yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 General] cooooooop:
Well, I flashed the latest slimkat rom and it has the same ring tones I used to have on my Nexus S with 4.3. They are just as loud on Nexus 5. So I think this is just related to the ring tones included in stock 4.4 on Nexus 5, not a hardware defect.

---------- Post added at 07:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:24 PM ----------

Not sure. I just tested a youtube vid and it was plenty loud. Maybe a little scratchy at max, but I wouldn't actually listen to it that loud.

Can't deny that the speaker is not in a good spot, it is very easy to cover.

The fact that the speaker is not top quality is a weird thing to be concerned of in my opinion, but my typical use cases do not revolve around the speaker. If I do use it, it is just for a quick youtube vid or for video game audio, maybe a speaker call, and it seems very much capable of doing those things. I'll have to test running the 1/8th inch jack to my stereo and see how that works to decide if the sound is good enough for me.

BTW I am now running slimkat alpha, not stock rom, so your mileage may vary.
[Nexus 5 General] TurkzZ:
am i missing somthing here? seen a few reviews and read a quite a few posts about this speaker, sounds pretty good, not iphone or HTC level but as far as smart phones, good loud and clear.

Good on loudspeaker too.
[Nexus 5 General] Revthejedi:
I too consider it a dev/consumer hybrid with more emphasis on the dev aspect but becoming more consumer friendly with each release. Coming from a Nexus 4 I don't have any issues with speaker quality/volume, but the it's location is problematic.
[Nexus 5 General] bigun66:
It would appear that not all N5 phones are created equal

I just read through 20 pages of posts on this topic.

Based on the wildly different impressions of the speaker, it seems pretty clear that some N5s have different components than others.

Quality is very subjective, but the different comments on volume (esp. compared to other phones) seems to indicate there are some component differences across the N5 manufacturing run.

And I suppose differences in the reference phones people are comparing to could also figure in.

Maybe people should say what country they are from when they post their impressions. I haven't been paying real close attention, but it seems like the Brits are having a universally crappy experience.
[Nexus 5 General] iridium21:
The maximum speaker volume level is pathetic. I can hardly hear notifications even on the highest setting.
[Nexus 5 General] evivbulgroz:
Mine doesn't have crackle or distorsion, but I randomly hear a buzzing sound with spotify or youtube.Does some of you experienced this?

I hope it's not hardware related...
[Nexus 5 General] aohus:
I'm noticing something here.

All of the people complaining about low speaker volume seem to be Europeans.

I do recall reading somewhere that European regulations enforce a certain decibel level for speakers. This could be the issue.

Are there any North American users having issue with low speaker volume? (LG-D820 version)
[Nexus 5 General] iridium21:
This may be possible. I'm in the UK, and I have the LG-D821.
[Nexus 5 General] aohus:
I'm pretty certain this is the case. Just went through pages and pages of this thread and all the complaints are coming from European LG-D821 owners.
[Nexus 5 General] iridium21:
So, a hack, or a software update, if we make enough noise?
[Nexus 5 General] aohus:
I'd definitely be expecting a software update fix for LG-D821 owners from Google. That or try a 3rd party app that can increase volume.
[Nexus 5 General] Globespy:
I'm hopeful that the solution will come from Faux, although I have heard a couple of stories about Google preparing a fix for the speaker since it seems to be the most common complaint.

I would like to think that they want this phone to be everything the N4 wasn't to keep the Nexus society happy.
[Nexus 5 General] ShaggyDragon:
UK here too, only one ring tone is usable, all of the others are too quiet.
[Nexus 5 General] iridium21:
Which do you use?

Hmm, it may be worth developing one that 'tunes' to the resonant frequency of the speaker in the meantime...
[Nexus 5 General] Flam3h:
Another Brit here.

Mines going back for replacement due to excessive distortion with calls on the loudspeaker. Anything over halfway on the volume and it starts distorting far too much, to the point it's hard to make out conversation on the loudest volume. It's also very quiet on the ringtone side. Funnily enough it's not too bad when listening to music etc. on the loudspeaker, I expect (as has been reported), that it's down to a software issue. Technical support said it shouldn't be distorting using the loudspeaker on calls, so it's being replaced.
[Nexus 5 General] doubleatheman:
Coming from the nexus 4, the speaker is sooo much better on the nexus 5.
[Nexus 5 General] YogiYahooeys:
Nope, I'm US and I have the same problems with an extremely low maximum volume....
[Nexus 5 General] odoyo:
i think the speaker works perfectly fine.
[Nexus 5 General] jamesindc:
Biggest disappointment for me is the weak battery life and the cheap plastic materials. Also, the screen isn't as good as other phones.
[Nexus 5 General] TiltedAz:
Coming from a GNex, the N5 speaker sounds better and it's louder. There's only so much sound you can get from these little speakers and I really don't want to see a speaker occupying the bottom front area like the HTC One.
[Nexus 5 General] DowntownJeffBrown:
I'm from the USA mines quiet along with my brothers.

