Pixel and Pixel XL Audio Quality

[bjrmd]

And lets hope the headset jack impedance is low enough not to cause frequency response swings in multi armature IEM's.

 

[CollinFX45]

Depressing news, Guys:

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Google-Pixel-XL-Review_id4264/page/3

.45V of headphone output. Behind S7, HTC10, iPhone 7, and pretty much every other flagship this year.

-Collin-

 

[chdloc]

Depressing news, Guys:

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Google-Pixel-XL-Review_id4264/page/3

.45V of headphone output. Behind S7, HTC10, iPhone 7, and pretty much every other flagship this year.

-Collin-

People tend to (wrongly) correlate attainable playback volume with audio quality/fidelity.
0.45 V output voltage corresponds to around 6 dB loss in maximum volume compared to the 1 Vrms that the built-in codec/amp is theoretically able to pump out. If you have even moderately sensitive headphones, say > 100 dB/V, and value your hearing, the quoted fact in itself is a non-issue.

 

[CollinFX45]

People tend to (wrongly) correlate attainable playback volume with audio quality/fidelity.
0.45 V output voltage corresponds to around 6 dB loss in maximum volume compared to the 1 Vrms that the built-in codec/amp is theoretically able to pump out. If you have even moderately sensitive headphones, say > 100 dB/V, and value your hearing, the quoted fact in itself is a non-issue.

Fair enough, and maybe my hearing sucks, but on my S7 Edge (which gets .7ish volts) I am constantly running out of volume on several pairs of IEMs. Full-sized headphones are out of the question. On my Pinnacle P1, my main IEMs, I can crank the volume all the way up while streaming Tidal and it isn't loud enough. While only a 6dB loss isn't huge, it's a real problem for most Android phones that are already too quiet. Just my opinion of course. I wanted to see 1v like the HTC 10 and iPhone.

 

[matteventu]

Depressing news, Guys:

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Google-Pixel-XL-Review_id4264/page/3

.45V of headphone output. Behind S7, HTC10, iPhone 7, and pretty much every other flagship this year.

-Collin-

I was just going to post this... 0.45 is an absolute disappointment... I don't say we should have expected 1V or more like HTC 10 and iPhones, but at lease 0.7, 0.8V... c'mon Qualcomm press release about Aqstic must be bull**** then.

I KNOW we're not talking about "quality" but just loudness. But without a decent loudness I don't give a **** about quality if I can't even hear the music.

Anyway, let's wait for a test focused on quality now. So GSMArena or an audiophile website.

 

[bjrmd]

For those that need the full 1 volt, there probably will be just a simple mixerpath adjustment to make
I personally listen at about 75 dB using my Shure se846s, which amounts to just about 5 millivolts .

I'm sure @chdloc will be putting the device through some testing using high end gear shortly.
Remember that most web testing sites will just test at near maximum levels, not very relevant to most listening scenarios.

 

[Enphenate]

Finally upgrading my HTC M8 to the Pixel XL and was hoping for similar quality since its HTC built. The M8 has been one of the best sounding phones ive used especially via the AUX port. I use the AUX on the M8 on a daily basis during my commute, its loud and sounds awesome. I also have a S7 Edge which I use, but its AUX loudness and quality is nowhere near the M8, its extremely quiet and bland. I have to crank my car audio near its max to make it even sound decent on the S7 Edge. Seems like the posts above confirm that the Pixel provides less voltage via AUX than the S7 Edge, which is beyond disappointing.

Gonna keep my hopes up, but I guess ill have to wait and see until I have the unit in hand to test it.

 

[chdloc]

OK, virtually all codec/amp combos I've seen are able to put out 1 Vrms. The quoted max voltage on the Pixel is 0.45 V, which is almost exactly 7 dB below 1 V. I've looked at the mixer_paths.xml that I pulled out of the leaked system dump. I can see the that 7 dB of attenuation is applied to the headphone path ("headphones" device). So, as @bjrmd said, the "missing" 7 dB can easily be re-applied after a custom recovery has been made available for the Pixel (by increasing "RX1 Mix Digital Volume" and "RX2 Mix Digital Volume" from 77 to 84).

Disclaimer: I highly encourage folks to look up "noise-induced hearing loss" before cranking up playback levels. Google may have been influenced by those concerns in their decision to limit the headphone port's output voltage.

 

[Chippy_boy]

For those that need the full 1 volt, there probably will be just a simple mixerpath adjustment to make
I personally listen at about 75 dB using my Shure se846s, which amounts to just about 5 millivolts .

I'm sure @chdloc will be putting the device through some testing using high end gear shortly.
Remember that most web testing sites will just test at near maximum levels, not very relevant to most listening scenarios.

Where do you listen, in a library?

 

[bjrmd]

Where do you listen, in a library?

Since this is off the topic see this post or this

 

[foggydonkey]

This is the same reason I am still using Nexus 6 as my daily driver, i tried many phones (Note 4, N6P, Note 5, S7 Edge, Note 7 SD820 version etc..) in the last 2 years and no phone has better audio quality thru audio jack than N6. HTC 10 has some what better audio quality but I don't want to downgrade screen size below 5.5".

It infuriates me whenever people suggest Viper/Arise etc.. to make up for the poor DAC in the phone.

Hoping pixel phone has decent DAC.

