yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[HTC One X] nikzDHD:
Most people just want to carry one device, I've also got a rockboxed Sansa Clip its small enough to take anywhere and sound quality is very good. Again to OP Sansa Clip is the cheapest way of getting some good sound but good sound is only good if you pair it up with a good set of headphones to take advantage of it.

If only Supercurio lived in the UK I would of let him borrow my phone his analysis is very good.
[HTC One X] darrenjdoc:
I have a Sansa clip+ lying in a box that i haven't used in a long time and just rockboxed it. Teamed with my Shure E535's and a few flac albums this little guy sounds heads and shoulders above my SGS2. Actually shocked how such a small player can sound so good. Going to get a portable amp and this will save me a few quids. Many thanks for the replies :)
[HTC One X] Daemos:
nice! Yeah a rockboxed clip+ is definately the way to go for small awesome sound. They are also basically impossible to beat at the price you can get a clip+ and fuze for :)

if you want my help, let me know how much you want to spend on an amp and i'll point you in the right direction :)

But basically in terms of portable (and affordable amps) ibasso, jds labs and fiio (if you get their higher end stuff)

Good luck with your search, hopefully you can find a good amp that pairs well with the 535's
[HTC One X] OysterCatcheRR:
Wow, I have never heard of Rockbox before. Is it worth installing it onto an old 2nd gen ipod nano I have? Will it improve the sound quality?
[HTC One X] nikzDHD:
If you can then yes it offers a number of improvements and tweaks, especially the equalizer. It won't magically improve the DAC but will allow you greater control and the tweaks are useful.
[HTC One X] zhamos_kh:
I received my one X yesterday and right now i'm testing the headphone out with a pair of westone W4 (high-end IEM): i can already say that it's not noise-free at half of the volume slider which is loud enough indoor. The noise is very low but i can sense it. I have to pause then unplug to bring it to light.

About audio quality, forget about it, it's low. It may be enough for the shipped headphone and poorly mixed or encoded tracks. My Desire HD has a better quality.

Tested without any audio effect with flac tracks from my NAS with a lossless transcoder.
[HTC One X] elfary:
Phew!. Thanks God you stepped in to test the HOX with a pair of high-end balanced armature iems. It's obvious from your findings that this device can not be deemed as audiophile like the iPhone. Somehow i was ready for this thus i'm getting a 64Gb iPhone this afternoon since music is my first interest.

If you pick up noise with a Westone 4 i can't not imagine what i'd pick with my Westone UM3x. It seems that even the Note might sound better than the HTC One X (Sidenote for people that want a big screen smartphone and use high end iems since i tried the Note headphone out which i found good but not great).

Note: Audiophile handset in my book means...

1. Output Impedance < 2 Ohms

2. Total Harmonic Distorsion (driving a 16Ohm load) < 0.02%

3. Intermodulation Distorsion(driving a 16Ohm load) < 0.02%

4. Stereo Crosstalk (driving a 16Ohm load) < -60dB

The famous Clip accomplishes the first condition but fails at the other three. It's good but not great. Certainly not the end-all be-all that iPhone happens to be in the headphone out sound quality area.
[HTC One X] r0cafella:
Which Genre/Genre's we're you listening to?
[HTC One X] Quaith:
I can confirm this with my pair of Shure SE530. During music you can hear the noise when you're paying attention to it, but when you don't have anything playing you can't ignore it, very noticable.
[HTC One X] elfary:
Thanks Quaith!. I was wondering how the HOX out would fare with the sensitive SE530's.

From my experience with a few smartphones driving high end iems (Shure SE535, Shure SE420 and Westone UM3x) every device exhibits static noise that you pick up easily when the music stops (For the few seconds that takes to the amp to shut down. The same when you pause the playback). The problem is that the noise is there on soft passages of the musuc

The only smartphones that are pitch black are the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. I guess the shielding or the codec chip is just better.

But that's the way it is for sure. And that's what keeps me away from going for bigger screen smartphone.
[HTC One X] zhamos_kh:
I was listening to rock/altenative like RHCP, RATM, Muse.
[HTC One X] r0cafella:
Thanks for that :)

Wonder how it will sound with HipHop
[HTC One X] darrenjdoc:
Glad i waited for these replies. Think i will just wait until the GS3 is announced to decide my next handset.