>^.^< Sent from meow MotoX
[Nexus 5 General] F4M0U569:
All phones are made by plastic
[Nexus 5 General] umesswitme:
I'm in Canada and my speaker is not very loud wither:(
[Nexus 5 General] designgears:
The plastic argument is getting old. Feels better than a samsung device.

The battery is a bit weak, but disable a few things, turn the screen timeout down and it will last all day without a problem with moderate use.

The screen is washed out, sounds like you are used to super saturation, I am sure they will address it in an update, or someone might make a custom kernel and correct it.

The speaker, however, coming from the HTC One, is awful, but still better then others I have used.
[Nexus 5 General] dr4stic:
I'm in the US and am not sure if i'm going crazy, but it feels like both the speaker and earpiece distort audio at >60-70% volume in the same way, and I'm thinking that must be software. It seems to happen when ANY bass is introduced.

I'm debating RMA'ing the device because the phone is otherwise perfect. There are no dead pixels, the vibrator seems fairly locked in, and my ceramic buttons don't jiggle at all.

My only real issue is the speaker thing, and it's a real issue because with certain people I know (who have a bit of a rasp in their voice), understanding them becomes a real problem.

*sigh*

Also, am I supposed to be able to show off that I have ceramic buttons? I'm not understanding why that's important. What's the deal with that?
[Nexus 5 General] HiddenSanctum:
Not sure if this article was posted. But Google seems to have confirmed that there is a software problem with the speakers and is working on a fix

http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus...one-and-software-may-be-hurting-what-you-hear
[Nexus 5 General] dk206:
I really hope so, but something tells me this is just a really poor component harware wise.
[Nexus 5 General] brian129:
I really like the speaker on the Nexus 5 when I'm on Play Music, it's quite loud and clear, then I opened a video on Youtube and I can't really hear it. Hope Google fix this issue!
[Nexus 5 General] mazinya:
Hope this fix will also affect ringtone sounds, alarm sound and volume of voice of the person who you are talking to while on speaker
[Nexus 5 General] saldawop:
It must surely be software related, although I don't think that the speaker is of a high quality. I watch one video and hardly hear it, watch another and it is a lot higher in volume.

Plus there seems to be a lot of space behind the back cover, the whole phone seems to resonate when something bassy is playing.
[Nexus 5 General] bassbox:
If only i would have sound 100% of the time i should...

Have a look here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=47283068#post47283068
[Nexus 5 General] dweekie:
Very odd observation here. I flashed an aosp rom and noticed the sound of my play music app to be poor. Switching back and forth from a nandroid of the stock ROM clearly shows better sound coming out of the stock ROM. Any early flashers notice something similar?
[Nexus 5 General] eman3316@optonline.net:
I don't need a high quality external speaker since I won't be DJ'ing any parties with the N5 but I do need to at least be able to hear the freaking thing.
[Nexus 5 General] noobdeagle:
I did notice that the play music EQ seems to force surround sound effect on and when you move the slider to off it makes no difference.
[Nexus 5 General] [hfm]:
Biggest Disappointment: it doesn't make me sandwiches
[Nexus 5 General] AndrasLOHF:
I install Viper4Anrdoid on anything I run. After tweaking settings on it I get a decent enough sound out of the phone. No better or worse than my Evo LTE.
[Nexus 5 General] Jess813:
Seriously.... This phone sucks it doesn't make breakfast in the morning for me!!!

To all those who are still reading this and thinking about getting this beautiful device... Get it. The speaker volume is fine, it's no HTC one, but then again no phone is.

