HTC Sensation XE: Sound quality?

  • Replies:25
6
Di Tao
  • Forum posts: 55

Sep 14, 2011, 4:23:10 PM via Website

I've personally never had a problem with the sound quality on my HTC Desire so I wonder why HTC is putting so much effort into launching this phone with Beats technology. I mean, how much better could the sound quality possibly be? And how many people out there use their phones as their primary mp3 players? It's an interesting question and I'll be interested to see just how noticable the difference in sound quality is. Certainly the idea of a HQ external speaker on the phone makes it quite unique.

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5
Guilbert McEwans
  • Forum posts: 15

Sep 14, 2011, 5:12:11 PM via Website

One word: Branding... Dr. Dre sells CD so they think he will move phones as well.

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Aaron Tilton 19
Aaron Tilton
  • Forum posts: 834

Sep 14, 2011, 5:32:50 PM via Website

You can check out our report here if you like but when Fabi from AndroidPIT check the Sensation XE out at the pre-release party, he didn't seem to be too impressed. The sound quality was better then normal he said but not enough of an improvement to really call for an entire new phone where that was the entire selling point. I haven't had a chance to try them out myself yet but he sounded a bit dissapointed.

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Ryan 10
Ryan
  • Forum posts: 146

Sep 26, 2011, 4:27:27 PM via Website

MP3's suck anyway... thats why I still buy CD's and not MP3's ;)

— modified on Sep 26, 2011, 4:27:46 PM

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Aaron Tilton 19
Aaron Tilton
  • Forum posts: 834

Sep 26, 2011, 5:07:23 PM via Website

@Ryan That all depends on the rip quality. But thats another debate. How was the sound on your Sensation? Are the headphones any good or just standard buds? Do your's have the sound cancellation as well and what do you think about it? Im just curious because I'm somewhat of an audio-phile and was considering getting one until the AndroidPIT report on it. Love to hear some more opinions.

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Ryan 10
Ryan
  • Forum posts: 146

Sep 27, 2011, 8:25:07 AM via Website

Aaron Tilton
@Ryan That all depends on the rip quality. But thats another debate. How was the sound on your Sensation? Are the headphones any good or just standard buds? Do your's have the sound cancellation as well and what do you think about it? Im just curious because I'm somewhat of an audio-phile and was considering getting one until the AndroidPIT report on it. Love to hear some more opinions.

I don't own a sensation yet (still with my Desire "classic").
I tried the Sensation of my friend, sounded similar to my desire.
I own some Sennheisers. Yeah there is a sound calcellation- like you have it with almost every MP3 Player or smartphone (Discman 4 President!)
Actually you can improve the sound (and sound cancellation) with PowerAMP a little bit (with the EQ) but every CD (or mp3) is different so you have to do it anew for every Album you listen to. :/
I really hope the beats-software can improve the sound.
It's sounds rubbish to my ears as I usually listen to studio quality when I'm producing our music

Port of Call <--!--> Youtube

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stewart borland 5
stewart borland
  • Forum posts: 26

Oct 10, 2011, 10:16:49 PM via Website

I think the sound is stunningly good and it's not the only 'upgrade' - we are now talking about the most powerful phone currently on the market (UK) blisteringly fast on the benchmark app.
I love it. Def. one of the best HTC devices on the market.

— modified on Dec 2, 2011, 10:42:22 AM by moderator

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2
Steve Batt
  • Forum posts: 3

Oct 12, 2011, 10:21:36 PM via Website

I just got one today.
To offer my opinion on the sound quality, I'd say it's not a great leap. The difference is negligible, it's better, but nowhere near as what it ever will be without
larger earphones. (I own a pair of sony mdr-v700s)
I'm more interested in the in call sound quality. I'm not happy with the top level at all.
Also it won't play a copy of Star Wars i put on there in 720p. But I'm still working on it. Jumped on this phone after a 3GS and Xperia 1 before that.


Hi, by the way. Nice place you got here.

