call audio

[SwordfishII]

The call audio is too bad to understand.  Broken mechanical static.  It is bad
for both incoming and outgoing calls.  I've tried the sound settings for the phone 
but nothing makes a difference.  Any clues?

So.  The plot thickens.

There are two speakers in this phone, the one you heard youtube on is the rear speaker. The garbled one in calls is the ear speaker.

My phone has the same issue as yours, can place a call, but then the call audio on the pinephone is garbled, but the audio for the call is otherwise fine (the other phone recieves the call fine and the mic input is sent and its perfect)

So I have disassembled the phone and tested the earpiece speaker.    29Ohms which is fine. I then used it with some test leads to play headphone output and it was fine if not that loud but definitely audiable.  So thats a red herring to suspect the speaker itself.  Whatever is happening is either hardware related internally or software.


No one else has had this issue?

I have seen it quite a bit in a bunch of threads. Likely software as calls didn't used to work but do now (with poor audio).

It is helpful that you confirmed is not a software issue.

I think you meant not a hardware issue ;-)

Thanks for confirming though that others have seen this issue.

I figured out a little time after I could reroute the audio internally, and the call audio was just as bad on the rear speaker, and the ear speaker worked fine for system audio so it seems the hardware is OK in that respect.

I wasn't expecting for calls to work (ie connect) but audio not working so it threw me a curve ball.  Sounds like it's pretty close to working though, you can almost make out the words ;-) The driver is doing a lot right, so that's a good start. I'm very new with this PinePhone stuff, so it'll take me a while before I understand the exact state of development and where/how things are being implemented. Think I'll hit up the postmarketos development community and see if I can find this exact issue and if anyone is working on it.

Yeah meant hardware, my mistake.

Given you like to tinker, you might as well dig in.

My suspicion is that it has to do with VOIP protocols/compression as I have also seen reports of clearer audio on 2G. (My phone is a couple countries away right now or I would tinker also)

I would say it's a simple fix to create a script to drop to 2G for calls....but at least in the US many carriers are getting rid of 2G in the near future.

[bcnaz]

My 2 cents :
There are a lot of posts complaining about the bad sound quality on the new PMOS phones.

BUT Not everyone has this complaint ?

Seems every complaint I have seen, says they turned on encryption and SSH.

I think that does mean it is a "Software" problem, not hardware.

[Xerxes 8933A/A]

My 2 cents :
  There are a lot of posts complaining about the bad sound quality on the new PMOS phones.

BUT  Not everyone has this complaint ?

Seems every complaint I have seen,  says they turned on encryption and SSH.

I think that does mean it is a "Software" problem,  not hardware.

Hi bcnaz

Yeah.. I don't know. I skipped the encryption and didnt enable ssh as well and have the same issue, so I don't think that has caused it.

Maybe someone had preprgrogrammed flash chips or smth, maybe an old version of PMOS on our new phones?  Maybe we ended up getting a super newer version which had some issues in it that no one noticed because of the way they updated or something.

Would be worth trying some other images to see.  (IE latest, and maybe a few versions ago)

[bcnaz]

I purchased 2 of the Convergent Pkg (3g ram),  One is running the factory installed PMOS, except for needing to do one manual update from the onboard software store it has been performing pretty well.
It is running on a activated sim card and makes & receives calls in a decent fashion, the text app works in and out, and I have even used it for a short while for a hot spot and did a post reply here using it.
For a short term I had lost audio, but that update fixed that.
My other (3g ram) phone is running nightly's of Mobian, and we are talking PMOS here, so....
       *** (Please note I did NOT turn on or use SSH or encryption)

One of the PMOS Developers did mention the factory installed OS was a special unreleased
version of the OS, made just for the factory phones.

[Xerxes 8933A/A]

I purchased 2 of the Convergent Pkg (3g ram),  One is running the factory installed PMOS, except for needing to do one manual update from the onboard software store it has been performing pretty well.
It is running on a activated sim card and makes & receives calls in a decent fashion, the text app works in and out, and I have even used it for a short while for a hot spot and did a post reply here using it.
For a short term I had lost audio, but that update fixed that.
My other (3g ram) phone is running nightly's of Mobian, and we are talking PMOS here, so....
       *** (Please note I did NOT turn on or use SSH or encryption)

One of the PMOS Developers did mention the factory installed OS was a special unreleased
version of the OS, made just for the factory phones.

