few sound doubts :)

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Deus Ex Machina

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Hi,

I have few doubts about, well, sound.

1) How much the quality of sound depend on these three parts -
a)the headphone/speaker
b)the sound card
c)the software(firmware in case of mp3 players/mobiles)
I mean if I hear a hissing sound, with some disturbances, while using
EP-630 on my computer, i guess it is not fault of headfone but the
soundcard, right? Neither am I feeling the level of bass i was expecting.

2) How is sound output (in terms of quality) diff in case of a dedicated mp3 player and a mobile phone ( N, W series). As I see it, both will have comparable mp3 decoding chip+firmware. So it must all come down to the headphone you are using. Otherwise both must be same, right? So that must mean a ipod and a n-series fone wud be same in this regard?
Any clarification wud be appreciated :)
 
the problems which plague these things are of different nature . firmware, unless they are buggy , should sound fine otherwise , unless there are some weird dsp bugs involved. in which case usually digital artefacts should show up at some ( mostly low vol levels )

most soundcards perform fine in the 100 hz to 5K region. Its the high end they have problems with, especially due to resampling and construction limitations. another problem is signal to noise ratio. it can either mean that it can play with lesser noise, and alternately , with higher volume levels without distortion ( though that has more to do with dynamic range )

the amp is also important , and it can add only noise/ hum to sound , not any digital artefacts . they can also show up distortion. They might have the same characteristics at different frequencies, so the mids might be great , but the bass might suck, or vice versa.

the speakers are IMHO, the most important part . they are always the weakest link in the chain , as the design of the other components has reached 90~99% perfection. on the other hand , speaker design is a black art :P , and often a hit and miss afffair. speakers ( passive ones) can NOT add anything to the sound. only remove from it . speakers suffer from frequency response issues, nothing beyond that . maybe distortion if you push them too hard.

another important factor you are missing out is the room and placement . you could have the worlds best sound rig, and still sound suxxy if you place it wrong . you could have the best IEM's but could sound like cheap chinese earbuds if you're using the wrong size ear flanges .

as far as you second question, there is a lot more to mobile fones than the audio circuitry. RF, Baseband , then all the media codecs . they could potentially interfere with the analog bit . additionally, cell phones are optimized for power consumption. so they use the power saving versions of IC's usually . most media players have the balance tilted towards quality

PS , as far as the lack of bass on the EP 630, if it compared to an mp3 player , then i suggest you tweak your pc's EQ settings :D you'd be surprised at how loud the EP 630's bass can be pushed :ohyeah:. on the other hand , try wearing the next size ear flanges, maybe your ear canals are bigger ( it solved ze problem for me :) )

the hiss + disturbances happen if you are using an onboard soundcard. if you have a good PCI card, there shouldnt be either . check your mixer settings and see if you have any unmuted analog inputs
 
Thanks for the rather long( but informative) reply :)

So in layman terms, how much the sound quality of a mobile phone and dedicated mp3 player will vary? 5-10%? AFAIK modern mobile have separate platform(chip set) for multimedia ( like the one our company makes). So i don't think mobile's function as a multimedia device and communication device should affect each other's performance.
 
ThunderBolt said:
Thanks for the rather long( but informative) reply :)

So in layman terms, how much the sound quality of a mobile phone and dedicated mp3 player will vary? 5-10%? AFAIK modern mobile have separate platform(chip set) for multimedia ( like the one our company makes). So i don't think mobile's function as a multimedia device and communication device should affect each other's performance.
Click to expand...

yeah, not a lot . if they are running off approx the same battery voltage, and use the same IC's , they should sound the same :)

but usually a dedicated device often outperforms an all-in one device . there could be exceptions though :)
 
Another problem with mobile phones is that the headphone jack is usually shared with the mic jack, and in case of n95, with the TV-out jack as well. Not good for sound quality.
 
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