Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 Audio test

We put the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 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 left, bottom left)
• No Jack audio output

Playback

Registration

In SBMARK Audio tests, Samsung’s latest flagship foldable device, the Galaxy Fold5, delivered strong recording performance. An effective audio zoom function and impressive recording quality at noisy events, such as concerts, were notable improvements over the predecessor Z Fold4. On the downside, the Samsung was quite prone to wind noise when recording in breezy conditions. Recording results were better when using major camera apps. The quality dropped slightly with the front camera and office apps.

In terms of playback, the built-in speakers sound nice and nice, but their placement on the device isn’t optimized for an immersive listening experience. Overall playback quality was better when listening to music and gaming and slightly lower when watching movies.

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.

In playback tests, the Z Fold5 delivered a good tonal performance. Tonal balance was identical to its predecessor the Z Fold4, with satisfying highs, as well as solid mids and lows. In terms of dynamics, the Samsung offered a satisfying attack, decent bass accuracy and very good power. The built-in speakers produced a good-sized stereo soundstage, but considering the Fold5’s large size when unfolded, it could have been even wider. The placement of the speakers on the device also meant that audio was perceived as monaural when the open device was held in portrait orientation. The localizability of individual sound sources was slightly poor, but the rendering of both distance and depth was good.

Volume at maximum volume was good and perceptually louder than on other Galaxy series phones. The minimum setting was loud enough to be understandable but not too loud. On the downside, our experts encountered a number of unwanted audio artifacts when playing audio on the Z Fold5. At maximum volume there was strong distortion, especially in the mid-high range, and compression had a negative impact on dynamics.

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

Here’s how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 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:

Recording performance was excellent overall and was a notable improvement over the previous generation device. Tonal balance was good but lacked brightness and air in all use cases. Treble performance was slightly inconsistent, with a lack of clarity in the lower treble. The midrange could be slightly resonant but overall it was quite natural and balanced. The bass was nice and strong. In terms of dynamics, the Samsung’s envelope was more precise when recording with the main camera but lacked attack. Thanks to a good signal-to-noise ratio, speech was easy to understand but the background could have been further attenuated.

Recordings from the main camera offered a wide soundstage with accurate distance rendering. However, things looked different when recording in portrait orientation with the front-facing camera where locability was blurry and the sound stage was quite narrow. On the plus side, voices directed towards the device are slightly louder and create a sense of direction. Recordings were loud in all use cases, and the maximum perceived volume was significantly improved compared to the Z Fold4. Aside from some slight distortion on screaming vocals, the Z Fold5’s recordings were mostly free of unwanted artifacts, even when recording loud events like concerts. However, finger noises when holding the phone in portrait orientation while recording could be an issue. The background tonal balance was nice and natural, but could have been achieved with more low-end extension and detail in the high-end extension.

Here’s how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 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) {
[“Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5”]=> string(78) “resources/Samsung/GalaxyZFold5V2.1/SamsungGalaxyZFold5_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4”]=> string(78) “resources/Samsung/GalaxyZFold5V2.1/SamsungGalaxyZFold4_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Honor Magic Vs”]=> string(71) “resources/Samsung/GalaxyZFold5V2.1/HonorMagicVs_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }