/video/vid1.shtml
http://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml
Monty works for Red Hat and works on digital codecs.
Turns out, the guys at Sony/Philips back in the 70's really did know what they were doing... by picking 16bit/44.1kHz.
The math that allows for digital audio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist–Shannon_sampling_theorem
Wikipedia.org said:
The key word for perfect fidelity is "bandlimited". Since we can only hear so high (20kHz or so if you're very young and lucky, somewhere much lower if you older and unlucky), 44.1kHz was picked to allow for an ok analog low pass filter to "bandlimit" the signal before it's sampled. Doing this, for frequencies under 20kHz, we can get perfect fidelity with 44.1kHz.
The marketers for 24bit/96kHz|24bit/192kHz audio files have been doing a really great job.
Most "audiophile" companies stay away from science, because with science, their raison d'être mysteriously vanishes.
The best (and biggest) way to affect how your music sounds is to buy new speakers or headphones.
Ok, back from the science lesson, does anyone know what the output impedance is for the headphone amp on the M8?
