Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Audio test (2024)

We put the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 through our rigorous DXOMARK Audio test suite to measure its performance both at recording sound using its built-in microphones, and at playing audio back through its speakers.

In this review, we will break down how it fared in a variety of tests and several common use cases.

Overview

Key audio specifications include:

Two speakers (Top center front, bottom right)
No Jack audio output
Dolby Atmos technology

Scoring

Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

130

audio

128
Playback

Timbre

120

158

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (158)

Dynamics

127

149

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (149)

Spatial

133

162

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (162)

Volume

116

162

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (162)

Artifacts

111

157

Asus ROG Phone 5

Best: Asus ROG Phone 5 (157)

134
Recording

Timbre

123

147

Honor Magic3 Pro+

Best: Honor Magic3 Pro+ (147)

Dynamics

128

146

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (146)

Spatial

159

Vivo X Fold

Best: Vivo X Fold (159)

Volume

133

170

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (170)

Artifacts

131

145

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (145)

Background

153

166

Black Shark 5 Pro

Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (166)

Position in Global Ranking

70^th

1. Black Shark 5 Pro

161

2. Asus ROG Phone 6

155

2. Honor Magic6 Pro

155

4. Asus ROG Phone 5

151

5. Asus Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders

149

5. Black Shark 4S Pro

149

5. Black Shark 4 Pro

149

5. Honor Magic3 Pro+

149

9. Asus ROG Phone 7

148

10. Xiaomi Mi 10 S

147

11. Huawei Mate 50 Pro

144

11. Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro

144

13. Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

143

14. Apple iPhone 15 Pro

142

14. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

142

14. Apple iPhone 14 Pro

142

14. Google Pixel 8 Pro

142

18. Apple iPhone 15 Plus

141

18. Apple iPhone 15

141

18. Apple iPhone 14 Plus

141

18. Apple iPhone 14

141

18. Huawei P60 Pro

141

23. Apple iPhone 12

140

23. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

140

23. Google Pixel 8

140

23. Xiaomi 13 Ultra

140

23. Xiaomi 13 Pro

140

28. Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

139

28. Apple iPhone 13 Pro

139

28. Apple iPhone 12 mini

139

28. Samsung Galaxy S24+

139

28. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

139

28. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Snapdragon)

139

34. Apple iPhone 13

138

34. Asus ROG Phone 3

138

34. Google Pixel 6 Pro

138

34. Honor Magic5 Pro

138

34. Huawei Mate 60 Pro+

138

34. Samsung Galaxy S23 FE

138

40. Apple iPhone 13 mini

137

40. Google Pixel 7 Pro

137

40. Google Pixel 6

137

40. Honor Magic Vs

137

40. Honor Magic4 Pro

137

40. Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus (Snapdragon)

137

46. Google Pixel 6a

135

46. OnePlus Open

135

46. Oppo Find N2

135

46. Xiaomi 14

135

50. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4

134

50. Samsung Galaxy S24

134

50. Vivo X100 Pro

134

50. Xiaomi 13

134

54. Google Pixel Fold

133

54. Huawei Mate 20 X

133

54. Lenovo Legion Y90

133

54. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5

133

54. Samsung Galaxy S23 (Snapdragon)

133

54. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Snapdragon)

133

54. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

133

54. Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

133

54. Vivo X90 Pro

133

63. Google Pixel 7a

132

63. Vivo X Fold

132

63. Vivo X90 Pro+

132

66. Apple iPhone XS Max

131

66. Asus Zenfone 10

131

66. Oppo Find X2 Pro

131

66. Oppo Find N2 Flip

131

70. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

130

70. Xiaomi Mix Fold 3

130

72. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5

129

72. Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)

Playback

Pros

Good tonal balance
Good dynamics
Nearly free of artifacts

Cons

Considering device dimensions, spatial performance is slightly disappointing
Volume performance not on par with other devices from the Galaxy series

Recording

Pros

Good timbre in all recordings except concert use case
Excellent signal-to-noise ratio
Excellent distance rendition

Cons

Too much information around 200Hz makes some recordings muddy and unclear
Underwhelming wind noise reduction
No audio zoom feature

With a DXOMARK Audio score of 130, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 delivers an overall reliable and consistent audio performance, both in playback and recording, and achieves similar results to many other Samsung Galaxy models. However, it cannot quite keep up with the best in class.

