Arrive headphone volume problem confirmed

[TexasAggie97]

I had previously complained about the volume using the Arrive headphones to watch a movie and figured it was just a poor audio rip of the movie. Honestly, I could barely hear the dialog and only if I rammed the earpieces into my ear to keep background noise at my gym out! Even then, it was just a whisper, although without the headphones, in my office, the dialog was completely audible.

Well I tried watching the exact same movie file with my Epic and I could clearly hear the dialog. Seems I received an Arrive with a defective headphone jack?

Did anyone else have this problem with their Arrive headphones and the low volume? I have seen posts on Microsoft's help site about podcasts being near inaudible.

[Certs]

Let's not go there so fast, he said he checked MS's site and there are complaints there as well. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

What format is the movie? mov? I havent transferred a movie over to the device yet but I can put one on tonight and see how it sounds.

[TexasAggie97]

It was a divx encoded movie file in .avi format. The movie, "All Star Superman", I thought was ripped at poor volume quality but I know it was ripped in 5.1 surround. Could the 5.1 surround (instead of basic stereo) be the issue? I also had two Smallville episodes copied from my DVR that had super low volume.

I was able to watch other episodes as well as different shows without the issue, although the volume was turned all the way up to 30.

I can upload the All Star Superman movie and have you guys check it but I don't want to get into trouble for file sharing or some crap that might be against the rules.

My intent is not to upset the fanboys, yes I switched to the Epic due to other problems, but if there is a patch or fix, or if I (and other Arrive owners) received a defective Arrive, then there is power in knowledge and complaints to Sprint (or HTC) can be issued and the problem can be corrected. I did not come to sh*t on the Windows iPhone OS, it seems to be a hardware issue, not software....

[Certs]

Considering other videos play perfectly and you encoded this one in DD5.1 then I would say the decoding is the issue. WP7 probably doesnt support the codec if I had to guess.

[eric12341]

I know if the video SRS enhancement is enabled the volume can be a little bit quiter in the dialog during movies but the actual sound effects were louder,this was in Netflix. this is because the SRS is taking the stereo signal and converting it to a 5.1 digital surround sound signal. this same muted dialog problem is even experienced on DVDs. however when listening to music the audio is louder than my tp2 ever was so I doubt its a HW issue.

[Aleki]

meh, wont be much of an issue for me.
OP, try a pair of IEM's instead; they isolate way better than buds so you wont have to compenste by blasting your ear with more noise. So far, 1-2 clicks on my TP2 is the listening level I'm used to.

PS: I tried the arrive at a store with one of my higher impedence IEM's(64ohm); it was plenty loud @ ~20 clicks on the dial. The phone has a pretty darn good DAC btw. Way less fizz than my TP2

[-Enkidu-]

I haven't had a particular issue with volume, but going to keep an ear out. I have noticed if I try to plug it into an amplified Aux port while playing on Zune it tends to kick into voice command mode instead of pausing.

[Certs]

I just sent 4 different video formats to my phone (m4v, mov, avi, and mpeg4) and all played fine. None were in DD5.1 format. So I would assume that either the format is the problem or your phone specifically.

[eric12341]

usually DD5.1 soundtracks are downmixed to stereo when played back on a device that can't support it and it may be that conversion which messes up the sound quality.

[TexasAggie97]

Originally Posted by eric12341

usually DD5.1 soundtracks are downmixed to stereo when played back on a device that can't support it and it may be that conversion which messes up the sound quality.

Was this a Zune coversion issue then?