Gadgetory

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 menya 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 LGV 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 speaker phones even against its own stablemate the HTC 10 which has that weird experimental tweeter sub woofer 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 Pheo 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 reigns 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 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 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 betta 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