Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Pro: A gaming phone with abysmal multimedia?

Xiaomi released the Black Shark 2 Pro as an updated version of the Black Shark 2. The phone, designed to be a budget gaming option, made its way over to DxOMark where its audio capabilities were tested rigorously. Sadly, the results were far from ideal, and fans of the series may want to look away.

The Black Shark 2 Pro recorded an overall audio score of 51. That makes it the second-worst device on DxOMark's rankings, with the Sony Xperia 1 surprisingly coming in last with a miserable score of 45. That score is split into a playback score of 55 and a recording score of 39. 

A playback score of 55 is pretty bad, and is the third-lowest score in that category so far, just a tad better than the Honor 20 Pro (51), with the Sony Xperia 1 in last place (39). It's even more curious when one considers the fact that the Black Shark 2 Pro features a stereo speaker setup. Just like the Sony Xperia 1, it offers poor audio playback in spite of its stereo speakers.

The Black Shark 2 Pro manages to also deliver terrible audio recording performance, with a score of 39 in that category. That makes it the worst phone in that category on DxOMark's leaderboard.

We're not sure how the Black Shark 2 Pro can drop the ball so hard in terms of audio. It's a budget gaming phone at the end of it all, though, and it looks like audio hardware was one place Black Shark cut corners on. 

As usual, you'd do well to not take DxOMark's opinions as gospel. They're just that—opinions.