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iPhone 7 Plus - Tinny Speakers?

Sheza

Sheza

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 14, 2010
2,091
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Hi,

Got my 7 Plus today. Compared to my 6, the speakers are definitely a little louder, but they massively lack bass. I would say I even prefer the sound output from the 2-year-old iPhone 6 to the 7 Plus, because it's just so tinny and has very little bass.

Anyone else notice this or do I have a dodgy phone?
 
I was massively disappointed by the speaker on my 6S+. Compared to the 6+ the speaker was tinny. I was heartened by reviews that the 7+ has much more depth to the loudspeaker(s) but your post has just removed my joy. I'd be happy with the loudspeaker from the 6+ because it sounded amazingly warm and bassy compared to any phone I've owned before and since.
 
crawfish963 said:
Can you not adjust for this in the EQ settings?
Click to expand...
Already did - both the 'Music' part of the Settings app and Spotify's own EQ. They are matched with my iPhone 6, and are much tinnier.
 
It is possible you have a defective speaker. I would head to an Apple store and compare to a floor model/make an appointment to have it looked at.
 
I remember when I owned the 6S plus I had issues with the sound quality

What helped was setting the EQ to “Late Night”

(settings-music-EQ-Late Night)

That improved the sound dramatically.

Might be worth a try
 
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I wasn't aware that the EQ affected the loudspeaker and that it only worked when using items plugged into the aux jack on previous iPhones (including the 6/6S).
Regardless, you can't polish a turd and EQ a lousy speaker into a good one. At best you could reduce the treble and take away some harshness but you could never add bass to a bass-shy microspeaker.
 
Last edited:
SarZ said:
I remember when I owned the 6S plus I had issues with the sound quality

What helped was setting the EQ to “Late Night”

(settings-music-EQ-Late Night)

That improved the sound dramatically.

Might be worth a try
Click to expand...
Hi, I've tried this but there hasn't been a noticeable improvement.

I have given it another comparison with the iPhone 6 - same song, same EQ, same volume, and while the 7 is marginally louder, it's way, way tinnier. It's harder to listen to.

I also seem to have a yellower screen and one that is not quite as bright as the 6 (which should not be the case) so I will definitely make some comparisons with an Apple store model on Friday.

I might also film a video, if I can manage to record on my iPad and control both phones at the same time.
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sunking101 said:
I wasn't aware that the EQ affected the loudspeaker and that it only worked when using items plugged into the aux jack on previous iPhones (including the 6/6S).
Click to expand...
This could be the case, but even so, the audio is tinnier on the 7 Plus.
 
Guys, have a listen to this comparison video.

Goes without saying but, iPhone 7 Plus on the left, iPhone 6 on the right. After doing this test I still believe the 6 sounds better. It might lack a little detail in the highs but that is outweighed by a more solid bass response, making it sound cleaner and less messy.

If anyone needs me to upload the clean version (using Freedom by Pharrell instead of Skepta) let me know.

 
Sheza said:
Guys, have a listen to this comparison video.

Goes without saying but, iPhone 7 Plus on the left, iPhone 6 on the right. After doing this test I still believe the 6 sounds better. It might lack a little detail in the highs but that is outweighed by a more solid bass response, making it sound cleaner and less messy.

If anyone needs me to upload the clean version (using Freedom by Pharrell instead of Skepta) let me know.

Click to expand...

Mine sound pretty bad too.

I might go to the Apple Store after work and compare it to a display model.

If I do, I'll let you know what I find.
 
Thanks.

Anyone else able to compare? Can anyone offer some insight?
 
I noticed this immediately as I was setting up my iPhone 7+. The swoosh sound of sending email and the outgoing text sounds (among others) are really tinny and cheap sounding.

I thought it was my mind playing tricks, so I compared it to my 6+ and the difference was night and day. A little bit of bass adds depth, and is necessary for a fuller sound/feedback.

I too was excited to learn that there were going to be two speakers on the iPhone 7+, but now that I've heard them, I can honestly say that I'd rather have the one fuller and rich sounding single speaker, than two cheap sounding tinny speakers.

