We put the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max through our rigorous SBMARK Audio test suite to measure its performance in both recording sound using the built-in microphones and playing audio through its speakers.
In this review, we’ll break down how it performed in a variety of tests and several common use cases.
Overview
Key audio specifications include:
- Two speakers (one upper front, one lower side)
- No Jack audio output
- Dolby Atmos technology
- Spatial audio playback
Playback
Pros
- Good and consistent performance in all attributes
- Great tonal performance, with deep low frequency extension
- Excellent dynamic performance overall
- Excellent spatial performance
Against
- Distortion and compression at maximum volume and when watching movies
- Stereo reversed in the music app, like on all iPhones
Registration
Pros
- Good tonal performance overall
- Good at recording loud events, such as concerts
- Good dynamic performance
- Good artifact management; Wind noise reduction works well but may need some fine tuning
Against
- Mid-range return dependent on use case; it can sound nasal or sly, depending on the app
- Compromised signal-to-noise ratio, as the main speech content is slightly masked by ambient noise
- Disappointing audio zoom performance
With a SBMARK Audio score of 143, the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max delivered excellent performance, very similar to what we saw on its predecessor, the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Playback quality through the built-in speakers was consistently great in all subtests. The tone was very beautiful and offered deep low frequency extension. The iPhone also scored very well for the Dynamics attribute and the device was able to create a nice stereo sound stage with good localizability of individual sound sources. On the downside, our experts noted some distortion and compression at maximum volume when watching movies, and as with all iPhones to date, the stereo channels are reversed in the music app. Overall the iPhone 15 Pro Max achieved the best results when listening to music and gaming. That said, it’s also a great option for watching movies.
As with playback, the iPhone scored well in all categories of the recording tests. Timbre and dynamics were excellent and unwanted recording artefacts were very well under control. Wind noise could have been handled slightly better, and depending on the app used for recording, the midrange sounded more nasal or more resonant. Ambient noise could affect the intelligibility of noises, and the audio zoom feature wasn’t as effective as our testers would have liked. Overall, the iPhone 15 Pro Max was great for recording concerts but also captured great audio with the selfie cam and main camera when shooting videos of friends and family.
Test summary
About SBMARK audio tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone audio reviews, SBMARK engineers perform a series of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled laboratory conditions.
(For more details on our playback protocol, click here; for more details on our recording protocol, click here.)
The following section brings together key elements of our comprehensive testing and analysis performed in SBMARK laboratories. Detailed performance evaluations in the form of reports are available upon request. Do not hesitate to contact us.
How the audio playback score is composed
SBMARK engineers test playback through smartphone speakers, whose performance is evaluated in our labs and in real-life conditions, using apps and default settings.
Apple’s latest flagship phone performs very well on most playback test attributes. The tone is warm and clear, with natural highs and a rich midrange that is virtually identical to that of the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Bass performance is practically flawless, powerful with deep low-frequency extension. In terms of dynamics, the iPhone offers good bass precision and powerful punch. The attack is crisp and precise at low and nominal volume, but at maximum volume it is affected by distortion and compression.
The 15 Pro Max also performs very well in the space category. The stereo sound stage is perfectly centered, with excellent localizability of sound sources and distance rendering. Depth is rendered very well and the wide soundstage makes consuming sound a very immersive experience but, as with all iPhones, the stereo is inverted when listening to music with the phone rotated to landscape orientation. No such problems while watching movies or playing games, though.
The maximum volume is identical to the predecessor, and the minimum volume is neither too low nor too high. The volume steps are evenly distributed. The 15 Pro Max controls artifacts well and is less prone to them than its predecessor the 14 Pro Max. The design of the phone means that it is possible to accidentally cover the speaker with your fingers, especially during gaming, but the effect is quite mild.
Listen to the playback performance of the tested smartphone in this comparison with some of its competitors:
Recordings of smartphones playing some of our music tracks at 60 LAeq in an anechoic environment using 2 microphones in AB configuration, at 30 cm
Here’s how the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max fares in playback use cases compared to its competitors:
Playing use case scores
The Timbre score represents the quality with which a phone reproduces sound across the entire audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, tonal balance and volume dependence. It is the most important attribute for reproduction.
Frequency response of music playback
A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, measuring the loudness of each frequency output by the smartphone when playing a pure sine wave in an anechoic environment.
The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, such as how accurately a bass note or the sound of the drum’s impact is reproduced.
Secondary attributes of spatial tests include identifying the location of a specific sound, its positional balance, distance, and amplitude.
The volume score represents the overall volume of a smartphone and how smoothly the volume increases and decreases based on user input.
