Galaxy Nexus Sound Quality

schawo

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I have read here a lot of crap about sound quality of the gnex, but I haven't found any of the following technical words: output impedance, jitter, intermodulation distortion, harmonic distortion, output RMS voltage, peak voltage, coloration. Without mentioning these keywords, the thread has no relevance in the context sound quality.

As far as I know, there will be an option to use the SPDIF output, which can be a relief for audiofiles, and finally the built in DAC can be forgotten forever.
 

AJH16

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I'm sitting here with my Galaxy Nexus in hand and listening to identical files as I listened to on my Galaxy S. (For comparison, subjectively I felt the Galaxy S has slightly better sound quality than the second generation iPod (primarily due to better circuit isolation).) I am a professionally trained sound engineer and listening on a pair of Shure SE535s ($500+ in-ears). While I can't give the numbers that one of the posters was looking for, I can say with authority that in comparison to the Galaxy S, there is a lot of noise from poor circuit isolation.

The DAC itself is less than ideal as well. It appears to be incapable of producing the actual waveform for low frequencies at more than about half volume without distortion and has very little dynamic range before the clarity of the sound drops off entirely.

Even for an average listener on average headphones I would expect them to slightly notice the difference in good listening conditions and it is glaringly obvious to a trained ear on professional headphones. That all said, I still love the phone for its other features, but if your main use is listening to music and making phone calls, you will want to look elsewhere unless you feel like investing in an external DAC to hook in via spdif. (Which I will almost certainly be doing.)

Update: From some more reading, some other users on another forum are reporting great results from their Galaxy Nexus phones. I'm starting to wonder if it may be something specific to the Verizon CDMA/LTE build since their posts were for the GSM variant or if possibly I simply have a bad phone. (I've also noticed mine runs very hot sometimes.) Anyone else have any experience with using high end headphones on the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus?

Update 2: After some further testing with FLAC files through WinAmp, it appears it is some type of signal processing issue rather than a DAC issue. There is still some slight isolation or possibly pre-amp noise , though it isn't significant and the dynamics issues are a complete improvement. My previous tests were with Rhapsody HQ downloads which sounded good on my Galaxy S but now sound horrible. Perhaps there was some signal processing present on my Galaxy S that is not present on the Nexus, but my new evaluation of the Nexus Prime is that it does a solid job. I can even hear what seems to be noise from the needle on the record that one of the samples I used for a test came from.
 
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TechJunkie#AC

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Update: From some more reading, some other users on another forum are reporting great results from their Galaxy Nexus phones. I'm starting to wonder if it may be something specific to the Verizon CDMA/LTE build since their posts were for the GSM variant or if possibly I simply have a bad phone. (I've also noticed mine runs very hot sometimes.) Anyone else have any experience with using high end headphones on the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus?

I'll report back when I receive mine.
 

PCho222

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Hey guys I am new here but I have something to say about the audio quality and hopefully give some insight. The audio quality from this phone is actually superb. I used a pair of amped Sennheiser HD 555s and Sennheiser CX500s to compare this phone with my Creative Zen Vision W player and desktop computer with a dedicated sound card. The sound quality was identical to the two and if there was a difference, it was inaudible according to my ears at least. I am not a true "audiophile" by any means but I appreciate audio quality as I like to produce and make music. If any of you are worried that you wont be able to enjoy tunes on the go with your phone, the Galaxy Nexus definitely lives up to it.

I read this thread before with the same concerns but I am very satisfied with the results. As for the person who had the opposite results, I am using the Verizon LTE version of the phone as well and I have nothing but good things to say about the sound quality.
 
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pushdrops

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The speaker is very weak when listening, watching YouTube or Netflix videos.

With my own custom ring tone and notification wav's that I've used for many years, I've upped their volume via a wave editor, they are now i guess loud enough but barely. At least though i can hear notifications for the most part (across the room) .

YouTube seems to be really low as other apps in volume. Some have suggested a factory reset after 4.0.2 has been installed : that this helps with low volume. I don't see how this could be but will try this weekend.

I'm using a Wi-Fi only Galaxy 2 ET4G that i wish was compatible with Verizon.

ICS, slow MTP transfers, missing menu button, missing search button, Google search bar at top of all screens, few things still now sure about.....

On the menu button, just going Forward or adding a bookmark in the stock browser, i severely miss the menu button to easily see these options.

