yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] willybilly:
Agreed. S2 sounds better after applying the tweaks.

S3 as it is already sounds sweet.

On S3 I'm using Sennheiser CX870 with Poweramp and I'm very satisfied.

I'm am eagerly waiting for Voodoo Sound and hope it'll be available soon.
[Galaxy S III General] Kendoji:
Very interesting tweet from Supercurio just now:

Yup #GalaxySIII and #GalaxyTab 2 7.0 DAC both give lower distortions levels than FIIO E17 USB DAC. Measurements just confirmed perception.
[Galaxy S III General] blashrrt:
I don't know how accurate this site is but according to it, it looks like some of the LTE Galaxy S III versions will come with Wolfson WM1811

http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=3533&view=1&c=verizon_samsung_sch-i535_galaxy_s3
[Galaxy S III General] nativestranger:
I have both phones why would I bash my shiny new S3 without a reason? With all the hype about the Wolfson DAC I expected it to be better than the nexus one with an unknown chip (audience). Apparently there's far more to a device sound quality than just the DAC type. The nexus one sounded clean, airy and detailed while the S3 sounded dead and closed in with muddy bass response. I tested with both my AKG monitors and Moonrock earbuds.
[Galaxy S III General] @home:
Not looking too good for the S3.

Iv'e one on the way & was hoping for some good quality sound.

I'll be running Flac files through some klipsch X10's - I thought the Nexus was OK but not a patch on my Atrix - That's the best i've heard on mobile phone.

Looks like the S3 is going to be a let down :(
[Galaxy S III General] dannyc93:
I was actually impressed with the stock sound tbh and it can only get better with Voodoo!

Sound is subjective and what one person hates another may love!
[Galaxy S III General] on2a:
Agreed, stock S3 sounds much better to my ears than stock S2. There's less interference and the sound is warmer and punchier! Voodoo will hopefully make this even better...

Those of you saying the sound is worse, what is it you're finding worse?
[Galaxy S III General] deaffob:
Can you give us some info on your setup? It'd be better for us to know the model numbers of your amp and cans to help you solve the problem.

Also how did you extract your music sources? What bit rate and what file type did you extract them as, from your CD or else?
[Galaxy S III General] kurama.k:
good s3 sound quality

To be honest i found the sound quality to be quite good on the s3 after changing the equalizer for each song type, you can hear each instrument and is loud enough, no as loud as my tab 7.7 though hehe, but that has two speakers :). When i plugged my klipsch s4 earphones in the s3 however, the sound was miles better than on the tab 7.7, it was loud and i could hear instruments and sounds i could not hear on the tab 7.7 or even my laptop hehe :p hope i was helpful, i learnt alot from everyones posts, thanx guys :D

also the galaxy nexus had a horrible horrible speaker, i used to miss so many calls because the volume was too low.
[Galaxy S III General] dreamdestiny:
Right I have tested the sound quality against the iPhone 4s and the htc one s ( both phones have impressively clean outputs, I'm using shure se535 headphones. The galaxy s 3 has some very clean sound but is not as clear as the 4s and the one s, there is noticeable crosstalk which gsm arena detected. But apart from that very clean. 4s and one s edge it in overall quality. ( one s was tested with beats audio off for a clean output ). I think it may be possible to sort out its little problem with software
[Galaxy S III General] NZtechfreak:
Can't speak to the One S, but when I did A/B testing the 4S had more than a slight advantage over the S3.
[Galaxy S III General] pruhster:
Being an audio professional and upgrading from a Nokia 5800 I can't say I'm impressed with this phone's sound. Driving my 250 ohm Beyerdynamic dt770s which is what I typically work with, the GS3 did worse than the old Nokia in terms of both loudness and clarity when listening to some flac tunes. And the builtin speaker is horrible. When you get to usable loudness levels there's a lot of distortion. The stock earplugs simply won't stay in my ears. Even the front speaker sounds worse. Sure it's a phone, you can't expect pro quality, but I was hoping it would at least match my old phone. Hopefully that voodoo thing you're talking about can help. My phone is already rooted and waiting. Btw I have professional gear (better than what gsmarena use) I can do some tests with if anybody wants.
[Galaxy S III General] @home:
Had the S3 for a couple of days now & have also got the HOX.

So it's time to test them head to head...

I tried both stock music players with a pair of klipsch X10 & a Flac file.

I tried them on flat or normal & with their various graphic settings & to be honest..there both pants.

