Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Poorer Sound From Telephone Speaker?

iRun26.2

iRun26.2

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 15, 2010
2,123
344
Am I the only one?

The quality of the incoming sound coming from the speaker (that goes to your ear when on a call) seems to be not nearly as good on the iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 4.

Has anyone else noticed this (or could my ear speaker be defective)?
 
Last edited:
For me at least, the sound is way better. Like it sounds so good that it bothers me. I used to have a hard time hearing people on my 4 and 4S, and now I can hear everything. When I talk to my wife I can hear my kids playing in the background and what they are saying (babbling).

So I would say that maybe there is a problem with it. How about try talking on speaker phone, and see if the clarity is better, and or if it could be the person you are talking to?
 
I don't know if you're the only one but I agree with above... I found it way better than the 4. It is loud and clear.
 
aquadisiac said:
yeah i have to strain to hear on the speaker :(
Click to expand...


The other thing to check in addition to volume on this is that you are holding the speaker to your ear. Sometimes I think the person on the other end of the call is not talking into the phone, and I realize the phone has slipped on my ear, and once I fix it I can hear fine.

I know that this is one of those "DOH!" statements, but it happens pretty often.
 
iRun26.2 said:
Am I the only one?

The quality of the incoming sound coming from the speaker (that goes to your ear when on a call) seems to be not nearly as good on the iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 4.

Has anyone else noticed this (or could my ear speaker be defective)?
Click to expand...

I am experiencing this as well, but I can't determine if it's because I'm new to Verizon or if it's a problem with my phone.
 
simply stunning said:
The other thing to check in addition to volume on this is that you are holding the speaker to your ear. Sometimes I think the person on the other end of the call is not talking into the phone, and I realize the phone has slipped on my ear, and once I fix it I can hear fine.

I know that this is one of those "DOH!" statements, but it happens pretty often.
Click to expand...
Of course i nearly put the put INTO my ear


ProMod said:
I am experiencing this as well, but I can't determine if it's because I'm new to Verizon or if it's a problem with my phone.
Click to expand...

Im also new to verizon.
 
aquadisiac said:
Im also new to verizon.
Click to expand...

Are you getting voices that sound a bit garbled or compressed? For me, it's like the first word of every sentence someone says is too low or muffled or something. It's really weird. People say I sound horrible to them too.
 
Take the plastic sheet off the front of the phone, it covers the earpiece. :D

Kidding aside, 3 people at my office brought their new phones to me to complain about the sound being barely audible with the volume all the way up... and that was the solution!
 
Ayemerica said:
I find it to be the best sounding speaker to date . (on an iPhone)
Click to expand...

Just to be clear...

I'm not talking about the speaker phone speaker (and maybe you aren't either), I'm talking about the speaker you put up next to your ear.

Maybe I need to go to the Apple Store to try one out there (but I suspect that it would be pretty noisy there).

----------
ominx said:
I don't know if you're the only one but I agree with above... I found it way better than the 4. It is loud and clear.
Click to expand...

That's the opposite for me. I liked the sound from my. iPhone 4 much better
 
I feel like my call quality is worse than my HTC Evo I upgraded from. I'm thinking I'll make a trip to the store at some point this week and see what the demos sound like. I just don't have a good basis of comparison since I'm not coming from another iPhone. But all my calls sound scratchy and garbled, whether calling someone next door or someone in another state
 
I have the same issue with the incoming sound from the iPhone 5 ear piece. On my iPhone 4 I was able to hear people whisper & some background noise. Now with the iPhone 5, I can't hear anyone whisper, they sound muffled & no background noise at all. I read that it could be related to the overwhelming noise cancellation feature.
 
lls4f said:
I feel like my call quality is worse than my HTC Evo I upgraded from. I'm thinking I'll make a trip to the store at some point this week and see what the demos sound like. I just don't have a good basis of comparison since I'm not coming from another iPhone. But all my calls sound scratchy and garbled, whether calling someone next door or someone in another state
Click to expand...

What carrier?
 
lls4f said:
Sprint. But I've got full service (4-5 bars) and moving around (inside to outside, near window away from window) didn't fix it. So I don't think it's service related.
Click to expand...

I'm on Verizon. Maybe it's not carrier related, and is an issue with our specific phones?
 
ProMod said:
Are you getting voices that sound a bit garbled or compressed? For me, it's like the first word of every sentence someone says is too low or muffled or something. It's really weird. People say I sound horrible to them too.
Click to expand...

No its like they have the phone far from their mouth or are far away or not speaking out clearly. This has been the case with 3 different people. Well those are the only calls ive made/received on the phone. i text a lot more :)
 
Only way is to compare with another iPhone. Apple AT&T or Verizon should have a demo you can make a test call with.
 
Thank you!!!

SHIFTLife said:
Take the plastic sheet off the front of the phone, it covers the earpiece. :D

Kidding aside, 3 people at my office brought their new phones to me to complain about the sound being barely audible with the volume all the way up... and that was the solution!
Click to expand...


I was only on here looking to find out why everyone who called me sounded so horrible! Thinking "great my new iPhone 5 is came broken" HAHAHA jokes on me!:p I left the plastic sheet on! Did not even think it was that! Thank you for this post! :)
 
My plastic sheet is off as I'm not sure how you can miss it lol and my ear volume is atrocious. I can't hear ANYTHING. Well, I can hear but it is extremely irritating. It is like I took my nexus and turned the ear speaker volume all the way down when comparing. When I turn my iPhone down 3-4 clicks all audio is gone. Can't be normal, can it?
 
I just tried talking with someone using the earpiece speaker and then, with the included earpods. What a difference!

The earpods are fantastic... and the earpiece speaker is crap. The must be something wrong with my earpiece speaker. I am going to the AT&T store to compare my sound to another iPhone 5.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back