Android Music Player Review: JetAudio vs PlayerPro

Listening to music is probably one of the most usable features of Android Smartphones. So useful that some manufactures boast about the capability of their smartphones musical capability.

I'm using Asus Padfone 2 and the original Samsung Galaxy Note N7000, despite of being the underdog compared to Samsung Galaxy S3 & S4, Sony Xperia Z, and HTC One, I'm quite surprise that musically it is a capable, if not excellent, audio player. It has flat neutral tone and clarity as a player.  So all I need is to find the most capable Audio/Music Player application for this PadFone2.

Side note: sound reproduction quality Asus Padfone 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Note: SGNote is warmer with more power on bass, but details rather sacrificed. Asus Padfone 2 is flatter with tighter bass and higher details. Quality wise, Asus Padfone 2 wins.

I have been testing several apps ever since I owned Asus Padfone 2: Google Music, WinAmp, PowerAmp, JetAudio, Neutron Player, PlayerPro and SoundMax.

My requirements for suitable music player are as follows:
- It needs to be able to play FLAC and Wave lossless format music
- Clarity for details and sound stage
- Flat tone preferences
- Able to support my collection of headphones and earphones
- All those must be fulfilled without any equalizer adjustment (EQ off)
Note: Equalizer needs to be off or set to flat/normal to make sure that the sound characteristic tuning is accordingly to the recorders/musicians attended sound or musical characteristics.

Out of all, I dropped out Google Music (no FLAC playing), WinAmp (sound quality not to my preference), and PowerAmp (too much sibilance and bad sound staging).  Later on, I dropped SonicMax, despite it is the only app and does BBE sound setting and very customizable, it doesn't have the EQ off setting, meaning everything is already set as sound tuning effect and it is the most bass-focussed player I tested.

The selection comes to JetAudio and PlayerPro.  Both have similar characteristics:
- Play FLAC and WAVE
- Read Folders
- Able to play music as it is (EQ off)
- Good sound tone characteristics: excellent brightness (excellent details, excellent sound separations, acceptable sound staging)
- Both can support my headphones and earphones (Super lux HD381F, UE700, Sennheiser MX760, Ultrasone HFI 450 and Jays V-Jays)
- Both have simulated amp setting, to adjust the volume out to support bigger headphones (preamp setting), pretty good for my Ultasone HFI 450 since it requires higher amp out.

The differences are as follows:

(Pre-note: songs used for testing are GnR's Welcome to the Jungle, Hans Zimmer's Molossus, Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerard's Now We are Free, Yasuharu Takanashi's Fairy Tail Theme, Slipknot's Psychosocial,  Susan Wong's First of May, Nightwish's Wish I Had an Angel, and Maroon 5's Move Like Jagger.)

JetAudio:
- Mid frequency is adequate, almost every vocals sound as they are supposed to sound, except when the singer has the tendency of having higher pitch sound characteristic (it rolled off)
- Bass impact is excellent, tight but powerful, all music become warmer
- High frequency details is adequate and controllable, no sibilance.
- Sound staging is leaning towards a smaller space; imagine you are listening the music in your bedroom or living room, you can allocate the source and they are at close range.
- Sound separation detail is sacrificed due to the enhancement of bass tonality. Nightwish's Wish I Had an Angel lost its cymbals percussions and parts of bass guitar. Hans Zimmer's Molossus percussions are inseparable.
- PreAmp enables the songs to have higher power up to a small level
- However, when played using speakers, JetAudio sounds excellent and well balanced and relax, if not laid back. Very enjoyable.
- Gapless play is poor quality. Not recommended, better turn it off.
- Recommended for pop, hip hop, dance, techno and other genres that requires more bass tonality.

PlayerPro:
- Mid frequency is good and clear
- Bass is tight and less boomy, but keeps adequate impact.
- High frequency is very good, producing details and controlled treble. Sibilance only heard when using higher PreAmp level.
- Sound staging is acceptable. I can recognize where were the musicians of each instrument were located.
- Sound separation is surprisingly better, the separation of each instrument is clearer in symphonic metal and classical musics.
- PreAmp enables the song to have higher power up to a small level
- Recommended for acoustic, classical, jazz, rock and metal songs.

