[lessthandoug]

I had read on All About Symbian in his loud speaker test, that the N97 was pitiful compared to the 5800 and the N95. I couldn't come to terms with that assessment on the basis that surely Nokia wouldn't put lousy speakers on their flagship. Boy was I wrong. After comparing it side by side with my N95-3, I totally hear what Rafe, Chris from Engadget, and others are saying about the speakers. They can't hold a candle to the N95-3 or the 5800 (best I've ever heard). It's not even close. They're incredibly tinny, unclear, and not nearly as loud. I don't get it. I've done everything to adjust the sound from the equalizer, which for some reason hardly changes the sound output compared to my N95, to trying the loudness and stereo widening, and still it sounds bad. How is it possible that they're the same size as the 5800's yet they sound worse? Could they have used different speakers? Better yet, is it possible to address this issue with a firmware update, or are we all screwed? I assume everybody else feels the same way here about them. If only they could get it on par with the sound output through the headphone jack, which is amazing, it would be perfect.

[radical24]

actually my speakers are rather good considering how tiny they are. loud and clear for a non music centric phone they are above average in my opinion. 

[matttye]

I can understand them being worse than the 5800, as the 5800 is a dedicated music phone, but I agree that it's odd they're not as good as the N95's. Have you checked it's not just your handset?

[skywatcher77]

I totally agree with the speaker quality. Perhaps for me anyway, my previous phone wasnt stereo, maybe only having the one speaker helped on having a fuller meatier sound? The stereo sounds tinny, vocals are horrible when loud, there is zero bass to be heard (didnt expect that anyway) and the stereo widen feature made songs worse for me. I think listening to a song on the speakers is best done at a half speaker volume level, as soon as it goes higher vocals start to distort and full volume is like being in a bad dance club where the volume far out weighs the quality of the amplifier and speaker system therefor just giving you a noise to make your ears bleed.

[lgkahn1]

mine is louder than my 5800 and my n85.. the only better speakers and louder were in my n81

[lessthandoug]

I'm with Skywatcher77 here. That's exactly how I would describe mine, and yes it seems half volume is where its most comfortable even though it still is weak. I know mine is going back for a replacement as it is for keyboard reasons, but maybe my speakers are defective too?? I've heard a good number of people saying the same things I am, but maybe some faired better in the production process than others. Hey, lgkahn1, would you say that they sound better than the 5800 in terms of quality?? 

[shayesta]

maybe it can be improved in future fimrware releases. At least the N97 speakers are louder and better than N82 speakers lol.

But of them all the N96 speakers are just too good so loud and clear n even louder with Stereo Widening. 100% clear as the N96 is more of an entertaintment phone for music, videos, 

[lessthandoug]

Can someone test something out for me? Start playing a song, through the stereo speakers, 90% volume, loudness off, stereo widening off, and go and play with the equalizer while the song is playing. Start with the default setting, and switch to jazz, or classic, go through all of them. Create your own too, and just start playing with the bands and listen to see if the sound changes. From what I can tell, mine doesn't change at all when I switch through new equalizer settings, and even when I edit ones I've created, while listening to the song still, the change in sound is so small its almost non-existent. My N95-3 has very audible changes when I play with the equalizer. I'd like to see if somebody else out there can actually hear distinct differences across equalizer settings through the stereo speakers, while using the same settings I listed at the beginning.

[lessthandoug]

nevermind, for some reason, after I restarted the phone, it went back to normal, and I could hear audible changes when I switched equalizer settings.

[kodi]

YES!  I AGREE 100% ! I have the same problem with N 86 , I understand that N 86 and N 97 share the same audio system and problem ( or the problem is only in the speakers ? ) Most gratefull if someone will find something to fix this .  Thanks !