OK.  I ran the updates, no dice.  Still did not have audio.

I have never enabled SSH or disk encryption.

I did make the call audio work though and I know the cause. It is hardware bug as far as I can tell!

If I have switch 6 in the ON position (headphone enabled) the call audio is broken completely (distorted, inaubiable etc)

If I have switch 6 in the OFF position (uart enabled, headphone disabled), the call audio works properly!

Thanks for your help..  At least this is a work around I can make calls now!  Headphones were not high on my list of priorities really anyway.

[bcnaz]

I purchased 2 of the Convergent Pkg (3g ram),  One is running the factory installed PMOS, except for needing to do one manual update from the onboard software store it has been performing pretty well.
It is running on a activated sim card and makes & receives calls in a decent fashion, the text app works in and out, and I have even used it for a short while for a hot spot and did a post reply here using it.
For a short term I had lost audio, but that update fixed that.
My other (3g ram) phone is running nightly's of Mobian, and we are talking PMOS here, so....
       *** (Please note I did NOT turn on or use SSH or encryption)

One of the PMOS Developers did mention the factory installed OS was a special unreleased
version of the OS, made just for the factory phones.

OK.  I ran the updates, no dice.  Still did not have audio.

I have never enabled SSH or disk encryption.

I did make the call audio work though and I know the cause. It is hardware bug as far as I can tell!

If I have switch 6 in the ON position (headphone enabled) the call audio is broken completely (distorted, inaubiable etc)

If I have switch 6 in the OFF position (uart enabled, headphone disabled), the call audio works properly!

Thanks for your help..  At least this is a work around I can make calls now!  Headphones were not high on my list of priorities really anyway.

Hmmm....?
  I wonder if they used more than one OS version for the factory installations ?
    I have not changed any of my switches, on any of my Pine phones.

Curious,  Have you tried any other Distro's ?
 Mobian both the stable (on my Brave Heart) and Nightly (on my other convergent phone)
    are working very well also.

[Xerxes 8933A/A]

The call audio is too bad to understand.  Broken mechanical static.  It is bad
for both incoming and outgoing calls.  I've tried the sound settings for the phone 
but nothing makes a difference.  Any clues?

So.  The plot thickens.

There are two speakers in this phone, the one you heard youtube on is the rear speaker. The garbled one in calls is the ear speaker.

My phone has the same issue as yours, can place a call, but then the call audio on the pinephone is garbled, but the audio for the call is otherwise fine (the other phone recieves the call fine and the mic input is sent and its perfect)

So I have disassembled the phone and tested the earpiece speaker.    29Ohms which is fine. I then used it with some test leads to play headphone output and it was fine if not that loud but definitely audiable.  So thats a red herring to suspect the speaker itself.  Whatever is happening is either hardware related internally or software.


No one else has had this issue?

I have seen it quite a bit in a bunch of threads. Likely software as calls didn't used to work but do now (with poor audio).

It is helpful that you confirmed is not a software issue.

I think you meant not a hardware issue ;-)

Thanks for confirming though that others have seen this issue.

I figured out a little time after I could reroute the audio internally, and the call audio was just as bad on the rear speaker, and the ear speaker worked fine for system audio so it seems the hardware is OK in that respect.

I wasn't expecting for calls to work (ie connect) but audio not working so it threw me a curve ball.  Sounds like it's pretty close to working though, you can almost make out the words ;-) The driver is doing a lot right, so that's a good start. I'm very new with this PinePhone stuff, so it'll take me a while before I understand the exact state of development and where/how things are being implemented. Think I'll hit up the postmarketos development community and see if I can find this exact issue and if anyone is working on it.

Yeah meant hardware, my mistake.

Given you like to tinker, you might as well dig in.

My suspicion is that it has to do with VOIP protocols/compression as I have also seen reports of clearer audio on 2G. (My phone is a couple countries away right now or I would tinker also)

I would say it's a simple fix to create a script to drop to 2G for calls....but at least in the US many carriers are getting rid of 2G in the near future.