In Playback, it performs on a very similar level across all use cases, delivering good tonal balance and dynamics, without hardly any artifacts. However, our testers were expecting a better spatial performance, given that the device is pretty big when unfolded, and in terms of volume, the Z Flip4 is not quite on the same level as some of its more conventional Samsung Galaxy cousins.

As a recording device, the Z Flip4 does best for front camera and main camera recordings and is less recommendable for office and memo recordings, mainly because it defaults to mono recording when using the corresponding apps. Other than that, recordings made with the Samsung offer good timbre in most use cases, as well as excellent signal-to-noise ratio and distance rendition. On the downside, wind noise reduction is not very effective, and the device lacks an audio zoom feature.

Test summary

About DXOMARK Audio tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone audio reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions.
(For more details about our Playback protocol, click here; for more details about our Recording protocol, click here.)
The following section gathers key elements of our exhaustive tests and analyses performed in DXOMARK laboratories. Detailed performance evaluations under the form of reports are available upon request. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Playback

128

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

163

Black Shark 5 Pro

How Audio Playback score is composed

DXOMARK engineers test playback through the smartphone speakers, whose performance is evaluated in our labs and in real-life conditions, using default apps and settings.

Learn more about how we test audio playback

In Playback, the Z Flip4 offers a pleasant timbre, with sonority that is similar to other Galaxy phones, such as the A52 or S22 Ultra. However, the midrange is less consistent, which results in a slightly thinner tonal balance overall. The Samsung Z Flip4 device also does well in the dynamics, with a sharp and precise attack, good bass precision, and decent punch, despite the lack of low-midrange support.

The Flip4’s stereo speakers offer good wideness of the stereo scene, but considering the phone’s fairly large dimensions when unfolded, we expected even better. Distance rendition is overall correct, and depth perception is decent for common types of content. However, localizability could be better, with individual instruments sometimes sounding blurry within the sound scene. Maximum volume is decent and at a similar level as the more conventional Galaxy S22 Ultra. Minimum volume on the other hand, is a little too quiet, meaning some content, such as classical music, can be difficult to consume at this volume setting. As with all devices from Samsung’s Galaxy series, audio artifacts are very well controlled, with only some light distortion and compression at maximum volume. The device is also designed in a way that reduces the potential for accidental covering of the speakers with your hands.

Listen to the tested smartphone’s playback performance in this comparison with some of its competitors:

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

Apple iPhone 14

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Recordings of the smartphones playing some of our music tracks at 60 LAeq in an anechoic environment by 2 microphones in A-B configuration, at 30 cm

Here is how the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 performs in playback use cases compared to its competitors:

Playback use-cases scores

Timbre

120

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

158

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Timbre score represents how well a phone reproduces sound across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, tonal balance, and volume dependency. It is the most important attribute for playback.

Music playback frequency response

A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, which measures the volume of each frequency emitted by the smartphone when playing a pure-sine wave in an anechoic environment.

Dynamics

127

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

149

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, for example how precisely a bass note is reproduced or the impact sound from drums.

Spatial

133

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

162

Black Shark 5 Pro

The sub-attributes for spatial tests include pinpointing a specific sound's location, its positional balance, distance, and wideness.

Volume

116

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

162

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Volume score represents the overall loudness of a smartphone and how smoothly volume increases and decreases based on user input.

Here are a few sound pressure levels (SPL) measured when playing our sample recordings of hip-hop and classical music at maximum volume:

	Hip-Hop	Classical
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4	73.6 dBA	68.4 dBA
Apple iPhone 14	74.8 dBA	71.9 dBA
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)	74.1 dBA	70.2 dBA

The following graph shows the gradual changes in volume going from minimum to maximum. We expect these changes to be consistent across the range, so that all volume steps correspond to users’ expectations:

Music volume consistency

This line graph shows the relative loudness of playback relative to the user selected volume step, measured at different volume steps with a correlated pink noise in an anechoic box recorded in axis at 0.20 meter.

Artifacts

111

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

157

Asus ROG Phone 5

The Artifacts score measures the extent to which the sound is affected by various types of distortion. The higher the score, the less the disturbances in the sound are noticeable. Distortion can occur because of sound processing in the device and because of the quality of the speakers.

Playback Total Harmonic Distortion (Maximum Volume)

This graph shows the Total Harmonic Distortion and Noise over the hearable frequency range.
It represents the distortion and noise of the device playing our test signal (0 dB Fs, Sweep Sine in an anechoic box at 40 cm) at the device's maximum volume.

