HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio, speculation, thoughts? - Page 2

Hi chaps.

Some history:
I used to have a X5l pmp, didn't like it (to dark for me), so swapped it for a 5.5g iPod. (loved it, neutral and enjoyable imho)
I then progresed to using the iPod with a mini^3 amp and my IE7's which was lovely. Then I got my 3GS iPhone and ditched the pod and the amp because the 3gs was that good.
Fast forward two years and got fed up up of the small screen and after being disappointed with the 4s screen decided to jump ship to android.
I did a lot of research and had to choose between the SG2 and the XE
The SG2 gets panned on audio reviews and I had a quick listen to a freinds and thought it sounded awful (dead) tbh. So I took the plunge with the XE.

Opinion:

Great phone. Android is fab (drag and drop is a revelation) and I love the freedom.
The beats set up is sound processing and ibeats earphones.
The earphones are reviewed on this site elsewhere but they are great fun and miles, miles better than anything I have ever got with a audio device before. I think they are a tad bass heavy but ymmv. They also have this abillity to "connect " to your skull? And thus have fantastic attack on crisp sounds. Really gets you in the music .

However, the beats processing is locked in to the player so to get rid of it and listen to the sound as flat as I could I've downloaded poweramp (great app) and am currently using my IE7's . The result of which is a lovely sound tbh. I'm noticing lots more detail in music that I've never heard from the 3gs and the bass is much better without being over the top.
Certainly better than my iPod. The output isn't hugely powerful tho which really is the only bad thing to say.
So if you like dsnce/rap/etc, plug in the beats, you will have a hoot. If you want a more natural sound, use poweramp.

I'd be interested to hear what other users think but IMHO, its not bad at all.....

Oh Jesus save us...

 

 

HTC Rezound starts shipping early because you can't stop the Beats

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/09/htc-rezound-starts-shipping-early-because-you-cant-stop-the-bea/

Could you describe how it works with other phones than the ones that comes with?
The review http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_sensation_xe-review-672p5.php mentions some horrible BS that unless you use the beats phones with the phone, the sound "quality" (referring to some digital EQ) automatically goes down...
 I meant to use this phone with some other (good) headphones too, and I would like to have a good quality sound for sure...

perhaps external DAC can fix it? :(

My classmate has the Sensation XE, and I managed to borrow it for a good half hour. 

 

I'd forgotten that the phone doesn't natively support FLAC files, so using my usual reference music was a no-go. I managed to transfer a few 320kbps MP3s to her phone though, and I plugged in my own portable 'phones for good measure. Just to provide a point of reference, though I've no idea as to the credibility of the statement, my 'phones (SE-EX9) have a very similar sound quality to the Grado SR-60i's, though with a slightly smaller soundstage and less sparkly treble. This is an observation from a fellow Head-Fi'er who owns both headphones.

 

The first thought to cross my mind was that the effect of the Beats Audio enhancement could be easily replicated by installing a music player with a decent EQ (e.g. PowerAMP) and cranking up the volume. The music did seem slightly crisper,and the soundstage widened somewhat (it was a bit noisy in the room, so I can't say for sure), so it might not have been all misdirection. I also tried out the came-with Beats IEMs for good measure. To no one's surprise, they didn't sound "excellent", really. They weren't horrible, but they weren't outright good. The Beats Audio enhancement was much more pronounced using the IEMs, and the improvements, while only marginally large with my cans, were nearly shocking with the Beats IEMs. Then again, that might be due to the (much) better noise isolation due to their form factor (The EX9s are open-backs).

 

Like I said, I only had half an hour to spend time with the phones and the IEMs, so you may get different results if you actually get to spend a lot of quality time with them in a proper listening environment. 

 

Cheers.

Thanks so much that you took your time to explain that...

OK but it does not sound too horrible, I just got the impression that the sound was going to sound downright bad if you plugged in your own phones... superpiper explanined in another thread how to download some other player and some software additionally and the sound would improve a lot...
OK I can breath out 

I'd want HTC to provide us with a modern phone with at least a Wolfson in ... no hardware soundprocessing apart from maybe BBE..... they make so many phones, they're bound to produce somethingbetter than the Dr. Dre crap one day... Hoping for something housing the decent WM8903 DAC or similar.

Edited by voon - 1/6/12 at 5:17am

... Which is why I'm reluctant to upgrade from my i9000 :(

 

The single-cure CPU is definitely dated now (sad how technology has all us poor suckers upgrading our gear every other quarter), but the WM8994 kicks rear when compared to other PDMPs. After Voodoo-modding it, I've yet to come across a phone with better sound quality.

 

Well, the iPhone 4S notwithstanding. Then again, who can afford the premium? And lack of FLAC support, to boot :/

Timely Bump.

 

I'm now rocking ICS on the XE. HTC seem to have re-jigged the Beats software and i have to say, it sounds rather good and a big improvement over the previous itteration. So much so that i am not looking for the Poweramp app anymore.

Not sure if its "Audiophile" buts it is great fun to listen too.

Wait, so the ICS-version of the Sensation XE supports gapless playback? That's pretty much the one thing I love about PowerAMP :))