Speaking of Nexus 6, my moto z just came in, and my inital impressions is that the audio quality is great!! dear I say better than the HTC 10. The audio sounds clean, and there's little to no electronic noise, and left and right cross talk is at a minimum as well. That makes it sound punchy, and I'm able to go get amazing left and right channel separation.

I can tell it's amp isn't as powerful as the HTC 10 (volume needs to be higher on on the moto z, and doesn't sound as good at lower volumes), but man I swear, I was pleasantly shocked at the moto z's sound quality.

If someone makes a mod with a headphone jack and an amp, this would crush the competition.

PS Never heard the V10 or V20, and curious to hear someone's comparison

 

[noeldavid]

Depressing news, Guys:

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Google-Pixel-XL-Review_id4264/page/3

.45V of headphone output. Behind S7, HTC10, iPhone 7, and pretty much every other flagship this year.

-Collin-

I am very happy with the headphone jack volume output! Compared to the ZTE Axon 7 I would dare to say the Pixel's headphone jack provides louder volume. In the Pixel I have to lower the volume 2 clicks to hear at a comfortable volume and with the Axon 7 I had to lower the volume 1 click. My Sennheiser Momentum in ear headphones have an impendance of 18 ohm and are drive FLACs and 192 MP3's with clear powerful separation of highs and lows. The Pixel in contrast cannot properly drive my Sennheiser HD 598SE over the ear headphones which have an impendance of 50 ohm but even if not loud they provide a clear soundstage (i am not an audiophile). If the Pixel's headphone jack is a 9/10 then Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 are a 5 out of 10,very weak. Very happy with my Pixel purchase.

 

[CollinFX45]

I am very happy with the headphone jack volume output! Compared to the ZTE Axon 7 I would dare to say the Pixel's headphone jack provides louder volume. In the Pixel I have to lower the volume 2 clicks to hear at a comfortable volume and with the Axon 7 I had to lower the volume 1 click. My Sennheiser Momentum in ear headphones have an impendance of 18 ohm and are drive FLACs and 192 MP3's with clear powerful separation of highs and lows. The Pixel in contrast cannot properly drive my Sennheiser HD 598SE over the ear headphones which have an impendance of 50 ohm but even if not loud they provide a clear soundstage (i am not an audiophile). If the Pixel's headphone jack is a 9/10 then Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 are a 5 out of 10,very weak. Very happy with my Pixel purchase.

I echo everything you said. I've had mine for a few days now and have found it actually quite loud. It makes me distrust the Phone Arena testing method because they rated the G4 as having more voltage and yet this is clearly louder (going by memory though). Overall, I'm happy to finally have a pure Android phone that actually sounds halfway decent.

-Collin-

 

[iamhacked]

Anyone know the best quality audio player for Pixel XL? It seems like the music player apps often use their own audio engine or something, making it sound different depending on the song and device. Has nothing to do with EQ or other enhancements.

For example, I've found Poweramp the best on my Nexus 4 and 5. I've found Samsung Music the best on my Galaxy S6. What about the Pixel XL? Which player is optimized the best?

 

[cabouno]

Audio quality on my Pixel XL is crap. I got a iPhone 7 plus given to me and it is MUCH better sound quality. My Samsung Galaxy Edge S7 was better as well. So far, really disappointed .

 

[DanJRWalsh]

Audio quality on my Pixel XL is crap. I got a iPhone 7 plus given to me and it is MUCH better sound quality. My Samsung Galaxy Edge S7 was better as well. So far, really disappointed .

What are you referring to? Speaker output? Aux output?

 

[cabouno]

What are you referring to? Speaker output? Aux output?

Sorry, I should have been more specific. The speaker sound quality and loudness is terrible. I haven't used the headphone jack yet. It is by far, the worst sounding speaker I have ever had on a phone.

 

[Nitemare3219]

My Shure SE846 IEMs sound fantastic with GP Music and using the stock EQ to tweak to my liking... which is surprising. Usually I need V4A to be satisfied with the audio output. The stock EQ actually works well with this phone. No noticeable noise or anything. YMMV with higher impedance headphones.

 

[chdloc]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. The speaker sound quality and loudness is terrible. I haven't used the headphone jack yet. It is by far, the worst sounding speaker I have ever had on a phone.

Not sure what phones you've used before, but I did some informal comparison of my XL with an iPhone 7. The Pixel's single speaker gets about 2 dB louder than the dual-speaker arrangement of the iPhone 7 (as measured with a sound level meter). Audio quality is subjective. They do have a different sound signature, but I would not say that one sounds "better" to me than the other.

Having said that, I'm more interested in the fidelity of the audio coming out of the headphone jack. It is important not to confuse fidelity with quality. At least in my book, fidelity is an objective measure, which can be determined by comparing the signal that is being fed to the DAC/amp to the signal that comes out of ones' headphones. Audio quality is highly subjective, heavily dependent on one's preferences (bass vs. highs, etc). I'll be posting some results of audio fidelity measurements later today.

 

[wase4711]

It is by far, the worst sounding speaker I have ever had on a phone.

you obviously haven't owned too many cell phones then...
even though the sound quality from these lame tiny bottom of the phone speakers are weak, they are by no means the worst I have ever heard on a phone, and I have owned at least 100 cell phones in my life..