Guest doomlordis Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 HDMI is clean on it but thats a digital stream. It is pretty poor really , a $5 mp3 player sounds better. I dont think there will be a fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest doomlordis Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 If we could findout what DAC etc the advent uses it might give us an idea if it is an issue with them or just a software issue. If it has a wolfson/cirrus chip and standard analogue stage then its unlikely that Advent screwed that up and software may be the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stragulus Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) Just got a brand new "Advent Vega" as well, and it also has the distortion. I have worked on an mp3 player for some years, and this sounds exactly like the type of distortion you get when there's an error resampling audio. I wouldn't be surprised if this is actually a driver issue (assuming the tegra2 chipset didn't screw up any hardware resampling, that would be all over the news). It may use different code for sending audio to HDMI. The audio itself sounds clean (as in, no noise), so I'd rule the analogue circuit itself out; it's a typical digital distortion. Edited March 23, 2011 by Stragulus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 I was going to try and live with the audio quality and hop for a fix, however, then I had a play with my mates ipad last night and found out what a decent audio output should sound like, incredible.... This is going to have to go back, sound is well below sub standard compared to IPAD, yes the IPAD is more expensive but my phone has better audio for god's sake...! Will be sorry to see it go but I can always repurchase if a fix is released, + the more people return them for this problem the more inclined they will be to release a fix !!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 I'm going into PC World today to do the same thing. I will also be checking the new one in store to see if the same fault exists, if it does I'm going for a refund too. returned mine today, had a lot of trouble convincing them, here is what happened: I went in and advised that I thought the vega had a problem with the analog headphone out in that it distorted at 50% volume which was causing the audio generally to be very poor, I also explained it was perfectly fine out of the HDMI. The "techy" guys subjected my device to some cheesy poor quality dance music from your tube and explained it sounded fine to him on PC world headphones. I advised that with cheep nasty ones you may not notice, plus you wont hear the transients with crappy dance music. luckily I brought some decent quality mp3s with me and we tested them on my device and on the device in the store where they agreed the sound quality was the same. They then said this was just native to this device and that was the sound quality you got with it, it wasnt faulty is just want that great. - and they would not refund or exchange. So I spoke to customer services at head office, explained the entire issue in detail and they said, "well if you have had it for under 28 days you can return it anyway, if you go back to the store and have problems again tell them to call me here at customer services, my name is John" I went back to the store and they still refused, they called customer services themselves and spoke to "john" who denied all knowledge of the conversation with me. I was getting annoyed at this point but remained cool and courteous. I think the lady in PCWORLD could tell that john had lied realising his mistake and then agreed to exchange it for me. I think people are going to have problems taking this back with this problem if you are not happy with the quality of the audio. I am now going over to the darkside and getting an IPAD2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stragulus Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Does anyone know if similar tegra2 devices have the same problem? E.g. the Viewsonic g tablet seems remarkably similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Does anyone know if similar tegra2 devices have the same problem? E.g. the Viewsonic g tablet seems remarkably similar. It could be a firmware issue and so may only effect this tablet, then again if not it should effect all the clones. Most people either wont notice it though or wont care, I think you need to be an audoiophile for this to really bother you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vansphone Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Does anyone know if similar tegra2 devices have the same problem? E.g. the Viewsonic g tablet seems remarkably similar. Sorry in advance, I have not read the whole thread. I don't know if this is relevant but I have tried a few headphones and external speakers with the Vega and I have noticed that the quality varies a lot. I get the strange distortion with earphones that contain a microphone. On these the 3.5mm jack has three bands around the plug rather than the normal 2. In some devices this does not seem to make any difference but it does have a big effect on the Vega. It seems to boost one channel and suppress the other. I have some Sennheiser MM50 earphones I bought for a Nokia. They have a microphone in the lead. They sound terrible. From eBay I bought a cheap Chinese replacement lead wired for an iPhone. It also has a microphone. Even though the jack on both leads have three bands using the iPhone lead with the MM50 earphones make them sound OK. Earphones that came with an old Apple iPod alsp sound OK. Sennheiser HD228 headphones sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Sorry in advance, I have not read the whole thread. I don't know if this is relevant but I have tried a few headphones and external speakers with the Vega and I have noticed that the quality varies a lot. I get the strange distortion with earphones that contain a microphone. On these the 3.5mm jack has three bands around the plug rather than the normal 2. In some devices this does not seem to make any difference but it does have a big effect on the Vega. It seems to boost one channel and suppress the other. I have some Sennheiser MM50 earphones I bought for a Nokia. They have a microphone in the lead. They sound terrible. From eBay I bought a cheap Chinese replacement lead wired for an iPhone. It also has a microphone. Even though the jack on both leads have three bands using the iPhone lead with the MM50 earphones make them