I'm thinking of finally getting an android phone, and one of my primary uses for it will be as a replacement for my antique, but very good sounding, iRiver iHP 120 mp3 player. How is the sound quality of the Thunderbolt's headphone output? I have a pair of decent headphones - Audio Technica ATH A900s - pretty efficient at 40ohms, but I'm nervous about the sound quality of an "all in one" device. Anybody using nicer headphones happily with the Thunderbolt?
How is the headphone output sound quality?
- Thread starter whaites
- Start date
I just tried some ipod headphones in the thunderbolt and there was some hissing. But, the headphones aren't mine, so i don't know if they are the problem or not. I'll try with a nicer pair when i get home later and repost.
I was just listening to lastfm for about a half an hour and its not bad. Not as good as my ipod though. The quality on some music apps sucks. I haven't tried songs on my phone much yet but from what I heard its about the same as an iPhone/touch.
Sounds good to me, but I don't have an iPod for reference. There is some hiss/noise when nothing is playing, though.
Thanks for the replies. I've read a few comments about hiss and low volume (Engadget review, for one), so I'm wondering if I'm expecting too much soundwise from a smart phone. iPod/iPhone have never been well reviewed for pure sound quality (although I haven't looked at them in quite some time), and I am used to a pretty decent player in the iRiver. How does it compare with the iPhone4? My wife has one, so I could test how that sounds as a reference. Any Droid's particularly well thought of for sound? I may even prefer better sound quality and battery life to LTE - but I think I'm limited to Verizon offerings.
just used my beats by dre on my ipod and compared them. Seemed to be no difference, if so very unoticeable
I run everyday and use Moto blue tooth head set. The sound is AWESOME while using Pandora. ZERO buffering which KILLED me on my Fascinate and DInc. I'm very happy with the sound quality via blue tooth.
Ipod? ok try your music player not an app, music player has srs and equalizer
Did You have SRS selected?
I don't use head phones but I do hook up my milwaukee radio the Tb and the music sound way better than my droid and the fascinate. In fact I just tried my cheap Sony headphones and its huge deference when you got the SRS selected.
Have you found any further detailed info on the headphone out quality Whaites? I've also seen various posts about reported hiss - which is about all that's holding me back from picking up a TB. I currently use a pair of high end Senn IE8's with a 3g iphone, and the sound quality is good enough.
gsmarena actually publishes detailed sound specs on the phones it reviews and iphones basically top the charts, followed by the galaxy s models and certain HTC phones. The Aria and Mozart test really well. The desire HD, by contrast, has terrible stereo cross-talk as soon as headphones are plugged in. (See: HTC Desire HD review: Most wanted - GSMArena.com )
I'd kill to find some concrete data like this on the TB. Any further user comments would also be greatly appreciated - particularly from any fellow audio snobs out there.
I haven't found much detail on android sound on the whole (haven't spent too much time looking to be honest). I did a quick a/b listen to the iphone4 and my iriver using my a900's, and I will admit that the iphone4 sounded good enough that I'd be happy with its sound - but I really am not a fan of the apple ecosystem. I found one thread on head-fi.org comparing some android and iphone sound quality. The Galaxy - S seems to have a strong following, especially when running voodoo. A few claims that it sounds better than the iphone4, which I guess would make it good enough for me. Only saw one mention of the Thunderbolt, and the person was debating returning it because of the music player. Wasn't clear if they disliked the player or the sound, but I'm getting suspect...
Does Verizon have a Galaxy S variant? Is that the Fascinate? Wonder if there's anything promising on the horizon.
Does Verizon have a Galaxy S variant? Is that the Fascinate? Wonder if there's anything promising on the horizon.
Fascinates is Verizon Galaxy s but the sound coming out of the Thunderbolt in my opinion is better.
Hey all. Just joined up.
I am a serious audiophile (and electrical engineer), and one of my primary reasons for a smartphone to begin with was to replace my aging Cowon D2 (hacked to D2+). Despite this, I didn't really look into how the sound quality was going to turn out before I got the Thunderbolt.