Swordfish, thanks for your suggestions.  Call audio is now working for me but I must have the switchblock switch 6 (earphone/uart) in the OFF position.  If it's in the ON position (UART enabled) the call audio is fine!   I've switched it back and forth a few times to test. The outcome is the same each time.  UART enabled (switch 6 off = call audio works), Earphone enabled (switch 6 on = call audio metallic percussive distorted inaudiable)

So all seems well with the software I've been able to make calls with 3g and 4g now!  YAY.

That does seem to indicate a hardware issue though!   Fortuately I don't really care for the headphone that much ;-)  It would be interesting to know if anyone else has found the same issue has the same solution!

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PinePh...figuration

---

Hmmm....?
  I wonder if they used more than one OS version for the factory installations ?
    I have not changed any of my switches, on any of my Pine phones.

Curious,  Have you tried any other Distro's ?
 Mobian both the stable (on my Brave Heart) and Nightly (on my other convergent phone)
    are working very well also.

Not tried any others yet.

First thing I did on receiving the phone was disable everything by switchblock.  Except modem, mic, and earphone.   I tried to disable the modem but I get no cell service so I gather that is part and parcel of the voice function.

So switch 6 Pulls up IN2 on analog switch BCT4717ETB

https://datasheet.lcsc.com/szlcsc/180921...266763.pdf

Perhaps it's an implementation detail of the OS... I may be jumping to conclusion thinking theres a fault with some hardware, as other peoples phones are not seemingly doing this. It seems a bit fishy in the hardware location of BCT4717ETB to me.  I think it might warrent further investigation...  A 3mm x 2mm package with 10 pins under it ;-(

I will flash another OS on this as soon as I get time.. and see if that can yeild another result.

Atleast we're getting somewhere!

---

  I wonder if they used more than one OS version for the factory installations ?

The OS on this one is

# uname -a

Linux pine64-pinephone 5.7.0 #3-postmarketos-allwinner SMP Tue Sep 1 15:05:31 UTC 2020 a arch64 Linux

# cd /etc; cat os-release

PRETTY_NAME="postmarketOS 1.22.0"
VERSION_ID="1.22.0"
VERSION="1.22.0-ec23a657"
ID_LIKE="alpine"
PMOS_HASH="ec23a657b545987e1c69551a83ce3646d3b7452d"

Not sure if there's any other identifying information I can extract but for comparison purposes that might suffice?

[SwordfishII]

So.  The plot thickens.

There are two speakers in this phone, the one you heard youtube on is the rear speaker. The garbled one in calls is the ear speaker.

My phone has the same issue as yours, can place a call, but then the call audio on the pinephone is garbled, but the audio for the call is otherwise fine (the other phone recieves the call fine and the mic input is sent and its perfect)

So I have disassembled the phone and tested the earpiece speaker.    29Ohms which is fine. I then used it with some test leads to play headphone output and it was fine if not that loud but definitely audiable.  So thats a red herring to suspect the speaker itself.  Whatever is happening is either hardware related internally or software.


No one else has had this issue?

I have seen it quite a bit in a bunch of threads. Likely software as calls didn't used to work but do now (with poor audio).

It is helpful that you confirmed is not a software issue.

I think you meant not a hardware issue ;-)

Thanks for confirming though that others have seen this issue.

I figured out a little time after I could reroute the audio internally, and the call audio was just as bad on the rear speaker, and the ear speaker worked fine for system audio so it seems the hardware is OK in that respect.

I wasn't expecting for calls to work (ie connect) but audio not working so it threw me a curve ball.  Sounds like it's pretty close to working though, you can almost make out the words ;-) The driver is doing a lot right, so that's a good start. I'm very new with this PinePhone stuff, so it'll take me a while before I understand the exact state of development and where/how things are being implemented. Think I'll hit up the postmarketos development community and see if I can find this exact issue and if anyone is working on it.

Yeah meant hardware, my mistake.

Given you like to tinker, you might as well dig in.

