I have been having a major problem with iOS 6 since its final release.
Ever since i updated to the final build of iOS 6, the quality of my music audio has changed for the worse. I listen to music from my phone through either my Ultrasone Hi-Fi 780's, or through my car's stereo via AUX input. What I have noticed different is this
-Increased Bass, but for the worse. Bloatier, not as rich nor deep, just in your face bass signal that drowns out other sounds and other aspects of the song.
-Seemingly a rolloff of the treble and mids, again exacerbating the presence of the bass, but this could also possibly be attributed to the new bass power.
-Quieter music, does not have the same punch across the board than it did before, a lack of presence and feel.
-Cant be entirely sure if this is the case, but it seems there is a loss of balance between the L and R speakers in all cases, some songs i cannot even hear parts of the song i did before, or they are vastly drowned out.
-Seemingly new emphasis on Vocals in most cases.
I am a huge audiophile, and this is all not acceptable for me. When i first listened to my music i thought that i had broken my headphones and that they were the cause of the downgraded sound quality. However, i took a listen through stock apple in ear headphones and heard all of the same things which then prompted me to think it wasnt my headphones but my actual phone (iPhone 4s). I then listened to the same song on my iPad (3rd Generation) and noticed that it sounded normal again, reassuring me on my belief that it was my phone. Its important to note here that i had not updated my iPad to iOS 6 yet, it was still running iOS 5. I started to think that it was my headphone jack on my phone and had messed it up somehow by pushing in the AUX inputs too hard, etc., so i actually took my phone to my local Apple Store and had my phone replaced via Apple Care. When i got back in my car and fired up the song "Jambi" by Tool, i still noticed all of the problems i had noticed before. This infuriated me, i had just wasted my time and money to get my phone replaced to suffer from the same problem.
Of course, a new 4s could not have a messed up headphone jack like i thought my old phone had. Therefore, its easy to see that that was not the problem. Important to note too, i listened to other songs such as "Little Wing" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and "The Blood is Love" by Queens of the Stone Age and noticed that the vocals, bass, mid-bass seemed much more present than all other aspects of the songs. The guitar work in "Little Wing" sounded very reverberant, and sort of "in the background", compared to the bass and drums. Same with the other songs, not the same balance throughout the songs or albums, and didnt have as much of a musical feel. By that time, i had upgraded my iPad to iOS 6 because i didnt think that it could be the software at this point. I completely replaced the library on my phone, making sure i had high quality files, and clean CD-rips. Still sounded horrible. I then listened to Tool on my iPad, and thats when i noticed it was iOS 6. After upgrading, my iPad was generating all of the same problems i had been hearing on my phone. I listened to music on my roommates iphone 4 (who is still running iOS 4) and through an old ipod mini and a newer ipod nano, a laptop, and my friends transformer tablet, and it all sounded perfectly normal.
All of that said, evidently ive concluded its iOS 6. Ive replaced my phone, ran numerous tests, and it all points to this conclusion. Yes, i have changed EQ settings to see if that would fix the problem, but with no results. I changed the itunes EQ, i have changed the EQ settings on my phone, which i usually have set to off. I read online that someone said to put the EQ on Flat on iOS 6 as this was now the real "off", but i still heard the same problems. Admittedly, tinkering the EQ's did improve it somewhat, but certain parts of songs are still missing or drowned out, which i think is due to an inbalance of L and R speaker input or something else. I even called Apple support with no avail, they told me to go to an Apple Store and get a replacement -_- With no way to downgrade my device, im left hopeless. I cannot stand this quality of music, it makes me not want to listen to my music anymore and impacts me whether at home or in the car, anywhere. I dont want to have to purchase a new media player to compensate for Apple's **** up, they shouldnt mess with audio quality in possibility to compensate for their new Earpods. This is a huge setback for me, and has definitely hindered my belief in Apple as a company. I cant stress enough how much this affects me, i listen to music most hours of the day, everyday. I write this in hopes that some other people have noticed something at all similar, or even has a solution because I feel like im the only one who has noticed it thus far.
