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iPad iPad Air bad speaker and display?

S

silverwolf0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 10, 2013
8
0
I just got my new iPad Air. Owned an iPad 2 previously. I have a few issues that I'm not sure if its normal or not. The speakers sound like audio is coming out of a barrel or tin can. It is very disorienting, especially when listening to music that has a beat. The audio is so bad I get nauseous when playing scramble with friends. I usually like all the sound effects from that game. My iPad 2 sounded great and didn't have any of these issues. My cheap smartphone has better sounding speakers than my iPad Air. iPad 2 beats everything. Is it suppose to sound this bad, or my unit defective?

Also, I am new to the retina display. The display on my iPad looks washed out unless I set it to very high brightness, and the yellows look greenish. The colors look very different from my iPad 2. It is lighter and more pastel-y, and I'm not talking about iOS 7 either. Is this normal as well?

I was all pumped for a new iPad in over two years but am a bit frustrated at what I am getting.
 
I think my display is a color temperature difference. Was the iPad 2 a lot warmer than the iPad 3/4 with retina? I know on AMOLED displays which are very cold, the yellows look like greens to me as well. But that doesn't explain the washed out colors in general. More washed out than my old iPad 2.

I am hearing other complaints about the speakers around the internet as well. I still don't know if its certain people with bad speakers, or just bad speakers in general that people aren't noticing or can hear. The high end actually sounds pretty good with voices and such. It's the low end and echoes and vibrations that makes me nauseous and I try to cover up the speaker to muffle it.
 
I've owned all iPads except the first one and the speaker is definitely better on the air.
 
I've owned all the iPads since the original. The Air indeed does seem to be a bit cooler color temperature wise and dimmer than my 3. My iPad 3 seems to be very close to about 6500K where as the Air is more like 7000K. The blues on the Air have a tint of magenta to them. My iPad 2 was the warmest and had a slight red push. Keep in mind that the Airs are using Sharp's new LCD panels and this probably affects the colors a little.
 
Take ten iPads and you get 4 or 5 different tints... Some are warmer, some are cooler. That's normal and no defect. If you're not satisfied, just take it back and get a new one.

Uneven tints and backlighting however, that is different...
 
My Speakers also sound like crap, siri sounds muffled and distorted, Siri on my iPhone sounds fine, very clear.

All music is distorted at higher volumes. like it overpowering a tiny speaker, just sounds like crap.

Does Siri sound the same if you listen on your iPhone vs iPad, do any of you think Siri sounds better on iPad? If so I have a bad speaker, which is not out of the realm of possibility.
 
dsc888 said:
I've owned all the iPads since the original. The Air indeed does seem to be a bit cooler color temperature wise and dimmer than my 3. My iPad 3 seems to be very close to about 6500K where as the Air is more like 7000K. The blues on the Air have a tint of magenta to them. My iPad 2 was the warmest and had a slight red push. Keep in mind that the Airs are using Sharp's new LCD panels and this probably affects the colors a little.
Click to expand...

Ill second this...my iPad Air's screen was washed out and bluish looking compared to my iPad 3 which had a more natural, warm tone and more saturated colors. The screen also had too much play in it for my taste...was a bit too flimsy feeling. I wasn't impressed with the stereo speakers either. I returned it. Prob going to get a 4 sometime soon.
 
I bought this at Walmart. How do I make a return? Aren't you screwed once you open the package? Can you return it and get a refund, or should I exchange it?

I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with my iPad, that all of them are like that in Apple's effort to make it "air". The washed out colors, I saw several video reviews and their panels look just as washed out, yet no one complains about it in their reviews. Some sites say the speaker is better than the iPad 4. That may be true, but I dunno how good or bad the iPad 4 was. I just know my iPad 2 speakers were miles ahead. I have a small Toshiba tablet that is very thin and experiences the same sort of booming resonating issues and distortion. Every time I close a game in Scramble with Friends, the sound effect crackles and hurts my ears.

I am really liking the high resolution and safari is super fast, but don't like everything else. The build quality in particular feels thin and cheap, just like the mini. I still want to upgrade from an iPad 2 though, for the higher resolution, and faster speed, as after the iOS 7 update my iPad 2 is super slow. The iPad 3 uses the same processor as the iPad 2 so not into that.

So that leaves the iPad 4 which has retina and a faster processor, the same one as in the iPhone 5. Is the retina panel as washed out as the iPad Air? And I've heard one or two comments about bad speakers, but its not very definitive. Is it at least on par with the iPad 2 I'm coming from?
 
silverwolf0 said:
I bought this at Walmart. How do I make a return? Aren't you screwed once you open the package? Can you return it and get a refund, or should I exchange it?