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Aaron Tilton 19
Aaron Tilton
  • Forum posts: 834

Oct 13, 2011, 11:39:19 AM via Website

Cool! Gald you like our digs :grin: It won't play Star Wars? That's odd. The Sensation supports HD video playback so it should work with your copy of Star Wars. If my Google-Fu hasn't failed me it should support .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3), .xvid (MP4 ASP and MP3) Does your file have the right format?

Anyway welcome to AndroidPIT forum! Check out our blog too and joint the conversation. We're always glad to get comments from new users.

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1
Yagiz İNAN
  • Forum posts: 2

Oct 20, 2011, 11:50:04 AM via Website

I have sensation xe you may be sure that sound quality is amazing :)

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1
Tresidentevil
  • Forum posts: 2

Oct 21, 2011, 12:34:19 PM via Website

I've recently bought a Sensation XE. I can assure you the sound quality is fantastic. The headphones are pretty good also. It's easily worth it for the increase in sound quality if audio matters to you. I actually sold my MP3 player to use this instead.

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1
Garry Millar
  • Forum posts: 2

Oct 29, 2011, 3:11:39 PM via Website

Di Tao
I've personally never had a problem with the sound quality on my HTC Desire so I wonder why HTC is putting so much effort into launching this phone with Beats technology. I mean, how much better could the sound quality possibly be? And how many people out there use their phones as their primary mp3 players? It's an interesting question and I'll be interested to see just how noticable the difference in sound quality is. Certainly the idea of a HQ external speaker on the phone makes it quite unique.

I haven't got my XE yet it comes in a couple of days and i cant wait but this will be my only music player so it will be interesting to find out how good beats is. I'm not exactly an audiophile so it will no doubt be plenty good enough for me, i didnt buy the XE solely for the audio experience but because its the latest, best HTC and i wont be getting another new phone for a good while after this one.

— modified on Dec 2, 2011, 10:38:28 AM by moderator

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1
Garry Millar
  • Forum posts: 2

Oct 29, 2011, 3:12:38 PM via Website

Di Tao
I've personally never had a problem with the sound quality on my HTC Desire so I wonder why HTC is putting so much effort into launching this phone with Beats technology. I mean, how much better could the sound quality possibly be? And how many people out there use their phones as their primary mp3 players? It's an interesting question and I'll be interested to see just how noticable the difference in sound quality is. Certainly the idea of a HQ external speaker on the phone makes it quite unique.

I haven't got my XE yet it comes in a couple of days and i cant wait but this will be my only music player so it will be interesting to find out how good beats is. I'm not exactly an audiophile so it will no doubt be plenty good enough for me, i didnt buy the XE solely for the audio experience but because its the latest, best HTC and i wont be getting another new phone for a good while after this one.

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stewart borland 5
stewart borland
  • Forum posts: 26

Oct 30, 2011, 9:37:11 PM via Website

I don't think you'll be disappointed on any level. I certainly am not. One thing (if you don't already know) If, as I do, you used PowerAMP player then Beats Audio doesn't start - you have to use the stock player I think.
I'm also sure that the difference between PowerAMP & Beats is a lot less then standard player vs Beats.

Good luck with your phone... but don't say never.. your next update might be for the camera? By new reports, HTC's next big step forward is in camera improvements. It's out on the next USA one I believe?

Stewart

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1
Graham Waters
  • Forum posts: 1

Nov 6, 2011, 11:30:17 PM via Website

Exactly the reason I'm looking through these forums... Does anyone know of another music player that works with Beats Audio? The organisation functionality of the stock player is pretty poor...

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Aaron Tilton 19
Aaron Tilton
  • Forum posts: 834

Nov 7, 2011, 12:28:44 PM via Website

Any non-stock music player will work with Beats Audio headphones but you will notice reduced sound quality. The stock player was optimized to automatically adjust the equalization to the beats system and most other players wont offer that feature and as the Beats System is limited in reach I wouldn't expect too many developers to start working on new players for the Beats system in the near future. You might have to wait till it has a bit more market saturation until there's good 3rd party support. :(

I did some looking on developer forums and I could only find people trying to port the beats player to other systems and none trying to customize it...yet.

