Enable Harman/Kardon Audio on HTC One M8 (All Models)

Before the HTC One M8 was launched, HTC”s flagship phones were known for the well-known Beats Audio sound engine. When the M8 came out, we expected the same audio technology in the new flagship too, but HTC ditched Beats in favor of BoomSound that works only with the internal speakers while Beats audio worked only when headphone plugged in.

Unfortunately, our HTC One M8 does not have any inbuilt audio engine that might enhance its audio quality. HTC decided to release a separate version for those who love good sound quality while listening to music. The One M8 is a costly smartphone and its users have all right to awesome audio quality. It really sounds weird that HTC decided to release a special version of the HTC One M8 dubbed as Harman/Kardon Edition.

Harman/Kardon edition of the HTC One M8 is available currently exclusively to the users of the US carrier Sprint. Actually, there is no difference between other models of the phone and the Harman/Kardon edition. The only difference being that the latter integrates Harman/Kardon audio software for a great audio experience.

Well, Android is a world of immense development activities where exclusivities are busted in no time. Harman/Kardon Audio engine has now been ported by XDA member baadnewz to work on all variants of the HTC One M8. The mod can be installed even on the HTC One M8 GPE model but it must be running Sense 6 based ROM.

Since the Harman/Kardon audio mod is available in flashable Zip, your HTC One must have root access and a custom recovery (CWM/TWRP) installed on it. If you have also gained S-OFF on your M8, there is a special version of the mod that updates your ADSP firmware. If you own the HTC One M8 and want to enjoy amazing audio quality on your phone, you can grab the mod from below and flash it right away. After installing the mod, you’ll see harman/kardon audio listed under phone settings.

Warning

The Harman/Kardon audio mod works fine on all One M8 models but if you do not do things carefully, you might encounter errors. To avoid getting into any problem, do not forget to backup your current ROM first. You HTC One M8 must have S-OFF!

Prerequisites:

• Rooted HTC One M8 with a custom recovery.
• It’s recommended that you S-OFF your HTC One M8 first to make this mod fully work. If you have not S-OFF’d your phone yet, you can easily do it using Firewater method.
• If you have a US model of the M8, go to Settings> About> Software information and make sure that your phone’s software number is greater than 1.1xx. If it’s not greater than the software number mentioned above, you might not see Harman/Kardon listed under device settings.

Downloads:

To download the Harman/Kardon Audio mod head over to the official XDA thread by click here.

How to Install:

To get Harman/Kardon Audio on HTC One M8, follow these steps.

1. Download the appropriate Zip file from above and copy it to your phone.
2. Turn off the device and boot it into Bootloader mode. To do this hold the Volume Down and Power keys for a few seconds till the HBOOT screen shows up. Then scroll to RECOVERY option using the Volume Down key and select it using the Power button.
3. When you get into TWRP or CWM menu, create a backup of your ROM first.
4. Use the Install option, navigate to the Zip file that you copied to your device.
5. Confirm the installation and wait till it’s flashed.
6. Wipe Dalvik cache after installation and then reboot the phone.

When your HTC One M8 boots up, go to Settings and look for harman/kardon there. Tap it and you will find 2 audio modes there, namely Clari-Fi and LiveStage. Just plug in your headphone and play a song to experience the difference.