[Guide] ZTE Axon 7 CM13, LOS14.1 Eliminate media audio distortion [Viper4Arise]

masong397

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2016
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Saunderstown
Guide to get rid of audio distortion on CM13 and Lineage OS 14.1

I have told quite a few people in the cm13 thread how to get rid of the audio distortion, I figured it was relevant to enough people that I should make a little guide on how to set it up although it is pretty straightforward.

[Disclaimer] I am not responsible if you manage to break your phone using this guide

What does this guide accomplish? This guide will help you install Viper4Arise which is a wonderful sound mod that I use on any phone or rom. Viper4Arise will allow you to eliminate audio distortion in media playback on your Axon 7 running CM13 or LOS14.1, by lowering the output gain which is not capped properly in these Roms

What does this guide fail to accomplish? This guide will not fix mic issues, in call volume, the left channel being missing on speakers, or any other sound related problem present in CM13 or LOS14.1, however most bugs are gone now in LOS14.1

Now that that's out of the way, lets get to the fun stuff!

Step 1
First thing you want to do is grab the Viper4Arise flashable zip
Download Viper4Arise 2.3.3
however if you want the newest version
Download Viper4Arise 2.4
once you have this you can boot into TWRP and flash it, then reboot into system

Step 1.5
This step is only necessary on the newest builds of lineage OS 14.1
lineage OS does not have root built in. we will download the root addon package from lineageOS
Download root addon
flash this in twrp, it doesnt matter if it is done before or after installing the Viper4Arise package

Step 2
SeLinux must be permissive and by default it is enforcing so we are going to grab this apk and install it
Download SeLinux Switcher
once installed, open the app, allow root access (you may need to enable root in developer options) and set SeLinux to Permissive. if Viper4Arise stops working always check to make sure Selinux is still in permissive as changing it back to enforcing will stop Viper4Arise from working.

Step 3
Next we will configure Viper4Arise to eliminate Audio distortion.
Start by going to the phone speaker and Headset tabs and Switching master power to on
Now press the menu button on the top left and press Driver status. as long as SeLinux is permissive it should say

NEON Enabled: Yes
Enabled: Yes
Status: Normal

the other things are not relevant. if the above message read "No" or "Abnormal" you may not have set SeLinux to permissive, please go back to step 2!

do this twice, once with the Headset tab Selected and once with the Phone Speaker tab selected

There are allot of awesome setting to mess with they can make you audio amazing, I encourage you to try them out. to make the audio distortion go away simply scroll to the bottom and find the "Master Gate (Limiter)" tab. Set the output gain to -10.5 dB on both the Headset and Phone Speaker. this level seems pretty good in my opinion however you may find you prefer a slightly lower or higher level.

That's it! I hope I have helped you guys out, feel free to ask questions or make suggestions on how to improve this guide and be sure to leave Thanks!

Thread created: 1/31/17
Last updated: 2/2/17
 
Last edited:

cms062407

Senior Member
Jan 21, 2011
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Thanks for the guide. My YouTube videos are no longer distorted and sound good enough, for not having stereo capability on LOS. However, all of my notifications that come in are still very distorted, is there a fix for this?
 

masong397

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2016
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0
Saunderstown
Thanks for the guide. My YouTube videos are no longer distorted and sound good enough, for not having stereo capability on LOS. However, all of my notifications that come in are still very distorted, is there a fix for this?
Glad the guide helped you! Unfortunately I don't know how to get rid of distortion when notifications come in. I do believe Unjustified Dev said that all audio distortion will be gone in the near future, of course this guide won't be important at that point. At least audio quality isn't really important for notifications...
 

cms062407

Senior Member
Jan 21, 2011
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Alrighty, no big deal. You're right, it isn't a huge problem...Just a little annoying. I may have to flash back to stock, the main reason most people bought this phone was for the speakers....And I'm starting to miss the immersive sound that I had from stock :)
 

masong397

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2016
119
71
0
Saunderstown
Alrighty, no big deal. You're right, it isn't a huge problem...Just a little annoying. I may have to flash back to stock, the main reason most people bought this phone was for the speakers....And I'm starting to miss the immersive sound that I had from stock :)
Yeah the left and right channel bug really degrades the speaker experience... And weird sounding notifications is annoying. I listen to lots of music but always with headphones or with an aux in the car so I don't really care too much...
 

iNaruX

Senior Member
Jun 29, 2012
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Hijacking this thread to ask specifically. I do not care about my speakers I literally only use Headphones.

Is media with headphones played via the AK DAC? Is the quality as good as "super" mode on the stock ROM ? (Again, asking for Media Playback with headphones!)
 

masong397

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2016
119
71
0
Saunderstown
Hijacking this thread to ask specifically. I do not care about my speakers I literally only use Headphones.

Is media with headphones played via the AK DAC? Is the quality as good as "super" mode on the stock ROM ? (Again, asking for Media Playback with headphones!)
I use headphones all the time. I love it. If you are worried about the quality compared to stock I believe you will not be disappointed. Of course I am not an audio expert and do not have the means to compare the quality side by side. I am not sure if the HiFi DAC is used, that is more of a general lineage os question.
 
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masong397

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2016
119
71
0
Saunderstown
Question, is the audio on LOS 14.1 with speakers good enough to listen to podcasts and some music with this mod?
The speakers are not as good as stock, the mod works perfectly but I believe only right channel is played. Its a problem that the lineage os devs have to fix. It is good for listening to pretty Mich anything, oy won't have distortion or anything