yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S II General] fjhuerta:
You know, it's all pretty weird. I come from an iPhone 3GS and an Xperia X10, and I find the sound simply terrific. Want noise, hiss and crackles? Get an Xperia, that's a bad audio output. The Samsung? It's pretty good, great actually. I like it just as much as my iPod 5.5G. More, because it can do a lot more.

I think all of you are putting far, FAR too much trust on the RMAA graphs. Not that they are wrong, but really - are you biased because of them? I think so.

Before you accuse me of being tone deaf, let me assure you - audio is my main hobby. I've been involved ever since I was 8 one way or the other, and I've been building tube audio equipment for 10 years, and speakers for 8. I've been mercilessly subjected to hours of pink noise and EQ. The audio output is really fine. I'm using my SGS with a set of iMetal iM-490s, and the stock earbuds, unamplified (OK), a Musical Fidelity X-Can V2, an APPJ MiniWatt amp, and a Little Dot MKIV, with everything from Etymotic ER-4s to Sennheiser HD-600's (Great!), and I've yet to be disappointed. No hiss, no pops, no strange noises at all.

If you listen to sound-deafening levels it may clip, but at lower levels it's pretty much OK, I guess. The iPod 5.5G does have a bit more power, but I really don't care. I'd rather save my hearing.

Then again, I could be going deaf and couldn't care less about audio quality anymore. Or maybe the newer models (I got mine last week) are different from the first batch. Who knows - all I do know is, don't get that scared about the audio output. It really isn't that bad.
[Galaxy S II General] NuckinFutz:
Based on my own experiences, I couldn't agree more. Interestingly I had an X10 mini and sold my Ipod nano 4g because (to me at least) the X10 mini with Poweramp sounded better and was far more tweakable.

Some great input from @Pspilot and @Supercurio, kinda proves my point that there is far more to consider than just the DAC. I bet Wolfson must love the free dedications they get around here :) Believe me, a Wolfson in a crappy circuit will sound just as bad as a 'crappy' DAC in a well designed curcuit....just for those who intend to track down phones containing Wolfson DAC's.
[Galaxy S II General] NuckinFutz:
Nice :)
[Galaxy S II General] eallan:
You are way too level headed to be posting around here.
[Galaxy S II General] arkadius41:
I bought Fiio E5 yesterday and can confirm its worth paying.
[Galaxy S II General] supercurio:
Not at all, everybody's welcome to express his opinion here.
[Galaxy S II General] solidkevin:
Will get my GS2 soon and will test with my re0's, will post what I think if anyone cares.
[Galaxy S II General] mets3214:
do you guys think that the galaxy s 2 will have good sound qualit with bose qc15 and the playerpro or ubermusic app?
[Galaxy S II General] motodude:
Can you recommend me an IEM ... Hows Brainwavz M2?
[Galaxy S II General] goebish:
@motodude : maybe this is a bit out of topic but I would recommend you the Jays Q-Jays, most comfortable IEMs I ever had and very good sound.

I love them so much that I just bought a second pair after I broke my first ones.

I use them on the S2, but I'm cheating as I'm using a iBasso D10 as amp.
[Galaxy S II General] motodude:
Thats a bit pricy one $220 ... thankx a lots for such a quick reply
[Galaxy S II General] Logi_Ca1:
I think he means that Gaff_l is too rational in a thread full of panicky people. :D
[Galaxy S II General] goebish:
$220 is the "street" price, but you can find better offer sometime.

I got my second pair for about $150 from amazon.uk a few months ago.
[Galaxy S II General] j291:
Based on discussion in this thread I too have just got a Fiio E5 headphone amp and it does indeed make a significant difference. The sound opens up nicely and playing back some flac files is now a joy to the ears. Well worth the £16! Btw I'm using it with some Klipsch S4's. I've also got a decent interconnect to bridge the amp to the phone, though the one that came with the amp is surprisingly good.

I've still had to tweak the EQ slightly as the bottom end is just too much for me out of the box. I'm using the stock Samsung player as the Power Amp UI just doesn't agree with me, it feels like a step to the late 90's when we were all probably using Winamp on our PC's!

