T-Mobile Dash Cell Phone Review - Audio Quality
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Alfredo Padilla Published on March 22, 2007 Comment on this |
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The T Mobile Dash is a small, thin cell phone that had fair audio performance: we found a few quirks that might impact the quality of the calls you make and receive, but the sound quality is generally good. We test the audio quality of cell phones using a combination of a HATS (Head And Torso Simulator) device and a professional electro-acoustic analysis program from Listen, inc called Soundcheck. This combination allows us to analyze the performance of the phones in extreme detail. While other sites might just call a friend and ask them how the call sounds, we use the same sophisticated, scientific analysis that the cell phone companies themselves use. For more details, see our how we test page.
Sound Receive Frequency Response (7.09)
T Mobile Dash on T Mobile: Receive Frequency Response
This test measures the frequency response of the phone for sound that it receives, such as someone talking to you over the phone. The Dash does a reasonably good job here: the frequency response of the phone (shown by the blue line) is mostly inside the limits, which are defined in the international TIA 810-B standard. But it is not perfect; the two humps indicate that it exaggerates frequencies at the bottom and top of the frequency range of human speech, which would make frequencies in the middle seem quieter. This could make some speech less easy to interpret, as the mid-range frequencies are important in helping you understand what people are saying.
Sound Send Frequency Response (7.59)
T Mobile Dash on T Mobile: Receive Frequency Response
The sent sound (such as you whispering sweet nothings into the phone, and through the phone network, your beloved’s ear) also had a few issues, with the response to lower frequencies (shown by the part of the blue line between the red lines on the left) going outside the limits. Phones really shouldn’t do this; the limits we use were set by a group of audio experts and define how they think digital phones should respond. The fact that the left side of the graph is outside of the limits shows that the Dash responds more to lower frequencies than it should, which could make voices seem bassier and boomier than they really are.
Handset Side Tone (9.77)
T Mobile Dash on T Mobile: Side Tone
The Dash was spot on for side tone, though. This is the measure of how much of your own voice the phone feeds back to you through the speaker, and the standards call for this to be around -18 decibels. The dash is right on the money, providing a touch over -18 decibels of side tone. The frequency graph is a bit messy, though: although we expect side tone measurements to produce graphs that look more like stock market prices than smooth curves, the rapid jumps of the Dash do indicate that it passes through some frequencies more than others.
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