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Google Pixel 7 Pro Audio test

OTHER AVAILABLE TESTS FOR THIS DEVICE

We put the Google Pixel 7 Pro through our rigorous DXOMARK Audio test suite to measure its performance both at recording sound using its built-in microphones, and at playing audio back through its speakers. In this review, we will break down how it fared in a variety of tests and several common use cases.

Overview


Key audio specifications include:

  • Two speakers (Top center and bottom right)
  • No Jack audio output

Scoring

Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.


Google Pixel 7 Pro
137
audio
138
playback
134

158

133

149

147

162

112

162

95

157

136
recording
139

147

127

146

97

157

95

170

139

145

141

166

Playback

Pros

  • Good and clear tonal balance, consistent timbre at all volume levels
  • Good spatial performance, excellent across all sub-attributes
  • Audio artifacts well under control

Cons

  • Midrange may sound canny and almost a bit aggressive, depending on the content
  • Lack of low-end extension
  • Slightly blurry bass due to exaggerated sustain
  • Minimum volume could be fine-tuned as it is extremely quiet

Recording

Pros

  • Good tonal balance
  • Good dynamics performance
  • Good spatial performance, with accurate and realistic distance restitution

Cons

  • Poor signal-to-noise ratio with memo app
  • Mono recordings with memo app
  • Ineffective wind noise reduction, pumping effect

With a score of 137, the Google Pixel 7 Pro achieved a mid-table position in our DXOMARK Audio ranking. Overall performance was in line with previous Pixel models, but there were areas for sound improvement across all attributes, which prevented the 7 Pro from challenging the very best phones for audio consumption and recording.

When consuming audio content, the Google flagship offered a clear tonal balance, with consistent timbre across all volume levels. The sound scene was rendered wide, and individual instruments or voices were easy to locate within it. In addition, sound that was played back through the Pixel’s speakers was almost free of any artifacts. On the downside, some midrange content could sound canny, and our testers observed a lack of low-end extension and a slightly blurry bass. At the minimum volume settings, the Pixel was very quiet, making it difficult to consume audio files with soft elements, for example, classical music.

As a recording device, the Pixel 7 Pro performed best with the main and front cameras. Because the memo app records in mono by default and offers a poor signal-to-noise ratio means that the device is not the best choice for office use cases. This said, Pixel 7 Pro recordings offered good tonal balance and dynamics as well as realistic distance rendering. Wind-noise reduction on the other hand was slightly disappointing overall and induced a pumping effect.

Test summary

About DXOMARK Audio tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone audio reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions.
(For more details about our Playback protocol, click here; for more details about our Recording protocol, click here.)

The following section gathers key elements of our exhaustive tests and analyses performed in DXOMARK laboratories. Detailed performance evaluations under the form of reports are available upon request. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Playback

138

Google Pixel 7 Pro

163

Black Shark 5 Pro
How Audio Playback score is composed

DXOMARK engineers test playback through the smartphone speakers, whose performance is evaluated in our labs and in real-life conditions, using default apps and settings.

In playback, the Pixel 7 Pro delivered a clean tonal balance with decent treble. However, midrange is an important area for improvement on the Pixel 7 Pro due to the lack of low-midrange and the too-prominent high-midrange. As a result, the phone sounds canny and almost aggressive. In dynamics testing, the testers found attack to be good, with precise transients. Bass precision was slightly blurry but overall still OK. Punch was good at nominal volume but was slightly impaired by compression at the maximum volume setting.

The Pixel 7 Pro did well in the spatial attribute, with good wideness and localizability of individual sound sources in the scene. Distance rendition was good, too, with voices being perceived at the right distance. Only depth sensation left some room for improvement. At the max setting, the Google phone delivered good volume, but minimum volume was too quiet and would benefit from fine-tuning. Sound artifacts were overall managed very well, with only some moderate compression and distortion at maximum volume.

Listen to the tested smartphone’s playback performance in this comparison with some of its competitors:

Google Pixel 7 Pro
Apple iPhone 14
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)
Recordings of the smartphones playing some of our music tracks at 60 LAeq in an anechoic environment by 2 microphones in A-B configuration, at 30 cm
Here is how the Google Pixel 7 Pro performs in playback use cases compared to its competitors:
Playback use-cases scores

Timbre

134

Google Pixel 7 Pro

158

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Timbre score represents how well a phone reproduces sound across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, tonal balance, and volume dependency. It is the most important attribute for playback.

Music playback frequency response
A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, which measures the volume of each frequency emitted by the smartphone when playing a pure-sine wave in an anechoic environment.

Dynamics

133

Google Pixel 7 Pro

149

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, for example how precisely a bass note is reproduced or the impact sound from drums.


Spatial

147

Google Pixel 7 Pro

162

Black Shark 5 Pro

The sub-attributes for spatial tests include pinpointing a specific sound's location, its positional balance, distance, and wideness.


Volume

112

Google Pixel 7 Pro

162

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Volume score represents the overall loudness of a smartphone and how smoothly volume increases and decreases based on user input.

