The 2008 Audio 'Head To Head To Head' (W960 Walkman, N81, iPhone)
Published by Ewan Spence at 16:34 GMT, January 31st 2008
Time to take the latest music smartphones and see how they sound. Ewan dons the headphones.
Last year at this time, the then current MP3 phones underwent an audio comparison test by my good self. Now the Nokia N91, W950 and iPod Shuffle have been superseded, it’s time to return to the land of music and call forth the latest contenders.
The Contenders
Frrroooooom the north we have the Fighting Finn, the White and Blue Corner, the Nokia N81 8GB! Our only ‘slider’ phone, with the only sensible headphone socket (a nice and central 3.5mm) and some always available playback controls, can it pull ahead of the competition?
Iiiiinnnn the Orange and Black Corner, Sony Ericsson’s W960 Walkman phone – also sporting 8GB, comes up to the plate. The lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack is an interesting decision, but the supplied extension cable with socket on the end (and one button remote control) still allows you to use your own headphones if you want. Dedicated playback buttons are available while the Walkman app is active, and the side rocker controls the volume and forward/back skipping if you hold them down (and don’t look for that in the manual - I couldn’t find it either).
Aaaaaaand finally! The challenger from Cupertino, the Apple iPhone. Also available with 8GB of flash memory, it does take your own headphones but you’ll need to hand over a bit more cash for a special adaptor to lift the 3.5mm headphone socket up from deep inside the machine to somewhere where you can use your own.
Ringside Seats
The aim of this article is to listen and review the music, not the ancillary functions, or even how good the bundled headphones are – all three devices allow you to use your own headphones, either natively like the N81, or through an extra cable or adaptor. So I’m going to use the best pair of headphones I have – a set of Ultimate Ears 11’s which are custom moulded to my ears and carry a stupid number of audio drivers inside them. Any flaws in the cans will be consistent, but the majority of audio problems are going to be as a result of the handsets.
The Challenge
Three musical tracks were chosen for the audio test:
AC/DC’s Whole Lotta Rosie, for sheer musical power, driving bass lines and vocal reproduction. This is classic rock and roll, and if the smartphones can cope with this, then the pretenders in today's popular beat combos will be easy.
Yoko Kano and the Seatbelts performance of Tank! (the theme to Cowboy Bebop) – it’s a big band bebop jazz ensemble of crashing noise, conflicting beats and consistently remains interesting throughout the track. Perfect to push the ability to pick out single instruments and tones from a crowd.
Finally I have a performance of Mars – The Bringer of War, Gustaf Holtz' orchestral peace. Very brooding and menacing, with massive changes in volume, for quiet approaching menace to bombastic destruction. It’s great for working on a range of loudness levels and clarity.
How They All Measure Up
As both Steve and I pointed out in last year's audio test, the limiting factor in music on smartphones is no longer the technology – circuitry, storage memory, power requirements and connectors are now all at a price where there should be no reason not to ensure that any smartphone is a dedicated music player. Where the changes are going to be in the future, and what mark out devices, are going to be in the interface (both hardware and software); areas we’ve already discussed in the reviews of the N81 and W960.
Yes there are subtle differences in the audio quality that I could pick up – I was planning to leave all the devices at their default sound settings, with no tweaking on the graphic equalisers, but the honest answer is that while these ‘default’ profiles do vary from device to device, by applying the equalizer I could get a sound out of each device that was noticeably similar. On defaults, the N81 sounds a little bit duller – I think due to emphasising all the frequencies to a similar level. The W960 on the other hand puts a lot more emphasis on the higher and lower frequencies, and of course has the extra oomph in the bass department with the graphic equaliser having the trademark “Megabass” system.
One area where I did pick up a difference was in stereo separation – it was much easier on the iPhone to pick out the stereo separation – sounds were more to the left or more to the right than on the other devices.
Noticeable on all three devices is the amount of ‘hiss’ they produce. Battery power usage is kept to a minimum by only switching on what’s needed, when it’s needed in most consumer devices. So if the music player is not on, then there is no current passed through the audio circuits. Warm up the application, and you get a tiny amount of background noise – hiss.
Each of the three devices has this hiss, and to a noticeable (although not deafening) effect when nothing is playing. This is one area where I would put the W960 ahead – it has the least hiss of any of the devices, with the iPhone coming in next, and the N81 being the loudest – although this should be tempered with the fact the N81 will wait until you hit ‘play’ to warm up the circuitry, while the other two devices do so as the music app becomes active.
Volume is always a tricky one – these devices are used mainly in urban environments and people are looking for maximum volume. And in part this is scuppered by the European Union putting volume limits on the decibel output of any media device. To be honest I went into this test thinking that each device was going to have the same upper (legal) limit, but this wasn’t the case. Nokia’s N81 was the earwax loosening loudest, although the limits of the Mp3 codec were pushed and it was very slightly distorted, but not enough to have a major impact on the music. Next was the iPhone which was just a shade into the painful loudness and finally the W960 stayed the right side of ouch but perhaps would struggle on the London Underground.
