ROG Phone 7 has expanded the horizons of smartphone design by breaking new ground and incorporate mature technology from other industries. Instead of a full review spanning thousands of words, we decided to break down this review to go deeper into each aspect of the ROG Phone 7, individually. This should give us better insight into what makes this phone tick, allowing us to delve deeper into the phone’s capabilities, which we can’t do with a mere overview.
Overview
The sound system on the ROG Phone 7, or the “GameFX audio system” is an upgrade from of the ROG Phone 5 and 6 series. It features few technologies developed with careful consideration for its user and so far some of it is that is unique to the ROG Phone series.
We will looking into all the technologies before we do some listening test with ROG Phone 7:
ROG Phone 7 Audio Technology
Symmetrical Dual front-facing stereo speakers
Right out of the box, Asus boost about the Dual front-facing speaker none stop, and rightfully so. The front facing speaker are symmetrically, which is crucial to enable the best audio experience these speakers can offer. The speaker is a long-throwing 5-magnet 12x16mm super linear speaker with maximum excursion up to 0.8mm, to understand what this mean, please refer to the table below:
| long-throwing | Sound has narrow dispersion range Project sound further away from the speaker |
| 5-magnet | Total of 5-magnet per speaker unit More magnet = louder the speaker |
| Super linear speaker | A group of speaker that arrange in a line Create a beam of sound that is tightly focus at a single direction |
| excursion up to 0.8mm | Excursion relates to a speaker’s movement Higher excursion |
Each speaker has a dedicated Cirrus Logic CS35L45 mono class D 6.8W amp. Working in a pair, it pump out 13.6W worth of volume out from the phone. Similar amp is also used in the ROG Phone 5 and 6 series, where it landed them in second and third place of DXO Audio rank, raising on top of other smartphone like Apple iPhones.
The current generation are capable to pumping out audio 50% louder than the previous generation of ROG phone, with 20% in stronger bass performance.
With the above technologies combine, the board audio would be capable to project stereo audio at a short distant, ideally the distance where a person holding the phone horizontally. it is seem like ROG is setting the stage of the perfect precision onboard audio for gamer.
DIRAC Technology – Dirac Virtuo
Smartphone loudspeakers can lack the required space and air to produce the deep frequency where bass is formed. This is why when we listen to smartphone audio right out from the speaker, we usually heard a dry, less dynamic audio that carried higher and mi range of audio, but lacking is bass.
With the need of bass to form a complete audio image, ROG had work with Dirac, an Audio research company that specialized in optimizing digital audio. They have come up with a technology to produce bass in a very unique way. By how Dirac describes it, why it is leveraging on psychoacoustics, the studies on how our brain perceive sound wave. In another word, Dirac is engineering phone speaker to not only play audio, but project the signal into listener’s brain to maximize the audio spectrum.
Using Dirac Virtua, the ROG Phone 7 created a rich audio experience that is capable of full range of audio frequency, tribble, mids, bass.
AudioWizard / Dirac Audio app
ASUS AudioWizard is an stapple audio app majority of Asus devices would carried. Inc this variation of AudioWized ROG has infused with Dirac audio, which from the image below seem quite similar with the Dirac Audio Tunner found on other phone. Know that Asus’ AudioWizard has already been established since the original ZenFone era, the UI and design of Dirac Audio Tunner likely took a chapter out from Asus.
The app’s settings menu that optimizes and enhances the audio capability of ROG Phone 7. The 7-band equalizer start from 60Hz to 12K, with an extra booster below for treble and bass.
There’s also the 4 scenario of premix audio profile, namely Dynamic, Music, Cinema and Game.
- Music mode For general usage. This is the default AudioWizard mode.
- Cinema mode Enhanced bass and vocals with a slightly wider sound stage than Music mode.
- Game mode Boosts small sounds such as footsteps, while enhancing high frequencies for more precise localization of sounds. It also has the widest sound stage of all the modes in AudioWizard
- Dynamic switch between the all 3 in between to give user the best audio experience.
AptX Lossless
With its flagship Qualcomm SOC, the ROG Phone 7 has gain not only AptX adaptive codec, but also extension toward AptX Lossless. Which gave user the best possible wireleses audio experience today’s technology capable.
The AptX Lossless technology is claimed to wirelessly transfer music at CD quality (1411 kpbs) with no lose of quality. This is surely a step up over the previous generation of HD audio with AptX HD can transfer upto 576kpbs where as AptX Lossless transfer upto 1200kbps. As it is theoretically the highest possible quality on Bluetooth, ROG phone 7 given user the headroom to enjoy the best wireless experience.
| AptX HD | AptX Lossless | |
| Maximum Transfer Data Rate (Kbps) | ±350-576 | ±1100-1200 |
| Latency | >100ms | >100ms |
| Maximum Frequency | 48kHz | 48kHz |
| Maximum Bitrate | 16 bit | 16 bit |
Hi-Res Audio certified 3.5mm headphone Jack
Serious audiophile wou ROG Phone 7’s headphone jack is Hi-Res Audio (HRA) certified, which means it can play high resolution audio files rated at 32-bit 384kHz when paired with Hi-Res Audio certified output devices.
Comparing with ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
Instead of us telling you how it sounds, why not have a listen for yourself in the video below?
ROG Phone 7 Audio Conclusion
In conclusion, the audio design of the ROG Phone 7 revolutionizes smartphone audio. By incorporating advanced technology from various industries, its GameFX audio system rises to become one of the most captivating audio systems on a smartphone to listen to. It features symmetrical dual front-facing stereo speakers, enhanced bass, Dirac Technology for a complete audio experience, and is Hi-Res Audio certified with AptX Lossless support, ensuring top-notch audio quality. The ROG Phone 7 sets new standards by delivering immersive sound for gaming, music, and multimedia.
For our view on the ROG Phone 7’s imaging capability, check out our article on using the ROG Phone 7 as a cinematic camera.