The smartphone industry has seen amazing innovation over the last two years which, while appeasing camera, gaming enthusiasts and app enthusiasts, has had little to offer to music-lovers and audiophiles except for the standard playback facilities. Not failing to be attentive to this community, there exists a wide-range of excellent smartphones with the best sound quality and most appealing media players in the market today.
To start the list is HTC’s Sensation XL, officially the first handset to be coupled with Monster’s Beats Audio headphones, which is a fact that greatly highlights the phone’s excellent audio facilities. The phone has a 4.7-inch screen, a 1.5 GHz single-core processor and comes with Android 2.3 and HTC Sense 3.5. Its audio software enhancements are capable of amplifying the quality and finer detail of almost every MP3 and AAC song of any calibre. One of the few drawbacks of the device is its non-expandable storage which could
prove to be an issue for users who are unsatisfied with its 16 GB internal memory. Though not the fastest horse in the park, the Sensation XL is a great device for music enthusiasts.
Next on the list is another Android phone, Samsung’s Galaxy S II, which has great media player capabilities, 16 GB internal memory, a microSD slot expandable up to 32 GB and a very comfortable playback interface. The S II also features virtual 5.1 surround sound along with a manoeuvrable equalizer to enable users control over audio quality. An small but easy to use music widget is also included on the homescreen with the Touchwiz UI. Being just one generation behind market leader Galaxy S III, the S II offers a great combination of top-notch performance and music playback capability.
Last, but not least, is Apple’s iPhone 4S, a phone which channels its iPod heritage for audio brilliance and possesses an excellent music player. The price tag is considerably steeper than the price range of the above listed range of handsets, by nearly a clean $200, but for those who can afford it, it’s worth every shilling. Stacked with a sizable internal memory of 64 GB, the phone allows for wireless iTunes syncing and audio streaming from a vast expanse of internet radio stations and podcasts. Its user-friendly media player provides brilliant audio quality and has a versatile audio enhancement system. Though considerably more expensive than the other two on this list, if you’re in the iOS ecosystem already, the 4S is a no-brainer.
Overall, these three devices represent the very best in audio capabilities you can find on any mid to high range smartphone these days. If you’re looking for pure audio quality, you can’t go wrong with these options, though you can also get apps to modify your music experience to some extent if you don’t have cash to splurge.
