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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: MikeyLNG on April 14, 2016, 04:15:53 PM

Title: HTC 10 phone with 24-bit audio recording (sample inside) - Thoughts?
Post by: MikeyLNG on April 14, 2016, 04:15:53 PM

So I'm kind of fascinated with mobile phones and how some companies are trying to improve the audio recording capabilities. For the most part, Nokia seemed to be the forerunner of this movement, but the new HTC phone boasts 24-bit audio recording (and playback).

Now I'm not a taper at all, so I can't quite tell what makes a good recording, technically-speaking. I posted some recordings I made from a Nokia 808 phone a few months back and the feedback was it didn't sound very good, so I'm curious how you guys find this phone performs. There's only one sample I can find so far, but if I can find any others in the upcoming weeks as the phone becomes more available, I may post them too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=tdJGztccoYk

Title: Re: HTC 10 phone with 24-bit audio recording (sample inside) - Thoughts?
Post by: acidjack on April 14, 2016, 05:53:31 PM

That is badly distorted and does not sound good.

24-bit is a totally meaningless "feature" unless there is a very high quality pair of microphones in the phone. Unless the phone is extremely expensive, or extremely large, it would be difficult for that to be the case. I mean, in theory, DPA 4061s could be embedded in a phone-sized object, and they are astoundingly good mics, but the phone would cost $1500 or more. I should add that if you want to make good recordings of rock concerts, you'd also need an appropriately low-sensitivity mic, which would make it less useful for the main purpose people use phone mics for (making Snapchats of themselves).

The reason phone recordings suck isn't because they aren't made with sufficient bit depth, it's the low-end mics and users who don't really know what they're doing.

The only other way to get really HQ audio out of a phone is to connect an external device digitally that has appropriate inputs for high quality microphones. These products exist, as do digital mics like the Shure Motiv series, and can be pretty good, but I wouldn't call recording with external mics on a phone the same for the purpose you're asking as actually having a phone that could do it.