My suspicion is that it has to do with VOIP protocols/compression as I have also seen reports of clearer audio on 2G. (My phone is a couple countries away right now or I would tinker also)

I would say it's a simple fix to create a script to drop to 2G for calls....but at least in the US many carriers are getting rid of 2G in the near future.

Swordfish, thanks for your suggestions.  Call audio is now working for me but I must have the switchblock switch 6 (earphone/uart) in the OFF position.  If it's in the ON position (UART enabled) the call audio is fine!   I've switched it back and forth a few times to test. The outcome is the same each time.  UART enabled (switch 6 off = call audio works), Earphone enabled (switch 6 on = call audio metallic percussive distorted inaudiable)

So all seems well with the software I've been able to make calls with 3g and 4g now!  YAY.

That does seem to indicate a hardware issue though!   Fortuately I don't really care for the headphone that much ;-)  It would be interesting to know if anyone else has found the same issue has the same solution!

https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PinePh...figuration

---

Hmmm....?
  I wonder if they used more than one OS version for the factory installations ?
    I have not changed any of my switches, on any of my Pine phones.

Curious,  Have you tried any other Distro's ?
 Mobian both the stable (on my Brave Heart) and Nightly (on my other convergent phone)
    are working very well also.

Not tried any others yet.

First thing I did on receiving the phone was disable everything by switchblock.  Except modem, mic, and earphone.   I tried to disable the modem but I get no cell service so I gather that is part and parcel of the voice function.

So switch 6 Pulls up IN2 on analog switch BCT4717ETB

https://datasheet.lcsc.com/szlcsc/180921...266763.pdf

Perhaps it's an implementation detail of the OS... I may be jumping to conclusion thinking theres a fault with some hardware, as other peoples phones are not seemingly doing this. It seems a bit fishy in the hardware location of BCT4717ETB to me.  I think it might warrent further investigation...  A 3mm x 2mm package with 10 pins under it ;-(

I will flash another OS on this as soon as I get time.. and see if that can yeild another result.

Atleast we're getting somewhere!

---

  I wonder if they used more than one OS version for the factory installations ?

The OS on this one is

# uname -a

Linux pine64-pinephone 5.7.0 #3-postmarketos-allwinner SMP Tue Sep 1 15:05:31 UTC 2020 a arch64 Linux

# cd /etc; cat os-release

PRETTY_NAME="postmarketOS 1.22.0"
VERSION_ID="1.22.0"
VERSION="1.22.0-ec23a657"
ID_LIKE="alpine"
PMOS_HASH="ec23a657b545987e1c69551a83ce3646d3b7452d"

Not sure if there's any other identifying information I can extract but for comparison purposes that might suffice?

Very interesting indeed. Very strange for UART to need to be enabled for decent audio for you.
Whatlead you to test on that?

[KC9UDX]

It sounds to me like the software is using the wrong amplifier settings when the switch is set to headphones. I wonder how it sounds with headphones, when the switch is in that position.

[Xerxes 8933A/A]

Very interesting indeed. Very strange for UART to need to be enabled for decent audio for you.
What lead you to test on that?

The line of thinking that lead me to discover that was..

1) I figured if it was software there might be a bug hiding due to lack of having ever turned on some of the USB devices on this phone (Cameras, wifi, bt, i disabled before first boot) and running a script associated with them when they come up.  (wasn't the case)

2) I got to thinking along the lines of the switch block and audio, what would be a point of failure, that still allows the audio to function internally.  The wiki page for the switch block says there's a SPDT switch for the UART to swap to Audio on the headphone jack.. Its a surface mount 10 pin package with an digital input controlled by the #6 on the switch block.  My mind instantly suspects a bad transistor grounding out the audio.  So I flicked switch 6 to OFF, disabling the headphone jack, and it worked.  I think I got lucky finding that. The more I think about it now ...

From wiki:
6 Headphone
Pulls up IN2 on analog switch BCT4717ETB
"On" enables audio input and output via the 3.5mm audio jack, "off" switches the jack to hardware UART mode.
BCT4717 is a dual single pole double throw switch.