No wonder most major news outlets love ics, it's so as they say polished that it's to me more like iOS, i feel like they have dumbed it down.
 

morpheus9394

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I am using a UK GSM Galaxy Nexus paired with a pair of Denon DH-5000 headphones, which are high-end ?400 headphones. I personally think the sound quality on the Nexus is superb.
Compared to my iPhone 4 using the same headphones, and listening to lossless music or regular MP3s, I found the sound quality on the nexus to be noticeably better.
There is not a huge difference and I am not sure if you would notice the difference using cheap earbuds. Regular MP3s sound better on the Nexus as well.
The only fault is the lower volume on the Nexus. Luckily it is loud enough to drive my headphones to a volume which is good for me but it would be nice to have a two or three extra levels of volume, without affecting the sound quality of course.
I've owned an IOS device since the 2nd generation iPod and I have always been happy with the sound quality of the IOS devices. The nexus is my first ever Android device and I am very happy with the sound quality.
Just don't expect music to sound great using on onboard speakers or using cheapo earbuds. If you listen to good quality music, invest in a decent pair of earbuds or headphones.
 

pushdrops

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I too noticed compared to the Galaxy 2, not only is the speaker volume lower, using Sony studio monitor headphones the volume level i as you have, noticed while FLAC and mp3's sound fine for a phone at least thru the Sony's, the volume is a couple of notches lower than I'd like but will do.

What doesn't work well for me, hardly being able to hear the external speaker when viewing YouTube videos as compared to the Galaxy S2 or my wife's new Razr.

Even with the slightly larger screen than that of the 4.5" Epic Touch, full screen YouTube videos when the virtual buttons are gone, the overall size is hardly any larger than the epic touch plus the color saturation on the ET4G is superior and to me the color is more important than the higher resolution (on such a small device to begin with) .

Trying to see if the GNexus grows on me, i hope it does as Sprint here is awful, so activating the epic touches isn't an option.
 

AJH16

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Thank you pcho222 for the feedback on the Verizon version. I guess it is off to the Verizon store to test out the display model then. I've also got a Samsung HS3000 (bluetooth 3 headphone adapter) as a cheap solution and something just generally nice to have even if I get the problem otherwise fixed.
 

HughHansen

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I am thinking its very good

Audio quality was a big concern for me, and I'm happy to say that it's quite good. I'd put it at slightly better than my iPad. It's much better than my Thunderbolt and noticeably better than my Droid X.
 

CDuke0619

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I too noticed compared to the Galaxy 2, not only is the speaker volume lower, using Sony studio monitor headphones the volume level i as you have, noticed while FLAC and mp3's sound fine for a phone at least thru the Sony's, the volume is a couple of notches lower than I'd like but will do.

What doesn't work well for me, hardly being able to hear the external speaker when viewing YouTube videos as compared to the Galaxy S2 or my wife's new Razr.

Even with the slightly larger screen than that of the 4.5" Epic Touch, full screen YouTube videos when the virtual buttons are gone, the overall size is hardly any larger than the epic touch plus the color saturation on the ET4G is superior and to me the color is more important than the higher resolution (on such a small device to begin with) .

Trying to see if the GNexus grows on me, i hope it does as Sprint here is awful, so activating the epic touches isn't an option.

Buy volume + from the market. Set it to 7 or 8 with treble booster and you'll be very happy

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 

jamisont

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gsmarena ran test for GNex
Samsung Galaxy Nexus review: Opening new doors - GSMArena.com
I did get similar test result with RMAA5.5, and by looking at chart here it performs similar to Ipod/iphone.
GSMArena feature lab: Enter new goodies - GSMArena.com

here's comment from supercurio.

#GalaxyNexus #VoodooSound features I'll be able to implement (hardware) Analog HP gain, Mono switch. High perf instead of low power mode.

Concretely, with #WM8994 #VoodooSound, I feel the sound more "fluid" especially mids, also with better stereo separation. Something unique

#GalaxyNexus sound is great&everything (in High-perf mode!) but after a quick comparison I still like WM8994 #VoodooSound magic touch better

By black I mean no hiss, no noise, nothing at all. #GalaxyNexus might become the ultimate performer with isolating and sensitive in-ears.

Even better: when playing with #GalaxyNexus analog headphone amp gain it becomes totally black even with very sensitive in-ears. Awesome.

Yeah! I found analog headphone amp gain registers for #GalaxyNexus. and it works! A few more dB can be squeezed out of the amp.

For me the fact that #GalaxyNexus has a good audio potential is really a relief :)

Another #GalaxyNexus audio strong point: it catches no noise from my crappy USB hub. No CPU noise whatsoever either :)

.@elfary74 note: minus this tone appearing when there's no signal played. I consider stock #GalaxyNexus audio performance > iPhone/iPad SQ.

Yeah! 15s of music listening with #GalaxyNexus tells me there's a very nice potential here! (and it's quite good already)

cant wait for GNex version of voodoo.