Originally Posted by vnvman

Perfect compared to what? A chainsaw maybe?

OMG, if your Lumia sounds comparable to chainsaw - definitely you should exchange your defective phone ASAP!

Originally Posted by vnvman

Also, I higly doubt there's anything wrong with my brand new Koss i150.

Handset means "phone", not a headset

BTW, I'll continue discussion only after proof:
- you known what the abbreviation "DAC" is, how DAC works, and what kind of DAC's are usually used in cell phones and in the professional audio equipment;
- you known how the equalizers are working; what is the difference between graphic and parametric equalizers, and what kind of distortions equalizer adds to the signal.

See, I don't ask for a bachelor degree in mathematics or physics with digital signal processing specialization!

After that I'll discuss (probably) all that BS about "chainsaw" and "quite muddy output"

Originally Posted by Laquox

When you are jamming out to music are you really using your phone/portable whatever?

If you go to a party it is nice to be able to just plug in your device and play your tunes. Also playing music in a room away from your main setup is nice. I actually don't do this because I haven't found a great solution and the money to set it up.

And something like pandora streamed to your phone which is connected to your car's stereo would be pretty nice.

Update: vnvman, I'm so sorry; seems like your Lumia 800 has a big problem with audio (it's a hardware design defect, I think so) http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/...y/td-p/1236759

I don't have this problem on my handsets (Nokia has fixed the issue for Lumia 900). Sell it and buy Lumia 900 (or Focus S or whatever...)

Originally Posted by sensboston

OMG, if your Lumia sounds comparable to chainsaw - definitely you should exchange your defective phone ASAP!



Handset means "phone", not a headset

BTW, I'll continue discussion only after proof:
- you known what the abbreviation "DAC" is, how DAC works, and what kind of DAC's are usually used in cell phones and in the professional audio equipment;
- you known how the equalizers are working; what is the difference between graphic and parametric equalizers, and what kind of distortions equalizer adds to the signal.

See, I don't ask for a bachelor degree in mathematics or physics with digital signal processing specialization!

After that I'll discuss (probably) all that BS about "chainsaw" and "quite muddy output"

Sorry about that, I read that wrong...anyway...proof?
What is this, a trial or what? Anyway, the DAC is the little thing doing the magic of converting digital output to analog output, basically what makes you able to ear your mp3s or whatever format you use. Graphic and parametric equalizers...not a big deal: graphic ones actually show a grafic of the selected frequences, they don't allow you to fiddle too much but are more hassle free for regular users; parametric ones instead are meant for "professionals", you can do a more precise work with them but visually you basically don't know much about what is going on. Idk if you're serious when you ask me this, however the distortion you add playing with an equalizer actually depends on a lot of factors, first of all the quality of the DAC, and then wether you're using a hw or software based eq. Speaking of quality, the one of the DAC is given by its stats (obviously): dynamic range, monotonicity, resolution and some other **** I can't recall. Phone DACs are generally cheap, they have pretty low dynamic range and puke put the signal together with a funny amount of armonic distortion and noise. Add the CPU and radio noise by which all phones are affected, stereo crosstalk when headphones are attached and there you have it: a very uninspiring performer. Try to use some low impedance earbuds with a sucker like that and you'll feel like someone just dropped some poo inside your ears. No equalizer will save you, it's like polishing turd, you may even make it more dirty IMHO.

Wrapping it up: the Lumia (800) sounds cold, noisy, the volume is too low with high impedance headphones and the sound is deadly crippled on low impedance in-ears. Stereo crosstalk is huge, there's a lot of noise, both during the playback and inbetween the tracks. When you raise the volume you get clipping, and especially bass frequences become really muddy and muffled. Using an external DAC isn't even worth it IMHO: all in all you'll be forced to listen to 320 kbps mp3s and you can still get a decent player for even less money.

Originally Posted by sensboston

Update: vnvman, I'm so sorry; seems like your Lumia 800 has a big problem with audio (it's a hardware design defect, I think so) http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/...y/td-p/1236759

I don't have this problem on my handsets (Nokia has fixed the issue for Lumia 900). Sell it and buy Lumia 900 (or Focus S or whatever...)