So I tried same Flac tracks & earphones but with Poweramp this time both on the same equaliser setting.....

HOX - Sounded great, if a little flat & lifeless.

SGS3 - Much more depth & lots more of everything & a livelier sound

But I have to say it's NOT night & day.

The SGS3 is better but not by much. If you didn't have the HOX to compare, then your not missing anything.

Maybe if we get the so called Voodoo things maybe even better - I have never heard this Voodoo though.

Ta
[Galaxy S III General] Aphova:
I don't understand what everyone is on about. The S3 sounds good to me. Not as good as my S1 with voodoo but I'm sure it will when supercurio finishes his work.
[Galaxy S III General] deaffob:
You should know that you shouldn't be using dt770s without a proper amp. Without an amp, that headphones wouldn't be doing anywhere near it's capability.

What audio profession do you have? I'm wondering this because if you were working closely with instruments, you'd know this obviously.
[Galaxy S III General] radeonxt:
thanks for that sir.

i'd choose depth and lots more of everything and a livelier sound over a little flat and lifeless sound.

:D

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 AM ----------

well there you go.

you just exposed a false prophet i mean a false professional.

:D

thank you.
[Galaxy S III General] hefonthefjords:
Haha yeah what a dummy.

I use a set of dt770m (same as dt770 but with 35dBA of acoustic isolation for FOH mixing) with my own custom built portable dual rail power supply amp running at +/-18v. Havent had the chance to test gs3 on it yet but im sure it will be adequate at least, given good quality files.

More looking forward to testing it with the 10kW nexo PS15/RS18 rig at work as generally an £18k speaker system will give you a much better idea of how good a device sounds than a £150 set of cans and a hand built headphone amp will.

Actual audio professional.
[Galaxy S III General] pruhster:
Yes I am perfectly aware that consumer portable devices aren't designed to drive high impedance headphones. I don't normally use them with my phone but always have them at hand and am very used to critical listening with them. I was just curious how the phone would perform with them, as I have tried them with quite a few devices and they often reveal their weaknesses.

When I have more time I'll hook the phone to my RME sound card to run more objective tests.

And I'm a sound engineer.
[Galaxy S III General] drbveb88:
Doesn't the galaxy

S3 come with headphones in the box?

Are they any good.?
[Galaxy S III General] hefonthefjords:
Very very very unlikely they will be good.

They will probably work and thats about it.
[Galaxy S III General] celsior360:
does one S use beat audio sound chip or just software, everyone reckons the Wolfson chip is top tier and no other can be match, is that u true? And what headset go along well with S3?
[Galaxy S III General] Kendoji:
Beats is just an equalizer setting, not an audio chip.
[Galaxy S III General] neyenlives:
This, it's EQ preset that presents the user with overpowering bass, its a gimmick at best and really has nothing to do with sound quality unless the bass line of a song determines quality.
[Galaxy S III General] Meltus:
"Good" is rather subjective when talking about headphones that come free with a phone. I mean, they're definitely not going to compare to top of the range Sennheiser's or something, but for listening to music on the bus they may well be very good.

The headphones that came with the HTC One X were surprisingly good (once you disabled 'Beats' :rolleyes:) so it would be interesting to see how the SIII ones compare :)
[Galaxy S III General] pruhster:
The earbuds that come in the box are Samsung EHS64AVFWE - I believe this is the same as the ones that come with the Galaxy Note. You can buy them new for € 6,00 so obviously you can't expect much.
[Galaxy S III General] omersak:
Fixed.
[Galaxy S III General] studiominal:
From my experience with voodoo sound on SGS1, I know that the stock setting that comes with the phone might never be loud enough to some people. (not for me though) The output power is unleashed as you control 'headphone amplifier' in voodoo sound app. Here's what I've measured with it.

I suppose, as I saw the early measurements of SGS3 from supercurio, driving headphones/earphones with 32 ohms or more would never be of that problem since the output quality was simply clean. For those with less than 32 ohms, however, what matters here is the output impedance(Zo). As I'm gonna measure it tomorrow as soon as I receive my SGS3, I might be able to answer what pairing the SGS3 with low-impedance earphones should be like.

