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W800 Walkman Player hissing noise problem: software or hardware? |
mongoose3800
Joined: Nov 29, 2005
Posts: 416
From: Australia
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You know what? I'm not too sure about what's going on here. Since I upgraded from the original F/W that came with my W800 to R1Nxxx and onwards I did notice more hissing/static/crackles - particularly between songs. However, today I had the chance to play with another W800 on it's original R1lxx f/w. The 1st thing I noticed was just how much lower the max volume was. But, if I listened carefully I could hear hissing/static type noises and could definitely still hear weak signs of the cracks and pops between songs. I reckon SE probably did us a favour by increasing the max volume but this came at the cost of allowing some of the other sounds associated with amplifying MP3's through. I say this because I did some testing today by playing MP3's on a P.C. (the same MP3's as on my phone) through the headphones that came with my w800. And, I could hear the same faint noises that are more apparent on the W800. They weren't as bad though as I could not get the 2 P.C.s I tested on to play the music loud enough. Also, upon updating the W800 we tested today from R1lxx to R1BCxx- there really is a very noticeable increase in volume. The same MP3's seemed to play the same only with a little more noise in the quieter sections and the occasional louder ‘crack and pop’ between songs - but they really did play much louder! I think the W800's worst enemy are the headphones it is provided with. I find it so much harder to detect the hissing/static with other headphones – regardless of whether they are connected to either a w800 or a P.C. And, again, I would like to remind people that we are dealing with MP3's here - they are not exactly the clearest sounding format around. In summary – I’d say ,if anything, it is a hardware issue and that the only way we will see an improvement is via SE lowering the max volume – This is something I definitely do not want. |
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AlfBaxter
Joined: Jan 20, 2005
Posts: 100
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Agree with you that it's probably a hardware issue. I've experienced similar glitches with various motherboards with onboard sound solutions, especially when you ask the CPU to do something else while it does mp3 decoding. No glitches with my Audigy 2, but then I'd be crazy to expect the same sort of performance from a phone, wouldn't I?
On the subject of headphones, I use my K750i with really good quality Sennheiser earbuds (CX300) and the hissing and glitches are quite lot worse with them than with the supplied buds. Incidentally, I've also plugged some Sennheiser HD500 cans into my phone, and while the volume is far too low to be usable, the actual sound quality is not too far off what I get out of my Audigy! |
Mark_Q
Joined: May 01, 2005
Posts: 138
From: Helsinki, Finland
PM |
In latest issue of the German Connect magazine there was a group test of MP3 mobiles vs iPod.
They made some technical audio measurements you hardly have seen elswhere. I'd like to share these with you.
Signal to Noise Ratio:
Apple iPod: 62.5dB
Motorola ROKR E1: 63.1dB
Nokia 6230i: 56.3dB
Nokia N70 58.4dB
Samsung SGH-D600: 60.5dB
Samsung SGH-i300: 60.5dB
Siemens CX 75: 56.4dB
Siemens S 75: 57.0dB
SE K750i: 60.9dB
SE W550i: 60.6dB
SE W800i: 60.9dB
Harmonic Distortion (THD+N):
Apple iPod: 0.075%
Motorola ROKR E1: 0.071%
Nokia 6230i: 0.154%
Nokia N70: 0.121%
Samsung SGH-D600: 0.080%
Samsung SGH-i300: 0.095%
Siemens CX 75: 0.170%
Siemens S 75: 0.141%
SE K750i: 0.090%
SE W550i: 0.093%
SE W800i: 0.090%
Maximum Output Voltage:
Apple iPod: 0.195V
Motorola ROKR E1: 0.478V
Nokia 6230i: 0.209V
Nokia N70: 0.116V
Samsung SGH-D600: 0.222V
Samsung SGH-i300: 0.186V
Siemens CX 75: 0.069V
Siemens S 75: 0.071V
SE K750i: 0.259V
SE W550i: 0.172V
SE W800i: 0.257V |
Xema
Joined: Dec 27, 2005
Posts: 108
From: Barcelona
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mongoose3800:
I think your post makes a lot of sense. After having gone through all software versions from R1L002 to R1BC002 I very much agree with you. |
DRZ
Joined: Dec 10, 2005
Posts: 9
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But how about the distorsion with new firmware? With my R1L002 I can hardly gain the bass with max volume before I can hear distorsion, and it get much worse if I use the Mega bass!
If SE have gain the amp over the limits in the new firmware there gona be much worse becouse the amp is to weak, or?
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kristianm
Joined: Aug 12, 2005
Posts: 490
PM, WWW
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Okay, so my phone's back from the service centre, and the report reads "HW part dirty". At first I was quite doubtful that they managed to fix the hissing noise by just cleaning whichever phone parts were supposedly dirty, but after testing the phone, I can hardly notice the hissing noise anymore. It's been almost eliminated. There is still a VERY faint noise, but it's not distracting as it was before. I'm satisfied with the result (except that now my phone creaks because they've opened it!)
Also, I got a reply from SE Support UK:
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Thank you for contacting the Sony Ericsson Call Centre.
With regards to your enquiry, this is not a firm ware related issue on the hand set, it would seem that there is an issue with the walk man feature on the hand set and we would advise you to have the hand set looked by one of our engineers.
Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again for further help and support.
For more information on our products and services, please feel free to visit our website at www.sonyericsson.com
www.sonyericsson.com/fun
Register now for great content and fantastic Web and WAP Services.
