Android audio enhancements? Bluetooth skip dac?

[slackerinabox]

I absolutely adore my galaxy s7 edge but the audio is one failing, it just sounds anemic and on the tinny side - with some research apparently the DAC on it's mediocre, are there any apps to help punch things up a bit? I know, garbage in garbage out, but just a little more punch would help.

Also, would bluetooth via aptx be better than the internal DAC? Of course that depends on the headphones, but assuming that I get a decent to great set - would that circumvent the issue or does the phone's DAC still effect performance?

 

[Ichinisan]

I absolutely adore my galaxy s7 edge but the audio is one failing, it just sounds anemic and on the tinny side - with some research apparently the DAC on it's on the mediocre, are there any apps to help punch things up a bit? I know, garbage in garbage out, but just a little more punch would help.

Also, would bluetooth via aptx be better than the internal DAC? Of course that depends on the headphones, but assuming that I get a decent to great set - would that circumvent the issue or does the phone's DAC still effect performance?

The phone's DAC is bypassed by Bluetooth, but then you have to consider the DAC in your Bluetooth receiver.

I get the impression that some A2DP receivers can take bitstreamed content like AAC, so it might even have original quality without AptX.

 

[slackerinabox]

The phone's DAC is bypassed by Bluetooth, but then you have to consider the DAC in your Bluetooth receiver.

I get the impression that some A2DP receivers can take bitstreamed content like AAC, so it might even have original quality without AptX.

Awesome, appreciate the info!

 

[Oyeve]

Grab the beta version of power amp. It has a hi res feature and power amp volume control. Sounds much better and I can now tolerate my s7-edge sound. My little creative amp also helps.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm pretty happy with the sound on my S7E. Does the international version have a different DAC?

 

[dawheat]

I'm pretty happy with the sound on my S7E. Does the international version have a different DAC?

Yeah the Exynos versions always use a different DAC. But I can't imagine that it's something inherent to the S820 - unless the dozens of phones with that SOC all have poor sound. Are the S820 S7 versions just unoptimized for the Qualcomm DAC?

I absolutely adore my galaxy s7 edge but the audio is one failing, it just sounds anemic and on the tinny side - with some research apparently the DAC on it's mediocre, are there any apps to help punch things up a bit? I know, garbage in garbage out, but just a little more punch would help.

Good to hear considering your terrible experience with the S6.

 

[JeffMD]

Somehow I doubt the S7 audio is in any way bad. If you don't like the way it sounds, take a look at the source file or your headphones. Also apps like Poweramp do have full EQlizers. But yea, I have heavy doubts that the s7 dac sounds "bad". I scoff when people complained about the g4 dac. People bitch just to hear their own voice.

Bluetooth does circumvent the DAC, but;

1) The bluetooth mpeg2 or aptx compression ontop of the current audio file compression will always lower the quality. There is no such thing as pcm streaming over bluetooth.

2) The dac in the receiver or headphones, whatever you use, are going to be worse than the internal dac unless you look at one of the big audiophile brand names. And I'm not talking beats, beats probably uses the same dac brand as in your phone.

 

[isekii]

Grab the beta version of power amp. It has a hi res feature and power amp volume control. Sounds much better and I can now tolerate my s7-edge sound. My little creative amp also helps.

I tried PowerAmp (paid) and the the sound was so bad. It's probably a setting issue on my end, but I wasn't in the mood to play around with the different settings.

I ended up installing the Sony Walkman player from XDA via APK and that's just no frills music player with good sound.

 

[slackerinabox]

Somehow I doubt the S7 audio is in any way bad. If you don't like the way it sounds, take a look at the source file or your headphones. Also apps like Poweramp do have full EQlizers. But yea, I have heavy doubts that the s7 dac sounds "bad". I scoff when people complained about the g4 dac. People bitch just to hear their own voice.

Bluetooth does circumvent the DAC, but;

1) The bluetooth mpeg2 or aptx compression ontop of the current audio file compression will always lower the quality. There is no such thing as pcm streaming over bluetooth.

2) The dac in the receiver or headphones, whatever you use, are going to be worse than the internal dac unless you look at one of the big audiophile brand names. And I'm not talking beats, beats probably uses the same dac brand as in your phone.

