MX Player

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KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
I've tried at least half a dozen of the popular music apps out there. I've settled on Android Music 4.0.4b2 - I think it does a good job in the sound dept. as well as being easy to use. My main criteria however is the sound quality when choosing a player. I grew up on vinyls. Much of the mainstream digital I hear nowadays sounds too compressed. I convert my CDs to at least 192 bps. Now to the point. I stumbled on a video player called MX Player that also (obviously) plays audio. It was not designed to play audio only so there are no pretty album pictures or anything like that. It does however SOUND fantastic to my ears. I'm using an option that uses software decoding that bypasses the hardware decoder and takes advantage of the ATRIX 2's dual core technology. Now, I'm currently evaluating Neutron MP which is touted to be an audiophiles dream. Without making any setting adjustments I hear no difference between this and my stock Android Music player. I suppose I could go into the plethora of settings and tweak, but before I do I was wondering if anybody has used MX and/or found a similar alternative. The difference in sound quality is very apparent to me over anything I've tried so far. The only negatives for me are the inability to play music and do anything else (music stops when the screen is switched) and no album art. Other than that it really is a dream sounding player.

BTW it was created by quite a large team of developers. I'd love to find out if they've collaborated on a straight audio player as well. I haven't discovered that yet.

Is there a question somewhere in all of that? Ha-ha. Well, comments and suggestions on good sounding music apps are very appreciated. If you haven't given MX Player a try, I recommend it. WARNING, it might change your opinion about your current player's sound quality.

The End.
 

captaincado

Senior Member
Jan 30, 2012
196
39
I love the sound when it plays videos, never thought to use it as a music player.

Sent from my MB865 on Sonya
 

farshad525hou

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2011
837
409
Massachusetts
No music lovers here? I challenge anybody to find better sounding audio. ;-)

The End.
In my opinion Poweramp is the king of music players. It supports literally every codec out there, you can bypass software decoding by setting the cpu thread level, and the interface is freaking AMAZING. It sounds like I have a $600 Soundblaster card in my phone :p

It does cost around 5 bucks but it's totally worth it, especially because about 90% of my music collection is lossless!
 

KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
I've tried Poweramp. Do yourself a favor and try MX Player using the software decoder (bypass android hardware decoder). My files are mostly .ogg converted with variable bit rate. Get some nice headphones, even nice apple earbuds will due. Then get to a quiet place and cue up both players. Play the same passages from both. You might wanna leave off the eq effects on Poweramp to begin with. I can guarantee there is more sound being reproduced with MX.

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farshad525hou

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2011
837
409
Massachusetts
I've tried Poweramp. Do yourself a favor and try MX Player using the software decoder (bypass android hardware decoder). My files are mostly .ogg converted with variable bit rate. Get some nice headphones, even nice apple earbuds will due. Then get to a quiet place and cue up both players. Play the same passages from both. You might wanna leave off the eq effects on Poweramp to begin with. I can guarantee there is more sound being reproduced with MX.

The End.
I shall try that with my Shure se535 :p!

---------- Post added at 08:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:49 PM ----------

I've tried Poweramp. Do yourself a favor and try MX Player using the software decoder (bypass android hardware decoder). My files are mostly .ogg converted with variable bit rate. Get some nice headphones, even nice apple earbuds will due. Then get to a quiet place and cue up both players. Play the same passages from both. You might wanna leave off the eq effects on Poweramp to begin with. I can guarantee there is more sound being reproduced with MX.

The End.
Just curious... How did you get an audio file to open with MX?

Edit*: Nevermind figured it out1
 
Last edited:

KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
I shall try that with my Shure se535 :p!

---------- Post added at 08:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:49 PM ----------


Just curious... How did you get an audio file to open with MX?

Just get in settings ->List and go to "video folder". Select your folder. Then in "file extensions" make sure your file type is listed. If it isn't, just "add" it. It lists my CD albums by album title. No artist name or anything.

The End.
 

farshad525hou

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2011
837
409
Massachusetts
Just get in settings ->List and go to "video folder". Select your folder. Then in "file extensions" make sure your file type is listed. If it isn't, just "add" it. It lists my CD albums by album title. No artist name or anything.

