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zosokm

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
172
49
After a long time , I listened to songs with the EarPods on my old iphone 4 and I found that the sound was much louder . In fact I could keep it only at 75% compared to my iphone 5 where I listen at 100% all the time. The songs sounded much better on the 4 ! I was listening to the new led zeppelin remasters and Bonhams drums tended to over power the headphones whereas on the 5 they sound great but not as loud. Has anyone else noticed this difference?
 

Woochifer

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2007
772
56
Louder's not better. Louder's just louder -- an old trick by stereo sales reps entailed making sure that the system they wanted you to buy sounded louder.

Don't know about the iPhone 4, but the measured audio performance of the iPhone 5 is outstanding -- better than many dedicated DACs and headphone amps. Doubt that too many other mobile devices put this kind of attention to detail into the analog audio chain, but nothing new for Apple.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/iphone-5/audio-quality.htm
 

makerleone

macrumors regular
Apr 24, 2014
166
0
USA
According to me 5 has a better sound quality, coz loudness is not important for music, clean and soft sound quality is the main thing.
 

elfary

macrumors regular
Sep 22, 2012
109
30
iphone 4 vs iphone 5 audio quality

After a long time , I listened to songs with the EarPods on my old iphone 4 and I found that the sound was much louder . In fact I could keep it only at 75% compared to my iphone 5 where I listen at 100% all the time. The songs sounded much better on the 4 ! I was listening to the new led zeppelin remasters and Bonhams drums tended to over power the headphones whereas on the 5 they sound great but not as loud. Has anyone else noticed this difference?


Let me guess it, you have an European model of iPhone 5.

Had the same experience with my 5s. Sold it and purchased an american model (a1533) and now is as powerful as my iphone 4.

Check CENCENELEC white paper and you will understand that from 2013 on Apple handsets are capped in Europe.( not ipads though since the don't include bundled earphones).

In a nutshell:

If in Music/ Volume Limit you see a UE toggle then you idevice has two volume caps built in and this toggle let you override the first limit (85db measured with bundled earphones) but to override the 2nd (100db) you need to jailbreak and install a tweak.

Other clue is the color of volume squares if they are colored when you go past 60% then your idevice is capped. Non european units do not show colored squares nor turn on the screen when you go past any threshold.
 
Last edited:

mKTank

macrumors 68000
Jul 2, 2010
1,537
3
Among all iPhones, the 4S had the best sound quality according to tests I've seen at Head-Fi (don't ask me to link it, just Google it).

That said, the difference is negligible. Don't lose sleep over it.
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
34,227
23,967
Gotta be in it to win it
Among all iPhones, the 4S had the best sound quality according to tests I've seen at Head-Fi (don't ask me to link it, just Google it).

That said, the difference is negligible. Don't lose sleep over it.

They must have updated their findings because they sat the 5s has the best sound from any smartphone.
 
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