When it was announced that HTC would be manufacturing Google’s newest phone, we smartphone audio snobs were all hoping we’d see (hear) the same great sound quality we’ve come to expect from HTC. Recently revisiting the HTC 10 in an After the Buzz review, that phone produces some of the highest audio quality we’ve ever tested here at Pocketnow. It really is a joy to listen to, so we had fingers and toes crossed that the Pixel and Pixel XL would perform similarly.

Unfortunately, it would seem that Google had their own designs on what would be acceptable for audio reproduction on a premium priced smartphone, and those designs fall quite a bit short of what we would consider the “HTC Standard”.

We’ve been testing the phone for a week now, and we’re ready to report what we’ve seen (heard) on the Pixel XL!

Google Pixel XL Real Audio Review: Not up to HTC standards…

Real Audio Review playlist on Youtube