| Author |
W960 - low volume levels and poor sound on Walkman player |
enfetish
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 5
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Hi All
I am not a phone tech head so please excuse me if some of the things I ask seem a bit 'green'.
I have been getting to grips with the 960 for a couple of weeks now and haven't got any major operational problems with it, but I am hugely disappointed in the quality of the music player considering I actually went for this phone assuming that it would be great for music. I have never wanted to carry both an IPod and a separate phone so the 960 with its 8 gig memory looked ideal. But I find the music player lacks clarity compared to an IPod (and I know IPods aren't the last word in quality), and even at maximum volume I find it is still not loud enough when in public places.
My ears are fine (not deaf), I have tried expensive headphones in case the supplied ones are not so good (they should be) and I have even tried to rip music at higher bitrates to see if that improved matters, but to no avail. I understand that phone companies purposely limit their volume levels these days to stop idiot users suing them if they make themselves deaf listening at crazy volumes, but I am not happy with the volume levels on the the 960. Also music lacks 'sparkle', despite messing about with the various EQ options - all in all I am really disappointed.
I understand that you can download software to increase volume levels and also maybe improve the players performance - is that correct - and if so is any such software available for the 960???
BTW, I too wish there was a direct 3.5mm jack socket as the cable adaptor is bulky and probably causes some sound quality degradation too?
All help gratefully received!
Cheers,
Enrico |
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SKIBBE
Joined: Dec 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Sweden, Sk�vde
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I am all with you that the volyme could be lounder, but the loudness default is more than enough for me with the boxed earpieces (never tried any other)
the first time i was disapointed was this weekend when i tried some external speakers.
as fore the lack of 3.5mm jack, why do you need one? the fastport supports volyme/song text/next/prev/ and no headset funtions when only using a 3.5mm?
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enfetish
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 5
PM |
Thanks for your reply.
All I have with my phone is the cable adapter that has the mute on it, not other controls?
Cheers,
En |
Homme
Joined: Oct 20, 2007
Posts: 72
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I hope that comming updates will increase sound loudness. It's real? |
SKIBBE
Joined: Dec 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Sweden, Sk�vde
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@enfetish
yeah the boxed one is not that hitech
but do you think there is such a loss on the way thru the headset to the speakers? |
bavlondon2
Joined: Jan 28, 2006
Posts: > 500
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The fact is that hardware wise the w960 uses the same insides as the W950 and P1 so in terms of music quality there wont be any difference. Only the volume is boosted at most. The only real music inovation is the walkman 3 touch interface which imo is lousy as the phone is laggy when it comes to navigating.
SE really should have pushed to 3.2 with this.
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pt020
Joined: Aug 14, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Amsterdam NL
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My P1i volume is about 30-40% lower then my old W800i,the EQ can not be manually adjusted so even there you can not "win" some volume.
big disappointment,trackID stoped working too.
waiting for iPhone MK2 |
enfetish
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 5
PM |
Thanks guys, but can anyone fill me in on the possibility of downloading new software to improve the player or get over the volume limiter? I understand people have produced updates for other phones to address this problem?
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makbil
Joined: Oct 26, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Istanbul
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As far as I know there are no such updates for Symbian phones. Individual modded drivers can be found for non Symbian phones such as the K750, K800 etc.
P990i: A mistake, a curse and a disgrace  So I lowered my expectations and settled for a P1i. I couldn't keep my expectations so low for a long time so now I have an HTC Touch HD |
mode
Joined: Jan 12, 2007
Posts: > 500
PM |
No dedicated music chip and complacency, I believe, is why this thread came about
Ericsson EH97, GA628, GF768, A2618s, T29s Sony Ericsson T68i, S700i, P990i, Z558i, W902, W995, X10, Arc S
*Xperia V*White*Black MW600*Sandisk Mobile Ultra 64GB microSDXC* |
bavlondon2
Joined: Jan 28, 2006
Posts: > 500
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The good news is that future UIQ walkman handsets should address this problem. If the rumors that BeiBei will use an OMAP 3 series chipset then that alone has a DSP which will dramatically increase the audio quality. About time too.
