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!
?

[Psy-Virus]

@OPC ,
that's some awesome review. It's the same for me. Since something exploded close enough to my right ear I hear less high frequencies on it and still the right channel sounds louder but not only lower frequencies. It's like you said, there are mostly instruments coming more from the right.
This is also why I think that ASUS mistakenly uses the audio profiles of the speakers also for the headphones. As there is probably a special audio profile to filter some frequencies especially for the left / top speaker as it's weaker.
On my Lumia 950XL Windows phone, my Nokia N8, what I'm still using as music player sometimes and on my PC I don't hear the sound coming from front right. There it's just balanced and pure out of the box.
But on the ROG Phone it kinda forces me to also look at this direction when I'm in the bus for example and just listen to music because it's uneven and I want to make it even so my brain want's me to turn the head a little. It kinda sounds like playing out of phase. Like if you hear music where the left and right channel are phased by 180°. This way the sound is not coming to your ear like
L -> HEAD <- R
L <- HEAD -> R
but more like
L -> HEAD -> R
L <- HEAD <- R
This makes you think that the sound is in your head. This is btw. also how emulated 3D sound works.
I probably would be absolutely okay if there was an option to really turn off all things that tinker in some kind with the sound, if this is really the reason.
But meanwhile I discovered another problem with the phone. Scratched screens out of the box on now 3 devices -.-

[OPC]

Psy-Virus

Third try as my comments just vanished after I edited them -.-

@OPC ,

that was just an awesome review. Thanks for that!

It is more or less the same for me. Since something exploded close enough to my right ear to affect it, I hear less high frequencies on it. But still the ROG Phone 2 sounds louder on the right side in many cases. Mostly instruments and not just lower frequencies. On my Lumia 950XL Windows Phone, my Nokia N8 I still use as music player some times and on my PC, the sound is absolutely even and pure. It's only the ROG Phone 2 that sounds weird to me.

That's why I think that ASUS is mistakenly using the audio profile of the speakers also for the headphones. I bet the sound engineers have made a special audio profile to feed the different sized speakers differently as they vary in size.

It also could be that the sound is kinda out of phase like if you hear music with a 180° turned phase. This would make you think the sound comes from inside your head 'cause the sound is pressuring your ears differently like:

L -> HEAD <- R

L <- HEAD -> R

would be in phase (normal). Both ear drums are vibrating the same time in and out

L -> HEAD -> R

L <- HEAD <- R

would be 180° turned. Both ear drums vibrate in the same direction.

This is also more or less how 3D sound works.

But as only some frequencies are louder on the right, I guess it's just a filter to prevent too low/high frequencies on the left channel to maybe prevent bad resonance or clipping on the top phone speaker.

But in the mean time, I experienced a different problem. Scratched screens on three devices out of the originally sealed box. -.-

Oh ASUS... 😄 https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/15798/scratched-screens-on-meanwhile-3-rog-phone-2-devices/

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Basically the same as my experience! Except for scratched screen. Mine is impeccable.

[Anders_ASUS]

I can't say I share your experience about one channel playing louder than the other. Could be because I'm on the beta. Let's revisit this issue when Android Q has been released. I can say for sure that we're not using the same profile for speakers and headphones. That would have been VERY noticable and you're talking about a minor nuance in audio difference

[Psy-Virus]

Anders_ASUS

I can't say I share your experience about one channel playing louder than the other. Could be because I'm on the beta. Let's revisit this issue when Android Q has been released. I can say for sure that we're not using the same profile for speakers and headphones. That would have been VERY noticable and you're talking about a minor nuance in audio difference

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Of course, maybe something changed in Q or got reviewed and fixed. If the back and forth with the screen scratches goes out well and I'll get either a device in flawless condition or some compensation of my service provider, I definitely will do further tests and will give more feedback.
I can say for sure that we're not using the same profile for speakers and headphones. That would have been VERY noticable and you're talking about a minor nuance in audio difference
Why do you think that it would be more noticeable? If I cut off the highest and lowest frequencies of one channel to, for example filter out bad resonances, than you only will hear it when the music hits those thresholds. This can lead to exactly the behaviour @OPC and I are describing, especially if we consider that the speakers in the phone are not identical in terms of power and how the case is build but the speakers in headphones/headsets usually are.
For me I wouldn't say it's a minor nuance in difference as I hear louder or fuller sound on my ear that's supposed to hear less. This is the complete counterpart of what should happen. The same goes for OPC, even if he says that for his subjective feeling it is minor.

🙂