yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
The 3 boot screen and shutdown screen are easy to change. You just need the unbranded files to copy over instead. Or djembey has a thread on here with pre-rooted unbranded updates, odexed or deodexed, which is where I downloaded mine from. If you'd rather just change the animations, send me a pm and I'll send the unbranded animations over to you when I get a sec in the morning. :)
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
Thanks man. I don't want to root. Happy keeping my counter at 0 for now so will probably use German firmware again or just put up with this till official T-Mobile update.

Will it make a difference with anything like reception or not? What country are you from fish and did you notice an improvement with Wi-Fi range too?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
I'm in the uk, so the version you have is correct to my country anyway. But I've used a German one before with no issues, I think it may be the same radio for all Europe. I never had an issue with wifi range before or afterwards to be honest, so can't say I've paid it any attention, sorry.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
Back on German firmware. What firmware or Rom are you on? Has it improved crackle issue also as for me after some brief testing I can't hear any but sound seems to have more bass? Did you notice this.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] M@ssy:
I'm still noticing some crackling when I plug my S4 to the car audio system with the 3.5 jack... :(
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
Hmmm. Can't test that. It's sorted issue for me but will do more testing.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
I'm using the pre rooted deodexed XXUBMEA rom from djembey's thread. But I never noticed the crackle anyway to be honest, I first came onto this thread when I found my audio picked up noise whenever it was being charged in my work van with it's engine running. The only headphones I had were the ones which came with the phone, and it seemed okay with those.

On what version? Is it only while charging with the engine running, or does it crackle even when not on charge?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] M@ssy:
I updated to the XXUBMEA last week or so for the cracking problem, with my shure se 215 the problem is gone, but I'm my car sometimes come back and with no charging cable plugged in... with the iphone 4 I had no problem at all in my car! :(
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
Maybe try it in someone else's car to see if it's not just your car's head unit? Or maybe even just try another lead? I don't get any noise at all, unless it's charging at the same time with the engine running. Even then, that's more like squealing noises rather than crackling.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BoyMonsteR:
no sound distortion or crakling with my i9505 when im using it with audio technica M50..
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] kayomani:
I have not had any issues with my car stereo or headphones. The only occasional crackle I have heard was due to an old android app which was generating sound on the fly (I suspect it was an issue just with that app).
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
Good to see you got the fix now.... so what did they do Jensigner? Did you also notice sound is changed?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
I'm was celebrating others claims of an apparent fix. I haven't applied the fix to my SGH-I337 (and don't even know if the firmware update would work). So I have no idea yet. Sorry for any misunderstanding ... but the martini was fantastic.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
Lol. I installed German firmware. All good here. Looking forward to you installing it and running your tests. Let me know what you think.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
You can count on that. My unbiased results will be reported here first.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] euphoria47:
I will gladly buy you the next martini if you can determine whether the update will be worth flashing, we could be waiting thousands of years for our crappy providers to roll out the ota.

I have been flashing phones for years and it's a full time job troubleshooting new issues with roms and kernels, don't have time like I used to.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
Well maybe someone across the pond (in Europe) who has applied the update also has the gear to do the audio tests (you need a very good sound card, a good PC and the RMAA free software plus come good audio cables).

I might be tempted to flash my S4 (never done that before) if I was really sure that a firmware update applied to the NA SGH-I337 model.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
I live in UK and updated to the german firmware. It seems fine to me. I put phone in download mode and installed it using Odin. I downloaded it from www. Sammobile.com. all good here and you can un-install the German apps that come with the firmware.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
That version GT-I9505 is different than the USA/ATT SGH-I337 ... they use different LTE bands. Surely there must be SOME experienced users in USA who are reading this and would be willing to attempt an Odin flash?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
Well wouldn't that just mean they'd have to flash their own US modem after installing one of the updates?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
No idea if that is the only difference. I'll let someone else in NA be the test subject as I don't want to spend time in case something doesn't go as expected.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] romeshw:
A big thank you to you Creed! :good: After experiencing the problem with two previous sets of in-ear buds, I cam across this thread and ordered the Cresyn 510E's. Not only is there a complete lack of any distortion, but the sound quality is significantly better than the other. I'm very disappointed with Samsung, but am relieved that I can listen to tunes on my phone again :)
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
If you'd have installed the update then you'd have had no distortion anyway. Yeah, shame on Samsung for fixing their software so quickly. :roll:
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimmboonline:
Grrrr arggg!!!

I have been looking into this crackling/popping noise for days now, and it looks like I'm gonna bite the bullet and spend just $25 on new ones :silly:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDRXB60E...ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2CN1URH4P01KB

the stock headphones just don't cut it for me......