With this summary, I recommend PlayerPro. Get the paid version since it comes with 2x equalizer adjustment frequency to tweak for those who prefer customized music reproduction.

Smartphone AND Tablet: The Unique Padfone 2

Up until last year, the world smartphone or tablet users are given 2 major choices: own a smartphone and/or a tablet. Asus broke those dilemma and gave us Asus Padfone. It was okay at the market, but I woouldn't categorize it as successful however it did open a great freedom of option for users to have a smartphone that can also function as a tablet at the same time.

Asus Padfone 2 has just been released and I took a big chance in buying it as a replacement of my beloved Samsung Galaxy Note N7000.  Interestingly, my main reason to purchase Asus Padfone 2 is because 3 main reasons:

1. Despite the drawback of not having replaceable battery, it combines 2 battery a 2,140 MAh and a 5,000 MAh.
2. Despite of lacking external memory expansion, it does come in 64 GB which means more than satisfactory at current needs, at least for the next 2 years.
3. It's a 4.7" phone and a 10" tablet at the same time, the dual personality that it's competitors are lacking.

Of course coming from SGNote, there are certain concerns that Asus Padfone 2 doesn't have like:

1. SMemo and SNote
2. SPen Stylus

Anyway, let's go deeper into the review, if you will, on the Asus Padfone 2.

Hardware:

- 1.5GHz quad-core processor is powerful enough for today's multi tasking 

- phone unit is thin enough with circular pattern back for easy 

- the rim of the phone unit is made of aluminum and felt easily scratched 

- tablet felt sturdy but also a bit weak construction-wise 

- excellent IPS screen, bright and clear, despite of only 1280x720 resolution 

- built in speaker  are excellent and loud, tablet is several notch louder with bigger speaker. The location of the speakers are easily covered when put on the table

Bloatware:

- only a little, webstorage, app locker, etc. The most useful feature is the floating windows apps that can be accessed from the bottom of the screen, but only has limited list of 

- power management is impressive although not the most thorough, mainly focus on power sharing and turning off network access for most apps during screen off. 

Headfi:

- for headphones users, I think Asus has put a good sound processor for enjoyment. It reproduce flatter frequency, bass are tight and clear, wonderful details for sound separation, no apparent sibilance. It is recommended to buy or download good music player to paring up the potential. 

Signal:

As usual like any other Android, standard sensitivity. 

Making calls:

Voice are clear and loud enough. It doesn't have move reduction so bear in mind when you are in busy place. My recommendation is to get a Plantronics or Jawbone bluetooth unit for comfort (check my review on some of them in this blog) 

Notable problems:

- tablet will always be 

- Beware the tablet screen is not very protected from wear and tear. It is easily cracked on 

- if you damaged either unit, it will be expensive to service it. 

- no accessories for protection, however a Samsung size tablet case will work. 

Those are my deeper review. My final recommendation is that this Asus Padfone 2 is designed for work and play and the same time, but it is not for children. 

Ultimate Ears 700 : The Ultimate HiFi Experience with Mid-Range Pricing aka Cheap HiFi

Alright, I have reviewed the one I called poor-man's HiFi earphone.  I recently has the privilege to own a air of Ultimate Ears 700 (UE700). Man, this earphone, although not the best of the best, is brilliant.  I think UE has given us the superb earphone that usually will cost us US$ 300 or more at only fractions of the price at US$ 130 - 150.

The Unit :

Build like tiny single driver but once you touch it, you will know that they ain't cheap.

Cable is more than suitable for years of use, plus it doesn't make a lot annoying noise when you wear it.

At first, you need to get use to the color coding, red ring for right ear and black ring for left. It has letters in awkward places for the designation that I failed to find them the first week I wore them.

The speaker driver holes are covered in tiny mess built into the body to protect the drivers from dirt or ear wax, so that is a good choice but cleaning the mess requires soft materials and delicate touch.