I know some people who've been accustomed to their rigs and settings and sometimes tend not to accept the difference they hear, and I also see hearing is so subjective that measured data might be nowhere near what they feel about it. However, I think being as objective as possible is often the best way to provide people with accurate information. :)
[Galaxy S III General] nativestranger:
The HTC one s and HTC one x tegra3 uses different audio chips. The one s (also the at&t one x/one xl) with the snapdragon s4 is much better.
[Galaxy S III General] kurama.k:
Thanks

@studiominal thanks alot :) I also agree that hearing is subjective :) but could you please tell me how I would know if my earphones are 32 ohms or not??
[Galaxy S III General] gbolly:
Flawless
[Galaxy S III General] gbolly:
from my earlier post, usb definitely works but rhe volume control of the phone doent control the volume of the speakers which i believe is a USB HID device
[Galaxy S III General] pruhster:
Well you can't send analog audio through the usb cable. The da conversion will always be happening in whatever you have connected to the phone.
[Galaxy S III General] gbolly:
Its the microsoft digital sound system 80 probably one of tje first usb speakers manufactured circa 1999-2000.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e....324.2840.9j5j3j2.19.0.eish.1.0.0.N-_1cNNVaPw
[Galaxy S III General] yeahchan:
Tried with gamma2, work without external power
[Galaxy S III General] danba:
Thanks!

Does Gamma2 refer to the DAC AMB Labs Gamma2?

Do you have some photos for the Android USB audio lobbying?

http://code.google.com/p/android/is...rs&colspec=ID Type Status Owner Summary Stars
[Galaxy S III General] KMino:
Curious, those whom said it sounds crap have you tried real headphones yet? The stock ones are a lot worse than those supplied with the SGS1. Probably why I jumped the gun and said it was bad...

Plugged in my German budds and it sounds much much better!

The flatness, volume levels etc, should be easily fixed with Voodoo IMHO Perfect hardware (minus the stock headphones), crap implementation by Samsung. Hope they ain't demoing the phone with there headphones, it's a sales killer!
[Galaxy S III General] yeahchan:
danba:

yes, it's AMB

and sorry no i don't have photos

The sound quality itself out-of-the-box is like S1 without voodoo, it's alright but not as good

With my Westone ES5, I heard lots of background noise.
[Galaxy S III General] elfary:
With my Westone UM3x i hear background hiss on almost any Android i've ever tried.

The only smartphones i've heard with a pitch black background are iPhone 3GS/4/4S. Unfortunately there is not much freedom of choice sound quality wise. At least if you are planning to listen thru high end iems.
[Galaxy S III General] danba:
Thanks!

It’s a first step in the right direction, but with probably improper parameter settings (default 16/48 only …)

I’m pretty sure the actual SGS3 USB audio sound quality can be dramatically improved.

1st step of USB audio on Logitech Squeezebox Touch: popping, crackling …

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.a...able-usb-audio-output-on-the-squeezebox-touch

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...or-connecting-USB-DAC-to-Touch&highlight=Udev

Current step: 24/192 asynchronous USB audio, audiophile sound quality …

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.a...ed-digital-output-applet-for-squeezebox-touch

http://www.mail-archive.com/audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com/msg60808.html

http://forums.slimdevices.com/forumdisplay.php?7-Audiophiles

http://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/touch-toolbox-30.html
[Galaxy S III General] NA 521":
Of course not- brain fart on my part. What I meant to ask was whether the decoding was happening in the phone or the speaker system. I'm guessing it was decoded, if it was compressed, in the phone.

gbolly,

What file type were you playing? Was the sound better through those speakers when listening through the 1/8" stereo jack or through the USB cable?

Thanks!
[Galaxy S III General] Kendoji:
I'm not much of an audiophile, but I've found the sound pretty decent so far on my Grado RS1I, Denon D2000 and V-Moda M80 cans. And I just got my OTG cable so tonight I'll test if my Grant Fidelity TubeDac 11 works with it. :-) It already sounded pretty good just going from headphone out to the TubeDac, actually, but that was just a very quick test.
[Galaxy S III General] studiominal:
Reporting some useful information

Zo of SGS3(GT-i9300) measured around 3.0 ohms. I also tried 100Hz as well as 1kHz and it was something like 2.6~3.0, which is pretty suitable for driving most headphones/earphones. I see the Zo of SGS3 is a bit lower than that of Galaxy Note(GT-N7000) so it should drive most of multi-BA earphones reasonably. Now I'm waiting for the voodoo sound for SGS3 to be rolled out! :)

By the way, I'm sad that iBasso D6 won't work with my SGS3. It does pair with SGS3, but the playback counter goes faster than it should. I guess it's something like '24bit only problem' because D6 seems to support only 24bit.

