[NOT BUG] Low Volume

Support questions for Neutron Player only.
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Inso
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:43 pm

[NOT BUG] Low Volume

Post by Inso » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:59 pm

Hi

I got my Cowon Z2 today, now I tried some music players and Neutron sounds really awesome. With my triple.fi 10 sound and volume are fine. Problem is, with my AKG K701 (62 Ohms), the volume is very low with Neutron, while other players (f.e. the pre-installed) play the tracks much louder without overriding, Sansa Clip V2 and Apple IPod Nano had also no problem with that volume.
On Neutron I have tried to set the gain higher, then the sound overrides. I tried normalization, then he sets all tracks to 89db it seems, and the volume is lower (I usually use 95db-tracks). I have reset gain and eq on neutron several times, and I do not use the equalizer. I have reset all settings several times (f.e. parameters of eq, gain..), do not use crossfeed or surround. I tried it with replay gain and automatic gain protection on and off.
I do not use JetEffects, BBE, whatever, eq on android sound options is set to normal sound.

dmitrykos
Site Admin
Posts: 1914
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:15 pm

Re: Low Volume

Post by dmitrykos » Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:35 am

Hi! :)

> With my triple.fi 10 sound and volume are fine. Problem is, with my AKG K701 (62 Ohms)

Do you mean you are getting different volume by attaching different models of headphones? If so, then Neutron shall not be guilty in such situation as it simply outputs digital form of audio data to Android OS and then all further amplification/conversion to analog signal is done by Audio DAC chip of your device. I can't really comment why other players give higher volume but if you attach triple.fi 10 and have satisfactory volume, attach AKG K701 have it not, attach triple.fi 10 back and have satisfactory volume then problem is likely with Audio DAC chip of your device which is not able to drive speakers of AKG K701.

Looking at specs of triple.fi 10 they have 32 ohms and AKG K701 two times higher load of 63 ohms. May be analog power amplifier is not that powerful in your Cowon Z2?

On Neutron to have maximum volume, make sure:
- Preamp slider is at 0 dB
- Main gain is at max upper level
- EQ low-band is not too high, above 0 db = 1.0 - 2.5 dB (otherwise due to sound clipping Automatic Gain Protection will decrease Preamp gain during track playback)

Inso
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Low Volume

Post by Inso » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:54 pm

dmitrykos wrote:Hi! :)

> With my triple.fi 10 sound and volume are fine. Problem is, with my AKG K701 (62 Ohms)

Do you mean you are getting different volume by attaching different models of headphones? If so, then Neutron shall not be guilty in such situation as it simply outputs digital form of audio data to Android OS and then all further amplification/conversion to analog signal is done by Audio DAC chip of your device. I can't really comment why other players give higher volume but if you attach triple.fi 10 and have satisfactory volume, attach AKG K701 have it not, attach triple.fi 10 back and have satisfactory volume then problem is likely with Audio DAC chip of your device which is not able to drive speakers of AKG K701.

Looking at specs of triple.fi 10 they have 32 ohms and AKG K701 two times higher load of 63 ohms. May be analog power amplifier is not that powerful in your Cowon Z2?

On Neutron to have maximum volume, make sure:
- Preamp slider is at 0 dB
- Main gain is at max upper level
- EQ low-band is not too high, above 0 db = 1.0 - 2.5 dB (otherwise due to sound clipping Automatic Gain Protection will decrease Preamp gain during track playback)
Heyho,

thanks for the input, ensured all your points, it seems the problem of the Z2 is that Neutron can´t activate the build-in extra amplifier. Seems Poweramp (and the stock player) can, so I thought Neutron is the main problem. I managed it now just by playing an empty mp3 with the stock player (which activates the amplifier for all applications) and play my music with Neutron. Not the easiest way, but it works and I can hear something :)

dmitrykos
Site Admin
Posts: 1914
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:15 pm

Re: Low Volume

Post by dmitrykos » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:50 am

This is strange because Neutron is using standard Android audio output API (AudioTrack, http://developer.android.com/reference/ ... Track.html) which is used by many other players. If situation is like that then I would consider it as bug of firmware of your device because audio outputted through AudioTrack must always work and activate device specific features. There is additional, currently inactive, driver for Android in Neutron - OpenSL ES, may be it would provide some different behavior. I will make ability to switch drivers in Audio Hardware settings and let's see if it improves the situation.

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