vB Easy Archive - SMT 5600 audio glitches

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SMT 5600 audio glitches
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Posted by: smerget

I've got a thread about this going on the ATTWS support forum, and there is an existing thread about it at MoDaco (about the Orange C500, which is the same hardware and has had the same problem reported).

When my SMT 5600 plays any sound file (MP3, WMA, MID, WAV), a slight but noticeable audio glitch occurs every 16-17 seconds. It sounds like "sst" or "tss," basically it's a high-frequency white noise. It is soft, has a bit of a stereo effect to it, and is just about completely drowned out by loud music. The glitch is easiest to hear in mellow instrumental tracks. Others have reported the same problem when playing back video files, although I have not tried playing any myself.

Since this has been hashed and re-hashed in other forums, here are all the findings so far:

- A number of C500 users have confirmed this, but a number of C500 users report they do not hear it.

- A couple of other SMT 5600 users have also confirmed this, and again a couple of SMT 5600 users report they do not hear it.

- The interval between glitches has not been entirely agreed on. The MoDaCo report states something like 12 seconds, while I time it at about 16 seconds.

- The glitch does not occur in the same places when the same track is played repeatedly. It appears that it occurs at a fixed time interval that is not directly connected to the track being played.

- To deepen the mystery, someone reported that they created a silent minute-long MP3 and played it back without the glitch occurring, but that the same device has the glitch when playing back an MP3 with actual music.

- On MoDaCo some users reported they did not hear the glitch at first, but that it suddenly started up at some point, for no apparent reason. Some believe that the ones who say it just started up just weren't noticing it before, and that it was there from the beginning. This is vehemently denied by those so accused.

- Some MoDaCo users got the hardware replaced, or had access to multiple units at a store, or had access to a friend's unit, and reported the same problem on all units.

- A "bad batch" theory was refuted by the fact that C500 users from different countries have reported the problem, and now I am reporting it on the SMT 5600, which is presumably a very different batch from any sold as the C500.

- Someone reported no problems playing MP3's, but a very noticeable problem when playing a video.

- Orange is unaware of this problem, denies its existence. Audiovox does not want to provide tech support, refers to the provider. AT&T is also unaware of this problem, as far as their tech support personnel can find on their computers.

- A recent C500 ROM update made available by Orange (containing unrelated improvements) did not help.

- Using an alternate media player (PocketMusic or Beta Player) yields the same results.

- WMP 9 (current version on C500) vs. WMP 10 (SMT 5600 version) makes no difference.

- The headphones are not to blame, as I have tried the included earbuds as well as two other higher-quality earphones. It is possible to hear the glitch (with difficulty, due to the bad overall quality) through the phone's speaker.

- Yes, all other applications are closed.

- Tried flight mode to make sure the radios are silent.

- Tried different encodings and bitrates, all the way down to 32kbps. Even PCM WAV files do it, though, so it's not a codec issue (unless all the codecs are bad).

- Did a factory reset.

- Tried playing from miniSD vs. phone storage, even removed miniSD entirely to eliminate any possible OS slow-down caused by access to the card, no difference.

That's all I have. I'm disappointed since I really like this phone and was hoping that as a "convergence" device it would allow me to stop carrying my iPod with me, but once I noticed the glitches it has bugged me to the point where I cannot stand to use the device as a music player. I can't really hear the glitches if I'm listening to a regular Rock track, but I'm always listening for it, and when something softer comes on, the little tss sound is always there to greet me. I've actually started looking at the upcoming Treo 650, and even at a potentially improved/fixed MPX220....

Posted by: whiskey888

Boy you REALLY have done your homework on this! I haven't really used my headphones much with audio playback so I can't say that I've noticed the problem. Very interesting though...