Galaxy Nexus Sound Quality

[pushdrops]

The Samsung Epic Touch Galaxy II has a pretty decent (loud) external speaker. Loud and clear enough to listen to podcasts across a room.
The Charge and Galaxy S have super low volume speakers, i was surprised at the volume of the ET.

The thunderbolt and incredible to me at least have weak speakers just like the Charge and Galaxy S.

I'm not referring to quality here but loudness to listen to a podcast, ringtone.

I am using the ET wifi only as the sprint network was ultra slow. Had the bionic which had the awful high pitched interference deal using the analog out. The bionic had decent loudness to the speaker.

I hope the Galaxy Nexus has a speaker that's as loud as the EpicTouch. I wish Verizon would've just in September had released a Galaxy II device....

 

[Adrynalyne]

The voodoo sound app will do wonders for the GN once the kernel source is released. I'm pretty sure at this point we can't definitively say what the audio quality will be until it is released.

I doubt a mod meant to properly take advantage of the Wolfson DAC is going to have much point on the Galaxy Nexus.

 

[majorhunadadun]

I'm very concerned about this, I can't imagine them releasing some shotty but it could be... I'm on an OG EVO and the best sound quality I've had to date is running the Sense 3.5 Runnymede port with the Dre Beats sound enhancement and DSP Manager. I use a $4 pair of Palm Pre headphones which in themselves sound quite good!

 

[kharrigan]

I use a $4 pair of Palm Pre headphones which in themselves sound quite good!

No offense, but...

Using $4 headphones just cannot be conducive to forming a credible opinion.

 

[majorhunadadun]

No offense, but...
Click to view quoted image


Using $4 headphones just cannot be conducive to forming a credible opinion.

None taken my friend! If I had said they were $150, would that have made a difference?? I've tried many good sets of phones and I've mixed quite a bit of music and I also listen to a lot of music so I have a fairly discerning ear. These phones sound great! Trust me. The point is/ was that if I can get it to sound good on my og EVO then surely I can get it to sound good on the GN. Oh and also you shouldn't knock something til you try it!! Duuuude. *hi-five*

 

[hpilot]

In my experience on Apple and Android products the two biggest influences on sound quality are the amount of compression (the bitrate in your mp3) and the headphones/earbuds you use. Most ear buds simply cannot create compelling bass - regardless of DAC quality - unless they create a seal (this also blocks outside noise well), and this is true regardless of the quality of the driver as well. The physics of sound makes is hard to effectively create long sound waves (i.e. deep sound) from such a small driver without isolating the listening area (i.e., having it seal within or around your ear).

Over the ear headsets can produce excellent sound (they also of course are isolating the listening area), but a lot of people don't like them because they take up more space and are more cumbersome on the go.

So the short answer is either should be equally good unless you are using lossless audio and $200+ listening devices that either create a seal around your ears (either over the ear, or in-ear).

I'm sorry, but you are so wrong on this. I use the Shure SE530 (in ear, $499) earphones with my Cowon J3, and the bass and sound quality is just breathtaking. When I use the same Shure earphones with my Samsung Nexus S 4G, the sound is just crap. I listen to the same mp3 files (320kps) so compression and earphones have nothing to do with the sound quality difference I get between the devises - only the DAC is different. I am not talking about a small difference in sound quality, it is huge. That is the biggest thing I hate about my phone.

 

[seeingwhite]

I'm sorry, but you are so wrong on this. I use the Shure SE530 (in ear, $499) earphones with my Cowon J3, and the bass and sound quality is just breathtaking. When I use the same Shure earphones with my Samsung Nexus S 4G, the sound is just crap. I listen to the same mp3 files (320kps) so compression and earphones have nothing to do with the sound quality difference I get between the devises - only the DAC is different. I am not talking about a small difference in sound quality, it is huge. That is the biggest thing I hate about my phone.

^^This.

 

[Masheen]

If sound quality is what you want, look into an HTC phone with Beats by Dre.

 

[kharrigan]

None taken my friend! If I had said they were $150, would that have made a difference??

Thanks for not getting offended. My point is that using reference-quality headphone monitors (like the Sony MDR-7506, Shure IEMs, etc.) should easily point out the difference between DACs in phones.

I use the Shure SE530 (in ear, $499) earphones with my Cowon J3, and the bass and sound quality is just breathtaking. When I use the same Shure earphones with my Samsung Nexus S 4G, the sound is just crap.

THAT is just depressing. I sincerely hope that the GN will deliver in the sound quality department. It's my 3rd most important priority (after screen-size and 4G/LTE).

Anyways, I'm sure that GN will be thoroughly evaluated in this department upon release. I know that I will... Well, there's always the RAZR or Rezound... right?

