[Duncan]

I should clear up - the popping / artefact noise that I, and others have heard - are from, so it seems - poor quality mastering / rips - that is being exaggerated by the extra power that the M8 has on tap...
 
Re changing region from '0' to '1', am not really sure if it improves or not, as I don't have two phones to enable me to A/B - I think that there is more headroom (so, more hiss) with region set to '1', but - cannot say with authority as by the time I've amended the props, rebooted the phone, readjusted the volume, and started listening again, my auditory memory has long since passed..
 
Anyway, back to point, so long as you are accepting that even FLAC / WV files can be afflicted by poor mastering - which doesn't appear to highlight itself on other handsets, then - you're laughing - but, in the first instance, it is a little offputting...
 
This caveat doesn't apply if - you don't play at full volume anyway (which you shouldn't with IEMs such as the IE800 / E846 anyway, as they have far too much volume potential...  Protect your hearing everybody!!)

 

[Cyral]

 I don't think that too much power really is the cause of the popping sound, it might help a bit but it's not the main reason.
 
It feels good of course to say my Phone has soo much power that I can hear poor encoded tracks..
 
When I plug them in my pc with a high quality sound card I don't hear any popping at all, playing the same track,on a much higher volume.
 
 
So for me saying that this is a power problem doesn't feel right, but I might not understand the term '''Power'' well enough.

 

[Simma]

I should clear up - the popping / artefact noise that I, and others have heard - are from, so it seems - poor quality mastering / rips - that is being exaggerated by the extra power that the M8 has on tap...

I don't really think that this can be the final conclusion. I listen to a lot of bass centred electronic music built to play on huge soundsystems. Most of these tracks are bought at Junodownload and either 320 mp3 or lossless files. On the M8, almost every track on my 64gb card plays with this crackling at one point or the other. I don't hear any of this on the headphone output of my Rane dj mixer or my rokit monitors.

I don't believe that almost every producer out there uses poor mastering services and the only device able to show it is this phone.
But maybe I'm not really getting your point, I don't know anything about the technical side of all this.

 

[Simma]

On the other hand: I feel like listening at lower volume is more fun than on my previous phones (galaxy s3 w/ boeffla sound, iPhone 5) because of the extra juice. I've always tended to go too loud on the others while it seems like the M8 gives enough thump to be satisfied with lower volume

Gesendet von meinem HTC One_M8 mit Tapatalk

 

[Duncan]

Well, it might not be a conclusive answer, however - with me, I have found that listening to the same tracks that have artefacts on a different phone (iPhone 5S and Samsung Note 3 - Qualcomm version) reveals the same artefacts - albeit just at a lower volume...
 
Could be a problem with the Android decoders, which would explain why PC use is unaffected!??!

 

[live1]

ok it does clip at full volume.ive tested bass heavy uk garage.vocal and bass clips
this is bs.i listened to all my garage on my 808 no problem.all the built in music that is already on the m8 will not clip.its gone back

 

[live1]

sound same as sgs4 clipping before it was fixed

 

[warawara]

   
That's hilarious...that's the exact phone I was using at the gym before I got the M8...same exact headphones too...GR07BE...I love them with the M8 now.  My Nexus 5 just sits alone on my desk...unused.  haha.
 
The HTC music app is fine...I still prefer Google Play Music tho.

LOL, that is awesome!
 
Google Play Music has been great to use.

 

[Ichiro67]

I'm loving the sound thus far from the M8.  A major step up from my S3 (which had horrid sound quality no matter what app or configuration i used).  The only issue like some have mention are the random clipping of audio.  I'm not sure if its the mp3 file or maybe my 3mm audio jack.  Any fixes so far
 
After the S3 and S4 I was extremely disappointed with Samsung and the poor quality of sound I was getting from their phones.  I was tempted to wait for the Z2 as I loved the sound from Sony's old mp3 Walkman.

 

[Darkseth]

Which S3 exactly?European version with Wolfson audiochip had pretty much one of the best sound qualities you can find in any android device.

 

[Ichiro67]

Crappy NA version of S3 w/out the wolfson chip

 

[FYLegend]

Has anybody tried my Daft Punk "Touch" sample? On my Butterfly s, I've also double-checked the song on YouTube and other sites, and it also distorts whenever the volume is above 11/15. Unfortunately the Butterfly s is an Asia exclusive and problems like this aren't as widely reported. I think HTC really needs to address this but when I contacted them they wanted me to take the phone in for a hardware check to make sure it isn't defective... unfortunately I live overseas from where I got my phone, so that would be inconvenient.
 
Also try PowerAMP with limiter and DVC turned on. Check if there's any occasional popping. (different from the clipping, it does not always occur at the same parts of a song).
 
How are the external speakers? Are they a lot better than the M7?

 

[dbdynsty25]

Has anybody tried my Daft Punk "Touch" sample? On my Butterfly s, I've also double-checked the song on YouTube and other sites, and it also distorts whenever the volume is above 11/15. Unfortunately the Butterfly s is an Asia exclusive and problems like this aren't as widely reported. I think HTC really needs to address this but when I contacted them they wanted me to take the phone in for a hardware check to make sure it isn't defective... unfortunately I live overseas from where I got my phone, so that would be inconvenient.

Also try PowerAMP with limiter and DVC turned on. Check if there's any occasional popping. (different from the clipping, it does not always occur at the same parts of a song).

How are the external speakers? Are they a lot better than the M7?

A little louder and a little more extended on the top and bottom end. So yes. Quite a bit better.

 

[h-man]

Had this phone for about 2 weeks now. Live the build quality,screen etc. Find the SQ also to be very good but when listening at low volumes through the Shure SE535 can definitely hear the noise floor hiss that is common to many android phones. The iPhone 5s on the other hand sounds perfectly black to my ears FWIW.

 

[Docks]

Had this phone for about 2 weeks now. Live the build quality,screen etc. Find the SQ also to be very good but when listening at low volumes through the Shure SE535 can definitely hear the noise floor hiss that is common to many android phones. The iPhone 5s on the other hand sounds perfectly black to my ears FWIW.

Thanks, this is what i have been waiting for someone to say... Every android device i've had has the hiss. I hate apple but the output from their phones is amazing.