Honor Magic Vs Audio test

We subjected the Honor Magic Vs to our rigorous SBMARK audio test suite to measure its performance both when recording sound using its built-in microphones, and when playing audio through its speakers.

In this review, we’ll analyze how it performed in a variety of tests and several common use cases.

Overview

Key audio specs include:

• Two speakers (top left, bottom left)
• No audio jack output
• DTS:X Ultra technology

Reproduction

Registration

The Honor Magic V delivered a good performance in SBMARK audio tests. For a foldable device, the results were particularly impressive in recording, thanks to very effective background noise cancellation and great audio zoom. However, our testers found the Honor to be sensitive to wind noise, and the sound could be a little disappointing both when playing through the built-in speakers and when recording.

In playback, the Honor Vs performed best when used for listening to music, but it also performed very well as a gaming device or when watching videos and movies. Audio recordings were more impressive with the main camera app, but audio quality from the front camera and memo app wasn’t far off.

Trial summary

Learn 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 compiles the key elements of our extensive testing and analysis performed in the SBMARK laboratories. Detailed performance evaluations in the form of reports are available upon request. Do not hesitate to contact us.

In our playback tests, the Honor Magic Vs delivered a decent tonal performance. Our testers noted a nice low-end presence but some lack of high-end extension. The midrange sounded a bit thin but natural, and the bass was right. Overall, the tonal balance was a bit thin, with a lot of focus on the midrange. Dynamic performance was good, thanks to the fairly sharp attack and decent punch. Bass precision suffered from a lack of sustain, due in part to insufficient bass extension.

In terms of spatial characteristics, the built-in speakers created a sound stage with an acceptable amplitude but lagging behind other devices of this class, especially with regard to the size of the Honor. On the plus side, individual sound sources were easy to locate and the distance rendering was accurate. However, a disappointing depth rendering resulted in a very flat stereo scene. Our experts also found the minimum volume setting to be too low, making it difficult to hear some quiet sections of classical music, for example. The maximum volume was quite high. In terms of unwanted audio artifacts, our testers observed significant distortion at maximum volume. They also found the speakers to become clogged easily when handling the device, both in the folded and unfolded state.

Hear about the playback performance of the smartphone tested in this comparison with some of its competitors:

Here’s how the Honor Magic Vs fares in playback use cases compared to its competitors:

Here are some sound pressure levels (SPL) measured while playing our sample recordings of hip-hop and classical music at maximum volume:

The following graph shows the gradual changes in volume from minimum to maximum. We expect these changes to be consistent across the range, so that all volume steps match user expectations:

Our experts found the tonal balance in the recording to be average. The recordings had nice midrange body in most situations, but also sounded muffled, with some resonance affecting midrange delivery. The treble delivery was correct, but an additional presence of bass would have been beneficial. The Honor performed very well in the dynamics category, with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio ensuring good voice intelligibility in all use cases, as well as good envelope rendering.

The recordings offered only average breadth, with the portrait-oriented front-facing camera recordings being particularly narrow. The localizability of individual sound sources also left room for improvement, with a blurry soundstage and the position of voices in the scene appearing to move. The distance rendering was accurate and natural. The main camera recording lacked volume, but the volume was good in all other use cases. Also, unwanted audio artifacts were hardly a problem, with only a slight compression and distortion appearing on sudden loud vocals. Background rendering could have been better, as its tonal balance was compromised by noise reduction and some pumping.

Here’s how the Honor Magic Vs fares in recording use cases compared to its competitors:

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:

In this audio comparison, you can hear how this smartphone handles wind noise compared to its competitors:

matrix(3) {
[“Honor Magic Vs”]=> string(64) “resources/Honor/MagicVsV2.1/HonorMagicVs_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Xiaomi MIX Fold 2”]=> string(66) “resources/Honor/MagicVsV2.1/XiaomiMIXFold2_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4”]=> string(71) “resources/Honor/MagicVsV2.1/SamsungGalaxyZFold4_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }