yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Enddo:
all reviews are saying the speaker is terrible. same with the camera. but they're comparing it to 600+ dollar phones, you get what you pay for, the bulk on the 350 dollars is going toward the processor and screen
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
That is true, but my $300 Nexus 4 from a year ago sounds 100 times better than my $400 (32gb) nexus 5 from this year.

And also the whole $700/$350 thing is kinda bull****. Though that phone does cost $700 to buy, it costs the same as what a nexus costs, usually around $150-$200 to produce. Google just cuts out all the middle men and carrier BS to get the price to be that low. Yes they do make sacrifices but my damn G1 sounds better than my Nexus 5, so that has nothing to do with cost.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MarkFromLondon:
No, it's not just you, I thought it was me!

I came from an HTC One X and the call quality is terrible; a bit like what I imagine being a little bit deaf is like and when I'm playing a video or have a call on speaker, the thing buzzes and vibrates. Not good compared to my previous phone.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
ugh. this isn't looking good. i really was hoping i was the only one. Hope we get a lot more replies here tonight.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Aydthird:
Only one speaker?

On mine I noticed only one side is playing the music? anyone else?

I'm hoping it's something like a mic and speaker... and not a deffective
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
thats correct. one side is the speaker and one is the mic. evidently this is normal practice on the iphone and many other devices. I just found out today.

Hows your quality though?

Two things i hear the crackle/pop on guaranteed is the ringing of a phone call and for some reason Lindsey Stirlings Crystalize, the first 30-40 seconds. lots of other examples but those two are the easiest and most noticeable i found.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bantaman:
Just got my white 32gb N5 today and indeed mine is suffering from similar issues. At first I was thinking my right speaker was DOA but I later learned it's not a speaker at all and is a mic - the N5 is a mono device. So, I played some music, an audio book and tried out some ringtones. A pop was audible on some ringtones and the audiobook. The sound gets pretty distorted when at the top two levels. I wonder if the pop is down to the audio coding because now I've downloaded higher quality files, the pop has gone away and distortion not quite as bad at high levels. Yet to try out a phone call over the speaker.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
I've tested some music at 320 bit rate and hd video on youtube and the play store and same issues. and then no issues at all on the nexus 4.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] niv3d:
Great I was so excited to purchase my first nexus phone. Ugh :(
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GuestK00450:
You know, I was at Pete's Coffee last night with my girlfriend and 2 people were talking next to us about this exact same issue. A man in his early 30s was talking to a buddy of his about the Nexus 5, and naturally, I zoned out from what my girlfriend had to say overheard their conversation.

They were talking about the Nexus 5 and how one of them who had the phone loved it, except he said the speaker was very poor quality.

Hopefully mine does not have this issue when it arrives this Thursday.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Vincent Law:
The Nexus 5's speaker is actually pretty darn good. Not quite HTC One level but damn close. It uses the same chip technology the HTC One has but only has a mono speaker on the bottom edge instead. It should be MUCH better than the Nexus 4, the Galaxy S4, or similar.

If it is sounding distorted, it is quite possibly a damaged speaker or chip, and should be RMA'ed. Reviews (unlike what some whacko said) have actually been pretty positive about the speaker.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
Your now the second person i've seen to say that it's good. How much have you tested it though? phone calls? loud movies? music?

I want to keep this phone, or at least get a replacement, but i got about 5 people with me saying they have similar issues so it's getting harder to imagine that it's a defect.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bkeaver:
My sound is pretty faint. I'll be lucky if I hear a text or call
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JCreazy:
I have played music from a couple different sources at full volume and I haven't heard any distortion.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] daLareid:
I actually just watched a full review of the phone here in the General section, and he says the speaker is absolutely great! although he does not ever test in the video.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lrm537:
Been using mine all day. A bit of music and a fair few YouTube video and I've not noticed any problems at all. Nowhere near as loud as the Note 2 I'm coming from, but few phones are as loud as it. So far I'm happy with speaker quality
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
Well since some of you do not seem to have this issue I'm going to hope those of us with it just have defective units and i'm going to exchange mine.

If the one i get has the same issues though, i'll be sticking with my Nexus 4 for another year.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] A.VOID:
No problem here. Just played Hells Bells on full blast and no distortion ... I would call that a worthy test :p
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bkeaver:
That is funny as hell that is the same song I used as a test and it sounded a little tiny
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] A.VOID:
I wouldn't call the range dynamic, but I'm not hearing any distortion. Sounds like what I would expect from a phone speaker. I tried some movies too, and i had no issues.

Distortion and "terrible" speaker quality sounds like a defective unit
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
For me there are two issues.

terrible range and tiny, but for a phone it's not surprising, and with any luck could be fixed with equalizers.

and then the distortion, crackles and pops with sounds or in calls.

