Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I am an audiophile and have been listening to N900 on and off since Summit.

I am not a phone buyer, so i cant com.are there, but compared to N810'S (UNATTENUATED) monster output, this feels 2-3 db quieter.

Headphone jack hasnt gotten real critical listenng but so far it really hasnt offended. (and i do own hybrid electrostatics and ulitmate ears 5.1 earbuds)

Note if you listen to music VERY LOUD, you are destroying your hearing slowly.

EDIT if you want to compare this phone to serious dedicated DACs i will beg Reggie for a "shush please" button.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Good to hear! err good to know! Thanx!

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

EP-630 is very decent for its price. Though if you can up your budget a little, I would recommend Crossroads Mylar Hippos. Really great value for its money.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/e...und-up-441400/


http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/m...-v-3-a-450407/

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Well, for most non-audiophiles, the ep630 and cx300 are good enough (i have both). They are both MUCH better than the stock earbuds that are included with phones/mp3 players

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

What is the sound level from headphones compared to the iphone? I like my music very loud and worried the n900 may not be loud enough for me. I know it's apparently meant to have better sound quality from the 3.5mm jack than iphone but I'm not an audiophile and what matters to me is loudness.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

The EU will soon put in place regulation that will peg loudnesss to save nutters like you from destroying their hearing thus causing the taxpayer a lot on hearing aid.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

The N900 headphone output is a LOT louder than the N810 was (no idea how it compares to the iPhone), I cannot listen to it on max settings even in ballads or non-orchestral classical music. But then again, my ears are not blasted yet :)

The bad news for loud-music listeners that it's like an addiction. As your body adapts, you will need bigger doses (more dB) just to keep the perceived level of loudness. And after you cross the physical damage level, nothing will sound loud anymore.

The EU regulation is AFAIK just for the *default* volume level. Yes, there were players that play on max volume so they would sound more powerful compared to others you might want to try out in a shop.

Also, the max limits will hardly work out as it can be (and already is) broken with recompressing/mastering with higher gain values. The output levels are the result of a mix of HARDWARE and CONTENT. If you calculate the limits for a worst case scenario, 'normal' music will be (literally) unusably quiet.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Lol. It's not like I always listen on the highest possible volume. But many songs I have are of much lower volume. If the device I am listening on has a very low maximum volume then those songs will be just too quiet to enjoy.

Although given that I have been paying £4k a month in income tax I think I have more than earned the right to have hearing aid provided to me for free.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Thanks Dad!

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I was not impressed with output to Sennheiser HD25-1. iPhone is definitely better. What I want is for USB audio support to Headamp Pico. That would be an audiophile solution.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

We'd need USB Host first...

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

this peice of gear has awesome sound compared to most in its class.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

agree, the sound quality on the n900 is way better than the droid. I'm taking the droid back today

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

That would be nice!

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I rate the N900 as "good" in sound quality compared to the following devices. The audio comments in my noob-review appear to be supported by GSM's review and the data they posted.

From best to worst that I own and use.

1. Archos Gmini 402. The best sounding device I have owned. Reviews also agreed this is one of the better sounding devices and equal to the better Cowan's.

2. Zen 32gb Flash

3. G1 (this is ironic, considering the need for USB adapter)

4. N900 (hardware EQ should put it at #2- need to slightly improve the mid and high frequencies).

5. Droid (Volume is too low. If you have some lower dB level songs, you need to max the volume and still hard to hear if loud area), Examples are songs in the 80's or lower for dB level. Need MP3gain for Droid.

6. Archos 5. A Euro audio level law-capped monstrosity for sound quality. Even using MP3gain, you will find you need to max the volume or close to it. Even then the sound stage is very weak with no depth of sound. I use the this for videos only. Same chipset as the N900, so nice to hear better sound from the N900. Now, if we can just get the better codec support that the Archos 5 has ;)

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Either we're not listening to the same phone, or something is wrong.

I don't think I listen to especially loud music, but I find the N900 to be very quiet. When listening, even on noise-cancelling headphones, on a plane I can't raise the volume high enough to filter out the back noise, which I can do easily with other phones. In a quiet environment, the loudest level is OK, but not super loud. So what's wrong?

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

With N900 and Sennheiser CX-300, the lowest volume setting is too loud for me.

However, with alsamixer -c 0,I can drag down the PCM slider to about halfway, and then the volume controls in media player becomes somewhat useable, and I can avoid hearing damage..

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

get the cx500, they have dedicated volume-control^^
right now i have the cx500, and they are good. good and cheap.
but i'll upgrade to the ie8 sometime.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

ie8's :)

http://custom-cable.co.uk/index.php?...roducts.search

Persoanlly I think the n900 is fantastic at sound quality, very clear and almost as good as 5800xm. Agreed its not THAT loud but its excellent

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Hey with those PK3s, can you still hear the outside world at all? I have a real problem with the in-ear ones that totally block anything around you.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

i plan to be using my old trusty Motorola HT820's (A06) with the n900 when i finally get one :) (bloody love these headphones - no wires woo!)