Thanks to everyone for their input in this thread, I'm now really chuffed with the Galaxy SII's sound quality. :)
[Galaxy S II General] arkadius41:
Exactly, my Fiio E5 and Nuforce NE700X sounds with flat Poweramp quite nice. But there is still a lot of work to do with sound via BT a2dp. Maybe Supercurio could have a look on this ? ;)
[Galaxy S II General] NuckinFutz:
M2 would be ideal i would say, they are step above my proalphas. Have a look at jokers thread at headfi i posted earlier.
[Galaxy S II General] motodude:
Thanks for the reply Nuckin I am buying it ... yeah finally ....
[Galaxy S II General] NuckinFutz:
Let me know what you think of them
[Galaxy S II General] Croak:
You used "Bose" and "good sound quality" in the same sentence. I find that amusing. :)
[Galaxy S II General] skibadee:
Damn you people with your E5's you've just talked me into ordering one :P

E11 looked nice too but 40 quids a bit much out of my beer funds :)
[Galaxy S II General] darkalchemist:
Loving how E5 sales have increased with the release of the SGS2 :P
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
Against my firm belief, I will order one too :D. Seriously, since the SGS2 doesn't sound very convincing on a good line-in, why should any ext. headphone amp improve it? Ok, probably it'll be louder, but that's not my main complaint.

P.S.: Why not the E3? It seems to be the only 'bearable' device due to its size. For me any extra box is destroying the all-in-one concept of a smartphone. Apart from the rechargeable, is the amplifier itself in the E5 different (better?) from the E3?

BTW, posts like the ones from fjhuerta or Gaff_l make me nearly believe, that there are different versions of the SGS2, soundwise I mean ... very strange. Especially the comparison to the iPhone 3GS. I had that before the SGS2 and actually never thought of it as a 'great' MP3 player. But I had no complaints either, I considered it as 'normally good'. But compared to the SGS2, really 1:1 I mean, same songs, same headphones, the 3GS is like neonlight against the gaslamp SGS2! Seriously, all the magic in the music, the 'snappyness', the pling, whatever you call it - it's gone on the SGS2. Mark Knopfler wouldn't be as famous, if everyone had heard him only on my SGS2. And I swear, I would LOVE it to be different, I just love the SGS2 in every other aspect. I'm through with Apple and Mr. Jobs dictatorship :D.

Nevertheless, I personally also welcome every post and opinion. It's the variety that makes the whole picture ... IMHO.
[Galaxy S II General] KaliKot:
The E3 doesnt have volume control and doesnt have a built in battery for recharging, You'd be best with the E5 or E11 which is what I would suggest.

Better yet an E7 which would act as a DAC once they get the transport function working on the SGS2.

And the SGS2 is definitely a better player than a 3GS if you use Poweramp + Software enhancements like Volume+, Equalizer or DSP Manager
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
I understand, but for me size matters the most and the rechargeables can also be a burden. I've heard the E3 runs 20+ hrs on a single battery, that would be fine with me. One tiny spare and you're safe, chargers are a pain too, especially on travels. Volume control is enough on the device, no? I'm purely interested in the quality of the amplifying. But hey, I ordered an E3 already ... couldn't resist :).

Looked at it, interesting device and has alot of good reputation - but far too big for my taste. Honestly, for that size (and prize) you'd get a good MP3 Player in the first place. If the SGS2 would ever support the USB, I'd think it over :D.

Not on my end, seriously, the 3GS is FAR better, I wish you could listen for yourself. Louder (much louder, I never use it on 100%), clearer, more definition and 'air'. I can't say anything different, I wish I could (getting rid of the 3GS). And Poweramp is nice, but can't compensate all. The rest I feel is anyway not necessary, since Poweramp does it all (ok, DSP manager installed).
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
Woohoo - it must be christmas. Just today someone posted the complete service manual of the SGS2 and it's a good one! Over 100 pages with even level 3 service instructions - down to chip and part level, basically schematics of the phone :).

Grab it, as long as it's up: 56542824-Samsung-GT-i9100-service-manual.pdf

P.S.: Ignore the post if it's already known.
[Galaxy S II General] soraxd:
supercirio told me the s2 has 6db of hardware audio still untapped, which can be unlocked if someone wants to play with the settings and make us a simple audioboost app. apps like volume+ in the market use software tricks, I'm talking about pure hardware amperage!
[Galaxy S II General] rocketpaul:
+! just a little volume boost would be nice
[Galaxy S II General] Techvir:
that is all what i am looking for :)
[Galaxy S II General] KaliKot:
Well once you get into audiophilia, you'll be able to justify the size, I didnt want lugging an amp at first as well :P

I've owned an iPod Touch 3g before which sounds the same as a 3GS. When I upgraded to an IPT4 the sound improvement was quite astounding, same with when I got an iPhone4 vs an SGS1 without Voodoo (it wasnt done yet when I had the SGS1).

I dont use the SGS2 primarily as a music player as im pretty much covered with my Cowon for music purposes, it's no slouch as a DAP using my current setup with poweramp and volume + with virtual room effect, although its quite hacky and volume+ crashes from time to time.

