diff --git a/services/audioflinger/Threads.cpp b/services/audioflinger/Threads.cpp
index 060c72b..91c82a2 100644
--- a/services/audioflinger/Threads.cpp
+++ b/services/audioflinger/Threads.cpp
@@ -338,28 +338,32 @@
 // under  #ifdef __cplusplus #endif
 static std::string patchSinksToString(const struct audio_patch *patch)
 {
-    std::stringstream ss;
+    std::string s;
     for (size_t i = 0; i < patch->num_sinks; ++i) {
-        if (i > 0) {
-            ss << "|";
+        if (i > 0) s.append("|");
+        if (patch->sinks[i].ext.device.address[0]) {
+            s.append("(").append(toString(patch->sinks[i].ext.device.type))
+                    .append(", ").append(patch->sinks[i].ext.device.address).append(")");
+        } else {
+            s.append(toString(patch->sinks[i].ext.device.type));
         }
-        ss << "(" << toString(patch->sinks[i].ext.device.type)
-            << ", " << patch->sinks[i].ext.device.address << ")";
     }
-    return ss.str();
+    return s;
 }
 
 static std::string patchSourcesToString(const struct audio_patch *patch)
 {
-    std::stringstream ss;
+    std::string s;
     for (size_t i = 0; i < patch->num_sources; ++i) {
-        if (i > 0) {
-            ss << "|";
+        if (i > 0) s.append("|");
+        if (patch->sources[i].ext.device.address[0]) {
+            s.append("(").append(toString(patch->sources[i].ext.device.type))
+                    .append(", ").append(patch->sources[i].ext.device.address).append(")");
+        } else {
+            s.append(toString(patch->sources[i].ext.device.type));
         }
-        ss << "(" << toString(patch->sources[i].ext.device.type)
-            << ", " << patch->sources[i].ext.device.address << ")";
     }
-    return ss.str();
+    return s;
 }
 
 static std::string toString(audio_latency_mode_t mode) {
diff --git a/services/mediametrics/StringUtils.cpp b/services/mediametrics/StringUtils.cpp
index 5766f1c..3b2db85 100644
--- a/services/mediametrics/StringUtils.cpp
+++ b/services/mediametrics/StringUtils.cpp
@@ -80,33 +80,40 @@
 {
     std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::string>> result;
 
-    // Currently, the device format is EXACTLY
-    // (device1, addr1)|(device2, addr2)|...
+    // Currently, the device format is
+    //
+    // devices = device_addr OR device_addr|devices
+    // device_addr = device OR (device, addr)
+    //
+    // EXAMPLE:
+    // device1|(device2, addr2)|...
 
     static constexpr char delim[] = "()|,";
     for (auto it = devices.begin(); ; ) {
-        auto token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
-        if (token != "(") return result;
+        std::string address;
+        std::string device = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
+        if (device.empty()) return result;
+        if (device == "(") {  // it is a pair otherwise we consider it a device
+            device = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim); // get actual device
+            auto token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
+            if (token != ",") return result;  // malformed, must have a comma
 
-        auto device = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
-        if (device.empty() || !std::isalnum(device[0])) return result;
-
-        token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
-        if (token != ",") return result;
-
-        // special handling here for empty addresses
-        auto address = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
-        if (address.empty() || !std::isalnum(device[0])) return result;
-        if (address == ")") {  // no address, just the ")"
-            address.clear();
-        } else {
-            token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
-            if (token != ")") return result;
+            // special handling here for empty addresses
+            address = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
+            if (address.empty()) return result;
+            if (address == ")") {  // no address, just the ")"
+                address.clear();
+            } else {
+                token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
+                if (token != ")") return result;
+            }
         }
+        // misaligned token, device must start alphanumeric.
+        if (!std::isalnum(device[0])) return result;
 
         result.emplace_back(std::move(device), std::move(address));
 
-        token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
+        auto token = tokenizer(it, devices.end(), delim);
         if (token != "|") return result;  // this includes end of string detection
     }
 }
diff --git a/services/mediametrics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp b/services/mediametrics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp
index a7684f4..f3933a7 100644
--- a/services/mediametrics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp
+++ b/services/mediametrics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp
@@ -963,6 +963,31 @@
     ASSERT_EQ("B", devaddr[0].second);
     ASSERT_EQ("C", devaddr[1].first);
     ASSERT_EQ("D2", devaddr[1].second);
+
+    devaddr = android::mediametrics::stringutils::getDeviceAddressPairs(
+            " Z  ");
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t)1, devaddr.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("Z", devaddr[0].first);
+
+    devaddr = android::mediametrics::stringutils::getDeviceAddressPairs(
+            "  A | B|C  ");
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t)3, devaddr.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("A", devaddr[0].first);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", devaddr[0].second);
+    ASSERT_EQ("B", devaddr[1].first);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", devaddr[1].second);
+    ASSERT_EQ("C", devaddr[2].first);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", devaddr[2].second);
+
+    devaddr = android::mediametrics::stringutils::getDeviceAddressPairs(
+            "  A | (B1, 10) |C  ");
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t)3, devaddr.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("A", devaddr[0].first);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", devaddr[0].second);
+    ASSERT_EQ("B1", devaddr[1].first);
+    ASSERT_EQ("10", devaddr[1].second);
+    ASSERT_EQ("C", devaddr[2].first);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", devaddr[2].second);
 }
 
 TEST(mediametrics_tests, timed_action) {