topic Re: is this speaker isuue? in XPERIA archive

is this speaker isuue?

alexey23 — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:56:06 GMT

Hi guys. I got my brand new z3.

and I noticed that bottom speaker's sound is smaller when I turn on music. top speaker's sound quality is much better and louder. is this normal or my phone has some problem?

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Uliwooly — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 17:59:30 GMT

is this on notifications or while playing music?

Re: is this speaker isuue?

alexey23 — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 06:04:08 GMT

Playing music and other sounds like game or video

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Uliwooly — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 23:15:01 GMT

Do you have a protective case and/or film?

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Simmysim — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 02:50:12 GMT

i realised the same with my Z3, the volume of the bottom speaker totally gone quiet after 3 notch down, whereas the top speaker will continue to have sound.

at max volume, the bottom speaker is definitely softer.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Uliwooly — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 17:20:48 GMT

Have you contacted Sony directly?

http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/support/contact-us/

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Zacabeb — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 19:20:48 GMT

I have a similar problem. The bottom speaker has lower fidelity, lacking both at the bottom end and high end, and the two speakers are not in proper phase. They're not fully out-of-phase either, suggesting neither is polarity reversed (unless they have dual windings or drivers for treble and they're reversed on one side).

All user-level "enhancements" are disabled.

It makes me wonder if they're using the same kind of drivers for both or if the top has a different driver, or if the way they're mounted and the interior of the phone affects the sound as it's channeled through the slits. Given the waterproofing they have to be sealed around the front where they meet the glass.

It could also be a software error, since the top driver is most likely EQ'd differently between when used for audio playback and when used for phone calls.

This is frustrating, especially if having to attempt an RMA with the store clerks who know zilch about audio and the problem I'm describing. I'd rather not play service ping-pong with a new phone until I can verify it's an isolated issue.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Raul_Mkryan — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 08:55:19 GMT

Same here. If this is a defect I'll be really frustrated... And the fact that no one from Sony has said anything about it just kills me...

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Zacabeb — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 19:06:53 GMT

After looking at teardowns of the Xperia Z3 I have found that the drivers for the top and bottom are of different types, and offset a bit relative to the slits to make room for other components (such as the microphone at the bottom which needs to receive its sound through the same grille).

Both are driven by identical Class D amps from NXP though.

My speakers now seem to be at a relatively even loudness regardless of volume, but the frequency response differs with the top speaker having better low end and sounding cleaner. The bottom one has a thinner sound and more distortion.

It would have been awesome if they'd been able to use identical drivers for both, and place them symmetrically. I guess we'll find out in 2015 if they've managed to do so in the Z4. For us Z3 users though... it seems that it's a design compromise due to internal space.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Raul_Mkryan — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 19:15:44 GMT

I know that the speakers are different but how can that be the reason why notifications and ringtones are so low? It doesn't affect the sound quality while liatening to music so it's not a hardware limitation, it's software.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Zacabeb — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 22:04:36 GMT

The ringtone/notification issue is really weird. But the preloaded ringtones do seem quite inconsistent in terms of loudness. They're not normalized very well.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Syamil — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 12:22:50 GMT

Just send them for repair two times they change the speaker still the same. When compared to my sister z3 playing the same video speaker at the bottom is louder than mine I told them and they told me to email Sony support Xperia now waiting for them to reply

Re: is this speaker isuue?

gamilo — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 12:11:08 GMT

I tried 3 units z3 top speakers in all sizzle

Re: is this speaker isuue?

egarciadesigns — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:50:40 GMT

I just got this phone from someone on eBay and i noticed the lower speaker being way lower than the top one. I actually rinsed the phone under running water to see if maybe there was a clog in the speaker. I left it faced down to drain out and it still didnt really work. The next thing i did was call myself from my wife's phone and put my phone on speaker with full volume. I made loud sounds and blew into the speaker and that actually fixed my issue. Since then my bottom speaker is just as loud as the top one.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

thomasacquins — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 15:40:28 GMT

My Xperia Z3 bottom speaker is really quite when compared to upper one.What to do. It's only one month old and don't have any other problems

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Raul_Mkryan — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 21:39:42 GMT

It's not quite, well it is, but that's how it's supposed to be, it isn't a flaw - top speaker is low frequency, bottom one high, in other words top us for bass and bottom one is for treble.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Zacabeb — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 23:58:13 GMT

The speaker drivers are different, and the top one is offset relative to its opening. The bottom one sits in some kind of assembly rather than directly under the slot, so that the microphone can make use of the same slot.

It's quite an embarrassing engineering compromise. I'm surprised though that the drivers aren't even more out-of-phase and different in high frequency response.

But on my Z3, voices tend to be biased to the left when listening to videos, since the left (top) driver is the only one with anything resembling mid bass.

Re: is this speaker isuue?

xxxmorpheusxxx — Mon, 11 May 2015 18:42:24 GMT

@zacabeb:
Same problem here. One speaker is much louder than the other. How did you solve it? Thank you!

Re: is this speaker isuue?

Zacabeb — Tue, 12 May 2015 15:52:17 GMT

@xxxmorpheusxxx

I was never able to solve it. On my Z3 it isn't worse than what I've learned to live with. In some cases voices tend to appear shifted to the left due to the wider frequency response in that speaker driver and possibly influence from phase, but it's not as bad on mine as I guess it might be on some other units. If the shift of sound is too annoying, I plug in my headset instead.

I came from an Xperia S which had a single speaker on the back (the front driver was smaller and used only for calls), and there I had to cup my hand behind the rear speaker to get decent sound, so even the Z3 was a major step up.

I still think that the engineering of the speakers on the Z3 is a bad compromise (the top speaker behing offset to the left suggests a late design alteration), but they've done even worse in the past.