Help Sound issues

[Crodley]

Hi all,

I love my HTC One Max, but I do have one irritating issue. I stream a ton of Netflix at full volume and sometimes the sound goes about 50% louder for around 5 seconds then it drops back down to where it was.

This has been happening for a couple of weeks now, and it seems to only happen after it streams for more than 10 minutes or so. I thought it may have been a Netflix issue, but just tonight streaming MOG the same thing happened. It's quite jarring to have that volume jump up. (though truthfully I'd love to be able to have the volume that much higher)

I have no idea if it's a hardware issue or a software issue because I've installed a TON of apps on this thing. I've even got an Equalizer app called, "Music Equalizer" but it's never running when the glitch happens. It also has happened both using the built in speakers and through the headphone jack.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance, Crodley

 

[Rukbat]

Plug a set of external speakers into the earphone jack and see if it happens. If not, I'd suspect a bad jack. If it does, see if you can find an app that does audio limiting, and set the limit to what you consider normal (which, I suspect, is all the way up, but for testing purposes, set it to about 75%). If it still changes, it's a bad component between the limiter and the earphone jack, and it's cheaper to replace the motherboard than to find and fix the problem. If it doesn't change, it's something between the sound source and the limiter, which could be hardware or software, and would take additional analysis to locate.

 

[marctronixx]

i stream netflix, youtube, crackle DAILY using the in built speakers and the htc boom bass. i have not had this issue occur. i use a stock non rooted device on sprint.

as a test, you should use headphones and see if this issue occurs through the headphone jack.

i suspect it may be a rogue app thats activated (like beats does on the htc one for example) thats altering the sound and when the sound level on the program material exceeds a certain point (or goes BELOW a certain point) this rogue app may introduce a sound curve or eq curve to compensate.

anything that affects the sound is suspect.

also this should not be classified as a bug until you have removed all apps that affect audio and have done more testing. ive a launch day one max and have zero issues with audio volume.

 

[Crodley]

Plug a set of external speakers into the earphone jack and see if it happens. If not, I'd suspect a bad jack.

I've had this happen while streaming netflix through external speakers (via the earphone jack) and it's happened when listening to MOG through the two built in boom speakers.

It doesn't click nor crackle, it just gets much louder and I can almost countdown to the second when it will drop back to normal. I might test it this weekend with a stopwatch and see if it goes louder at a set time, and how long exactly it takes to drop back down.

 

[Crodley]

i use a stock non rooted device on sprint.

Me too.

as a test, you should use headphones and see if this issue occurs through the headphone jack.

It happens though the earphone jack AND through the built in speakers.

i suspect it may be a rogue app thats activated (like beats does on the htc one for example) thats altering the sound and when the sound level on the program material exceeds a certain point (or goes BELOW a certain point) this rogue app may introduce a sound curve or eq curve to compensate.

Interesting idea, and it might make sense during a stream of a netflix movie, but it just happened with a stream of a song on MOG where the song was very steady in it's peak volume. So no highs or lows in the song when it happened.

also this should not be classified as a bug until you have removed all apps that affect audio and have done more testing.

Well, I think it may be a bug, just maybe not a bug with the phone, it could be an app bug. It wouldn't be a bug if it were a problem with the earphone cable, but with testing, the cable is fine.

Maybe I can do a factory reset and over the next year re-install my 5000 apps back in one at a time per day to see which one is the culprit. And that was a joke.

I think my next step is to uninstall that equalizer app. Even if it wasn't running when the glitch happened, maybe it is still in the background messing something up.

I REALLY appreciate the help and input from you people!

Thanks tons.

 

[marctronixx]

yes i t could be an app bug for sure, but with a stock non rooted device and with no other apps installed that alter the sound on MY stock device, i dont have those issues. so it could be a combination of apps on your device that are not playing well with each other.

its difficult to diagnose these random issues over the internet because we dont have access to your device. i just think its too easy to call something a "bug" because of a rogue issue.

removing apps one by one should be your next troubleshooting steps until the issue is fixed. if no success, and if this issue is big enough of a problem for you, a factory reset is next. if the device STILL acts up, it could be an issue in the phones software and /or the physical speakers.

point is you have many more steps to go before just blindly saying its a bug. people use that word far too often and it causes doubt in others when they read forums.

