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Camera
Display
BatteryWe put the Xiaomi 13T Pro 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, side firing)
- No Jack audio output
- Dolby Atmos technology
Scoring
Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.
Xiaomi 13T Pro
101st
26th
Playback
Pros
- Good dynamics performance, even at maximum volume
- Unwanted artifacts well under control
Cons
- Poor spatial performance, especially in terms of localizability and stereo balance.
- Underwhelming volume performance
- Aggressive treble
Recording
Pros
- Natural background rendition
- Excellent recording loudness
- Good spatial performance overall
Cons
- Slightly muddy and unclear timbre
- Slightly hissing treble can result in occasional harshness
- Recording artifacts
In the DXOMARK Audio tests, the Xiaomi 13T Pro provided a fairly average performance and ranked behind its predecessor the 12T Pro. Overall, the 13T Pro did better in recording than in playback, which was mainly due to inconsistencies in the stereo rendition with the built-in speakers, which also sounded slightly harsh. But on the plus side, the audio was almost free of unwanted artifacts. Playback performance was best when listening to music and playing games but slightly less so when watching movies.
Audio recordings featured excellent loudness and were overall best in office environments. In terms of audio recordings in video, results were better with the selfie camera in portrait orientation than with the main camera in landscape.
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
Xiaomi 13T Pro
163
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 13T Pro’s playback had average timbre, with a tonal balance that had a noticeable emphasis on upper midrange and treble. Treble had some brightness that did not sound natural, but more sibilant and harsh. Midrange lacked warmth, and while bass presence made up somewhat for the lack of low midrange, upper bass was quite blurry, and low-end extension was not deep enough. Dynamics performance was good, though, with decently sharp attack, correct bass precision and pretty good punch.
The results of the spatial tests were poor, with average wideness of the stereo scene and a weak left channel, as well as a hole in the middle of the stereo image. Consequently, individual sound sources could not be accurately pinpointed, and distance rendition was not particularly accurate either, with voices often sounding slightly distant. Volume step distribution could have been more consistent, and the minimum volume setting was too quiet, making it hard to listen to low volume passages in highly dynamic content, such as classical music. Maximum volume was loud enough. In normal use, audio artifacts were very well under control, with only some light distortion and subtle pumping at maximum volume. Our experts also noted that the bottom speaker could be easily occluded when gaming, but besides muting the right channel, this was not detrimental to the audio experience.
Listen to the tested smartphone’s playback performance in this comparison with some of its competitors:
Timbre
Xiaomi 13T Pro
158
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.
Dynamics
Xiaomi 13T Pro
149
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
Xiaomi 13T Pro
162
The sub-attributes for spatial tests include pinpointing a specific sound's location, its positional balance, distance, and wideness.
Volume
Xiaomi 13T Pro
162
The Volume score represents the overall loudness of a smartphone and how smoothly volume increases and decreases based on user input.
| Hip-Hop | Classical | |
| Xiaomi 13T Pro | 68.1 dBA | 60.2 dBA |
| Apple iPhone 15 | 74.6 dBA | 72 dBA |
| Google Pixel 8 | 74.8 dBA | 70.1 dBA |
Artifacts
Xiaomi 13T Pro
157
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.
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
Xiaomi 13T Pro
160
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 Xiaomi did comparatively better in recording than in playback. Recording timbre was good, with satisfying treble, good midrange and decent bass rendition. Dynamics performance was fairly good as well, despite slightly inconsistent envelope rendition across use cases. With the main camera in landscape orientation, the envelope accuracy was heavily impaired by compression and pumping, particularly when recording concerts. Attack sharpness was noticeably better with the selfie camera and the memo app. Signal-to-noise ratio was decent when recording in urban environments but even better in quiet surroundings, for example in a home or office.
Wideness of the recorded stereo scene was great with the memo app but less so with the main or selfie cameras. Despite some occasional blurriness, localizability was very good across all use cases. Distance rendition was quite realistic, and overall loudness was excellent despite some slight volume noticeable variations when stepping out from an indoors environment while recording. Results were also poor at high sound pressure levels, for example, concerts. In such conditions, our testers also observed heavy pumping and distortion. In addition, there was heavy hissing across all recording apps, except the memo app. The tonal balance of the background was natural, with good intelligibility of the main signal.
Here is how the Xiaomi 13T Pro performs in recording use cases compared to its competitors:
Timbre
Xiaomi 13T Pro
147
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.
Dynamics
Xiaomi 13T Pro
146
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
Xiaomi 13T Pro
159
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
Xiaomi 13T Pro
170
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.
| Meeting | Life Video | Selfie Video | Memo | |
| Xiaomi 13T Pro | -21.4 LUFS | -17.5 LUFS | -16.7 LUFS | -17 LUFS |
| Apple iPhone 15 | -24.6 LUFS | -22.4 LUFS | -20.3 LUFS | -19.2 LUFS |
| Google Pixel 8 | -26.1 LUFS | -20.8 LUFS | -18.9 LUFS | -19.9 LUFS |
Artifacts
Xiaomi 13T Pro
145
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:
Background
Xiaomi 13T Pro
166
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.