 

[Daniel0418]

Anyone else ever use an OMAP 4 device? How is the sound? They all use the same audio codec. No info on the speaker and if it is used by any other devices... I'm actually surprised and delighted this isn't a typical samsung device except the display. Should prove to be an awesome device overall (Hated everything about the Epic 4G except the screen and GPU).

The Blackberry Playbook has an OMAP 4. 4430 to be exact. And the Playbook has the best sound quality on a tablet of all of.then. yes better even than an iPad 2. That could be the OS though.

 

[estebancam]

If sound quality is what you want, look into an HTC phone with Beats by Dre.

It's a gimmick. How do I know? Because I bought into it. I purchased the HP TouchPad with "Beats Audio" and also purchased the HP Envy 14 "Beats Edition" because I wanted good music.

You what that should say? Instead of saying "Beats Audio" it should read "Software-based Super Bass Booster Audio."

It's know very good. If the sound was more hardware-based, it would be better. I actually have to turn down the bass on my HP Envy on my $1,000 sound system (Klipsch with a 750 Watt amp) for the music to sound really good.

Beats Audio really pumps up the bass, but it doesn't do much else. The only thing with "Beats Audio" on it that sounds good to me is the Beats Pro headphones. And even at that, it only sounds its best with Beats Audio peripherals. (like my computer) But thats because it handles the software based bass boost.

 

[estebancam]

The Blackberry Playbook has an OMAP 4. 4430 to be exact. And the Playbook has the best sound quality on a tablet of all of.then. yes better even than an iPad 2. That could be the OS though.

Hey that's true! You got me a bit excited now. lol. It does use the same sound chip as the Galaxy Nexus. I hope it's just as good. This is very important to me.

Thanks for not getting offended. My point is that using reference-quality headphone monitors (like the Sony MDR-7506, Shure IEMs, etc.) should easily point out the difference between DACs in phones.


THAT is just depressing. I sincerely hope that the GN will deliver in the sound quality department. It's my 3rd most important priority (after screen-size and 4G/LTE).

Anyways, I'm sure that GN will be thoroughly evaluated in this department upon release. I know that I will... Well, there's always the RAZR or Rezound... right?

You and I have the same top 3 priorities! Screen size, 4G, Sound. Top three. I could care less about battery life since I can plug it in basically whenever I want to. The screen size is there, the 4G has been confirmed, but I just need some great sounds coming from this unit. Hopefully much better than iPhone/iPad. Blayze04 said that the Blackberry Playbook uses the same audio chip as the Nexus, the OMAP one. I hope it sounds as good!

 

[ottscay]

True (though I'm not sure you quite need to go to $200+ headsets), but the key word here is still "should".

I just returned a Droid Bionic -- it had several flaws, which have been well detailed here and elsewhere, but the absolute deal-breaker was when I finally loaded up some music and was hit with an incessant, high-pitched whining/buzzing that was clearly down to poor internal shielding somewhere. Admittedly I'm a little pedantic about my audio and I'm also pretty sensitive to high frequencies, but it was astounding to me that a $600+ media device could get through the QA process without such a glaring hardware fault being caught.

So, while there *shouldn't* be any problems with the Galaxy Nexus audio, I'm still hoping a reviewer finally thinks to plug in a set of headphones and check for us!

That's fair, but what you are talking about has nothing to do with the quality of the internal audio parts (i.e. the DAC) but rather an issue with electronic noise isolation in the circuits. No one can answer that without listening to the final product (although a real sound engineer could probably make some predictions if they could see a diagram of the internals...but of course that's hardly something they'd release).

I agree with you that it seems surprising that an issue like that made it through QA...I almost wonder if it could have been an issue with your device, rather than a systemic issue. I don't know either way mind you, but it seems like it would be noticed by testers, and it's also the kind of thing that could easily be created by a manufacturing defect.

 

[ottscay]

I'm sorry, but you are so wrong on this. I use the Shure SE530 (in ear, $499) earphones with my Cowon J3, and the bass and sound quality is just breathtaking.

I'm sorry, but did you even read my post before you responded? I specifically said that an earphone like yours, an IN EAR set that creates a seal between the driver and your ear, works great. That's WHY you have good bass. My point was that most people use cheap non-sealing earbuds, which are the weak link in that case, not the DAC.

I'm sorry if this seems peevish, but when you tell me I'm "so wrong" when you are practically quoting me it's sort of annoying.

When I use the same Shure earphones with my Samsung Nexus S 4G, the sound is just crap. I listen to the same mp3 files (320kps) so compression and earphones have nothing to do with the sound quality difference I get between the devises - only the DAC is different. I am not talking about a small difference in sound quality, it is huge. That is the biggest thing I hate about my phone.