Just remember this... Some of us clean our ears more than others.... That's all.
[Nexus 5 General] SupaDupaFly24:
Yeah the speakers are the pits...That doesn't take away from the fact that this phone is amazing!!! Glad it will be fixed in a software update tho..
[Nexus 5 General] tim440:
The ring tones are the quietest I've ever heard. Speaker is generally not great, but fine for some things, which gives me hope.
[Nexus 5 General] zevim2005:
Update 11/8: Google has confirmed to Android Central that I'm not deaf or going crazy, and that they're working on a fix.
[Nexus 5 General] jelle2503:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVMuwa-HRCQ&list=PLswLZ7QMv6i9YLZd0Qp0w9wNlrqFEBn9_

try watch this video on full volume. My speaker start making creaking/squeeking noises, very unprofessional... As if the speaker has already been blown.
[Nexus 5 General] vinay427:
I switched from a Nexus 4 to an HTC One and now a Nexus 5. IMO the One has the better sound quality and bass (especially at higher volumes) but isn't noticeably much louder than the Nexus 5 which is fine if you're using it mainly for alarms and such. I tested both with pretty standard XDA sound mods (Faux kernel on the Nexus 5 and a modded Sense ROM on the One).
[Nexus 5 General] fix-this!:
i heard someone say a fix for the speaker quality is coming? driver related maybe? anyways i don't have any issues with mine.
[Nexus 5 General] [hfm]:
I don't have any issues either. Sounds good to me.
[Nexus 5 General] Larxia:
I'm in agreement with you, also coming from the one and I'm satisfied with the N5. Of course the HTC was louder with better quality but it has dual speakers so that was to be expected. I've played both phones at the same time and the N5 is pretty loud and not nearly as bad as people are saying.

Also compared the phone with other friends who have the HTC one and S4 And they were pleasantly surprised with the N5 quality.
[Nexus 5 General] davidquesada:
For me that my screen has around 7 dead pixels... Yay, but for real Google sent me the replacement and it's shipping on the 22, also the speakers and the battery are really bad :/
[Nexus 5 General] Mr. Sprinkles:
I imagine this song would be taxing to any small speaker at full volume. You may want to turn the volume down if you hear it distort, otherwise you will have a blown speaker. Also, might I suggest headphones?
[Nexus 5 General] Poignant:
check out this one. I think it's better. It also has 4.0 bluetooth technology and has two drivers for bass and mid/treble. :D

http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Blue...aytime/dp/B00C4Q61Z6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
[Nexus 5 General] fineazbro:
Jeez i haven't even receive mine yet i keep reading all negative talk about the device, from viewing angle to bad speaker well i guess i have to judge myself
[Nexus 5 General] ryude:
Mine gets delivered in a few hours, I'll have to compare it to my already anemic Xperia Z. I can barely hear notifications on my current phone.
[Nexus 5 General] Tony_YYZ:
I'm sure once the custom ROMs start coming out there will be an option to boost the maximum volume.
[Nexus 5 General] ryude:
I agree, can't wait for the development to ramp up.
[Nexus 5 General] blackalice:
I thought the speaker was pretty good! Way better than my One X!
[Nexus 5 General] Audioboxer:
Hope so, the volume is really low, even on full.

My only worry is the quality will be even lower with a higher volume.
[Nexus 5 General] ryude:
Concerns are valid, but you'd be surprised what developers can do!
[Nexus 5 General] poldie:
It's because different people are making those statements; some expect it to be louder, and some don't. It's like with...you know...absolutely everything in the universe!
[Nexus 5 General] tehdef:
Yo. Speakers on the HTC One and Beats Audio are two different things.

First off, the speakers are front facing stereo speakers. This is why the speakers are awesome on the One. You get stereo sound, so 2 speakers.

Beats Audio is just an Equalizer. Yep. That's right. Beats Audio is just a fancy marketing term for an equalizer. It makes things bassier. You can do it yourself, actually.

Here you go, the EQ settings.

500hz 2db

1khz 3db

2khz 3db

4khz 3db

8khz 4db

16khz 8db

You just sound kind of dumb when you downplay Boomsound from HTC and call it Beats. Beats is nothing but marketing.
[Nexus 5 General] deanesn:
The speaker is the only disappointing thing of the phone for me too. I have the Nexus 4 standing next to the Nexus 5 and the 4 is louder. I am sure the volume will be adjusted better in the custom roms so I am not worried that much.
[Nexus 5 General] SkuzeeII:
Coming from an HTC One X I am in love with the speaker on the Nexus 5. It blows away the One X in volume and fidelity.
[Nexus 5 General] theesotericone:
Good looking out. Anker batteries have always been solid so I'll give it a shot.
[Nexus 5 General] jtc276:
You clearly don't own an HTC One. Try toggling Beats audio and see if there's a significant difference in the output and quality of the external speakers.
[Nexus 5 General] tehdef:
http://i.imgur.com/Fs4S8gf.jpg

Yes. I clearly don't have an HTC One for the picture I just took 45 seconds ago.