I was thinking of getting a Fiio E17. I could use it with a mp3 player/ future phone and also my laptop. Have you had any experience of it m8 ?
[HTC One X] d33f:
This doesn't sound good :( but in which way was the sound quality low (except the noise)?
[HTC One X] Daemos:
I have experience with fiio gear, and based on my experience they are among the best for the bang for the buck.

I've read several reviews from reviewers I trust, and basically the E17 is currently the best portable amp/dac for the price. Apparently it's a little bright, but I think the parabolic EQ in rockbox or on the amp should help settle that.

here is the review thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/587912/fiio-e17-alpen-first-impression-final-thought

Cheers

---------- Post added at 05:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 PM ----------

For sure! it gives it more options, the 2nd gen ipod nanos are still considered to be good sounding today, and rockbox only helps bring out it's potential!
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
I have an E17, awesome device.

Hanging out for an Android device that can use it (I presently have an Archos Gen 9 Turbo shipping to which does work with it, but really would like to have this functionality in a phone!).
[HTC One X] zhamos_kh:
The soundstage is narrowed, dynamics are low, bass are shy, vocals are recessed, guitars and high seem compressed.
[HTC One X] d33f:
Hmm a bummer :( does sound a little like my HD2 with ICS without EQ.. even flac sounds compressed on it. I know EQ can enhance some what, but it's artificial :( not the way the sound is supposed to be
[HTC One X] elfary:
It seems that this device falls too far from iPhones headphone out wise. It even looks worse than the Galaxy Note which at least was an OK in my book.

Argghhhhh i wish Apple competition could roll out high quality headphone outs. Till then i'm stuck with the iPhone. Music/sound is always first for me but i'm afraid that not too much people out there spend as much on their earphones as in the phone itself so i'm in the niche market.
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
seems like sound quality is not good enough to satisfy audiophiles. this is such a shame because this phone has everything i need except clean audio output. why do most of these phone makers ignore this aspect? similar scenario happened when gs2 was launched last year - all the great specs but degraded audio output
[HTC One X] Sckank:
Damn I'm selling my Samsung S2 and ordered this one. Looking forward to good audio quality. Well. I still have my Sony MW600 bluetooth ....
[HTC One X] Pointlol:
It's by no means bad for the normal user. Pretty sure only audiophiles notice anything
[HTC One X] OysterCatcheRR:
Im not an audiophile, but I DO absolutely love my music, and I think the X One sounds superb.
[HTC One X] Pointlol:
Agreed, I do think it sounds great with and without headphones
[HTC One X] Sckank:
Well I'm not really an audiophile. But I got an sennheiser HD25 plus a Fiio E11 amp, quite expensive :)

Its really really good to hear that it doesnt sound like crap after all ;)
[HTC One X] OysterCatcheRR:
Yeah I dont have an amp, but I have pretty nice headphones (AiAiAi TMA-1s) and it sounds fantastic. Even listening to quite high-note heavy stuff it sounds great
[HTC One X] Superpiper1972:
The XE is the best sounding DAP I have ever used, including all of the iPhone's, my iPod, my old Cowon and even compared to my mini3.

I have to bypass the Beats processing and use Playerpro to enable the srs stuff, but once I do that, it's truly outstanding.

The SII is noted to sound bad and hence I chose the XE over it when I made my choice.

A very nice posting from my ARHD XE
[HTC One X] Superpiper1972:
I use IE7 headphones btw.

A very nice posting from my ARHD XE
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
now thats confusing ,some people saying audio quality is good while some saying its bad. i heard that beats is just a software bass boost and if you turn it off sounds awful. i am using iphone which has the most clean audio output in any mobile device. can someone compare sound quality to iphone keeping beats off ?
[HTC One X] Superpiper1972:
The new version of beats with ICS is loads better than the GB version.

But sound is more than numbers, I have had all versions of the iPhone, and I though they were good until I used Playerpro on my XE. I stand by my assertion is the best DAP I ever have used. You do have to use a 3rd party player tho'. HTC cripple the stock player to boost the beats brand.

