How to disable equalizer on Note 8??

[RetiredArson]

Bear with me. I was given a Note 8 about a month ago, and I'm still figuring out its quirks compared to my old Galaxy S5. Anyway I use Google Music to listen to my music, along with a downloaded sound equalizer app. Done this for several years on the S5 without any problems. It has been functioning fine until last Monday. For whatever reason, while listening to my music, all of a sudden the sound drastically changed. I eventually figured out my EQ app was not controlling my sound and it had reverted back to the built in equalizer. Since then, I have not been able to turn off the default EQ, or override it with ANY downloadable EQ app. I've tried uninstalling/re-installing the app multiple times, rebooted a million times, and I have no idea how to turn off the factory EQ, or change the default setting to the downloaded EQ. Ordinarily, it wouldn't be a big deal, but this default EQ has very few adjustments, and sounds like absolute crap while listening on bluetooth speakers. HELP !!!!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Can you turn off EQ from within the Play Music app's settings?

 

[RetiredArson]

Welcome to Android Central! Can you turn off EQ from within the Play Music app's settings?

No...I was really surprised, and I have not found anywhere that will let me change the "default" EQ or music player.

 

[B. Diddy]

@mustang7757, any thoughts?

 

[mustang7757]

Is this sound assistant app?

 

[RetiredArson]

Welcome to Android Central! Can you turn off EQ from within the Play Music app's settings?

Someone on another forum mentioned to disable "Sound Alive", but I don't see anything listed in my apps called sound alive. Supposedly some update last week enabled it, and after checking, I did have some kind of update on July 21. Does that mean anything to you?

 

[RetiredArson]

Is this sound assistant app?

What is that ??

 

[mustang7757]

What is that ??

This app installed?

 

[RetiredArson]

This app installed?View attachment 323112

Nope

 

[mustang7757]

Well the stock equalizer you cant disable

 

[RetiredArson]

Well the stock equalizer you cant disable View attachment 323113

Yep, that's what mine looks like. Another forum recommends to download "Package Disabler" and that will let me disable the "Sound Alive" thing. I just don't understand why an app is installed that I cannot see ? Guess I'll find out in the morning, and let you know. I appreciate all the help.

 

[mustang7757]

Yep, that's what mine looks like. Another forum recommends to download "Package Disabler" and that will let me disable the "Sound Alive" thing. I just don't understand why an app is installed that I cannot see ? Guess I'll find out in the morning, and let you know. I appreciate all the help.

I have package disabler, let me see if it can be disabled

 

[mustang7757]

No I don't see sound equalizer on the list

 

[mustang7757]

This all comes up

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

To install sound assistant you must first download the Good Lock app from the Galaxy Store Not the Play Store. From within Good Lock app you will see options to install new modules. Under Family tab install sound assistant. This may give you options you need to improve the sound quality.

 

[GDany]

I do not have Good lock, but i was able to install Sound Assistant on Note 10+ Android 9.
I think that in order to disable the built-in eq is enough to set all sliders to 0.

 

[jkarwow]

I use the equalizer in the Sony Headphones app. I keep the built in Samsung equalizer set to Normal. This results in zero gain and zero attenuation across the spectrum.

 

[RetiredArson]

This all comes up View attachment 323114

"Sound Alive" is what they were talking about. It apparently runs in the background, and is the default EQ by Samsung. I just don't now where it came from, and why it all of a sudden started giving me problems. I downloaded Package Disabler last night and was able to deactivate Sound Alive. It let my Google Music go back to my preferred EQ app, but it will not let me adjust anything in the app. It just goes back to a preinstalled preset. BUT..if I use Spotify to open my music, I can use all the features of my EQ app. So, I'll use Spotify for now, until I can figure out what to do about Google Music. If I knew how to transfer all my Google Music playlists and downloaded music to Spotify, I'd probably just use that. Guess it's "Google time". lol.

I appreciate all the help guys. You've got me finding things I didn't even know were on the phone.

 

[mustang7757]

"Sound Alive" is what they were talking about. It apparently runs in the background, and is the default EQ by Samsung. I just don't now where it came from, and why it all of a sudden started giving me problems. I downloaded Package Disabler last night and was able to deactivate Sound Alive. It let my Google Music go back to my preferred EQ app, but it will not let me adjust anything in the app. It just goes back to a preinstalled preset. BUT..if I use Spotify to open my music, I can use all the features of my EQ app. So, I'll use Spotify for now, until I can figure out what to do about Google Music. If I knew how to transfer all my Google Music playlists and downloaded music to Spotify, I'd probably just use that. Guess it's "Google time". lol.

I appreciate all the help guys. You've got me finding things I didn't even know were on the phone.

Yes I just disable it and turns off the stock equalizer , missed that

Maybe @B. Diddy can help with Google play music to spotify

 

[B. Diddy]

There's no way to transfer purchases from GPM to Spotify. As for transferring playlists, it looks like there are a number of 3rd party services that will do so, but I'm not sure at what cost (either financial or data privacy).