@kurama.k: You can get general information of your headphones/earphones at the homepage of the manufacturer like Sennheiser.
[Galaxy S III General] Kendoji:
So sadly my TubeDac 11 doesn't work via OTG. Fingers crossed that a developer can extend the DAC support to more devices.

I did spend a bit of time with my FiiO E7 / E9 combo plugged in via OTG, which as has already been reported works perfectly. Contrary to what Supercurio seemed to tweet the other day I felt an improvement in sound through the FiiO setup. I tested with a Denon D2000 and Grado SR125 and both seemed to produce a richer and more dynamic sound through the FiiO (compared to stock player with flat EQ). They're both easy cans to drive, but still seem to benefit from the amplification of the E9.

That said, I've found the headphone output quite good on all my cans so far.
[Galaxy S III General] danba:
List of USB DACs interworking with Samsung Galaxy S III for the time being:

. AMB Labs Gamma2 with USB controller TI Burr-Brown TI PCM2707

. FiiO E7 with USB controller TI Burr-Brown TI PCM2706

. Topping TP30 with USB controller TI Burr-Brown TI PCM2704

List of USB DACs non-interworking with Samsung Galaxy S III for the time being:

. FiiO E17 with USB controller Tenor TE7022

. iBasso D6 with USB controller TI TAS1020B

. Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-11 with USB controller Tenor TE7022

The USB DAC Hegel HD20 with USB controller Tenor TE7022 has also some issue with Linux-powered PC:

"I try to connect the HD20 to a computer using Linux Ubuntu. Installation seems fine but there is no sound?

On computers using the Linux Ubuntu operatating system you need to go to settings and choose which soundcard you want to use: the internal or the HD20 TE7022."

http://www.hegel.com/hd20_qa.htm

The USB DAC Audiotrak Prodigy Cube with USB controller Tenor TE7022 has also some issue with Linux-powered PC:

"PRODIGY CUBE supports Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X.

PRODIGY CUBE is not fully compatible with Linux, but it has been confirmed that the TE7022L chipset support.

The TE7022L chipset is TENOR's USB controller Chipset.

Please understand that we are not able to support your request for Linux because there are a wide variety of choices in Linux version and range."

http://www.audiotrack.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37

USB DACs with USB controller Tenor TE7022 work perfectly with some Linux setup:

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-ESI

What is going on at the Android Linux kernel level, when USB DACs with USB controller Tenor TE7022 don’t interwork with Samsung Galaxy S III?

Dmesg log output and lsusb log output could detail what is going on.

http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.alsa.devel/96433

dmesg:

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=dmesg

lsusb:

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=lsusb
[Galaxy S III General] adithyav:
I'm having the same issue with the built in speaker. Even for ringtones it distorts horribly at anything above 50-60% volume, so while it does get loud, the distortion is just too much. Anyone else having the same issue with the built in speakers (for any sounds) or is it just a few isolated handsets with poor QC?
[Galaxy S III General] NZtechfreak:
Interesting, exactly what my E17 does.

---------- Post added at 12:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 PM ----------

Add to that list the HiFiMan Express. Great buy at like $40, but will eat battery a bit since it doesn't have it's own supply (unless you connect via externally powered hub, but not the most portable rig that way). With spare or extended batteries could be doable.
[Galaxy S III General] danba:
Thanks!

The USB DAC HifiMan Express has a USB controller TI Burr-Brown PCM2702.

May be, every USB DAC with USB controller Burr-Brown PCM270X should interwork with the SGS3.
[Galaxy S III General] kurama.k:
Thanks again :)

@studiominal thanks again for you're help :)

I'm thinking of getting some new headphones, do you think the sennheiser HD 558 will deliver good sound with the galaxy s3?? Thanks :)
[Galaxy S III General] jdhommert:
Ok i've looked through a few pages of this thread..I know nothing about DAC or what it even is or means. I'm guessing its the audio chip. I read the US version won't have the Wolfson DAC which is supposed to be awesome. So will whatever the US version has still be pretty damn good?