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ozzturkgem
Joined: Jan 30, 2008
Posts: 2
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Please make me believe that w960i sound quality is poor. I dont believe since I think you do not know the difference between sound quality and volume level which is a common mistake. If you show me any RMAA data of w960i which is bad so I can believe you. If not your proof only depend on your ears which is not reliable.
Here is a chart of RMAA data. One of them belong to W958c which is chinese version of w950i. Many people in this forum says that hardware of w950i is identical to w960i except 8gb flash and etc.
http://www.gsmarena.com/latest_features-review-171p2.php
Taken from GSMArena:
"The frequency response curves seen on our RMAA generated graphs are often used to indicate the accuracy of amplifiers and speakers in reproducing audio. Good frequency response does not guarantee a specific fidelity, but only indicates that a piece of equipment meets the basic frequency response requirements. As an example, a high fidelity amplifier may be said to have a frequency response of 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz ±1 dB. This means that the system amplifies all bands from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz with a maximum positive or negative deviation from the straight line of only 1 dB. Larger deviations below 40 Hz or above 15 kHz are OK, since the human ear is unable to perceive those sounds.
The noise levels are the next important aspect of sound reproduction. As seen in our tests, noise is usually measured in relation to the signal levels, otherwise known as the signal-to-noise ratio. In less technical terms the signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of a desired signal (such as music) to the level of background noise ('background' meaning unwanted interferences created by the equipment). So the higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the less obtrusive the background noise, hence the reproducing equipment is of a higher quality.
The dynamic range is another important factor. The human sense of hearing has a very high dynamic range. A person is capable of hearing anything from a quiet murmur in a soundproofed room to the sound of the loudest rock concert. A difference like this can be up to 100dB. A person however cannot perform these feats of perception at both extremes of the scale simultaneously - you cannot hear a whisper in a noisy street for example. Nevertheless, a good quality audio reproduction system should be able to reproduce accurately both the quiet sounds and the loud at the same time. Audio engineers often use the term dynamic range to describe the ratio of the loudest possible undistorted sound to the quietest or to the noise level, say of a microphone or loudspeaker. This dynamic range of an audio device is also sometimes referred to as the dynamic window. To mathematically determine a dynamic range you must take the difference between the ceiling and the noise floor of an audio device. For example, if the ceiling of a device is 10 dB and the floor is 3 dB then the dynamic range is 7 dB, since 10 - 3 = 7. So the larger the dynamic range (or otherwise the dynamic window), the better the device performs at reproducing quiet and loud sounds simultaneously.
The total harmonic distortion (THD) and the intermodulation distortion (IMD) might be the next items you will notice on our measurement results. By the name you know they are a measure of the unwanted altering of the original signals. Distortion is the name given to anything that alters a pure input signal in any way other than changing its magnitude. So, as you might have guessed it, the lower the number, the better the sound reproduction.
The stereo crosstalk is another thing of importance that we measure in our tests. Crosstalk measurement is made to determine the amount of signal leaking across from one channel to another or in purely non-technical terms it measures how good the stereo is. So, the higher the absolute value, the better the stereo."
There are some Turkish words in graph sorry.
Links:
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n81_8gb-review-180p5.php#
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n81-en.shtml
http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showthread.php?p=644296
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n95-8gb-en.shtml
http://tech.sina.com.cn/mobile/n/2007-01-22/10411346648.shtml
N81
N95-8GB
W950
IPod Touch
Graphs show that in overall N91 > w950~N81 > N95-8GB . If W950i and W960i hardware on music is same so W960i has a good sound quality.
[ This Message was edited by: ozzturkgem on 2008-01-30 10:38 ] |
bavlondon2
Joined: Jan 28, 2006
Posts: > 500
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The GSM arena review of the W960 could publish RMA tests sadly so we dont know for sure.
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hahaha112
Joined: Nov 10, 2007
Posts: 98
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nice
 is my life I Xperia X1 I Metal is not phone, it is the style of life |
chlee
Joined: Dec 30, 2007
Posts: 188
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Not sure about you guys but P1i, when I used with HPM 82, got very loud volume. Even if I put the volume to the minimum before it is silent, it is still loud. If only softer! Hah. |
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Posted: 2008-01-28 17:32
So I lowered my expectations and settled for a P1i. I couldn't keep my expectations so low for a long time so now I have an HTC Touch HD 
is my life
