Audio Quality

[hpilot]

This confirms what I have been saying about the audio quality. He said it was one of the worst. That conforms with my observations. I am really sad about this. I like most everything else about the phone. BTW, the audio volume on phone calls is the worst I have ever seen. I have it all the way to max, and it is barely usable in a quiet environment. Out on a loud street corner - forget it. I knew when they didn't mention audio quality in the original presentation that it would suck. Why couldn't they just let HTC design it. What a missed opportunity...

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_nWheqE3T0

 

[imartez]

That is surprising. I have the Pixel XL with a pair of Shure SE535 earphones and I use TIDAL HIFI music streaming and I have no complaints, the audio actually sounds really good. I also tried the earphones and TIDAL on my LG V10 with the 32-Bit DAC and I could not notice a difference. Now, I came from using Google Play Music which has a much lower bit rate than TIDAL and there is a noticeable difference in sound quality even with the Shure SE535's.

As far as phone calls go, I haven't had any issues either I can hear people clearly and on T-Mobile the VoLTE makes the calls sound pretty good. The speaker on the phone is not very good, but it gets the job done.

 

[Amb312]

I have trouble hearing people on it like I did on my Note 4 and my sister commented today that I sound like I am on my 4 again. It's nowhere near as clear sounding as the Note 7.

 

[anon(9072051)]

Why couldn't they just let HTC design it. What a missed opportunity...

I doubt HTC was gonna give up any of their audio chops without receiving a massive paycheck for it. As JC Bagnell implied, that's one thing that still keeps the HTC 10 competitive among the current crop of flagships.

 

[billykac]

For me, call quality is amazing. Must be variables in our immediate cell network.

Music quality is excellent, IMO. I use a range of ear-buds, IEMs, on-ears and over-ears and I couldn't be happier. I listen to FLACs if I am being selective, and I stream from Google Music when it's just background. Sounds great to me, but maybe it's a threshold shift?

 

[hpilot]

For me, call quality is amazing. Must be variables in our immediate cell network.

Music quality is excellent, IMO. I use a range of ear-buds, IEMs, on-ears and over-ears and I couldn't be happier. I listen to FLACs if I am being selective, and I stream from Google Music when it's just background. Sounds great to me, but maybe it's a threshold shift?

For me excellent is not good enough. I use Shure SE535s also. I would rate it at equal to or worse than my 6P, and I never thought that was great. For $850 I expect more. I can handle that it is ugly, but the poor sound quality bugs me. Still love the phone overall though.

 

[I800C0LLECT]

That review didn't provide any empirical evidence the audio is bad. The noise floor was 97db vs 105db. The perception "twice as loud" is ~10db. In that regard the v20 is much better. However, in real world it doesn't amount to anything substantial.

Honestly, all of those numbers are hardly anything to become a snob about. I can't stand audiophoolery. I do love high quality audio but I don't like all the snake oil that confuses everybody.

In the video... What he said about 16 bit DAC vs 24 was atrocious.

So, 24bit does add more 'resolution' compared to 16bit but this added resolution doesn't mean higher quality, it just means we can encode a larger dynamic range. This is the misunderstanding made by many. There are no extra magical properties, nothing which the science does not understand or cannot measure. The only difference between 16bit and 24bit is 48dB of dynamic range (8bits x 6dB = 48dB) and*nothing else. This is not a question for interpretation or opinion, it is the provable, undisputed logical mathematics which underpins the very existence of digital audio.

So, can you actually hear any benefits of the larger (48dB) dynamic range offered by 24bit? Unfortunately, no you can't. The entire dynamic range of some types of music is sometimes less than 12dB. The recordings with the largest dynamic range tend to be symphony orchestra recordings but even these virtually never have a dynamic range greater than about 60dB. All of these are well inside the 96dB range of the humble CD. What is more, modern dithering techniques (see 3 below), perceptually enhance the dynamic range of CD by moving the quantisation noise out of the frequency band where our hearing is most sensitive. This gives a percievable dynamic range for CD up to 120dB (150dB in certain frequency bands).

http://www.head-fi.org/t/415361/24bit-vs-16bit-the-myth-exploded

 

[I800C0LLECT]

Furthermore, the response was generally flat. All those neat adjectives..."tinny, muddy, warm"... Do not apply. Unless you change the response curve then those adjectives are all defining the same exact response.

