Crackling/white noise through headphone jack

Hi all,

Has anyone had (and preferably fixed!) an issue with the FP2 headphone jack? I have constant white noise in the background when listening to any audio through headphones plugged into the jack. I’ve ruled out software and a problem with the headphones themself. So please let me know if there is a usual fix for this kind of problem.

This problem has been there since I purchased the phone. I’d much prefer to fix it myself than replace the part. Of course a large part of the getting the phone was the ability to easily replace or repair but disappointed that it is needed straight away…

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I also noticed white noise when playing music on my Fairphone 2.

  • The white noise only appears when there is sound. Silent parts of the music do not have white noise.
  • The white noise only appears on MP3 files, not on Ogg Vorbis files.
  • The white noise only appears on low volume levels when using in-ear headphones, not with an on-ear computer headset.

I find the white noise is there regardless of file type and is still there during silent part of the audio. The volume of the white noise does not increase when I turn up the volume of the track, so its more annoying at low volume.

Hi,

did you try different head phones?

There are diffent models if head jacks, maybe the one you are using does not fit exactly?

Here you will find more infos on that topic:

Yes, as stated, I have tried with different headphones which experience the same problem (these headphones work fine with other devices). I have tried different types of file format, bluetooth headphones etc…

The problem is the FP2’s aux port/headphone jack. Was hoping someone else had experienced the same issue and had managed to fix.

I do have a similar problem with different headphones. When there is no music playing and I am doing something else, i hear “computer noise” while the display animates something, like opening a site or when opening the app drawer. Like in the movies back in the 80s, when they show a computer displaying a text line by line, the always played sounds to underline the activity on screen.

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As much as I love my FP2, this issue is really a disappointment for me.
One of my large joys have been walking around listening to music or podcasts or audiobooks, enjoying being closed in a sound bubble while strolling around in the open world. I’ve done it for years.

But with my FP2 I hardly do it anymore, as I find the sound quality so frustrating. This hissing, or white noise or distortion sound, it comes on top of every song or voice as a layer of sandpaper.

How I wish this could be fixed!

I had the same problem using the Fairphone Open OS (no diff. between Android 5 and 6). Static noise when playing audio though the 3.5mm jack. I switched OS to Ubuntu Touch and now the problem is fixed.

It does not seem to be a hardware issue though. Is everybody experiencing the issue using Open OS?

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Nope. Fairphone Open OS 17.08.1.1

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[quote=“klotzor, post:8, topic:24889, full:true”] Is everybody experiencing the issue using Open OS?
[/quote]

I won’t claim that everybody is experiencing it, but when trying a FP2 with stock Android 6 (not Open OS), there was no doubt it had exactly the same noise as mine (which run the Open OS).
Of course it depends on the headphones aswell. When using my work headphones (Beyerdynamic DT 770), the noise isn’t by far as obvious, as they need more volume and aren’t very sensitive.
But my beloved earplugs, the Shure SE535, are quite sensitive and can easily play music on the lowest volume. Expect that using them on low volumes with FP2 really sounds quite depressing. And using them on loud volumes blows my head up.

[quote=“klotzor, post:8, topic:24889, full:true”] I switched OS to Ubuntu Touch and now the problem is fixed.
It does not seem to be a hardware issue though.
[/quote]

If this is the case, then I really hope the FP developers would look into how to get rid of the hizzing noise.
By now, sound quality is my main warning when people want to purchase a FP2.

I switched back to Fairphone Open OS and the noise is back. So in my case it is clearly a software problem.

My way of dealing with it was to buy a usb DAC - the Fiio Q1.
Works great on the FP2! And sounds lovely.
So now I love listening to stuff from my phone again.

Not the easiest or cheapest way of doing things, but it turns out sound quality is more important to me than convenience.

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Hey everybody,

I juste received my phone and I experiment the same noise problem with the jack port, making me unable to hear music through a male male jack (I don’t talk about complete headset here, only classic jack).

I just browsed many topic and here’s my conclusion :

  • Its not a design flaw
  • USB DAC may help
  • Changing top part won’t
  • Maybe an OS pb
  • The jack don’t seem to properly fit, sometimes it fit a bit more, sometimes less
  • No dust pb, maybe a rub thing in the bottom?
  • … I guess I’m lost in fact ahah and the noise remain.

Any progress on the subject ?

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