Different/Uneven volume on speaker AND headphone channels

[Psy-Virus]

Hello there,
I just bought the ROG Phone II and after all the updates I started testing and spent hours of hours to get everything ported and synced from my Lumia 950XL. ?
As of now, I'm pretty impressed.
But one thing bugs me. The left/top speaker is much quieter than the right/bottom speaker. But not only that.
The same happens on headphones/headsets and this definitely should not happen. I first thought that it's maybe one of the amps failing as you state that there are two dedicated sound amps, driving the speakers. But then I saw on the internet that an update may have lead to this behaviour.
EDIT: It also doesn't really feel like an imbalance of sound, as some sounds sound equally loud. More like a filter of some kind that filters special frequencies maybe. But this also could be my imagination. 😄
What I've tried so far:
I played around with everything sound related in the phone, reset every app and even the sound wiz and was digging through the config files I was able to access by default to see if there's something I can change to get an equal volume, but nothing.
I also played a special audio file that has the exact same data and volume on both channels. And to verify that the speaker and headphone channels are not equal loud, I let other people tell me which channel is louder while they where listening to normal music and my test file.
Everyone said that the right channel on both, the speakers and the headphone is louder than the left one.
Is everyone having this issue right now or did anyone find a workaround?
Is this being worked on? Is this a known issue to the developers?

It's of course the ROG Phone 2 with the latest stable updates, as seen below:

If you need further information, please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks in advance and have a nice day!
?

[OPC]

I tried to replicate the situation with headphones. I use Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones. The best way is to listen to Binaural recordings. And indeed the sound was mostly coming from the center and right. It can also be the choice of the musical studio which channel to record more. Then I tried some jazz music from a French singer Patricia Kaas. It didn't seem the right channel was louder, but more instruments were coming from the right. Then I choose a track with a solo classical guitar. The sound was coming from the center as it should. Then I chose a concert of classical music performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra. Those have the highest standard of recording. Again more instruments were coming from the right. The last test and one of the best to test channels was the Pink Floyd's composition called One of These Days from Meddle album. Here there is a clear transition of the keyboard sound originating in the left channel, passing over the center into the right channel. And there is a central beating part where sound should move in a circle. I know this track very well as I was listening it for years ona hi-fi setup through Philips professional studio headphones with 6 separate treble membranes and a separate bass membrane on each side. And indeed the sound generating in the left channel was a tiny bit lacking in loudness. That is before passing to the center it should have been a bit louder. I would say it's just a matter of balancing and maybe amplifying the left channel just a bit. I would also mention that the balance was best with headphones effects turned off. And the sound was more prominent to the right with headphones effects set to wide. I prefer to set it to traditional. All those differences are so marginal that most people wouldn't even pay attention.

[julienvd93]

OPC

I tried to replicate the situation with headphones. I use Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones. The best way is to listen to Binaural recordings. And indeed the sound was mostly coming from the center and right. It can also be the choice of the musical studio which channel to record more. Then I tried some jazz music from a French singer Patricia Kaas. It didn't seem the right channel was louder, but more instruments were coming from the right. Then I choose a track with a solo classical guitar. The sound was coming from the center as it should. Then I chose a concert of classical music performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra. Those have the highest standard of recording. Again more instruments were coming from the right. The last test and one of the best to test channels was the Pink Floyd's composition called One of These Days from Meddle album. Here there is a clear transition of the keyboard sound originating in the left channel, passing over the center into the right channel. And there is a central beating part where sound should move in a circle. I know this track very well as I was listening it for years ona hi-fi setup through Philips professional studio headphones with 6 separate treble membranes and a separate bass membrane on each side. And indeed the sound generating in the left channel was a tiny bit lacking in loudness. That is before passing to the center it should have been a bit louder. I would say it's just a matter of balancing and maybe amplifying the left channel just a bit. I would also mention that the balance was best with headphones effects turned off. And the sound was more prominent to the right with headphones effects set to wide. I prefer to set it to traditional. All those differences are so marginal that most people wouldn't even pay attention.

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I would rate this review 5 stars if I could. For now you get a like 😛

[OPC]

julienvd93

https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/comment/38444#Comment_38444

I would rate this review 5 stars if I could. For now you get a like 😛

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Thanks Julien! Music and photography/videography are my passions.

[Anders_ASUS]

Are we talking major differences or small ones? I would recommend you to switch L/R on you headphones because our hearing is not necessarily perfect on both ears. I hear more bass on my right ear than my left and switching the sides of your headphones might make you realize that it's actually your hearing and not the sound. You can also test bluetooth headphones. If you feel that that one side is stronger, then it's probably your hearing.

[OPC]

Dear Anders, Actually as I am now in my 50s, I have done the medical hearing test in the acoustic chamber last spring. And my right ear hears a little bit weaker. That is it hears less high frequencies than left ear. The loudness is equal in both ears. Nevertheless as I wrote differences between channels are minor, not noticeable if you don't pay attention. And the Rog 2 is the best music listening phone I have tried, especially with headphones attached. Off topic but sometimes when the phone rings in the room with other people I am embarrassed how loud it is. Love it!
A suggestion to developers and what would definitely solve any possible complain about L/R channel: in the AudioWizard bellow the volume slider include the L/R balance slider. That would make the phone really unique.