I experience both and from what you guys are saying, the distortion does not seem to be normal and a defect. It's really bad on the ringing while calling someone and orchestral songs.

I'm planning to flat out return mine. with the 3-4 week wait for a replacement i rather flat out return and just buy it again in a few weeks.

Thanks everyone for your replies and hopefully we can keep this topic going on for anyone else who has this defect.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
So juding from the fact that i don't see tons of more posts here, or even tons of separate posts complaining about this i think it's safe to say that this is a defect for those of us who have the issue.

Going to return mine today and i'll buy again in a few weeks hopefully by then we'll have an equalizer to deal with the range and this defect will have been fixed.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MrBelter:
Makes no odds to me, I'm left handed so my little finger covers the speaker up when I'm holding the phone anyway
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Shano56:
My speaker has no distortion. Try fukin with the eq
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Poetique:
This honestly sounds alot like the problem I've had with my HTC One XL.

It is sort of a snap, crackle, pop, sizzling sound, with a few chirps thrown in? If so, in my own personal case, it actually came down to being somewhere between a voltage and a kernel issue. Try plugging in a pair of headphones and see if the problem is still there, if y'all wouldn't mind.

Either way, absolutely sucks to see this going on for Nexus 5 owners, seeing as that's precisely what I was planning to upgrade to. And it's definitely a problem I don't want to have to deal with ever again. I do too much multimedia type stuff with my device have to wiggle around sound problems =/
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] justinverschoor:
The sounds of my nexus 5 is not all the terrible like some guys posted here. Dont know if i have lower standards then the rest?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JCreazy:
The sound is a little tinny. Needs more base.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
yup, this is exactly it. snap, crackle, pop. On phonecalls and a lot of audio. These two songs guarantee it to happen for me: http://youtu.be/13fGb0j-2bI?t=30s and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI

If it's something that could be fixed i wouldn't mind keeping mine. I'll have to try with headphones later.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tifabih:
My SGS2 Speaker ist better and louder as Nexus 5 (quieter and distorted / leiser und verzerrt)

also i have Problem with WiFi ... its very bad
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cipsaz:
Horrible speaker here as well.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dan37tz:
I would definitely take online reviews with a grain of salt until you get the device in your hand and form your own opinion.

I remember being pretty nervous while waiting for my Note 3, people on XDA who received it first were saying the same thing about the speaker. That it was the worst, sounded worse than the S4, Note 2, G2 blah blah...

The first thought I remembered when I first fired up my Note 3, turned the volume up and played some music."Those guys on XDA are smoking some serious crack."

Speaker was GREAT, sounded just as good as the Note 2 and S4. Didn't have the fullness of the HTC One but it was louder and seemed almost clearer.

I am giving the N5 the benefit of the doubt, It should be waiting for me when I come home from work today... can't wait..
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] envizion58:
i went and played those videos on my n5 and it sounded great. don't hear any of the snap crackle pop you are mentioning about. i do notice the speakers are bit hmmm "airy" or more emphasis on treble i suppose? but overall the sound is great for a phone speaker. i haven't heard htc one's speakers so i can't make a comparison with that.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] saldawop:
+1

Phone will be returned.Will stick with Note 2.Shame because apart from this issue I really like the phone.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] :
Guys how about to speaker, the ones used for normal phone calls.. Mine makes sounds like the speaker vibrations when I am in conversation.. Even of I drop the volume down few notches.. How is your speaker I the conversations, normal calls.. The top circle one..?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DanP47:
The speaker on my N5 is clearly inferior to the one on my iPhone 4, can anyone else compare and confirm they hear the same?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ohiojosh78:
Test:

Nexus 5 x 4

Note 2 x 2

We currently have 2 Note 2s. I tested all 4 N5s against both note 2s. All played the same HQ music from the same source and the Note 2s blew the N5s away as far as loudness and clarity. Nexus 5s were tinny and weak sounding, all 4 of them.

If someone is saying the N5 speakers sound good then they either currently have bad speakers to compare them to, do not have a good ear, or are lying to themselves to make them feel better about their purchase.

I'm not being a hater. I like the phone itself quite a bit with the exception of, to me, a purple tinted screen (I may get used to it) and the horrible speaker. Just being honest.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LordLugard:
Hmm, this is really giving me cause for concern then. My Note 2 is very loud and i like it that way. Also have a 5s and the speakers are great as well. So if as you describe the N5 is anything less than the Note 2, then i'll just stay away. The last Nexus device i had was the Nexus S4G which was abysmal in every way, especially the speakers and i've stayed away ever since. Even the Galaxy Nexus wasn't any better in speaker quality.