The End.
I do hear slight difference. Not as pronounced as you suggested, but it may be because all my music is encoded in FLAC (direct uncompressed CD rips). If the devs behind MX decide to make a stand alone music player I would definitely give it a long hard look!
 

KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
Yeah I haven't tried any flac files yet. My .ogg files benefit like nobody's business. Digital music is fine if handled appropriately IMO.

The End.
 

Fall of Enosis

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2011
644
323
Portland
I am an AVID music lover and use my phone for all my listening pleasures. Even in the car as my radio has Bluetooth streaming capabilities. I tried MANY different players and I have never found one better than PlayerPro https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tbig.playerprotrial&hl=en

Playerpro will play ALL types of media including OGG and WMP files. It if you also download the additional DSP pack you have total control via a graphic equalizer. Which has many different settings. PP will also allow you to view song lyrics for the current song you are listening to and it will also pull band pictures as well album art for your entire library. Also, it's completely skinable. I currently have the WMP skin on mine. By far the best Music player in my opnion. :D

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KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
I like Player Pro too. Nothing in my opinion sounds better than MX Player. I just bought Neutron due to overall sound output and the player capabilities. The convenience of it all. I think DeadBeef sounds slightly better than either of the former mentioned with the exception of MX Player. DeadBeef however suffers from the convenience factor (and UI). Ultimately for me it has become a compromise. So much depends on the players output processing. I do agree Player Pro is very good. I'm still evaluating the Neutron UI. Sound for me is about 8/10. MX Player is a 10 in the sound dept. It fails as an audio player (which it is not anyways). But damn it sounds good!

The End.
 

KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
Okay I can't take it any longer ha-ha. I've gone back to DeadBeef. Its the best sounding out of the audio players for me. Even though I paid twice somehow for Neutron - once through AT&T and once through my bank (thanks Google) I prefer DeadBeef. Its not MX Player audio, but it is enjoyable. BTW, at the risk of sounding like a snob, I generally will not use effects like EQ or Surround etc. unless the original recording is that way off. So all the DSP effects are not an added bonus. If a player can't sound good on its own legs theres no amount of effect that will satisfy me. Sad but true. I really hope ICS brings something new to the table in regards to audio playback. Gingerbread is better than Froyo so here's hoping!

The End.
 

farshad525hou

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2011
837
409
Massachusetts
Okay I can't take it any longer ha-ha. I've gone back to DeadBeef. Its the best sounding out of the audio players for me. Even though I paid twice somehow for Neutron - once through AT&T and once through my bank (thanks Google) I prefer DeadBeef. Its not MX Player audio, but it is enjoyable. BTW, at the risk of sounding like a snob, I generally will not use effects like EQ or Surround etc. unless the original recording is that way off. So all the DSP effects are not an added bonus. If a player can't sound good on its own legs theres no amount of effect that will satisfy me. Sad but true. I really hope ICS brings something new to the table in regards to audio playback. Gingerbread is better than Froyo so here's hoping!

The End.
Just curious, what headphones do you use KEB64?
 

KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
All I have at the moment is Apple ear buds. Not the best, but I can easily hear the differences. I can hear the overall sound qualities with just the phone speaker as well. In my 10 speaker car sound system the differences get a little lost. Its an old system and not extremely hi-fi. I haven't done direct comparisons in the car either. Anything sounds acceptable in that environment. Plus figure in road noise. Where I hear the biggest differences besides overall sound is in quiet passages and simple mixes. Vocals too. Take some of Paul Simon"s stuff on Hearts and Bones. Or Supertramp Breakfast in America. Sorry I don't have more current music to site (I do listen to current music). These are just two albums I found quickly that lend themselves to evaluating the sonic qualities. Supertramp is good for the vocals. Most players render those vocals scratchy, squealy and down right annoying. You can hear the breath of Simon's vocals with MX Player. Overall its easy to imagine each and every instrument or vocal occupying its own space as opposed to sounding as one massive wall of sound indistinguishable from each individual origin.

I'm really surprised more people haven't commented on MX Player's sound quality. That's all this thread was really intended to do; solicit comments. I'd really like to see Google/Android raise the bar in this category. Like I said, maybe with ICS?

