[fixxxer667]

Problem comes when people start flashing the phone using non-official firmware/rom.

...
No.

(Ok, to make this a bit more constructive.)
That is absolutely not the case, according to my experience.
Specially in the world of android, custom roms, third party apps and great devs have repeatedly provided tweaks and applications that make a dramatic difference to the audio output of multiple devices.
Naturally, hardware has its limitations and you can't expect mobile phones to go toe to toe with dedicated audio hardware (yet).
However, the software in front of the hardware does play a role in smartphones.
And when the audio control options provided by the device manufacturer are volume up/down and mute, I'd say that non-official software allowing you to fully utilize your hardware's potential is a blessing and not a problem.

 

[PavoGrande]

Can't really say. I have two pairs of 16ohm IEMs (same as yours) and they are both fine. Tried some westone W40s (31 ohm) and had occasional crackling with those.

I would guess they will be OK, but you should really try it out before buying (or buy with option to return it).

You think it might be because you have the volume lower for the 16 ohm IEMs? I read earlier in the thread that the HTC crackled specifically at higher volumes. I don't want you to hurt your ears but could you see if louder volume notches introduce crackles to the 16 ohm IEMs?

 

[Simma]

Can't really say. I have two pairs of 16ohm IEMs (same as yours) and they are both fine. Tried some westone W40s (31 ohm) and had occasional crackling with those.

I would guess they will be OK, but you should really try it out before buying (or buy with option to return it).

You think it might be because you have the volume lower for the 16 ohm IEMs? I read earlier in the thread that the HTC crackled specifically at higher volumes. I don't want you to hurt your ears but could you see if louder volume notches introduce crackles to the 16 ohm IEMs?

Having the volume lower definitely helps, but out of interest, I've once tried to push the volume to unhealthy levels to provoke the crackling and can't remember hearing any.

 

[PavoGrande]

Having the volume lower definitely helps, but out of interest, I've once tried to push the volume to unhealthy levels to provoke the crackling and can't remember hearing any.

So in your experimentation, higher ohm headphones are too much for the M8 for whatever reason. Have you experimented with any full size headphones? I have a pair of Grado 80i and some MDR7506 that I may use with the HTC as well. Regardless, I feel that I will probably have to go to the store and test them out anyhow, but regardless if you know anything about full size headphones with the M8 that would be great.

 

[uelover]

...
No.

(Ok, to make this a bit more constructive.)
That is absolutely not the case, according to my experience.
Specially in the world of android, custom roms, third party apps and great devs have repeatedly provided tweaks and applications that make a dramatic difference to the audio output of multiple devices.
Naturally, hardware has its limitations and you can't expect mobile phones to go toe to toe with dedicated audio hardware (yet).
However, the software in front of the hardware does play a role in smartphones.
And when the audio control options provided by the device manufacturer are volume up/down and mute, I'd say that non-official software allowing you to fully utilize your hardware's potential is a blessing and not a problem.

 
I am not implying that flashing android firmwares/roms will not bring in any advantage - for if that is the case nobody will bother doing that in the first place.
 
However, the flashing of firmwares/roms has its own set of risks and may introduce instability/problems into a device that is running on official firmware/rom tested to be stable. This is why most creator of such third party firmwares/roms has a disclaimer telling people to do it at their own risk.
 
Ok that is off topic.

 

[Simma]

Having the volume lower definitely helps, but out of interest, I've once tried to push the volume to unhealthy levels to provoke the crackling and can't remember hearing any.

So in your experimentation, higher ohm headphones are too much for the M8 for whatever reason. Have you experimented with any full size headphones? I have a pair of Grado 80i and some MDR7506 that I may use with the HTC as well. Regardless, I feel that I will probably have to go to the store and test them out anyhow, but regardless if you know anything about full size headphones with the M8 that would be great.

I've tested the M8 with Sennheiser Momentums (over + on ear), HD25-1 & Soundmagic HP100. Had problems with crackling with all of these. But depending on the musical style you won't hear it. I'm getting it a lot with sub bass heavy music like dubstep as well as with music with lots of dynamics like for example jazz. Depending on the type of music you listen to, you might not hear it while trying it out.

