[fizban_tx]

Ok, most of the reviews agree that the Beats audio in the TP sounds great; but I think it also shows another Half-Baked idea from HP.

1.) No Beats headset.

The TP can take calls, but the lack of volume from the speakers and the mic make it difficult at best to make a call using the TP on speakerphone in any somewhat crowded or noisey place. I.E. when playing with the TP in Best Buy before buying it. It was great to pair the TP to my Pre- and make a call, but the other person could only hear the background noise, and I had lean my head down and practically hold the TP to my head in order to hear them.

The Beats headphones sound great; as do the Beats Headsets. The Beats Headsets are made for Apple products though, the inline MIC does not work on the TP. So as of now, there are no Beats headsets for the TP.

2.) Lack of lossless audio support.

The only format that the TP and HPPlay support that is lossless is wav (which is also uncompressed.) With only 32GB of storage you will fill up pretty quick if you are using wav. Why doesn't the TP and HPPlay support something like flac, or any other compressed lossless codec? With all the marketing of Beats going on, why not show off how good your music can really sound?


I know HP did not make the inclusion of Beats Audio a huge deal in the marketing campaign, but it is mentioned. Why not take it to the next level and offer a truely unique experience with Beats, the availability of a Beats Headset that has a working inline MIC for the TP and other WebOS devices, (like the Pre3 coming up that is supposed to have Beats as well?) Maybe even a WebOS co-branded Beats Headset? Why not support lossless audio out of the box?

[netwrkr9]

Volume is fine on mine, find a phone function headset thatnworks for you, I have been using the Platronics 903 headset, great sound and the phone functions
work with webOS, been using this headset now for 20 months.

[r-nice]

Why not take it to the next level and offer a truely unique experience with Beats, the availability of a Beats Headset that has a working inline MIC for the TP and other WebOS devices, (like the Pre3 coming up that is supposed to have Beats as well?) Maybe even a WebOS co-branded Beats Headset? Why not support lossless audio out of the box?

That would make too much sense.

[OrionAntares#CB]

2.) Lack of lossless audio support.

The only format that the TP and HPPlay support that is lossless is wav (which is also uncompressed.) With only 32GB of storage you will fill up pretty quick if you are using wav. Why doesn't the TP and HPPlay support something like flac, or any other compressed lossless codec? With all the marketing of Beats going on, why not show off how good your music can really sound?

I thought there was "an app for that"?

[provost]

Correct me if I am wrong here.. so audiophile HD is free and I THINK it supports flac and a couple other lossless ones.

[bnceo]

There are two parts to Beats Audio. The first is the overpriced Headphones made by Monster. Those are useless. The second part is legit and that's the audio processor on the TouchPad and other HP laptops. This is legit and provides nicer quality. Not a ton nicer, but an audiophile would notice.

[samab]

There are two parts to Beats Audio. The first is the overpriced Headphones made by Monster. Those are useless. The second part is legit and that's the audio processor on the TouchPad and other HP laptops. This is legit and provides nicer quality. Not a ton nicer, but an audiophile would notice.

The audio processor itself has 2 parts --- (a) higher amplifier power and (b) doing SRS WOW/TruBass stuff [which Beats Audio profile is similar to] in hardware.

Higher amplifier power is legit.

Most people also can't stand SRS WOW/TruBass and permanently turn it off in Windows Media Player.

[DaveInFL]

Correct me if I am wrong here.. so audiophile HD is free and I THINK it supports flac and a couple other lossless ones.

I am struggling to get audiophile HD to even play songs on my TP, and they are only in MP3 format. They play fine with the standard music player. Maybe I am just not understanding how it works, but it seems laggy and the turntable turns and no songs play. I thought the recent update would fix some bugs but I'm just not getting it.

[fizban_tx]

I know that the beats headsets are not that great, but when compared to the other headsets available in places like best buy and walmart, they sound pretty good. Best buy has managed to get some of the lower end Seinnheiser headsets in, but even in that price point the beats are pretty comparable.

Even when you start comparing the beats audio hardware components to other external hardware amps the beats are going lose. Beats is not really audiophile quality, but it is a step up.

As far as audiophilehd and other apps that play flac and other lossless formats, that is great, and I do have audiophilehd on my TP. What I am getting at though, is why didn't HP include support for other lossless formats out of the box?

My point was/is if HP is going to market the Beats audio as improved audio, and try to draw that music loving crowd, why not do it right? Why not have a better then average headset available for purchase in the store? Best Buy carries Seinnheiser and Etymotic, but only for apple products. Why not support more lossless formats for audio natively? Right now not only do I have to use a 3rd party music player but also a 3rd party tool to sync my music as HPPlay does not support enough codecs. That and their marketing partner Beats does not even make a headset that works with their product.

I know I am ranting again. It is just hard to see HP doing so many things wrong, or missing opportunity's to take it to the next level. Awesome sounding beats audio built in, nothing to go with it; advertising as being a business first tablet but not having video out capabilities (even just for projecting presentations,) not even the kindle app working on launch.

I love WebOS and as an IT engineer I love HP servers, etc. I just feel like HP has dropped the ball on this. I am just hoping they are paying attention.

[provost]

I am struggling to get audiophile HD to even play songs on my TP, and they are only in MP3 format. They play fine with the standard music player. Maybe I am just not understanding how it works, but it seems laggy and the turntable turns and no songs play. I thought the recent update would fix some bugs but I'm just not getting it.

Well, I have to admit, it was not intuitive for me either. Just to make sure you are doing it right:
- the little "drag" box, drag your finger to the right on it.
- click album, artist or whatever
- select your song or hit play all
- turn up the volume on the touchpad, also spin that volume knob to make sure that it has volume

I havent tried it multitasking, but I have had it play mp3s at 128, 192 and 320 bit rates. If you have other cards, maybe close them? I dont know, again I havent tried it with other cards.

Good luck, man. Hopefully it works out. Would be interested to know the results though.

[estebancam]

I don't understand how it has "higher amplifier power" yet the volume is HALF that of my Pre 2. I don't get that.

[DaveInFL]

Well, I have to admit, it was not intuitive for me either. Just to make sure you are doing it right:
- the little "drag" box, drag your finger to the right on it.
- click album, artist or whatever
- select your song or hit play all
- turn up the volume on the touchpad, also spin that volume knob to make sure that it has volume

I havent tried it multitasking, but I have had it play mp3s at 128, 192 and 320 bit rates. If you have other cards, maybe close them? I dont know, again I havent tried it with other cards.

Good luck, man. Hopefully it works out. Would be interested to know the results though.

Still no joy, I can see a list of songs on the right hand side and I can even hit next, etc, but the songs never play. Volume is up etc. At some point the buttons become unresponsive and the words Wait... is in the middle of the app.

[provost]

Still no joy, I can see a list of songs on the right hand side and I can even hit next, etc, but the songs never play. Volume is up etc. At some point the buttons become unresponsive and the words Wait... is in the middle of the app.

Damn, sorry man. I guess the only thing I could suggest is a reinstall. Unfortunately I haven't had it not work, but I figured it was worth a shot.