I never claimed that a DAC made no difference (I've paid many thousands of dollars for components with better DACs in my home audio system), I was just pointing out that to normal users the compression quality and earphone quality would make a much larger impact than the DACs. Given that most people listen to 128kps mp3s on earbuds (the type that sit in our ear but don't make a seal), I stand by that statement. I have little doubt that there are differences between various phone and PMP DACs, but I'm equally sure that most users have more important quality bottlenecks in their audio chain.

Also, it's worth noting that given the importance put into reducing component size in smartphones, the overall layout and proximity of the circuits may have a larger impact on sound quality than the DACs alone - things like noise floor issues and errant feedback are unlikely to be dependent on the DACs, but rather a problem with the overall layout and damping of the internal components. Hence simply knowing what the DACs are in a chipset won't necessarily be a totally consistent predictor of sound quality (although it should provide a ceiling to potential performance).

 

[kenyee]

Hopefully much better than iPhone/iPad.

You do realize that the iphone/ipod/ipad have *great* audio quality.
Only thing you can do better with them requires external headphone amps. And yes, I do listen w/ IEMs to tell the difference. The amps give you tighter bass and a bigger soundstage and can pull the bitstream instead of going through the iamps.

If they had quality as good, I'd be happy...the first teardown of the device should give us an idea of how good it theoretically is...

 

[anon(525422)]

That's fair, but what you are talking about has nothing to do with the quality of the internal audio parts (i.e. the DAC) but rather an issue with electronic noise isolation in the circuits.

Absolutely, but the OP was asking about the overall audio from the phone, not specifically the quality of the DAC. The Nexus could have the most awesome DAC in the world, but if the 3.5mm connector was only mono it would still sound like crap through $200 stereo earphones.

I agree with you that it seems surprising that an issue like that made it through QA...I almost wonder if it could have been an issue with your device, rather than a systemic issue.

I assumed it was just an issue with my device too, until I Googled "Droid Bionic whine" and got hundreds of hits on the topic. (Motorola actually even acknowledged it in the bug list they released last month. They said a fix was "under review" but, after hearing the noise, I found it hard to believe it was a software byproduct, meaning any fix would only be a hacky workaround to a native hardware defect.)

 

[ottscay]

Absolutely, but the OP was asking about the overall audio from the phone, not specifically the quality of the DAC. The Nexus could have the most awesome DAC in the world, but if the 3.5mm connector was only mono it would still sound like crap through $200 stereo earphones.

Absolutely.

I assumed it was just an issue with my device too, until I Googled "Droid Bionic whine" and got hundreds of hits on the topic. (Motorola actually even acknowledged it in the bug list they released last month. They said a fix was "under review" but, after hearing the noise, I found it hard to believe it was a software byproduct, meaning any fix would only be a hacky workaround to a native hardware defect.)

Yeesh! I hadn't looked that up, but it sure sounds like you're right that there must be a problem with interference somewhere in the hardware design. Given what is likely to be a short product cycle (what with the RAZR arriving so soon) I imagine that will be a permanent problem in the Bionic. That's pretty ugly - I sure hope the newer phones coming out don't have similar issues.

When you think of how much internal space there is in a quality set of separates (or a high end receiver) and how much damping material is used to help isolate circuits in the best of them...it must be a nightmare to try and design modern PMPs and handsets so they can produce great sound and still be less than 10mm thick.

 

[Adrynalyne]

PowerAmp that's all you need to now.

Maybe not. I never bothered to test this, but there are reports on the Thunderbolt that on aosp, a lot of the PowerAmp effects do not work such as SRS.

 

[ottscay]

Maybe not. I never bothered to test this, but there are reports on the Thunderbolt that on aosp, a lot of the PowerAmp effects do not work such as SRS.

That, and while I have nothing against a bit of DSP myself, I think most audiophile types would claim that having to process the signal just means you have a poor quality audio device (not sure that a 9 gram device can actually meet such lofty standards, but a strong aversion to adjusting levels is none-the-less a common theme among the audio "elite").

 

[TonyHoyle]

It's more like (from the audio heads that I know) if you want to compare devices, you do it without any kind of adjustment.. you want to see how close the device can get to 'perfect' without needing any modification.

OTOH if you own something, and its sound isn't quite to your liking, a little DSP to improve it isn't a crime, as long as you don't overdo it (it's possible to get so used to 'bad' sound - the way some people seem to think more bass = better - you try to force everything you hear to sound like that, and never learn to appreciate what the music should sound like)

Of course then there's the militant audiophiles, who would scream if you even mentioned digital sound reproduction...