Nook HD+ terrible sound quality?

[barth2]

Just got a nook hd+ through eBay. This is a problem I was not at all expecting: it has terrible sound quality. I'm not talking about the built in speaker, which sounds like what most tablet speakers do, but the sound output to my headphone. It sounds terrible. Muffled at low end and distorted at high end. I had to check with my ipad and PC to make sure headphone wasn't broken (it is not).

I tried various sources, streaming, local, medium and high bit rate mp3. They all sound bad.

Do I just have a bad unit?

Also, streaming netflix for around 1hr I went from 100% to 75% battery. Brightness at 30% Is this normal?

The nook is used but in excellent cosmetic condition (looks just like new)

 

[Kelly Burby]

Just got a nook hd+ through eBay. This is a problem I was not at all expecting: it has terrible sound quality. I'm not talking about the built in speaker, which sounds like what most tablet speakers do, but the sound output to my headphone. It sounds terrible. Muffled at low end and distorted at high end. I had to check with my ipad and PC to make sure headphone wasn't broken (it is not).

I tried various sources, streaming, local, medium and high bit rate mp3. They all sound bad.

Do I just have a bad unit?

Also, streaming netflix for around 1hr I went from 100% to 75% battery. Brightness at 30% Is this normal?

The nook is used but in excellent cosmetic condition (looks just like new)

I don't think its abnormal behavior as you are streaming from Netflix for about 1hr means your video player is also running !! this means brightness has also been gone up because video players automatically increase the brightness and as i think you will be on 3G network, so your battery has drained way more faster in fact i would say it hasn't drained that mush your devices is completely fine and showing great battery performance !! No need to worry about it.....
and as far as the sound quality it concerned i think something is going terrible with the volume i would suggest visit the nearest support center !

 

[B. Diddy]

I don't have a Nook, but that sure sounds abnormal. I'd make sure the headphone jack doesn't have any junk in it--take a damp toothpick and root around, or use a can of compressed air to blow it out.

How about Bluetooth sound? If the sound is fine that way, then I would focus even more on the jack.

Can you contact the seller about this? It's always possible this is one of the reasons the seller wanted to unload it. If you can't get the sound to improve, I'd ask the seller for a refund (it'll be important to see what the conditions of the sale were--could you return it within a week, or was the sale final).

 

[D-Caf]

I've listened to some movies and a little music via headphones on my Nook HD+ and the sound was fine, no issues what so ever, clear and strong. Sounds like something specific with yours, have it checked out.

And streaming for one hour as 30% brightness drains 25% of the battery? Doesn't seem to bad given your streaming over wifi. If it was a local file being played I would expect closer to 10-15% loss. Your supposed to get close to 9.5 hours video playing, if it's local stored files you are playing.

 

[barth2]

I flashed CM11 and the sound problem is gone. The speaker still sucks, but hey...

Battery is still lousy though. I spend more time charging than using. Bought it used on eBay so I guess it's a crapshoot.

 

[D-Caf]

Interesting solution for the sound, makes me think that something got seriously messed up with the install of the B&N rom. Would be curious to see if flashing back to the stock ROM would the sound continue to work fine as it appears not to be a hardware problem.

As for the battery, yeah, may be that it got abused a little in a previous life. You could try doing a deep drain then full charge cycle to see if that helps reset the charger monitor and charger to the correct limits of the battery. But again, if it was used and abused previously there may be little you can do.