[uelover]

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?

I guess that is because these problems simply don't exist. At least for my unit.

 

[elfary]

I guess that is because these problems simply don't exist. At least for my unit.

 
I'd rather hold back anyway since chances of getting a crackling M8 are very real by judging all the users that have reported that very issue.

 

[rafaelpernil]

@elfary I'm testing again and I'm doubting if there's any crackling... I have another M8 near me with 4.4.2 stock with LPA enabled and besides a bit closed soundstage, it doesn't crackle.

Maybe it was a manufacturing problem which is already fixed... I don't know...

 

[uelover]

@elfary I'm testing again and I'm doubting if there's any crackling... I have another M8 near me with 4.4.2 stock with LPA enabled and besides a bit closed soundstage, it doesn't crackle.

Maybe it was a manufacturing problem which is already fixed... I don't know...

 
What is LPA?

 

[Simma]

@elfary I'm testing again and I'm doubting if there's any crackling... I have another M8 near me with 4.4.2 stock with LPA enabled and besides a bit closed soundstage, it doesn't crackle.

Maybe it was a manufacturing problem which is already fixed... I don't know...

Interesting.

Just to confirm, you're testing with headphones and not sensitive iems and volume of at least 13/15?

Also some musical styles are more prone to crackle on my unit than others. Sometimes it's just on very few drum hits of a track. A lot of times completely clean at any volume level.

 

[rafaelpernil]

   
What is LPA?

Low Power Audio. It's a feature in android KitKat which saves battery by using DSP to decode digital signal instead of the DAC to play the music. http://www.phonearena.com/news/Android-4.4-brings-support-for-low-power-audio-playback_id48948
 
Regards

 

[rafaelpernil]

@Simma It seems I was wrong... I can perceive the crackling but only on some tracks. It's hard to find...

Btw, I'm sorry, I can't make quotes on Tapatalk...

Regards

 

[uelover]

Interesting.

Just to confirm, you're testing with headphones and not sensitive iems and volume of at least 13/15?

Also some musical styles are more prone to crackle on my unit than others. Sometimes it's just on very few drum hits of a track. A lot of times completely clean at any volume level.

 
Sounds like a recording issue that was revealed on the HTC One M8?

 

[manutd6389]

Interesting.

Just to confirm, you're testing with headphones and not sensitive iems and volume of at least 13/15?

Also some musical styles are more prone to crackle on my unit than others. Sometimes it's just on very few drum hits of a track. A lot of times completely clean at any volume level.

There's nothing wrong with mine either...

 

[Simma]

   
Sounds like a recording issue that was revealed on the HTC One M8?

 
Very unlikely, I think it's just the amp clipping.
 
Else the M8 would be the only device that I've ever played my music on revealing those recording issues. The crackling appears on tracks from lots of different genres, from 1940s Jazz to 2014 EDM, and it's always the same sound.

 

[uelover]

   
Very unlikely, I think it's just the amp clipping.
 
Else the M8 would be the only device that I've ever played my music on revealing those recording issues. The crackling appears on tracks from lots of different genres, from 1940s Jazz to 2014 EDM, and it's always the same sound.

 
Maybe you want to point me to those tracks for me to try them out?
 
I will first try out the tracks using my Benchmark DAC1 with my UERM before trying it out on the HTC One M8 using my Focal Professional headphone.
 
All of them are very neutral and revealing gears and will pick up the slightest distortion/clipping if there are any.

 

[Simma]

  There's nothing wrong with mine either...

 
Then it might be true that there are really just a lot of defective units (I remember someone in this thread talking about huge variation in sound on different M8s), or you're just lucky because of your setup & music choice. 
 
Could you checkout this track with some kind of over ear headphones at about 13/15? 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfMM4BRI-o
 
Starting from about 1:24, no matter what over- or on ear headphones I use, this turns into a crackle-fest on my M8
 
 
edit: I'm not saying that this isn't an unusual amount of sub-bass, but none of my other devices from a small clip zip, to DX50 or the headphone out of my Rane DJ-Mixer is playing this with crackling.

 

[uelover]

   
Then it might be true that there are really just a lot of defective units (I remember someone in this thread talking about huge variation in sound on different M8s), or you're just lucky because of your setup & music choice. 
 
Could you checkout this track with some kind of over ear headphones at about 13/15? 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfMM4BRI-o
 
Starting from about 1:24, no matter what over- or on ear headphones I use, this turns into a crackle-fest on my M8
 
 
edit: I'm not saying that this isn't an unusual amount of sub-bass, but none of my other devices from a small clip zip, to DX50 or the headphone out of my Rane DJ-Mixer is playing this with crackling.

 
I only heard some soft noise around that region. The noise is audible on both my M8 and my Benchmark DAC1. You must really crank the volume up until your ear hurts to hear them.

 

[Simma]

   
I only heard some soft noise around that region. The noise is audible on both my M8 and my Benchmark DAC1. You must really crank the volume up until your ear hurts to hear them.

Yes, I think this noise is either caused by the youtube upload, or due to the production.
With this track, the crackling is so obvious on my device (at loud, but not really deafening volume) that it's impossible to overhear.
 
Now it would be interesting to know why some devices are affected and others aren't, maybe it's region specific.
 
But I've lost the interest in investigating this, since I decided to rather use my dx50 on the road. 

 

[lucadoc]

I'd like to find a phone that could replace my Dx50...