Google Pixel XL Real Audio Review: Not up to HTC standards... | Pocketnow By Pocketnow

Hey folks Wan here with our full report on the audio coming from the speakers and the headphone jack on the Google Pixel XL. As we know, the pixel is designed by Google and Kenya factored by HTC. So a number of us smartphone, audio snobs, were really hoping. This phone would be infused with that really wonderful HTC DNA when it comes to audio having played around with this phone for a little over a week. Now that desire for high quality audio will be left unfulfilled, a quick run around the hardware. We've got the 3.5 millimeter jack up top for any headphones. You want to plug into it and on the bottom of the phone we have a single mono speaker on the left side of the USB-C port and then a symmetrical vent on the other side, which I guess could be a cutout for the microphone.

I've, never understood manufacturers that put dual vents on the bottom of the phone when it's only a mono speaker starting off with that speaker playback, it's actually pretty good for a mono speakerphone. It's up there with phones like the LGA 20, for clarity for maximum volume, just for a pleasant tone which doesn't overly distort, as you drive it hard, especially with aggressively loud music tracks on its own. It's perfectly fine for getting you through a couple little web videos playing some games, but it's super easy to block, especially when gaming, if you're bracing the phone against the pad of your hand, though, we should mention that fine for a mono speaker doesn't mean this thing's anywhere up there against stereo, speakerphones, even against its own stablemate, the HTC 10, which has that weird experimental, tweeter subwoofer design I feel like we've kind of maxed out what we can achieve with a bottom firing. Mono speaker where the real disappointment lands is on this headphone jack, and this is yet another phone in the premium flagship category, which is posting good numbers. Happily, the pixel will play back 32-bit audio files, but unfortunately, anything above 16-bit will be truncated back down to 16-bit playback means the pixel has a really hard time competing against our $40.00 USB DAC from Phew. This is the k1.

This is what we use as our baseline for all of our audio tests and this thing easily outperforms the hardware that's built into the pixel against the premium price pack, pixel lands somewhere near the bottom of the list, pixel outperforms, the LG g5 with the built-in headphone jack, but that's a pretty low bar to overcome, and it's a statistical dead heat against the Galaxy S7, which we were also kind of disappointed in this year. Google's larger phone is nowhere near competing against HTC, 10 s, LG, V, 20s or even iPhones for that matter. As a quick aside, why we were disappointed in the iPhone 7 audio playback wasn't necessarily because it was bad. It was because Apple trumped-up all of this noise. All of this hype about digital audio, but what they supplied out of the box was actually a step back from last year's iPhone.

Now this is the first pixel, which means this is the first phone directly from Google. With this consumer focus and the price tag to match after taxes in California, the base model, pixel XL ran me eight hundred and forty dollars, I can't say: I'm, okay, with adequate audio performance from an eight hundred and forty dollar investment, just looking manufacturer to manufacturer for a lot less cash. You get much better audio support in terms of true 24-bit playback, a wider frequency response, a lower noise floor, one of the lowest noise floors, we've ever tested less distortion and an amp which does a better job of powering nicer headphones. Just knowing that the same company put these two phones together makes it pretty disappointing that Google didn't let HTC take the reins for the audio situation on the pixel, from some of the teases that I put out on the pocket now podcast and some of the conversations I've had on Twitter people are already asking. Is there a way to improve the quality on the pixel exile, especially for headphone playback? And the answer is a resounding I? Don't know.

Plugging a USB DAC into the pixel I know that the phone is powering this Hardware, the little blue light comes on the k1, but no audio signal is coming out and there's a little concern just as knowing that in the past, Nexus devices haven't always had the best support for USB OTG solution. So, as new generations of USB see audio devices come out, USB see DAX USB-C connected headphones. We don't know yet if the pixel will properly support an open, USB audio standard as it currently doesn't with the hardware we have to test Google is getting a lot of right with the software on the pixel, the performance of the pixel, but if one of your primary uses for a smartphone is plugging in some headphones cranking some tunes listening to your podcasts. This is not going to be the best bang for buck. It's actually likely to be one of the worst, as always folks, thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for our continuing pixel coverage I'm, a green beta is going to be wrapping up.

The review on the smaller pixel I'm almost done reviewing this larger pixel. Those videos will be out shortly in addition to some comparisons, as I'm also on a flight out to UNIX soon to go catch. Some cool Huawei news so be on the lookout for that also for pocket now: I'm Juan, Carlos bag. Now some gadget guy on Twitter and Instagram and I will catch you all on the next review.

Source : Pocketnow