We subjected the Nubia RedMagic 8 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:
- Three speakers (top side, bottom side, top front)
- 3.5mm jack audio output
Reproduction
Pros
- Good maximum volume with test signals, but obliterated by compression with music content
Against
- Poor overall playback performance
- Poor tonal balance
- Strong compression and distortion at maximum volume
Registration
Pros
- Recording volume correct
- Fairly good signal-to-noise ratio indoors, for example at home or in the office
Against
- Tonal balance inconsistent and aggressive in all use cases
- Unrealistic and inaccurate dynamic performance
- No stereo recording
With a SBMARK Audio score of 103, the Nubia RedMagic 8 Pro fell nowhere near the upper regions of our ranking. It seems that audio was not a top priority when conceiving and designing this gaming-oriented smartphone, and the RedMagic 8 Pro performed poorly both as a playback device with the built-in speakers and when recording sound.
Playback performance was poor in all use cases, but the Nubia did a little better when watching movies and playing games, compared to music. Recording results were slightly better for office and note-taking use than for recording with the main and selfie cameras, but in all use cases the Nubia was held back by its monophonic 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.
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.
The Nubia RedMagic 8 Pro performed poorly as a playback device overall. The timbre was mediocre, with an extremely thin and narrow tonal balance. The highs sounded muffled, with a severe lack of treble extension, and the midrange was very thin and tight. The bass sounded muddy but brittle, and there was a severe lack of low-end extension. In terms of dynamics, the attack lacked sharpness, punch was weak, and bass accuracy was compromised by a lack of low-end extension and bass overall.
The built-in speakers projected a narrow soundstage where individual sound sources were difficult to pinpoint. The remote rendering was inaccurate, with voices sounding too far away. Volume performance wasn’t great either. The minimum volume level was too low for silent content to be fully intelligible, and the volume level distribution was not consistent. Maximum volume would have been good but it was compromised by a huge amount of compression. Our experts also encountered some unwanted audio artifacts, including distortion, as well as extremely strong compression at maximum volume.
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 Nubia Redmagic 8 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 dependency. 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 | |
| Nubia Red Magic 8 Pro | 77 dBA | 76.6 dBA |
| Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro | 76.4 dBA | 73.4 dBA |
| Lenovo Legion Y90 | 76.5 dBA | 69.8 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 Nubia isn’t a great option for audio recording either, with monaural recording being a major drawback. Tonal performance on recording was decent overall and quite similar to the predecessor RedMagic 7 Pro. That said, the tonal balance sounded thin and aggressive, due to a lack of low-mid and low-end, and in the upper spectrum the treble was aggressive and metallic. The midrange sounded dull and severely lacked warmth and body in the lower midrange. In terms of dynamics, the overall rendering of the envelope lacked sharpness and precision. When recording at high sound pressure levels, such as concerts, transients were completely squashed by heavy compression.
Spatial performance was heavily impacted by recording the phone in mono only. This resulted in a total lack of breadth and localizability. Remote rendering was unnatural, due to inconsistent tonal balance and prominent high-midrange. Our experts found the volume recording to be fine, but the results were poor when recording loud sources. Audio recording artifacts included hiss induced by incoherent treble rendering, as well as significant pumping and distortion when recording loud content. Strong compression along with distortion in the bass and mids were evident at high SPLs. The background tonal balance was unrealistic, lacking bass and low mids and sounding metallic.
Here’s how the Nubia Redmagic 8 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 | |
| Nubia Red Magic 8 Pro | -33.5 LUFS | -24.4 LUFS | -19.2 LUFS | -28.4 LUFS |
| Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro | -33.6 LUFS | -25 LUFS | -20.5 LUFS | -28.1 LUFS |
| Lenovo Legion Y90 | -28.1 LUFS | -19 LUFS | -18 LUFS | -22.9 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) {
[“Nubia Redmagic 8 Pro”]=> string(74) “resources/Nubia/RedMagic8ProV2.1/NubiaRedmagic8Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro”]=> string(74) “resources/Nubia/RedMagic8ProV2.1/NubiaRedMagic7Pro_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Lenovo Legion Y90”]=> string(72) “resources/Nubia/RedMagic8ProV2.1/LenovoLegionY90_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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