---------- Post added at 05:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:47 AM ----------

it depends, for me i thought a firmware update couldn't fix the phone, it had to be kernel side stuff, and i was right. however if you are rooted it "BREAKS" your wifi (can't turn it on).......Grrrr Arrrrg! i run [KERNEL][TMO][AOSP/TW][6/10/2013B] KT-SGS4 - MDM - KTweaker so i can undervolt my phone so it does not get nuclear hot.

once samsung releases it's source code for the new kernel devs will fix it. untill then....:crying::crying::crying::crying::crying:
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tsambi:
I had crackling noise on Australian non carrier specific handset.

New Firmware came out Friday afternoon. No more crackling now!!!!

Much smoother as well
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
Another advantage of using higher-impedance phones is you really benefit from better intrinsic sound (compared to say 12 ohm or lower buds), even with firmware-updated versions. Also with low impedance buds (say 10 ohm) you get tone coloration because output impedance of the S4 is ~ 3 ohm. Also battery drain is typically lower with higher impedance buds (assuming they have good efficiency) if you run them at comparable music level settings (e.g. 12/15).

---------- Post added at 09:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:59 AM ----------

If you are willing to flash your S4, assuming its a SGH-I337, I'll measure it (since we are probably geographically close) even though you are with Rogers and I'm with Bell :)
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
The kernel being updated in the new firmware packages is what has fixed it like you say, but being rooted doesn't break wifi. I'm rooted and I'm using my wifi right now to post this!
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] euphoria47:
Unfortunately I really rely on my phone for work, so I can't afford to have it out of service, or any problems with it. Sound and camera shutter lag fix are what I'm hoping to get from update. Pretty minor stuff. I flashed a lot of phones but rooting and flashing always broke my ota updates and tbh manual flashing stopped being fun a few phones ago, now that bloatware is proportionately less obtrusive than it was on weaker hardware.

In my experience flashing roms/kernels for the other side of the world fixes 2 problems and creates 3 new ones. It would be nice if we could find out if/when Belus or Robbers will release the ota.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Ryphoon:
I have had an issue with the volume being really low even with all the sound toggles on 100%. Was hoping the update would solve this but no dice. Anyone else experiencing smirking similar?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
I've not once thought the phone was too quiet. If anything I think it should have the ability to go quieter than the lowest setting before it goes mute, so I can still watch stuff while my kids are asleep on me, etc. Can't always just grab headphones!
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
Yes I definitely don't want to screw up my S4 so I'll just wait for official distribution via Kies or ota. Last time I talked to Samsung mobile support they had absolutely no knowledge of any firmware updates coming down the pipe. So the carriers are likely to know less than that which is zero.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] RCJ89:
You defo didn't want the htc one then as that phone does not do quiet with or without of headphones.

Only issue I have with the s4 is its just not loud enough in heradphones, like i have mentioned before the demo units in shops are much louder atleast 3 notches louder.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
About Qualcomm WCD9310 audio codec chip

I found a technical doc. on the Qualcomm WCD9310 audio codec chip (apparently used in the S4 i9505 and also similar S3 model).

The specs indicate that:

- headphone audio output is 63 mW each into 16 ohm each which translates into a maximum possible output signal amplitude of ~ 1.4Vpeak. I measured the maximum output (Music player 15/15) on my SGH-I337 of ~ 0.80Vpeak. Therefore that audio chip is DEFINITELY capable of higher output levels and won't be current limited. This is consistent with some users reporting much higher audio output levels on kernel mod'd S3 phones.

- the headphone SNR is spec'd at an impressive 110 dB; I measure ~ 101 dB for my SGH-I337 which makes sense . It is lower because the noise is relative to the max. output level which is by design adjusted (in driver/firmware) to be less than the nominal spec. maximum.

- supports PCM sampling rates of 8, 16, 32, 48, 96, 192 kHz (so any CD .wav files ripped as 44.1 kHz PCM will be upconverted to 48 kHz ... ). Current S4 firmware only seems to support up to 48 kHz .. but should be ok up to HD audio of 192 kHz :) Poweramp plays back 24bit/96kHz but not sure if that uses software downconversion to 48kHz.

- couldn't find any spec. on WCD9310 distortion, but it does look very very good based on my (and GSMArena) measurements

So this means that (notwithstanding the "crackle" audio instability which is evidently fixed in forthcoming update) the Qualcomm audio DAC chip in the i9505 / SGH-I337 is every bit as good in audio performance (at least up to sampling rates of 48kHz) as the Wolfson DAC in the i9500 imo.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mist3rHyde:
Not exactly crackling/distortion

Hello everyone ! My first post in this forum, I haven't read the whole thread and am sorry if this has already been answered (if it has I'll search it).

Here's what I'm experiencing : when playing music on my Galaxy S4 the music skips ~ 1 second of music. It happens a lot (10 - 20 times/song, it depends), with both mp3 and FLAC. Also, clearing RAM does nothing to make this better.

I have a I-9505, and experience this with the stock earbuds as well as with an AKG K450.

Do you guys know if the firmware will fix this ? Is it the same thing as everyone ?

I am really disappointed since listening to music is a big deal for me...

Thanks in advance !
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] M@ssy:
Do you play music from the internal memory storage or from a microsd card?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mist3rHyde:
Thank you for your swift answer !

I play it from the internal memory storage.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] M@ssy:
Say something else about your problem. Have you rooted your s4 or flashed a different rom? Did you just try with the stock player or even with other players?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mist3rHyde:
My S4 is fully stock (no rooting - don't knw what that means exactly, I'm french ^^, almost no apps installed, I use the stock player). Songs have been transfered to my phone via Kies (the worst software ever).

There's not much to say, the music skips, there's a glitch or something. It stutters, I don't know exactly how to say it, but it happens frequently and it's very fast.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] M@ssy:
It doesn't sound like the problem we have experienced here... ours was like a cracking/distortion of the music, but with no 1 second skip. Try with another player and see what happens. Do you have this problem with the earphones or with the speaker or both?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mist3rHyde:
Oh bummer, this thing is driving me nuts !

---------- Post added at 06:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------

What player should I get to replace the stock on my phone ?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] M@ssy:
I don't know, try PowerAmp or Winamp. You could even try to copy the music with your browser over wifi instead of using kies and the usb cable, just install airdroid, maybe it all happened during the transfer between your pc and the s4 and the files got currupted, just saying.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] StuartTheFish:
Poweramp is a good one.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mist3rHyde:
Thanks I'll try Power Amp. Also, it seems the stuttering happens A LOT less frequently without the earphones. I almost don't have any problems (it happens sometimes when I navigate through the phone).
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ipmanwck:
Not a fan of power amp. I purchase it but try player pro. Much more user friendly.

---------- Post added at 06:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:55 PM ----------

I play music from SD card. All great here now. Sounds amazing using player pro.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
Audio quality of S4 vs headphone impedance

Here is a summary chart showing how the headphone audio characteristics for a typical S4 will change with headphone impedance. The results are for an SGH-I337 (same as i9505) without the firmware update but the results are for load resistances high enough that there is no "crackle" effect. Test conditions are at maximum volume (15/15) using the default Music app with no EQ or effects.

This is for pure resistance loads so obviously actual headphones will change the details. Still it points out some general trends:

The most important lines are THD, IMD+Noise and Stereo crosstalk. Results from left to right are for 16.5, 33, 51 and 3kohm loads. As expected the distortion characteristics degrade for lower impedance values. The *intrinsic* capability of the audio output are those at the highest 3kohm load and are quite impressive. Using a separate amp like the QuadBuffer I discussed earlier will provide that performance into loads down to 10 ohm. The stereo crosstalk degrades considerably for low impedance phones. Although views differ widely on how much distortion is actually audible, and I'm sure some audiophiles can hear 0.0000000001% distortion ;) imo anything higher than ~ 0.03% will be noticeable to many average listeners in some types of music so based on the results above, 16 ohm or lower impedance phones just won't benefit from the great audio capability of the S4 unless you use a post-amp with specs as good or better than the 3kohm load results above.

Would be really fun to get a i9500 with Wolfson audio and compare.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wified:
15 ohm adapter on eBay solved the problem for me

I found a guy on eBay who made me a custom 15 ohm adapter. It works to eliminate the audio problems!

3.5mm TRRS -> 3.5mm TRRS 15 Ohm adapter

I also asked him to make me one for the Plantronics 2.5mm Headset that I have used in my car for the past several years, which gave much buzzing on my new S4 (i337). This solved the problem, as does that adapter above, if you just plug in your existing 3.5->2.5 headset adapter.

3.5mm TRRS -> 2.5mm headset 15 Ohm adapter

The nice thing about these two adapters is that they are narrow plugs, meaning that they work easily with cases.

This guy is ready to make you one, if you need it. It has solved the problems for me.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
Updated the info on S4 audio characteristics (SGH-I337/i9505 versions) here in last paragraph "RMAA Analysis and Dependence on Headphone Impedance":

Samsung Galaxy S4: Problem With Low-Impedance Headphones
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] i4mt3hwin:
I wish Samsung would release the kernel source for the latest update, getting tired of waiting.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rc0310:
i337M user here..

anyone flashed MEA firmware update for i9505 on their i337M (North American variant with Qualcomm S600) yet..?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] EnricoIT:
GT-I9505

For me, since MEA firmware the issue has disappeared (at least with a pair of Beats tour headphones). The problem is that with the Adam Kernel 1.3.3 the distorted sound is back.....

