[Buttercream]

Hi, I'm interested in purchasing a tablet. I narrowed down to three tablets: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Blackberry Playbook, and Sony Tablet S. The basic functions of these tablet are all the same, so the deciding factor is audio quality. Which one of these have the best audio quality? Or, which Tablet/portable source with a "smart" OS sounds the best?
 
Thanks.

 

[strannik]

I can't speak about Galaxy Tab or Sony, but the BB Playbook has surprisingly good audio. I'd even go as far as to say it's on par with my COWON J3, and for something that's portable, that's quite a feat.
 
However, as nice as the hardware on the Playbook may be, the BB OS may leave much to be desired, hell, the music player doesn't even have EQ. There is a world of difference between it, and something Android based. Based solely on this, with SQ aside, I would not reccomend the playbook.
 
Quote:

Hi, I'm interested in purchasing a tablet. I narrowed down to three tablets: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Blackberry Playbook, and Sony Tablet S. The basic functions of these tablet are all the same, so the deciding factor is audio quality. Which one of these have the best audio quality? Or, which Tablet/portable source with a "smart" OS sounds the best?
 
Thanks.

 

 

[Buttercream]

Thanks. That checks the Playbook off the list.
 
Btw, I found a review for the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, in the audio performance part, it seems to be pretty good across the board, except for stereo crosstalk which too a big hit with headphone plugged in. Can anyone explain what stereo crosstalk is? I'm still a noob when it comes to this.

 

[rxxdoc]

I have the PlayBook, and I do agree that it has great sound. I was pleasantly surprised. From what I read on crackberry.com "Playbook's WM8994E Wolfson Audio DAC has a hardware parametric EQ and a capless class W headphone amp" So hopefully someone can make an app to help the PlayBook reach its full potential.

 

[InfectedStyles]

The OG Transformer TF101 has VooDoo support for it's Wolfson chip. It sounds amazing to me, and you could pick one up cheap now

 

[StevenBrouwer]

I agree with the previous posts about the playbook. I have got one aswell and also think the sound is really nice. I like it more than my ipod classic 7th gen.
 
Also I don't see why it would be a bad buy. I like it a lot, and if you are just a little handy with computers, you can get most of the android apps working on it!
 
 

 

[SmallestHorse]

As far as I'm aware, the Kindle Fire uses the same hardware as the Playbook. Considering it actually IS an android tablet, it might be easier to mess with to get proper sound

 

[bronxers]

The Kindle Fire does not use the same hardware as the Playbook.  See here: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/remember-how-the-kindle-fire-was-going-to-be-a-rebadged-blackberry-playbook/16330?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE
 
And for the purposes of this thread, the most important distinction is that the Kindle Fire uses a Texas Instruments AIC3110 Low-Power Audio Codec With 1.3W Stereo Class-D Speaker Amplifier and the Playbook uses a Wolfson WM8994E.
             
I have an HP Touchpad running CM9, and I also have a Playbook.  I like the Touchpad, but the Playbook is a far better piece of hardware.  I highly recommend it at its current price point.  Sure, there are some apps I'd like to have that aren't currently available, but there is still so much that you can do on it.  And the web browser is amazing.   The apps will come in due time.  More and more android apps are being ported over each day.  I have about 15 android apps sideloaded at the moment that aren't available in Blackberry App World.  I definitely wouldn't pay twice as much for the Galaxy Tab or the Sony Tablet S.  At least wait for the new Asus Memo (7 inch) tablet if you must have android.  It will be priced at $250 with a quad core processor and should be out by summer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[sashava]

Asus Transformer - first model is proved to have excelent SQ.

 

[InfectedStyles]

Quote:

Asus Transformer - first model is proved to have excelent SQ.

Exactly. If Supercurio supports it, you can't go wrong.
 
 

 

[Buttercream]

In the end, I bought the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. I got it on Amazon for $300. The reason I chose the Galaxy Tab over the others is the size, and the processor. Exynos is the fastest dual core out there at the moment. Speaking of processor, I think Tegra 3 is over hyped, it's not really the next gen processor it's touted to be. It's still made on the 40nm process, still uses cortex-A9 cores, and it's only in intensive applications like games when all four cores are turned on, something I don't do often. If anything, I'm more looking forward to the A15 monsters due out later in the year.
 
The playbook is a really nice option, but the hardware is not that well designed. The power button is a pain in the butt to press, and it's located next to the volume control, so I'll be pressing the wrong button half of the time. I guess I'll wait for the new tablet from Blackberry when they release BB10 later in the year, hopefully they won't go under by then.

 

[Buttercream]

I thought I would do an update. So, I returned the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, and ordered the Playbook. The Galaxy Tab was having problem with my dorm's wi-fi, and it couldn't connect with my macbook pro at all. Worse, Poweramp was acting up on it, it would skip while playing a song, or just flat out stops and force close. I think I got a dud. Hopefully the playbook will be a better experience.

 

[Rock12354]

I have the HP Touchpad running CM9 too, and it has the best audio I've seen (heard) so far... it's on par with the playbook in my opinion, but it has a very strong speaker with a pretty large driver... (you can hear it clearly in a party)