If you enjoy your 3gs sq better then by all means go for it ;) a huge part about audio enjoyment is YMMV. I would suggest getting a dedicated DAP than forcing yourself to all those amps, I know it may seem inconvenient, but it's really worth it if you're dedicated to your music.

Its actually more convenient when you think of it ;)
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
Hey, I'm already more than tempted :). But I do set priorities, if I (unfortunately) have to. And when I'm 'on the road', size, weight & handling matters more. The 'audiophilia sense' gets nourished at home then.

Regarding the 3GS: I have an early iPod Touch and I heard the 3G - both are worse than the SGS2. Apple obviously improved the 3GS alot already. And no, I will not keep it as a pure player. Actually, the iPod thing with that iTunes dictaturship was one of the main reasons, to switch to Android. I just wanted the easy 'transfer-as-you-like' handling back I was used from all my MP3 gear before. No, Apple is history in my household :).

As I said, I'd strongly dispute that!

@all: +6db would definitely be something if it could happen in hardware - heck that's double the volume! BTW, I updated to a new FW/Kernel and I seem to have even less volume. So something is also messed up there :confused:.
[Galaxy S II General] KaliKot:
yeah I think the +6db will help alot as well, one day someone will get to that :)

also, I think this page might help you http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html

I've experienced it firsthand and im not one to argue, once again audio is mostly YMMV
[Galaxy S II General] Jeremy:
Was a 3GS user who paired it with a GoVibe Derringer and Monster Turbine Pro Copper on line out.

Yes yes, I understand the Monster stigma. However, just go check out the reviews on their Turbine Pro Copper IEMs. They're 90% positive, and they're good.

Like many of you, I was initially distraught when I heard the news of the SGS2 being able to produce the same magic as its predecessor. With the lack of a line out jack, I found it pointless to use an amp. Honestly, I still do, but I'm glad that those who have purchased their E5 have noticed an increase in quality.

The first few ROMs had a queer problem of simply not producing enough volume. However, with the later updates, the volume issue was resolved, and with the latest update, the bass got even boomier (anyone else experienced this?).

I have to say that, despite my initial cynicism, you actually CAN make the SGS2 a decent audio player. I understand that purists will scoff at this, but if you know how to play with your EQ (poweramp + equalizer), you can make it sound the way you want it to.

I am now using SGS2 + Turbine Pro Copper (ampless) + Poweramp + Equalizer, and the audio quality is really good, I would even go to say on par with my 3GS (unamped).

Don't let all these negative posts get to you. Always remember that one man's meat is another man's poison.
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
Absolutely, no arguing :). The link is nice, thanks, but IMHO much too 'Wolfson' biased and his favourites are outdated. The iPhone4 again has no Wolfson, but is widely accepted as a good player (no 1. hand experience). On the other hand, as mentioned, my first iPod Touch (A1213) sounds terrible (exaggerated). As you said, YMMV :).
[Galaxy S II General] Mafiatounes:
What earbuds do you recommend for sgs2? i have bought the creative 630 but dont like the quality that much..
[Galaxy S II General] KaliKot:
The Coppers are universally aclaimed bro ;) its probably the best out of the Monster audio products. The Beats are pretty much awful, but the Turbines line is a winner.

I got a pair of Coppers myself when they had the sale going on. The build quality isnt the best and they LOVE power, and I dont think the SGS2 can provide that, the SGS2 sounds pretty good with a UM3x though.

Well you need to state your budget first, i think it would be better to ask over head-fi, but be wary of the prejudice there :P I think you can send me a PM of your preferences and your budget and I'll try and sort you out
[Galaxy S II General] on2a:
Two points to consider when selecting an earphone for this phone.

1. Your sound preferences (bass heavy, mid focussed etc)

2. Earphone efficiency. You want something that'll be relatively easy to drive do you get the most out of the player.

Point one is something you should always consider, point two may pose more of a challenge here so head fi may be the best place to ask it.

Imo the most efficient earphones I used were the ones made by Westone (W3) and Sennheisser (IE6, IE7, IE8). They all sound different do again you'll need to check out more reviews to make sure you get what you want..

Swyped from my GS2
[Galaxy S II General] NuckinFutz:
I can say without any doubt that the ep630 u own are frankly pants! I had a pair for 2 years and you kind of get used to the sound but trust me the bass is muddy and the highs harsh. As mentioned head over to headfi, for cheaper models i suggest looking at brainwavz, electronics and xears.
[Galaxy S II General] supercurio:
Yes the headphone amp has a +1.5, +3 and +6dB boost switch in hardware.

