[theaudiologist]

Hi i'm getting sony xperia z1 compact. i read the audio quality test on gsmarena and the stereo crosstalk is higher than the other phones (-43.7dB). What is stereo crosstalk and does it affect the audio quality?

 

[higbvuyb]

Hi i'm getting sony xperia z1 compact. i read the audio quality test on gsmarena and the stereo crosstalk is higher than the other phones (-43.7dB). What is stereo crosstalk and does it affect the audio quality?

Crosstalk means if you input a signal into side A and nothing into side B, instead of getting total silence out of B, you still get a little bit of sound.
 
It can muddle up soundstage a bit, but headphones don't have real soundstage anyway.

 

[ClieOS]

Hi i'm getting sony xperia z1 compact. i read the audio quality test on gsmarena and the stereo crosstalk is higher than the other phones (-43.7dB). What is stereo crosstalk and does it affect the audio quality?

 
Actually you want that number to be as negative / low as possible. Stereo crosstalk is how much the left channel is leaking into the right and vice verse. A lower crosstalk gives you better stereo image and channel separation.

 

[theaudiologist]

 
Actually you want that number to be as negative / low as possible. Stereo crosstalk is how much the left channel is leaking into the right and vice verse. A lower crosstalk gives you better stereo image and channel separation.

 


But is -43.7dB still good. every other audio properties are excellent.

 

[ClieOS]

But is -43.7dB still good. every other audio properties are excellent.

 
No, -43.7dB isn't particularly good. Personally, I'll consider -60dB or so to be decent. However, RMAA measurement is strongly influenced by the measurement tools and load, and therefore there really isn't that meaningful when you look at those number. Plus, the output impedance and power, which are also quite important, ain't measured.
 
Simply put, RMAA is more for picking out obvious problem rather than showing how good a source is. It has its limitation.

 

[stv014]

But is -43.7dB still good. every other audio properties are excellent.

 
It is not great in comparison to other equipment, but if it is better than -40 dB over the entire audio band, I doubt it would be easy to hear with music (1% less channel separation is not a major problem). Other parameters like output impedance can easily make more difference.
 
Note however, that RMAA "lies" about crosstalk, and it is in reality 6 dB worse than what is shown, unless this bug has been fixed since I found it, or something other than RMAA was used. Although bad hardware setup (like ground loops) in the test can make the result even more inaccurate, even by tens of dB sometimes.

 

[bigshot]

   
No, -43.7dB isn't particularly good. Personally, I'll consider -60dB or so to be decent.

 
You wouldn't like turntables and LP records much.

 

[ClieOS]

   
You wouldn't like turntables and LP records much.

 
...and indeed I have neither.