Beats Audio on the Evo 3D: Will it happen?

[yibrushn]

I think we should just rephrase the discussion to "Is there some hidden audio enhancement built into the EVO 3D whether software or hardware based?" Frankly I don't care what brand or "gimmick" it is as long as I get something extra from the product I already bought.
Who's with me?

 

[Impulses]

I seriously doubt there's any special hardware in the upcoming Sensation XT or whatever they're calling it... The turnaround time since the deal was struck is way too quick and the phone's internals were already pretty tightly packed, you don't just turn around and add something to the design in two month's time. My guess is it's just software and marketing glitz, the included enhancements probably let you skip tracks with the headphone remote (Headset Button Controller already does this for like $2).

Beats gear in general isn't worth the price, nor Bose for that matter (they're probably worse), both companies simply invest a lot more in marketing than the typical high end audio manufacturer does. It's not a matter of taste. You want a dead simple analogy? They're the Apples of the audio industry, albeit less successful and with even less substance or redeeming value.

All that being said, HP laptops with Beats audio generally do sound decent (even over the speakers) and they do include some hardware enhancements... The typical laptop has absolutely mediocre sound hardware and speakers though, so it isn't terribly hard to raise the bar there. Laptop audio is constrained by physics, it's like on-board desktop audio... No matter how decent the hardware is, you're still working in a very electrically noisy environment and tiny ass speakers will never sound all that full.

I'm a fan of HTC, but the Beats partnership means little to me... I do hope it helps their overall sales tho. You couldn't pay me to rock Beats headphones tho, if I was given a pair I'd literally sell them and buy something better for half as much (from Senn, Beyer, Grado, or hell, even Koss/Meelec) and still come out ahead.

 

[Mr.Froyo]

i use altec lansing earbuds with my altec lansing using HP computer, its kind of great.

 

[R3dM0nd]

all i know is that even if the evo 3d is capable of it its not gunna happen unless rooted look at the thunderbolt released with sense 2.0 a month later 3.0. Still waiting for official gingerbread and an update to sense 2.1.

 

[nickmv]

its funny when people knock a product they have never even touched. it sounds like a "mine doesnt have that, so it sucks" kind of thing. and to those saying this is better than beats and that sounds way better than beats. i GUARANTEE that i could find some kosch headphones/speakers that sound better than some bose, jbl, beats, sony or anything else. these damn ignorant people are ridiculous.

edit: not to mention the fact that the OP asked the simple question of whether or not beats was available on the evo 3d. and to answer that, no "Beats Audio" is not and will not be in the 3d due to the lack of hardware, but there is some Beats eq deal you can use but it is not an improvement on the hardware like the upcoming devices have.

I'll knock it gladly, and i HAVE touched it. I've got a HP Touchpad and the "beats" audio on it sounds like a POS compared to my Nexus S w/ voodoo sound drivers. Beats is just a gimmick for BS "special" hardware (ie. lets rebrand an existing chip) that suddenly has lots of "beats" because they have software EQ maxing out the low end.

What a joke......


Unless you've just got a trash pair of headphones (anything less than $100 IMHO), Beats is just gonna help you listen to the music in a way the artist NEVER intended.

 

[colmustard]

Why not add fuel to the fire?

HTC is smart in that they know that people are dumb and see beats as a superior brand, and they know it will bring in impressive sales numbers. If HTC integrated "Sennheiser audio" into their phone it would sound a hell of alot better than beats but nobody would buy it.

Also I'm curious to see how "beats audio" really improves the way a tiny phone speaker sounds. The only reason ppl think beats sound good is because they equalize the bass as somebody already said with a smiley curve. Problem is that just won't translate well with such a small speaker. So if there is any "improvement" at all I can't see it being worth the cost / advertising. I'm sure they will do the same with the headphone out, in which case I see that as a serious downgrade because I want control over the equalization of my music, not beats.

Whenever I meet somebody with beats, I let them listen to my Ultrasone's. Oh the look on their face when they learn that they cost the same... priceless.

 

[Cyrilmak]

So, with HTC's announcement that they have invested $300 Million in Beats Audio, buying part of the company, what will this mean for HTC's current slate of products? On My HP Envy laptop, I have Beats audio built in, and its the best sounding laptop I've ever owned - especially through the headphone jack.

