Xiaomi 12 Pro is getting some buzz with a price tag hovering around $ 1,000, but a full set of flagship features that make it a relative bargain compared to its main competitors. These features include the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and Xiaomi “HyperCharge” which can return its 4600mAh battery to full power in 18 minutes, according to the brand. On the audio front, the Xiaomi smartphone has four speakers and Dolby Atmos sound developed by Harman Kardon.
We subjected the Xiaomi 12 Pro to our rigorous SBMARK Audio test suite to measure its performance both when recording sound using its built-in microphones, and when playing audio through its speakers. In this review, we’ll break down how it fared across a variety of tests and several common use cases.
Key audio specs include:
- Four speakers
- Harman Kardon’s Dolby Atmos sound
- USB Type C (without audio jack)
Learn about SBMARK audio tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone audio reviews, SBMARK engineers perform a series of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual assessment under controlled laboratory conditions. This article highlights the most important results of our tests. Please note that we evaluate both playback and recording using only the device’s built-in hardware and default apps.
(For more details on our reproduction protocol, click here; for more details on our registration protocol, click here.)
Test summary
Reproduction
Pros
- Pleasant tonal balance at maximum volume
- Quick attack on all volume levels
- Good amplitude
- Mostly free of artifacts
Cons
- Tonal balance lacks bass and sparkle, resulting in a rather muted overall sonority
- Not very punchy
- The first volume step is a little too low
Registration
Pros
- Very skilled spatial performance, with particularly good amplitude in general and impeccable localizability
- Dynamic performance worthy of praise, with good SNR and envelope rendering
- Natural timbre in general, especially with the recorder app
- Fairly free of artifacts, apart from a few clipping
Cons
- Serious lack of bass and limited high-end extension
- Low-mid range excess and lack of clarity
- Less convincing tonal performance in high SPL
The Xiaomi 12 Pro’s overall score of 70 places it in medium territory among the Ultra-Premium smartphones we tested. Its score ties it to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos and Snapdragon versions) and is one point behind a brother of the brand, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. The performance of the 12 Pro lines up with other devices in the Xiaomi stable. It’s a consistent performer with no major flaws and a couple of bright spots.
The playback performance of the Xiaomi 12 Pro was solid if not spectacular. In the timbre attribute, it performs better at higher volumes. But when it comes to dynamics, the device was very good, coming in the top 10 Ultra-Premium devices in our database. It also performed well in spatial attribute, with good stereo width.
As a recording device, the 12 Pro offers stronger overall performance, proving adept at capturing sound in a variety of situations, although the timbre it produces is lacking in the bass and low end. It does a good job of rendering dynamics, even in noisy situations, like an electronic music concert. One drawback here was that the microphones got stuck easily while recording while holding the device in hand.
Explanation of secondary scores
The overall score of 70 SBMARK Audio for the Xiaomi 12 Pro comes from the playback and recording scores and their respective secondary scores. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at these audio quality sub-scores and explain what they mean to the user.
Reproduction
Timbre tests measure how well a phone reproduces sound across the audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, tonal balance and volume dependence.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro results in a solid performance for the timbre. Like its linemate the Xiaomi 12, however, the 12 Pro produces a more satisfying tone in the high-end at maximum volume, thanks to added brightness. The low end is also more satisfying at high volume.
The tonal balance of the Xiaomi 12 Pro lacks low-end extension and brilliance and places a slight emphasis on the mid-high range. Treble is decent, although it lacks high-end extension and brightness of the upper highs. As noted earlier, this improves to some extent with increasing volume. The midrange is somewhat unbalanced. The device suffers from occasional minor resonances from the mid-high range which can produce some nasal sonority. The low-mid range is satisfactory. Overall, the bass is satisfying and the superior bass rendition is quite good, even without sufficient overall bass extension.
SBMARK dynamic tests measure how well a device reproduces the energy level of a sound source and how exactly it reproduces low frequencies.
The dynamics score of the Xiaomi 12 Pro puts it in good company, in the top 10 in this attribute in the Ultra-Premium category.
Attack is snappy and precise in most of our use cases and remains so in all passages of the volume. Despite its slight lack of bass, the Xiaomi 12 Pro manages to produce good precision and bass punch, despite a slightly fuzzy tone exacerbated by “false” bass (approximated with an engineered boost at the low end), especially at volumes taller.
Secondary attributes for perceptual spatial tests include localizability, balance, distance, and breadth.
The Xiaomi smartphone has tested well in the spatial attribute. The 12 Pro produces decent localizability, except for classical music, where it is a bit blurry. Amplitude is good, on par with other Mi 11 series devices.