Wish one could play with it in person before splurging and then returning..
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bkeaver:
Mine isn't the best but I'm coming from both the note 2 and HTC one. Now having said that I wiped and did a factory reset and it seems to be some better. Not drastically but some, I can now live with this. To much ends I like to dwell on it. I don't list to music without head phones anyways. I just wanted to hear my alerts :)
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xluco:
I'm getting a lot of crackling when I use headphones but not on the speaker (tried with 3 different pairs) anyone else getting this?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Ritual82:
No crackling on speakers or headphones for me, even at the highest volume.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ricecake2000:
Mine seems to be good. I'm coming from a DNA which has a horrible speaker. My first one from Verizon had the same issues some of you are having. I would definitely send it back! When I was having that issue I couldn't even listen to a YouTube video. Mkbhd sounded like garbage.

Overall the n5 speaker is louder than my DNA and the quality is better.

I have yet to try a phone call since I'm waiting on a Sim to arrive in the mail so I'm going to cross my fingers.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
interesting. i'll go do a factory reset on mine and see what happens.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bkeaver:
You ever post something and think it makes sense when you hit submit then someone quotes you and you think... Did I really mistype it that bad??? Wow. Glad you got my point anyways:beer:

Hope it helps you too:)
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
Unfortunately a reset didn't help. Same issues. Going to RMA tomorrow.

Now with multiple people testing the same things i hear it happening everything and they don't it's pretty obvious this one is defective.

Can only hope that the next one isn't. and if it is, i'll probably just skip the N5 all together and stick with my N4 till next year.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] skylineGTR_34:
I have both the lg g2 and nexus 5. I think they use the same crap quality speaker. Both distorts at the highest sound level. I may stick with my htc one and just get rid of lg devices.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] occtec:
Well guys I seem to have an issue here in Australia with my Nexus 5. Spoke to Google and they said they will investigate and get back to me via email in approx 1hr. Through the earpiece during call it sounds a bit tinny. When listening to YouTube music external speakers are distorting BUT when headphones are plugged in all is OK.

---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------

They said they haven't had an complaints as yet as it's only about 4 days since release to public but that's not to say they won't help. If they cannot figure it out they will RMA.

---------- Post added at 04:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 PM ----------

Just received my rma procedure from google play. Hope the next one is ok :)

---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------

Just received my rma procedure from google play. Hope the next one is ok :)
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Aydthird:
Cool I was worried for a moment

Quality is ok, I do noticed it is better at slightly lower level... that is something I would imagine could be fixed by software... as long as it's not like the first nexus 7... trying to show people videos and you can't hear crap... stereo over mono would be nice.

very neafty device, my only grip is the google page all the way to the left... not sure I like that
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] moldovanos:
I have no distortion, but it is quiter than N4. Wonder if software tweaks would make it better later on
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AxDxL:
I thought my Nexus 5 speaker was defective because of the distortion I was getting with bass heavy music.

Play Music app plays the music fine with no distortion. I had to adjust the equalizer setting in Winamp. Issue fixed.

I rather the phone be too loud than too quiet honestly.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] anthrofear:
Its a phone not a boombox. You want nice sound, get a jambox. I would never trade my nexus for another HTC. Had the EVO and the 3D. And my mom has a One. Wouldn't give up my nexus for it. I will never understand why someone would need their phone to be as loud as the HTC One is. You're not going to run a party with it. People covet things like speaker quality over user experience. Sense is ugly and cluttered. But everyone is allowed to have their opinion.

The End
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Vanhoud:
http://www.androidcentral.com/nexus-5-speaker-yes-there-s-only-one-and-software-may-be-hurting-what-you-hear
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] UberGoat:
My main speaker just stopped working. I noticed this after successfully pairing it to my car head unit via bluetooth. I've had bluetooth off since and even tried unpairing it with the device and then turning it off as well, but the speaker has stopped working. Does anybody know of a fix for this or is the device defective? I've tried everything except a factory reset. The phone is not rooted and the bootloader is not unlocked, everything is stock.

---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 PM ----------

Sorry to repost, but this is an update. I just factory reset the phone and there is still no sound coming out of the main speaker. Any ideas?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] occtec:
RMA, I did mine yesterday with Google Play, got RMA authorization straight away it's been shipped today and I get it on Monday :D
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] UberGoat:
Just requested an RMA. It was authorized right away and a replacement should be shipping hopefully by tomorrow. This speaker defect is very unfortunate. Can we make a Sticky post highlighting known defects with the Nexus 5?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] occtec:
Good work! As for sticky post I'm pretty sure it's already been done.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AttachedSilver:
Same here, I'm just gonna run a GPE Rom on my One till another front facing dual stereo speaker phone comes out.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neok44:
No one is expect godly audio from a phone. But we expect decent audio. We expect something on par with other devices, for me i expected it to at least be on par with my Nexus 4. Right now my Nexus 5 absolutely destroys it in sound quality, clarity, volume, and anything else you can think of. I don't even get any distortion even in the loudest songs on my N4. Yet even quiet songs and JUST PHONE CALLS brings massive distortion on the N5.

