We put the Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon) 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 front and bottom side)
- No audio jack output
Scoring
Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
129
audio
29th
3. Asus Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders
149
9. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
142
12. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
140
14. Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
139
23. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Snapdragon)
133
23. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)
133
29. Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
129
32. Xiaomi Redmi K50 Gaming
128
36. Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
127
36. Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
127
38. Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
126
41. Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
125
41. Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
125
43. Lenovo Legion Phone 2 Pro
124
45. Apple iPhone SE (2022)
122
48. Samsung Galaxy S22+ (Exynos)
121
50. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
120
50. Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon)
120
50. Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos)
120
53. Xiaomi Redmi K40 Gaming
119
59. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
118
59. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos)
118
59. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (Snapdragon)
118
59. Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Snapdragon)
118
59. Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos)
118
69. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
116
69. Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Exynos)
116
69. Xiaomi Redmi K40 Pro+
116
75. Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
115
78. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
114
80. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G (Exynos)
113
80. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (Exynos)
113
92. Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G
109
98. Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
108
102. Lenovo Legion Phone Pro
105
102. Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro
105
110. Motorola Edge 20 Pro
102
114. Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro Premium Edition
97
121. Vivo X70 Pro (MediaTek)
93
126. Vivo X60 Pro 5G (Snapdragon)
86
17th
1. Asus Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders
149
4. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
142
6. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
140
7. Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
139
12. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Snapdragon)
133
12. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)
133
17. Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
129
21. Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
125
22. Samsung Galaxy S22+ (Exynos)
121
24. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
120
28. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
118
28. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos)
118
32. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
116
32. Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Exynos)
116
35. Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
115
36. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G
114
37. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G (Exynos)
113
37. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (Exynos)
113
43. Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G
109
47. Lenovo Legion Phone Pro
105
Playback
Pros
- Decently good timbre and dynamics
- Strong bass presence, with pleasant color
- Artifacts pretty well controlled
Cons
- Lack of crispness and brightness in tonal balance
- Underwhelming attack
- Dynamics inconsistent between use cases
Recording
Pros
- Natural-sounding tonal balance
- Good wind noise performance
- Signal-to-noise ratio and intelligibility of recordings are good
- High sound pressure levels handled well
Cons
- Slight lack of low-end extension, dull treble
- Poor audio zoom
- Subject to occlusions
With a DXOMARK Audio score of 129 the Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon) occupies a mid-table position in the segment ranking. The phone offers decent Timbre and Dynamics as well as a strong bass presence, making it a good option for listening to music and gaming. The user experience is not far off when watching movies, either. In addition the device controls sound artifacts in Playback pretty well. On the downside, tonal balance could do with some more crispness and brightness and attack is dulled down by processing. In general, Dynamics performance varies quite a bit between use cases.
For Recording the X80 Pro performs on a very similar level across all use cases, making it a decent allrounder for recording purposes. Tonal balance sounds natural and wind noise reduction does a decent job. A good signal-to-noise ratio ensures good intelligibility of content and the built-in microphone deals well with high sound pressure levels. Areas with potential for improvement include slight lack of low-end extension, a dull treble and a poorly performing audio zoom. Accidentally covering the microphone with your hands while recording will also render your sound file pretty much useless.
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
125
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
163
Black Shark 5 Pro
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.
The Vivo X80 Pro delivers a satisfying timbre with good clarity overall, but is lacking some crispness and brightness. Tonal balance is quite good, with a satisfying bass and low-midrange support across pretty much all volume levels. Our testers noticed some compression and dynamics processing in the Vivo’s audio output but overall Dynamics results are good, with decent bass precision and good punch at all volumes. Attack is ok as well, but sounds somewhat dulled down by processing.
In the Spatial category the X80 Pro performs on an average level. Stereo is mostly centered but given the phone’s overall dimensions wideness could be better. A lack of clarity means that distance rendering could be better and while sound sources are pretty easy to locate in the scene, positioning is not very precise. The device’s minimum volume is adequate, low but not too low, but maximum volume is held back by dynamics processing and consistence across volume steps could be better. The X80 Pro does pretty well in terms of Artifacts. Our testers did not notice much distortion or pumping at high volume, but dynamic processing can result in compression or volume jumps at any volume level.
Listen to the tested smartphone’s playback performance in this comparison with some of its competitors:
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
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 Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon) performs in playback use cases compared to its competitors:
Playback use-cases scores
Timbre
122
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
158
Black Shark 5 Pro
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
125
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
149
Black Shark 5 Pro
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
137
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
162
Black Shark 5 Pro
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
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
162
Black Shark 5 Pro
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 | |
| Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon) | 72.5 dBA | 73.3 dBA |
| Oppo Reno8 Pro 5G | 72.5 dBA | 72.1 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
99
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
157
Asus ROG Phone 5
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
138
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
157
Black Shark 5 Pro
Black Shark 5 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.
Timbre
The X80 Pro (Snapdragon) performs overall slightly better as a recording device than for Playback. Timbre is solid, with a natural tonal balance, consistent bass and clear midrange. However, treble can sound a little dull. Intelligibility of the recorded content is great, thanks to well-rendered Dynamics with a good signal-to-noise ratio and an accurate envelope and precise attack, even at high sound pressure levels.
The Vivo does well for Spatial attributes but leaves some room for improvement. Wideness allows for recording of immersive content but is not quite on the same level as the best in class. Distance rendition is quite good but it’s a little hard to pinpoint the exact location of sound sources in the scene. Loudness is great across all use cases and apps and the built-in microphone handles high sound pressure levels very well, making the Vivo a good option for recording at loud events, such as concerts. The audio zoom feature leaves some room for improvement, though. Volume consistency is poor, with a noticeable loudness increase when zooming in.
In terms of sound artifacts our testers noticed some slight compression on louder parts and light pumping in loud sections when recording main camera video. You can also accidentally cover the microphone with your hands which can render the recording unusable. Wind noise reduction works very well, retaining great intelligibility even in strong wind. Thanks to a natural tonal balance, background sounds natural. It’s also pretty much free of artifacts.
Here is how the Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon) performs in recording use cases compared to its competitors:
Recording use-cases scores
Timbre
138
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
147
Honor Magic3 Pro+
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
136
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
146
Black Shark 5 Pro
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
127
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
157
Asus ROG Phone 5
Asus ROG Phone 5
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
122
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
170
Black Shark 5 Pro
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 | |
| Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon) | -24.8 LUFS | -19.4 LUFS | -21 LUFS | -20.3 LUFS |
| Oppo Reno8 Pro 5G | -23.2 LUFS | -21.8 LUFS | -18.9 LUFS | -17.8 LUFS |
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) | -28.8 LUFS | -21.7 LUFS | -21.2 LUFS | -23.9 LUFS |
Artifacts
140
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
145
Black Shark 5 Pro
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:
Recordings of a voice sample with light background noise, facing a turbulent wind of 5 m/s
Background
135
Vivo X80 Pro (Snapdragon)
166
Black Shark 5 Pro
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.
