TechAudioWhich phone is best for music and why? The top 3 smartphones for audio exploredLeave your Bluetooth Speaker at home and hook up some Hi-Res Audio cans – these are the best smartphones for music in 2023When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechAudioWhich phone is best for music and why? The top 3 smartphones for audio exploredLeave your Bluetooth Speaker at home and hook up some Hi-Res Audio cans – these are the best smartphones for music in 2023When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Leave your Bluetooth Speaker at home and hook up some Hi-Res Audio cans – these are the best smartphones for music in 2023
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
The best phone for music needs to have more than just a stellar set of speakers, it also needs to have oodles of space for your hi-resolution tunes, ideally a 3.5mm headphone jack for audiophiles to use theirbest wired headphones, excellent sound customisation options in the settings, and great codec support. Exhaustive enough?
If you’re big into music, though, you’re unlikely to get the latestbest smartphonesunder one roof to pick a winner for yourself. As a tech reviewer, though, I’m in a great position to help you pick the best phone for music for your discerning ears.
Why did I pick these phones? TheAsus ROG Phone and RedMagic 8 Pro are beefy gaming phones, and that’s a category that prioritises audio. They’re larger so have more space to make sounds feel more expansive from the loudspeakers, and they tend to have headphone jacks for wired listening too.
TheiPhone 14 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultraneed no introduction – these are the most ubiquitous high-end smartphones out now, and challengers like theHonor Magic 5 Pro,HuaweiP60 Pro, andXiaomi 13 Proare chomping at their heels, so it made sense to include them. Google’s Pixel 7 Pro is still one of thebest value smartphoneswe’ve tested, thanks to its sleek style and its fantastic camera system.
So which of these 10 phones bests the rest to be the mightiest phone for music playback? Starting with an honourable mention…
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Honourable Mention: iPhone 14 Pro Max
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell - Column 0ProsConsHeader Cell - Column 3Row 0 - Cell 0Quality loudspeakerNo 3.5mm headphone jackRow 0 - Cell 3Row 1 - Cell 0Apple Music supports lossless audio at no extra costBottom-firing main speakerRow 1 - Cell 3Row 2 - Cell 0Supports Hi-Res Bluetooth CodecsHigh priceRow 2 - Cell 3
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Header Cell - Column 0ProsConsHeader Cell - Column 3Row 0 - Cell 0Quality loudspeakerNo 3.5mm headphone jackRow 0 - Cell 3Row 1 - Cell 0Apple Music supports lossless audio at no extra costBottom-firing main speakerRow 1 - Cell 3Row 2 - Cell 0Supports Hi-Res Bluetooth CodecsHigh priceRow 2 - Cell 3
TheiPhone14 Pro Max is going to be the only option for iPhone users who don’t want to pick up a dedicated portable music player, and while it isn’t the mightiest music tool on the shelf, it’s still excellent at what it does well.
For starters, the speakers. They’re loud, expansive, offer decent sound separation, and can be listened to for long periods without any earache. iPhones have always been loudspeaker champs, and the 14 Pro Max is no exception.
If you’re an iPhone user, you might also be anApple Music subscriber, putting you in a great position to listen to Hi-Res Lossless audio – in other words ‘CD quality’. The service updated its entire library to support higher-quality tunes without charging more for the privilege.
A quick side note – you need to plug in wired to get the benefits of lossless audio. In turn, you can’t listen to actual lossless music from an iPhone without buying some accessories: namely wired headphones and one ofthe best headphone DACs– the gold standard being the excellentChord Mojo 2, pictured below.
(Image credit: Chord Electronics)
(Image credit: Chord Electronics)
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Once you have a lossless audio set-up in place, you’ll be living your very best iPhone audiophile life, bringing out the detail in backing instruments and vocals, and fine-tuning sound balance beautifully.