Basically the BCT4717 has two switches inside it.  Each switch has the ability to multiplex 2 signals to one output.  Both are being used simultaneously to switch the headphone jack R / L to UART (RX/TX) or AUDIO (L/R) (if the wiki is to be believed which im sure it is ;-) (edit: schematic verifies this http://files.pine64.org/doc/PinePhone/Pi...ematic.pdf )

: IN2 (the signal to change the both switch) (IN1 47Kohm to ground)
: COM1 / COM2 -  The common terminals - IE the headphone socket (R/L)
: NC1 / NC2 - normally connected  - UART (TX / RX)
: NO1 / NO2 - normally open  - audio ( R / L )

Well if IN2 is high (switch 6 in ON position) then COM1 / COM2 (the headphone output) is connected to NO1 / NO2 : Connecting the audio to the headphone and disconnecting the UART
Conversely if IN2 is low (switch 6 in OFF position) then COM1 / COM2 is connected is connected to NC1 / NC2 - Audio disconnected and UART connected to headphone jack

If the switch is not working properly two things might be connected at the same time, or one not at all, or partially. If both are connected the audio signal might be pulled down by the UART ? Or not connected.  So my logic is that BCT4717 is damaged inside and not doing what its told.  However....

This is a lot of assumptions but it made sense at the time to test that somehow the headphone jack was not interfering with the signal.


So I did some more testing.  Things get a bit more weird here, or perhaps they start to show a pattern.
(each time I shut down phone and cold booted with changed jumpers btw)

1) I connected wired phone headset to the headphone jack. Tested not working with UART mode on. (expected)
2) Switched UART mode off: Tested headset OK (low volume but working, note left / right channels are reversed.)  (expected)
3) Made a call. The headset WORKED during the call with UART mode off. Removed Headset from headphone socket and switched to internal speaker. Now have clear audio during a call on the internal speaker instead of garbled electronic distortion. (strange!)
4) Restart phone without headset connected and try again (UART mode still off).  Not working.

I then tried again steps 1 to 4. I get no Audio in calls at all anymore with the headphone jack enabled for audio whether I connect the headset or not.

So I tried this:

1) Turned back ON UART mode, (headphone output disabled), and now call audio works again.
2) Turned back OFF UART mode. Instead of garbled metallic audio now I get no audio during a call.
3) The headphone still works by itself if the UART mode is off but I get no call audio.

I figure maybe the BCT4717ETB let out its last effort when I connected the earphones for some reason.  I tested the above because I thought it might be grounded in the headphone socket.  Maybe it is though? I'm not an electical engineer unforunately ;-)

So after all that the conclusion is very similar.


Switch 6 ON (UART ON) I have audio in calls
Switch 6 OFF (UART OFF) I have no audio in calls (used to be garbled)

Perhaps that's of some use to know though, even if it's not the BCT4717, maybe something close to it or related in the circuit is at play.

Additional testing I might do... I don't have a serial console adapter wired up to test, (I'll make one shortly and post the result) but it would be interesting to see if it worked at all, or worked even with the headphone UART "disabled", ie the headphone connected to the audio..

---

It sounds to me like the software is using the wrong amplifier settings when the switch is set to headphones.  I wonder how it sounds with headphones, when the switch is in that position.

I think the amplifier settings could use a tweak though the headphone output is pretty quiet for system sound test, certainly not ear blasting but clearly audiable ....  

Testing again...

UART off:  Now my front right headphone is a very low volume outside of calls.  Left headphone is a decent volume but not loud.

The left headphone now working in calls... right is not.. Very low voume.

Now the call audio is working again (clear and audiable) on the internal speaker, after pulling the headphones and switching to internal speaker during a call (with the uart switch off)

Ive rebooted a couple times the call audio seems to be working now from the internal speaker with the headphones on ... 

Unplugged headphones, tried a different set (amplified speakers). Lost call audio entirely on both internal speaker and headphones.  Turned external amplifer up to max..  Could hear very weakly the system audio test but not any call audio.

Rebooted phone.. removed battery.   Call audio working again with switch set to headphone now.

As you can see its starting to get a bit circular and not always doing the same thing..

Currently this phone after that round of testing is has the call audio working with the headphone set to ON now.  Which is new.