Nobody depends on good loudspeakers for movie or music playback (that's where headphones come in), but for notifications, voicemail and speakerphone, a good loudspeaker is very important. These suck. I am not sure what Apple was trying to achieve here.

I wonder if 'Koss' is the OEM? :rolleyes:
 
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I don't really listen to music with the phone speaker but sometimes its nice to have and I was very excited with the new stereo thinking it would like the old HTC phones.
 
I keep my phone silent 80% of time and use my Apple Watch for notifications. Though, sad to hear this news after being excited over the louder stereo feature. I hope these are just isolated defects once you test store models.

If this is normal, is it possibly due to changes for waterproofing?

Does the stereo atleast enhance some of the experience for certain content over the past mono speakers?
 
TimothyB said:
I keep my phone silent 80% of time and use my Apple Watch for notifications. Though, sad to hear this news after being excited over the louder stereo feature. I hope these are just isolated defects once you test store models.

If this is normal, is it possibly due to changes for waterproofing?

Does the stereo atleast enhance some of the experience for certain content over the past mono speakers?
Click to expand...
The 6S+ had a crappy speaker compared to the excellent speaker on the 6+ so I doubt that it's down to waterproofing. I would be very happy for the 6+ loudspeaker to be in every iPhone until I die.
 
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Mission failed.
So I went to the Apple Store and tried to compare my 7 Plus to the display models, but it was so loud in the store I couldn't tell any difference at all.
 
davidmerrique said:
Mission failed.
So I went to the Apple Store and tried to compare my 7 Plus to the display models, but it was so loud in the store I couldn't tell any difference at all.
Click to expand...
That's unfortunate.

I'm going to the store on Friday at what is a post-peak time in a store that is usually pretty quiet anyway, so I hope I'll be able to get a better test on. I'll let you know!
 
An update on this - I went to the store today and tested the same song (some DJ Snake thing) on the demo models and held them up to my ear and switched between different intervals on my iPhone and the demo iPhone and they sounded exactly the same.

So a defect? No. Just disappointing quality for what was a much touted feature of the phone. They are louder, but not by much and also have nowhere near the bass response of my old iPhone 6.

I should mention that I tested an iPhone 6s against my 7 as well and the speakers were also quite poor and lacking bass response. Perhaps a bit better than the 7 Plus, but still, not great.

Must just be a 'design' thing.
 
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While toggling the Left and Right speakers in Accessibility, I noticed that the top speaker has richer and fuller sound, and the bottom one is the one with the tinny sound - at least on my phone.
 
sunking101 said:
I was massively disappointed by the speaker on my 6S+. Compared to the 6+ the speaker was tinny. I was heartened by reviews that the 7+ has much more depth to the loudspeaker(s) but your post has just removed my joy. I'd be happy with the loudspeaker from the 6+ because it sounded amazingly warm and bassy compared to any phone I've owned before and since.
Click to expand...

So one guy's opinion is going to sway you the other way? I love the new speakers. Much better than the ones on my 6s+, in my opinion.
 
Sheza said:
Hi,

Got my 7 Plus today. Compared to my 6, the speakers are definitely a little louder, but they massively lack bass. I would say I even prefer the sound output from the 2-year-old iPhone 6 to the 7 Plus, because it's just so tinny and has very little bass.

Anyone else notice this or do I have a dodgy phone?
Click to expand...

I've found my 7 Plus to have a much fuller sound with more bass than my 6 Plus.

That being said; 100% louder my ass. More like 25% louder.
 
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Both my coworker and I have the tinny sound in our 7 pluses. It's not noticeable at lower volumes, but at about 75% or above the quality drops pretty drastically compared to our 6's. However, we noticed that it seems to depend on the type of audio as well. Some songs sound great, while others are shockingly bad. Perhaps a bass issue as some are suggesting?
 
Anyone surprised apple put in those dummy speakers at the bottom- don't recall them ever doing something like that before
 
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