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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lmcd - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Only Anandtech :-)Curious to see how (badly) the S3 fares.
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Even with the occasional stinker of an article (yay, non-removable batteries...?), I have to say......it's stuff like this that keeps me coming back to the site. Only Anandtech, indeed. :) Keep up the quirky, in-depth work.
althaz - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
I don't know about the S3, but the S2 was rated very highly for audio quality.quick brown fox - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
I believe it was the opposite; S3 was lauded due to its wolfson dac (as well as the original Galaxy S), while S2 was condemned for not using that same DAC.Hopefully all gets measured so we can have some objectivity involved.
MadMan007 - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
Yeah but talking about a specific DAC chip is audio nerds looking at just a piece of the equation and using it as a potential red herring. The analog amplifiers and output, and overall implementation, matter much more than which specific DAC chip is used as long as it's not garbage, meaning basically any modern DAC chip.krazyfrog - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
AnandTech actually tested the audio of the international Galaxy S II in their review and found it to be quite poor.zShowtimez - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
After just moving from a S2 to a HTC One, let me tell you how awful the S2 was...Samus - Monday, December 9, 2013 - link
The surface(s) all use a wolfson dac and sound fantastic, too. The implementation means nothing if your base source is some realtek crap.Hemlocke - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
The i9100 had the Wolfson DAC, but the U.S. Variants didn't.onslaught86 - Sunday, December 8, 2013 - link
The i9100 did not have a Wolfson DAC. The i9300 did, while its US variants did not. And boy was it night & day coming from the i9100.