headphone jack

[SolidSnizzle]

Hey guys I just joined this forum after reading what you guys have read because I too have been very annoyed of this problem and am confirming that whatever you guys have said is 100% true

I recently bought the Droid and I seriously love it, this is the only problem I have with this thing and being a music lover I feel somewhat that this is a serious joke lol. Out of all the problems this phone could have had it had to do something with the audio.

I own a pair of sony headphones above generic apparently "studio quality" which i highly doubt that i bought for about 50 bucks. And i love listening to the subtle noises and sounds in music that put it together and being mostly rap/hiphop oriented again as i said its a joke.. IT has to do with the Bass. Yes the bass Fu..rrreaking sucks this problem usualy happens over as you guys said 75% the speakers crackle and the left channel pops. also something ive noticed coming from my ipod touch is that the music in general isnt very high quality. You cant notice this from normal headphones but from all the music im hearing everything is a bit washed and the phone drops out alot of the diffrent sounds and keeps everthing in the mid's. Just try out ur ipod on a car stereo and switch it to the droid. I HOPE TO ALL MIGHTY GOD this is a software related issue being that its only one channel.

This is tottaly uneacceptable we cant say "oh the quality sucks at high levels on most phones anyways" if its like that then why does it only occur inthe left channel, obvious flaw in the design software or hardware and needs to be fixed. My hope that the audio gets as good as the touch arent very high but i suppose that would make up for the time in painful poping noises that im having to withstand.

 

[hereisoblivion]

Any updates on this issue?

I spent about 3 hours on the phone Wednesday between Verizon's business support and Motorola, and all I got was; "This is the first time we've heard of this issue."
They also recommended that I replace my $1,000 stereo system in my car for an authorized Motorola device, as it's probably a compatibility issue. Nice eh?

And that's after telling them I have 3 Droid phones, 3 cables, and 3 different auxilary device to which any combination of parts will yield the same result proving it's an issue with the droid.

I suggest anyone that has this issue to call Motorola and inform them, as they're sitting complacent in ignorance.

Here is a Several page thread about it on androidforums.com:
Crackling in speakers when you use the 3.5mm - Page 2 - Android Forums

Anyone willing to call in to Motorola about the issue, call:
800-331-6456
That's their support. This issue definitely needs addressed, and quickly.

Anyone have any more info on the status?

 

[dayday11]

Calling today.

 

[wsbsteven]

I've been lurking in this thread for awhile now and decided to test this problem out on my own equipment. I haven't had a distortion problem using the 3.5mm jack but I don't go over 50% when using an amp and I don't go over 20% or so using headphones. I decided to max out the volume and hooked the droid up to my computer receiver and I got the distortion in the left channel when listening to songs with heavy bass. By lowering the volume on the droid one notch I'm able to eliminate the distortion.

For those that are taking this issue seriously, are your amps not powerful enough to give you loud music or have you blown out your hearing and 100% power is what it takes to hear?

 

[hereisoblivion]

Dropping the phone itself's media volume to even 40% did not make much of a difference for me, and that was using 3 different phones on 3 different pieces of equipment: 2 different cars aux line in's, and a generic docking station.

The crackling diminished a small bit, but only a very small bit.

 

[wsbsteven]

Dropping the phone's media volume to 40% did not make much of a difference for me. I used 3 different phones on 3 different pieces of equipment: 2 different car aux line in and a generic docking station.

The crackling diminished a small bit, but only a very small bit.

What song are you playing that causes that?

 

[hereisoblivion]

It's not any particular song.
It's happened on most every song I've played.
I believe any song will do it if the volume is loud enough. I was listening to a piano piece by Chopin and it did it. LOL. Obviously not nearly as frequent as something by Metallica, but it still happened several times.

This morning I was listening to sweet Child of Mine by Guns 'n' Roses and it was happening. It wasn't as bad as other songs, but it was definitely there.

I've just gotten accustomed to turning my volume down super low. If it's ow enough that it's beginning to get difficult to hear, the crackling doesn't happen........ or at least I don't hear it.

 

[HTGamingPC]

Crackling gone after update?!!

Since applying the 2.01 update, I haven't heard any crackling from either Pandora, Slacker, or the built in player. I used to have it in the left channel when it was cranked to the two loudest settings in all of the above programs and with all types of music.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[wil318466]

I was going to wait a few days before I post, but yes, I haven't noticed this anymore either.

