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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brusselwilson - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Is sample variation an issue of relevance for smartphone audio systems?cheinonen - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
No more than it would be with anything else I would think. For the Nexus 5 I tested two different samples (one from Brian, one from a friend of mine) and both exhibited this issue. So you might see small variations, as you would with any display or anything else, but nothing major I wouldn't think.vailr - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Another factor to consider: certain cell companies can enable enhanced audio quality for cell phone calls, but only on selected cell phone models. The IPhone 5 has that ability, as I recall. Not sure about the specifics, but I believe that both ends of the cell call must be using supported phones, as well as: the cell provider must enable that feature. That would enable cell calls to have better voice quality than land line calls, via increased audio frequency response.shenkey - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Could we also get Windows Phone devices included in the test. Lumia 920 and 1520 should fit in the range.cheinonen - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
I'll add whatever I can when I get a chance. This first run has taken almost all my time up since the week of Thanksgiving.hopfenspergerj - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
It's not useful to measure noise/dynamic range at the highest volume setting. You have to measure at one of the lowest settings to determine whether the phone truncates bits, whether the noise floor does not decrease with the volume setting, etc.I have an htc dna and it is completely, totally, utterly useless for playing music with sensitive IEMs; I suspect many android phones with "-90db" thd+n measurements are similarly bad in practice.
hopfenspergerj - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Not to mention poor shielding on the dna causes the phone to output chirping and static and other loud extraneous noises whenever it transmits data.cheinonen - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
We have stepped output level charts as well that measure this, they just aren't included here right now. I can start to pull those out for current and future tests if we want to use them.evonitzer - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
I saw that one graph included when you compared the Nexus 5 and G2 at different levels and I think it should be in all the reviews. I always run my IEM's in the lower half of the volume range so I am quite interested in how they perform. As others have said, excellent work!DoctorG - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
Same here -- I always run my good IEM's below half volume at least (usually more like a third.) No point in having good headphones & music if the volume is turned up so loud it hurts....BTW Great job Chris! I have always wanted more in-depth reviews about smartphone audio quality. It's very important to me, but so far there haven't been any reliable/objective tests available. Thanks! Just a thought, but maybe it would be possible to test against a pro-quality amp/DAC? When I use my GNex, the quality is obviously very different from my audio interface that I use with ProTools. It'd be interesting to see just how much of that is measurable...