Subjective sound comparison of five current smartphones
Welcome, Habraludi! This week we will have an important event - the presentation of the new Meizu MX2 smartphone, and in the meantime there is still a little more than a day before the announcement, we offer you fresh material. We decided to compare the sound quality in current smartphones from different manufacturers, in order to understand at what level Meizu MX is in this group. They turned to Ilya Tarakanov for help, met him, found a couple of devices on the way and let him listen to each of the smartphones. Naturally, everything that you read below is the subjective opinion of one person who often and often listens to music on different devices.
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Ilya Tarakanov, editor of the Audio section on mobile-review.com , moderator of the player.ru forum.
Testing conditions:
Testing devices, file formats and software players:
Testing was carried out using a subjective method, based on the author’s listening experience on various devices, including top players Hifiman HM-801 ( Yandex.Market page ), Colorful Colorfly C4 ( Yandex.Market page ), iBasso DX-100 ( page on Yandex.Market ).
First, we consider each device separately, briefly describing the sound handwriting. Then, in a special table, we will evaluate the devices by various parameters and calculate the total estimates.
Abbreviations used:
LF - low frequencies
MF - mids
HF - high frequencies
DD - dynamic range
Apple iPhone 4
The sound is sharp, the emphasis on the high frequency range. Bass quality and almost no buzzing. MF razkovaty, however, in terms of volume, they correspond to the low frequency range. Detail and attack on the middle level, stereo - slightly wider than the head, with clearly defined instruments. Comfortable listening volume is achieved at half the scale, the amplifier noise when listening and connecting headphones is not audible.
HTC One X
The sound has an emphasis on the low-frequency range, while the bass is collected and not crushing, there is practically no hum. Midrange slightly bluff, while very picky. HF transparent, but drown out MF. Due to this, the detail is average, however there is a good attack and DD. Stereopanorama - wider than the head. Amplifier noise is heard in quiet recording locations, a comfortable listening volume is achieved by 3/4 of the scale.
Meizu MX 4-core
The sound has an emphasis on the low-frequency range, the level of the low-frequency is so high that they buzz - and they want to slightly muffle. The midrange is reproduced normally, the RF is sufficiently transparent, the stereo panorama is slightly wider than the head. Attack and DD - above average, good detail. A comfortable volume level is achieved on 2/3 of the scale. Amplifier noise is heard when headphones are connected and in quiet recording locations.
Nokia Lumia 920
The sound is bright, detailed, the emphasis is on the MF-HF range. Bass quality, without hum. The stereopanoram is wide, a little beyond the head, there is a small depth. The detail and attack are good, DD is normal. Noise of the amplifier is not audible, comfortable volume is achieved at half the scale.
Samsung Galaxy S3 i9300
The sound has an emphasis on the low-frequency range, the sound is hollow, while the midrange is crushed (although it sounds very natural). HF opaque, they are not enough. The detail is on the middle level, the attack is good (on the MF and HF range), DD is small. Stereopanorama slightly beyond the head. Light amplifier noise is heard, a comfortable listening volume is achieved at half the scale.
Summary table
The table below shows the subjective assessment of the results of listening to smartphones. The minimum score is 0, the maximum is 5. The “top five” in this test roughly corresponds to the level of top players such as the Hifiman HM-801 or iBasso DX-100. Nine criteria were selected, the maximum number of points that any device could score - 45.
Thus, if you formally allocate space, in the first place - Nokia Lumia 920, on the second - Meizu MX 4-core, on the third - HTC One X, on the fourth - Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300, and on the fifth - Apple iPhone 4.
However, as you can see, the difference between the Apple iPhone 4 and Meizu MX 4-core is only 2 points - which is only 4.4% of the maximum (45 points). The minimum can be taken at the level of 18 points, since no apparatus has received below the two, but even then the difference will be only 7.4%.
Nokia's smartphone compares favorably with other devices presented on the test. Let us leave aside the convenience of its use, but it should be noted the high quality of music playback. The rest of the devices play music in about the same way, all have both strengths and weaknesses.
DISCLAIMER // The author of the text warns that the test results and conclusions based on subjective assessments of sound do not claim to be 100% true. There are many methods for assessing the sound quality of various devices, the reader is given only one of them, and his right is to agree or disagree with it both in whole and in part.
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Ilya Tarakanov, editor of the Audio section on mobile-review.com , moderator of the player.ru forum.
Testing conditions:
- Cafe "Festival" in GUM , the minimum level of external noise, weekday, 16 hours
- Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO headphones , retail price of 1150 US dollars, made by the ear mold
- Prime Test CD1 test collection of 45 excerpts of famous music tracks
Testing devices, file formats and software players:
- Apple iPhone 4, firmware 6.0.1, files in WAV format, player standard
- HTC One X, firmware 2.17.401.2, FLAC files, Poweramp player
- Meizu MX 4-core, firmware 1.1.3, files in FLAC format, Poweamp player
- Nokia Lumia 920, firmware 1.0.202041.3, files in WMA format, player standard
- Samsung Galaxy S III, firmware XXDLID, FLAC files, Poweamp player
Testing was carried out using a subjective method, based on the author’s listening experience on various devices, including top players Hifiman HM-801 ( Yandex.Market page ), Colorful Colorfly C4 ( Yandex.Market page ), iBasso DX-100 ( page on Yandex.Market ).
First, we consider each device separately, briefly describing the sound handwriting. Then, in a special table, we will evaluate the devices by various parameters and calculate the total estimates.
Abbreviations used:
LF - low frequencies
MF - mids
HF - high frequencies
DD - dynamic range
Apple iPhone 4The sound is sharp, the emphasis on the high frequency range. Bass quality and almost no buzzing. MF razkovaty, however, in terms of volume, they correspond to the low frequency range. Detail and attack on the middle level, stereo - slightly wider than the head, with clearly defined instruments. Comfortable listening volume is achieved at half the scale, the amplifier noise when listening and connecting headphones is not audible.
HTC One XThe sound has an emphasis on the low-frequency range, while the bass is collected and not crushing, there is practically no hum. Midrange slightly bluff, while very picky. HF transparent, but drown out MF. Due to this, the detail is average, however there is a good attack and DD. Stereopanorama - wider than the head. Amplifier noise is heard in quiet recording locations, a comfortable listening volume is achieved by 3/4 of the scale.
Meizu MX 4-coreThe sound has an emphasis on the low-frequency range, the level of the low-frequency is so high that they buzz - and they want to slightly muffle. The midrange is reproduced normally, the RF is sufficiently transparent, the stereo panorama is slightly wider than the head. Attack and DD - above average, good detail. A comfortable volume level is achieved on 2/3 of the scale. Amplifier noise is heard when headphones are connected and in quiet recording locations.
Nokia Lumia 920The sound is bright, detailed, the emphasis is on the MF-HF range. Bass quality, without hum. The stereopanoram is wide, a little beyond the head, there is a small depth. The detail and attack are good, DD is normal. Noise of the amplifier is not audible, comfortable volume is achieved at half the scale.
Samsung Galaxy S3 i9300The sound has an emphasis on the low-frequency range, the sound is hollow, while the midrange is crushed (although it sounds very natural). HF opaque, they are not enough. The detail is on the middle level, the attack is good (on the MF and HF range), DD is small. Stereopanorama slightly beyond the head. Light amplifier noise is heard, a comfortable listening volume is achieved at half the scale.
Summary table
The table below shows the subjective assessment of the results of listening to smartphones. The minimum score is 0, the maximum is 5. The “top five” in this test roughly corresponds to the level of top players such as the Hifiman HM-801 or iBasso DX-100. Nine criteria were selected, the maximum number of points that any device could score - 45.
Thus, if you formally allocate space, in the first place - Nokia Lumia 920, on the second - Meizu MX 4-core, on the third - HTC One X, on the fourth - Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300, and on the fifth - Apple iPhone 4.
However, as you can see, the difference between the Apple iPhone 4 and Meizu MX 4-core is only 2 points - which is only 4.4% of the maximum (45 points). The minimum can be taken at the level of 18 points, since no apparatus has received below the two, but even then the difference will be only 7.4%.
Nokia's smartphone compares favorably with other devices presented on the test. Let us leave aside the convenience of its use, but it should be noted the high quality of music playback. The rest of the devices play music in about the same way, all have both strengths and weaknesses.
DISCLAIMER // The author of the text warns that the test results and conclusions based on subjective assessments of sound do not claim to be 100% true. There are many methods for assessing the sound quality of various devices, the reader is given only one of them, and his right is to agree or disagree with it both in whole and in part.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/160195/
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