For years we’ve been making phone calls with sub-quality audio. We’ve done so, because it’s the only option we’ve had. Arguably, some phones have had better clarity than others due to stronger reception, or a better earpiece. But, a key change had to be made, and it’s happening now.

HD Voice is the next generation cellular call quality, and by all accounts, it really does make a difference. As noted by PC Mag:

“Every major carrier is working on bringing HD Voice to its customers, but not all HD Voice is created equal. Different carriers implement different codecs, so there won’t be interoperability right out of the gate. T-Mobile, for instance, uses AMR-WB (adaptive multi-rate, wideband) through its existing 3G network, while Sprint uses EVRC-NW over its CDMA 1X Advanced network. Meanwhile, AT&T and Verizon are working on their own versions of HD Voice using Voice over LTE (VoLTE).”

PC Mag‘s Eugene Kim performed some standard testing on both music and speaking quality. I’ve only embedded one comparison here, so be sure to check out the full report over at the original source. The clearest difference was heard in the music playback test. With HD Voice you could actually here the music, while standard call connection was downright awful.

HD Voice

Standard

As you can hear, HD Voice doesn’t necessarily mean calling is going to be perfectly clear. It’s still not the best audio quality. But it’s clearly an improvement.

What are your experiences using the technology? Have you noticed any major improvements?