No worries man. I'll rather stick with my Cowon tho: mass storage, Wolfson DAC, hw equalization, BBE, gapless playback and support for every format. However that's me, you can do whatever you wanna do, just don't tell me that whatever Lumia phone sounds awesome, it really doesn't, at least when you compare it do a decent, dedicated device. Once you've used one, you'll know what I'm talking about. And no, iPods aren't good, at least not the new ones. Their Cirrus DAC makes everything sound canned and cold as ****, I hate them. Add some half assed equalization on top (not to mention the limitations in terms of format and more) and you'll have a smoking pile of crap.
Obviously I'm mostly speaking for my 800, but I doubt that the 900 can be much different, it still has the same SOC after all. Maybe it has slightly better drivers but that's it IMHO. However if you're happy with it, then good for you. This is not an audiophile forum after all

vnvman, you should believe me: Lumia 900 sounds really good. Just for proof, at the lunch time I've took my car player (Sansa 280, it has a good DAC, with RockBox firmware installed) and compared with Lumia 900 (first time w/o equalizer, and second time with Jazz preset). I've especially grabbed Sennheiser HD448 headphones from our Q&A guy. Played jazz (Madeleine Peyroux), didn't feel any difference in sound (but of course RockBox firmware is much "smarter" than MS).

Well, maybe optimized drivers can do wonders at times. Anyway you may also wanna keep in mind that generally higher impedance headsets don't really stress the DAC too much: the HD448 have a 32 Ω impedance, and that's a pretty big difference compared to most of the more pocketable earbuds, especially the good ones. For example, my i150 have an impedance of 8 Ω, which is actually pretty sick: the smallest bit of cpu noise really sounds like a chainsaw to my ears if it's coming through these things, they're a pretty tough benchmark actually It may also depend on the format, and especially the kind of music you're listening to. Generally on my PMPs I got used to pretty extreme eq settings: I cut a lot of stuff, and basically only these super loud Korean players seem to satisfy me. I can't really see myself downgrading to a phone anytime soon for my music, and as a "phone" the 800 serves me very well, the form factor is perfect to me, while I find the 900 a little bit on the bulkier side. Lately I've been listening to a lot of 80's rock, and with those sick reverbs, dirty and mean guitars the super crisp, pure output I get from this J3 when playing FLAC files is astonishing. There's some kind of very special "dirt" going on with those tracks, so I need to keep that dirt "clean", so I'm sure it's the real thing and not something else. I know, I'm crazy...Cum on feel the noize!

does anyone know what DAC the lumia 900 has??? I feel like my old 3gs sounds better... but I also got a new pair of IE8's with the lumia 900, so it just might be my earbuds breaking in.... any info? thanks!

Originally Posted by slaydemon

does anyone know what DAC the lumia 900 has??? I feel like my old 3gs sounds better... but I also got a new pair of IE8's with the lumia 900, so it just might be my earbuds breaking in.... any info? thanks!

Afaik the 3gs has a Wolfson DAC, or at least a Cirrus one. I wouldn't be surprised if it sounded better.

Edit: yeah it's a Cirrus, Apple dropped the Wolfson in 2005. This one doesn't sound bad compared to most phones, but it's not as good as the Wolfson. Still definitely better than whatever Lumia phone can offer tho.


Sent from my Lumia 800 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Originally Posted by slaydemon

does anyone know what DAC the lumia 900 has??? I feel like my old 3gs sounds better... but I also got a new pair of IE8's with the lumia 900, so it just might be my earbuds breaking in.... any info? thanks!

Can't really answer your question but take a look to the attached "Audio concept" part from the service manual... I have no idea what is the "Boost Mono" or "QTR8615L" are but if you know something about, please share with us.

i just found out that the lumia 900 (nor any other windows phone) supports any type of lossless format. so all my songs have been converting to mp3s whenever i sync it with the zune software. I'm thinking about going back to my 3gs or waiting for the new iphone to come out.

i'm still in shock of the no lossless support in WP.