One thing that cost a few points here: Xiaomi 12 Pro does not rotate the sound stage in an inverted landscape, whether in music or film applications. Balance is good, although content that should be centered is angled towards the lower speakers. The rendering of the distance is accurate and realistic; voices are heard in the correct position.
Volume tests measure both the overall volume a device is capable of reproducing and how smoothly the volume increases and decreases based on user input.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro offers solid performance in the volume attribute. The maximum volume pitch is satisfactory. The first volume step, on the other hand, isn’t very intelligible, which means it’s not useful for content with a wider dynamic range like classical music.
Here are some sound pressure levels (SPLs) measured while playing our sample recordings of hip-hop and classical music at maximum volume:
| Hip-Hop | Classic | |
| Xiaomi 12 Pro | 69.1 dB | 66 dBA |
| Viva X70 Pro + | 72.4 dBA | 73.8 dBA |
| Google Pixel 6 Pro | 73 dBA | 69 dBA |
Artifact tests measure the amount of distorted source audio when playing through a device’s speakers. Distortion can occur due to both the sound processing in the device and the quality of the speakers.
Xiaomi 12 Pro is mostly free of artifacts, except when playing synthetic signals where distortions and aliasing have been observed. Thanks to the positioning of the speakers, it is easy to occlude the speakers with your fingers.
Registration
As a recording device, the Xiaomi 12 Pro generally produces a good tone. In most use cases, tonal balance is natural, albeit slightly lower than in the electronic music concert scenario, which involves high sound pressure levels (SPL). Tonal performance is solid in real videos and selfie videos too, but overall it’s better with the recorder app.
The highs are quite dark, showing a lack of clarity. That said, it has a slightly higher brightness than the Xiaomi 12, especially in the case of using electronic music concerts. This is true regardless of the orientation of the phone and the camera you are using, but it sounds a little better with the recorder app, where the highs seem less dark.
In all use cases, the 12 Pro produces very limited high-end extension in its recordings. The midrange lacks clarity. With a little bump around 300Hz, the low mids get a little fuzzy, especially on high SPL recordings. Speech content may appear to be held back due to this. Balance looks a little better with the memo app. Bass is severely lacking. Consequently, the tonal balance is somewhat focused on the low-mid range, depending on the content.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro got very good marks in the dynamic attribute. The background noise is not intrusive; the signal / noise ratio is very well tuned. It appears that a noise cancellation algorithm has been applied, but without problems.
The yield of the envelope is praiseworthy; the small amount of compression does not interfere. Explosives might be sharper depending on the content, but tonal balance isn’t useful here (why isn’t it useful?). Good high SPL performance, with barely noticeable compression and pumping.
In the recording space attribute, Xiaomi 12 Pro offers strong visibility. The breadth of the video is exceptional, as with most of the Xiaomi devices we have tested.
Localizability is precise: the position of the sound sources is precise in the stereo scene. Distance is realistic in most use cases, but distance rendition is hampered by a slightly muddy low-mid range, which makes vocals a bit muffled depending on the content and position of the vocals. In Selfie Video, the amplitude is limited and the stereo scene is rather narrow.
Xiaomi 12 Pro offers solid volume performance. Volume is good in all use cases and the device performs very well in our maximum level tests, with little or no distortion.
Here are the results of our tests, measured in LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale); as a reference, we expect loudness levels to be higher than -24 LUFS for recorded content:
| Encounter | Life video | Selfie video | Memo | |
| Xiaomi 12 Pro | -25.8 LUFS | -23.1 LUFS | -20.4 LUFS | -20.2 LUFS |
| Viva X70 Pro + | -23.1 LUFS | -18 LUFS | -16.7 LUFS | -18.6 LUFS |
| Google Pixel 6 Pro | -27.5 LUFS | -19.6 LUFS | -17.6 LUFS | -20 LUFS |
As a recording device, the Xiaomi 12 Pro produces few artifacts. There is a slight pumping with high SPL content. Clipping was observed on short bursts and high volume transients, such as a sudden screaming voice or a high SPL kick (what kind of kick are you talking about?).
Microphone placement leaves the device prone to occlusions, to the point of completely muting a recording, when holding the device to record. There are also noises produced by fingers on the microphones.
You can check for artifacts yourself in this sample recording:
Background performance is adequate. Tonal balance is natural, but lacks bass and treble. The background is decent overall, but the excess of low-mid range makes it confusing. Conclusion
Conclusion
Xiaomi 12 Pro is functional as both a playback and recording tool with good overall performance. It’s a bit more impressive as a recording device, proving useful in a variety of scenarios, whether it’s recording video in the front or rear or recording using the memo app.
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