Also it comes with a hard box to transport it around with layer of rubber material in inner compartment. Excellent choice, but UE should rethink the locking mechanism since it easily opened accidentally in bags. I need to tighten the box with a rubber band to make sure that it won't be opened accidentally.

The Wear :

Find the most suitable ear plugs for yourself first among 3 sizes of silicon and 2 pairs (different sizes of course) of memory foam like material. These options are very wise and user oriented. Even Shure only gave 1 pair of such foam.

The sealing of the outside noise is quite effective, though not as effective as Shure or others.

And the most important is you can wear it for hours without discomfort, no more explanation needed. Of course you need to find the right fitting of silicons/foams first.

It is also plugging nicely tight without discomfort so you can dance lightly, no professional dancing please, or jogs and it won't come off.

The Sound :

Let see if I can describe the UE700 and its sound to you coz it is a challenge for me. This is a warm earphone.  I hope I didn't disappoint.

The first thing I noticed is the details of the sound that the drivers produce. I knew UE700 is a pair of high end HiFi unit, enough to WOW HeadFi contributors.

The Low End is deep enough, though not as deep deep as others in 2x pricing range of UE700. The impact however is excellent to my taste. It has strong impact without damaging your eardrums. The bass has a natural tone characteristic to make listening to music uplifting in the style that the musician intended. It is suitable for nearly all type of music that requires bass impact, but to me it is more enjoyable for Rock, Techno, and Pop (note I don't listen to Jazz). The bass extension is very controllable that you can hear the drummers hitting the skins with their sticks.

Mid End is satisfactory, even when compared to my trusted "poor man's HiFi" Superlux HF381. It plays truer to the voice of singers,  though some female singers lost some of its character and leaning towards sharper tonality. However, raspy and male voices are a joy to listen to.

High End is pronounced smoothly. You can immediately hears cymbals extension and high pitch sound in smooth characteristic, meaning that they don't overdo it. But when you listen to classical music, you immediately can detect that high high end is somewhat missing. I think my Ultra some HFI450 is superior in this frequency range.

Sound separation that usually produced by tuning mid and high end is expertly tuned. You can hear low basses strings playing,  which usually lost in translation. That means bullseye on details.

Sound Staging is excellent for a small, itsy bitsy units. Not as pronounced as Sennheiser MX760 or Ultra some HFI450. However, you can tell where the players located during recording of live performances.

Overall, this UE700 is the earphone that you will wear and dancing foolishly to the music without realizing you are acting like a lunatic because it produces tons of fun sounds in your ears. I did, unfortunately.

So there, UE 700. At US$130-150, it's not cheap, but the cheapest in its class. I call it the cheap HiFi. Try it first, buy it if this is what you are looking for. Coz I find this units are very friendly to the small music players since it is easy to drive.

Is this my new Android Super Phone?

Still considering Sony Xperia Z, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or Asus Padfone 2.

Each has its own advantages.

Anyone can help me?

In Memoriam: My Samsung Galaxy Note

Well, sadly, all good things must come to an end.  This 2013, I have a new job, I have new perspective in life. Now, apparently the changes must come to my mistress, or second wife, if you will: Samsung Galaxy Note.

On March 30th, 2013, I noticed my Samsung Galaxy Note is suffering problems when charging. Later that night, I brought GNote to the ICU at Samsung Service Center. And yesterday, the 31st March 2013, the ICU stated that the cost of repairing was high, so I had to make a hurtful decision to end GNote suffering.  Rest in Peace my dear friend.  Gnote has been accompanying my daily life since October 2011.

My GNote will be placed in its original Premiere big black box that I got when I first bought it, along with its peripherals.

So, the mysamsunggalaxynotejournal.blogspot.com is at an end.  All new articles can be found in this blog page instead.

Farewell.

Anton

Review: Plantronics Voyager Legend

For those familiar with Plantronics bluetooth, the Voyager series are known for the best of performance yet kinda less preferable design-wise.

As, you can see, it is big and intrussive.

