[DrTone]

Quote:

After the recommendations in this thread I got the unlocked version of PowerAmp.
 
Hmmm....
 
1) Poweramp has a lot of background hiss, I am using Shure 535 straight out of the jack, and I can hear it easily in the quieter sections.
 
2) Gapless playback is poor. C'mon guys, my iRiver H320 had great gapless playback 9 years ago!  Even the iPods, after Apple dithered for a year or three, got gapless playback 6 years ago.*
 
3) Handling the other sounds from the phone while playing music leaves something to be desired, sometimes it does a good job, other times it stays on a lower sound level for several seconds after the notification sound has finished. Sometimes it pauses and I have to push play to get it going again.
 
4) The lock screen controls are good, but it often stuffs up the album art. Sometimes the album art is displayed, sometimes it isnt, sometimes it appears only to disappear a second or so later.
 
I dont know how Poweramp got such a good reputation, it must do a better job on other platforms?
 
h
 
 
*
<rant: anti fanboi>
 
 I remember the Apple Fanbois defending Apple at the time: "but there are meant to be gaps between the songs" and "just use crossfade, it's the same thing". When iRiver came out with the H320 they said things like "who would want a colour screen on an mp3 player anyway". Until the next iPod came out with a colour screen and then it was "Apple leads the way, again" despite them being 6 months behind.
 
</rant>

 
1) The hiss you hear via your sensitive 535s is an android/samsung thing, has nothing to do with poweramp.
2) Gapless playback works perfectly for me.  Make sure cut silence at beginning and and of the songs is off.
3) Make sure "Short Audio Focus" is checked, this will pause playback when an external notification sound is played.  Playback will resume promptly at the right volume when the notification sound is done.
4) I agree the lock screen implementation is pretty bad, I just use the default android (ICS) lock screen instead.

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Quote:

 
1) The hiss you hear via your sensitive 535s is an android/samsung thing, has nothing to do with poweramp.
2) Gapless playback works perfectly for me.  Make sure cut silence at beginning and and of the songs is off.
3) Make sure "Short Audio Focus" is checked, this will pause playback when an external notification sound is played.  Playback will resume promptly at the right volume when the notification sound is done.
4) I agree the lock screen implementation is pretty bad, I just use the default android (ICS) lock screen instead.

1) Just tried out Rocket Player and the already onboard (I think) Android Music Player. You are right, they also have a hiss.
 
2) Damn, you are right again, I had that on, and it works better when it is off
 
3) This was already checked, and the problem persists....
 
4) I do like the convenience of being able to change tracks, pause and resume without having to unlock. I hope they can fix this issue, though it is a minor one for me.
 
 
Having that hiss sucks. The Wolfson DAC is a good one, I hope this can be fixed with a software update.
 
Thanks for your help,
 
h

 

[Ari33]

Quote:

1) Just tried out Rocket Player and the already onboard (I think) Android Music Player. You are right, they also have a hiss.
 
2) Damn, you are right again, I had that on, and it works better when it is off
 
3) This was already checked, and the problem persists....
 
4) I do like the convenience of being able to change tracks, pause and resume without having to unlock. I hope they can fix this issue, though it is a minor one for me.
 
 
Having that hiss sucks. The Wolfson DAC is a good one, I hope this can be fixed with a software update.
 
Thanks for your help,
 
h

I found PowerAmp to be decent but nothing amazing. You should try the Neutron player, designed by audiophiles for audiophiles. I use it with my Galaxy S (Wolfson DAC) through either UE TF10's or Sony NC-020's and find it to have by far the most dynamic and clearest sound of all the players currently available, the lowly Galaxy S has no right to sound this good.... if I didn't know what source I was listening to I'd probably pass it off as a £200 + dedicated player.
The pre-amp button is excellent for quieter tracks and automatically lowers itself on clip detection, It has a huge range of advanced settings to tweak iand the surround sound modes are the best implemented I've ever heard.
 
Negatives- Its not the most attractive, the UI takes a bit of getting used to but persevere with it and it becomes more intuitive..

 

[Smokhee]

Quote:

 
Most USB DACs that are reported working here have been reported to sound the same as via a desktop/laptop to users here (including myself).
 
I wonder whether they is an issue of insufficient power supply, if you have access to a powered hub it would be worthwhile to try trouble-shooting that.

 
This certainly could be the problem.  If it is the power, then this becomes an impractical solution for me and I would rather just use my standalone ipod mini with LOD.

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Quote:

I found PowerAmp to be decent but nothing amazing. You should try the Neutron player, designed by audiophiles for audiophiles. I use it with my Galaxy S (Wolfson DAC) through either UE TF10's or Sony NC-020's and find it to have by far the most dynamic and clearest sound of all the players currently available, the lowly Galaxy S has no right to sound this good.... if I didn't know what source I was listening to I'd probably pass it off as a £200 + dedicated player.
The pre-amp button is excellent for quieter tracks and automatically lowers itself on clip detection, It has a huge range of advanced settings to tweak iand the surround sound modes are the best implemented I've ever heard.
 
