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Nexus 5x and 6p sound quality
Nov 9, 2015 at 2:43 AM Post #31 of 118
skepticismau said:
Just got a 6p and I've been listening on some cheapo Senn HD180s.. not terribly happy so far!

The 6P's sound is extremely forward and punchy, but has a real digital grittiness to it. Almost like running through a preamp with the gain wound up too far, with a weird high mid resonance that eventually becomes fatiguing. The weird grit sort of reminds me of my motherboard's onboard Realtek sound, from circa mid-2000s. It feels like the frequency response is not flat at all, I'm expecting tests to show a big peak around high mids to low treble. It's kind of like listening on cheap earbuds.

I'm going to have a go on my DT880s at home. If it still sounds terrible I might just give up and either buy an external DAC or get the darkest sounding cans I can find, lol. Can't believe a flagship actually sounds like this.
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Agreed, the 6p really doesn't sound great. if you *really* want a nexus phone, you might consider auditioning the nexus 5x, sounds much less aggressive and generally smoother to these ears anyway. Also, found horrible digital distortion on the 6p when listening to quiet music (e.g. soft passages of classical music) at low volume. Sadly, i don't think either nexii (?) rival my iPhone 6 plus.

Only my uneducated opinions of course.
 
Nov 12, 2015 at 8:07 PM Post #32 of 118
I did a comparison with my PC setup (Xonar Essence STX) using Beyerdynamic DT880s.

The 6P actually sounds WAY nicer on the Beyers than the Senns. The Senns sounded ugly as hell, heaps of papery high mids and digital grittiness, whereas the DT880s still sounded fairly smooth and actually pretty nice. The PC obviously has much better precision in real terms, having a great DAC and decent amp (124dB SNR etc), so more detail and clarity is preserved, and sounds pretty neutral and organic, whereas the 6P sounds heaps more aggressive and punchy.

With the DT880s my preferred volume is a couple of clicks away from max though and I listen pretty soft. So if you're deaf this may not be the phone for you.
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 4:56 AM Post #37 of 118
wyd4 said:
Yeah I had a macbook USB c to USB adapter and it works a charm. I didn't respond though as I have the 5x and could be completely different as far as compatibility of concerned. Never know with android
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Haha true but I can confirm that it works with the 6p with a USB otg cable (dragonfly)
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 3:56 PM Post #38 of 118
I just received my new 6p, and as discussed, the sound quality (and volume) leaves a lot to be desired.  Without being knowledgeable about why the Nexus flagship has such poor audio quality, is there any hope that a future software upgrade will improve things?  Or is this limitation strictly due to hardware?
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 4:52 PM Post #39 of 118
I'm eyeballing the 6P as my next, I currently have a Moto X 2014 and the sound quality is pretty bad. I hope it's better, or at least similar quality because if it's worse then it's kind of a dealbreaker.
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 7:38 PM Post #40 of 118
alvareo-92 said:
I'm eyeballing the 6P as my next, I currently have a Moto X 2014 and the sound quality is pretty bad. I hope it's better, or at least similar quality because if it's worse then it's kind of a dealbreaker.
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I just moved to the 6P from the Moto X 2nd gen, and the quality on the 6P is worse. The Moto X was good enough for the limited number of times I used it with headphones (like at an airport), but the 6P has me looking at an external DAC/Amp or DAP. The bass seems exaggerated and muddies the vocals. It can be toned down with adjustment in the EQ, but still doesn't sound good. Its been a while since I instantly thought something was terrible quality - I guess the last time was the Bose system in my Volt :)
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 7:43 PM Post #41 of 118
rubley said:
I just moved to the 6P from the Moto X 2nd gen, and the quality on the 6P is worse. The Moto X was good enough for the limited number of times I used it with headphones (like at an airport), but the 6P has me looking at an external DAC/Amp or DAP. The bass seems exaggerated and muddies the vocals. It can be toned down with adjustment in the EQ, but still doesn't sound good. Its been a while since I instantly thought something was terrible quality - I guess the last time was the Bose system in my Volt :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply! That's terrible news though, I guess I'll have to get a Dragonfly...
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 11:42 PM Post #42 of 118
Got a 32gb black graphite the audio quality is underwhelming to say the least. First thing I did was plug in HD650 just for kicks, that didn't go well as expected but I use it to test how powerful it is. Answer: not very. Which is fine.

Tried 3 iems and 3 headphones. ATH IM70, Xiaomi Piston 2, Sony H-3 and then M50X, Sony 7520, Shure 1540.

I like that selection for portable use because of the v shape with enhanced bass and very present highs. IM70 and H-3 are hissy with some players, very quiet here which is good but it just doesn't have any soundstage to it. The M50x is notorious for a small soundstage but I've found that properly amped they are pretty damn good in that department with great imaging, not so here. The Shures are easy to drive with my Nexus 6 and especially my Nexus 9 but the 6P simply can't do it. Sony 7520 are already boomy as it is which I like but on the 6p it is overkill and again the soundstage makes an already compromised headphone in that department even worse. Piston 2s aren't as detailed as they are on my Nexus 6 which is kinda the Pistons saving grace for a $20 iem. Overall I'm disappointed and am sending it back, these phones are already too big as it is without carrying extra gear. But the even tho it seems to be a very good phone, it doesn't really offer anything new to me as a previous Nexus 6 user. Fingerprint and camera I don't care about but the stereo speakers and headphone jack quality I do care about and the Nexus 6 is better in that department. Bigger screen and just as fast so I'm just not sure what I'm upgrading for exactly. Nexus 9 sounds better than both by a wide margin (except for crackling at higher volume steps which is annoying) and the nexus 5 was not great but it was certainly passable, ditto for Nexus 6. It's a shame Google regressed in this area. LG V-10 here I come
 
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