GSMArena Updated Its Audio Quality Tests

[Kenny008]

Guys, I'm sure you are all aware that RMAA measurements do not correlate well with the real listening experience. Many HiFi reviewers have long de-emphasized RMAA measurements in favour of subjective listening tests. You can have excellent measurements with mediocre sound and vice versa.The upshot is that we don't know how to measure parameters which really affect the listening experience while those parameters we do know how to measure bear little relationship to how well it sounds. For example valve amps have high distortion but they still sound beautiful.

The Snapdragon S4 with Qualcomm DAC has excellent RMAA as measured by GSMArena but subjective listening test by What HiFi paints a different picture. To quote the relevant parts:

Whichever headphones you use, though, the Samsung Galaxy S4 sound quality still fails to excite.

Play Paradise Circus by Massive Attack and while the individual instruments and vocals are direct and sound strong, the overall rhythm lacks precision and drive, with bass and drum beats sounding flat and rather dull. Notes don?t quite gel cohesively either, and timing is short of being snappy, which isn?t conducive to foot-tappage.

The Galaxy S4?s poor audio performance is all the more apparent when it?s compared with its rivals. Apple still wins in the sound stakes, with the iPhone 5 delivering subtle detail, tight and snappy rhythms, and notes that start and stop with precision. It?s definitely the most entertaining experience of the current crop of smartphones.

Sony?s Xperia Z and Google?s Nexus 4 join Apple on the podium with clear and sharp detail, while the HTC One offers a warmer sound without robbing the music of its vibrancy.

But ultimately on sound quality, placed next to its competition, the S4 sounds rather uninspiring ? and we?re surprised at how low it comes on the scale of smartphone sound experience.

But bear in mind this is the Snapdragon quad core S4 which uses the built-in Qualcomm DAC. The Exynos octa core S4 uses a Wolfson DAC which may give better performance.

 

[jensigner]

I have confirmed that the recent S4 Samsung system update has completely fixed the "crackle" problem that many owners have reported with the S4 i9505 and SGH-I337 for low-impedance headphones. The problem is therefore not a hardware design limitation nor an intrinsic issue with the Qualcomm DAC/Audio. I have also verified that the really great audio performance has not changed in any way (same very very low noise floor, low distortion and identical frequency response and output level). See more comments here at xda:
S4 Crackle/Instability is Fixed!
I listen to a lot of jazz and classical with the S4 and of course the actual listening experience is the most important thing. The "crackle" is something that I have merely quantified and it definitely correlates with the horrible sound folks hear. With my SennHD598 the S4 sound has great depth, clarify and detail, so the distortion levels as measured by RMAA or otherwise are academic. I don't really care much for descriptions which remind me somewhat of experienced wine-tasters and might tend to lure you into thinking you need really expensive gear or imagine artifacts that are in fact pure imaginary. But one thing is for sure .... the S4/Qualcomm to my ears with HD598 phones is a superb listening experience for any type of music I have auditioned.

 

[Cool Jeff]

Could it match now htc One sound quality with earphones?

 

[jensigner]

Could it match now htc One sound quality with earphones?

I almost got an HTC One instead of an S4. I'm sure the One via good headphones sounds fabulous. Different than the S4? I don't know ...maybe. I'm setting up a "quick switching system" between 2 smartphones and the same headphones so I can quickly toggle back/forth to see if I can hear a difference in sound with the same track playback. I don't have particularly golden-ears and believe that different people can really perceive different "things" in the same audio playback path. I'm not zealous about any particular manufacturer (including Wolfson . I'd love to have both an HTC One and an S4 but I tend to be a "one smartphone" guy (as I am also a one guitar-at-a-time guy)