It's a ****ing equalizer setting that ANY equalizer capable of being modified can do. They just make the "no beats" sound absolutely terrible through a flat EQ setting, and beef it up with a bass heavy EQ setting. EQ's do wonders. Stop being a wanker.
[Nexus 5 General] jtc276:
It's amazing that an equalizer can make something that sounds awful and tiny sound loud and generally very good. Yes, I agree that in audio output through headphones that it is an equalizer. But through the external speakers, it is much, much more.
[Nexus 5 General] Warrimonk:
I don't understand why people are going so nuts about the speaker sound quality. Even the HTC One still has very lacking bass. It makes music unbalanced and terrible IMO.

The only thing a phone speaker is good for is calling someone and talking to multiple people. Stop trying to use it for music.
[Nexus 5 General] Scotty_Two:
My problem is that since the speaker is only on the left of the USB port, when I play a game like Dead Trigger with the phone tuned 90° CCW, my right hand / index finger that wraps around to the back of the phone covers up the speaker entirely.
[Nexus 5 General] tehdef:
Have you ever heard of manufacturing marketing? Boomsound is a feature. Beats is a feature. You want to make both of your features sound and appear better for stupid people, like yourself, so they feel ilke Boomsound and Beats are makes their phone better than other competing phones. So, what you do? You make the stock EQ sound like TRASH, but make the phone sound amazing when your software is turned on.

You simply don't get it, and I don't understand why you can't see that Beats and Boomsound is simply just a feature, and it changes nothing other than the sound you receive due to the EQ settings.
[Nexus 5 General] haydonxda:
That and playing the ringing and other notifications. I've missed calls on the N4 because of its weak speaker. I suspect the N5 will be worse. I was woken up to a politely soft "alarm" clock this morning on it.

It's a basic feature of a phone - ring. Know what would be awesome? Being able to hear it. How about comparing the dB of an old wired phone with mechanical bells to the N5's ringing volume.
[Nexus 5 General] parsa5:
Beats is definitely just an equalizer setting. In certain apps, like YouTube, beats on definitely makes it sound worse then with beats off. Comparing the Nexus 5 speaker to the HTC One is not fair.
[Nexus 5 General] Enddo:
time to retrain your muscle memory and start holding the device differently

i enjoy the speaker location a thousand times more than the N4 speaker
[Nexus 5 General] MarkGbe:
i love the speakers. Finally i can hear audio when watching videos and stuff.
[Nexus 5 General] TonyHoyle:
My N5 is significantly louder than my N4 - I never had my N4 at anything less than 100% volume.. At 100% the N5 is so loud it's distracting, so I have it at about 50%.
[Nexus 5 General] ComposMentis:
That's good to hear. I'm using a One XL right now and the speaker has always been its weakest point. Downward facing, tiny speaker holes that like to clog up and terrible sound.
[Nexus 5 General] stonew5082:
Once you put a faux sound kernel on it, you have complete control over speaker and headset volume, so don't worry (if you're root)

---------- Post added at 09:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 AM ----------

https://plus.google.com/109078966818501160423/posts/YkaGQo6xBMg
[Nexus 5 General] Fidelio_o:
Have the G2 atm, to be honest I have absolutely no problems with it, but my nexus 5 in the truck on its way to my house because I love phones and have a problem :(, Will be doing my on comparison in a few also.
[Nexus 5 General] jtc276:
Let me ignore the fact that you're clearly a major **** who takes XDA way too seriously and point something out. Yes, I know what manufacturing marketing is. But that doesn't change the functionality of the product. Take Beats Audio away from the One and it's a less than stellar product. Sure, HTC might have made it that way, but that's like saying that because a BMW is the only car with [whatever], that feature isn't that great and was just put in the car to push other BMW features. I'm sure there's a better analogy but I've already put too much time into this conversation.
[Nexus 5 General] dk206:
No what the majority of people on he are saying including myself is that the actual quality of the speaker is bad. Awfully quiet. Not good even for YouTube clips. The reason why I contributed to this topic was because it's so bad even for

ringtone...

The actual output is really bad as well as the quality. That's what people said.

