We subjected the Honor Magic5 Pro 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 center, bottom right)
- No audio jack output
- DTS:X Ultra technology
Reproduction
Pros
- Good tonal balance at nominal volume
- Good dynamic performance at nominal volume
Against
- Slightly limited in size
- Distortion at maximum volume compromises timbre and dynamics
- Minimum volume tuned slightly too low
Registration
Pros
- Extremely efficient side rejection when using audio zoom
- Excellent dynamic performance
- Pleasant and natural timbre in most use cases
Against
- Disappointing wind noise reduction
- Inconsistent processing and therefore performance across use cases, especially for stamp
With a score of 138, the Honor Magic5 Pro achieved an excellent result in the SBMARK audio tests, thanks to the excellent performance in both playback and recording. In playback, the Honor performed very well in all use cases, making it a great option for listening to music, watching movies, and playing games.
In recording, there was more variation between use cases, especially in terms of timbre. Overall, the device worked best when recording with the main camera. When using the front camera or voice recorder app, our experts observed a slight drop in quality, but the Honor Magic5 Pro still performed at a high level. There was some room for improvement in terms of wind noise reduction, but the Honor Magic5 Pro is overall a great smartphone for audio playback and recording, earning us our Gold label for audio.
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.
How the audio playback score is composed
SBMARK engineers test playback through smartphone speakers, the performance of which is evaluated in our labs and under real-life conditions, using apps and preset settings.
In SBMARK audio tests, the Honor Magic5 Pro delivered very good playback performance. The tonal balance lacked low-end and high-end extension, but was overall natural and pleasant. Dynamic performance was good too, with sharp attack, good bass accuracy, and good punch at nominal and low volume. The built-in speakers generated decent amplitude, but given the device’s rather large size, there’s room for improvement. Individual sound sources were easy enough to spot in the soundstage, but localizability could be a bit fuzzy, especially with complex audio content mixing many sound elements, such as film or symphonic music. Balance was perfectly centered and distance rendering was accurate, but depth rendering could have been better, with the soundstage sounding shallow, especially when listening to classical music.
While the phone’s maximum volume setting was quite high in our tests, the minimum setting was slightly too low in some cases, making it difficult to hear quieter sound elements. Our testers noticed very few unwanted audio artifacts, just some distortion at maximum volume. We also found the Honor not particularly sensitive to speaker hand occlusions.
Hear about the playback performance of the smartphone tested in this comparison with some of its competitors:
Recordings of smartphones playing some of our songs at 60 LAeq in an anechoic environment via 2 microphones in AB configuration, at 30 cm
Here’s how the Honor Magic5 Pro fares in playback use cases compared to its competitors:
Playback of use case scores
The Timbre score represents how well a phone reproduces sound across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, mids, treble, tonal balance, and volume dependence. It is the most important attribute for reproduction.
Frequency response of music reproduction
A 1/12-octave frequency response graph, which measures the loudness of each frequency emitted by your smartphone as it reproduces 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 impact sound of drums is played.
Secondary attributes for spatial testing include pinpointing 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 (SPL) measured while playing our sample recordings of hip-hop and classical music at maximum volume:
| hip-hop | Classic | |
| Honor Magic5 Pro | 69.5 dBA | 66.4 dBA |
| Honor Magic4 Pro | 72.3 dBA | 69.2 dBA |
| Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Snapdragon) | 74.8 dBA | 71.8 dBA |
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:
Music volume consistency
This line graph shows the relative loudness of the playback versus the user selected volume step, measured at several volume steps with correlated pink noise in an anechoic box recorded 0.20 meter on axis.
The artifact score measures the extent to which the sound is affected by various types of distortion. The higher the score, the less noticeable sound disturbances are. Distortion can occur due to the sound processing in the device and the quality of the speakers.
Playback Total Harmonic Distortion (maximum volume)
This graph shows total harmonic distortion and noise over 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 40cm) 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 under real-life conditions, using apps and default settings.
The Honor Magic5 Pro was excellent as a recording device in our tests, offering a pleasant timbre and good tonal balance, especially in front-facing camera recordings and with the voice memo app. Only when recording with the main camera did our testers experience loud music content that sounded nasal and lacked bass. Dynamic performance was very good overall, but varied slightly by use case. When recording loud concerts, our experts found the attack to be noticeably less sharp and plosives duller than in other use cases.
Distance rendering was very good in all use cases, with voices appearing at just the right distance. The localizability of the individual sound sources and the breadth of the sound scene were on an average level. Loudness was very good in all test scenarios, but objective measurements indicated that the Honor may struggle with recordings at high sound pressure levels, such as live concerts. As with playback, our experts observed very few unwanted audio artifacts during recording. Finger noises were barely audible, and if they accidentally covered the mic while recording, they hardly impacted audio quality. Background rendering was good, with good tonal balance but some bass was missing.
Here’s how the Honor Magic5 Pro fares in recording use cases compared to its competitors:
Use case scoring
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, which measures the loudness of each frequency captured by your 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 plosives in a voice (p, t, k, for example) are reproduced. The score also considers the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), such as how loud the lead voice is compared to the background noise.
Secondary attributes for spatial testing include locating a specific sound’s location, positional balance, distance, and amplitude on recorded audio files.
Directness of registration
Smartphone directivity graph while recording test signals using the camera app, with the main camera. It represents the acoustic energy (in dB) on the angle of incidence of the sound source. (Normalized to 0° angle, in front of the device.)
The loudness score represents how loud audio is normalized on recorded files and how well the device handles noisy environments, such as electronic concerts, while 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 life | Selfie videos | Memorandum | |
| Honor Magic5 Pro | -23.9 LUFS | -20.3 LUFS | -19.4 LUFS | -19.5 LUFS |
| Honor Magic4 Pro | -22.3 LUFS | -19.8 LUFS | -18.1 LUFS | -18.8 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 sound disturbances are. Distortions can occur due to in-device sound processing and microphone quality, 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) {
[“Honor Magic5 Pro”]=> string(68) “resources/Honor/Magic5ProV2.1/HonorMagic5Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Honor Magic4 Pro”]=> string(68) “resources/Honor/Magic5ProV2.1/HonorMagic4Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra”]=> string(75) “resources/Honor/Magic5ProV2.1/SamsungGalaxyS23Ultra_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }
Recordings of a voice sample with slight background noise, facing a 5 m/s turbulent wind
Background evaluates how smoothly various sounds around a voice blend into the video recording file. For example, when recording a speech at an event, the background shouldn’t interfere with the main vocal, but should provide context of your surroundings.
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