Gadgetory

let's talk about audio audio is a vital component of using a smartphone for many people yet it's often overlooked in many reviews we just sort of take it for granted that because a phone has speakers and a headphone jack that audio playback is probably fine every phone just kind of becomes good or vaguely in the top five we're working on this channel to balance more scientific testing against anecdotal experiences using software like write mark to analyze test files and sound Forge to examine amplifier power we're also taking a listen with our own ears on a variety of different headphones and to the speaker playback to provide a more well-rounded discussion of smartphone audio taking a look and a listen to the main phone's released this year and allowing for any current phones from the end of 2015 which are the top players for the audio files in our audience here's our top five for the first half of 2016 number five is a Samsung tie between the Galaxy Note 5 and the s6 edge+ the galaxy s7 might be well improved on a number of key features but headphone and speaker playback are areas where samsung's 2015 phablets take the win neither of these phones excel in any one specific spot but both are well rounded performers even-handed EQ fairly low noise and respectable speaker performance this all adds up to an overall enjoyable audio experience number four the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Apple uttered consumers into the modern era of digital audio and the iPhone continues a tradition of consistency and punchy playback while speaker output might fall mid pack the headphone jack is paired with one of the more powerful amps available in a smart phone to our ears high EQ can sometimes land a bit shrill and iOS doesn't properly fully support 24-bit audio playback but the current 6s and 6s plus are terrific populist performers for the mp3 crowd number three the blackberry Prive we really shouldn't be surprised to see a business focused device on this list the privet hedge fund performance though it leans a touch noisier than the other entries on this list it makes up for that slight deficit by adding terrific front-facing speakers for media and speaker phone calls the privy us that even a work device can be built to include a little play time number two the LG v10 this beast just gets so much right no modular pieces here a supremely high-quality DAC and amp are built directly into this monster phablet the v10 has become one of our favorite headphone performers and is often used as a high-water mark for our phone comparisons this phone falls out of the top spot however for including the quietest speaker on this list but you'll never want to listen to that speaker once you plug in a decent pair of headphones number one the HTC 10 why have a great speaker or a great headphone jack when you can have the total audio package the HTC 10 features a unique boom sound split speaker arrangement with a front-facing mid and high EQ speaker and a bottom firing low EQ speaker it's not the loudest solution for alerts but it offers great clarity and detail for a phone when paired with truly excellent headphone playback you get an overall audio experience second to none and we have a few honorable mentions in that United States branded LG g5 s are still unable to utilize the modular DAC we've been unable to test where that hardware might rank by comparison we also need to give a nod to Sony as that hardware does support high quality and lossless audio files but we ran into issues with our previous review unit and since then have been unable to keep our hands on one long enough to properly test record and benchmark or current zphone we're hoping that will change with this year's xperia x lineup lastly it should be mentioned that for folks looking at the mid-range the iPhone se packs nearly identical audio hardware compared with its more expensive bigger iPhone brothers so listening to music or podcasts playing games or watching films what's been your all-time favorite mobile audio gadget drop us a comment below as always thanks so much for watching be sure to LIKE share and subscribe to this channel for more comparisons like these for PocketNow i'm juan carlos Bagnall you can chat me up on Twitter and Instagram as some gadget guy and I will catch you all on the next video you're still afraid stop it now I mean it that coming to get you Barbara