Audio Quality on the Nexus 4 for Music

[JunBringer]

I use my smartphone for all of my mobile music listening needs, which is quite a bit. Anytime I drive anywhere, go for a walk, get groceries, go the the gym etc I use my smartphone to listen to music. I've had a Htc Evo 4G, Htc Evo 3D, Samsung Galaxy Note LTE and now the Nexus 4 and the audio quality and volume on the Nexus 4 is easily the worst one. I love the phone in general but I can't seem to get the audio to sound good. I use the headphone jack and plug right into my Scion xB which has a decent Pioneer system built in and even with PowerAmp it sounds mediocre. With my earbuds it sounds better, but still not nearly as good as the Note.

I had already planned to get a Note 2 before the Nexus 4 was announced and I may end up doing that and use two devices, meaning the Note 2 will be just a wifi device and I'll use it for music. I'm hoping they put out a 64GB version internationally so I can snag one.

Either way, does anyone else feel this way about the audio quality?

 

[Banished Angel]

If you're rooted I'd find a copy of Beats Audio from an HTC phone and throw that on there. I used Beats when I had my Evo V 4G (Evo 3D) and it sounded so much better with it turned on.

 

[JunBringer]

Thanks for the heads up, I was contemplating that actually. I haven't read about anyone using it on the Nexus 4 yet, so maybe I'll be one of the first.

 

[Banished Angel]

Thanks for the heads up, I was contemplating that actually. I haven't read about anyone using it on the Nexus 4 yet, so maybe I'll be one of the first.

Let me know if you get it working. Hopefully it's as simple as installing the apk, but I'm no ROM developer. I know Beats Audio is on the software side though. There's nothing special in the hardware of HTC phones to get it to work.

 

[burtonvdp]

I don't own one but there are a few articles talking about this problem already... I think pocketnow has an article. I can't remember the others.

 

[nycnyc]

I actually like the audio quality on mine, although I don't have much in the form of other phones to compare it to. I also use poweramp. I also don't use it to output music to an external speaker, just with my headphones. I've been wondering if GSMarena is going to put out a review on the N4 though, since they usually do RMAA tests on phones to measure the audio quality of phones. I might just not have very high standards for audio quality lol.

 

[NeXuS4]

This is my first tier one phone (my previous were Samsung Admire and LG Motion) so I don't have a point of reference except compared to those phones this sounds a lot better.

 

[JunBringer]

Let me know if you get it working. Hopefully it's as simple as installing the apk, but I'm no ROM developer. I know Beats Audio is on the software side though. There's nothing special in the hardware of HTC phones to get it to work.

I think you have to flash it, otherwise I'd have installed the apk already.

I actually like the audio quality on mine, although I don't have much in the form of other phones to compare it to. I also use poweramp. I also don't use it to output music to an external speaker, just with my headphones. I've been wondering if GSMarena is going to put out a review on the N4 though, since they usually do RMAA tests on phones to measure the audio quality of phones. I might just not have very high standards for audio quality lol.

With poweramp it does sound pretty good in headphones, but it's not quite there for my car speakers. I still need to tweak a bit though.

 

[Banished Angel]

Okay I flashed a zip for Awesome Beats V3 in CWM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1728391

The app is now installed on my phone, I went into Settings > Sound > Music Effects > Awesome beats and set it as default. I enabled Awesome Beats through the app and I went to play music on Poweramp, but I can't tell a difference when I switch it on and off. I could definitely tell a difference on my Evo 3D, which leads me to believe Awesome beats isn't being used correctly. Any advice?

 

[Mitchturbo]

Best advice: lol buy a pair of audio beats headphones. These beats by Dr.Dre really improve anything you stick them in. *wink* ;-)

 

[Banished Angel]

I have studio headphones. I think they sound a tad better than Beats haha.

My concern is when i'm listening to music in my car and with cheap earbuds out on the go. For that, Beats Audio would be handy.

 

[JunBringer]

Does it make the music any louder? I really have to crank up my stereo on my car on the Nexus 4.

I also noticed for a fraction of a second once I hit play that it is louder and then it goes back to being kind of quiet, as if whatever they have on the device to make it quiet takes time to start up.

 

[Banished Angel]

Does it make the music any louder? I really have to crank up my stereo on my car on the Nexus 4.

I also noticed for a fraction of a second once I hit play that it is louder and then it goes back to being kind of quiet, as if whatever they have on the device to make it quiet takes time to start up.

I haven't had any problems with low sound. In fact I forgot I turned bass up and when I plugged it into my car the subs started shaking all the mirrors. I'm like oops, better turn that down a bit ha.

 

[JunBringer]

Yeah I'm thinking it's not really an audio quality issue but more of a volume issue. I'll have to read around on XDA a bit.

 

[JunBringer]

So I turned off the EQ on the stock music app and it's a bit louder, but still a bit quieter than my Galaxy Note was. Volume+ didn't work either.

 

[Banished Angel]

I've been using Poweramp and after fine tuning the EQ it's more than satisfactory for my needs. I gave up on the Beats audio hacks.

 

[acint24]

I use spotify and have the low volume issue with headphones. Any solutions?

 

[JunBringer]

I've been using Poweramp and after fine tuning the EQ it's more than satisfactory for my needs. I gave up on the Beats audio hacks.

Yeah I used Poweramp on my previous 3 phones but I don't have enough storage on the Nexus to do that very often. I only have the 8GB so there's only room for like 2 or 3GB of music after everything else.

 

[Banished Angel]

Ta da!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2025486

 

[BigCiX]

Power Amp & a nice pair of earbuds/earphones

 

[Deleted User]

Power Amp & a nice pair of earbuds/earphones

Do you mind Me asking What kind Amp And where can I buy it

 

[spriteboost]

i think power amps a program in the play store

 

[Deleted User]

i think power amps a program in the play store

Thank you my main phone is an iPhone5 Got this Nexus4 To play around with android it's kind of new to me .

 

[JunBringer]

Do you mind Me asking What kind Amp And where can I buy it

This is what he was referring to, it's a great app in every way. I'd buy it again.


https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxmpz.audioplayer&hl=en

 

[Deleted User]

This is what he was referring to, it's a great app in every way. I'd buy it again.


https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maxmpz.audioplayer&hl=en

Thank you! for your reply the reason Wy I was asking on the iPhone I have high quality headphones but I can never get Them loud You have to buy an external Power amp Reason why I was confused this sounds like it's an app I will definitely give it a try