sound OK. Earphones that came with an old Apple iPod alsp sound OK. Sennheiser HD228 headphones sound good. when you say "good" are what do you mean, do you now get any distortion at 50+ volume on transients? (hihats/cymbals higher frequencies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vansphone Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 when you say "good" are what do you mean, do you now get any distortion at 50+ volume on transients? (hihats/cymbals higher frequencies) I did not want to get into detail because I am not a great audiophile and do not think my opinions on headphones are worth much. What I could have said is, I find them perfectly usable without noticeable distortion. From silent to max volume is 15 clicks on my Vega. I have just tested the HD228's listening to Ellie Goulding, Your Song and then Regina Spektor, Samson. At full volume they sounds OK. Not much distortion on transients but the bass is increased to a level that I personally do not like. On my HiFi I always turn bass down to a low setting so others may well find bass at full volume OK Five clicks is plenty load enough for me, I think they both sound clear and detailed. For comparison I then played both the same tunes on my iPad also using the HD228. The iPad is certainly better sounding but not by a huge margin. Distortion at max volume is no more pronounced on the Vega than it is on the iPad. Hopefully that helps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 I did not want to get into detail because I am not a great audiophile and do not think my opinions on headphones are worth much. What I could have said is, I find them perfectly usable without noticeable distortion. From silent to max volume is 15 clicks on my Vega. I have just tested the HD228's listening to Ellie Goulding, Your Song and then Regina Spektor, Samson. At full volume they sounds OK. Not much distortion on transients but the bass is increased to a level that I personally do not like. On my HiFi I always turn bass down to a low setting so others may well find bass at full volume OK Five clicks is plenty load enough for me, I think they both sound clear and detailed. For comparison I then played both the same tunes on my iPad also using the HD228. The iPad is certainly better sounding but not by a huge margin. Distortion at max volume is no more pronounced on the Vega than it is on the iPad. Hopefully that helps? Thats interesting, I found problems with mine and also the model in store, I wonder if there are different variants / models? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vansphone Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Thats interesting, I found problems with mine and also the model in store, I wonder if there are different variants / models? Perhaps it is a quality control issue? My Vega is two or three weeks old. When I first used the Vega with earphones I thought there was a problem, but the problem for me, was the earphones. I have also used these XMI X-mini II Mini Speaker An although they are mono, they sound OK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest flat7 Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 It could be a firmware issue and so may only effect this tablet, then again if not it should effect all the clones. Most people either wont notice it though or wont care, I think you need to be an audoiophile for this to really bother you. I don't think so. The distortion is pretty clear! I dont think this issue is acceptable on a unit of this price. Most cheap mp3 players have better sound than this machine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest flat7 Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 You guys should not accept this problem if you have it. Go back and ask for your money back. Hopefully POV will correct it asap if they are serious about their product and if not, just buy a iPad 2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gingercat Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 You guys should not accept this problem if you have it. Go back and ask for your money back. Hopefully POV will correct it asap if they are serious about their product and if not, just buy a iPad 2! I think we get the point... starting to sound more like trolling now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vansphone Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 I don't think so. The distortion is pretty clear! I dont think this issue is acceptable on a unit of this price. Most cheap mp3 players have better sound than this machine... I understand, but the point of my posts was to say that I don't have the problem. I have compared the same tunes, using the same headphones between an Ipad and a Vega. The iPad is noticeably better, but not by a big margin. The sound from my Vega is perfectly acceptable. Therefore, don't think we should simply trash the audio quality of all Vegas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 I understand, but the point of my posts was to say that I don't have the problem. I have compared the same tunes, using the same headphones between an Ipad and a Vega. The iPad is noticeably better, but not by a big margin. The sound from my Vega is perfectly acceptable. Therefore, don't think we should simply trash the audio quality of all Vegas. i compared the same MP3 on my vega using stock music player, my HTC HD2 running android stock music player and the IPAD. If the Ipad gets 10/10 as a benchmark I would give my HD2 8/10 and the vega 4. Perhaps my unit was faulty, it had a terrible hiss from the headphone socket that wasnt their over HDMI. I have taken it back now and got a credit note, undecided between getting original ipad, ipad 2 or xoom. Personally I think the ipad 2 is a total bargain, it really is a thing of beauty (if you can get around your hatred of itunes and apple in general) I have never considered buying apple before but the ipad2 might just have got me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vansphone Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 i compared the same MP3 on my vega using stock music player, my HTC HD2 running android stock music player and the IPAD. If the Ipad gets 10/10 as a benchmark I would give my HD2 8/10 and the vega 4. Perhaps my unit was faulty, it had a terrible hiss from the headphone socket that wasnt their over HDMI. I have taken it back now and got a credit note, undecided between getting original ipad, ipad 2 or xoom. Personally I think the ipad 2 is a total bargain, it really is a thing