 

[PyroSporker]

You could try booting into Safe Mode (instructions below) to disable an offending application that could be altering your audio - Beats is stock, so it won't rule it out. The problem will be that it will disable the Netflix application with it. Is there a way to stream Netflix via the internet browser? Do you find that a web source has the same problem streaming after 10 minutes (Youtube, Vimeo, Hulu.com, etc.)? Or would a local file have the same reaction after 10 minutes?
Safe Mode will disable your third party applications and treat your phone as 'stock' providing you a control group for your experiment without having you to factory restore and start all over.

Spoiler

Copied from some of my prior posts from other devices
"You could give Safe Mode a try:
(This will run your phone with all 3rd party applications disabled on a more clean configuration.)

Ensure that Fast Boot is turned off in your Power Settings
Power the phone down and wait for it to be fully turned off for a minute or two
Power the phone back on
When you see the white HTC Boot screen immediately press and hold down the 'volume down' hardware key on the right side of the phone. Hold it until the phone completes start up, and you see the words "Safe Mode" displayed in the lower left corner of your lock/home screen."

To get out of Safe Mode simply power off and power on your phone as normal

What is your 'screen timeout' setting set to (the setting that turns off your screen if your screen sits on and idle for too long)? If you stream past your 'screen timeout' setting and the phone processor has to give itself a kick to stay awake and not go into idle mode as normally commanded it might supercharge the speakers for a few seconds by accident?

Does this happen over Wi-Fi networks or mobile networks (carrier provided EDGE, 1xRTT, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc. etc.)? Do you have the 'Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep' setting turned on? Do you have 'Best Wi-Fi Performance' turned on?

 

[Crodley]

I've deleted the EQ app, and streamed some music for 45 minutes without the problem, so fingers crossed that was it...I don't have a lot of time this weekend to give it a major test, slowly but surely I'll figure it out. That's a LOT for all the suggestions. And to clarify, I simply LOVE this phone.I've gone HTC since the OG days and all my other phones had rebooting issues, some bad, some just once in a while, but this one hasn't rebooted once, that's a cause for smiles right there!

 

[wase4711]

I've had the same thing happen to me, and tracked down the culprit to an audio mod program; as soon as I un installed it, the behavior went away, so as others here have stated, its third party software causing the issue, not a bug with the phone..

 

[Crodley]

I've had the same thing happen to me, and tracked down the culprit to an audio mod program; as soon as I un installed it, the behavior went away, so as others here have stated, its third party software causing the issue, not a bug with the phone..

Yup, I uninstalled an equalizer program and so far the problem is gone. The phone works great. I still say it was a bug though. NOT with the phone, but with the 3rd party software, but hey, a bug is a bug.


Regardless, I still want to make it clear, I love this One Max big time, pun
intended.

And thanks for all the help and ideas here, it was greatly appreciated!

 

[NightAngel79]

Great stuff in here everyone. Great to see things worked out and the culprit identified!

Totally LOVE this phone!

 

[dfran1]

Hi all
I also love this phone Verizon HTC one max but just a question , is there a way to get more base out of it !

I am able to adjust with an audio app player but I do not think the one max has beats audio ?

 

[marctronixx]

in regards to the built in speakers, they are not large enough to get any decent low end bass.

htc makes a BT gadget called "htc boombass". its a portable BT subwoofer that sounds amazingly good. i have i and it really makes a difference.

 

[dfran1]

in regards to the built in speakers, they are not large enough to get any decent low end bass.

htc makes a BT gadget called "htc boombass". its a portable BT subwoofer that sounds amazingly good. i have i and it really makes a difference.

I finally purchased one of these off ebay used (looks like brand new, best 55 I spent in a long time).

All I can say is WOW

You are dead on, it sounds amazing, I can't believe how good it sounds, when I unboxed it I said well it should sound a little better, but wow it sounds amazingly great and it is very very portable. I can't believe apple did not come out with this first and patent the crap out of it. thank god they did not!!

I am just playing amazon prime thru it so far and am just amazed something so small can produce what is coming out of it with my htc one max. WOW!!!

Thank You!!!!!