What is the right thing to do to get the best out of my HTC Sensation XE?

I honestly feel the beats thing is more gimmick than substance, especially with the Sensation. The fact is, HTC took the Sensation 4G and threw on a new version of it's Sense UI, clocked the processor speed to what it natively is from factory, and upped the battery when they made the Sensation XE. I use a XE based ROM on my Sensation and can only advise that you try a portable amp for better quality/enjoyable listening. 

In the coming months you may be able to see bit-bit transmition from the micro-USB port for output to a DAC/Amp as the latest version of the Android OS has the capability of having a driver added to allow for the bypassing of the internal amp. But no guarantees. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaLaoEh 

I somehow feel that the "Beats Enhancement" just increases the bass and treble,and is some kind of gimmick. While the HTC Enhancement sounds crappy to me.

So what music player would you guys recommend?

 

And can I rockbox my HTC Sensation XE? (What is rockbox and what does it do? o.O)

 

Someone please help me! 

 

Any information that could help improve the SQ on my HTC would be deeply appreciated. :)

 

I use 320kbps MP3s and a GR07.

 

 

 

Without rooting your phone, you'll have to wait. I have 4.0.3 right now but not a final release. shouldn't be more than a few more months

Quote:

Originally Posted by WaLaoEh 

Latest version? Btw is it possible to upgrade my android from 2.3 to 4.0? They stated that my phone can be upgraded to android 4.0 but i dk how.
 

 

The correct answer is to download PlayerPro+DSP from the Android market and ditch the built in player.

I've posted lots about how good i think the XE is as a music player, so read through my post history.

(I have tried all the players in the Android market and Player pro's DSP lights up the XE)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenman345 

...

In the coming months you may be able to see bit-bit transmition from the micro-USB port for output to a DAC/Amp as the latest version of the Android OS has the capability of having a driver added to allow for the bypassing of the internal amp. But no guarantees. 
..-

Did you know if it's possible? Today my Fiio E17 and I would connect it by the usb plug ...

EDIT: I opened this and the Android phone DAC thread, thought i was on a different thread when making this post. Some of this information still applies, will add to the bottom of the post in a moment.

While I haven't been watching the thread here, I have been paying attention to news. Honestly, you need a Micro-USB to Female USB adapter to even try it on phones. The thing is, I have said cable, and it doesn't work on my Android phone, but it is meant to work on a Samsung Galaxy Phone/player. Many different devices exist and it's all up to the manufacturer/OS builder. Some phones/devices can use the cable just fine with the Gingerbread OS (2.3) and some can't even use it with 4.0.3 installed. It's all a gamble right now, as not every device is supported, we need to compile a list of working devices. It also may be different for devices that are running the latest build of Cyanogen, as I have heard it has support for USB Audio passthrough. 

BTW, the cable I got was from Amazon, I believe i've posted a link in this thread or at least another one. Another thing is some devices have been confirmed to work with the cable with a USB Flash Drive, but most people haven't really tried using it as a USB Audio source. Not sure that some of the devices confirmed to be able to use the cable are even able to pass audio through it. This is one of the cases where I have some of the necessary parts, and not much incentive to get the rest since I don't have anything working with my phone using the cable. When that day comes I'll be taking more interest. Might be considering an iPhone for my next phone though, so all this may not be very important to me, as I probably will get (don't remember the name) that device thats a case and an external DAC for iPhones to use. (Hoping for a huge flash based storage iPhone, preferably like, 4 times the capacity of the current highest model would work quite nicely with some growing room).

EDIT 2: So, basically, I use a rooted Sensation 4G, which is the same in all specs besides the stock firmware to the Sensation XE (Beats is literally a software based implementation on this phone). I am using 4.0.3 (i believe) and have had no luck using any USB based device with the phone. It's unfortunate, it sucks, etc. I don't really see this changing that much. USB Audio output on Android based devices isn't a high concern and is a pretty niche market (though I always feel if I want it, i'm market enough for it to exist). It's possible to have the feature added into OS 4.x.x but it's more than just HTC or a ROM builder putting in the driver. Their may be more to it, not entirely sure