[White Lotus]

   the stupid samsung eq and effects

 
What are these?
 
Can you elaborate please? 

 

[StanD]

   
The success of voodoo (and possibly poweramp) suggests it's not a bad hardware implementation, it's samsung being stupid and forcing the signal through the crappy eq, even when it's set to 0. Note 2 with voodoo is on par with the cowon j2 and ipod classic. The playing field changed at around the release of the DX100 when they shorten the battery life for a batter amp. There are giant software problems with plain android with high quality audio, for example the ibasso dx100, in fact none of the android based players I can think of just use the default android player, it's just crap and the volume steps are huge, needing root to fix it.
 
On the other hand I have seen no evidence of a bad hardware implementation, except for the standard amp section only designed to be used by high sensitivity, low impedance iems. 
 
Right now i'm using PlayerPro with dsp to bypass the stupid samsung eq and effects, works well, but voodoo would boost other sources of music.

Yes even with all the EQ sliders set at zero something is going on. My Galaxy Note 3 has a switch on the EQ screen that turns off the EQ, it works. I'll bet that it's there on the newer models as well.

 

[milford30]

   
What are these?
 
Can you elaborate please? 

 
It's the sound alive eq slides stanD mentioned above, looks like the picture in this link:
 
https://www.google.com/search?q=SoundAlive+equalizer&espv=2&biw=1067&bih=532&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_AUoBGoVChMIlqHh7cHdxwIV0nGOCh1f0ga7#imgrc=nlAriAV3TRf8uM%3A
 
 
Note: the "no effects" tab at the bottom just means no tube/7.1 etc effects, does not bypass the eq.
 
I've checked in the settings>sound, etc.
 
no option to turn it off, forces the signal though it and degrades the sound. The eq is just an example for samsung, the one size fits all android audio api is not written with high quality audio in mind, specific tweaking of the specific dac like voodoo increases the audio quality (sort of like v4a but more model specific). Hence DX100 and other players write their own api and cannot be cloned on a phone.
 
I guess it could be a bad linear circuit, but the software makes it way worse.
 
Edit: Apologies, more correctly it's DSP not api. Turning off the eq still does not bypass the DSP but it's better than having it on. Just in case, I'm using the note 4 exynos version (wolfson dac) on 5.0.1.

 

[StanD]

   
It's the sound alive eq slides stanD mentioned above, looks like the picture in this link:
 
https://www.google.com/search?q=SoundAlive+equalizer&espv=2&biw=1067&bih=532&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_AUoBGoVChMIlqHh7cHdxwIV0nGOCh1f0ga7#imgrc=nlAriAV3TRf8uM%3A
 
 
Note: the "no effects" tab at the bottom just means no tube/7.1 etc effects, does not bypass the eq.
 
I've checked in the settings>sound, etc.
 
no option to turn it off, forces the signal though it and degrades the sound. The eq is just an example for samsung, the one size fits all android audio api is not written with high quality audio in mind, specific tweaking of the specific dac like voodoo increases the audio quality (sort of like v4a but more model specific). Hence DX100 and other players write their own api and cannot be cloned on a phone.
 
I guess it could be a bad linear circuit, but the software makes it way worse.
 
Edit: Apologies, more correctly it's DSP not api. Turning off the eq still does not bypass the DSP but it's better than having it on. Just in case, I'm using the note 4 exynos version (wolfson dac) on 5.0.1.

You ever notice that when using a USB DAC, the slider for the lowest frequency does not work. In any case the EQ worked decently for Android 4.4.4. I think they fetched their Lollipop from from their behinds. I get better results with a USB DAC using my old Galaxy S3 runnig Android 4.4.4. Since I don't use it for cellular service, etc, I turned off mobile data and the cellular radio, now the battery lasts very long.

 

[milford30]

  You ever notice that when using a USB DAC, the slider for the lowest frequency does not work. In any case the EQ worked decently for Android 4.4.4. I think they fetched their Lollipop from from their behinds. I get better results with a USB DAC using my old Galaxy S3 runnig Android 4.4.4. Since I don't use it for cellular service, etc, I turned off mobile data and the cellular radio, now the battery lasts very long.

 
I don't usually use a DAC, there is a noticeable difference  with my ibasso D10, but I don't think it's worth the extra balk. Anyway I just tested it, and you're right the 60hz bar does nothing with the USB DAC. I think it's Samsung screwing up, sound alive is only used by Samsung and as far as I know Samsung wrote their own api for USB support for S3/4, Note 3, Android didn't support USB DAC till after 4.4.2 (or some where around there).

 

[StanD]

   
I don't usually use a DAC, there is a noticeable difference  with my ibasso D10, but I don't think it's worth the extra balk. Anyway I just tested it, and you're right the 60hz bar does nothing with the USB DAC. I think it's Samsung screwing up, sound alive is only used by Samsung and as far as I know Samsung wrote their own api for USB support for S3/4, Note 3, Android didn't support USB DAC till after 4.4.2 (or some where around there).

