bad sound quality if Equalizer enabled

[jasianni]

Hi,

I have just purchased spotify premium and would like to use the Equalizer. When I turn it on, I can hear noise in the background (high frequency soughing/squeling) that modulates with the music. When I turn the EQ off, it goes away. Hardware is Galaxy S4 with Westone UM3x RC Headset.

Any ideas what the reason could be?

Thanks

Jasmin

[Joe]

A lot of S4 users are reporting clipping problems with non-standard headphones but that would manifest itself as cracking and popping. Are you running anything else which could be affecting the sound, another equaliser maybe? Is "adapt sound" set to on?

[jasianni]

Hi Joe, thanks for your message.

I have also installed https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartandroidapps.equalizer&hl=en but it seems to have exactly  the same problem, so I deactivated it and hoped the builtin spotify equalizer would work - may both of them are based on the same code? (Spotify equalizer is something like an OEM?)

Additionally, there is "musicFX" preinstalled (standard samsung s4 image because no cyanogenmod released yet). In Settings->my device->sound/audio I can select either "musicfx" or "equalizer" and nothing else.

The headset works perfectly, if the equalizer is off - it is definitely not a headset problem.... I can preadjust music on my desktop computer as I would do it on my s4, save it as mp3 and playback it on my s4 - everything OK then!

What is the "adapt sound" setting?

It would help, if I knew, whether the builtin spotify equalizer is related to the equalizer app mentioned above...

Jasmin

// Edit: in the user reviews of the equalizer app mentioned above there are similar problems mentioned with android version 4.2.1. I assume something has changed there, that prevents at least this equalizer (and spotify may too) from working properly

[Joe]

I've no idea about the spotify equaliser code but searching google, shows a lot of folk having issues with third part equalisers not working or turning off on the S4. This article talks about the adapt sound feature. If you try different (cheap and nasty) earphones, do you still get the same issue? It could just be that there's some sort of mismatch between phone and earbuds - maybe it doesn't like their impedance.

[jasianni]

ok, I tried the adapt sound feature now - as my headset is nearly perfecly linear and I hear very good, the feature is not needed at all - the resulting frequency curve is exactly the same and even as without the feature ("excellent") - so I disabled it again.

Additionally I tried some cheap samsung earbuds - same problem with the equalizer!

I am pretty sure that this is a software problem...

Is there something like a... "spotify support" around here and being able to say something regarding the origin/code of the equalizer?

Jasmin

[Joe]

You can always get in touch with the Spotify guys by submitting an online contact form. You'll get an automated reply and the trick is to  reply to it directly (even though it's from a no reply) and it will be sent to the Spotify staff.