Dull design aside,Tags the Google Pixel and Pixel XL are two of the best premium Android phones (if not the best) you can buy right now. But there might be an issue with their speakers, especially at high volumes.
Reddit user Mark "badmark" Buckman brought to attention the problem after posting a video of his Pixel and Pixel XL exhibiting audio distortion when the volume is turned to their highest levels.
SEE ALSO: Good news: Samsung reportedly knows what ruined the Galaxy Note7With the volumed cranked all the way up, the Perfect Piano app is virtually unusable. As you drag your fingers along the keys, the keys sound more like static with lots of audio popping.
The issue also only rears itself when the volume set to its loudest with the Perfect Piano app and the audio is played through the speaker; headphones seem to work fine.
Mashablewas able to replicate the same audio problem on a Pixel and two separate Pixel XLs. The issue remained even when we updated the phones from Android 7.1 to 7.1.1. The same tests on a OnePlus 3T running Android 6.1 Marshmallow, and an iPhone 7 running iOS 10.2, however, had no such audio distortions.
Pixel owners have been reporting on audio popping and clicking issues since late October.
A post from a Pixel XL owner, Ryan Lestage, on Google's official Pixel user community forum, from back on Oct. 24, suggests the audio issues extend to all audio including "talk radio or music played in Chrome, Facebook, TuneIn Radio, YouTube, etc."
Mashablewasn't able to reproduce the issues in other commonly used music apps such as YouTube, Chrome, Spotify or Pandora.
Given the different user reports, it's unclear exactly what's causing the speaker problems.
Mashable reached out to Google and received this statement from a company spokesperson: "We're aware of an issue affecting audio quality for some apps on Pixel and we're actively working on a fix."
Does your Pixel or Pixel XL have audio issues? Let us know on Twitter at @MashableTech.
UPDATE: Dec. 20, 2016, 12:28 p.m. EST with the above statement from Google.
Topics Android Google
What We’re Loving: Old New York, The Boss, SodaStream by The Paris ReviewBuy Elvis’s Library Card by Sadie SteinThe Southern Underbelly: Remembering Lewis Nordan by Clyde EdgertonSheila Heti, Toronto, Canada by Matteo PericoliWatch: Kipling on Truth in Writing, 1933 by Sadie SteinRich Writers, Niche Bookstores, Darwin by Sadie SteinLetter from India: The Permit, Part 1 by Amie BarrodaleSomeone to Watch Over Me by Nica StrunkConrad Signals, Server Signs by Sadie SteinDreaming in French by Brian CullmanHow Is the Critic Free? by Caleb CrainPower Lunches by Jamie FeldmarDead Authors at Fashion Week: Part 2 by Katherine BernardWriting: The Great Invention of the World by Sadie SteinHenry James’s Living Room: Literary Color Palettes by Pantone by Sadie SteinRejection, Crime, and Gum by Sadie SteinIntroducing Our Fall Issue! by The Paris ReviewJudging Books by Covers by Sadie SteinWriting: The Great Invention of the World by Sadie SteinDead Authors at Fashion Week: Part 1 by Katherine Bernard Poetry Rx: Poor Deluded Human, You Seek My Heart Five Young Women With Prize Cyber Monday Apple Watch deals: Get an SE for $179 The Prevalence of Ritual: On Romare Bearden’s ‘Projections’ The Last of French Seventies Counterculture by Stephanie LaCava Because the Story Was Mine Staff Picks: Bald Heads, Baldwin, and Bruce LaBruce by The Paris Review 15 other words for periods that are funny any time of the month Writers’ Fridges: Olivia Laing Best Cyber Monday vacuum deals 2023: Shark, Dyson, and more Meet the best Best Cyber Monday tablet deals for 2023 How to prepare for career success in an AI The best TikTok food trends of 2023 (so far) From the Perspective of the Adoptee: An Interview with Nicole Chung Feminize Your Canon: Violet Trefusis by Emma Garman Paramount+ Black Friday deal: $2 per month Becoming Kathy Acker: An Interview with Olivia Laing Cyber Monday Fire TV deals 2023: Amazon's sale is live BSI's menstruation and menopause workplace standards launch in UK