Are people complaining to Google about the awful audio?

[Mike Dee]

No one phone does everything right and maybe never will. I use my S9+ for watching movies and videos, my Pixel 3 for pictures and my LG V30 for recording video content and listening to hi res music. Why one manufacturer can't incorporate all these things into one phone is a topic for another day.

Makes you wonder

 

[Eggmundo]

Makes me think there's some secret industry pact not to make that perfect phone.

 

[Mike Dee]

Makes me think there's some secret industry pact not to make that perfect phone.

That wouldn't serve any purpose

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

I think in certain scenarios, what Google have done the audio recording would sound better than other phones (say recording video where there's a lot of background noise), but for the majority of time when there isn't high amounts of background noise it sounds worse than other phones.

Maybe if Google could roll out a fix to dynamically adjust to the background noise? Or maybe it's a hardware tweak that's required.

 

[lcs101]

I think in certain scenarios, what Google have done the audio recording would sound better than other phones (say recording video where there's a lot of background noise), but for the majority of time when there isn't high amounts of background noise it sounds worse than other phones.

Maybe if Google could roll out a fix to dynamically adjust to the background noise? Or maybe it's a hardware tweak that's required.

From their response, it sounds like software. So I think it would be nice if they just provided a couple audio options, like you allude to. If you want to use it tuned the way it is now, fine, but if you'd like a more natural sound, let people switch to that.

 

[Vega007]

No one phone does everything right and maybe never will. I use my S9+ for watching movies and videos, my Pixel 3 for pictures and my LG V30 for recording video content and listening to hi res music. Why one manufacturer can't incorporate all these things into one phone is a topic for another day.

iPhone does all of those things just fine.

 

[sulla1965]

From their response, it sounds like software.

I also heard that it may be hardware related. With the water proofing for the mics?? In which case a fix is unlikely.

 

[Mike Dee]

I also heard that it may be hardware related. With the water proofing for the mics?? In which case a fix is unlikely.

Do you mean for the tinny sound? Water proofing should have a muffling affect if anything. The sound is actually quite clear and most of the complaints I've heard are about tinny sound. To my ears it's not that bad but after doing sound for live bands for many years I've lost some of my high-frequency hearing, so I might not be a good judge of how tinny it is.

If it is indeed a hardware related there is probably not much they could do to compensate except tweak it or filter it a bit.

 

[Almeuit]

Do you mean for the tinny sound? Water proofing should have a muffling affect if anything. The sound is actually quite clear and most of the complaints I've heard are about tinny sound. To my ears it's not that bad but after doing sound for live bands for many years I've lost some of my high-frequency hearing, so I might not be a good judge of how tinny it is.

If it is indeed a hardware related there is probably not much they could do to compensate except tweak it or filter it a bit.

Doubt it is from any waterproofing. If it was the iPhone would have the same problem since they have the same IP rating.

 

[J Dubbs]

iPhone does all of those things just fine.

Did somebody just cast some bait? :O Somebody get a mod over here quick lol

 

[Almeuit]

Did somebody just cast some bait? :O Somebody get a mod over here quick lol

He stated an opinion -- nothing wrong with that. Vega isn't one of those people to just start stuff to start it .

 

[anon(10092459)]

So wait.. Is the audio input being classified as an error/problem that needs to be fixed or is the stance it's functioning as intended, but just not well received? I don't, or rather haven't yet, recorded video where it would matter (someone speaking or something).

 

[lcs101]

So wait.. Is the audio input being classified as an error/problem that needs to be fixed or is the stance it's functioning as intended, but just not well received? I don't, or rather haven't yet, recorded video where it would matter (someone speaking or something).

This was Google's response:
We made several advances in the audio recording capabilities of Pixel 3, including enabling stereo recording in landscape mode. When recording outdoors, our tuning is specifically designed to reduce background noise like wind and road noise and overly loud sounds and optimize for audible speech. To achieve this, we selectively de-emphasize some frequencies, which minimizes disruptive noises and optimizes the resulting audio. We do extensive user testing of our products to ensure they are tuned for real world usage, and we’re always looking at additional tuning opportunities based on user feedback

 

[anon(10092459)]

This was Google's response:
We made several advances in the audio recording capabilities of Pixel 3, including enabling stereo recording in landscape mode. When recording outdoors, our tuning is specifically designed to reduce background noise like wind and road noise and overly loud sounds and optimize for audible speech. To achieve this, we selectively de-emphasize some frequencies, which minimizes disruptive noises and optimizes the resulting audio. We do extensive user testing of our products to ensure they are tuned for real world usage, and we’re always looking at additional tuning opportunities based on user feedback

Got it. So I read this to mean the audio is doing what Google programmed it to do and is functioning as intended. However, from this thread and some other sources it seems that result isn't optimal.

 

[Mike Dee]

Doubt it is from any waterproofing. If it was the iPhone would have the same problem since they have the same IP rating.

Exactly.... waterproofing would not make things tinny.

 

[Mike Dee]

This was Google's response:
We made several advances in the audio recording capabilities of Pixel 3, including enabling stereo recording in landscape mode. When recording outdoors, our tuning is specifically designed to reduce background noise like wind and road noise and overly loud sounds and optimize for audible speech. To achieve this, we selectively de-emphasize some frequencies, which minimizes disruptive noises and optimizes the resulting audio. We do extensive user testing of our products to ensure they are tuned for real world usage, and we’re always looking at additional tuning opportunities based on user feedback

I did notice in one of the comparisons that the Pixel handled background noise and wind better.

 

[lcs101]

Got it. So I read this to mean the audio is doing what Google programmed it to do and is functioning as intended. However, from this thread and some other sources it seems that result isn't optimal.

That is my understanding. If you haven't listed to the SUPERSAF youtube video I posted earlier in the thread yet, it does a good job of demonstrating this.

 

[lcs101]

I did notice in one of the comparisons that the Pixel handled background noise and wind better.

Personally, I'd rather have a little more background noise and wind if it means a more natural sound for voices. It would be nice if they would make this an option to turn on or off.

 

[Mike Dee]

Personally, I'd rather have a little more background noise and wind if it means a more natural sound for voices. It would be nice if they would make this an option to turn on or off.

I didn't do any substantial testing but I recoded my voice and it didn't seem that bad.

 

[lcs101]

I didn't do any substantial testing but I recoded my voice and it didn't seem that bad.

Would you say it sounds better than on SUPERSAF's video or comparable, but it just doesn't bug you too much?