[DisCHORDDubstep]

See, this must be why civilization is in trouble, if that's considered trolling... cause I wouldn't say that's trolling at all, that's a reasonable Q.

I'm also like the other guys: heard the report of hissing/cracking/higher output impedance, went in with a confirmatory bias, but simply did not observe those behavior (at least not yet).

My tiny, uneducated suspicion (i.e. you're more than welcome to diss it) is that due to the metal body or circuitry, if your headphone jack is carrying a little bit of static electricity, when you plug it into the M8 you would see more of an effect than with other phones. Other possibilities are myriad: quality control variances or whatever.

I also tried my M8 with a DAC. You know what, it sounds cleaner than my previous Sony phone on the same external DAC!  The M8 sounds cleaner, louder than that phone on both that AND non-aptX Bluetooth. Can you blame me for trashing Sony so much, LOL!  But this time my M8 had a constant high-pitched tone coming out the left channel that I haven't been able to troubleshoot. So all I can say is (an alledgely very un-scientific) YMMV.

odd... Are you certain it isn't the headphones or the dac? Plus, the iPhone 5s, HTC one m7, and Nokia Lumia 925 don't have the hiss problem, and they all have metal as the main material, so it can't be that static electricity is to blame. :\

 

[jk47]

all the snapdragon 800 and 801 soc's are using the built in dac.  the only difference is in the amps.
 
htc one m8 uses the same, more powerful, amp for the speakers and the headphone out.
 
ifixit teardown shows only 1 amp chip, not a separate one for the headphones
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HTC+One+(M8)+Teardown/23615
 
some info on m8 audio output in the multimedia comparison charts at the bottom of the pages linked below- all show the headphone output of the m8 generating MUCH higher output voltage than other smartphones.  of course power isn't everything, but it's something. e.g. m8 headphone output voltage is 1.28 v, while galaxy s5 as well as note 3 are each 0.43, sony z1 and lg g2 both 0.29
 
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/HTC-One-M8-vs-Apple-iPhone-5s_id3624/page/3
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/HTC-One-M8-vs-Samsung-Galaxy-Note-3_id3648/page/3
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-Review_id3639/page/3

 

[eduardoo]

Hi all,
 
I have also been quite pleasantly surprised by the sound of my M8.  Compared with the Cowon D20 that I use as a dedicated player when I was using an HTC One X as a phone (which was pretty nice sounding, too, but I need the storage for other things), the M8 seems to have a little more clarity but perhaps slightly less density driving my Sony XBA-4 headphones.  I have been catching up with this thread recently.  I, too, am experiencing that occasional crackle.  Interestingly, unlike typical clipping that happens with large bass output, it seems to be more correlated with the upper ranges.  Anyway, I read one of the threads saying that having gain reduced may help.  That might probably help with the overly large volume steps, too.  How does one adjust the gain in this thing? 
 
As for the android app to use, I tried the native one, Play Music, Rockbox, Poweramp (trial) and Denon Audio.  The last two definitely sound better and are more adjustable than the first two.  I can't get Rockbox to really work properly so I passed.  Poweramp seems highly adjustable (perhaps on the verge of too much so) and I appreciate that everything seems to work well (except that it can't get about 1% of my Asian tags, which is already better than Neutron (which I have downloaded just to see how it deals with my library but have not listened) which messes up about 30% of them).  The Denon app's virtue is that it is free and it sounds and operates reasonable well.  Not that I want to cheap out on a few bucks, but I'd rather not tie a credit card to my google account unless I really have to.  However, the Denon's widget is not as good and cannot show up on lockscreen, so it's a little more troublesome when I want to stop or change tracks. 
 
Are there other good apps that I should try?
 
Thanks. 

 

[heatofamatch]

  all the snapdragon 800 and 801 soc's are using the built in dac.  the only difference is in the amps.
 
htc one m8 uses the same, more powerful, amp for the speakers and the headphone out.
 
ifixit teardown shows only 1 amp chip, not a separate one for the headphones
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HTC+One+(M8)+Teardown/23615

 
But the teardown doesn't actually show an audio amplifier. The Avago chip is not related to audio; Also last year's M7 used 2 NXP chips (supposedly the TFA9887) to drive the 2 speakers.
 
Do you have any evidence that these smartphones use an amplifier for the headphone out that is not the WCD9320?
Or any evidence that the amps designed to drive the speakers are also responsible for the headphone out?
I'm asking because I'd like to know; I have yet to see anyone who really know their microchips make similar assertions - they tend to say the opposite.

 

[jk47]

   
But the teardown doesn't actually show an audio amplifier. The Avago chip is not related to audio; Also last year's M7 used 2 NXP chips (supposedly the TFA9887) to drive the 2 speakers.
 
Do you have any evidence that these smartphones use an amplifier for the headphone out that is not the WCD9320?
Or any evidence that the amps designed to drive the speakers are also responsible for the headphone out?
I'm asking because I'd like to know; I have yet to see anyone who really know their microchips make similar assertions - they tend to say the opposite.

you're right, that's a power amp. my error.  this is the only reference i can find at short notice stating the speakers and the headphone amp in the m8 are one and the same. i know i first read it elsewhere but can't recall where.  this site specifies the headphone out is 2.5v. the only references to dac's other than the snapdragon's integrated one is the wolfson used with the exynos [?] in the asian [and european?] samsungs.  the pages referenced in my posts above show the measured headphone output voltage in the m8 far exceeding that in other phones which use the same soc's.  so something must be different in the amp, or do you have an alternative explanation?