Negatives- Its not the most attractive, the UI takes a bit of getting used to but persevere with it and it becomes more intuitive..

I am giving the Eval version a go. I think there may be less hiss. Will have to listen to some quiet stuff to see what I can hear.
 
I find the UI to be fine, in terms of setting stuff, though there are a lot of options, so it will take me some time to get through.
 
The millisecond counter is a bit distracting, and pointless, I hope I can turn that off. I do like how it deals with album art.
 
The EQ seems very very sensitive. Just a small touch on the base band and it sounds like one of those cars driving past playing the douch douch song. You know the one, douch de douch douch, douch de douch douch, the one all those small cars with huge bass play.  A bit much really.
 
h

 

[DrTone]

Quote:

1) Just tried out Rocket Player and the already onboard (I think) Android Music Player. You are right, they also have a hiss.
 
2) Damn, you are right again, I had that on, and it works better when it is off
 
3) This was already checked, and the problem persists....
 
4) I do like the convenience of being able to change tracks, pause and resume without having to unlock. I hope they can fix this issue, though it is a minor one for me.
 
 
Having that hiss sucks. The Wolfson DAC is a good one, I hope this can be fixed with a software update.
 
Thanks for your help,
 
h

 
3) I actually have both of them options checked.  Not sure why it would work perfectly for me and not you.
4) Have you configured poweramp to use the default ICS lock screen controls?  All be it not as pretty, I find them more stable than poweramp's.  Might get you by.

 

[DrTone]

Regarding the hiss, don't expect an update from Samsung to address the issue.  Our best hope if for supercurio to release Voodoo Sound for the Note2 and S3.  One thing he does with voodoo sound is turn the digital output of the dac chip up to 100% allowing the head phone amp level to be reduced.  This has 2 benefits, first the people who can't seem to get enough volume from their phone get more volume and people with sensitive in ears get a cleaner sound because the head phone amp doesn't have to work as hard to get the volume.

 

[Ari33]

Quote:

I am giving the Eval version a go. I think there may be less hiss. Will have to listen to some quiet stuff to see what I can hear.
 
I find the UI to be fine, in terms of setting stuff, though there are a lot of options, so it will take me some time to get through.
 
The millisecond counter is a bit distracting, and pointless, I hope I can turn that off. I do like how it deals with album art.
 
The EQ seems very very sensitive. Just a small touch on the base band and it sounds like one of those cars driving past playing the douch douch song. You know the one, douch de douch douch, douch de douch douch, the one all those small cars with huge bass play.  A bit much really.
 
h

 
I totally agree with your observations... and maybe a few other quirks that I'm prepared to ignore for the SQ alone. Don't you find it an immediate improvement over Poweramp?... maybe its just a night/day difference for my specific device iem combo?
A tip- Although it only shows EQ sliders for a few set frequencies in the range, these values can actually be changed for others in the advanced settings.
 
I hope you find it as good as I do.

 

[cel4145]

Don't know if anyone noticed but your can use this kernel http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1927852 which comes with an application that lets you increase the internal amp for the Note 2. Basicly its an implementation of voodoo for the 4412 SOC.

Sound cool, but I am too chicken to install a new kernel.

Not sure if this has been mentioned already in the thread, but I just used this gain control conf hack (root required) to up the headphone amp output:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931970&nocache=1

Using the "Normal Volume Mod" file definitely helped with my Ultrasone HFI-780s.

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Man The SQ sucks on the Note 2. So much background hiss on Poweramp, Rocket, Neutron and the stock player. I find little to no difference in sound quality amongst these players except the eq implementation on Neutron truly sucks.

Are there any solutions for me besides moving to less detailed headphones?

 

[giveit2menow]

these comments about sound quality only relate to use through the headphone socket? if im to use it with external dac and amp then sound is ok?
 

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Quote:

these comments about sound quality only relate to use through the headphone socket? if im to use it with external dac and amp then sound is ok?
 

I would like to know an answer for this from those who use sensitive IEM's as well!
 
h

 

[NZtechfreak]

Quote:

these comments about sound quality only relate to use through the headphone socket? if im to use it with external dac and amp then sound is ok?
 

 Yes, only relate to the headphone socket. It will sound however good the DAC and amp sounds if you use an external DAC.

 

[cel4145]

these comments about sound quality only relate to use through the headphone socket? if im to use it with external dac and amp then sound is ok?

Yep. Then the DAC/AMP are the limiting factor.

However, if you don't have uber sensitive phones, the background hiss may not be a problem. I listen to mine with PowerAmp and Grado SR225i, and have don't find it to be noticeable. Although the headphone amp gain hack I used (see up above) did help to improve the volume output and, I would argue (could be my imagination), the dynamics. Could be it's better matching the sensitivity of the amp to the rest of the audio path.

 

[giveit2menow]

is it right that the notes volume control still works even with a dac and amp connected? if thats the case how can it be bypassing the notes own amp?