speaker sound quality?

[danielkogan]

What do you guys think about the speaker sound quality?

 

[Dream]

When the volume is all the way up, its very distorted. I also dont like the speaker on the back of the device, would have preferred them to be on the side or the bottom.

 

[deadeyeken]

Same as above. Distortion at Max volume. Seems loud enough turned down a notch or two, as loud as my ipad at max it seems. Set the thing down on its back flat against a hard surface like granite countertops and its REAL loud.

 

[rjoudrey]

Same as above. Distortion at Max volume. Seems loud enough turned down a notch or two, as loud as my ipad at max it seems. Set the thing down on its back flat against a hard surface like granite countertops and its REAL loud.

Obviously meant to be laid down, like my girlfriend.

 

[rjoudrey]

They should of used two Blackberry Bold speakers. The sound of those things really rock.

 

[deadeyeken]

Does she get loud too?

 

[Imaginary Buddie]

Same as above. Distortion at Max volume. Seems loud enough turned down a notch or two, as loud as my ipad at max it seems. Set the thing down on its back flat against a hard surface like granite countertops and its REAL loud.

Maybe someone can manufacture a case that acoustically reroutes the audio to exit the sides or maybe even around towards you. I'm not sure how much of dB is loss from dampening or travel. But I agree the audio projected away from you does not sound nice. It sounds better to the people standing in front of you. And if they are strangers they will not be happy with your music blaring in their face.

 

[danielkogan]

Yea, not sure why they would make such a design flaw! At least add one small front/side speaker. MAybe they did this so you buy the extended dock? Sad that they let something like this slip. Would have been killer otherwise.

 

[Air Force One]

I personally have no issues with the speakers. Loud and clear for me.

 

[deadeyeken]

I personally have no issues with the speakers. Loud and clear for me.

All what you listen to I would imagine. No idea of the quality of my mp3's but im sure its not great. Did you Max out your volume on many different mp3's yet? Only curious if I got bad speakers or something. Never heard my ipad distort ever. On the other hand my ipad has often been too quiet which is a big pain. Apple limits everything else, why not my volume. Let go steve!!! Its mine!!!

 

[Air Force One]

All what you listen to I would imagine. No idea of the quality of my mp3's but im sure its not great. Did you Max out your volume on many different mp3's yet? Only curious if I got bad speakers or something. Never heard my ipad distort ever. On the other hand my ipad has often been too quiet which is a big pain. Apple limits everything else, why not my volume. Let go steve!!! Its mine!!!

No I haven't maxed out any MP3's etc.., I don't think that would be good for the speakers given the quality of most MP3s. Distortion in the source material is never good for a speaker, especially speakers on mobile devices. Honestly, I'm a bit of an audiophile and the idea of listening to music with the outboard speakers is not something I would do. I do on occasion use headphones but only occasionally.

I've been using the external speakers for turn by turn navigation, which is LOUD, but clear for me. I also use them for videos, such as with the CNN tablet app, and using Skyfire at sites like FOX News. All my ringtones are loud and clear as well. Angry Birds sounds fantastic. I like the sound when you pull the rubber band back. I'm used to this sound on my Nexus and on the Xoom it sounds much fuller and realistic. At the end of the day I'm used to the speaker on my Nexus One and compared to that, the Xoom speakers might as well be a pair of Revels.

 

[marctronixx]

if you guys are pumping tunes with lots of low freq then you will cause the sound to distort and the drivers are not designed for low freqs. the distortion you are hearing is the tiny driver trying to reproduce those lows and the harmonics are affected bu this because the driver is being pushed past its limits. you have no choice but to keep the volume low for tunes with lots of compression--which is what pop music is..

and design flaw? i beg to differ.. if they had put the speakers on the side the unit would be bigger then people would complain its too big compared to the almighty flypad.

and as for putting them on the bottom, have you looked at the thread showing the dissected xoom? lots of electronics down there. the design of the xoom is pretty good compared to what all is there. efficient use of the space...

but i know... i know.... YMMV...

 

[deadeyeken]

I am no audiophile just to be clear. Went back and tryed navi at max volume,Its clear as are the rest of the system sounds. And yeah heavy bass songs=distortion. Know a source for a high quality mp3 to test with?

 

[Air Force One]

I am no audiophile just to be clear. Went back and tryed navi at max volume,Its clear as are the rest of the system sounds. And yeah heavy bass songs=distortion. Know a source for a high quality mp3 to test with?

Actually I've never heard the phrase "high quality" and "MP3" used in the same sentence

I would imagine if you want a truly "high quality" MP3 you would need to encode it yourself, or get one that someone else made for the purpose of quality.

All I have are some Amazon MP3s and a Heavy Metal soundtrack MP3 that a buddy ripped from a CD for me. None are of a quality that I would play them thru the external speakers and the only reason I even have them is for use with my Nexus One while at the gym. You are risking causing issues with your speakers using them with low quality music but that is only my opinion. If you do this make sure and keep an eye on volume.

 

[deadeyeken]

I rarely have them maxed and havnt had issue with it not being loud enough. So a non issue really, as long as someone doesnt crank it up on some snoop dogg for an extended amount of time.

 

[stevehoffman]

Listening to some music on Xoom in a Verizon store, I thought the sound was pretty darn crappy. You could get a decent amount of volume out of the thing, but the audio quality was brittle and mechanical, not at all warm and musical. If you're using Xoom to listen to music, would definitely do so with separate external speakers or headphones/earphones.

 

[jsntrenkler]

My right speaker seems to buzz alot, noticed it while playing a game and now it is driving me crazy.

 

[Psychokitty]

I have my Droid when I need an mp3 player. The Xoom speakers are like laptop speakers; it's unreasonable to expect Sydney Opera House sound from them. While I do agree that it's a bit obnoxious to have them pointed at others in public area, both extremes, can be remedied easily enough using bluetooth.
BTB, my old Altec Lancing Sound Blade sounds great, of course, but looks REALLY sharp next to my Xoom in it's dock, along with the Motorola keyboard and my Droid perched in it's cradle.
I got that last year (the Sound Blade) for 60 bucks shipped off eBay. Probably even cheaper, now.

 

[Deleted User]

I actually think they are good. I will admit it took me a bit to get use to them being in the back but after a while I got use to it.

 

[nycebo]

I think they are on the back so that when it lies flat, you get a better aural sensation. Try it, lie it flat on a table and see if it sounds improved.

 

[rjoudrey]

I think they are on the back so that when it lies flat, you get a better aural sensation. Try it, lie it flat on a table and see if it sounds improved.

Someone needs to design a gelcase with 2 tuned ports that would project the sound around to the front.