Smartphones have a lot of utility that old-school mobile phones never did. While phones used to be primarily for making phone calls and sending text messages, modern smartphones are miniature computers with a wide variety of apps and functions.
Your phone can be a compass, a calculator, a metronome, a gaming device, and a professional camera all in one. One of the most popular functions of smartphones is the ability to record and listen to audio. With the right phone, musicians can use their phone as their primary device for setting up and reviewing recordings. The following are some of the best phones for audio technology.
Which Phones Have the Best Microphones?
Having strong audio systems on your phone offers up a lot of possibilities. With a good microphone, you can record crisp voice lines and distinct instrumental tracks without hooking everything up to a computer. Here are some of the top smartphones when it comes to microphone systems:
Honor V30 Pro
One of Huawei’s strongest lines is the Honor series, which includes the Honor V30 Pro. The phone ships out of China, which means it does not come with many of the application features you would find in the United States. However, it does have excellent camera and microphone systems.
The microphone has powerful bass extension and frequency response. It has a great sound-to-noise ratio, and the spatial performance is improved by solid tonal balance and wideness. This combination produces a very good mic system that provides crisp and clear audio.
LG V60 ThinQ
The LG V60 ThinQ is a large phone with great display, performance, and battery life for its price. While its size may be a bit unwieldy for people used to much smaller smartphones, it packs a lot of power into its hardware. The audio is very good in this model, both in terms of playback and recording capacity.
From a technological standpoint, the ThinQ is very impressive. It has four microphones for the purpose of maximizing spatial recording performance. It has both top and bottom stereo speakers, along with software that allows for multiple different recording modes. As a microphone system, the hardware of the V60 offers some of the most powerful and versatile audio recording capabilities in the mobile market.
LG G8S ThinQ
While the audio proficiency of the LG G8S ThinQ is nothing to scoff at, it does not reach the heights of the V60. It lacks the hardware and software power that sets the V60 apart, and while it is not a bad phone by any means, there is very little about it that helps it to stand out from the rest of the industry.
This remains true when discussing the microphone system and recording options. It offers an HD audio recorder and two analog speakers, which does lag behind the other phones on this list. Spatial audio does perform very well, and the audio quality you will get will be crisp and clean. If you just want strong audio for your videos, then this will work fine. Musicians, on the other hand, may prefer a more powerful device.
Which Phones Have the Best Speakers?
In addition to being able to record clear audio, it is important that your phone has strong playback features. In fact, more people probably use the speakers than the microphone, given how well our phones work for streaming video and music. The following are some of the phones with the best speakers on the market:
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro
The Xiaomi Mi 10 pro is a very powerful phone with high performance and great audio systems. It is a pricey phone, but with that comes premium hardware that you won’t find in many other devices. This applies to the speaker, given that there are very few devices out there with this kind of audio quality.
The phone sports two stereo speakers with a seven-magnet design and plenty of customization options for fine-tuning your sound. It has a 1.2cc equivalent speaker chamber with an incredibly clear and balanced audio result. This provides some of the best audio quality in the business, which is a big reason why the phone has a high price point to match.
Sony XPERIA 1 II
Sony’s mobile phones may not be their biggest sellers, but that does not mean you cannot get a great device with great speaker capabilities. The Sony XPERIA 1 II fits the bill, offering a premium smartphone with impressive hardware for any musician or music enthusiast.
The device offers two front-facing stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos sound. The quality here is top of the line, and that is clear when playing back audio on this phone. Voices and music alike come across very well through the XPERIA 1 II speaker system. It also has a headphone jack, which is always great in an industry where those are no longer guaranteed.
ASUS ROG Phone 5
The Asus ROG Phone 5 is actually associated with gaming for most people. It dedicates a lot of its resources to its display, refresh rate, and performance so that it can handle software and hardware-intensive applications. However, this power does come with some upgrades to speakers as well.
It has dual front-facing speakers to match its four microphones, along with the audio upgrades that come with the Snapdragon 888 chipset. It has a wide frequency range that retains clear audio throughout, which includes great bass. The tonal balance and volume dependency are best in class, with the audio remaining consistent across the board. It might not be the phone for you if you do not also want the gaming features, but taken on their own, the speakers are very well made in their own right.
The Bottom Line
There are a lot of great phones out there if your goal is to get great microphone and speaker results. Whether you are a professional who works with audio a lot or if you are just a connoisseur, there is a phone out there for you.
If you want a phone that will pick up anything you throw at it when recording, then the Honor V30 Pro and the LG V60 ThinQ are both great options. If you want crisp playback that sounds like you are hearing it live, try the premium Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro or Sony Xperia 1 II.
Make sure you pick the right phone by using Navi. Navi analyzes all of your needs to make sure we can recommend the best options for you. Using industry insights, we make sure you never pay too much by laying all the facts at your feet.
Use Navi today to choose the smartphone audio system that is right for you.