And people can do whatever they want to do with their device. Stop trying to use it for music?
[Nexus 5 General] miguepereira77:
I read the 5 pages of this post, complaining about speakers and possible solutions with custom Roms and kernels, but nobody mentioned V4A!!! This, is the revolution in sound, this will make any crappy speaker, headphone sound like HiFi. Personally I'm not worried about sound quality since viper appears in the android scene. Just my 2 cents

Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 mediante Tapatalk
[Nexus 5 General] DowntownJeffBrown:
Sucks... I wish the right speaker port was a speaker also. But instead they made it a microphone. I found that by having a case on It keeps me from completely muffling the sound.

>^.^< Sent from meow nexus5
[Nexus 5 General] tell4ever:
for me viper4android only works when listening to music,, but not for ringtoes and wahcing youtube
[Nexus 5 General] iNaruX:
Two things:

1. The speaker is "ok-ish"...kind of on par with my Galaxy Nexus...but under 50% volume it sounds kind of numb...or "deep", if you know what I mean...can anybody relate to that?

2. The MicroUSB Port is horrible...you have to be a surgeon to fit in the cable :D
[Nexus 5 General] miguepereira77:
That depends if u install it as system app or user app, I'm running the ported n5 build on my n4 while I wait for my n5's arrival and V4A works flawlessly in kitkat

Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 mediante Tapatalk
[Nexus 5 General] MarkGbe:
thats funny, i actually found the micro usb to be an improvement. On my nexus 4 i would occasionally be slightly off center and the charging cable would kind of get snagged. Now i can just align it and plunge right in the hole.(gross)
[Nexus 5 General] progosu:
so people say that the gps is as terrible as in nexus 4, is that true?
[Nexus 5 General] iNaruX:
Haha...imo the problem is not the port itself, but the tiny metal hinge above it...if you look close, you can see it blocking your way into the port unless you wiggle it up and down and finally, with the precision of a neurosurgeon, get it in there (wow, kind of a long sentence :D) - as for the speaker...it definetly isn`t tinny or distorts...just not louder than my galaxy nexus and it seems to be more "muffled" :D
[Nexus 5 General] cipsaz:
Too early to tell. Used my gf's iphone 5 and my N5 gps yesterday. It froze immediately after setting up a direction and needed a restart a few times to get it going. The gf's iphone 5 gps on the other hand was smooth as butter.
[Nexus 5 General] MarkGbe:
nexus 4 gps was great for me and no change on n5
[Nexus 5 General] lolcopter:
confirmed -- the mono speaker is crap. volume levels are too low even at full volume. this is a very similar problem that the OG N7 shares, i was hoping this wouldn't be an issue.
[Nexus 5 General] faux123:
With my custom kernel (or any kernel with my kernel sound driver) you can use FauxSound to boost your speaker volume :D
[Nexus 5 General] THE_KINGDOM:
In any case this speaker has got to be better than the Nexus 4 which had a speaker on the back of the phone which was always muffled when the phone was laying back down.. even if it's tinny and lacks bass, as long as I can hear my ringtone from upstairs/downstairs i'll be happy.. compared to the nexus 4 speaker which was ****..
[Nexus 5 General] ingenious247:
This happens with EVERY single Nexus device. Several piss-poor defects are very apparent to anyone with a brain, and the Nexus fan boys come running acting like everyone who points out the defects has OCD or how other phones are all "fluff" and marketing with no real features. Worse than isheep I swear to God lmao

Stop acting like everyone else is imagining things because the level of denial by the fan boys is sickening. Some sort of disorder honestly

"I don't use the phone speaker so who cares" and crap like that

WTF lmao
[Nexus 5 General] markdudier:
Coming from N4 I can't complain about the speaker.
[Nexus 5 General] Kenneth131:
I'll second the speaker its loud enough but you do get a lot of vibration from it. Its almost as if the bass is not quite right and I'm not sure why but it sounds at times like it echos on mine. Turning it down to 80% works or tweaking play music's EQ works a bit but I am truley astonished at all manufacturers tbh.

We had the Nokia N95 years ago and it's still possibly one of the best for speaker clarity and volume iv used yet here we are back to mono speakers and less than impressive clarity. What went wrong and not just with the nexus 5 besides the HTC one most all other phones are out shone by an old N95 wow.
[Nexus 5 General] bassbox:
a.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4QElZ7A84c

sounds so crappy on my N5 i cant stand it. crystal clear on n4 and computer. a lot of "echo" or something. dunno.

Same with similar music, also e.g. with the standard ringtone "Titan?" or my Alarm tone "Argon"

b.)

sometimes when i skip a song, the next one is silent. starting it again or forwarding to another point of the song ends the silence.

c.)

Worms 2 Armagedon got no sound at all on my N5??