Ever since i updated to the final build of iOS 6, the quality of my music audio has changed for the worse. I listen to music from my phone through either my Ultrasone Hi-Fi 780's, or through my car's stereo via AUX input. What I have noticed different is this
-Increased Bass, but for the worse. Bloatier, not as rich nor deep, just in your face bass signal that drowns out other sounds and other aspects of the song.
-Seemingly a rolloff of the treble and mids, again exacerbating the presence of the bass, but this could also possibly be attributed to the new bass power.
-Quieter music, does not have the same punch across the board than it did before, a lack of presence and feel.
-Cant be entirely sure if this is the case, but it seems there is a loss of balance between the L and R speakers in all cases, some songs i cannot even hear parts of the song i did before, or they are vastly drowned out.
-Seemingly new emphasis on Vocals in most cases.
I am a huge audiophile, and this is all not acceptable for me. When i first listened to my music i thought that i had broken my headphones and that they were the cause of the downgraded sound quality. However, i took a listen through stock apple in ear headphones and heard all of the same things which then prompted me to think it wasnt my headphones but my actual phone (iPhone 4s). I then listened to the same song on my iPad (3rd Generation) and noticed that it sounded normal again, reassuring me on my belief that it was my phone. Its important to note here that i had not updated my iPad to iOS 6 yet, it was still running iOS 5. I started to think that it was my headphone jack on my phone and had messed it up somehow by pushing in the AUX inputs too hard, etc., so i actually took my phone to my local Apple Store and had my phone replaced via Apple Care. When i got back in my car and fired up the song "Jambi" by Tool, i still noticed all of the problems i had noticed before. This infuriated me, i had just wasted my time and money to get my phone replaced to suffer from the same problem.
Of course, a new 4s could not have a messed up headphone jack like i thought my old phone had. Therefore, its easy to see that that was not the problem. Important to note too, i listened to other songs such as "Little Wing" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and "The Blood is Love" by Queens of the Stone Age and noticed that the vocals, bass, mid-bass seemed much more present than all other aspects of the songs. The guitar work in "Little Wing" sounded very reverberant, and sort of "in the background", compared to the bass and drums. Same with the other songs, not the same balance throughout the songs or albums, and didnt have as much of a musical feel. By that time, i had upgraded my iPad to iOS 6 because i didnt think that it could be the software at this point. I completely replaced the library on my phone, making sure i had high quality files, and clean CD-rips. Still sounded horrible. I then listened to Tool on my iPad, and thats when i noticed it was iOS 6. After upgrading, my iPad was generating all of the same problems i had been hearing on my phone. I listened to music on my roommates iphone 4 (who is still running iOS 4) and through an old ipod mini and a newer ipod nano, a laptop, and my friends transformer tablet, and it all sounded perfectly normal.
All of that said, evidently ive concluded its iOS 6. Ive replaced my phone, ran numerous tests, and it all points to this conclusion. Yes, i have changed EQ settings to see if that would fix the problem, but with no results. I changed the itunes EQ, i have changed the EQ settings on my phone, which i usually have set to off. I read online that someone said to put the EQ on Flat on iOS 6 as this was now the real "off", but i still heard the same problems. Admittedly, tinkering the EQ's did improve it somewhat, but certain parts of songs are still missing or drowned out, which i think is due to an inbalance of L and R speaker input or something else. I even called Apple support with no avail, they told me to go to an Apple Store and get a replacement -_- With no way to downgrade my device, im left hopeless. I cannot stand this quality of music, it makes me not want to listen to my music anymore and impacts me whether at home or in the car, anywhere. I dont want to have to purchase a new media player to compensate for Apple's **** up, they shouldnt mess with audio quality in possibility to compensate for their new Earpods. This is a huge setback for me, and has definitely hindered my belief in Apple as a company. I cant stress enough how much this affects me, i listen to music most hours of the day, everyday. I write this in hopes that some other people have noticed something at all similar, or even has a solution because I feel like im the only one who has noticed it thus far.