Also, it comes with distortion and higher hiss.

Personally I don't think its worth it as it doesn't help with quality in any way (the opposite actually).

Why I'm basically not interested in it. I never listen music with the Galaxy S II.

Do you guys think it would be useful to you?
[Galaxy S II General] supercurio:
Nice :)

Sorry I don't have the MC-1N2 datahseet, each observations I made was from analyzing the GPL Kernel driver sources, poking registers and measurements.

Yamaha are beginners when it comes to mobile & low power audio for phones, BTW I heard the codec here eats a lot of power when driver headphones.

I like a lot your approach of thinking about LDOs :)

If the headphone amp or at least the few related analog circuits have their own LDO, in theory a customizable analog gain could be added by controlling the power outside of the codec & hp amp itself.

Really nice idea!

Lol.

You speak about the CPU, but the screen is even a worst offender when it comes to power consumption :D

Displaying white, 100% brightness: I'm not so sure the intake is sufficient.

I remember when messing with previous hacks on Super AMOLED, battery discharging fast despite the AC adapter plugged in :D

Charge pump, where?

I assumed previously that the codec was receiving 44100Hz * 256fs clock as input from the SoC PLL, but the service manual you linked (thanks!) show the codec takes a 24MHz clock as input.

When designing and testing their codec, manufacturers use a very stable crystal that generate a perfect 24MHz clock, and a digital or analog PLL converts it to the desired frequency, like 11289600 Hz for 256fs in HiFi mode, or less for voice.

Now when the chip is implemented in the actual phone, the 24MHz clock is generated by a PLL, that outputs a lot of other clocks and is optimized for low power.

Here things can go wrong, because often this clock output suffers from all kind of jitter.

If the PLL in the codec is very resilient to jitter in the source, it will manage to re-clock the Audio InterFace (AIF) and drive the DAC with less jitter or even jitter-free (almost).

If not, you experience strange distortions in the output, like in Galaxy S II.

Note: it's an hypothesis I formulate here, not a fact, artifacts & distortions could be as well caused by a buggy ASRC implementation or something else I don't know.

Hehe yes.

Though reducing the power might be useful to reduce hiss and, most critically reduce CPU & GSM noise levels when listening with sensitive headphones.

All the flaws I measured was the same at headphone level impedance (like 16-300 ohms) and line-out (several kohms)

I ordered a USB host cable so I'll tell you about the USB audio out support then ;)

I must admit I'd like a lot to work on a great dedicated portable USB DAC, very small and low power, with at least all the features I put in Voodoo Sound (like analog amp control to begin with)

This kind of hardware doesn't exist yet to my knowledge. Actually I would be even more excited working on that than my own project (which is very rare:) and I firmly believe it could be a commercial hit.

@pspilot please send me a mail via XDA so I can contact you directly ;)
[Galaxy S II General] Techvir:
Would be really useful for me.

I dont listen to music much in SGSII but do make a quite a few calls.

Most of the time the sound is ok, but in a noisy environment , i can bearly hear anything through the default headset.

Even the speaker is too low volume for me ( Ok when the room is very quite though )

So a volume amplifier is the only thing i am looking for. Willing to pay for that in the market too.

( Tried volume + and few others but i have not seen a difference )

Thanks
[Galaxy S II General] rocketpaul:
it would be useful to me too, especially whenwatching videos on a long train journey. Right now i can hardly here anything.
[Galaxy S II General] aegeuss:
Dear Supercurio,

Thanks for coming back to this topic; although it seems impossible to improve the sound quality I think it would be superb if we could get some extra desibels for headphones, back speaker, bluetooth and in call volume level.

I would definitely pay a few bucks for an app which does these.

Regards.
[Galaxy S II General] henriquesb:
I'm no audiophile, but setting Virtual Room Effect to +4 in Volume+ from Meltus, available on Market, made a significant difference for me.

Sent from my GT-I9100
[Galaxy S II General] NuckinFutz:
Out of curiosity i tried this, to my ears at least it only seems to boost the higher frequencies...and the bass booster part of the app did nothing for me.
[Galaxy S II General] tshoulihane:
It did absolutely nothing for me, using the stock music player as a source.
[Galaxy S II General] DestRen:
You can configure the service menu (my current setup for headphones, firmware KG1):

*#*#197328640#*#*
[5]AUDIO
[3]WB
[2]HEADSET
[1]Volume
[1]SRC Speech RX Volume
[0] 0_lvl : 70
[1] 1_lvl : 90
[2] 2_lvl : 110
[3] 3_lvl : 130
[4] 4_lvl : 150
[5] 5_lvl : 170
[3]SRC I2S1 RX Volume: 250
[9]Diamond Solution
[3]Voice Booster
[1]VB OnOff : ON
[2]hpf_cutoff : 5
[3]harmonic_level : 32123
[4]boostgain : 9
[5]limit_level : 15

Probably, there is a risk when you change these settings, so I do not take responsibility.

