HTC One (M8): Headphone audio quality?

[MDMcAtee]

I love the M8 sound, and prefer it over my iPhone 5S with headphones. Using just the speakers- there is no comparison- the M8 rules!
I'm still trying to decide if I want to root my AT&T M8 to a Harmon Kardon version. Is that just for headphone improvement, and not much difference using the speakers as someone mentioned earlier? I'd like more feedback since rooting is a major PIA and Harmon Kardon would be the only reason for me to do it. I value great sound over a phone camera also..

I'm 100% with you on this right now and feel exactly the same.

I use the Sony MBR 40 ex buds which are excellent for mids and lows and am very impressed with the sound quality I am getting with them on my m8 which is much better than what I have gotten with any other phone including my Note II with the inbuilt Wolfson dacs. The external speakers simply out perform any I have heard on any phone as well, even though they are still small speakers. If I want I can always fire up my 2 channel system at home, and listen to whatever album I want on my Music Hall mm-7.1 through my Jolida JD-9.....lol

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[NYClawstudent]

So I've owned both the M8 and S5, along with the 5s, and I must say that the HTC produced the best sound quality. I am a soundphile and utilize my Klipsch in ear headphones to seal out noise. Testing a variety of music, including rock, rap, classical and techno, the M8 by far outperformed all other phones. It has the richest sounding music with the best quality without distortion. I would agree that HTC did a great job in ensuring the quality output for the phone. Otherwise, they wouldnt have included a nice pair of headphones for our listening pleasures.

Surprisingly, the iphone has the worst music quality of the three.

 

[agknight73]

The stock earphones are ok but as soon as you move the cord becomes resonant and ruins the sound.
Bought some Polaroid php8400gr on ear jobbies for a tenner and am very happy with the sound.
That said, I am now giving spotify a thrash through my ATH AD 700 and am suitably happy.
Having a play with the BoomSound thing and so far with all of the options mentioned its an improvement.
Has to be said though that the sound is bass heavy with any setting or ear/headphone.

 

[agknight73]

Should clarify. Every step taken and contact with your clothing and/or face is audible through the stock phones.
However. These Polaroid for the price are very good indeed.
The ATH rock but that isn't really any surprise and being open back and huge they aren't for the walk to work or a train journey.

 

[agknight73]

Installed PowerAmp now and the sound is quite amazing.

 

[badelhas]

I've been using the recently purchased Xiaomi Piston 2.0 IEM (great value for the money) and now the boomsound feature dosent seem as good as it did with the HTC stock IEM headphones. It kind of exaggerated the bass and the highs so I tend to leave it of now.
Anyone also uses this headphones with the HTC One_M8 and feels the same?

 

[whitelunchbag]

I've been using the recently purchased Xiaomi Piston 2.0 IEM (great value for the money) and now the boomsound feature dosent seem as good as it did with the HTC stock IEM headphones. It kind of exaggerated the bass and the highs so I tend to leave it of now.
Anyone also uses this headphones with the HTC One_M8 and feels the same?

Yes, boomsound is designed to make average monitors sound better, high quality monitors don't need it and will generally sound worse (unless you like that sound signature for some unknown reason)

My M8 posted this

 

[Nassim xmax]

i have htc one m8 earphones and panasonic tcm125 for me panasonic is better and cheap then any other headphone

 

[pootyash]

The HTC earbuds are actually pretty darn good-sounding. Yes, the cord noise is terrible, but draping the cord behind your ear pretty much takes care of it. Just bought a set of Xiaomi Piston 2s, and I think the HTC buds actually sound better.

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[badelhas]

Then you probably got fake ones because, while the HTC sound nice the Xiaomi sound way better. Where did you buy them from?

 

[pootyash]

Robert's Superstore through Amazon. They're legit - did my homework - but I'm just not blown away by them. Good, but not great. Plus, they're pretty uncomfortable, and produce a good bit of cord noise to boot.

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[MadManBro]

Good thread! I'm glad it was revived as my HTC One M8 has become my primary music source player.
On my unit, Boomsound is automatically turned off as soon as headphones or an external speaker are connected.
As far as headphones go, I use either V-Moda XS or an older pair of UE Super.fi 5 Pro earbuds - which I may never replace.
After trying at least a dozen of the android music players out there, I am most pleased with the elder statesman in the house; Poweramp. I gave the Neutron player a good long run before my frustration with the horrible, horrible UI finally outweighed the perception that it really sounded that much better.
My EQ preference is either off or flat and all my music is converted to flac. I also have several hi-res downloads that sound as good as I expect them to on a portable device.
For a phone without any external augmentation, the M8 is proving to be a powerful device for audio playback. For me at least, that is much more than 50% of what I use it for. Love this!

 

[pootyash]

Madman, since you prefer a flat or no EQ, can you explain what makes Poweramp (or any other 3rd party player) any better than the stock player or Google Play Music? I've tried to maintain a policy of never paying for apps....

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[NadaAddict]

As a world touring concert sound engineer, it's pretty hard to impress me when it comes to audio. I finally plugged my Shure SE 535 in ear monitors ($500+ triple driver earphones) and listened. I have the Harmon Kardon version, so I'm really not sure how it compares to the normal M8, but I was really blown away and how great it sounded. I had to go into the HK settings and choose other earphones before the eq sounded natural. The clarity is phenomenal and I had more volume than I needed. I didn't notice any distortion, even at high levels. I could hear low bass (40-60hz) all the way up to natural high frequencies. Very impressive........

Mike Freeland? (From Highland, CA) If it is, I know you.

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[mfreeland]

Mike Freeland? (From Highland, CA) If it is, I know you.

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Ha! Originally from Seattle. Seems theres a few of us out there. Didn't know there was another sound guy with my name though...

 

[jeevanmn]

Direct volume control option in poweramp is the reason, it gives a better flatter n louder sound than either boom sound off or ON. I like to think that poweramp takes full control of the DAC with that option without any HTC software enhancements coming in between. Htc one e8 + poweramp = best sound I've ever heard on a smartphone ( of course no eq preset- only flat)

 

[Freddyb123]

I've owned both the regular HTC one m8, and the Harmon kardon edition HTC one m8. The HKE one m8 is awesome because it has, CLARIFI, which enhances mp3's to sound much better, you'll notice it doesn't do much for higher resolution audio such as FLAC AND AIFF FILES, because they already sound good. The HKE edition also plays higher resolution audio and has a better internal amp. I'm not sure if the regular m8 has aptx Bluetooth or not but I do know my HKE m8 does, and as long as you have a speaker that also supports aptx the audio is great !! Streaming FLAC files to my NAD VISO 1 speaker sounds fantastic, far better then it does with my iPod touch. The new HTC one A9 is only a midrange device costing 399$ but it outperforms most premium phones and has a powerful audio amp, and DAC, no other phone company out there offers this much detail towards audio !!! The A9 has twice the amp power for your headphones, it can even power higher end headphones that usually need an amp, to their full potential !! If you want good audio playback, look no further then The HTC ONE SERIES !!!

 

[Freddyb123]

The beats **** found on the HTC one m7 was crap, that's why HTC sold their shares back, and the beats was nothing more then an EQ enhancement, which it didn't even do well lol. But since then the HTC one m8, One m8 HKE and one m9 have all put a lot more effort into the audio playback !! No other phone company is going to offer the quality and sonic performance of an HTC one series !! The new HTC one A9 has the most powerful amp and the best DAC ever found in a phone !! It's the only phone out their that has a quality DAC and an amp powerful enough to push expensive audiophile headphones to their full potential !!