Hopefully someone will get to work on that soon.

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1
tommy greg
  • Forum posts: 1

Dec 20, 2011, 11:11:36 PM via Website

I have just got the sensation xe the head phones are just ok no better than my ipod. When I play music thru the speakers the sound is so quiet even turned up to the max has anyone else noticed this???? I cant play you tube videos either cos you just cant hear it????

— modified on Dec 20, 2011, 11:13:03 PM

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1
Matthew Bridger
  • Forum posts: 2

Jan 16, 2012, 1:12:44 PM via Website

I use Poweramp & adjust sound with equalizer. Forgert MP3's, Poweramp plays Flac, (Lossless)!! Stunning sound!

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Steven Blum 23
Steven Blum
  • Forum posts: 882

Jan 16, 2012, 1:49:27 PM via Website

Good idea. Poweramp plus Beats audio sounds like an unbeatable combination..

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1
Simon Turner
  • Forum posts: 1

Jan 19, 2012, 3:59:00 AM via Website

tommy greg
I have just got the sensation xe the head phones are just ok no better than my ipod. When I play music thru the speakers the sound is so quiet even turned up to the max has anyone else noticed this???? I cant play you tube videos either cos you just cant hear it????

You tube is fine on my XE but far out there is a massive drop in output, and a serious decline in quality when connected via stereo 3.5mm audio plug... The sound becomes Boomy tinny and hollow with a 40% drop in volume.

I too spend my time with my ears between studio speaker and reference monitors.. I have even connected the Sensation XE to these and it still sounds terrible. It does sound OK with the supplied in ear phones but no comparison to a set of studio cans.

So far... Very, very disapointed.

If anyone is aware of an update/app that fixes this I am eager to make this usable.

I'm pretty sure the issue it in the firmware somewhere... because When I first attached the stereo 3.5mm I had great sound in the car for just less than a second then it went crappy again. to crappy for me to bother listening to it... Then again I initially turned on the Beats firmware was perfect for a little less than a second, then noticably went crappy again...

Sigh..

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Aaron Tilton 19
Aaron Tilton
  • Forum posts: 834

Jan 19, 2012, 10:54:51 AM via Website

Wow that's interesting. I'm not an audiophile and I only got to play around with a Beat enabled Sensation XE for a couple of days but I thought the sound quality was great and much better then on my Xperia play. Was I just being taken in by the advertising or are my ears just not trained enough to judge?

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Hugh Mcconville 1
Hugh Mcconville
  • Forum posts: 1

Mar 22, 2012, 8:51:19 AM via Website

Di Tao
I've personally never had a problem with the sound quality on my HTC Desire so I wonder why HTC is putting so much effort into launching this phone with Beats technology. I mean, how much better could the sound quality possibly be? And how many people out there use their phones as their primary mp3 players? It's an interesting question and I'll be interested to see just how noticable the difference in sound quality is. Certainly the idea of a HQ external speaker on the phone makes it quite unique.

I got this handset on the hope that it would be the best phone around for sound quality, not just head phones but ring tones/ hands free etc..It is safe to say im disappointed. the wife's nokia has better volume and quality sound to be fair!

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Steven Blum 23
Steven Blum
  • Forum posts: 882

Mar 22, 2012, 4:31:01 PM via Website

Good to know, Hugh. How does activating Beats affect the sound quality, in your opinion?

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stewart borland 5
stewart borland
  • Forum posts: 26

Mar 22, 2012, 9:18:59 PM via Website

I'm a few months on with my XE now and I have switched back from stock + Beats to PowerAmp for my music. Very happy with sound quality and still using supplied 'phones.

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4
bayberry
  • Forum posts: 24

Aug 30, 2012, 10:24:25 AM via Website

I think the sound is shocking, and the sound quality is great. Headset also good :#

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2
Norman Hunter
  • Forum posts: 13

Jan 10, 2013, 11:07:50 AM via Website

World Class...Beats Audio..!!

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