After restarting the phone all the settings are lost.
[Galaxy S II General] thespeed:
I was also dissapointed about the sound off the Galaxy S2.

For my phone i use the Sennheiser IE8 in ears.

The sound changed allot when i started using DSP manager.

If i use the equalizer at Poweramp it looks like it was overdriving the sound.

Now with the accoustic preset and equalizer turned on at the DSP manager i get a real acceptable sound.

I turned the equalizer and treble/ bass settings at Poweramp off.

I think it's much software related.

Also i don't have the problems of low output on my in-ears.

I will be deaf if i put it for along time at highest volume (alot bass and treble)

My ie8's are 16 Ohm, 125dB

Maybe there is a problem with the different resistance of many headphones?
[Galaxy S II General] DestRen:
It is unlikely.

I used a 100-ohm headphones (Sennheiser HD515). Settings (service menu) posted above can get a decent sound on these headphones. SGS2 headset also has to play better.

Equalizers and change the frequency it is better not to use...
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
Is there an explanation for all these values? I mean a link or thread?
[Galaxy S II General] DestRen:
Unfortunately not, all obtained by experiment
[Galaxy S II General] pspilot:
D'oh - only the names of some parameters sound like directly derived from the Enterprise board computer :eek:. Maybe it would be an idea for a new thread: building a list of parameters and their meanings in the service menu. But I personally want to stay first with that hardware problem I see. I need a second SGS2 :D ...
[Galaxy S II General] skibadee:
Got my e5 now and wow what a difference! I know I'd rather not need to carry an amp but I'm afraid to say even my sgs (1) with voodoo sound didn't sound this good (sorry supercurio i mean no offence).

I'm using poweramp, flat, with bass boost on on the e5. Its so punchy and clear. Best 15 quid I've spent, my hardcore sounds sooo good now :P
[Galaxy S II General] B3311:
Supercurio's expertise I'm familiar with and respect deeply, and pspilot - you get the same;) - a great addition to all things audio here. God you guys have got me googling in a mostly vain attempt at total comprehension...

If you 2 can work together, is there a small chance that miracles can happen and the objective stuff can be improved?

I'd gladly settle for an extra 3 of those 6 dB you say are hiding in the SGS2...
[Galaxy S II General] arkadius41:
What about bt streaming ? I,ve bought Fiio E5 as well and its sounds amazing with SGSII and Poweramp onboard, but now i feel totally wired :D Not so far ago with Jabra BT3030 paired with HD2 (CM7) i was very satisfied, but now it is defeat.
[Galaxy S II General] DestRen:
People, for whom I wrote all this? Anyone tried these settings?

Now these settings, the sound even louder:

*#*#197328640#*#*
[5]AUDIO
[3]WB
[2]HEADSET
[1]Volume
[1]SRC Speech RX Volume
[0] 0_lvl : 165
[1] 1_lvl : 170
[2] 2_lvl : 175
[3] 3_lvl : 180
[4] 4_lvl : 185
[5] 5_lvl : 190
[3]SRC I2S1 RX Volume: 250
[9]Diamond Solution
[3]Voice Booster
[1]VB OnOff : ON
[2]hpf_cutoff : 5
[3]harmonic_level : 32123
[4]boostgain : 9
[5]limit_level : 15

I do not know the limits, but there is no distortion.

PS My ears barely tolerate this volume, sound cool ;)
[Galaxy S II General] blueseeker:
Hell, yeah!! This is more like it! :D

Now at least I hear some bass ...

L.E.: Actually, now is too louder ! :p
[Galaxy S II General] nraudigy2:
Good but voice is too low for me now.
[Galaxy S II General] Dr Tone:
Just spotted the Neutron Music Player on the market. It's pretty buggy right now and has a terrible interface, but it looks like they are shooting specifically for the audiophiles.

There is a trial. But I suggest you don't even try it unless you you are a sound quality anal freak.

:)
[Galaxy S II General] erahk64:
Thanks, didn't know that.

I thought the Wolfson DAC in SGS1 could play back at 24 bit 96 kHz when I read specs for it and Voodoo sound used it, maybe it was the wrong spec.

Do you know yet if SGS2 can play back with higher bit rate/sampling frequency

than SGS1 ?