bass distortion

Support questions for Neutron Player only.
Solidus
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:22 am

bass distortion

Post by Solidus » Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:03 pm

Ever since I got I-9300 last Dec, I have had problems with Neutron sound quality. The problem I have is periodically bass sounds are extremely distorted, even at very low volume levels. It sounds like a cheap speaker being overloaded with too much power -- except volume is very low. I have had it with a variety of file types, from MP3 to WMA. Same files and IEMs do not have problem on PowerAmp. I have tried both 32 bit and 64 bit DSP, and it is no different. It is more noticeable when bass is boosted in EQ, though this may be due to my IEMs (RE0) which are very weak in bass without a little boost. Everything is stock on the phone. The only mod I made is to turn up the h/w volume for headphones in default_gain.conf.

Please help! I love the new UI, but it does me no good until I can solve this distortion problem.

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

Re: bass distortion

Post by dmitrykos » Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:30 pm

> The problem I have is periodically bass sounds are extremely distorted, even at very low volume levels.

Low freq. will easily overload digital audio stream if you set too Low band EQ too high. Are you using EQ at all? What if you switch it off, problem goes away? Would you please clarify.

Also please check setup of Automatic Gain Protection in Settings. If you see RESET GAIN above 0 reset it with slider and confirm.

You could try to call Reset Gain & EQ from Settings too.

Solidus
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:22 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by Solidus » Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:42 pm

Lowest two EQ bands are maybe 25-30% over flat. Preamp gain off. And volume is low too. On PowerAmp I can max out low bands and max vol with nothing like this. I have worked with AGP, and even turned it off. It seems to have no effect. Have reinstalled a half dozen times. Stumped! I did not have this problem with my GS2.

TYA
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:32 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by TYA » Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:04 am

Solidus wrote:Lowest two EQ bands are maybe 25-30% over flat. Preamp gain off. And volume is low too. On PowerAmp I can max out low bands and max vol with nothing like this. I have worked with AGP, and even turned it off. It seems to have no effect. Have reinstalled a half dozen times. Stumped! I did not have this problem with my GS2.
Hey man.

1.check Q factor of bass
2. check again Preamp. Off NOT means no used. Kick it on then slide it below zero line abit, then kick off (off means jump to vol, automatically)

BW

Solidus
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:22 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by Solidus » Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:29 am

Thanks! I checked q factor. Lower makes it better, but it is still there.

I think I found a big clue though. I tried adding a FiiO E6 amp between i9300 and RE0s. The issue disappears. No matter how much I turn it up, there is no bass distortion. This makes me think that the issue is how Neutron + Android (4.1.2) handles high resistance IEMs. (RE0s are 64 ohm.) Or I need to tweak something to account for it.

TYA
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:32 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by TYA » Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:05 am

Solidus wrote:Thanks! I checked q factor. Lower makes it better, but it is still there.

I think I found a big clue though. I tried adding a FiiO E6 amp between i9300 and RE0s. The issue disappears. No matter how much I turn it up, there is no bass distortion. This makes me think that the issue is how Neutron + Android (4.1.2) handles high resistance IEMs. (RE0s are 64 ohm.) Or I need to tweak something to account for it.
No. Not neutron reason cause it can handle 300 Ohm headphone in my case.

>> you tried with amp.....
If digital way was used , not all sound mod /tweak goes to the amp.
This case, find other reason , check other mod beat? Nozxooi? Acid mod? Clear bass. ..?

If the analog was use, it maybe a strange thing.

Solidus
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:22 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by Solidus » Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:00 pm

Everything is stock Android 4.1.2. As I said in beginning, only thing I have changed is the h/w headphone volume. E6 is a headphone jack amp:

Headphone jack >> FiiO E6 >> headphone

Solidus
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:22 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by Solidus » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:48 pm

Another clue on this: It seems to only happen when PowerAmp has been used previously. I have yet to hear problem when I reboot phone and start Neutron without ever using PowerAmp. Not sure what this means....?????

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

Re: bass distortion

Post by dmitrykos » Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:51 am

> Lowest two EQ bands are maybe 25-30% over flat

May be try normalizing your tracks. Or you can try going for Substractive method: e.g. do not increase freq. but decrease others. In such situation you will never get overloaded sound.

Make sure AGC is active and also in its settings RESET GAIN shall be at 0 db.

> Preamp gain off

It is just a choice of current slider, Preamp gain setting (slider) is never ignored.

Solidus
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:22 am

Re: bass distortion

Post by Solidus » Tue Aug 06, 2013 5:55 pm

See my last post about Poweramp. There appears to be something that Poweramp sets, but does not release/reset when it closes. And Neutron expects "whatever this setting is" to be in its native state, but it is not due to being the way Poweramp left it.

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