Here are some sound pressure levels (SPLs) measured when playing our sample recordings of hip-hop and classical music at maximum volume:
| Hip Hop | Classic | |
| Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max | 75.1 dBA | 72.3 dBA |
| Huawei P60Pro | 71.9 dBA | 69.4 dBA |
| Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Snapdragon) | 74.8 dBA | 71.8 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 increases match user expectations:
Music volume consistency
This line graph shows the relative volume of playback versus the user-selected volume increment, measured at different volume increments with correlated pink noise in an anechoic box recorded on-axis at 0.20 meters.
The Artifacts score measures the extent to which the sound is affected by various types of distortion. The higher the score, the less noticeable the sound disturbances will be. Distortions may occur due to the sound processing in the device and the quality of the speakers.
Total harmonic distortion during playback (maximum volume)
This graph shows total harmonic distortion and noise in the audible 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.
How the score of the audio recording is composed
SBMARK engineers test recording by evaluating recorded files on reference audio equipment. These recordings are made in our laboratories and in real-life conditions, using apps and default settings.
The latest flagship iPhone is also a great device for capturing sounds of any kind. The recordings feature a natural and warm tonal balance. Overall, the tonal performance is very good, but there is some inconsistency between use cases. The sound is generally a little muffled, but even more so when recording with the selfie camera. Midrange is also quite use-case dependent, with nasal sound in the main camera app, fairly resonant midrange in the memo app, and more natural midrange in selfie videos. In the Concert use case, the low-mid range is more lackluster. but this is also where the 15 Pro Max proves it can produce a powerful low end without sounding boomy.
Dynamics are generally good, with a wide dynamic range and good responsiveness, but are held back slightly by some loss of accuracy in envelope rendering, with the main vocal content often slightly masked by ambient noise. Recordings made with the Memo app are by default in mono, which is a shame because the iPhone has good spatial capabilities, with good amplitude, correct distance rendering and fairly good localizability.
The 15 Pro Max performs very well in the volume category, thanks to the good sonority of voices, the excellent maximum volume and the great resistance to high sound pressure levels. Even under such demanding conditions it controls artifacts very well, making it a good choice for recording concerts and similar events. Furthermore, microphone occlusions are not an issue on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Voices remain perfectly intelligible, regardless of your hand position on the device. To complement an excellent recording performance, the background sounds natural in all use cases, with good tonal balance and no artifacts.
Wind noise reduction is average. The timbre is affected by moderate to strong winds, resulting in a rather thin timbre that can reduce the intelligibility of voices. Wind noise reduction works best when recording video with the main camera and strong to moderate winds are facing the device. In this usage scenario, improvements were noted compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. However, with the device at a 90° angle to the wind, it is more susceptible to wind noise, with speech content barely audible.
Here’s how the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max fares in recording use cases compared to its competitors:
Recording use case scores
The Timbre score represents how well a phone captures sounds across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, mids, treble and tonal balance. It is the most important attribute for registration.
Video frequency response of life
A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, measuring the loudness of each frequency captured by the smartphone while recording a pure sine wave in an anechoic environment.
The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, such as how accurately a voice’s plosives (p, tek, for example) are reproduced. The score also considers the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), such as how loud the main voice is compared to the background noise.
Secondary attributes for spatial testing include identifying the location of a specific sound, its positional balance, distance, and amplitude on recorded audio files.
Directivity of registration
Graph of smartphone directivity while recording test signals using the camera app, with the main camera. It represents the acoustic energy (in dB) compared to the angle of incidence of the sound source. (Normalized to the 0° angle, in front of the device.)
The loudness score represents how well the audio on recorded files is normalized and how well the device handles noisy environments, such as electronic concerts, during recording.
Here are the sound levels recorded in the audio and video files, measured in LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale); For reference, we expect volume levels to be above -24 LUFS for recorded content:
| Encounter | Videos about life | Selfie videos | Memorandum | |
| Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max | -24.9 LUFS | -22.1 LUFS | -20.5 LUFS | -19.2 LUFS |
| Huawei P60Pro | -24.5 LUFS | -19.4 LUFS | -18.9 LUFS | -20.2 LUFS |
| Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Snapdragon) | -26.5 LUFS | -21.8 LUFS | -22.4 LUFS | -21.6 LUFS |
The Artifacts score measures the extent to which recorded sounds are affected by various types of distortions. The higher the score, the less noticeable the sound disturbances will be. Distortions may occur due to the 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 hear how this smartphone handles wind noise compared to its competitors:
matrix(3) {
[“Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max”]=> string(78) “resources/Apple/iPhone15ProMaxV2.2/AppleiPhone15ProMax_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Huawei P60 Pro”]=> string(71) “resources/Apple/iPhone15ProMaxV2.2/HuaweiP60Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra”]=> string(80) “resources/Apple/iPhone15ProMaxV2.2/SamsungGalaxyS23Ultra_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }
Recordings of a speech sample with light background noise, exposed to a turbulent wind of 5 m/s
Background evaluates how naturally the various sounds around a voice blend together in the video recording file. For example, when recording a speech at an event, the background should not interfere with the main voice, but should provide context to the surrounding environment.
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