The iPhones sound dead in comparison

A very nice posting from my ARHD XE
[HTC One X] pham87:
onex using poweramp with bass & treble preset

using shure SE315 // audio technica ATH ES7

no beats add on

the sound is great compared to the samsung galaxy s2

(apart from the background noise ppl have mentioned in the thread, it sometimes is noticeable, particularly when you pause music).
[HTC One X] SartoriXX:
Well, I tested the audio quality using FLAC files with Sennheiser HD580 Precision (£200+ value and very highly rated) and HD535 headphones and I have to say I am pretty impressed with the audio quality.

People talking about audiophile quality from a phone? Considering that I used to have an off board DAC from Arcam which cost £500 for my HiFi seperates, and sounded spectacular to me, but even that wasn't really considered 'audiophile' as such.

Sound quality is great with a decent set of headphones, no complaints here for a portable audio device. Certainly wipes the floor with an old 5th gen iPod that I still have gathering dust on a shelf and a definite improvement over my old Desire.
[HTC One X] @home:
Finally....Someone has tested with Flac files.

I have an HOX on the way & will be using Flac...PowerAmp & Klipsch X10 & I am hoping for some music nirvana or near as damn it - gotta be better than my sgs2 boy was that a mistake purchase.

Keep the updates coming on the sound quality.

Has anyone tries the radio volume...It was always way too loud on the S2 even at minimum volume.
[HTC One X] jonstatt:
I think the sound is good but not great. I think the Xperia S is another level to be honest. It is VERY important not to listen with Beats and then go to flat EQ. It will totally mess with your head because after listening to it louder with heightened bass etc, flat will sound overly flat. I have tried it with Denon D7000 headphones. There is a slight amount of hiss, but honestly I had to tune into it. It might vary from unit to unit and may also depend on the ear/headphones used.

Nevertheless it is perfectly respectable for my primary use which is while travelling. It is not an audiophile device, but with the greatest respect, neither is the iPhone 4/4S.
[HTC One X] Aeneas:
Quick one to say it sounds pretty good without an equaliser or Beats. Good for a phone and comparable to portable audio players I've had. Better than any of the Android phones I've had too (never had an iPhone, never had an XE or Xperia S).

I don't want to say what I've used it with because it'll **** measuring, but rest assured, it's not bad at all.

I'm not going to say how much better it sounds after being equalised because that's too subjective and there are too many variables for a simple statement.

Beats enhancement really is just a kick. I think it's quite versatile as a "kick" and very convenient. It's not overly strong, such that it distorts heavily (in most cases). It also means that you can get this "kick" where otherwise you might not have bothered or might have been unable.

It's most useful with certain genres when streaming, in my opinion, especially as HQ on Android Spotify is still only 160k.

If anyone's still weighing their options, you should think about Beats enhancement as only slightly more than a gimmick, but also as assurance that audio quality in general would not be as neglected as it is on most devices.

So yes, it's a gimmick, but we all knew that already. But as a gimmick it's well-implemented and on the positive side, compared to all the trademarked enhancements we've seen over the years, like Dolby something or another, SRS..., Mega Bass, xLoud etc.
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
can you please elaborate how is it bad compared to xperia s ? is it the distortions ,sound stage ?
[HTC One X] affliction_emrah:
Guys thanks all of you!

You have "decent" equipment to test HOX properly and obviously enough experience to talk about sound quality.

I was anxious after read some posts here about upgrading from Sensation to HOX cause for me the sound quality definitely the stand point!

You made me relief:)

Superpiper1972; PM is on the way:)

Cheers
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
finally some good reviews coming from users about SQ :)
[HTC One X] Nos0x:
With headphones in on the One X there is (to me) a noticeable amount of hiss when any sound is played.
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
here is detailed review about one X SQ including RMA tests and comparison with Xperia X , Sansa clip. But unfortunately its not in English. Google translate makes mess of it. Can anyone translate it ?

http://www.swedroid.se/htc-one-x-recension/
[HTC One X] Sckank:
I can translate it. I'm Norwegian but understand my swedish brothers pretty good. The first part is only about the call quality and the loudspeaker.

Going to just forward to the audio quality part of it, sorry about the bad english, really doing my best here:

"Exactly like HTC XL are One X adjusted so it can work extra good with Beats by Dr. Dre headset. HTC have with cooperation with Beats Audio developed special sound profiles for both Beats Solo and Beats iBeats/urBeats which is going to get the best from the respective headsets.