of beauty (if you can get around your hatred of itunes and apple in general) I have never considered buying apple before but the ipad2 might just have got me. I get a lot of background hiss from my Blade but not from the Vega. I am beginning to think I have been very lucky with my Vega. I bought an iPad a few weeks ago for more than that £150 cheaper than a new one and it is still under warranty. To my mind there is no denying that it is a very good device. The screen is much better than the Vega and the sound is also better, it has great battery life. Yesterday I spent a few minutes in PC World playing with the iPad 2. I was glad I did not wait and spend the extra. It is good, certainly better than the original iPad, but as far as I was concerned, not worth the extra £150. The advantage of the Vega are adaptability, micro usb, HDMI and Android. So if you want something that is good straight out of the box (and had great audio), perhaps the iPad or iPad 2 is for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whatkatedoes Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 I wonder if the problem is driver related, as to me it sounds like the audio is being processed/output in 8-bit. This manifests as a crunchiness and metallic ring in the sound. More noticeable in some tracks than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CrArC Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 After comparing between my Dell Streak and Vega on the same YouTube song (that Alicia Keys / New York whateveritwas) I can clearly hear the difference. I'd describe it as a low-bitrate tinnyness which could almost be attributed to the sound source, except on the Streak it sounds perfect. I really, really hope the Vega just has crappy software for sound. The symptoms could support this - after all, the artefacts don't get worse with volume and remain pretty consistent throughout all volume levels, so it doesn't seem to be a hardware problem like a feeble DAC(s). It's almost like the sample rate needs raising, really. Still, it's very disappointing to see poor resolution sound in a tablet; even an inexpensive one. Especially when that performance is so trivial to achieve with cheap modern components. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 After comparing between my Dell Streak and Vega on the same YouTube song (that Alicia Keys / New York whateveritwas) I can clearly hear the difference. I'd describe it as a low-bitrate tinnyness which could almost be attributed to the sound source, except on the Streak it sounds perfect. I really, really hope the Vega just has crappy software for sound. The symptoms could support this - after all, the artefacts don't get worse with volume and remain pretty consistent throughout all volume levels, so it doesn't seem to be a hardware problem like a feeble DAC(s). It's almost like the sample rate needs raising, really. Still, it's very disappointing to see poor resolution sound in a tablet; even an inexpensive one. Especially when that performance is so trivial to achieve with cheap modern components. that's it exactly..!!!, it seems to process audio in some formats incorrectly, for me it was mp3s at slightly lower bit rates suggesting that once you get below a threshold the AD converters aren't very good. I really hope someone sorts this out as I will go buy a vega again, this was a deal breaker for me and I returned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FrownBreaker Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) that's it exactly..!!!, it seems to process audio in some formats incorrectly, for me it was mp3s at slightly lower bit rates suggesting that once you get below a threshold the AD converters aren't very good. I really hope someone sorts this out as I will go buy a vega again, this was a deal breaker for me and I returned it. Can you not try playing FLAC files or other playback software (Doubletwist) to see if its a bug in the standard playback app (called Music) it might be a compilation flag / error if the app from Modaco was compiled from source. Does the stock app (non modaco) have the same problem? I think DSG rushed this out as the first dual core tablet and this might be one of the bugs that slipped through have DSG release the source or provided updates to their firmware? Edited March 28, 2011 by FrownBreaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CrArC Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Can you not try playing FLAC files or other playback software (Doubletwist) to see if its a bug in the standard playback app (called Music) it might be a compilation flag / error if the app from Modaco was compiled from source. Does the stock app (non modaco) have the same problem? I think DSG rushed this out as the first dual core tablet and this might be one of the bugs that slipped through have DSG release the source or provided updates to their firmware? DSG just point you to myadventvega.com, alas. I don't think it's limited to the standard playback app as I was testing in the Youtube app, which exhibited the same problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoolzo Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 DSG just point you to myadventvega.com, alas. I don't think it's limited to the standard playback app as I was testing in the Youtube app, which exhibited the same problem. i have tried different formats with upmtten different players, some sound ok some sound terrible, nothing sounds great accept through the HDMI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CrArC Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Been digging a little further but I'm at the limits of my fairly crap understanding of Android... anyway: could we not compile a replacement audio driver and see if it resolves this issue? In particular, I found this page on the subject of porting Android to devices and making audio drivers for them. At the bottom you'll find a link to the source of AudioHardwareInterface.h, which is the header file necessary to compile your own audio driver for a device. Inside it are all the parameters to set for things like sample rate and volume. Could this be an opportunity to compile a replacement libaudio.so file to drop in /system/lib and get better sound out of our Vegas?? Could someone more knowledgeable than me confirm this madness? Could we decompile the existing libaudio.so file and examine its contents? How might we do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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