Smartphone Audio Quality Testing
by Chris Heinonen on December 8, 2013 5:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Audio
- Mobile
- Tablets
- Testing
Many readers have been asking for audio testing on phones and tablets, and we are happy to be able to deliver it now. Because I live far away from Brian and Anand, I can’t easily access units they are reviewing so audio data may not run the same day a review is published. I do hope to be able to add it on to everything in the future so that all of our reviews will be as in-depth as possible, from processor to software, display to audio.
I also have to thank Audio Precision for their loan of the APx582 and their access to their offices and support staff. Without that these tests would not be possible. I also wanted to use their equipment as it is the reference standard for the industry and there can be no doubt about its quality. As I do a lot of AV testing as well, I found that more generic sound card methods of testing are becoming limited as the capabilities of products exceeds what they can easily measure. There are no such worries with the Audio Precision.
I also look forward to feedback from readers on the information here, and what else you would like to see tested going forward. Hopefully this will provide another set of data to help you determine if a product will fit your needs, and which vendors are trying to push performance in all categories.
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ph00ny - Thursday, December 12, 2013 - link
i9100 had yamaha DAC and was dismissed by many as poor choice moving away from wolfson DAC which sounded especially great with voodoo sound. As for S3, US variants with Snapdragon did not come with Wolfson DACThe Von Matrices - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
I own an S3 and I hate that it's output has a bass boost profile similar to the HTC One with its "Beats" profile. It's probably great for earbuds but for any other listening device the bass is overdriven. If it just produced a flat output I would be completely happy with it.Impulses - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Can't it be turned off somewhere? HTC's Beats glorified EQ can be turned off and ignored entirely, well, except for the persistent notification that lets you know that it is indeed turned off (seriously).Samus - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
A lot of custom roms try to circumvent Samsung audio layer with a combination of audio filters. Its pretty depressing...S3 owner here.speculatrix - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
Xda devs is full of discussions about things like boeffla Kernel tweaks and hacks which expose more of the hardware controls of Wolfson DACs and thus allow customization of sound EQ.It does seem to be the case that you really do have to research a specific phone and all it's variants to be sure of getting the audio chain you want.
barry spock - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
Excellent stuff. I hope you can do a showdown of the most popular phone models out there at the moment, including the iphone 5s.PrinceGaz - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
I'd like to see iPod touch models added to the mix also, as whilst not actually a smartphone, it is in many ways very similar and music listening on it through the headphone jack is a major selling point of it. The thing is, as you don't need to hear it "ring" in a loud room, it has a much weaker internal speaker than any smartphone, so is the audio-amp driving the earphone socket as good as that of the iPhone, or have they saved money on it to hit the lower price point?Bansaku - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
I too would like to see this as well. Especially between the 4th and 5th Gen. I swear the audio quality of my 4th Gen is superior to my 5th Gen. I also wonder the difference between the various models of iPhones.JoannWDean - Saturday, December 14, 2013 - link
my buddy's aunt earned 14958 dollar past week. she been working on the laptop and got a 510900 dollar home. All she did was get blessed and put into action the information leaked on this site... http://cpl.pw/OKeIJotipoo - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
This is perfect, I havn't read it all but I have an ancient Nexus S and it has horrendous headphone output. I've heard the next two Nexii weren't great in that either. Lots of hiss from all the radios, and even if there was no hiss there's just an odd EQ curve or something, it makes the bass muddy. I think the program Voodoo sound helped it but not completely. So audio output will be an important consideration in my next phone.