Sound Quality of older songs.

benbboy · 01-12-2008

I have the Beatles discography and one problem I notice with the Meizu is that it does not do a good job at reproducing some songs. The songs that the Meizu has trouble with are those that have the "special effect" of making the sound go from left to right...or right to left. Instead of emphasizing the sound in one earbud....the sound is dramatically muffled.

An example of a Beatles song that suffers from the Meizu is Eleanor Rigby. The verses are greatly muffled on the Meizu...and without the Spatializer it sounds terrible.

I know for a fact it is not the earbuds because I am using the Shure SE-310's and when I turn the spatializer on to Virtual 3D mode...the sound is fixed. Problem is that I have to turn the Spatizlizer off for more recent songs because the sound is messy and overwhelming. Any solutions to make the Beatles songs and modern songs sound good without switching every single time?

BobbyQ · 01-12-2008

when you have turned the Spatializer and Equalizer off, your mp3 (I assume ?) will be played just the way it would play on the PC with a standard audio player and every effects turned off.
Spatializer for sure does not "fix" anything. It is a digital audio processor that modifies and tweaks the sound so it may sound better or more "rich" to some ears. In fact, it modifies the msuic in a way that does not sound good with 100% of the music that I hear.
I don't own any beatles albums, but they are famous for their very good recording quality in any phase of their very long lasting career. Before you are testing anything further, please make sure that you have the original Beatles records or a digitally remastered CD that sounds comfortable on your stereo. Then rip the CD down to a lossless format like FLAC and play that on your Meizu. If Spatializer is turned off, and it doesn't sound naturally, try to equalize with the Equalizer. If it still does not sound good, try another pair of headphones because yours suck.
People in this forum speak with one voice when they say that the Meizu M6 has an amazing sound quality. The original earphones that came with my player sound really well, the in-ears I got (v-moda vibes) sound well too.
I am guessing that your mp3s are just low quality.

Th3_uN1Qu3 · 01-12-2008

BobbyQ put up some great points there. I'll give you a tip too, the Virtual3D can sound great on any music if you don't abuse it. Check this out:

Spatializer: On
Spatializer mode: Virtual3D
Virtual3D: 2
PCE: 1
ViBE: 0 (don't enable it as it'll distort the bass, it's the only effect i don't like on the M6)

The overall sound will be brighter and the voice will sound much better. EQ and boosts can be set by your tastes.

benbboy · 01-13-2008

Problem solved...thanks for the feedback all. I attempted what you said, unique, and it worked for the beatles piece of course, but distorted other music.

Everything was fixed when i pulled the 3.5 mm plug from my earbuds out a bit. I'm not sure, but I think the Meizu I have is very sensitive to how far the plugs go into the headphones out hole. Maybe it's a bit finicky for everyone...but mine is very sensitive...kind of irritating.

Sometimes solutions are so unrelated to anything that makes technological sense. I was befuddled at first because the audio quality from the Meizu is always superior to that from my PC.

Thanks again.

mutescream · 01-13-2008

Some of the Beatles albums were mastered atrociously. Sgt. Pepper's is one of the worst them (I know you were talking about revolver, with Eleanor Rigby). The stereo seperation is very arbitrary. I prefer the rip I have from a mono vinyl, by far.

What kind of music sounds good with the Virtual 3D? I've tried it with a few different genres, and each time the music sounds hollow, to me. I just set it to "normal".

BobbyQ · 01-13-2008

Originally Posted by benbboy

I know for a fact it is not the earbuds because I am using the Shure SE-310's and when I turn the spatializer on to Virtual 3D mode...the sound is fixed.

Somehow that description doesn't fit to your plug problem.
You have lead us astray this time ...

I think Spatializer sounds some interesting with Electronica music, but not Rock.

Th3_uN1Qu3 · 01-13-2008

Originally Posted by mutescream

What kind of music sounds good with the Virtual 3D? I've tried it with a few different genres, and each time the music sounds hollow, to me. I just set it to "normal".

Well, to me, almost everything sounds good, and i listen to rap, trance/techno/dance, some metal and even blues sometimes. Apart from tracks that have effects on the voice or are mastered very well to start with, Virtual3D does a great job and it's the only 3D effect that i ever kept turned on.

Scooter's version of "Summer Wine" is a good example of a song that doesn't get along with Virtual3D, almost everything else does.

Of course, it all depends on your ears and earphones, i have some cheap Sony ones but they sound surprisingly good. Actually, those earphones are the only Sony product i'm happy with.