Motorola Razr 40 Ultra Audio test

We put the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra through our rigorous SBMARK Audio test suite to measure its performance in both recording audio using the built-in microphones and playing audio through 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 (top center, bottom right)
• No Jack audio output
• Dolby Atmos technology

Playback

Registration

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra delivered a somewhat unbalanced performance in the SBMARK Audio tests. While the recording quality was very good, the device was held back by its playback performance with the built-in speakers. The tonal results were particularly poor, severely lacking brilliance and bass extension. In terms of recording, the only notable drawback was a pronounced sensitivity to wind noise.

While the Motorola shouldn’t be your first choice for general audio playback, it delivers better sound when watching movies than when listening to music or playing games. In recording tests, results were best with office and work apps, but also very good when recording video with the main and front camera apps.

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.

The Razr 40 Ultra wasn’t among the best devices for audio playback, with results in the Timbre category that left some room for improvement. Our experts observed a strong lack of highs when listening to music and gaming, but the tonal balance was better when watching movies. The midrange was quite inconsistent and the bass was overall insufficient, especially at lower volumes. Dynamic performance was decent though, with satisfactory attack in all use cases. Other than during gaming, the punch was quite good, but the device lacked bass precision.

The width of the projected sound stage and the localizability of individual sound sources were only average, but while some voices may have seemed slightly distant, the distance rendering was overall in line with expectations. However, the depth rendering could have been better. Our testers found that volume at maximum volume was average, while minimum volume was slightly too loud. The distribution of volume levels was also slightly inconsistent. In terms of unwanted audio artifacts, our testers observed some distortion at maximum volume. The right speaker may be blocked by fingers when holding the device, but the impact on sound quality is quite minor.

Listen to the playback performance of the tested smartphone in this comparison with some of its competitors:

Here’s how the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra fares in playback use cases compared to its competitors:

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

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:

As a recording device, the Razr 40 Ultra performed quite well overall in our tests. Despite some minor flaws, the tonal balance was pleasing. Highs lacked a bit of high-end extension with the main camera, but were still good, and when recording with the front camera it was a bit brighter. The midrange was good in all test apps, with natural vocal delivery. The Motorola also performed well when recording at high sound pressure levels, for example at concerts, where the bass sounded round and clean if slightly too pronounced. The Razr also performed well in the Dynamic category, thanks to an accurate and precise envelope in all use cases, sharp attacks, even at high sound pressure levels, and a good signal-to-noise ratio.

When recording with the phone in landscape orientation, our experts found that both the breadth of the soundstage and the localizability of individual sound elements were exceptional. In portrait orientation with the Selfie Cam, the range was more limited but the localizability remained precise. Distance rendering was also accurate, resulting in voices being perceived in the correct location. Furthermore, the recordings were very noisy and mostly free of artifacts, even when recording at high sound pressure levels. Our testers noticed only occasional slight clipping on strong, sudden signals. However, this is common on most devices. Background rendering offered a nice tonal balance and was free of artifacts.

Here’s how the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra performs 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) {
[“Motorola Razr 40 Ultra”]=> string(78) “resources/Motorola/Razr40UltraV2.1/MotorolaRazr40Ultra_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy S23+”]=> string(76) “resources/Motorola/Razr40UltraV2.1/SamsungGalaxyS23+_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max”]=> string(78) “resources/Motorola/Razr40UltraV2.1/AppleiPhone14ProMax_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }