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Posted by u/c0deR3D a year ago
Ask HN: Why can't modern smartphones play music smoothly?
As computing power grows, smartphones should theoretically encounter fewer and fewer stutters. However, at least on the phones I've used, which are iPhone8 Plus and Pixel 7, stutters still exist during music playing (even with the phone put in sleep mode). And I don't think it's only the case for the phones I've used.

The sources of the stutters I can come up with are:

1. all available LITTLE cores are busy and at least a task wake up in the meantime. 2. the CPU scheduler doesn't schedule properly (from the user experience perspective). 3. music player doesn't advice itself as latency-sensitive app.

It's easy for modern smartphones to have ready_to_run_tasks (daemons) > available_cpus, and a CPU scheduler which ignores latency-sensitive apps can easily preempt the music player.

To sum up, user experience is probably the utmost thing that modern phones care, how can things like "stutters during music playing" happen? Can't we just defer those daemon tasks?

(maybe this is why my collegue got a MP3 player instead)

jlmorton · a year ago
I'm perplexed how you're talking about this like it's a common problem people have had, something that's been ongoing for years.

There is no stuttering problem on audio playback on any of the smart phones you've listed. And there hasn't been any stuttering problem since the initial launch of the first generation iPhone.

The last time I remember any stuttering on any phone I've owned was maybe the Motorola Rokr twenty years ago.

You must have some sort of accessory problem.

dylan604 · a year ago
this was my take on reading it as well. my first thought was that it sounds like a bluetooth device. the only time I ever have issues is because of how shitty bluetooth is. when I use wired headphones, I never have issues
swores · a year ago
Even bluetooth now days is often fine if not buying bargain basement products.

I use pretty much exclusively bluetooth for audio between PCs/phone/TV and both earphones and speakers, and my car's stereo is the only bluetooth connection I have that ever has connection/lag issues at all (and even then it's infrequent enough that I still choose it over plugging a USB cable in between phone and car).

andybak · a year ago
I've got a mid-range Redmii Android at the moment and it's perfectly fine.

I don't remember any stuttering on this or previous phones.

thefz · a year ago
Use my Pixel 6a daily to listen music either via cable or BT, and I have never encountered any problem.
skrrtww · a year ago
Something is fucked up with Apple Music streaming playback; it may be Bluetooth specific or may not be. In nearly every song I stream, whether it's from my iCloud library or Apple Music itself, there's a stutter at exactly the 15 second mark in whatever song it is; the stutter is different every time but when it occurs is consistent.

There are also inconsistent stutters throughout songs.

iPhone 13 and 2nd gen AirPods Pro, if it's relevant.

I've filed a feedback but Apple feedback is a black hole these days.

fnordlord · a year ago
I have the same issue. Not with every song but often enough.

The worst for me was an issue where occasionally my entire computer would slow down with no evidence from Activity Monitor that something was eating cycles or taking memory. I finally traced it down to Apple Music while in fullscreen and using multiple monitors, which was my preferred setup. Filed a ticket with Apple feedback and it's still open with no response.

frizzlebox · a year ago
I’d get a single stutter seconds into playback of a new song fairly often when playing lossless on Apple Music on my iPhone, without Bluetooth.

I suspect that the stutter happens when it decides to change audio tracks to a higher bit rate stream, but that’s me talking out of my rear.

That particular problem went away once I turned off lossless in Apple Music settings.

RealPlastic · a year ago
Same here. The stutter is quite annoying, and easily reproducible. It only happens when streaming lossless music; does not happen when playing downloaded music.

Amazon Music Unlimited has no stutter whatsoever when streaming lossless files. Perhaps Apple wasn't quite ready to offer Lossless, knew the stutter was there, and released it anyway.

JohnnyHerz · a year ago
I experience the same type of issues with Spotify on my iphones. it's followed me through every Spotify upgrade and across every iPhone i've owned.
warrenm · a year ago
What "modern smartphone" cannot "play music smoothly"?

If you mean, "can't stream smoothly" - check your connection and your service choice (eg Paramount+ always seems to have problems for me ... regardless of the connection or device)

But "play music smoothly" has been a core feature (with nary a problem) since the first iPhone

Every one I have had runs all the audio I have ever wanted to run with no issue - 4G, 6S+, 8+, 11, SE, 14, and 15

My dad's and mother-in-law's Pixel 7 also have no issues

mikestew · a year ago
Turn off any multi-hundred watt 2.4Ghz transmitters you might have in the house. Like the microwave.

I jest, but at the same time I don't. Like everyone else on this thread, I'm like "stutters? What is it, 1999 and I'm using a Pentium II to play my 28kbps MP3?" Ergo, if you're not using a hard-wired headphone connection, my only thought in this modern age is radio interference.

runjake · a year ago
I have high quality files in Music.app, episodes in Overcast, and have Spotify audio quality settings on "Very High" and I do not encounter skips on my iPhone 15 Pro.
theragra · a year ago
I don't think my pixel 6pro stutters unless there are Bluetooth issues. I used it cycling and listening music for many hours, and if music was cached, no issues. Sometimes there are issues with Bluetooth and streaming, but I think I can tell these apart from other stutter.
vyrotek · a year ago
Same. No issues with my Pixel 6 or 7. Have just had occasional Bluetooth blips to my Buds.

I have more challenges using my Pixel Buds with a Bluetooth dongle on my PC.

manicennui · a year ago
Android had audio latency issues for a long time, and I think they were originally related to the fact that Linux also had high latency audio. I was under the impression that these were much better now:

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/03/an-update-...

I haven't heard about issues with latency in iOS audio, but the iPhone 8 is certainly not "modern". Are you using bluetooth headphones? Which apps are you using to play the audio?

c0deR3D · a year ago
Yes, I was using Bluetooth headphones at the moment. I don't have the app name at hand, but I know that the app is also a file manager.

So there's probably jitter in my headphones, or the app was not suppose to do music playback smoothly because that's not its main usage.

jwildeboer · a year ago
I’ve been using an iPhone since 3GS up to the 12 where I’m typing this reply on. I never had problems with stuttering when playing music either through wired headphones or Bluetooth. Is all.