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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dylan522p - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
The One is very interesting in terms of quality. There is a huge difference between the stock music, google play music, power amp, and astro. Astro is the best quality.Impulses - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
You know, you briefly alluded to the single biggest difference maker and a ton of people would still take it for granted... If you're using crappy headphones much of this is wholly irrelevant. At the same time, expensive headphones aren't always an upgrade... For one thing you've got the Beats and Bose of the world getting by on marketing, and even beyond that not every headphone will be a good match to any given phone depending on how hard to drive it is (or isn't) and how out of whack the phone's output impedance is (something that's often taken for granted even with dedicated audio components).Daniel Egger - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
I always thought the reference for audio testing equipment, especially in telecommunications, was HEAD acoustics. Still a good and interesting article.Drumsticks - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Jeez Anandtech rocks. Thanks guys!RoninX - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Great! This is exactly what I've been waiting for.I've noticed the audio quality on my Droid 4 is sufficiently poor that I continue to carry around an iPod Classic along with the D4. I'm hoping that the sound quality on my next phone, likely either a Note 3 or the next gen HTC One (One Two?), will be good enough that this isn't necessary.
pukemon1976 - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
2 thumbs up for galaxy note 3 audio quality. was quite surprised.dylan522p - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
One definely. The internal amp adds tons to quality the Two or whatever it is called will assuradly be even better.quick brown fox - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
As a mild audiophile who occasionally searches for electrical measurements of DAPs/smartphones on IF/GE/GSMA/Voldemort's Blog/etc, I am very pleased seeing this article in Anandtech! Had a mild laugh seeing the HTC One 'Beats Enabled' frequency response (is the treble peak still there without Beats?), and I'm very much looking forward to seeing some Nvidia Shield/SIII i9300 measurements.cheinonen - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
With Beats disabled, you actually see a bit of a roll-off in the bass and the treble. It's +/- 0.230 dB so not a level you'll likely hear. Overall the response is very flat if you turn off Beats. I'm still testing something else I found with the HTC One before I have full numbers up there.quick brown fox - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Thanks. Again, this article is excellent; looking forward for more measurements!