Work around for poor Pandora audio quality

[kkozma]

I finally got to the root cause of poor audio quality in Froyo when streaming Pandora over 3G. There is an AAC hardware acceleration library that is misbehaving.

This isn't really a fix as much as it is a workaround and it can be done through terminal emulator provided you have root access or you can use root explorer. I only have an OG Droid, so I don't know if this will work for other phones or not.

The library in question is libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so and it is located in system/lib. Simply rename the file and that should do it. I renamed mine libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.bak.

Since I don't have root explorer, I used the terminal emulator included with CM6.1

1. Set your system partition to read write
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/ mtdblock3 /system
or
some roms have scripts for this and in my experience it's always been sysrw

2. cd system/lib

3. mv libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.bak

4. set your system partition back to read only
mount -o remount,ro -t yaffs2 /dev/block/ mtdblock3 /system
or
some roms have scripts for this and in my experience it's always been sysro

The only negative side effect I've run accross with this is I lost about 200 points on my quadrant score. I'll gladly take perfect audio quality over some number on a benchmark.

Let me know if this works for everyone!

 

[circsmonky]

the newest update to froyo should also fix this

 

[kkozma]

the newest update to froyo should also fix this

Frg83d? It didn't for me. Exactly every other song sounded like garbage.

 

[Jeyman]

iv never had anything go wrong with mine. but ill pass it along to friends who have claimed it and see how it goes.

 

[haasta]

the newest update to froyo should also fix this

Sadly the new pandora update i got yesterday with my market update and the new 2.2.1 patch to my droid x have not fixed ANY audio issues. The best work around i have found is to use my iPod Touch adhoc-ed to my phone to get my paid for high quality tunes.

 

[kkozma]

the newest update to froyo should also fix this

Sadly the new pandora update i got yesterday with my market update and the new 2.2.1 patch to my droid x have not fixed ANY audio issues. The best work around i have found is to use my iPod Touch adhoc-ed to my phone to get my paid for high quality tunes.

I was doing the same thing. Does the X use a TI processor? If so, then it's likely you have the same problem I did. All the finger pointing back and forth between Pandora and Google and the root of the problem is neither of their fault.

If you're rooted, give what I did a shot and see if it helps. If all you do is rename the file, you can easily revert back to it if it doesn't.

 

[haasta]

the newest update to froyo should also fix this

Sadly the new pandora update i got yesterday with my market update and the new 2.2.1 patch to my droid x have not fixed ANY audio issues. The best work around i have found is to use my iPod Touch adhoc-ed to my phone to get my paid for high quality tunes.

I was doing the same thing. Does the X use a TI processor? If so, then it's likely you have the same problem I did. All the finger pointing back and forth between Pandora and Google and the root of the problem is neither of their fault.

If you're rooted, give what I did a shot and see if it helps. If all you do is rename the file, you can easily revert back to it if it doesn't.

I'm pretty sure its a TI OMAP Chip - those looping (finger) pointers get in the way of solutions. I have already pulled the gingerbread source and am working on a rom with some developers in my office. buh-bye moto-blur! Ill post my findings on the audio track info when I find.

 

[circsmonky]

possible that the x has something different affecting pandora, im on a D1 and when i did my first 2.2.1 rom pandora worked fine. i went through about 3 other 2.2.1 roms and still it worked. so there must be another issue here

 

[haasta]

possible that the x has something different affecting pandora, im on a D1 and when i did my first 2.2.1 rom pandora worked fine. i went through about 3 other 2.2.1 roms and still it worked. so there must be another issue here

I am fairly certain MOTO missed the bus here on the X, my wifes incredible sounds better. And a co-worker's D1 does too. I think kkozma is right if the new X and D2 have the TI chipset - prolly related to that.

 

[kkozma]

possible that the x has something different affecting pandora, im on a D1 and when i did my first 2.2.1 rom pandora worked fine. i went through about 3 other 2.2.1 roms and still it worked. so there must be another issue here

It worked fine for me too, but it sounded like garbage exactly every other song. Do you stream over 3g? For whatever reason, if I used wifi it always sounded great. Flip the wifi off and it was crap. Also, the type of gear you use makes a difference. If you're only listening on some cheapo headphones, you likely won't notice the drop in sound quality from song to song.

Every single d1 I've played with has the same issue. I'm very sensitive to sound quality and I pay for pandora one, so it was very important to figure this out.

 

[MyNewDroidX]

Thanks for the work around!!! Now I can actually listen to pandora in my car again. Much appreciated....

Now if only Motorola could use hardware that would match my wifes blackberry sound quality, I would be super thrilled.

 

[haasta]

mv libbOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so

So I haven't been on in a while (holidays and work) and I Said I would post my results on the file move. I changed libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so on my TI chip based DX. This has resolved most of the poor audio quality using pandora and did not affect my streaming of groove shark. This does not remedy ALL audio issues as it seems pandora is still sending some crappy feeds on some songs evidenced by clicks in the audio track and decreased volume (most likely from a bad compression on the servers). All things considered the audio quality is comparable to my iPhone. I highly recommend SSH DROID for your devices when editing command line. Using the keyboard and tiny screen can cause errors and unexpected results while editing system files. With SSH Droid and Putty client for windows you can simply copy the commands below and insert in putty with a right mouse click.

Once connection made to device (DX in this case)
Ensure you are super user (# is prompt indicator)
# su 

Mount rootfs RW
# mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblk3 /system

Change dir to libarary files
# cd /system/lib

move (change name) libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so to a .bak (backupfile)
# mv libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so libOMX.TI.AAC.decode.so.bak

Remount rootfs RO
# mount -o remount,ro -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblk3 /system

Cheers!

 

[orangeshasta]

Just wanted to say that I was having this problem as well - and this work-around seemed to take care of it. Thanks!

 

[imaxorz]

I just tried doing this.

Will update later today after I can verify if this worked on the way home in the car.

Update: I can confirm that this does work! My Pandora doesn't sound flat like it did before.