Huawei P60 Pro Audio test

We subjected the Huawei P60 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 left, bottom right)
• No audio jack output
• Huawei Histen technology

Reproduction

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The Huawei P60 Pro delivered solid performance in our SBMARK audio tests for both playback and recording. As a playback device, the Huawei performed best when listening to music, but it also performed well in our gaming and movie-watching use cases. Recording quality was better with the front-facing camera, with the results from the main camera and memo apps slightly lower.

The tonal balance in playback was satisfactory and the dynamic performance was very good in playback and recording. Recordings at high sound pressure levels, such as electronic music concerts, were generally free from distortion and excessive pumping. However, the P60 Pro also exhibited some glaring flaws that could have easily been fixed with better tuning, such as distorted bass during playback and inconsistent treble in recordings.

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.

As a playback device, the Huawei P60 Pro delivered a solid performance, with good tonal and dynamic performance. The tonal balance offered nice highs, natural mids, and good bass delivery. In terms of dynamic performance, our pundits observed snappy attack, decent bass accuracy, and a powerful punch. Projected soundstage width was only average for this class of device, and stereo balance didn’t appear to be perfectly uniform. On the plus side, the Huawei’s sound had good depth rendering, and individual sound sources in the scene could be located accurately and easily.

Volume at maximum volume was good, and the lowest volume setting was loud enough to hear soft volume passages in highly dynamic content, such as classical music. But measurements showed that the distribution of volume steps was inconsistent. Unwanted audio artifacts were overall well under control, but our experts noted some bass distortion at all volume levels, as well as some compression at maximum volume. Both effects were not too intrusive. Our testers found the right speaker to occlude easily when holding the device, but the impact on timbre and volume was negligible.

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

Here’s how the Huawei P60 Pro 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:

While recording, our testers found tonal performance to be average, with a muffled tonal balance when using the main camera app. The highs were lackluster, the midrange was fine in all test use cases, and the bass benefited from good low-end extension but sounded overly boomy when recording loud concerts. Dynamic performance was good overall but not too consistent across use cases. The envelope was accurate and lifelike when recording loud concerts, but a severe lack of treble when recording with the main camera app meant plosives could sound quite weak. The signal-to-noise ratio was pretty good in all applications.

The Huawei did well in the spatial category, with a decent width of recorded soundstage and proper distance rendering. Locability of individual sound sources was fine overall, but when recording with the main and selfie cameras the position of voices in the scene tended to be fuzzy. The volume of the recordings was correct and unwanted audio was well under control, without distortion and compression, even at high sound pressure levels, such as you would encounter at electronic music concerts and similar events. The device was quite prone to finger noises and microphone occlusions. The background tonal balance was pleasant and unobtrusive in most use cases, but sounded heavily muffled in main camera recordings. Also, the background was free from artifacts.

Here’s how the Huawei P60 Pro 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:

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[“Honor Magic5 Pro”]=> string(66) “resources/Huawei/P60ProV2.1/HonorMagic5Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra”]=> string(73) “resources/Huawei/P60ProV2.1/SamsungGalaxyS23Ultra_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }