Back in 2016 when Apple ditched the headphone jack, even giants of the industry like HTC and Google itself followed suit quickly. However, Android OEMs such as Samsung have pleased its user-base by maintaining the 3.5mm headphone jack on the Galaxy S9 and S9+, but it seems that everything isn’t perfect after all.
What’s the issue with Galaxy S9 sound?
Several reports have emerged that suggest that the sound quality from the headphone jack is less than perfect, with repeated issues of sound distortion and crackling noise. Users are reporting that giving the Galaxy S9 a restart fixes the issue momentarily, but it comes back haunting you within 20-30 seconds of the restart.
It’s not an issue with the sound, actually, because whether playing the music files stored on the device itself, or using a streaming service like Spotify, the issue persists. Heck, even the camera recorded videos are producing annoying static noise. It’s also reported that playing games is also producing muffled sound.
For some people, the problem is not limited to the headphone jack, as the speakers are producing the distorted sound, too, but some people have denied it.
Further, tweaking the Dolby Atmos audio settings to prevent the distortion doesn’t help either.
Even after replacing the AUX cable with a newer one and trying different sets of headphones, the issue seems to prevail on certain Galaxy S9 devices.
Related: Galaxy S9 OEM unlock option problem
Any solution, yet?
Samsung is yet to formally address the issue, and will most likely not do so unless there are more serious reports about it. In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated on any developments that come out of the South Korean company’s software support team.
It’s not clear yet whether performing a factory reset of the device would help in this case or not.
The audio issue is yet another seemingly large-scale problem that the S9 users are facing, after issues with the device’s display (black crush and color banding, and glitches) and fingerprint scanner were reported earlier already.
Are you experiencing any issues with sound on the Galaxy S9? Do chime in with your observations in the comments below if there is anything such happening with your device, too.
I have a S8+ and just recently started having “crackling” sounds when connected to headphones. I thought it was my cord, so I bought a couple fancy-dancy ones off Amazon and the problem persisted. It doesn’t happen when attached via Bluetooth, so I was searching for this particular problem. I haven’t had it cut out on me, though it has happened when in Gear VR, but I thought maybe it was a call coming through so I ignored it and the sound resumed on its own. I hope this isn’t something passed onto new Galaxy rebirths.
Started to hear a crackling noise like less than a month since I bought my samsung s9
Im using a Galaxy S9+ with Android Pie 9.0 installed. Experienced cracking sound issues for some months when streaming to my bt headphones. Have tried the headphones to another device just to make sure the problem isnt with the headphones. With the other older device with an older Android version there wasnt any distortion in the soundstream. I have tried to hard reset the S9+, erasing and re-connect the BT headphones both without sucess. I have tried changing the equalizer, turning dolby atmos on and off all without any sucess. Is Samsung informed about the issue? It seems on here that it is more people out there that experience the same problems. What Android version do you other guys use when having the problem?
I have same problem…it is very bad plz help ….Samsung have to solve it
Crackling sound on my Samsung S9 playing Apple music through the phone speakers. So annoying.
Just had my s9 repaired under warranty for audio instability. Not even back for 24 hours. Audio swings between going too loud too soft, static, feedback. Sounds like a two way radio. Repair replaced a number of things under warranty. Sound remains the same if not worse. Never buying Samsung again. A lot of money to spend for junk!
My S9+ sound is fine when playing thru the headphone jack. It is distorted when using blue tooth. Blue tooth headphones and JBL Charge3 sound like crap to the point I can’t listen to them at anything but the lowest volumes settings. The internal speaker seems distorted at times as well when the notification volume is too high