When using an external DAC, the rest of the EQ sucks as well. Whoever tested this at Samsung is deaf.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

 
LOL...weeeee weeeeeeeeee
 

 
 
 
 
@StanD
 
 
Found a really cool transparent poweramp skin. good stuff!!

 
 
 
Also...

 

[ehjie]

The (paid) Poweramp app has a preamp out slider on the EQ (The 1st one) it works even without engaging the EQ.

 

[live1]

Ive had my note 4 about 13 months and only used mp3 with perfect playback i use the stock player, but i just decided to try flac for the first time on my uk snapdragon note 4 now on lollypop uk offical fw using the stock player it somtimes crackles half sec randomly. I thought it was the Compton album .but I downloaded it again from elsewhere still same.very random cracking or pop maybe a couple times an hour if that ,so I used other flacs albums I had and still the same odd pop here and there.I even reset my phone a few times to factory thinking it was the phone but that didn't help.but I think it is the stock player is not very good or stable at playing back flac perhsps somthing to do with poor audio buffering with stock player,if I use power amp flac playback is flawless i can use the camera and do tons of things at once and its very stable so why would the stock player on note 4 somtimes stutter randomly at the end of a track or the beginning is the most common time to hear the half sec pop or crackle.but It can happen anywhere in a track.also it may not happen for a few days very random,  bet most people haven't even noticed this.as the pop crackle is literally half a sec.but power amp is the fix but why does it fix it?is it that power amp has perfect audio buffering and even options to set it to high buffering that I'm using, And the stock android player just sucks at 100 percent perfect flac playback at all times.I wonder if the next update will make the stock player more stable when playing flac

 

[live1]

Well after trsting flac playback on power amp also stuters now and then.so its android thats no good at playing flac

 

[McDown]

Well after trsting flac playback on power amp also stuters now and then.so its android thats no good at playing flac

I use Poweramp to play large flacs with cue all the time without any issues. So it must be a problem with your particular setup and not with whole Android.

 

[reluctant_engineer]

Well after trsting flac playback on power amp also stuters now and then.so its android thats no good at playing flac

Try it again with the neutron player.If it still exists then i think it would be a firmware or even worse,a hardware issue.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neutroncode.mpeval

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Well after trsting flac playback on power amp also stuters now and then.so its android thats no good at playing flac

 Android A.L.S.A  and audio finger are going to push that file out at 44.1 or 48Khz even if it's flac of a higher bit depth and freq unless you use UAPP or the like to go around alsa. Power amp alone is just a front end for the android player with more options. Android keeps everything in a strict order for developers to work around. I have the note 4 and it plays flac to the limit of the external dac used (top pic is COZOY Aegis bottom is FiiO e18). You may have a defective device in which case you should invoke your warranty. Being unable to playback a file that is being squeezed by alsa anyway makes no sense unless there is some hardware issue.
 
 
EDIT: Or firmware as the guy above mentioned
 
 

 

 

[rickydenim]

 
 Android A.L.S.A  and audio finger are going to push that file out at 44.1 or 48Khz even if it's flac of a higher bit depth and freq unless you use UAPP or the like to go around alsa. Power amp alone is just a front end for the android player with more options. Android keeps everything in a strict order for developers to work around. I have the note 4 and it plays flac to the limit of the external dac used (top pic is COZOY Aegis bottom is FiiO e18). You may have a defective device in which case you should invoke your warranty. Being unable to playback a file that is being squeezed by alsa anyway makes no sense unless there is some hardware issue.
 
 
EDIT: Or firmware as the guy above mentioned
 
 

 

Just a query - I'm using an Oppo HA-1 on my Note 4 running 5.01 and when I connect my Oppo DAC and run Poweramp I am wondering if it's definitely using the DAC and outputting the optimal resolution. With 5.01 it detects the Oppo and outputs as expected however I have no way to 'confirm' it's not downsampling etc. With Lollipop natively supporting USB OTG it should be fine correct?

 

[live1]

How can it be firmware I'm on normal uk firmware.I don't root or anything. As for hardware how can that be possible.it plays all music files perfectly on native player apart from flac somtimes stutters.do u guys never ever hear a pop or half sec stutter playing flac in the stock music player.as for me noticing poweramp doing it aswell it was only when I took a photo wilst the music was playing and as the photo was loading made the music lag half sec.I've hard reset my phone 6 times.the stock player seem unstable for flac.so far power amp trial it's only crackled the one time when I used the camera.In  fact if I take 10 pics in a row as the pic is loading or prossessing it may make the music lag half a sec like a pop.but power amp under normal conditions seems to play flac ok.but the music fx option randomly turns off .must be a power amp bug very annoying.so I may just go back to the stock player and try to get used to the random cracked or pop.as it's only like twice an hour or less sometimes.any advice guys is my phone ok?is it normal for the stock player to have issue playing flac  sometimes randomly.also taking it in on warranty is stupid.as the half sec crackle in the stock player is random it won't happen when they test it.and will say we restored your phone to factory and it fixed it lol.or if they did hear the odd playback hiccup they will say the file is bad.I'm sure my phone is fine.