Help Beats audio discussion

[3vodroid]

I'll be honest I really wish the "beats experience" played through the speaker... Looking back I feel pretty silly now.... I really thought when they advertised authentic sound it would be a hardware/software combination

 

[kbp08tls]

I don't really care for the beats eq. It just boosts low and high ends a bit. Right now I'm experimenting with Power Amp, but not sure I like it. Everytime i plug in my headphones it turns on my music even if i'm trying to listen to something else. i think the beats makes the music muddier. I'm still trying to figure out what DAC (digital to analog converter) the Ltevo has. It seems nobody knows. The Samsungs have a wolfson DAC which is highly praised by audiophiles. I have some nice earphones which sound pretty good on the Ltevo though.

I thought only the international version of the S3 had the Wolfson, while the US version has the exact same one as the EVO, the one built in to the chipset both phones have. I've seen too many speculative and conflicting reports to be sure on that though.

You can turn off autoplay in PowerAmp (I hate it as well). Menu -> Settings -> Headset, uncheck Resume on Headset Connect.
Another issue I had with PowerAmp was some flakiness with volume control and distortion when getting a notification while playing music. If you have that issue too, go to Menu -> Settings -> Audio -> Advanced and uncheck Direct Volume Control. You'll have to turn the Gain up after doing this to get back to normal volume.

As far as Beats itself goes, it's not too bad IMO. Kinda reminds me of the old school "loudness" button. It works well for some genres of music, not so well for others.

 

[strider70]

Maybe a dumb question...but...

To use the Beats Audio, do you have to use headphones or can you connect the the phone to external speakers and get the same "Beats Experience" ?

I have gotten the "beats experience" from my wired ear buds, bluetooth Motorola S9 HD headset (for both ears), and my PC speakers (with a subwoofer).

Beats does kick in and can make a difference. But I personally don't like it. It's personal preference since it only seems to effect the equalizer.

 

[pastafarian]

In the old days, we had "beats" on almost every audio receiver sold. It was called the loudness button and was avoided like the plague by any serious music listener. What goes around comes around....and costs more the second time!

 

[ironbrewer]

I thought only the international version of the S3 had the Wolfson, while the US version has the exact same one as the EVO, the one built in to the chipset both phones have. I've seen too many speculative and conflicting reports to be sure on that though.

You can turn off autoplay in PowerAmp (I hate it as well). Menu -> Settings -> Headset, uncheck Resume on Headset Connect.
Another issue I had with PowerAmp was some flakiness with volume control and distortion when getting a notification while playing music. If you have that issue too, go to Menu -> Settings -> Audio -> Advanced and uncheck Direct Volume Control. You'll have to turn the Gain up after doing this to get back to normal volume.

As far as Beats itself goes, it's not too bad IMO. Kinda reminds me of the old school "loudness" button. It works well for some genres of music, not so well for others.

I could be wrong about the Wolfson.

It is like the Loudness button.

And thank for the info on shutting down autoplay.

 

[ironbrewer]

Pastafarian,

Love the spagetti Monster avatar.

 

[EarlyMon]

I eq mine because I don't tend to use my better cans in favor of cheaper earbuds that I don't mind getting lost or having coffee accidents - those definitely benefit from just about any eq. I don't think Beats sucks as much as it just is what it is - I agree that it seems to have that charactistic loudness eq, but I could almost swear that it also adds a very slight reverb as well.

Anyway, if you're rooted, go for DSP Manager (see our root sticky), and if using that or any other enhancement, turn off enhancements in the system sound settings so you don't have the two butting heads.

Equalization can be used to give favorable colorations to the music or to help remove colorations suffered by the end-to-end hardward (dsp, op-amp, headphones/speakers). I don't think that there's a wrong way about it, although I tend to prefer and promote the latter.

 

[P_Dub]

I just did a quick test with the LTE vs my Cowon D3. I didn't think beats was even good until I found the sound enhancer menu where you can select the type of headphones. Once I selected UrBeats there was a major difference in the sound for the better, imo. I don't own any beats products, fyi.

It still wasn't as good as my dedicated pmp with any BBE effect applied, or without for that matter. However, using Beats seemed to be an improvement over the stock sound and my previous EVO phones, the 4G and 3D.

 

[kbp08tls]

I just did a quick test with the LTE vs my Cowon D3. I didn't think beats was even good until I found the sound enhancer menu where you can select the type of headphones. Once I selected UrBeats there was a major difference in the sound for the better, imo. I don't own any beats products, fyi.

It still wasn't as good as my dedicated pmp with any BBE effect applied, or without for that matter. However, using Beats seemed to be an improvement over the stock sound and my previous EVO phones, the 4G and 3D.

I concur with urBeats being the "better" of the settings; the default "other" doesn't make much difference. Overall I'm pleased with the audio. It sounds better than my wife's iPhone and my old Zune.

 

[dr g]

Wow I have not even thought about the LOUD button in a long time! Memory lane ...