-Wil

 

[volando]

Since applying the 2.01 update, I haven't heard any crackling from either Pandora, Slacker, or the built in player. I used to have it in the left channel when it was cranked to the two loudest settings in all of the above programs and with all types of music.

Anyone else notice this?

Oh man, I'm going out to the car to test this right now!!!

Result: Awesome!! I didn't get any crackling from either Last.fm or Slacker or the droid's build in player. Hurray for 2.0.1!! Thanks for noticing this, I was still listening 3 notches down...

 

[JFDroid]

Since applying the 2.01 update, I haven't heard any crackling from either Pandora, Slacker, or the built in player. I used to have it in the left channel when it was cranked to the two loudest settings in all of the above programs and with all types of music.

Anyone else notice this?

Oh man, I'm going out to the car to test this right now!!!

Result: Awesome!! I didn't get any crackling from either Last.fm or Slacker or the droid's build in player. Hurray for 2.0.1!! Thanks for noticing this, I was still listening 3 notches down...

I'm still getting crackling in my car And I have 2.0.1 obviously. Maybe this is a defective unit, and a replacement, with the 2.0.1 update, would not have the crackling? I hope so...

 

[shanmanmv]

I also updated to 2.0.1 and the issue persists. Am i the only one using bluetooth stereo headphones and experiencing this problem? The combination of the update and the fact that this occurs with bluetooth as well as standard headphones makes me think it is a software problem.

Edit: Voice dialing still isn't fixed yet!

 

[MNTNBKR]

As many have posted previously, this is a simple matter of distortion caused by an overdriven amplifier. This is purely a hardware issue, and can happen with any amplifier regardless of the size or quality if it is overdriven. This type of distortion is known as clipping. The peaks of normally sinusoidal waves reach an amplitude that the amplifier is not capable of reproducing, and when this happens the amplifier simply "truncates" the signal effectively turning it into a square wave. Speakers are not designed to reproduce square waves (DC current) and thus you hear a popping sound. This distortion will happen regardless of the output method (line-out / bluetooth) because the phone is sending the post amplified signal to your listening device.

Any software fix for this type of distortion will be limited to restricting the max volume setting. Either you can do it yourself by turning the volume down one notch, or Motorola can do it by changing the volume limits so that the new 100% volume is the same as the old 80% volume.

The people complaining about having this issue in their vehicles are simply whiners. All you have to do is turn up the volume on your vehicles head unit to make up for the lower Droid output. If you're using headphones, then yes, if you want it louder you'll need a pocket headphone amp.

The fact the your ipod / zune / BB are able to reproduce the sound at a higher level without distortion simply means that the internal amplifiers on thise devices are rated at a higher wattage. As far as I can tell, the Droid hasn't been touted as a multimedia superstar, and in fact it lacks in several areas when it comes to multimedia (ie. streaming). If you're an audiophile, maybe you should have bought an iphone (not that it is an audiophile quality device either).

As for my Droid, I have the same problem streaming to my cars (one car via line out, the other via bluetooth) and I simply turn the Droid down one click and the distortion is completely gone. If I need more volume I use the volume control knob on the head unit in my car.:icon_ banana:

With everything else that this device is capable of, I can hardly fault it for sending out a little distortion at peak volume.

 

[HTGamingPC]

Maybe there are different kinds of crackle?

I actually still have an occasional crackle or two when I'm doing a bunch of things at once, like some sort of interference. It's more subtle though. You also get some crackles when the connection isn't great on streaming music. If you still have crackling, see if it sounds like it used to. The old crackling happened pretty consistently when the bass was jacked up in a song, so it had to have been some sort of overdrive issue, which has been fixed, at least through the earphone jack.

Also, I'm not sure how they fixed it. The volume doesn't seem softer than before; it might even be louder. I'm listening on average two notches down compared to before and I can hardly take it at full volume, where it used to be just a tiny bit too loud. I'm not sure if this part is my imagination.

 

[volando]

The old crackling happened pretty consistently when the bass was jacked up in a song

this!

Also, I'm not sure how they fixed it. The volume doesn't seem softer than before; it might even be louder. I'm listening on average two notches down compared to before and I can hardly take it at full volume, where it used to be just a tiny bit too loud. I'm not sure if this part is my imagination.

never underestimate the power of bad programmers fraking up perfectly functional hardware