We put the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 through our rigorous SBMARK Audio test suite to measure its performance in both recording sound using the built-in microphones, and playing audio through its speakers.
In this review, we’ll break down how it performed in a variety of tests and several common use cases.

Overview


Key audio specifications include:

  • Two speakers (top side, bottom side, both on the same half)
  • No jack audio output

Playback

Pros

  • Good dynamic performance at maximum volume
  • Audio artifacts very well under control

Against

  • Strong lack of bass and insufficient treble in tonal balance
  • Dynamic performance is less good as the volume decreases
  • Slightly disappointing space performance

Registration

Pros

  • Very good tonal balance
  • Excellent breadth of the sound stage
  • Excellent wind noise performance
  • Non-intrusive and pleasant background

Against

  • Strong compression when recording loud concerts
  • Disappointing audio zoom functionality
  • Slightly inconsistent treble

With an overall score of 130, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 performed well in the SBMARK Audio tests and showed very noticeable improvements compared to its predecessor, the Mix Fold 2. The Mix Fold 3 especially shone as a recording device, thanks to a very pleasant timbre design and very effective wind noise reduction. Only when recording high-volume events, such as concerts, did the Xiaomi show some weaknesses. Overall recording results were better with the main camera, but the front camera and the memo app were almost at the same level.

Playback wasn’t at the same high level as the recording results, but still decent. Playback quality was very good at high volumes, with excellent bass and treble rendition as well as dynamics, but unfortunately the quality dropped at nominal and low volume levels. Like many other foldable devices, the Mix Fold 3 did not take full advantage of its form factor, with the integrated speakers positioned on the same half, playback was monophonic vertically, while the large size of the device would have suggested a wider sound and better performance overall space.

Test summary

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 evaluation under controlled laboratory conditions.
(For more details on our playback protocol, click here; for more details on our recording protocol, click here.)

The following section brings together key elements of our comprehensive testing and analysis performed in SBMARK laboratories. Detailed performance evaluations in the form of reports are available upon request. Do not hesitate to contact us.

How the audio playback score is composed

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

Playback performance was decent overall, with mostly good tone. Tonal balance was undoubtedly the device’s main issue, with both treble and bass appearing rather weak compared to the midrange. That said, the results were drastically better at maximum volume, with the highs and lows gaining enough strength to improve the overall tone. At nominal volume, however, the midrange was quite thin and the bass was overall lacking, particularly in terms of low-end extension.

Dynamic performance was good, especially at high volume. Attack was weak at low volume, but decent at nominal volume and very good at maximum volume. Punch and bass accuracy behaved slightly differently. Both were good at nominal volume but didn’t improve at high volume settings. Spatial performance was slightly disappointing, especially considering the large size of the Mix Fold3 when unfolded. With both speakers installed on the same half of the device, the Mix Fold 3 didn’t take advantage of its size to deliver stereo output in portrait orientation. The stereo image also didn’t adapt to the device’s rotations in the default music and video apps, and the stereo balance of the speakers didn’t seem to be exactly perfect, as the bottom speaker seemed slightly quieter than its top counterpart. Overall, the amplitude was disappointing and the localizability of individual sound sources seemed blurry and imprecise. Remote delivery was also not entirely realistic.

The maximum volume was quite high and the distribution of volume levels was quite consistent, but our experts felt that the minimum volume setting was too low. Audio artifacts were very well under control, with no noticeable distortion or excessive compression. However, with a natural hand position when holding the device, the speakers were subject to some occlusion.

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

Recordings of smartphones playing some of our music tracks at 60 LAeq in an anechoic environment using 2 microphones in AB configuration, at 30 cm

Here’s how the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 performs in playback usage cases compared to its competitors:

Playing use case scores

The Timbre score represents the quality with which a phone reproduces sound across the entire audible tonal range and takes into account bass, midrange, treble, tonal balance and volume dependence. It is the most important attribute for reproduction.

Frequency response of music playback

A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, measuring the loudness of each frequency output by the smartphone when playing a pure sine wave in an anechoic environment.

The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, such as how accurately a bass note or the sound of a drum impact is reproduced.

Secondary attributes of spatial tests include identifying the location of a specific sound, its positional balance, distance, and amplitude.

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

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

Hip Hop Classic
Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 73.6 dBA 70.1 dBA
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 72.8 dBA 69.4 dBA
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 75.1 dBA 72.3 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 increases match user expectations:

Music volume consistency

This line graph shows the relative volume of playback versus the user-selected volume increment, measured at different volume increments with correlated pink noise in an anechoic box recorded on-axis at 0.20 meters.