 

[hpilot]

That review didn't provide any empirical evidence the audio is bad. The noise floor was 97db vs 105db. The perception "twice as loud" is ~10db. In that regard the v20 is much better. However, in real world it doesn't amount to anything substantial.

Honestly, all of those numbers are hardly anything to become a snob about. I can't stand audiophoolery. I do love high quality audio but I don't like all the snake oil that confuses everybody.

In the video... What he said about 16 bit DAC vs 24 was atrocious.



24bit vs 16bit, the myth exploded!

All I can say is that every review I have seen and read raves about the great sound quality of the HTC 10. Not so for the Pixel. There must be something to that.

 

[I800C0LLECT]

They can say whatever they want... It's opinion. Can they prove it?

 

[I800C0LLECT]

Here's a neat test

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

 

[I800C0LLECT]

All I can say is that every review I have seen and read raves about the great sound quality of the HTC 10. Not so for the Pixel. There must be something to that.

I also don't understand his comparison at approximately 2 mines in when he tried to explain the pixel's 16 bit deficit vs 24 bit. I assumed he was attempting to reference the onboard DAC. That's why I posted that link with quote.

If he doesn't understand how a DAC functions why is he any authority on the sound? Especially when their response was both flat?

 

[Wiley_11]

Here's a neat test

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality? : The Record : NPR

They all sounded the same to me?!? So I guess a Pixel is fine for me!...........

 

[akin_t]

For me, call quality is amazing. Must be variables in our immediate cell network.

Music quality is excellent, IMO. I use a range of ear-buds, IEMs, on-ears and over-ears and I couldn't be happier. I listen to FLACs if I am being selective, and I stream from Google Music when it's just background. Sounds great to me, but maybe it's a threshold shift?

You listen to FLAC on your Pixel? With what player?

Amazing is subjective as people have different standards when it comes to audio.

 

[akin_t]

All I can say is that every review I have seen and read raves about the great sound quality of the HTC 10. Not so for the Pixel. There must be something to that.

There is. The HTC 10 has a much more powerful amp than most phones on the market.

 

[jamesrick80]

That is surprising. I have the Pixel XL with a pair of Shure SE535 earphones and I use TIDAL HIFI music streaming and I have no complaints, the audio actually sounds really good. I also tried the earphones and TIDAL on my LG V10 with the 32-Bit DAC and I could not notice a difference. Now, I came from using Google Play Music which has a much lower bit rate than TIDAL and there is a noticeable difference in sound quality even with the Shure SE535's.

As far as phone calls go, I haven't had any issues either I can hear people clearly and on T-Mobile the VoLTE makes the calls sound pretty good. The speaker on the phone is not very good, but it gets the job done.

Tidal will be out of business within another year so hopefully you find alternative hi-fi streaming options.....,

 

[strikeIII]

Sound is not bad but not the best.
For phone quality, if your on AT&T the Pixel is not compatible with HD Voice so the quality drops down to H instead of LTE which makes phone calls sound ****ty. I hope AT&T adds support for Pixel soon.

 

[billykac]

You listen to FLAC on your Pixel? With what player?

Amazing is subjective as people have different standards when it comes to audio.

PowerAmp or Google Play app. Both do FLAC.
I am very happy with the audio capabilities of the Pixel!

 

[flipbeats]

This is so sad knowing the DAC is not that impressive.. but I totally want to get back on Google fi. Wish they could sneak in the v20. Music sound quality is a big thing for me.

 

[I800C0LLECT]

This is so sad knowing the DAC is not that impressive.. but I totally want to get back on Google fi. Wish they could sneak in the v20. Music sound quality is a big thing for me.

The DAC isn't bad. The v20 has a lower noise floor overall. I didn't see any appreciable differences in his measurements when I paused the video