I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with my iPad, that all of them are like that in Apple's effort to make it "air". The washed out colors, I saw several video reviews and their panels look just as washed out, yet no one complains about it in their reviews. Some sites say the speaker is better than the iPad 4. That may be true, but I dunno how good or bad the iPad 4 was. I just know my iPad 2 speakers were miles ahead. I have a small Toshiba tablet that is very thin and experiences the same sort of booming resonating issues and distortion. Every time I close a game in Scramble with Friends, the sound effect crackles and hurts my ears.

I am really liking the high resolution and safari is super fast, but don't like everything else. The build quality in particular feels thin and cheap, just like the mini. I still want to upgrade from an iPad 2 though, for the higher resolution, and faster speed, as after the iOS 7 update my iPad 2 is super slow. The iPad 3 uses the same processor as the iPad 2 so not into that.

So that leaves the iPad 4 which has retina and a faster processor, the same one as in the iPhone 5. Is the retina panel as washed out as the iPad Air? And I've heard one or two comments about bad speakers, but its not very definitive. Is it at least on par with the iPad 2 I'm coming from?
Click to expand...

I think you would like a 4, go on ebay maybe and look for deal, I know the speaker will be just like a 2, and the feel is the same as the 2 as well, slightly more weight, but feels more solid than the Air. Not sure why some feel the lightness or thinness makes the Air feel cheap, but whatever floats your boat:D

Not sure what you mean by washed out screen, unless you mean the yellow tint if you have a bad screen, my 3 is perfect, my air is slightly yellow, but I would take either over a 2's non retina screen any day of the week.

If you don't like the 4 either, just resell it on ebay.


If it was me I would take your air into an apple store and check the speakers and maybe do a swap, but considering you don't care for the thinness or lightness a 4 might be just your speed.
 
I think the washed out look is only in low brightness. It actually looks really good when I turn up the brightness past halfway. It's still not colorful enough for my tastes, but the sharpness is undeniable. I've seen a few videos and the iPad 3/4 with retina seem to also have the same color profile. The iPad 1 and 2, which I owned, were significantly warmer, especially in low brightness, which I usually have it set to low.

The iPad 1 and 2 also had drastically different sounding speakers than my current iPad Air. The 1 was the best, and the 2 was similar although it had some hollowness to it at certain angles. I think the thickness of the shell heavily affects the way the audio sounds and the vibrations transmitted. The thin frame of the iPad Air doesn't lend well to even, normalized sound.

Another possibility is both my iPad 1 and 2 were refurbished units, meaning they were previously used to some extent and the speakers may have clocked quite a few hours of playback. I've heard of speakers and headphones needing to "break-in". I'm not sure if this applies to iPad speakers, and whether the difference would be SO drastic. I'm just hoping this is the reason, and overtime my speakers will get broken in enough to sound good. I've heard a few speaker comparisons on Youtube. The iPad 4 is just as bad as the Air but the Air is a bit clearer. The iPad 2 on some tests has the same hollowness, while some tests it doesn't. I dunno. Speaker break-in could be a load of bunk...or not. I could just get a bluetooth adapter and stream all my audio to my PC speakers haha.
 
WilliamG said:
Let's face it. That's NOT saying much, because the iPad Air sounds like utter crap.

And that's from an iPad Air owner.
Click to expand...

Yeah, what do you expect? That thing is a few millimeters thick. It's good enough for Youtube and stuff like that. For everything else: get headphones or external speakers. :rolleyes:
 
Sh4wN said:
Yeah, what do you expect? That thing is a few millimeters thick. It's good enough for Youtube and stuff like that. For everything else: get headphones or external speakers. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

But the Mini is even thinner and yet produces better sound quality with adequate bass. I own a Mini and I bought an Air yesterday and did a speaker comparison, and the Air's speakers definitely sound more tinny. Found that disappointing.
 
silverwolf0 said:
...I was all pumped for a new iPad in over two years but am a bit frustrated at what I am getting.
Click to expand...

You can do three things.

1. Get it replaced under warranty.

2. Return it and get a new one.

3. Do nothing aside from talking about it online.

silverwolf0 said:
I bought this at Walmart. How do I make a return? Aren't you screwed once you open the package? Can you return it and get a refund, or should I exchange it?
Click to expand...
I bet you haven't asked anyone at Walmart. Why wouldn't you ask the store you bought it from what their return policy is?
 
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