I have decided to run with DeadBeef as my player. I figured out how to make playlists. Otherwise the entire library gets lumped into one big playlist by song. Not fun navigating that way. I had to add each artist as a playlist. Better that way. It took some time and is not entirely intuitive, but once setup it gets the job done.

The End.
 
I'm a very avid music listener and I've tried several varying quality headphones with many different players on my phone (now to include MX Player). I will have to say that I too lean toward PowerAmp. MX Player does sound good but it isn't a true music player and will not do, but I will also say that I didn't hear much (if any) difference in the sound of PowerAmp and MX Player. Some file actually sounded better with PowerAmp IMO.

To defend the EQ, the EQ should not be used to compensate for you music but rather your equipment and personal taste. All equipment, be it a phone, mp3 player, headphones, etc., have "flat" spot in their sound signature, the EQ is used to compensate for those. It is an essential audiophile tool, that is why they make EQ's and DSP's.
 

KEB64

Senior Member
Jan 25, 2012
760
82
Phoenix, AZ
I agree EQs can (and should) be used to compensate for equipment. In most cases to remove excess lows or highs. In my experience the tweaking ends up getting out of hand (for me) and while it might sound perfect to my ears one day, it sounds artificial or just wrong the next day. That's just me. On my phone, with and without Apple earbuds I hear a clear distinction in the sound between MX and any other player. I do agree it doesn't make for a straight audio player. Its not intended to be. Thanks for your perspective. Its fun to discuss music. Our ears are all so different. What one hears the other doesn't. Maybe if we switched ears our opinions would be reversed lol. There are no absolutes unless they're measured on paper, but then where's the beauty in that?

The End.
 

41rw4lk

Senior Member
I think people get the wrong idea about EQs sometimes. While you can tweak an EQ to suit your taste, the real idea is to create cutoffs so your equipment sounds "true" all the time. Most speakers come with a spec sheet that tells you what frequencies it's capable of handling, peak watts, and rms (constant watts). If your speaker can only go as low as say -20hz then obviously you want to set your EQ so that it cuts off at -20hz. Most distortion and clipping comes from trying to play freqs that your speakers aren't designed to play. That applies to highs, mids, and lows. Anyways, that's my two cents and I will say, it's nice to just have a decent out of the box player that doesn't just blast noise.
 

farshad525hou

Senior Member
Dec 13, 2011
837
409
Massachusetts
True. Eq's should be used to compensate for a listeners taste's and or the equipment's tendencies. For example, I hade the Senn CX-30 which are bass heavy headphones. I usually toned it down with the eq since it would often overwhelm the rest of the spectrum. When I saved up enough to buy my Shure se535's they have a vitually flat freq response. So i don't touch the eq as everything is already perfectly balanced.
 

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    I've tried at least half a dozen of the popular music apps out there. I've settled on Android Music 4.0.4b2 - I think it does a good job in the sound dept. as well as being easy to use. My main criteria however is the sound quality when choosing a player. I grew up on vinyls. Much of the mainstream digital I hear nowadays sounds too compressed. I convert my CDs to at least 192 bps. Now to the point. I stumbled on a video player called MX Player that also (obviously) plays audio. It was not designed to play audio only so there are no pretty album pictures or anything like that. It does however SOUND fantastic to my ears. I'm using an option that uses software decoding that bypasses the hardware decoder and takes advantage of the ATRIX 2's dual core technology. Now, I'm currently evaluating Neutron MP which is touted to be an audiophiles dream. Without making any setting adjustments I hear no difference between this and my stock Android Music player. I suppose I could go into the plethora of settings and tweak, but before I do I was wondering if anybody has used MX and/or found a similar alternative. The difference in sound quality is very apparent to me over anything I've tried so far. The only negatives for me are the inability to play music and do anything else (music stops when the screen is switched) and no album art. Other than that it really is a dream sounding player.

    BTW it was created by quite a large team of developers. I'd love to find out if they've collaborated on a straight audio player as well. I haven't discovered that yet.

    Is there a question somewhere in all of that? Ha-ha. Well, comments and suggestions on good sounding music apps are very appreciated. If you haven't given MX Player a try, I recommend it. WARNING, it might change your opinion about your current player's sound quality.

    The End.