[kodi]

Test Frequency response Noise level Dynamic range THD IMD + Noise Stereo crosstalk Nokia N86 8MP +0.04, -0.32 -91.0 90.8 0.0064 0.870 -89.1 Nokia N97 +0.04, -0.27 -90.7 90.7 0.0048 0.896 -89.5 Nokia N96 +0.52, -2.14 -90.6 90.7 0.016 0.364 -73.5 Nokia N85 +0.28, -1.19 -94.4 95.4 0.305 0.701 -88.1 Nokia N81 +0.39, -1.13 -86.6 85.8 0.041 0.040 -69.9 Apple iPhone 3G +0.52, -1.05 -89.9 90.1 0.0033 0.016 -93.1 Apple iPod Touch 2G +0.04, -0.05 -91.4 91.5 0.0027 0.012 -90.0

Nokia N86 8MP vs Nokia N97 frequency response graph

Nokia N78 +0.30, -1.59 -76.1 76.1 0.014 0.548 -72.7 Nokia N81 +0.39, -1.13 -86.6 85.8 0.041 0.040 -69.9 Nokia N82 +1.10, -1.53 -81.6 80.8 0.0046 0.137 -69.3 Nokia N85 +0.28, -1.19 -94.4 95.4 0.305 0.701 -88.1 Nokia N95 +1.17, -2.68 -74.9 74.9 0.019 0.186 -75.3 Nokia N95 8GB +1.14, -1.68 -77.1 76.9 0.0066 0.148 -68.5 Nokia N96 +0.52, -2.14 -90.6 90.7 0.016 0.364 -73.5

I think that is obvious that N 86 and N 97 share the same  audio problems !

(article from gsmarena.com)

[lessthandoug]

You know what though? That test was done via the 3.5mm headphone jack, and looking at the results of that, it performed very well, aside from IMD Noise. I was shocked to hear just how good it sounded when I plugged a pair of headphones into my N97. These results prove they got that part of the sound system right for the most part. Now if they could just get the stereo speakers part right... I really hope there's a software fix for this, but I get the feeling that its a hardware issue that won't be fixed. 

[kodi]

Yes , let us hope that the problem is in the software department but as you said I got the same feeling about the internal spekears ! By the way how things are working with the new firmware on your N 97 ( audiowise )?

[alex79uk]

Who cares what the speakers are like? You are actually one of those annoying people who sit on trains listening to music on their phone? It came with headphones. Use them.

[jimmyireland]

i agree they are poor here ive found an audio test comparing them to a nokia 5800 and they are louder

i got this phone last week and they are the same as the n85 which is poor and tinny

the only loud speakers that wer clear and loud where in the n81

http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2009/06/nokia-n97-vs-5800-xpressmusic-music-test.html

how are these loud in test ???

[lessthandoug]

Alex,

Because some of us here actually use them a lot. When I'm around friends I was always on my N95 playing youtube videos for them, or videos of things I recorded. Speaker quality matters to me. I expect stellar performance out of them especially when I come from the N95-3 that produced very loud clear sounds where you could actually hear the bass. It sounded great no matter what I was playing over them. That isn't so with the N97. Symbian Freak made a good point in his 5800 vs N97 speaker test. It sounds like they tuned these things for voices, which is only a good thing for using speakerphone on a call. And I disagree with Symbian Guru. The 5800 has much more bass than the N97, and sounds better to me, despite the fact that the N97 is louder. It just sounds like there's way too much trebble in the N97. 

[kodi]

I am sure now : all our bad dreams come true there is NOTHING we can do about the flat sound of this device and belive me I tried . I will not enter in technical details but is a fact your old and loved tunes will  not be recognized if played by N 86 . On top of that even with the new SW the Gallery problem remains : when I install a theme or eg Sports Traker the gallery will show all the little tif or gif or what ever and you can"t delete or move them . You really have to love the camera performance to cope with the sound of the N 86 ..... and I do !

[franny87]

if you compare the n97 with the n95, the n95 takes the victory. n97 dissapoints

i have the n95 and n97 btw

Message Edited by franny87 on 09-Jul-2009 05:54 AM

[mouserider]

I have both the N95 and N97 as well and I think while the N95 has better music playback through the speakers, the N97 does voices far better. I feel that the speaker phone is superior to that on the N95.

The other thing is the sonic characteristics of the speakers on the N97 changes depending on how you hold or place the N97. 

[lessthandoug]

Agreed. It wasn't until yesterday when I was watching a video of Dane Cook did I notice how well voices come over the speakers compared to my N95-3. They were most definitely tuned to produce very good voice quality, unfortunately. Despite that fact, which I still really don't understand since that would seem to make more sense on an Eseries device for obvious reasons, Nokia could have at least made these produce a louder sound then they do. I hope that in future Nseries devices, they understand that some of their users are going to want to use the phone to pump music and videos through the speakers and we want them to sound good and be loud. Take what the N95 and 5800 have and improve it. Is that so much to ask for?