So why Plantronics Voyagers are successful? The simplest answer is because almost no other bluetooth headpiece can compete with its performance.

Voyager Legend is the latest addition to Voyagers series and Plantronics most advance bluetooth to date this January 2013. Compared to the older design, Plantronics has made some major changes:
- longer and more stylistic boom
- easy access switches on the back
- surprisingly very accessible talk and smart buttons on the side
- new charger magnetic connector

Let's go into the details:

Built

Sturdy with rubber-like finish on most of its main body to prevent it from slipping. Metal-mesh covered boom is easy on the eye and the design minimize facial hair being caught up in mesh.

As usual, Voyagers series are known for big capacity battery for a bluetooth but Plantronics successfully balance the weight.

Please beware, the rotating mid connector between the boom section andbthebearloop section is the usually the first area to get damaged over time, so handle with care.

The buttons are well located throughout the body to make it easy to access and press without taking the unit off. I believe this is the best designed buttons location for a bluetooth. Even much better than all the previous Voyager units.

Comfort

For those familiar in wearing Voyager series (original, Pro and HD) will notice immediately the boom is heavier due to the amount of metal used. Yet, it is still within very comfortable level.

The earloop is slightly smaller compared to the previous versions, so you might need a little adjustment, especially if you are wearing glasses like me.

Also, if you wear glasses, most likely the tip of the curved boom could touch your cheek. Adjust it by swivelling the boom upward a bit. The friction between your cheek andbthe boom might caused some unwanted noise.

Although I have not wear Voyager Legend for long hours, just like the previous version, this bluetooth can be worn all day without any discomfort. Just remember to take it off before you go to bath or sleep

Battery

Being in a bigger size, Voyager Legend has a non-replaceable big capacity battery, lasting 7 hours of talk time and 11 days of standby. On reality, the talk time is about 6:50 on full charge. Still a major power house. Just donot forget to charge it every 7-10 days depending on your daily usage.

Legend is the first line of bluetooth to use magnetic charging connector. All you have to do is stick it to the magnet and the two will find the best connection to charge the earpiece. Though non standard (the rest are using microUSB), I found this is the most useful charging connector when driving since you will not be able to concentrate if you need to find the microUSB by tracing it with your finger tips and trying to connect them while driving. Brilliant decision from Plantronics.

Also, unfortunately not available every country yet, Legend has a charging box that you can bring around. It will add more power to the unit when you are travelling to remote areas without electricity connection.

Sound Quality

Exceptionalky clear both for listening for both side. The WindShield feature eliminates a lot of noise caused by the wind. In combination with the AudioIQ3 Voyager Legend employ, using 3 microphones to eliminate the rest of the audio noise from your surrounding, makes Voyager Legend the most recommended bluetooth on the field.

However, there is a little bit of tricky tweak to enhance the sound. If the ear canal silicon does not fit, ambience noise will leak through and hearing the other side can be difficult in busy area. To tackle this set back, Plantronics employed 3 silicon sizes with 3 foam blanket for the silicon. Find your best fit and get the enhanced sound Plantronics presents you. Plantronics truly successful in injecting Altec Lansing sound quality to this itsy bitsy speaker.

Summary

Although Plantronics Voyager Legend larger body size is not for everyone, itbisbthe moat comfortable bluetooth earpiece available in the market, next to Jabra Wave. The performance truly impressive and w9rth mentioning as the best bluetooth earpiece in the market to date. I won't be surprised if a tech portal or two awarded Legend with the best performance bluetooth of 2012 or 2013.

Pros:
- 7 hours of talk time
- Easy to connect magnetic charging tip
- Long hours wearing comfort
- Non intrusive for those with glasses
- Non intrusive for those with facial hair, beard

Cons:
- The boom is not for everyone though stylistic
- Difficult to store unless you have the charging box, do not put it in your pocket aince it wilk break

Review: Plantronics M1100 Savor

For those who use bluetooth hands free, you might be familiar with the brand already.  Currently, the 2 brands respected as the the producers of best bluetooth earphones or headsets are Plantronics and Aliph.  Each uses different technology, Plantronics uses computerized noise reduction using multiple microphones, they call it AudioIQ.  While Aliph produces Jawbone earphone to read cheekbone vibration to produce noise free communication, known as Noise Assassin.