 

[klipsch]

Not for nothing...but we're talking about a phone, not a dedicated audio player, for starters. Unless you've got the downstream hardware (headphones or speakers) that are capable of accurately reproducing the recorded media, you wouldn't hear much difference anyway. AND...as far as the "media" being played...most of the time it's not any Vinyl or CD quality to begin with.

I've been using this phone with an external speaker (Goal Zero Rock Out), for the past few weeks while hanging out in the sun. I've thought it sounded pretty good, and always made sure that the beats audio was selected as the sound enhancement. After reading all of the above...I decided to finally pull out my Shure SCL5's (professional monitors) and check out the sound quality more closely. As everybody stated...the beats audio is just a setting. And to be honest...after comparing it to the other Sound Enhancement settings available on the Music Player...it's not even my top choice. There are very minuet differences between each...but I think I actually prefer the Sweetener, Live or Classical settings over the beats. But...it is a very good sounding enhancement. Many folks are going to be using an iPod as their default music player, so that's the only music quality they'll be comparing too. iPod's aren't the players that people make them out to be, unless it's the original type and it's been sent out to be modified for a couple of hundred bucks. I can say, that the sound quality coming out of the EVO LTE is as good as MP3 players I've heard (remember...it's a phone). Though I haven't compared it A/B to my older COWON D2 (I chose over an iPod)...which in reality is only as good sounding as the EQ settings I'm using.

I do consider myself a quasi audiophile and musician... = )

 

[spyder40]

I just did a quick test with the LTE vs my Cowon D3. I didn't think beats was even good until I found the sound enhancer menu where you can select the type of headphones. Once I selected UrBeats there was a major difference in the sound for the better, imo. I don't own any beats products, fyi.

It still wasn't as good as my dedicated pmp with any BBE effect applied, or without for that matter. However, using Beats seemed to be an improvement over the stock sound and my previous EVO phones, the 4G and 3D.

Where is the sound enhancer menu to select the headphone type?

 

[kbp08tls]

Where is the sound enhancer menu to select the headphone type?

Plug your headphones in. From the homescreen go Settings -> Sound -> Sound Enhancer. Upper left corner is a down arrow by "Sound Enhancer," tap that and you can choose between urBeats, Solo, and Other. Experiment and find what sounds best to you.

From within the stock music player, on the Now Playing screen, tap Menu -> Sound Enhancer to access the same settings.

 

[dan330]

Beats Me: Why HTC's "Amazing Sound" On The International One X Isn't Amazing At All - Even By The Numbers

there seems to be a very bad audio chip used in the international version...
so there is a hardware variable to the equation.

 

[klipsch]

Just saw that jetAudio (what COWON uses) is available on the market, if anybody's looking for another non-root option.

jetAudio Basic

 

[EarlyMon]

Beats Me: Why HTC's "Amazing Sound" On The International One X Isn't Amazing At All - Even By The Numbers

there seems to be a very bad audio chip used in the international version...
so there is a hardware variable to the equation.

The One S numbers, based on the S4, are reassuring and do go along with what my ears have been telling me.

 

[skep]

I thought when I was checking out the phone at the Sprint store there was actual software that could be opened and used for beats. But now that I own the phone you just have the choice in the drop down to turn it off and on. Am I wrong?

 

[3vodroid]

I thought when I was checking out the phone at the Sprint store there was actual software that could be opened and used for beats. But now that I own the phone you just have the choice in the drop down to turn it off and on. Am I wrong?

You can go to settings>sound> sound enhancer to choose different headphone styles ( note that you can only access this with headphones plugged in) ... If that is what your talking about? Beats will only work when something is plugged into the headphone jack.. Like ext. Speakers, headphones etc. Once you have headphones plugged in you have the option in the drop down menu to turn it on/off. There is also an eq with the other typical choices. But that's about it for what I have found myself.... I am stock unrooted.. So these are the options stock. I'm sure with root you may be able to do a few more things. And also just maybe one day I won't be so scared and root my phone.

 

[marctronixx]

also to add if you have bluetooth phones,speakers and/or connected to BT audio streaming, the BA icon will acknowledge the connection.

 

[SaleenFiend]

I love the Beats audio. I use it in my vehicles for Bluetooth connections and I can't find anything that sounds better. My iPhone doesn't compare neither does poweramp.

 

[dan330]

htc.. is dropping beats from future phones..

still a rumor right now:
Rumor: HTC May Drop Beats Integration On Handsets, To The Displeasure Of No One But Dr. Dre

 

[nsu300zx]

htc.. is dropping beats from future phones..

still a rumor right now:
Rumor: HTC May Drop Beats Integration On Handsets, To The Displeasure Of No One But Dr. Dre

Then there's this:

HTC: Beats Isn’t Going Anywhere

 

[Rxpert83]

Its just an equalizer, if they need the drop it to remain profitable I'd have no issues with that. I hardly use it as it is.

 

[dan330]

Then there's this:

HTC: Beats Isn

 

[Sonin66]

I think you should try beats before you knock them. I have urbeats(made for android) and i can hear more bass and clarity then other headphones with beats enabled.