Here are a few sound pressure levels (SPL) measured when playing our sample recordings of hip-hop and classical music at maximum volume:
Hip-Hop Classical
Google Pixel 7 Pro 73.1 dBA 68 dBA
Apple iPhone 14 74.8 dBA 71.9 dBA
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) 74.1 dBA 70.2 dBA
The following graph shows the gradual changes in volume going from minimum to maximum. We expect these changes to be consistent across the range, so that all volume steps correspond to users’ expectations:
Music volume consistency
This line graph shows the relative loudness of playback relative to the user selected volume step, measured at different volume steps with a correlated pink noise in an anechoic box recorded in axis at 0.20 meter.

Artifacts

95

Google Pixel 7 Pro

157

Asus ROG Phone 5

The Artifacts score measures the extent to which the sound is affected by various types of distortion. The higher the score, the less the disturbances in the sound are noticeable. Distortion can occur because of sound processing in the device and because of the quality of the speakers.

Playback Total Harmonic Distortion (Maximum Volume)
This graph shows the Total Harmonic Distortion and Noise over the hearable frequency range.
It represents the distortion and noise of the device playing our test signal (0 dB Fs, Sweep Sine in an anechoic box at 40 cm) at the device's maximum volume.

Recording

136

Google Pixel 7 Pro

157

Black Shark 5 Pro
How Audio Recording score is composed

DXOMARK engineers test recording by evaluating the recorded files on reference audio equipment. Those recordings are done in our labs and in real-life conditions, using default apps and settings.

The Pixel 7 Pro’s recording performance was just as good as in playback. Recordings came with a natural sounding timbre and very good tonal balance that was mostly free of resonances or artifacts. It was particularly good for recording in quiet surroundings and for recording with the selfie camera. When recording loud content, tonal balance remained good, but our testers observed a slight lack of low-end extension.

Dynamics performance was overall good, but varied with the use case. The envelope was clean, with sharp plosives across all use cases, even at high sound pressure levels, but when recording soft voices in front of a loud background, vocal content was almost drowned out, making the Pixel 7 Pro less suitable for recording, for example,  in an office environment.

Sound that was recorded with the main camera featured good wideness, and distance rendering was accurate and realistic. When using the audio zoom feature, background sound was filtered nicely. However, localizability of individual sound sources was only average, and recordings with the memo app were mono. Recording loudness was great, and volume consistency remained excellent, even when using audio zoom. In terms of audio recording artifacts, some slight distortion was noticeable on loud elements in the scene, for example, shouting voices. On the plus side, wind noise was improved from the Pixel 6 Pro, and background tonal balance was nice and natural.

Here is how the Google Pixel 7 Pro performs in recording use cases compared to its competitors:

Recording use-cases scores

Timbre

139

Google Pixel 7 Pro

147

Honor Magic3 Pro+

The Timbre score represents how well a phone captures sounds across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, and tonal balance. It is the most important attribute for recording.

Life video frequency response
A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, which measures the volume of each frequency captured by the smartphone when recording a pure-sine wave in an anechoic environment.

Dynamics

127

Google Pixel 7 Pro

146

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, for example how precisely a voice's plosives (the p's, t's and k's, for example) are reproduced. The score also considers the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), for example how loud the main voice is compared to the background noise.


Spatial

97

Google Pixel 7 Pro

157

Asus ROG Phone 5

The sub-attributes for spatial tests include pinpointing a specific sound's location, its positional balance, distance, and wideness on the recorded audio files.

Recording directivity
Directivity graph of the smartphone when recording test signals using the camera app, with the main camera. It represents the acoustic energy (in dB) over the angle of incidence of the sound source. (Normalized to the angle 0°, in front of the device.)

Volume

95

Google Pixel 7 Pro

170

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Volume score represents how loud audio is normalized on the recorded files and the how the device handles loud environments, such as electronic concerts, when recording.

Here are the sound levels recorded in the audio and video files, measured in LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale); as a reference, we expect loudness levels to be above -24 LUFS for recorded content:
Meeting Life Video Selfie Video Memo
Google Pixel 7 Pro -29.8 LUFS -19.2 LUFS -17.1 LUFS -22.4 LUFS
Apple iPhone 14 -23.8 LUFS -22.5 LUFS -20.5 LUFS -18.7 LUFS
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) -28.8 LUFS -21.7 LUFS -21.2 LUFS -23.9 LUFS

Artifacts

139

Google Pixel 7 Pro

145

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Artifacts score measures the extent to which the recorded sounds are affected by various types of distortions. The higher the score, the less the disturbances in the sound are noticeable. Distortions can occur because of sound processing in the device and the quality of the microphones, as well as user handling, such as how the phone is held.

In this audio comparison, you can listen to the way this smartphone handles wind noise relative to its competitors:

Recordings of a voice sample with light background noise, facing a turbulent wind of 5 m/s

Background

141

Google Pixel 7 Pro

166

Black Shark 5 Pro

Background evaluates how natural the various sounds around a voice blend into the video recording file. For example, when recording a speech at an event, the background should not interfere with the main voice, yet it should provide some context of the surroundings.

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