Plantronics M1100 or Savor is probably famous since it was the smallest bluetooth earphone to use advance AudioIQ3, which means Savor utilizes 3 microphones to capture surrounding sound, including the user's, to produce the clearest sound of the user.  The party who receive the phone will hear the user voice clearer even if the user is in a crowded place, such as a mall or bus station.

I have been using Plantronics M1100 for about 1 year already, so my apology if this review is very late in the game.  However, being one of the best bluetooth earphone available in the market right now, I think it is still beneficial for you who wants to get one.

Specification:

• Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
• Weight 9 g
• Recommended Use Cellular phone
• Additional Features
  Voice Activated Dialing (VAD),
  Call reject,
  Secure Simple Pairing (SSP),
  On/off switch,
  Multipoint technology,
  Built-in DSP,
  Volume control,
  Answer/end button,
  Mute button,
  AudioIQ,
  Sidetone detection,
  QuickPair,
  Voice Commands,
  Wind Noise Reduction,
  Plantronics Vocalyst service,
  Bing411 service,
  Built-in 3 microphones,
  Echo cancellation,
  Last number re-dial

Headphones

• Headphones Type Headphone - Monaural
• Headphones Form Factor  Earbud 
• Connectivity Technology Wireless - Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
• Bluetooth Profiles
  Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP),
  Hands Free Profile (HFP),
  Headset Profile (HSP)
• Sound Output Mode Mono

Microphone

• Type Built-in

Connections

• Connector Type 1 x USB

Miscellaneous

• Included Accessories 3 gel ear tips

Power

• Power Device Power adapter - External
• Voltage Required AC 120/230 V
• Battery Headset battery - Rechargeable - Lithium polymer
• Run Time (Up To) 4 hour(s)
• Standby Time 168 hour(s)

Manufacturer Warranty

• Service & Support 1 year warranty
• Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year 

Build:

• Solid, although made of plastic
• Big buttons and easy to access power switch

Comfort:

• Light weight, sometimes you will forget that you are still wearing it
• Can be worn for up to 4 hours without discomfort, after that you will start to feel the silicon pushing into your ear
• Optional 3 size of silicon tips makes it easy to choose the best fit

Performance: 

• Very clear sound into so you can hear the caller without problems
• Can be used to call or receive call in crowded place, but not noisy place.  Meaning, if you are in a mall, no problem.  But if you are riding a bike at more than 40 kph, your voice will be covered in wind noise
• Excellent battery life, 4 hours of talktime and 1 week of standby for such a small thing.  Please beware that you will most likely forgot to charge it.
• Durable, any other bluetooth will start to have problems after 1 year, this one is still running like there is no tomorrow.  the only degradation that I found is the battery life is bit shorter now
• Micro USB charging connector means you can charge with any available USB charger. 
• A2DP means you can listen to music streamed from your phone or media player, but the sound volume is rather weak for stereo music, but monolog sound has good level of volume.  At least, I can listen to audiobook discreetly.
• Multipoint connection enable connection to 2 phones simultaneously and both are active.

NotableWeakness:

• No dedicated volume up and down bottom, only circular volume, which is problematic sometimes
• So tiny, sometimes it hides in the seat of my car, even got lost in my jacket's pocket.
• No carrying case included

Conclusion:
Savor is not the most stylistic bluetooth earphone in the market, but the most practical and functional bluetooth earphone that you can wear for hours while driving or in a busy place without any discomfort.  Nowadays, it's price has slopped down from 1 year ago (around US100 now), but the performance that you can get from Savor will satisfy your daily use.  

Comparison to Aliph Jawbone Icon (my wife used one):  
After 1 year, Icon starts to have some minor problems, like connection to the phones become unstable and the sound quality is less than when new, some static noise has started to appear.