The best-sounding smartphones of 2023

29 December 2023


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Mediatek sux, 30 Dec 2023Have you compared it with your 15 pro max? Video where?15 pro max? dude have you even heard that sony? it had 360 degree sound and no touch bar phone ever came close to it ...

    jiyen235, 30 Dec 2023yeah keep spouting about dxomark, they've ranked pixel... moreNah, not just following numbers. For the phones I've used that have had camera reviews at least their reviews have been quite accurate in describing the strengths and weaknesses of the cameras. I feel they have reflected the real usage situation well.

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      • Anonymous
      • nem
      • 30 Dec 2023

      Anonymous, 30 Dec 2023S23 users, do you recommend enabling Dolby Atmos?Can only speak for the Ultra but yes

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        • NZtechfreak
        • wvU
        • 30 Dec 2023

        Nope, the ROG phone runs rings around the iPhone and Samsung (and likely everything else on that list), and by a good margin. When I compared the iPhone was fairly comparable to my S23U, but my ROG 6 smacks them both. It's not even close.

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          • AnonF-1006353
          • JBi
          • 30 Dec 2023

          Anonymous, 30 Dec 2023Maybe the bass is increasing but the sound quality isn'... moreIt isn't even clean bass. It's some harmonics fakery

            Josephkarthic, 30 Dec 2023Have you guys ever heard of a phone called W550i? That thin... moreHave you compared it with your 15 pro max? Video where?

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              • Anonymous
              • xd%
              • 30 Dec 2023

              rRadD, 30 Dec 2023iPhones' speakers are top notch -- from 11 Pro Max to ... moreMaybe the bass is increasing but the sound quality isn't. That's because Apple knows more bass is a more mainstream sound (works best for rap and electronic music mostly).

              However, more bass DOES NOT equal better sound. I would never listen to classical, jazz, or any other music on Apple products since low instruments always overpower the higher ones.

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                • AnonD-641645
                • Kxe
                • 30 Dec 2023

                I appreciate the attempt for objective sound evaluation, but I wonder it's actually more nuanced. Just as OLED color accuracy varies with brightness, so does frequency response with volume. Were these tests done at max volume? Setting aside 'cracking', the sound production at max volume (i.e. gain of the sound processing filter) may not be representative of typical experience

                  Josephkarthic, 30 Dec 2023Have you guys ever heard of a phone called W550i? That thin... moreOwned that thing before the rotating mechanism broke because somehow I dropped it while unfolded, still one of my favourite phones to date

                    Pixel 8 is rated Very Good but still at the bottom of compact phones best speakers list and others rated only as Good are placed above. Bit confusing.

                      Have you guys ever heard of a phone called W550i? That thing had speaker grill on every side and sound like a multimedia computer speaker when rang, every head turned towards me when my phone rang...None of these current phones come near it with respect to sound quality...good old memories

                        I request the best-sounding Bluetooth sound implementation, please. There is always a difference in their tuning for phones.

                          Most phones use distortion tricks to simulate louder sound. The bass will be multiplied with a higher frequency. Treble will have dynamic range compression. These work well to some degree but they can also sound strange.

                          iPhones, to me, have always sounded awful. The fake bass sounds like dripping water and the treble is shrill at all but low volume.

                          The ROG Phone 7 has excellent enhancement effects, probably because the speakers are better to start with. Faked frequencies down to the 50Hz range usually sound convincing for movies and some music. It doesn't get super loud but it doesn't get too shrill either.

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                            • AnonF-1006353
                            • JBi
                            • 30 Dec 2023

                            SizN80, 30 Dec 2023Busy listening to a podcast in bed while skimming through t... morePeople claiming this are probably already half-deaf by the whole audio processing algorithm and the horrible lower-treble peaks in the frequency response. Phone speakers just won't cut it - no matter how much dsp and overtone-fakery goes into it. Physical laws can't be bent. The only halfway honest approach are front firing speakers like on sony phones but even they're too limited.

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                              • Morak
                              • XBA
                              • 30 Dec 2023

                              Anonymous, 29 Dec 2023And the winner is still LG. Despite it leaving the market ... moreSure, but they still won't give LG their flowers

                                Busy listening to a podcast in bed while skimming through this on my 15 Pro Max, “In this top segment, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max has emerged as the undisputed leader in terms of speaker quality.” Absolutely agreed! Apple have done an amazing job on the Pro Max series with their speakers, my old 13 Pro Max was also great but the 15 Pro Max has been a significant improvement.

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                                  • Google DD Cat
                                  • Iby
                                  • 30 Dec 2023

                                  Haidy, 30 Dec 2023I miss HTC 🥺I thought back in 2011 they would legitimately rise to rivaling Apple with their own mid century modern furnished stores that also had cafe bakeries, I was so amazed at one of their models that had FM radio and a kickstand - Bring HTC and LG back but only under the condition they are legally obligated to provide radio internetless FM

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                                    • babak
                                    • jga
                                    • 30 Dec 2023

                                    if its about speakers the top i ised so far are xiaomi 11 pro plus and infinix note 30 vip.

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                                      • rRadD
                                      • XS8
                                      • 30 Dec 2023

                                      iPhones' speakers are top notch -- from 11 Pro Max to 15 Pro max, they're just getting better and better.

                                        Anonymous, 29 Dec 2023It's not about the loudness, but about the frequency r... moreiPhone's speakers have a very prominent dip in both the 300-600Hz range as well as beyond 10000Hz, so female vocals may sound quite muffled and highs are pretty much non-existent.

                                        Recessed mids and highs are very easily noticeable even on a phone speaker, so according to the frequency chart you're referring to, iPhone is nowhere near as good as something like, let's say, Vivo X100 Pro which has a lot more linear response.

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