HP 210 / HP 214 Audio Quality

OzoneSpin · 03-04-2008, 05:03 AM

Is anyone else having audio quality problems with their HP 210 / HP 214? Maybe I'm expecting too much, but my hx4700 was excellent. I've tried a hard reset and I've produced the best quality MP3's I can - they play great via a hi fi system or on a laptop, but once on the HP 214 there's a high frequency hiss while a song plays - very noticeable on quiet classic stuff. It stops between songs so it doesn't seem to be a jack plug issue.

If I route the iPAQ into the hi fi the hiss is still there - so that eliminates dodgy earphones.

I'm using TCPMP and Pocket Player both have the same problem and I'm ripping with Exact Audio Copy and LAME 9.7 in secure mode. I'm on the verge of returning to the retailer as defective (reluctant as it's already chock full of business stuff) - but maybe there's a simple answer. Any ideas gratefully considered.

neillm · 03-04-2008, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzoneSpin

Is anyone else having audio quality problems with their HP 210 / HP 214? Maybe I'm expecting too much, but my hx4700 was excellent. I've tried a hard reset and I've produced the best quality MP3's I can - they play great via a hi fi system or on a laptop, but once on the HP 214 there's a high frequency hiss while a song plays - very noticeable on quiet classic stuff. It stops between songs so it doesn't seem to be a jack plug issue.

If I route the iPAQ into the hi fi the hiss is still there - so that eliminates dodgy earphones.

I'm using TCPMP and Pocket Player both have the same problem and I'm ripping with Exact Audio Copy and LAME 9.7 in secure mode. I'm on the verge of returning to the retailer as defective (reluctant as it's already chock full of business stuff) - but maybe there's a simple answer. Any ideas gratefully considered.

Is your HP connected to the charger or USB? There is definitely noise when plugged in. I think there's a charge pump in there and they are electrically noisy.
My 214 seems to have excellent quality when not connected. What are you using to playback? Perhaps your software has it's equaliser switched on? These can often introduce noise unless written well.

dceggert · 03-04-2008, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neillm

Is your HP connected to the charger or USB? There is definitely noise when plugged in. I think there's a charge pump in there and they are electrically noisy.
My 214 seems to have excellent quality when not connected. What are you using to playback? Perhaps your software has it's equaliser switched on? These can often introduce noise unless written well.

I can second that. Last evening I was testing out the new 211 in the car running TomTom 6. It was in the old holder I used for the 4705, the stereo patch cord plugged into the car radio (by the way, the earphone plug on the bottom looks like it was made for this use since all cables come out the bottom now), and I had it plugged into the powerpoint. There was a background high frequency hiss that I thought was something going wrong with the car. Unplugging the power feed the hiss went away.

OzoneSpin · 03-04-2008, 09:09 AM

The hiss is occurring when running off the battery and playback is via JVC earphones using TCPMP or Pocket Player. So it's not related to the power feed.

dceggert · 03-04-2008, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzoneSpin

The hiss is occurring when running off the battery and playback is via JVC earphones using TCPMP or Pocket Player. So it's not related to the power feed.

Is the hiss there during playback with Windows Media Player?

OzoneSpin · 03-04-2008, 10:44 AM

If anything the hiss is worse with Windows Media Player.

neillm · 03-04-2008, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzoneSpin

The hiss is occurring when running off the battery and playback is via JVC earphones using TCPMP or Pocket Player. So it's not related to the power feed.

Just to be absolutely sure, you have the USB unplugged as well?

OzoneSpin · 03-04-2008, 12:40 PM

Yes everything is unplugged - I'm wondering if I have a faulty jack plug socket but the hiss only occurs on playing the MP3s.

dceggert · 03-04-2008, 02:17 PM

Hmmm, any way you can post a non-licensed mp3 that exibits the hiss? One of us can download and try it out and see if the file hisses on our machine as well.

kuo1yang · 03-04-2008, 02:41 PM

I have the same problem as you, so to confirm.