 

[pukemon]

...
No.

(Ok, to make this a bit more constructive.)
That is absolutely not the case, according to my experience.
Specially in the world of android, custom roms, third party apps and great devs have repeatedly provided tweaks and applications that make a dramatic difference to the audio output of multiple devices.
Naturally, hardware has its limitations and you can't expect mobile phones to go toe to toe with dedicated audio hardware (yet).
However, the software in front of the hardware does play a role in smartphones.
And when the audio control options provided by the device manufacturer are volume up/down and mute, I'd say that non-official software allowing you to fully utilize your hardware's potential is a blessing and not a problem.

dramatic difference?  most i've tried do nothing or did worse.  there have been a couple like volume mods or fixing some other discrepancy but for the most part, a lot of mods do nothing or are placebo.  some of the wolfson stuff has stood out, but almost everything i've tried with qualcomm has been crap or useless.  and wolfson does help with some of the open sourcing.  can't do that with qualcomm.

 

[PavoGrande]

I've tested the M8 with Sennheiser Momentums (over + on ear), HD25-1 & Soundmagic HP100. Had problems with crackling with all of these. But depending on the musical style you won't hear it. I'm getting it a lot with sub bass heavy music like dubstep as well as with music with lots of dynamics like for example jazz. Depending on the type of music you listen to, you might not hear it while trying it out.

If that's the case, I don't think this is a phone I'll be too interested in. I trust you have a good ear, have you tested the audio of any other phones on the market that have struck you as great performers?

 

[uelover]

If that's the case, I don't think this is a phone I'll be too interested in. I trust you have a good ear, have you tested the audio of any other phones on the market that have struck you as great performers?

Please go get your beloved iPhone.

 

[PavoGrande]

Please go get your beloved iPhone.

Lol, I actually hate iOS, I just really love my music. I was actually more hoping someone would say that the LG G3 is amazing... Haha

 

[uelover]

Lol, I actually hate iOS, I just really love my music. I was actually more hoping someone would say that the LG G3 is amazing... Haha

Haha then you need to hang out more in the LG G3 thread rather than here.

 

[elfary]

This crackling issue reminds me a lot of the Galaxy S4 fuzzies.
 
Does it happen in the last step of volume, only at 2 steps from maximum... ...on the S4 just happened on the step 14 (out of 15). It was measured by Jensigner.
 
Anyway the crackling and the mono audio over USB make this phone a no go. This mono thing is outrageous really. How comes nobody at HTC noticed it?
 
Hence as usual i'd stick to my iPhone 5s (that as usual has no audio flaws of any kind).

 

[Simma]

I've tested the M8 with Sennheiser Momentums (over + on ear), HD25-1 & Soundmagic HP100. Had problems with crackling with all of these. But depending on the musical style you won't hear it. I'm getting it a lot with sub bass heavy music like dubstep as well as with music with lots of dynamics like for example jazz. Depending on the type of music you listen to, you might not hear it while trying it out.

If that's the case, I don't think this is a phone I'll be too interested in. I trust you have a good ear, have you tested the audio of any other phones on the market that have struck you as great performers?

Not really, had an iPhone 5 for a while which had good sq but not enough power to drive the bigger headphones. Also don't like ios too much. The amp of the m8 was the promising thing, but I ultimately decided to just use a DAP for my portable music.

 

[elfary]

Not really, had an iPhone 5 for a while which had good sq but not enough power to drive the bigger headphones. Also don't like ios too much. The amp of the m8 was the promising thing, but I ultimately decided to just use a DAP for my portable music.

 Was your iPhone 5 european?
 
Since 2013 all Apple handsets are capped within Europe (non removable from the music menu. Only via jailbreak)
 
My US iPhone 5s delivers 1 volt where my (now sold) European iPhone 5s only delivered 0.6 volts.

 

[Simma]

Yes it was european, although I remember that there was an option to remove some volume capping in the menu. But I guess that's not the capping you're talking about.