That's not right. In the future, read topics before you comment on them.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] anthrofear:
I did read the topic and I commented on how I feel about it. I feel that while yes it is lacking it is sufficient for normal everyday use. I get no distortion.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jps13:
Just stumbled upon this thread after doing some Googleing, being highly disappointed with the speaker on my Nexus 5 here in the UK and sure enough it looks like others do have the same problem as me....

neok44 - I tried playing the track you posted Crystallize - Lindsey Stirling and it just sounds awful at full volume, distorts and crackles loads. So I take it my speaker must be faulty too?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Konstigt:
Just got my N5 today (32GB, black). When I, for example, play ringtones, my speaker sounds very distorted. For example the Hangouts Video Call. Compared to my N4 it sounds just like a busted speaker.

But, if I play music in Spotify or Youtube, it sounds OK. What??

Edit: The example ringtone plays OK on another N5 so my device is defective in some way. Returning it.

Edit2: Playing music actually does sound bad, not just all songs and at all volumes.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] grneyez:
For the life of me I don't know why some people expect a home theater system from a phone. Most phones have a mono speaker in them with the exception of the HTC One. A mono speaker can not and will not ever sound good to the human ear. Want better sound buy a HTC One. Want loud volume from a single speaker buy a iPhone. If it's defective send it back, if the replacement you receive is the same than it's not the phone, it's you who are expecting too much from a phone. Stop whining so freaking much over nothing.:-[
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tuncan:
I also have problems with speaker and I'm far from those who have good hearing. If I listen to music, it is ok for me (I don't listen it very often). From this, I can conclude that from hardware aspect speaker works fine.

But when I talking (have a call/conversation), I noticed that I sometimes can't hear people on the other side. Be more specifically - for a second two, the loudness drops a lot and then come back. So this leads me to software problems.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sapecats:
Playing streaming movies with XBMC it sounds with distortion and crackles

With music and youtube videos its sounds ok

---------- Post added at 09:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 AM ----------

And if I plug the earphones playing XBMC it doesn't sound anything!

With other app works fine with earphones

It must be a software problem, not hardware

Enviado desde mi Nexus 5 mediante Tapatalk
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Multicoring:
same here, but I'm only getting it in certain applications. glad to hear i'm not alone :p
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Hayth:
The speaker is a lot quieter and not as clear as my S2, but it does the job.. Only use it so often.

But, I don't know about you guys.. what's quite annoying is that in apps that force the screen counter clockwise when viewing horizontally my hand covers the speaker and I have to adjust my holding position to hear sound. It seems strange that they didn't place the speaker and mic the opposite way round.. (maybe for calls.. I don't know..)

Also annoyingly, there's such a simple solution, if only somehow all apps could be forced the opposite way then the speakers on the top left and is never covered :P maybe it could be incorporated into a custom rom?

Also, possible good news, I just saw this.. Not sure how credible it is though but looks pretty legit:

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2013/11/09/nexus-5-speaker-problem-emerges-fix-promised/
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Larxia:
I've been playing a lot of music on my N5 the last few days and comparing it to my HTC one, of course the one is more powerful with better bass and overall sound but it has dual speakers. The nexus 5 has a great speaker, I have 0 issues with mine, and playing it next to the HTC it still sounds super loud.

If you're having distortion I'd say its defective. Phone calls also work great. For notification sound perhaps try a different tone?

Overall happy with mine, perfectly sufficient for a phone speaker.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] caribouxda:
I read it is a software issue and a fix is on its way.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Marck527:
No problem, I think the quality is decent, close to my s4. But not as loud of course.

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NexusFanBoy:
Same problem on my N5 32gb: audio distorsion to mp3 with every kind of apps (play music, rocket player) but no problem with youtube and stock ringtones! Hope in an update fix with android 4.4.1
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jzsax1:
Same here.. White 32gb model and the sound is terrible from the speaker-phone.. My Outgoing phone which is a Samsung Galaxy S2 has much better sound that the Nexus 5...i dont mind the fact that the volume is not as loud. That is fixable. What gets me is the distortion. Its either the way the sound is handle on the board or the speaker is so crappy and cheap it cant handle the signal.. :confused:

---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------

i disagree. The speaker sound is terrible and poorly executed. The screen leaves room for improvement... but i can live with it... The sound however is not close to any of the phone i have owned before. Even my HTC HD2 had better sound...