One M8 Harman Kardon Edition delivers HD audio, available May 9 (hands-on)
Sprint’s special black One M8 promises crystal-clear sound, phone calls, and HD audio.
Today at Sprint's New York press event touting the virtues of wide-band audio, the wireless carrier partnered with HTC to unveil a special One M8 Harman Kardon Edition handset. This unique device adds to its already impressive toolbox support for Sprint's HD audio technology, and promises superior sound for music and calls.
Available online on May 2 and in stores May 9, Sprint's HTC One M8 variant will sport an all-black finish with champagne trimmings, and will include special Harman Kardon earbuds valued at $140.
According to Sprint, the phone delivers music reproduction that holds six times the amount of data found on a standard CD. That's certainly a bold factoid, one we swallow with a huge grain of salt. Using a technology called Clari-Fi, the handset supposedly will fill in the highs and lows of music often lost during the audio compression process of MP3 files.
During our brief time with it, we noticed that the device retained that sleek brushed-aluminum design seen in the original One M8. And while Sprint's version lacks the actual gunmetal style, it shares the original handset's slippery feel. In addition, the champagne highlights are only on the front of the device -- above and below the screen. As such, we prefer the stylings of the first M8, with its ceramic accents.
The bundled earbuds have a very premium feel to them. Their solid, square metal design matches well with the phone's aluminum chassis.
Based on demo units that Sprint had on display, we can't say definitively if the audio quality is any better. The sample music tracks we listened to opened up and had more depth and richness when the Clari-Fi and Livestage processing were switched on. However, since processing was turned on at various points of the songs, and the original quality of the sample audio was never given, we had no real baseline on which to build our comparison.
Other than that, HTC confirmed the hardware components on this new One M8 are identical. That means Sprint's variant will still feature a stunning, 5-inch 1080p display, a powerful Snapdragon 801 processor, and dual rear-facing cameras with a 4-UltraPixel sensor.
Of course whether the One M8 Harman Kardon Edition will prove to be a big draw really depends on how much better sound it can muster. Still, if you're married to your Sprint service, are eyeing a new One M8, and have a hankering for a premium set of earbuds, then this gadget might be enough to reel you in.