And I have to stress that all these differences are very slight – I was focussing heavily to pick up on them. Switching back to basic (cheap) headphones and the quality differences were markedly less noticeable, to the point where I would struggle to tell the devices apart (once the equalizers were set to my favourite tonal quality).
Music based smartphones have audibly come of age – the decision between a dedicated player and a converged device has nothing to do with the quality. Choose on looks, choose on buttons, choose on no-buttons, choose on storage, but you won’t be able to choose on sound quality. They’re all the same high standard.
-- Ewan Spence, Feb 2008
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Categories: Comment, Hardware
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition, UIQ 3
Feature Discussion
Unregistered
Your review is a garbage. You do not do any RMAA measurement or anything else your audio reiew like thing only depen on your ears. You dont make any solid statement which one is better. You can not even properly made a proper review of W960i. I think it better for you quit reviewing phones or start making better reviews like Mobile-review.....
krisse
Great article, it does seem like there's very little sound quality difference between music devices nowadays.
On the subject of headphones, when I bought a 5300 and tried using the official headphones it sounded very flat, which was disappointing for a music-oriented phone. However, with third party headphones using a 2.5mm/3.5mm adaptor it was a much richer and more impressive sound and louder too.
This seems to be the case on a lot of devices, when you switch to better headphones the sound quality improves dramatically. But how many people DO switch to better headphones? How many think they are compelled to use the ones that come in the box?
Uncle Sammy
I think you guys enjoy pissing people off.
Unregistered
@krisse
contrary to the other two, the headphones that come with the iPhone are just fine.
No need to spend extra dough.
krazyfrog
This comparison test was very unimpressive. Firstly it was very short. Second you mentioned the songs you used to test but didn't tell how each handset performed with the said tracks. You also didn't comment on the individual performance of the handsets or provide any details as to what kind of sound these devices produce. You didn't even rate their performance or gave any idea as to which you thought was the best and why.
Overall i'd say it was a disappointing test. I'd expected more from you guys.
krisse
Quote:
contrary to the other two, the headphones that come with the iPhone are just fine.
No need to spend extra dough.
|
Oh yeah, I wasn't saying all manufacturers did this, I'd expect good headphones on a device with such a high price tag and a music-centric heritage.
It's just frustrating when so many people (including some reviewers) make up their mind about devices based on what the bundled headphones sound like. To be completely fair they should use the same headphones on all the devices they compare (which is what I try to do using a third party 3.5mm pair and an adaptor if required).
Unregistered
Why don't you make RMAA tests? Sorry but this review is useless.
Dogmann
Hi all
Sorry but i couldn't agree less with this statement how ever hard i tried
"Music based smart phones have audibly come of age – the decision between a dedicated player and a converged device has nothing to do with the quality."
I do whoever agree that supplied headphones are adequate at best and an upgrade here really pays dividends. But just as important is how the Music is encoded tiny Mp3's may allow you to squeeze as many Albums as possible but at what cost when it comes to Music files IMO smaller really isn't better as always quality is what counts not quantity.
Listening to Music that doesn't sound good is a horrible thing to do and not worth the effort, some Music smart phones do a reasonable job but are still not up to a dedicated player and seeing as you didn't test them against one i really fail to see how you can justify your opinion. It also would of been nice to have know at what quality the Music you tested was encoded at, i have tried 256kbps AAC exactly the same files on both a N95/N95 8GB and 5th Gen iPod the difference was so great i decided not to sell the iPod as whilst the smart phones did a good job they were just not any where near as good as the dedicated player. But then a dedicated player can't make and receive calls, surf the Web, send and receive E-Mails or many of the other things a smart phone can but it can certainly play Music better than them IMO.
Marc
davidmaxwaterma
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
@krisse
contrary to the other two, the headphones that come with the iPhone are just fine.
No need to spend extra dough.
|
Countrary to the other two, with the iPhone one ends up having to pay extra for a 'just fine' pair of earphones only to throw them away because one has an excellent pair already.
With the other two, one only has to pay for and throw away a cheap pair.
Unregistered
Given a little more inclination I'd sit down and spend some time doing a proper audio analysis with the phones I've got (just got an N82 to add to my collection: 5 Symbian phones now). Initial impressions of my N82 are that the music sounds fairly good. The only major issue is that Symbian and Nokia do not have a clue how to start playing audio cleanly. There is almost always a short audio glitch whenever you press play and also when one track ends and another begins.
Rafe
We do appreciate that some people prefer technical reviews (e.g. with RMAA measurements), but we also think there is room for opinion pieces. Ewan is letting other people know what he thinks.
The human element can be just as worthy as a purely technical criteria.
That said we'll take all this on board and try and do better in future reviews, as ever your feedback is appreciated.