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I tried listening to music on the N900 using headphones and have to say sound quality is quite poor compared to any mp3 player I have ever had (have never used a phone for music previously). Ipod touch's sound quality is like a million times better.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Yes, they don't block out everything like In Ear Monitors. I'll get to try mine out today with my N900 when it gets here!

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Wow. The N900 when using 16ohm or lower buds is too loud if past 80%for even lower dB recorded songs.

Are people using some of the higher end buds that are 35ohms?

N900 sounds great! Still needs hardware access to EQ, but generally sounds great.

Wonder when we will see an EQ? 3430 has the function built in. Can not remember if five or ten band.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Love my HD25-1s; best headphones ever! :D

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Hey! When I get them today, I'll check them with my Yuin PK3s and Grado SR-225s. Both of these are 32 ohm.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

OK, just got mine :D

Tried it with:

Yuin PK3s 32 Ohms. Plenty Loud, sounded fine

Grado SR-225 32 Ohms Max'd volume, would like more. Grados are somewhat difficult to drive

Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros 80 OHMs. Sounded Good, but used Max Volume.

I would try to see if there is a service menu like on some phones where you can turn this up. I did it on my wife's phone. I had to have a master code to access the service menu. This is hidden and you had to jump thru a number of hoops to get to it.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Just got my N900 a day ago ... have been listening to music on it now. The N900 speakers are pretty loud and clear by itself.

But I thought I would play my music on my older N810 on Canola.

Side by side, the N810 wins hands down - much deeper sound and more filling rather than the slighly tinny sound on the N900.

The N900 sounds much better than my wife's 5800 - but the N810 is certainly better - of course the N810 is a bigger device and thus more space for better speakers.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I just received my n900 earlier today and the quality pretty darn good for a mobile device. With my nice expensive Sony earbuds it sounds fantastic. Granted I've only been using it for a few hours, but it beats most mobile devices that I've used before.

Note: I really don't care for the included earbud/wired headset. It sounds sub-standard to me.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Anyone tried headphones with 50 ohm impedance?

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Please do not confuse speaker sound quality with the quality of the headphone jack. (Just to raise awareness.)

I, too taking a stroll in the audiophile corner once in a while (but maintaining a firm grip on that flighty wallet) can recommend something to heal that annoying noise floor:

Shure Volume Control

My MP3 divice is an iRiver H320. Wonderful device and low noise floor, but with Westone IE Monitors(UM1 if the budget is thight*), it still is audible...
Using the VolControl might/will have (slight) impact on your headphones sound reproduction. I found it a justifiable trade against no (audible) noise floor.

OT: Another point why I will like the N900; the iRiver H320 sports 22mm of thickness glory. ;)

*Wonderful things - to my liking. Don't go ordering these without proper review of other possibilities. Audio can get very subjective.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Looking at GSMArena's audio quality review:
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n900-review-421p7.php

Seems the frequency response is quite okay. Falls off slightly on high end but that's still way better overall than N95 8GB I have. (Which is frankly CR@P) At least it doesn't have a capped low frequency range which a lot of phones seem to possess.

I really would like on-par performance from the 3.5mm jack and according to gsmarena's review, it seems it might be decent. Just that the lack of equalizer will make it difficult for some earphones/headphones to provide sound as how it's meant to sound.

As long as it sounds as good as most 'okay' mp3 players with my IEM, I will be happy. :D

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

The stock earphones are pretty poor! Tried them out as I didn't have any on me at the time and they make any bass muddy. I was listening to Paradise City by GnR, and it was horrible!

On my Klipsch Customs, the sound is much, much, better. At around 60% it is as loud as my G1 at 8/10

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Ignorance is bliss. The N900 sounds great unless you are used to a device with better highs. Cymbal decay is an example that shows the N900 needs a hardware EQ to boost the highs up. N900 is still good though and blows the Archos 5 away and sounds better and more volume than Droid.

EQ should make the N900 audio nirvana.

Then again, using stock buds will sound bad regardless.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Got to say over the FM transmitter it did sound lacking in highs, but I have never used an FM transmitter. Will have to try in my car using normal means tomorrow :)

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

After saying the sound quality was quite poor I have to retract and say it is not too bad after all. I had only ever tried the headphones that come with it but when I tried my proper head phones the difference was like night and day.

Sound quality on the FM transmitter didnt seem to bad either. Many people had complained about it so I expected it to be quite bad but it was just as clear if not clearer than any radio station. I only tried it with the car stationary outside my house though. Don't know what it would be like when I am driving around. Was just happy to hear it work because it did not work on my N97.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I'm not an audiophile by any mean, but personally, the N900 seems to sound better than my Cowon D2. I use both my Shure e4c and e530 with the N900, and came to this conclusion.

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

Does the Yuin PK3 come with the buds that goes into the ear as well or just the 'foam/padding' around the ear piece?

Re: Are we SURE the N900 has good sound quality?
 

I agree in regards to the sound quality being very good. My post above was before the update to 1.1. Not sure if that had anything to do with it, but the highs are more pronounced and the sound is almost as good as my Gmini 402 (greatest sounding device evah')

Placebo, or cleaner ear canals? ;)