MicroSD Card Sound Quality

What's your experiences with SD card's storing your portable audio on your phones, are you happy with the sound through your headphones? I just transferred a load of tracks onto a 64Gb SD card in my tablet and the sound is so flat it's like i'm listening through cheap headphones. Played around with the EQ a bit but still substandard. I dug out my 10 year old Sony NW-A3000 mp3 HDD player and the sounds from that are rich and lush. Is poor SD audio a thing? I researched a few moments ago and found a HQ SD card, a red herring

Is SD card as bad as it sounds on my 'phones? If so, why do you bother with it?

is this a serious question? an SD card has no effect on audio quality, it's just a data storage medium.

Where you save your digital audio files should not effect the quality of the recording, i guess your tablets' DAC is just shitty.

  Quote

"less electrical noise when reading data,"

well, might be true but if the electrical noise is already 100 dB's below the signal level it doesn't really makes any difference more or less 20 dB's...

I'm serious. I guess i'll just need to mess around with the settings more on the tablet. When I plug the headphones in to the old mp3 player the sound difference is like night and day.

  On 5/9/2016 at 8:02 PM, Schlitze said:

I'm serious. I guess i'll just need to mess around with the settings more on the tablet. When I plug the headphones in to the old mp3 player the sound difference is like night and day.

  On 5/9/2016 at 7:57 PM, dna42 said:

Where you save your digital audio files should not effect the quality of the recording (if we're talking digital), i guess your tablets' DAC is just shitty.

That's what i thought, so i googled the audio output of the Xperia Z4 tablet and it's one of the best on test. That's why I thought it could be the SD card. Troubleshooting.

Maybe the Impedance of your Headphones is too great? Most mobile DACs have problems driving big Hifi-Headphones as they are designed for the usual small in-ear stuff. You might need a preamp, depending on your headphones

I'm using in-ear phones, XBA-1's. I've just plugged them into my PC and the sound is still flat. Sound's exactly the same as on the tablet.

K, so that discounts the SD card theory, LOL

Must need to unlock some EQ settings on the devices or something.

yes tablets menus and submenus are a pain in the ass and every function turns on automatically most of the times, dig that shit and turn every fx off...

You are discussing a full devices audio chain, but definitely not the data storage. Please, for the love of god, change the subject. Otherwise the whole world (minus the obvious deaf hipster grand dads with super sensite cable hearing) will laugh about WATMM.

The 64Gb SD card was slotted in there yesterday after buying it for 6 quid on ebay. Twas in some regard it's cheapness which made it a chief suspect in my un-audio.

maybe the flat you mention is actually the normal sound, and you have boosts on your old Sony NW-A3000?

  On 5/9/2016 at 8:32 PM, Wurstwasser said:

You are discussing a full devices audio chain, but definitely not the data storage. Please, for the love of god, change the subject. Otherwise the whole world (minus the obvious deaf hipster grand dads with super sensite cable hearing) will laugh about WATMM.

Yes because the whole world regularly log onto watmm.

I think you're right, tim. Listening to a few radiohead tracks just now on the tablet and it sounds good, however, the NWA3000 would leave it in the shade.

  On 5/9/2016 at 7:54 PM, Schlitze said:

I researched a few moments ago and found a HQ SD card, a red herring

  Quote

Okay, everyone here needs to take a step back. I am an actual analog circuit designer, so here is my take:

 

First of all, let me start by saying I'm sure, just like everyone else, that these devices have no practical effect on the audio produced by pretty much any practical system.

 

....

 

If the SD card noise was having a practical effect on your audio then the whole systems was crap to begin with. So, as I think everyone in this thread can agree, this is snake oil.

  On 5/9/2016 at 9:06 PM, Schlitze said:

I think you're right, tim. Listening to a few radiohead tracks just now on the tablet and it sounds good, however, the NWA3000 would leave it in the shade.

Maybe you got a virus on your STD card.

Most likely. Healing crystals recommended.

If you really want to bring out the lush nulls definitely stick to sandisk cards imo

Maybe Thom Yorke's vocals triggered a sad EQ preset mode.

Or buy a 100£ cable

  On 5/10/2016 at 9:28 AM, Handels said:

Or buy a 100£ cable

a wireless cable that is

  On 5/9/2016 at 9:06 PM, Schlitze said:

I think you're right, tim. Listening to a few radiohead tracks just now on the tablet and it sounds good, however, the NWA3000 would leave it in the shade.

Funny, I actually owned an NWA-3000 and was never truly satisfied with its sound. It could never drive my headphones as well as the iPod Classic it replaced.

I also owned a Sony Xperia Z1 phone, and that was pretty disappointing sound quality wise. My current phone, HTC M8 isn't great either so I think phones (and presumably tablets) just don't cut it in this area.

These days I use a Cowon Plenue D as my audio player, and I'm never looking back! If you're in the market for a dedicated portable audio player I would heartily recommend it. It's not obscenely expensive, has great battery life, plenty of power etc.

  On 5/10/2016 at 9:25 AM, fletcher said:

Maybe Thom Yorke's vocals triggered a sad EQ preset mode.

lol...