Unfortunately, my Shure SE420 in-ear monitors have background hiss whenever audio is active at any volume that I can absolutely not tolerate. However, I have a bit of good news: there is a fix for this.
Essentially, the HTC headphone amp is set up to give you the highest volume instead of the best quality output, and this results in the hiss. This can be solved by increasing the impedance of the headphones you are using, or getting headphones with a higher impedance.
My Shure IEMs have an impedance of 22 ohms. The hiss is unbearable for me.
I also have a set of closed-back over-ear headphones, AKG K271 MKII, which have an impedance of 55 ohms, through which I can't hear any hiss at all.
Obviously, I don't want to pack around some huge headphones, so I will need to increase the impedance of the Shure IEMs. This can be done by adding a 75 ohm resistor into the wire for each channel. This can be a $5 DIY fix, but if you aren't interested in that, or if you don't have time, you can get a high-quality pre-made one here. Unfortunately, they are around $30 with shipping. You can also look at a different one here.
Changing the impedance of your phones will change the character of their sound a bit (possibly for the better - YMMV - but I won't go into that, but you can google about it - headfi.org is an okay resource, but they do deal in a lot of snake oil as well). I intend to use the PowerAMP app with the equalizer to tailor the sound to my liking, but from other's experience with my particular headphones, the sound character should be changed for the better with the increased impedance.
I am a serious audiophile (and electrical engineer), and one of my primary reasons for a smartphone to begin with was to replace my aging Cowon D2 (hacked to D2+). Despite this, I didn't really look into how the sound quality was going to turn out before I got the Thunderbolt.
Unfortunately, my Shure SE420 in-ear monitors have background hiss whenever audio is active at any volume that I can absolutely not tolerate. However, I have a bit of good news: there is a fix for this.
Essentially, the HTC headphone amp is set up to give you the highest volume instead of the best quality output, and this results in the hiss. This can be solved by increasing the impedance of the headphones you are using, or getting headphones with a higher impedance.
My Shure IEMs have an impedance of 22 ohms. The hiss is unbearable for me.
I also have a set of closed-back over-ear headphones, AKG K271 MKII, which have an impedance of 55 ohms, through which I can't hear any hiss at all.
Obviously, I don't want to pack around some huge headphones, so I will need to increase the impedance of the Shure IEMs. This can be done by adding a 75 ohm resistor into the wire for each channel. This can be a $5 DIY fix, but if you aren't interested in that, or if you don't have time, you can get a high-quality pre-made one here. Unfortunately, they are around $30 with shipping. You can also look at a different one here.
Changing the impedance of your phones will change the character of their sound a bit (possibly for the better - YMMV - but I won't go into that, but you can google about it - headfi.org is an okay resource, but they do deal in a lot of snake oil as well). I intend to use the PowerAMP app with the equalizer to tailor the sound to my liking, but from other's experience with my particular headphones, the sound character should be changed for the better with the increased impedance.
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I use a $12 pair of headphones. Just sayin that right off the bat.
Anyways the sound quality was surprisingly great. At least as good as my ipod touch if not better.
Anyways the sound quality was surprisingly great. At least as good as my ipod touch if not better.
My Sennheiser CX300 are 16 Ω. Sounds like a white noise generator cranked to max.
Forkmachine - would an inline volume accomplish the same thing as a fixed resistor?
Forkmachine - would an inline volume accomplish the same thing as a fixed resistor?
I have a decent pair of Sony buds. No hiss at all. Sound is decent but probably not on par with iRiver.
Forkmachine, Do you know which DAC is used in the TB? I'm probably going to go with this phone, but if I have to use a dongle so my NuForce NE7Ms sound good, it's going to be a pain. not a dealbreaker, though. I'm also trying to sway a friend from the iLife.... So I need ammunition.
willis936
Well-known member
I rock Sony MDR-V6s. I'm not turned off by the sound quality actually. It has more power than my ipod and I've yet to notice any distortion. The V6s are quite sensitive to anything out of place. There isn't any decent sync software, just copy and paste. I noticed that some encodings of mp4s didn't work while others did. I wasn't able to identify te issue. I just re encoded problem files in mp3 v0.
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