If we connects a couple of Beats Solo we can hear it sounds best with the Solo-profile, but if it sounds so good as the headsets actually costs is another thing. We like a little heavier bass-part and with the Beats profile this gets easier to hear.

The phone also works good with headsets from other brands. We have the following sound profiles to choose from: Beats Audio, Dance, Live, Treble Boost, Warmth, Sweetener, Classical and our own favorite - ”No effects”. A more traditional equalizer are not included in the player but such are found in Google Play Store.

If we connects Sennheiser HD25-1 II we can for starters state we cannot push it so much like of reference player, Sandisk Sansa Clip+, and at the same time miss the power and dynamics our reference player delivers. The result are though not so bad if we compare it to other android devices. The sound level are a notch louder than Xperia S and One XL and also there is no background noise, but when we look at other qualities the One X didnt excel itself. As usual it's wise to take your favorite headset to the store and do a listening test there.

HTC have also included the bluetooth profile aptX that promise a better sound through A2DP but also demands a headset that supports this connection. With a couple of Sennheiser PX210BT we can hear it sounds better than with for instance Galaxy S II eller HTC XL. Less background noise, and the sound stage is clearer with less background noise and more dynamic with a better bass.

Bla bla bla sound test, it concludes with the exception of the frequencies between 50-100 hz a relative even sound curve that is very close to the referance player Sandisk Sansa Clip+.

EDIT: I just have to say, I have a Sennheiser HD25-1 II myself and its REALLY hard to make it sound good! Its at 70 ohm and I cant make it work good with any portable player. Not even cowon, even though it can push it quite far. I had to get myself a portable amp to make it sound as it should (Fiio E11 to be exact).

a

Another thing in a norwegian test, they say it got a new DAC that do indeed sound good, and it got a unusal high voltage. It's increased from 0.5V to 1V to prevent audio quality loss.
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
@Sckank Thank you :)

After reading reviews I cannot conclude much , but reading the numbers (RMA test) I can say audio quality is better than Xperia S as the distortions are less. At the same time one x has slight hiss
[HTC One X] Sckank:
In the conclusion in the test it says it's a android for those wanting good audio quality, it doesnt say that in the test of experia s. I can live with a slight hiss ....
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
Be interested to see how GSMarena's RMAA testing goes, and whether they get the same result. Are those numbers under headset load or not? If not they are pretty bad - quiet with poor stereo crosstalk, quite a bit of distortion, frequency response not terribly good either.
[HTC One X] devvfata1ity:
the music quality through aftermarket headphones are nothing great but much better than sgs2 and note.

call quality is very good, better than iphone and sgs2
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
GSM arena has reviewed One S and they have cited it has best audio output ever in mobile device (even better than Iphone) :D Just loot at their RMA result for One S - simply outstanding. I hope HTC one X has similar DAC
[HTC One X] rory88uk:
It doesn't, I believe the DAC is part of the Tegra 3 chipset.

Also when I tested the HTC One X sound quality I thought it was below par.

Bit of a shame but I use a Sansa Clip+ for music anyway so no big deal.
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
As mentioned above, it's not the same DAC. Wish HTC had used the superior Krait in the One X, rather than the Tegra 3 (my real hope is the Evo 4G LTE will have GSM radios and someone here will enable them!).
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
Then I hope its Wolfson DAC :D Tegra 2 was powered by Wolfson :)
[HTC One X] Sckank:
Tried now with fiio e11 and sennheiser 25-1 II and damn it sounds good!
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
Pretty sure it's not the Wolfson, mores the pity.
[HTC One X] nikzDHD:
Gsmarena review up guys.
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
...and the GSMarena results agree with the poor results the other site recorded. Not a good showing.
[HTC One X] 1235sam:
As per GSM Arena ,it performed poorly in RMA test

But results from swedroid and GSM Arena are contradicting :confused:

swedroid

Xperia S : IMD + Noise, %: 0.475 THD, %: 0.163

One X : IMD + Noise, %: 0.237 THD, %: 0.096

GSM Arena (headphone attached)

Xperia S : IMD + Noise, %: 0.475 THD, %: 0.163

One X : IMD + Noise, %: 0.459 THD, %: 0.174

As you can see results are quite opposite As per GSM arena Xperia S is better and as per swedroid , One X is better
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
Neither result is very good, whichever site you look at, so no good news here (if it's bad in absolute terms I don't particularly care if it's better than X or Y handset).