The Artifacts score measures the extent to which the sound is affected by various types of distortion. The higher the score, the less noticeable the sound disturbances will be. Distortions may occur due to the sound processing in the device and the quality of the speakers.

Total harmonic distortion during playback (maximum volume)

This graph shows total harmonic distortion and noise in the audible 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.

How the score of the audio recording is composed

SBMARK engineers test recording by evaluating recorded files on reference audio equipment. These recordings are made in our laboratories and in real-life conditions, using apps and default settings.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 provided excellent recording performance overall, although tonal balance varied depending on the use case. Recordings from the main camera provided clear and precise treble, offering good intelligibility of voices. However, the highs lacked clarity when recording with the front camera. The midrange was very good with all recording apps, but could seem slightly weak in some urban scenarios. At high sound pressure levels, such as when recording loud concerts, the tonal balance was much less consistent, with dark and almost muffled trebles and mids lacking fullness.

The signal-to-noise ratio was quite good with the main and selfie cameras, thanks to the noise reduction algorithm which did a great job, especially in domestic environments. However, when using the memo application in an urban setting, the background was quite noisy and hindered intelligibility. Envelope performance generally offered a crisp, precise attack, except in concert use where envelope accuracy was compromised by heavy compression.

The breadth of the recorded sound scene was very good with the main camera, and the localizability of individual sound sources was very precise. Range remained good with the Memo app, but was a little more limited when recording with the front camera. Remote performance was excellent across all recording apps and use cases. Volume was adequate in recordings made with the main and front cameras, but slightly weaker with the Memo app. The recordings were mostly free of artifacts, except for slight clipping on sudden loud vocals. Background rendering was excellent, with no noticeable artifacts.

Our engineers expected the Mix Fold 3’s audio zoom feature to perform better. The noticeable lateral rejection present by default did not improve with zoom level and, instead, boosted low-end signals such as background noise. The wind noise reduction feature, however, proved to be extremely effective; our experts found the DSP to be well calibrated and adequately improve intelligibility in windy conditions.

Here’s how the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 performs in recording use cases compared to its competitors:

Recording use case scores

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

Video frequency response of life

A 1/12 octave frequency response graph, measuring the loudness of each frequency captured by the smartphone while recording a pure sine wave in an anechoic environment.

The Dynamics score measures the accuracy of changes in the energy level of sound sources, such as how accurately a voice’s plosives (p, tek, for example) are reproduced. The score also considers the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), such as how loud the main voice is compared to the background noise.

Secondary attributes for spatial testing include identifying the location of a specific sound, its positional balance, distance, and amplitude on recorded audio files.

Directivity of registration

Graph of smartphone directivity while recording test signals using the camera app, with the main camera. It represents the acoustic energy (in dB) compared to the angle of incidence of the sound source. (Normalized to the 0° angle, in front of the device.)

The loudness score represents how well the audio on recorded files is normalized and how well the device handles noisy environments, such as electronic concerts, during recording.

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

Encounter Videos about life Selfie videos Memorandum
Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 -23.7 LUFS -20 LUFS -18.4 LUFS -19.2 LUFS
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 -25.8 LUFS -22.1 LUFS -21 LUFS -21.1 LUFS
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max -24.9 LUFS -22.1 LUFS -20.5 LUFS -19.2 LUFS

The Artifacts score measures the extent to which recorded sounds are affected by various types of distortions. The higher the score, the less noticeable the sound disturbances will be. Distortions may occur due to the 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 hear how this smartphone handles wind noise compared to its competitors:

matrix(3) {
[“Xiaomi Mix Fold 3”]=> string(68) “resources/Xiaomi/MixFold3V2.2/XiaomiMixFold3_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5”]=> string(73) “resources/Xiaomi/MixFold3V2.2/SamsungGalaxyZFold5_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a”
[“Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max”]=> string(73) “resources/Xiaomi/MixFold3V2.2/AppleiPhone15ProMax_MicrophoneArtifacts.m4a” }

Recordings of a speech sample with light background noise, exposed to a turbulent wind of 5 m/s

Background evaluates how naturally the various sounds around a voice blend together in the video recording file. For example, when recording a speech at an event, the background should not interfere with the main voice, but should provide context to the surrounding environment.

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Philip Owell

Professional blogger, here to bring you new and interesting content every time you visit our blog.