Gotta stick to the stock kernel but I would have preferred the Adam!:(
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
S4 wav audio support?

The official Samsung docs for S4 audio format support does not include .wav format of any type. However, I have not had any problems playing back any CD ripped 16bit/44.1 kHz uncompressed wav files, including the ones used for the RMAA measurements discussed in this thread. That is good because the headphone audio specs of the S4, particularly for higher-impedance phones, certainly justify the quality of uncompressed CD-quality audio (instead of Mp3 etc.). Has anyone seen more detailed official specs from Samsung about .wav support? I'm concerned that they might just drop .wav support completely in a future kernel/firmware update. A phone support person told me the S4 doesn't support .wav at all! Also when I USB-copy .wav files from my Win computer to the S4, it warns that the .wav format may not playback and offers to "convert" (probably to MP3) which I never accept ... and can play back the .wav with no problems (even up to 24 bit / 48 kHz .wav format).

Related to this does anyone know what level of flac quality (bit size and sampling rate of original content) is supported on the S4?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] euphoria47:
I have loads of ringtones and notifications in .wav that work fine. Hopefully won't be an issue. Would using a different s/w for playback not fix this? Or something from Google on the Play store for all codecs/sound formats support.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
The trick is to get an app that natively supports the formats as opposed to decoding in software and downsampling (which I think Poweramp does). I'm hoping that the native Music player will eventually do that. (Also I'm talking about programming the Qualcomm audio codec directly to make most efficient use of the available sampling rates).
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Lienot:
I know the same problem if I send .m4a files from PC to the phone, the same warning. I press NO (don't convert) and everything is fine. I don't know why the phone behaves like this.

CU

lienot
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
That might be part of the USB driver of the S4. At any rate, the S4 somehow "tells" the computer that it doesn't like ".wav format" no matter what the .wav details.

Depending on the Win version I get 2 slightly different messages. WinXP gives this:

Win7 offers to convert with this warning:

Although I never convert, if you do, the .wav will be converted to 160 kbps MP3 and downconverts anthing higher than 48kHz to 48kHz.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] okiru880:
I've only tried 16bit 44.1khz [Level 9] FLAC which works fine.

I'll try and throw a 24bit 96khz file at it to see if that works.

I we sure that the S4 natively supports 24bit files then (without downsampling)... I thought it only supported up to 16bit.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Jensigner:
On my SGH-I337, the following PCM .wav files play properly:

16bit/44.1 kHz

24bit/44.1kHz, 24bit/48kHz

24bit/96kHz does not play back at all. The default Samsung Music player simply skips to the next track. The Google Music app throws up an "Music playback error" message.

PowerAmp does play 24bit/96kHz but it is not clear if it actually downsamples or converts the audio first.

I'm fairly sure the Qualcomm audio codec WCD9310 supports 24 bit. I know for sure it supports up to 192 kHz sample rates so almost certainly that implies 24 bit DAC support.

Something interesting that I've observed: I only explicitly launch Samsung's default Music app. However when I clear my apps, I often find that both Music and Google Music app are running! Seems like they share some functionality.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Lienot:
MP3 160kbps - They should have used at least 192kbps!

If I want to save some space and I usually listen with my "not really HiFI earbuds" I use m4a/aac VBR ca. 192kbps. I use the free neroaac converter with foobar to convert losless CDs/files to m4a and I think the result is better than the mp3 versions in ca. 192kbps.

Nice to see an XP Warning again. This is like an old tradition, or an old friend - I don't need XP right now, but it is always nice to see it again. Many many years XP was the system I used...

I am happy at the moment, the s4 sonds good and everything is fine. But I paid way to much (I bought S4 - sold S4 because of sound problems - bought S3 - sold S3 because of a solution for the S4 - now I have the S4 and I said to myself that I will never ever buy a new phone the next 20+ months)

CU

lienot
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] okiru880:
Yeah I noticed the same.

I use Neutron MP and again... Google Music starts running in the background. I wondered if this app is launched automatically whenever headphones were plugged in. Also, killing Google Music has no effect on whichever music app you're using. It appears to be running unnecessarily.
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] manuel_f2003:
Do you have try Adams kernel 1.4?
[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Moedot7:
Short-term fix.

Start the music player > Menu Button > Settings > Sound Alive > Custom >

Now arrange the sliders like this:

It will sound horrible, but oh well.

If you find a better slider position please let me know.

P.s. T-mobile UK have informed me that the problem has been escalated to Samsung.

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Graphic-Equalizer

This may help.

UPDATE:

This setting worked the best for me, whilst keeping sound quality! I tried it on the track with the worst distortion, and it worked.

(lil wayne - a milli)

Slide the sliders in this order:

-10 -7 -4 0 4 7 10