Whats unclear to me though is if Beats is a combination of hardware AND software, or if they are specific software drivers. If its just software, can BEATS update be issued to select HTC devices such as the Evo 3D? If I understood the teleconference correctly, its an app, but I'm not sure I understood it right.

Beats Audio is all software. It's exactly like X-Fi MB. It does need a certain level of Codec support from the Intel HD audio.

Not sure about how it works on a phone though.

 

[CMILD561]

Let me pay hundreds of dollars for sound quality to listen to an .mp3 that lost all its quality during compression. There's a sucker born every minute. Look around. If you don't know who it is, its probably you.

 

[fargles]

Let me pay hundreds of dollars for sound quality to listen to an .mp3 that lost all its quality during compression. There's a sucker born every minute. Look around. If you don't know who it is, its probably you.

Gm o never thought about it that way... I figured that you could put the music on your phone in any encoding(if that's the right word lol)

 

[Impulses]

Gm o never thought about it that way... I figured that you could put the music on your phone in any encoding(if that's the right word lol)

Actually, you CAN play FLAC files in Android with certain players; FLAC's a lossless form of compression so no data is lost (basically CD quality), unlike MP3 which is lossy... ' Course FLAC files are like 10x as large so it isn't as practical and in the type of environment that you'd listen to music on your phone you probably wouldn't notice the difference. Anyway, if you have properly encoded CD rips in VBR (variable bit rate) MP3s they're virtually indistinguishable from FLAC or CD, unless you've got a gifted ear.

So yeah, I wouldn't necessarily discount any audio enhancement efforts on phones just because most people are gonna be feeding it crap as source material...

Not that I endorse anything by Beats/Monster, they're all marketing and no substance, but there ARE some interesting Android projects geared towards better SQ. Look at the Voodoo configuration/tweaking app for phones and tablets with Wolfson sound hardware... And there ARE noticeable differences between some phones if you're very critical, look at the sound section on the recent Galaxy S2 review at Anandtech (coincidentally guest written by the guy behind voodoo).

Things like voodoo or the sound hardware that isn't listed in 99% of reviews do make a difference, but the companies or developers behind those elements don't have the marketing & hype machine of a company like Monster/Beats who cons people into overpaying for their gear. In the end though, quality headphones and source material (properly ripped stuff vs 128kbps, etc) probably have the biggest impact.

The average consumer is oblivious to any of this though, which is why companies like Beats/Bose thrive. You don't need to obsess over this stuff or be an audio snob to educate yourself and make a smarter decision with your money tho, just takes a little research. I don't think I own a pair of headphones over $60 and my office speakers are $150 powered speakers, but at least I know I'm getting my money's worth.

 

[aviatordoc]

The HP touchpad has beats adio and is rather good. I like it.

 

[Impulses]

The HP touchpad has beats adio and is rather good. I like it.

Wolfson Microelectronics | Second quarter and interim results to 3 July 2011

It uses the same Wolfson sound chip that several other tablets do, it might be configured a little different in software but you can actually tweak a lot of those settings yourself, see the references to the Voodoo project for Android devices with Wolfson hardware on my previous post.

Beats isn't manufacturing anything special or unique for these devices, in fact they aren't manufacturing anything at all! They're just marketing the heck out of something that others are also using in similar fashion. Marketing has a ridiculous amount of power and influence these days... You'd think living in the so-called information age would counter that but no such luck.

 

[cgardnervt]

Id love to see this happen! I know you can unlock it if you want too. I'd rather see HTC unlock it though.

Sent from my E3D using Tapatalk

 

[clarkkent434]

You can istall Beats audio to you Evo. Check out this MOD.

 

[syphex]

CleanROM 2.5 has beats built in but you have to be rooted of course. You can find the rom here ---> Download CleanROM Final zip

 

[CarrieK]

You can istall Beats audio to you Evo. Check out this MOD.

Thanks for the info. I flashed and it works pretty darned well. I tested it using my cassette adapter (ok, I have a 2001 xterra with stock radio) in my headphone jack and the Rock setting improved the output a ton.