Kind Regards,
Neil Holmes
Sony Ericsson Call Centre
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scorpiosb
Joined: Jul 17, 2005
Posts: 23
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glad to hear your phone is back kristianm and they have eliminated the hissing, but i am not tempted to update the firmware still, coz it wont read m4a tags, some ppl reporting bluetooth speeds become slow, i am still sticking with R1N (all working fine), i really got no other issues, and SE online support hasnt replied its been a week or so, anyways i had enough of mailin SE and i am off to doin my work and forget abt the hissing issue for some time. and i think ppl are not worried more abt this issue as now many are goin to upgrade their phones soon. anyways bye bye i am goin on a 2 month vacation (even though i rarely post), take care all.. |
scorpiosb
Joined: Jul 17, 2005
Posts: 23
PM |
okay before I leave wanted to show u ppl the email i got from SE support,
Dear JP,
Thank you for contacting the Sony Ericsson Call Centre.
With regards to your enquiry, we have escalated further the issue regarding the m4a tags and we will contact you again about that as soon as we have more information.
Regarding the hissing and static noise, we do not see this as a bug and for the majority of customers is of such a negligble level that it has not been seen as a problem. However we will make a note of it for future development.
Regarding the Bluetooth problems, we are not aware of any issue caused by upgrading to the new firmware. We would advise these customers to contact us so that we could investigate the problems they are having.
Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again for further help and support.
For more information on our products and services, please feel free to visit our website at www.sonyericsson.com
www.sonyericsson.com/fun
Register now for great content and fantastic Web and WAP Services.
Kind Regards,
Alan Shepherd
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bbjuju
Joined: Mar 20, 2006
Posts: 81
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hey Mark_Q,
What do those figures mean? I am totally ignorant of it. Are the figures higher the better? Or the other way round? |
Mark_Q
Joined: May 01, 2005
Posts: 138
From: Helsinki, Finland
PM |
bbjuju,
So you have no experience with hifi/stereo equipment? OK. Let's put it simply:
In Signal to Noise Ratio the audible distance between background noise level and sound level. The higher the Decibel value, the better the performance.
Harmonic Distortion goes opposite, lower value better.
As the Output Voltage is high you'll hear the music more loudly and there is no need to push the playback volume to maximum, which again cause more distortion compared to moderate level with same player. |
kristianm
Joined: Aug 12, 2005
Posts: 490
PM, WWW
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The hissing noise is back!!!
After I readjusted the equalizer, the hissing noise is back! Then I tried putting it back to "Normal", but the noise is still there! |
kristianm
Joined: Aug 12, 2005
Posts: 490
PM, WWW
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My email to SE Sweden:
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A VERY serious issue/problem on W800i that has been present since firmware revision R1N035 and is yet to be addressed:
Walkman player hissing noise
An audible hissing noise is heard as soon as the Walkman player application is started, regardless whether a song is being played or not.
Also, this audible hissing noise gets louder when a soft song is being played. (Set the volume halfway or less to make the hissing more apparent.)
I'm not the only one experiencing this problem, but other W800 users as well. Please, do give time to check this thread over ESATO, a Sony Ericsson fan site:
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=118023
What worries me is the fact that on several instances Sony Ericsson Customer Support denies or won't confirm that this problem is firmware-related (my emails to your Customer Support in the Philippines and UK). I'm from the Philippines, but I'm getting desperate to voice out this problem and make it known to you, and so I'm emailing Sweden, hoping it would reach those who are really developing the firmware for the phone.
Everytime I email SE reporting this problem, I always get the response to have the phone checked by an authorized service centre. I already did it just yesterday, and they said they already did everything they can to get rid of the hissing noise (phone refresh, firmware update to R1BC002, ec.) but after receiving the phone the hissing noise of the Walkman player application is still there.
And I'm also eliminating the possibility that my phone could be an isolated case, that it's from a bad batch of W800, since other W800 users are experiencing the same problem as well.
It's just very disappointing that the first phone to carry the Walkman brand has this hissing noise, destroying the excellent music quality it once delivered when I still had R1L002 on my phone. Even a K750 now sounds better than a W800.
I love my W800 and I still trust Sony Ericsson, so I'm not giving up hope that you would look into this problem.
Thank you very much.
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And the response I got just now:
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Thank you for contacting Sony Ericsson Call Center.
We have now received an answer and this will not be fixed for the W800i since this is an issue regarding an earlier update to prevent digital distortion.
Best regards,
/Jimmy
Sony Ericsson Call Center
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syxxpacc
Joined: Mar 16, 2006
Posts: 5
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Quote:
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Thank you for contacting Sony Ericsson Call Center.
We have now received an answer and this will not be fixed for the W800i since this is an issue regarding an earlier update to prevent digital distortion.
Best regards,
/Jimmy
Sony Ericsson Call Center
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[/quote]
hehe, i just got the same response 
Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting Sony Ericsson Call Center.
We have now received an answer and this will not be fixed in Sony Ericsson W800i.
The noise in the background is because an earlier update which included a fix for digital distortion.
Best regards,
/Jimmy
Sony Ericsson Call Center |
shaliron
Joined: Jan 15, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Melbourne, Australia
PM |
So I guess the only way to get the hissing under control would be to go back to an earlier firmware.
A wooden spoon is a spoon made from wood. Source: WikipediaWinner of: Best Thread (Huge SE Portfolio) 2007, Best Post (Huge SE Portfolio) 2007, Best Signature 2007, and 2nd Best Nickname 2007. |
kristianm
Joined: Aug 12, 2005
Posts: 490
PM, WWW
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Isn't it ironic?
Here they have a fix that takes care of "digital distortion" but introduces hissing noise. In the end you still end up with bad (or much worse) quality music playback. |
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Posted: 2006-03-24 14:53