Recording

134

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

160

Honor Magic6 Pro

How Audio Recording score is composed

DXOMARK engineers test recording by evaluating the recorded files on reference audio equipment. Those recordings are done in our labs and in real-life conditions, using default apps and settings.

Learn more about how we test audio recording

Overall, the Z Flip4 is better for recording sound than it is for playing back. Recording timbre is good, with an overall satisfying low-midrange and pleasant bass rendition. However, a less present high-midrange contributes to a less clear sonority and somewhat receded high-end extension making treble sound a bit dull.

Dynamics performance is good, with excellent signal-to-noise ratios when recording with the selfie camera and decent values for all other use cases. Envelope rendition is correct across all use cases as well but lacks some accuracy. Attack is decent but could be more precise. The Samsung does well for spatial attributes in Recording, with excellent distance rendition and good stereo wideness when recording with the main camera. However, wideness is reduced when recording in portrait orientation with the front camera, and the recorder app is mono by default.

Recording volume is mostly correct, but in real-life scenarios loudness can drop noticeably if there is strong background noise. This is especially true for front camera recordings and when using the recorder app. The Z Flip4 performed exceptionally well for maximum loudness and is capable of handling loud recordings with only little distortion.

Still, the usualmoderate distortion and compression are noticeable in recordings of loud content and the Z Flip4 seems quite sensitive to occlusions of the microphones and finger noises, resulting in cuts, filtering, and fluttery modulations. Background performance is very good, with excellent tonal balance, well-controlled artifacts and only some volume fluctuations.

Here is how the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 performs in recording use cases compared to its competitors:

Recording use-cases scores

Timbre

123

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

147

Honor Magic3 Pro+

The Timbre score represents how well a phone captures sounds across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, and tonal balance. It is the most important attribute for recording.

Life video frequency response

A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, which measures the volume of each frequency captured by the smartphone when recording a pure-sine wave in an anechoic environment.

Dynamics

128

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

146

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, for example how precisely a voice's plosives (the p's, t's and k's, for example) are reproduced. The score also considers the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), for example how loud the main voice is compared to the background noise.

Spatial

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

159

Vivo X Fold

The sub-attributes for spatial tests include pinpointing a specific sound's location, its positional balance, distance, and wideness on the recorded audio files.

Recording directivity

Directivity graph of the smartphone when recording test signals using the camera app, with the main camera. It represents the acoustic energy (in dB) over the angle of incidence of the sound source. (Normalized to the angle 0°, in front of the device.)

Volume

133

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

170

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Volume score represents how loud audio is normalized on the recorded files and the how the device handles loud environments, such as electronic concerts, when recording.

Here are the sound levels recorded in the audio and video files, measured in LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale); as a reference, we expect loudness levels to be above -24 LUFS for recorded content:

	Meeting	Life Video	Selfie Video	Memo
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4	-25.2 LUFS	-21.5 LUFS	-19.7 LUFS	-21.6 LUFS
Apple iPhone 14	-23.8 LUFS	-22.5 LUFS	-20.5 LUFS	-18.7 LUFS
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)	-28.8 LUFS	-21.7 LUFS	-21.2 LUFS	-23.9 LUFS

Artifacts

131

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

145

Black Shark 5 Pro

The Artifacts score measures the extent to which the recorded sounds are affected by various types of distortions. The higher the score, the less the disturbances in the sound are noticeable. Distortions can occur because of sound processing in the device and the quality of the microphones, as well as user handling, such as how the phone is held.

In this audio comparison, you can listen to the way this smartphone handles wind noise relative to its competitors:

array(3) { ["Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4"]=> string(78) "resources/Samsung/GalaxyZFlip4V2.1/SamsungGalaxyZFlip4_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a" ["Apple iPhone 14"]=> string(72) "resources/Samsung/GalaxyZFlip4V2.1/AppleiPhone14_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a" ["Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)"]=> string(88) "resources/Samsung/GalaxyZFlip4V2.1/SamsungGalaxyS22Ultra(Exynos)_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a"}

Recordings of a voice sample with light background noise, facing a turbulent wind of 5 m/s

Background

153

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

166

Black Shark 5 Pro

Background evaluates how natural the various sounds around a voice blend into the video recording file. For example, when recording a speech at an event, the background should not interfere with the main voice, yet it should provide some context of the surroundings.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Audio test (2024)

Overview

Playback

Pros

Cons

Recording

Pros

Cons

Test summary

Playback

Timbre

Dynamics

Spatial

Volume

Artifacts

Recording

Timbre

Dynamics

Spatial

Volume

Artifacts

Background

References