Unregistered
I agree that the review is a crap as there is no data to support. Though the review is purely a opinion.. I question the music knowledge of the reviewers.
slitchfield
Although I agree the comparison is on the short side, I'll stick up for Ewan here: he wasn't attempting to do a ridiculously detailed, statistical analysis of the sound coming out of all three devices. Geeky analysis of this kind is strictly for those people without a life. In this case, Ewan's got a life, a family and better things to do. He used his knowledge of how the tracks were supposed to sound, was surprised at how good they all sounded, with no real defects on any device (we couldn't have said that 2 years ago) and expressed his opinions in plain English.
And I agree. All modern smartphones have music that's good enough for my ears. I wouldn't recommend any of these devices for a classically pure audiophile, but for 99.9% of us they're fine for 99.9% of the time. Surely that's good enough and we can move on?
The issue with the W960 is the stupid deactivation of the music controls, of course - that's by far the dominant factor in any overall comparison!
Unregistered
I think the problem is that this review is about audio and not about a phone. Sound quality is really important and this is being expressed quite loudly! (like the pun??)
I would get a w960i staight away but for the lack of a 3.5mm socket. I don't think this review states clearly enough on how bad SE dongle thing is. If you put the phone in your pocket with the dongle it WILL come off at some point and then the music starts blarring out the speakers. I have NO idea how sony can dare to calls these 'walkman' devices - oh because they have some buttons!!! Yeh big deal all phones have buttons!! a headphone socket is more important. Total joke in my opinion.
Unregistered
Nice review and I can only tell I,m so happy with my N81 with booster headphones , most be the best sound for a mobile you can find.
vsuraj
Nokia comes with a pathetic desktop music player and I will never use it to tag my tracks or manage my playlists. I don't know about SE.
iTunes is the best for managing tracks and creating playlists. For that reason, I'll vote for the iphone/ipod.
Guess Who
The reviewer is a moron or Symbian biased, the Nokia and SE devices can't even play tracks gaplessly, the most basic music player function.
Unregistered
"the most basic music player function."
Gapless playback isn't a basic feature at all, if you think that you're the moron here and you obviously don't know anything about programming or audio. Still it's not rocket science either and it's definitely a feature you'd expect to find on a decent player. The issue for me is not with the delay between stopping one track and starting the next one (which is only about 1-2 seconds at most), the issue is the "noise" that comes out of the speakers when this happens.
I often get home and plug my phone into my hi-fi system and the crap that comes out when playback starts is sooooo obvious and totally unacceptable IMO!
ayush3090
well guys although i hate my 5700
has such a weak bass and bad volume
but atleast one thing's really good............there's no hiss between the songs :D
richardyates
There's no doubt to me that this is the best site for S60, and has been for a long time. You guys have cost me a lot of money over the years:-)
But I have to agree this is one of the weakest reviews in ages - surely the treble or bass is better in one of these devices? Does the megabass work like it says it does? - there are lots of unanswered questions and really no conclusion.
I don't think any of that justifies personal attacks on Ewan but I also think (as someone who has just worked 30 days without a day off) that if Ewan was too busy to do it properly, then he shouldn't have done it at all, or else waited until he was ready
sparx104
These audio quality tests you can get mean very little to the average person. "Ooh, this one has a better reproduction of the second level harmonic, whereas this one has a lower wow/flutter ratio." - that means nothing to most people.
Speaking as someone who has sold everything from 4.99 radios to hifi equipment valued at several thousand pounds the first thing I was always asked was "which sounds better to you". Everyone's hearing is different along with their preferences - eg. some people like lots of bass, others don't.
All audio reviews can only ever be guides. If you are in the market for one of these devices ask to try it. I've never had problems taking a memory card and a set of headphones to a shop and having them let me try stuff out.
So, keep up the good work with the opinions and reviews and I shall still keep my own opinion when I buy anything.
Unregistered
Honestly, some of you need to grow up.
Calling the review "useless", "garbage" and "crap" is destructive criticism which helps no-one and is simply insulting. And to refer to the reviewer as a "moron" - well, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Fine...you don't like the review? Then say something constructive (as several have successfully managed to do), or say nothing...
Unregistered
I've found that the Bluetooth operation at gym (compatibly branded BT headset) workd better with the W960i. Add in the Sony Ericsson watch and the package is complete. Unbeatable. However, try searching for compatible applications like Google Maps, fring, WorldMate, ShoZu and there just isn't one for the W960i. Download sites don't list it and WAp sites don't recognise it. And, unlike the Samsung i450 and N81 that are both S60 ver 3 phones and therefore compatible with almost all apps approved for other similar OS phones, the W960i isn't necessarily going to work with a P1 or P990 or W950 application. Most of these tend to be prone to crashing. If I had all three I'd still keep using the w960i because I received a very pretty Sony Ericsson watch for Christmas 2006... and this DOES make all the difference. Want a WOW gadget ... get one! Samsung i450 ... most stable of all three and definitely is one to watch. - Andy, Cape Town, South Africa
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