It's a known issue, there's a huge thread on head-fi about how they cheaped out on a "lucky star" or something dac, not wolfson like before. But this isn't a huge deal. I love my new phone, it's just noticeable compared to say my prior iphone 6s plus which I still haven't mailed back to my carrier yet so I can easily a/b it using the same headphones. It plays lower volume wise and is kinda.. Clinical sounding in a bad way. Like it's missing something. Not a huge deal though, the phone is so lovely, it's just a minor annoyance.

I'm just charging my jabra moves now, I'm sure that will be just fine. I may just get a cheapie headphone amp to pump up the volume for subway listening, or dig around with the EQ settings more.

To quote the head-fi thread: The S7 has a "Lucky" audio chip. Presumably from Cirrus Logic. The volume is weak and unconvincing indeed. That's why I use the OPPO HA-2 SABRE32 portable USB DAC with the S7.

 

[gorcorps]

I tried PowerAmp (paid) and the the sound was so bad. It's probably a setting issue on my end, but I wasn't in the mood to play around with the different settings.

I ended up installing the Sony Walkman player from XDA via APK and that's just no frills music player with good sound.

Poweramp is by far the best sounding one I've used. You need to enable direct volume control (I think it's on by default these days though)

Great EQ too

 

[isekii]

Poweramp is by far the best sounding one I've used. You need to enable direct volume control (I think it's on by default these days though)

Great EQ too

I just tried it again. What I disliked most about poweramp was the volume control for sure. Anything below 75% the volume is so low. then once you get past that point it gets too loud. No inbetween it's either too loud or too low.
When I play in the Sony music player, the volume is very even all around. when I have the volume set at 50% it's like the PowerAmp volume at 80%.

 

[Oyeve]

No, dude, you Have to get the beta version. Regular power amp doesn't have the settings.

 

[JeffMD]

It's a known issue, there's a huge thread on head-fi about how they cheaped out on a "lucky star" or something dac

Interesting, so they purposely put in a low grade chip for cost cutting, huh? I mean I never expect a wolfson chip in phones, but CL has some great sounding chips that you find in many quality motherboards and phones. They make millions of these little chips. It is also what you find in the bluetooth devices.

 

[slackerinabox]

Interesting, so they purposely put in a low grade chip for cost cutting, huh? I mean I never expect a wolfson chip in phones, but CL has some great sounding chips that you find in many quality motherboards and phones. They make millions of these little chips. It is also what you find in the bluetooth devices.

There has been some cost cutting, from a cheaper dac and no ir blaster (really liked having one on the s6), but the improvements outweigh the negatives

 

[dawheat]

Interesting, so they purposely put in a low grade chip for cost cutting, huh? I mean I never expect a wolfson chip in phones, but CL has some great sounding chips that you find in many quality motherboards and phones. They make millions of these little chips. It is also what you find in the bluetooth devices.

Ehhh I think people are mixing up markets since most forum posters don't note if they're using the Exynos or Snapdragon variant.

Folks generally seem happy with the Exynos version and it has a Cirrus Logic DAC (which I think the Lucky code applies to).

The Snapdragon versions in the US are using a Qualcomm DAC which seems to be taking some criticism.

 

[thesmokingman]

The SD dac isn't the best but it isn't that bad. I think it some hyperbole is in effect.

 

[rudimaes]

Did you try Adapt sound in the S7 settings? This improves audio also.

 

[slackerinabox]

Did you try Adapt sound in the S7 settings? This improves audio also.

I find that the tube amp setting helps a bit (the uhq one makes it worse). Adapt sound didn't do much for me, but I'll try again maybe with different headphones

 

[rudimaes]

I find "DFX Music Player Enhancer Pro" the best sounding player for Android. But that's my personal opinion, off course.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fxsound.android.dfxplayer.full&hl=nl

 

[slackerinabox]

Thanks for the player suggestion guys, but I rarely use anything but google music or spotify.

As for bluetooth, just wanted to confirm that everything sounds splendid via bt and my jabra moves, a def. improvement vs those same headphones via minijack