Motorola Edge 40 Pro Audio test

We put the Motorola Edge 40 Pro through 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 and bottom right)
• No audio output Jack
• Dolby Atmos technology

Reproduction

Registration

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro delivered a disappointing performance overall. Notably, the sound signature was rather nasty and aggressive in both audio playback and recording. In playback, the Edge 40 Pro was best suited for playing games and watching movies, but performed poorly in the music use case. The device had accurate locability of individual sound sources and good distance rendering, but tonal balance and dynamic performance were poor.

In recording, the Edge 40 Pro performed at a similar level in all apps used for testing. Recordings were very loud and hardly affected by wind or finger noises. However, the tonal balance was unpalatable and both compression and distortion were often very noticeable.

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 playback tests, the Edge 40 Pro delivered poor tonal performance. The tonal balance sounded aggressive, mainly due to a zone of harshness in the highs and a piercing resonance. The midrange was decent enough, but lacked clarity and fullness. The bass was incoherent and weak. The dynamics also left room for improvement. Attack seemed fuzzy at rated volume, and while bass accuracy and punch were decent at rated volume, at max volume all three dynamic attributes—attack, punch, and bass accuracy—suffered noticeably at max volume.

The Edge 40 Pro speakers offered decent width and fairly accurate localization of individual sound sources in the soundstage. While the distance rendering was good, the sound stage lacked depth. Our experts found the minimum and maximum volume settings to be loud enough, and the volume distribution was very consistent. In terms of unwanted audio artifacts, our testers noted heavy distortion and significant compression at maximum volume. They also found that the timbre was compromised by aggressive treble resonance, even at nominal volume. However, in most hand positions, the built-in speakers weren’t easily occluded.

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

Here’s how the Motorola Edge 40 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:

The timbre in the recording was below average, with a very mixed tonal balance that lacked consistency across use cases. The highs could be harsh, the midrange sounded hollow, and the bass was weak and incoherent. In terms of dynamics, the signal-to-noise ratio was acceptable, but the envelope rendering was inconsistent, especially when recording concerts where compression and distortion were quite intrusive. Spatial performance was generally good, with good breadth across all use cases, as well as decent localizability and distance rendering.

Volume was a strong point for the Motorola Edge 40 Pro, with exceptionally loud recordings. That said, the results in the maximum volume tests weren’t good, indicating that the input gain may be set too high. Our experts also detected a number of unwanted audio artifacts during the recording. The compression was noticeable at nominal volumes and became more intrusive at high sound pressure levels, such as when recording loud concerts. Distortion was also noticeable across all use cases, but mostly affected the higher frequencies. On the plus side, microphone hand occlusions weren’t an issue on the Motorola. Background performance could have been better, with the background tonal balance usually sounding harsh and intrusive.

Here’s how the Motorola Edge 40 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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[“Google Pixel 7 Pro”]=> string(72) “resources/Motorola/Edge40ProV2.1/GooglePixel7Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Xiaomi 13”]=> string(65) “resources/Motorola/Edge40ProV2.1/Xiaomi13_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }