GSMArena labs: Introducing our new smartphone speaker test

04 March 2020
Our speaker loudness test gets a makeover, while the audio output quality test gets the boot.

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GSMArena at all cost should not exclude there 3.5 mm audio jack testing part. No matter how small the differences. On the contrary they should now start to include a subjective review of the audio played through headphones from 3.5 mm audio jack apart from the objective analysis. Also they can include parameters like audio amplification capability along with sound quality.

One has to remember audio in its last presentable state in an analog waveform, and it should be treated with a subjective analysis.

My LG V30+ & Vivo NEX (Vivo NEX S) is still the champs of audio quality over headphones, and the decision to buy them come from GSMArena tests.

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    • Alboooz
    • gC7
    • 05 Mar 2020

    How about us who rooted the phone and moded sound frequency and speaker set output software is no match to the existing phone set sold randomly.
    Most of us know most of samsung phones are sold with mono speaker activated..., actualy is tween speaker sets is just not activated as stereo speakers for every day use.
    I still own Samsung Galaxy note edge fy model Eu, and i modified software and add or removed odd stuf on it, i had modified software system for speakers the back one and front one to make combination of sounds in stereo quality and even gain extra loudnes and it works real fine, it's like small TV loud.
    I know, when you increase volume on samsung phone set it says "increasing to high speaker volume it might damage speakers" for almost three year now i use my Note Edge with modified speaker software and never had any problem at all.

      MdN8, 05 Mar 2020Same here. As a musician and a huge and long-time music fan... moreYep, there is still a difference in the wired audio quality, even with mp3's. My LGV20 is still kicking after these years, and is still sounds better than many today's flagships. And I found that by reading GSMArena's reviews. Now I have an Oppo A9 2020 and I can see the difference in the wired audio quality (LG sounds better).

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        • Anonymous
        • GR{
        • 05 Mar 2020

        But audio quality is important factor....?

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          • stan
          • sSK
          • 05 Mar 2020

          what about in call sound quality and loudness

            I was extremely disappointed to hear that the wired audio quality part of the review would not be included.
            I never use the speakers on my phone *literally never*. I always relied heavily on GSMArena's audio test. Now i shall have to turn to another site after many years.

            Thanks for all the great reviews so far though!

              Your tests are very thorough. In the case of phone speakers, I've tested all kinds of speakers... of course coming with my phones. The first time it mattered to me was with my n73 and then the n95. At the moment I thought they were great, but in reality, they do their best, but, the sound, no matter how good is the speaker, is just awful.

              Stereo speaker phones!... Yes!!!! well no.... who cares! You normally can't tell the difference.

              So, average internal phone speakers are as good as any. If you are planning listening music from your phone, do yourself a favor and get a good pair of earphones, or connect it to an external speaker (cable, bluetooth or telepathy, whatever gets the sound OUT of your phone).

              See ya!

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                • ohm
                • bE8
                • 05 Mar 2020

                Nice try and very important too and also please let me know the mobile ringing sounds in units.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • IWT
                  • 05 Mar 2020

                  Much needed feature. Thanks GSMARENA for the innovation

                    Should we start looking for a new site where they will still test wired audio?

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                      • mtu
                      • HCm
                      • 05 Mar 2020

                      Chavis, 04 Mar 2020We've already retested all phones which are available to us... moreAlthough these new tests are welcome, please keep doing the wired audio tests for phones with a 3.5mm audio jack. There are brands like LG which are thankfully continuing to equip all their new phones with these jacks. And even brands like Sony have brought audio jacks back with their recently announced phones, and Motorola have brought jacks back to a model for which it was omitted in the previous three generations, as have Xiaomi Black Shark. This is all due to the fact that a large majority of consumers actually highly value headphone jacks in smartphones, as they are much more convenient than having to buy a separate dongle that can easily get lost, they allow simultaneous charging and headphone listening unlike dongles, do not have the potential compatibility problems some dongles have, and the remaining option for consumers, Bluetooth audio, is inferior in audio quality, connection reliability and latency.

                      I wouldn't be surprised if other brands follow Sony, Motorola, Xiaomi etc. in bringing back the headphone jack due to popular demand. Even Samsung has backtracked on design 'streamlining' before with its reintroduction of both water resistance and the microSD card slot due to the backlash it received when it omitted these features on their Galaxy S6 model. There's a similar backlash for their latest Galaxy models due to them only having USB-C audio output. The headphone jack is by no means dead (yet) - please do not contribute to its demise by ignoring the sound output of future phones with this convenient, high-fidelity audio feature. Your wired audio measurements were one of the primary reasons I looked at your reviews first and foremost. Please bring them back for phones with headphone jacks.

                      Thanks for reading

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                        • Anonymous
                        • nIL
                        • 05 Mar 2020

                        Good ideas, but doesn't the frequency response vary with the volume setting?

                        How are you setting the volume for the test?

                        Max volume for example will almost certainly bring distortion.

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                          • Synonymous
                          • kgV
                          • 05 Mar 2020

                          I tested out about 80% of the phones (and most of the top ones) and found that good sound is good to excellent loudness (-25 to -19 thus far) and although not a perfect, a unique frequency line that finds the itself closer to the 0db line on more occasions than its competition.

                          While the iPad Pro (2018) basically runs away with the win, I found the phones that had the best clarity and good enough loudness to be:
                          - Asus ROG Phone 2 (indoors)
                          - Samsung Galaxy S10+ (not the Samsung Galaxy S20 5G)
                          - Realme X2 (which surprised me immensly)
                          - Oppo Reno 10x zoom

                          The LG phones get an honorable mention, but their speaker frequency response was average, while other phones such as the Samsung A line had awful loudness (a bottom firing speaker is no longer adequate). Good test.

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                            • Anonymous
                            • nIL
                            • 05 Mar 2020

                            Advice, 04 Mar 2020You should discontinue your old battery test as well, as no... moreLiterally nobody - in the real grown-up world ?

                              AnonD-908380, 04 Mar 2020Lg G8 ThinQ for example has a lower quality audio output th... moreI would go against that statement. I have an LG G6 and the difference between normal and quad dac is noticable. It makes the audio sound more natural.

                                CompactPhones5ever, 04 Mar 2020@GSMarena - have you though about making some sort of "dura... morei don't think that's gsma's job. from the beginning, the site always have reviewed devices as would a normal usage goes. they always have relied on other websites or blogs with regard to durability test of the devices. in my years of using mobile phones and smartphones, i have never ever broken a single device so i guess i am one of those whom gsma is catering for.

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                                  • MrPhone
                                  • xZI
                                  • 05 Mar 2020

                                  Anonymous, 04 Mar 2020People are mad because now they see iphone nor galaxy have ... moreDoesn't matter, really.

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                                    • Moj
                                    • Qae
                                    • 05 Mar 2020

                                    First it is quite some time i haven't had any time to read GSMARENA and this is my first comment after a while.
                                    Thnx for your brave and hold to truth reviews.
                                    I hope you can test BlackBerry Passport Silver Edition with new speaker test cause i think that would score really high here.

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                                      • MdN8
                                      • 3@g
                                      • 05 Mar 2020

                                      KondriX, 04 Mar 2020You sir, are 100% right. The wired audio quality was one of... moreSame here. As a musician and a huge and long-time music fan I'm looking for phones with good audio quality through a 3.5 mm jack. Most phones have a better sound than most computers or laptops, but what if a phone has bad sound? Or the output is too quiet? How will I know? And would I waste my money? Some will say that people listen to mp3 anyway, but even mp3 can sound better or worse, depending on the equipment.

                                        George, 04 Mar 2020Wonderful. Thank you for always pushing the envelope of tes... moreGo to https://www.hotspot3d.com/ it's way better :D

                                        I used PhoneArena's too in the past but the 3D mockup is far better to have a perfect representation :)

                                        Congrats GSMA on this new bench !

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