Help a retard out. :D
[Galaxy S III General] studiominal:
I guess SGS3 will drive it with no problem. But at least I recommend you listen to Senn HD 558 before you actually buy it if you have a chance to put it on your head. Check this out if you need some technical information. http://en.goldenears.net/index.php?mid=GR_Headphones&document_srl=12270

@jdhommert As long as SGS3 variants for US will use Snapdragon S4, those will have Qualcomm's own sound codec (as long as I know). But you don't have to worry about the SQ for using S4 instead of Exynos 4 Quad. because I've seen a few devices that use the sound codec embedded in S4 and they all performed really well. Don't know how they hold themselves against Wolfson-powered phones though.
[Galaxy S III General] kurama.k:
@studiominal thanks alot and I'm sorry for asking so many questions, you've been really helpful, I appreciate it :)

Unfortunately I can't try them cause they don't sell them in my country :( so I will be ordering them from the UK :)

I read tons of reviews, they were all positive and say that the bass isn't overpowering and they sound more natural , which i like :) I listen mostly to pop, rock,dance, electro, house, techno, trance, classical, indie and some rnb, so if you would be so kind to recommend me some headphones you think would work well for my taste, I would really appreciate it :D
[Galaxy S III General] teatime0315:
budget?
[Galaxy S III General] studiominal:
I see the frequency response of HD 558 is reasonably flat, and I see you're enjoying all kinds of music. I'm currently using HD 650, and if you're willing to pay more than HD 558, I'd recommend you HD 598. HD 650 is also great, but it's got a massive impedance of 300ohms, and... and that price :) Flat headphones are great for most music, and if you sometimes need to listen to music excitingly, you just can use equalizer to boost bass a bit. I'm planning to simulate Sony's Clearbass when supercurio releases voodoo sound with parametric equalizer.

Anyway, I think you've got the best deal already for your music taste.
[Galaxy S III General] kurama.k:
My budget is 300$ to 400$ :)

---------- Post added at 05:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 AM ----------

@studiominal thanks so much, ur amazing hehe :)

I might pay a little extra and get the HD 598 then :)

I don't think I'll be needing 300 ohms hehe :D

Yeah I don't know what all that voodoo business is but from what I'm reading its something really amazing. hopefully I'll be able to root my phone and check it out :D
[Galaxy S III General] p3t0r:
Do you guys listen to music via the stock player? Or other?

I've always used poweramp but noticed that the stock player sounds somewhat louder, maybe pre-amp? no EQ on either.

Trying to work out what the best settings on poweramp would be, leaving eq flat, but dont know whether to turn on tone / limit ...
[Galaxy S III General] Devtodi:
Former audiophile at the high end (Wilson, Krell, Conrad Johnson) and music professional using Poweramp flat, and Voodoo flat with Klipsch android earbuds on my Epic 4G. I am pretty happy with the results.

For those that don't know, Voodoo is an audio app for the SGS1 only. It would be great to have it for the 3.
[Galaxy S III General] brins0:
I'm getting this too using Google Music. Every now and then (no set pattern) I hear slight crackling through the headphones. I presume Google Music uses whatever format the song was uploaded in, so that's MP3 in this case. I'm on the stock rom, unrooted etc.

I wonder if it could be to do with the phone switching cellular masts. It certainly doesn't sound like any kind of buffering problem (as none of the sound is dropped), and it's not interference that I can tell. It sounds like some kind of decoding stuttering, possibly to do with the DSP engine. It seems to do it whether the DSP is on or off.
[Galaxy S III General] chong81:
I've reproduced this issue easily on 3 sets, all with stock LE8 firmware. It happens every 2-3mins or so, on both stock music player and poweramp regardless of whether it's mp3, flac or alac. It's annoying and obvious enough to ruin the listening experience.

It happens with both my triple.fi 10 and phonak audeo earphones, so it's not a compatibility issue between a particular model of earphones and S3.

Considering how frequently it happens, I'm really puzzled why nobody other than the 2 of us have mentioned this issue.

One other thing I've observed: the crackling seems to happen only when the screen is turned off. Is that the same for you?
[Galaxy S III General] tolis626:
While I don't have the S3 yet,I can tell you that this crackling appears on the S2 too.It seems kinda random,but it is related to the CPU making "noise".I think it's actually a signal from the CPU interfering with the audio signal,but I could be wrong.It seems Samsung's implementation isn't the best this time either.
[Galaxy S III General] ukguy:
Glad someone else can hear it too, thought there was something wrong with my Shure's (now tested them with my s1 and theyre fine).

Generally the sound is on par with the s1 so still better then the s2 but it'll be down to how much difference Voodoo makes when its ready.