But if you want to tap into better-than-Bluetooth sound without picking up a separate DAC,Androidis your only option, and these two otherbest Android phoneoptions are the best around…
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Best for Personal Audio: Sony Xperia 1 V
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell - Column 0ProsConsHeader Cell - Column 3Row 0 - Cell 0Front-firing dual speakersAndroid doesn’t natively support bit-perfect audioRow 0 - Cell 3Row 1 - Cell 03.5mm headphone jack for quality personal audio360 Reality Audio limited to a handful of headphonesRow 1 - Cell 3Row 2 - Cell 0Plenty of sound personalisation tools within settingsHigh priceRow 2 - Cell 3Row 3 - Cell 0SD card supportRow 3 - Cell 2Row 3 - Cell 3
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Header Cell - Column 0ProsConsHeader Cell - Column 3Row 0 - Cell 0Front-firing dual speakersAndroid doesn’t natively support bit-perfect audioRow 0 - Cell 3Row 1 - Cell 03.5mm headphone jack for quality personal audio360 Reality Audio limited to a handful of headphonesRow 1 - Cell 3Row 2 - Cell 0Plenty of sound personalisation tools within settingsHigh priceRow 2 - Cell 3Row 3 - Cell 0SD card supportRow 3 - Cell 2Row 3 - Cell 3
Sony’s audio credentials need no introduction – the brand behind the iconic Walkman, and makers of the best-in-classWH-1000XM5 headphones, andWF-1000XM4 earbuds, it’s little wonder that its Xperia flagship ranks as a best phone for music.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Of course, if you want the very best sound from Sony’s flagship, you can wire up a DAC to theXperia 1 V, but even if you don’t, you can take advantage of a wide range of sound tools in the settings.
When matched with compatible headphones, you can also enable 360 Reality Audio and DSEE upscaling, so lower-quality audio has a bit moreva va voom.
Sony’s phones also have front-firing speakers, which is excellent for anyone watching content without headphones, so while the volume is less room-filling than Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max, it doesn’t need to be when you’re holding the Sony phone in your hands.
As a package, therefore, the Xperia 1 V doesn’t really drop anything when it comes to sound, arguably justifying its high price for audiophiles.
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Best Loudspeaker: Asus ROG Phone 7 & 7 Ultimate
(Image credit: Future / Sam Cross)
(Image credit: Future / Sam Cross)
Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell - Column 0ProsConsHeader Cell - Column 3Row 0 - Cell 0Best-in-class front-firing speakers + clip-on bass systemGaming phones styling won’t be for everyoneRow 0 - Cell 3Row 1 - Cell 03.5mm headphone jack for quality personal audioAndroid doesn’t natively support bit-perfect audioRow 1 - Cell 3Row 2 - Cell 0Plenty of sound personalisation tools within settingsHigh priceRow 2 - Cell 3Row 3 - Cell 0Huge 512GB storageRow 3 - Cell 2Row 3 - Cell 3
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0ProsConsHeader Cell - Column 3Row 0 - Cell 0Best-in-class front-firing speakers + clip-on bass systemGaming phones styling won’t be for everyoneRow 0 - Cell 3Row 1 - Cell 03.5mm headphone jack for quality personal audioAndroid doesn’t natively support bit-perfect audioRow 1 - Cell 3Row 2 - Cell 0Plenty of sound personalisation tools within settingsHigh priceRow 2 - Cell 3Row 3 - Cell 0Huge 512GB storageRow 3 - Cell 2Row 3 - Cell 3
Thebest gaming phonesare big, so tend to give their speakers a bit more room to pump out plenty of sound, and also pack headphone jacks for zero latency listening. So it should come as no surprise that our favourite gaming phone line, theROG Phone 7 and 7 Ultimate, is also a behemoth gaming phone.
If you pick up the Ultimate version, then you’ll also get an Aeroactive Cooler 7 in the box. This boosts bass brilliantly when clipped on, while also adding a kickstand to the mix, turning the ROG Phone into a powerful portable media player – excellent when travelling for anyone who doesn’t want to pack a Bluetooth speaker.
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
(Image credit: Basil Kronfli)
Like the Xperia 1 V, the ROG Phone 7 is Hi-Res Audio (HRA) certified, so it can playback high-resolution audio files rated at 24-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz when paired with Hi-Res Audio kit.
While it doesn’t have quite as many sound settings to play with as the Xperia 1 V, the ROG Phone 7 is still a superb phone for connecting to thebest headphones, and I actually preferred the sound settings for the kind of vocal, pop music I tend to listen to, even if it doesn’t support 360 Reality audio.
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Conclusion
So what have we learned? The markers of a great phone include mighty speakers and excellent personal audio options. Apple is generally a safe bet, provided you don’t mind missing out on lossless audio without any additional dongles.
In the Android camp, it’s a bit more complicated – not all dual-speakers are created equally, only a hanful of phones pack 3.5mm headphone jacks for lossless audio, and not all of them offer settings to tune the audio to your tastes.
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