Xperia XZ vs iPhone 7 Plus, P9 Plus, HTC 10 speaker comparison

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We compare the speakers of the Sony Xperia XZ, iPhone 7 Plus, Huawei P9 Plus and HTC 10 in a vs head-to-head to determine which is the badest of the flagships when it comes to audio. All four pack stereo speakers, but the Xperia XZ has ClearAudio+ switched on as well as Dynamic Normaliser while the HTC 10 is in music mode. Enjoy the video, let us know what you think is the best set of stereo speakers on a smartphone and if you have any questions about anything featured, fire them in the comments section below!

[no]

I listened to this with my headphones and went back and forth between them. The P9 and iPhone 7 are no doubt the loudest, but that 2nd song was painful to listen to on them. The XZ is the quietest but always the most pleasant to listen to. Vocals seem to be best on the P9, I think. Overall I think the XZ is the best one tbh.

[SystolicmmHg]

To me, the HTC and Sony had more balanced low-mid-, and high. Higher dB =/= quality eh.

[MinhPham]

Some of you guys should get your ears checked if you said the XZ has the best audio quality. As an ex-Sony user, I'm disappointed with the audio quality of Sony claimed stereo speakers, ever since the Z2!

[sumendranpillay]

Htc 10 not the loudest but is definitely much more enjoyable to listen to

[ES-qyju]

Excellent comparison, the P9 is undoubtedly the Best, iphone 7 sounds too metallic, In HTC10 voices are heard better, the Xperia XZ seems to be the only one where you can hear some low frequencies and sounds more comfortable.

[RFRM]

i really want to know which idiot asked to turn the dynamic normaliser on.

the only thing it does is making you songs around the same loudness. and that means it lowers the volume of the louder songs in your list.

[ch-wwim]

7+ and XZ by far the best sound quality

[salihoyasco]

Htc 10 just kills all its opponents. Sound quality is just absolutely epic!!

[ReneOo]

Huawei and HTC are the best. Sound is crispier and richer. IPhone is just loud and I really don't know what to think with the Sony. I like Sony's phones but gosh...

[youknowwho]

great bro, u used the default audio player this time. This will make the comparison more effective. I appreciate this mate.

[troy]

It should be the DSEE HX turned on instead of Dynamic Normaliser

[luismiguelcarvalho]

The Huawei P9 Plus sounds really better! Great Sound 😉

[edgarrobles]

STILL the Xperia XZ is better than the other ones ! Click to Like, if you think the same as me ! :)

[laveeg]

The Sony XZ is the low voice 😕
But have the best quality sound 🔊

[spike]

Screen comparison between the Sony Xperia XZ and other flagships would be very much appreciated Basil.

[archergar]

I think the XZ did very well. It was a little quieter, maybe because of dynamic thing but the quality in my opinion was really good compared to the others (others were also great).

[barrysrobbins]

The iPhone 7 is loud but there seems to be a really noticeable background hiss and shrillness to it. The Huawei is more impressive than the iPhone 7 as it has the umph or volume without that hiss but the piano sound seemed a little artificial. The Sony was clearly in last position in terms of volume but seemed to be reasonably balanced across the frequencies. For me the HTC 10 pitches it about right - not quite the loudest but none of that hiss and a good balance of tone across the frequencies like the Sony. Unfortunately, the HTC 10 is a slight step backwards from the HTC M8 IMHO which seemed to have tremendous volume, unparalleled stereo separation (lost on the HTC 10 in music mode) and a fabulous overall sound. Losing that bottom front speaker has compromised the HTCs sound presence.
Despite that, my ranking for this exercise is HTC, Huawei (the big surprise), Apple, then Sony.

[thechojiin]

Great review. I was waiting for a comparison of the stereo speakers on these phones. The iPhone 7 plus sounds great as does the p9 plus. I own a p9 plus and a HTC 10 and I prefer how the audio shifts on the p9 plus when you turn the phone to landscape. The Sony was disappointing. Here's hoping ZTE make the axon 7 available in the UK soon, as I'd like to see how the speakers on that phone compares to these.

[li_tsz_fung]

As Always, HTC wins in both volume and quality.
Then Sony become the second best quality but a little bit quiet.

Huawei is actually really loud. In some situation, the loudest. But not enjoyable.

iPhone is loud and sound OK.

Quality: HTC>Sony>iPhone>Huawei
Volume:
HTC~Huawei>iPhone>Sony

But hey, real front facing stereo speaker on Sony

[davidhunsinger]

sounded to me like the 10 and P9 were the two best, the iPhone was loud but the clarity was kinda.... bad.