Different RMAA setups will result in somwhat different results, and from memory Swedroid don't state whether a heaphone load was applied or not so no way to know whether the results are a direct comparison anyway. Of the two sites I trust GSMarena more (be nice if Supercurio weighed in here, I trust him even more than GSMarena).
[HTC One X] knoxploration:
Out of curiosity, has anybody identified the DAC yet?
[HTC One X] brent8577:
this thread is still open? i feel discriminated against.
[HTC One X] knoxploration:
Well, that's silly. Your thread had been forgotten for four days when this one was started, and this one has far more replies and a title closer to the topic I was interested in. (It used the keyword 'DAC', and didn't mention Beats which is overhyped nonsense that I could care less about).

Nobody discussed the DAC at all in your thread, and it focused almost exclusively on Beats headphones. No need to get upset about people using a thread that appears more relevant.
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
Got mine yesterday.

Interesting finding that in the stock music player there is no bass and it is very quiet with Beats Off Vs On, however in a third party player without any EQs etc the difference is so tiny that I've yet to hear it. If I tweak the EQ and Pre-amp in PowerAMP however I can re-create the kind of difference in sound that Beats On and Beats Off exhibit in the stock player. All of this makes me deeply suspicious that HTC have hobbled the stock players sound quality to enhance the listeners reaction to Beats audio.
[HTC One X] BarryH_GEG:
Are you saying you're picking up noise though the headphones when they're plugged in and nothing is playing on your One X? I got my One X Friday and have a pair of Shure 530's so tried them out after seeing your post. With nothing playing they're dead silent. I can tell because when nothing's playing and I receive a notification there's some faint hiss that accompanies the notification then disappears. I'm not as big an audiophile as some of you probably are but the same music sounds both richer and brighter with better seperation than on my SGS2. And I don't use Beats for the reasons mentioned; especially through the 530's as all you hear is bass.

And I know BT is considered blasphemy to good listening but I stream in my car and to my Yamaha YSP4100 (I know, sound bars are blasphemy also) and the reproduction is head and shoulders above any other BT device I've used. I don't know if it's the DAC, BT 4.0, or apt-x, but the BT experience is pretty impressive.
[HTC One X] XeGzor:
The HOX clearly is the best in audio quality of all phones i guess, i had nokia n95, n8, htc hd2, sgs2, and now the HOX. non of the phones listed goes as loud as the hox does, and the sound quality in combination with sennheiser HD218 and beats audio, its just the best i've ever experienced on a phone or any other portable device.
[HTC One X] :
So, can someone just tell me - What is considered bad, what is considered average, and what is considered good?

Shame high quality equipment can't make crappy music sound better, like The Vengaboys... And to be honest, it's a bad day when I have to sit and ignore all the music just to concentrate to hear if there is any noise being produced. I could never enjoy music if I spent my life doing that.

If Vangelis doesn't care, then I don't. His music still touches me no matter how crappy the equipment it is being played on is. It's really all about the music and not the equipment. All I know is, don't buy cheap crap or else it will break or be underwhelming.

I just realised I have never got over my near 30 year old amp breaking. Was like losing a child when it died (I spilt juice inside it). Everything sounded perfect on that, with the speakers and everything. Man I miss it all. I'm not 30 btw, it was given to me. Think it cost £700 for the amp alone. The entire set up cost over £2000 in total. Why am I mumbling on here :S I'll shut up... Haha.

Sent from my HTC One X
[HTC One X] knights.JayTana:
i have own/owned every phone you've mentioned above and not to brag i still have the Note, Sensation, N8, iP4s with me now; though music quality is more of subjective matter but i tell you; with or without beats enhancemnt; HOX sound quality is far inferior to N8 and iP4s...
[HTC One X] NZtechfreak:
Agreed, it's a long way off a good many phones.
[HTC One X] knights.JayTana:
Nice to see you here NZ... in HTC's world, i have a good feeling about HOX in terms of SQ and yes with "beats" on... as i said before, RMAA doesnt always equates to real life performance... i can remmber that old walkman w810 got a very good RMAA marks than N91, but in real life; its completely opposite...