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Shakedown St.

macrumors newbie
Original poster
This has been bothering me for many years, because there are very few Apple audiophiles.

I could not help noticing when transferring music files from my iMac to my phone. When listening to the music files in iTunes which I do not do very often, the same file sounds much fuller and punchier than they do on any iPhone I listen to with headphones. That goes for the latest models too.

I am not the only one who has brought up this topic before on other websites.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3075088

A few people seem to believe that Apple simply puts better audio components into their desktop computers, because there is no space limitation. They can use a dedicated sound card, where as iPhones use an integrated circuit design.

If that is correct I am not sure, but I definitely notice a big difference in sound with headphones and speakers. 100% of the time music is more enjoyable and sounds better on the Apple iMac. This is something I have noticed for years.
 
I got another opinion from a good friend of mine.

He seems to believe that iMac desktops have more juice to them. In other words more voltage, a more powerful amplifier in the iMac than on the iPhone. You will experience less distortion at louder volumes.

I regularly listen to music on my iPhone at 80% volume. I guess that could be improved by using an external DAC with the iPhone to give more of a punch with less distortion. Something like a Fiio portable device.
 
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