REVIEW OF SOUND QUALITY OF MOTOROLA ROKR EM30 . Review on Motorola EM30

REVIEW OF SOUND QUALITY OF MOTOROLA ROKR EM30 AND COMPARISON WITH MOTOROLA MOTOZINE ZN5

Motorola ROKR EM30: Talking about the audio quality of ROKR EM30 it is possible to argue for a long time, in attempts to establish the path Motorola has followed, but in the end the result nevertheless remains the same.

I am dealing with one of the best solutions for pure listening pleasure, with a clean sound devoid of any colorings, embellishment or ornamentation in the sound, which most of my friends after listening called a ringing and muffled audio track.

And really, in comparison with the sound of Samsung i450 and other competitive solutions from Nokia and many other players, this product demonstrates a seemingly complete lack of low frequencies (Bass) and thus beginning from the middle to higher frequencies.

Therein lies the error of those who makes such a ruling. In fact, when I hear an audio track, the ROKR EM30 simply discards the low frequency (Bass) side of the audio frequency spectrum, and I am forced to listen to various songs on the EM30 like that.

And you know what’s most interesting?

Now I can easily hear many of the previously obscure details in the compositions of a complicated music composition, and if desired, with a quality headset, can clearly set apart all the instruments used in the music composition, thus I am able to focus not only on the primary instrument, which is audible, but also on the fact that what instrument I want to hear.

This calls for a detailed elaboration of the DAC and amplifier found in EM30. Most modern audio signals are stored in digital form (for example MP3s and CDs) and in order to be heard through speakers they must be converted into an analog signal. They normally take the digital output like MP3 and convert the signal into a line-level output that can then be fed into a pre-amplifier stage. The DAC used in ROKR EM30 is definitely of very high quality.

About the amplifier, the power output is equal or less than 15 mW per channel which is rather weak. That is the reason why the peak volume is less than comparable solutions of Nokia & Samsung. The higher frequencies (Treble) are reproduced with an incredible detailing. The maximum sound volume of ROKR EM30 has not moved far from the Samsung i450.

After a week of listen to music, I have not found any convincing argument to justify the lack of saturated low frequencies (Bass) in ROKR EM30.

However, it is doubly interesting situation with the results of the RMAA 5.5 sound quality tests which is exemplary to say the least as I found out in reviews of different mobile phone websites.

As I looked in the RMAA test graphs as published by different websites, the sound characteristic needs no explanation, because we face one of the best decisions at the personal audio market, in connection to linear reproduction of the pure, clean sound devoid of any perceptible bass.

ROKR EM30 is not ashamed to compare itself with players from Creative ZEN Micro Photo, Sony HD5, Cowon D2 or even Apple iPod.

Now about those basses. Their numbers are small only because of the power output of the amplifier, which is equal or less than 15 mW per channel. This, as you know, is only sufficient for In Ear form factor headphones. It was in the weak amplifier lies the main disadvantage of ROKR EM30.

Motorola MotoZine ZN5 : In the review of ROKR EM30, I devoted considerable time and attention to the audio quality of Motorola phones on the LJ platform.

Whereas ROKR EM30 was running on LJ7.1 software platform MotoZine ZN5 runs on LJ6.3 which is a older version.

Again looking at the RMMA tests published in different websites, I found the MotoZine ZN5 sound quality to be slightly less than that of ROKR EM30.

When Motorola made the ROKR EM30 the goal was in adjusting the frequency response to achieve a smooth response curve – one that is devoid of abrupt peaks and valleys. Note that the curve doesn't have to be ruler flat, but the transitions between peaks and dips should be gradual and flowing. Thus the ROKR EM30 excelled in RMAA tests with great results.

But what’s good on paper (RMMA tests) does not always translate to good sound to most people thus becoming a subjective matter.

"Flat" curves often sound bad because the response characteristics of our ears are far from flat, and most listeners like to boost bass or treble. Knocking our mobile's response into shape usually involves tweaking its equalizer.

In MotoZine ZN5 we have pronounced low frequencies (Bass) which we were dearly missing in ROKR EM30 and the level of detailing in sound seemed a little less compared to ROKR EM30.

The volume is slightly higher than EM30, the difference at around 10% and at the same time the return to the usual 7 step volume control instead of 20 step of ROKR EM30.

Interestingly in the end, though the ROKR EM30 won over MotoZine ZN5 in RMMA test, most of my friends choose the MotoZine ZN5 over ROKR EM30 to listen to music. MotoZine ZN5 won the ultimate subjective test with the ornamentation named BASS.