[Q] Whats Beats audio hardware?

BranC85 · Jun 2, 2014

I have done much searching on this and have still not found a definitive answer as to what the beats audio that is "built into" the phone and stock ROM do. I have found some explanations that claim it is simply an equalizer profile, but I am very skeptical simply because having toggled it on and off while playing many different musical genres, the sound is always much cleaner and crisper from the speakers with beats enabled, even though the consensus seems to be that beats mostly is only beneficial to those who listen to hip hop. I never listen to hip hop and would love to switch to cyanogenmod rather than stock or the GE port that I am currently using, but I really hate to give up the beats option. Can anybody explain exactly goes on when beats is enabled? Is there a hardware filter/dsp chip, or some kind of alternate amplifier that runs the speakers when it is enabled, that SW access to is lost when using an AOSP ROM? It has to be something more than a simple equalizer, I have tried using many different alternatives in an attempt to recreate the sound that beats gives that would be viable for use with CM, including viper audio, music fx, and Noozxoide. None of these truly replace having beats, and I think the video comparison linked below does a good job of illustrating the difference for anybody who is unsure of the significance of the difference I am talking about.

youtube.com/watch?v=dNnTOafdCos

disconnecktie · Jun 3, 2014

Beats is a dsp chip. The best replacement I have found is viper4android. To get the full effect of viper you have to change lpa.decode=true in the build prop to =false. Change the ui setting of viper to expert and start playing around. I found that using the eq in combination with the impulse response delivers the best quality.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

BranC85 · Jun 3, 2014

disconnecktie said:
Beats is a dsp chip. The best replacement I have found is viper4android. To get the full effect of viper you have to change lpa.decode=true in the build prop to =false. Change the ui setting of viper to expert and start playing around. I found that using the eq in combination with the impulse response delivers the best quality.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

I used viper before but maybe I wasn't using the right settings. So there is an actual hardware DSP chip in the phone that filters the signals to the speakers? Not just a process loaded onto the CPU? Then I would guess that because of the beats copyrights, the DSP chip can't be accessed or utilized from an AOSP ROM?

disconnecktie · Jun 3, 2014

BranC85 said:
I used viper before but maybe I wasn't using the right settings. So there is an actual hardware DSP chip in the phone that filters the signals to the speakers? Not just a process loaded onto the CPU? Then I would guess that because of the beats copyrights, the DSP chip can't be accessed or utilized from an AOSP ROM?

No aosp can't use beats because the kernel can't use the source yet. People have been working towards adding kernel support for beats on aosp. It may be possible just not currently.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

tflogic · Jun 3, 2014

BranC85 said:
I used viper before but maybe I wasn't using the right settings. So there is an actual hardware DSP chip in the phone that filters the signals to the speakers? Not just a process loaded onto the CPU? Then I would guess that because of the beats copyrights, the DSP chip can't be accessed or utilized from an AOSP ROM?

A good reference for configuring Viper is this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2324454
Most people have found success using Carnage's profile.

disconnecktie · Jun 3, 2014

tflogic said:
A good reference for configuring Viper is this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2324454
Most people have found success using Carnage's profile.

While this may be a good starting point the best method is to experiment and find what works best for you. He forces viper audio which is something I never do and doesn't need to be done.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 01:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 PM ----------

Also, I have noticed that viper almost never sounds the same between roms, rom versions etc. I pretty much have to tweak the settings a little bit every time. I do use the same basic configuration with the exception of the eq.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

SynisterWolf · Jun 4, 2014

tflogic said:
A good reference for configuring Viper is this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2324454
Most people have found success using Carnage's profile.

agreed, this is the closes thing to sounding like beats on AOSP and the Carnage's profile is the best by far. :good:

give it a try. OP

blkhrt13 · Jun 6, 2014

Basically all it is in my opinion is just a glorified equalizer. If you are listening to music, playing a video, etc. All it really does that I've noticed is make it louder and adds a little more bass. My girlfriend has an aftermarket Pioneer stereo in her car that has built in Bluetooth and listening to music through my HTC one vs her Samsung galaxy s4 I noticed a bit of difference in those between the two phones. That's the best way I know to describe it.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Uzephi · Jun 6, 2014

blkhrt13 said:
Basically all it is in my opinion is just a glorified equalizer. If you are listening to music, playing a video, etc. All it really does that I've noticed is make it louder and adds a little more bass. My girlfriend has an aftermarket Pioneer stereo in her car that has built in Bluetooth and listening to music through my HTC one vs her Samsung galaxy s4 I noticed a bit of difference in those between the two phones. That's the best way I know to describe it.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

It is an equalizer, but in reality, instead of relying on software and using cpu power, it it's a built in chip that only works on sense and HTC GPE roms as the technology is closed source.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using XDA Free mobile app

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[Q] Whats Beats audio hardware?

BranC85

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disconnecktie

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BranC85

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disconnecktie

Senior Member

tflogic

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disconnecktie

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SynisterWolf

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blkhrt13

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Uzephi

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