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Samsung Galaxy A33 5G Audio test

This device has been retested in the latest version of our protocol. Overall, sub-scores and attributes are up to date. For detailed information, check the What’s New article
OTHER AVAILABLE TESTS FOR THIS DEVICE

We put the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G 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

The A33 5G delivers an all-round solid showing, with an especially pleasant sound produced in its recordings, even for high-SPL content (like an electronic concert).

Key audio specifications include:

  • Top front-firing, bottom side-firing
  • USB Type-C

Scoring

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


Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
125
audio
125
Playback
128

158

131

149

131

162

126

162

113

157

123
Recording
124

147

124

146

111

159

124

170

112

145

129

166

Please be aware that beyond this point, we have not modified the initial test results. While data and products remain fully comparable, you might encounter mentions and references to the previous scores.

Playback

Pros

Cons

  • Improperly tuned first-volume step
  • Lacks sufficient bass
  • Sounds a bit aggressive at high volume

Recording

Pros

  • Good, natural and pleasant tonal balance in Life Video and Selfie Video
  • Good wideness, even in Selfie Video
  • Good overall sound rendition in high-SPL scenarios, such as concerts
  • Very good signal-to-noise ratio

Cons

  • Tinny tonal balance in memo app
  • Unnatural distance rendition
  • Microphones are too easily completely occluded

The A33 5G delivers an all-round solid showing, with an especially pleasant sound produced in its recordings, even for high-SPL content (like an electronic concert).

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

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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.

Performance in playback is very good too, even if it sounds a bit aggressive at high volume. The Galaxy A33 5G benefits from well-balanced timbre, with clear midrange and quite satisfying bass. Bass performance is surprisingly solid, with a round sonority and good presence.  Midrange is homogeneous, providing good clarity and sufficient warmth. Treble sounds clear and quite brilliant. The A33 5G is not as consistent at different volume levels. The A33 does a good job at preserving its tonal balance at softer volumes, despite a slight loss of bass. But at maximum volume treble tends to sound somewhat piercing and aggressive. In the dynamics attribute, the A33 5G performs well and consistently regardless of the volume level. Attack is accurate and snappy. With realistic envelope in the low-end, bass precision is very satisfying.  Considering spatial performance, the stereo scene rendition is both accurate in terms of localizability and fairly wide for a device of this size. The stereo image does not rotate accordingly to the phone orientation. Left/Right balance seems well-centered. Distance rendition is realistic; voices seem to be coming from the right position. Volume performance is a bit below average. While maximum volume loudness is correct, it seems to be unstable depending on the content, probably due to a safety algorithm. The Galaxy A33 5G provides a very clean playback experience, mainly artifact-free. Speakers are well-positioned to avoid occlusions.

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

Google Pixel 6
Samsung Galaxy A33 5G
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

Here is how the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G performs in playback use cases compared to its competitors:

Playback use-cases scores

Timbre

128

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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


Dynamics

131

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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

131

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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

126

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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 A33 5G 74.3 dBA 69.3 dBA
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G 72 dBA 68.3 dBA
Google Pixel 6 74.8 dBA 69.7 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:


Artifacts

113

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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.


Recording

123

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

160

Honor Magic6 Pro
How Audio Playback 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.

The A33 5G is a deft recording device, capturing and rendering top-notch timbre with its microphones. When recording at high SPL, the A33 5G offers a good tonal balance, thanks to a pleasant warmth and low-end extension, but remains very slightly dark because of a lack of high-end extension. When recording in regular environments with life and selfie video apps, the performance is still very good, producing good tonal balance. That tonal balance could benefit from some extra  brightness, high-end extension, and clarity in high-midrange. Using the memo app, tonal balance is impaired by a lack of lower treble and can sound tinny and unnatural. In the recording dynamics attribute, the Galaxy A33 5G provides a very good SNR in all use cases tested; background is well attenuated. Envelope rendition is fairly accurate, with a sharp attack and precise plosives, except in selfie video mode, where the envelope rendition is slightly impaired by compression, resulting in a more rounded attack. At high SPL, dynamics performance is still good, thanks to a quite accurate envelope rendition and a nicely snappy attack. Considering spatial performance, the A33 5G delivers good localizability. Wideness is also good and allows a very realistic stereo rendering, even in selfie video mode, where wideness remains better than average. Distance performance is impaired by unnatural midrange that tends to move voices away but despite that remains realistic. Memo app recordings are mono. The device delivers an average performance in the volume attribute. Recording loudness is good across use cases. The A33 5G performs well in high-SPL scenarios; distortion, while there, is barely noticeable. The artifacts performance is about average. Do note that microphones are easily completely occluded, and they are sensitive to finger noises that induce strong volume drops.  The background rendering is adept.

Here is how the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G performs in recording use cases compared to its competitors:

Recording use-cases scores


Timbre

124

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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


Dynamics

124

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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 Sound-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), for example how loud the main voice is compared to the background noise.


Spatial

111

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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.


Volume

124

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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 A33 5G -25.9 LUFS -22 LUFS -20.9 LUFS -21.4 LUFS
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G -26.1 LUFS -22.3 LUFS -20.8 LUFS -21.5 LUFS
Google Pixel 6 -27.8 LUFS -17.9 LUFS -16.3 LUFS -19.8 LUFS


Artifacts

112

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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.

Listen for artifacts in this extract, which has been recorded in a busy home environment:


Background

129

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G

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.

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