 

[jk47]

according to anandtech, the new lg g3 uses Cirrus Logic CS35L32 as its speaker amp.  it doesn't specify if the same amp goes to the headphone out, but i would assume so.

 

[svil3]

hi guys! so which audio mod do you prefer for the m8?? project era or v4a? or is there another mod that I'm missing?
greetings!

 

[sibilantz]

  hi guys! so which audio mod do you prefer for the m8?? project era or v4a?

I assume you've rooted the phone so maybe make a nandroid and try both. I've used both and I think I mentioned previously, it's not that great... works well if you've got muddy earphones but if you've got bright/clear earphones it gets a bit too sparkly.
V4A just sounds too processed, better off using poweramp

 

[Duncan]

V4A just sounds too processed, better off using poweramp

Sadly, I agree with this...

Don't know if it is just that DSP isn't for me - like a sugar rush, the initial hit (playing with the settings) was great, but then the come down (finding no settings consistently happy with) left my V4A experience a little mooted,

 

[boybandista]

Hi guys.
 
I was initially thinking of buying either an iPod Classic 160GB + some amp/DAC combo or just a Fiio X5 as an upgrade for my iTouch 5th Gen. Though I am not that keen on buying one, I am also long overdue for a phone upgrade. Now, with the reviews that I have read here, I am considering of buying this to be my phone/portable music source.
 
Soundwise, is it an upgrade, sidegrade or downgrade from my iTouch? How about in comparison to other budget DAPs such as X3/X5/DX50/DX90? 

 

[jk47]

  Hi guys.
 
I was initially thinking of buying either an iPod Classic 160GB + some amp/DAC combo or just a Fiio X5 as an upgrade for my iTouch 5th Gen. Though I am not that keen on buying one, I am also long overdue for a phone upgrade. Now, with the reviews that I have read here, I am considering of buying this to be my phone/portable music source.
 
Soundwise, is it an upgrade, sidegrade or downgrade from my iTouch? How about in comparison to other budget DAPs such as X3/X5/DX50/DX90? 

you may have a problem with battery life with the m8 if you're going to listen to music much along with using the normal smartphone functions.  the m8 battery isn't swappable. you could carry an external battery/power supply, but although it would be cheaper, i doubt the sound would be would be as good, nor would it be any more convenient than just having a phone AND an x5 or dx90.  the dx90 DOES have a swappable battery, and uses standard galaxy s3 batteries.  the x5 has a non-removable battery.  if you're only going to listen to music occasionally, for not very long each day, the m8 alone might be a good solution.

 

[Strangelove424]

Received my HTC One m8 yesterday after upgrading from a 5 year old iPhone 3gs. I can't believe how much I am loving Android. This little HTC is a nice piece of hardware as well. It can drive Grados very well, sounding far cleaner and livelier than my old iPhone, but I was surprised to find it also took my Beyer DT880 600ohms to very acceptable volumes (and with some usable bass!). Pretty amazing, to me atleast.

 

[sibilantz]

 
I was initially thinking of buying either an iPod Classic 160GB + some amp/DAC combo or just a Fiio X5 as an upgrade for my iTouch 5th Gen. Though I am not that keen on buying one, I am also long overdue for a phone upgrade. Now, with the reviews that I have read here, I am considering of buying this to be my phone/portable music source.
 
Soundwise, is it an upgrade, sidegrade or downgrade from my iTouch? How about in comparison to other budget DAPs such as X3/X5/DX50/DX90? 

Why don't you upgrade the phone first, and if it's lacking then get the additional dap?
Battery life is actually pretty good, I use my phone quite a lot during the day and get on average at least 4.5h screen time everyday. Playing music doesn't really drain the battery at all, and the M8 has a pretty decent amp - I think it is the only android phone that has volume levels on par with the iphone 5s. I'm sure there was an output link if you backtrack a few pages.
 
I've never used any of the above dap but that's because to me, the small (subjective) incremental improvement in sound doesn't justify carrying another device around - especially when they're all quite big lol! I mean if you're on the go in the city can you really hear much of an improvement with all the outside noise? (I'm a light traveller 

)

 

[boybandista]

I was thinking that if I could get an "DAP-grade" phone then I could forego buying a dedicated DAP altogether. Unless it sounds a bit better than my iTouch, I could just use the money to buy something like a Moto G and a dedicated DAP like DX90/X5, with the combined cost of the two rougly the same as a single M8 in my country.
 
The buggy/laggy UI of these audiophile DAPs, though, is something that I might not be used to coming from an iTouch.

 

[lucadoc]

I have no problem with my DX50 but I'd like to upgrade my phone Iphone 4 to have only one device in my pocket. I'm searching for tests and reviews about sound quality and headphones power out of smartphones like oppo, one+one, m8,g3, vivo but for the moment I was not able to do my decision