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Andrew07

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 25, 2007
282
0
Has anyone else noticed that the sound quality on the iPhone's iPod doesn't sound quite as good as the iPod's? I don't know if its the headphones, but something just seems a little degraded to me...
 
Has anyone else noticed that the sound quality on the iPhone's iPod doesn't sound quite as good as the iPod's? I don't know if its the headphones, but something just seems a little degraded to me...

personally I think the sound is better than my Gen 5.5 iPod... but Im sure sound is very subjective to the listener.
 
I haven't heard any noticeable difference between my 8gb nano and my iPhone on my Grado SR-80s, but that isn't to say there isn't one. However, I would imagine that there isn't a great or noticeable-to-the-majority difference simply by assuming the usually true statement that 99% of sound quality differences that people are hearing are placebo.

Try to grab an iPod, an iPhone and another person and have them help you perform a blind test and see how many times you correctly identify the iPhone out of 10 or 25 tries. :D This is the only way you can prove it!
 
Yea I dont know what you are talking about....I went to try the new ipods and the iphone sounds just as good is not better.
 
iPhones and iPods even the 5.5 generation use the same software and hardware decoders. Could be your headphones but otherwise I would guess it's placebo.
 
The included headphones are crap.

Although, the only way I was able to test my Sony street styles (not high end but certainly better quality) was through the line out jack on the dock.

Interesting issue with the dock.. the volume resets after each song... have to unplug, set the volume, and re-plug to restore. Maybe this was fixed in 1.0.2. Haven't upgraded yet.

I wasn't very impressed with my iPod Nano first gen (for the three days it worked). With EQ adjustments (bass boost sounds okay) iPhone sounds decent, still a little scratchy. I wasn't expecting anything outstanding from the iPhone music wise anyway.

maki
 
My 1st iPhone sounded like crap. I was really disappointed with the iPod sound quality. Then I got a new phone, and it was much better... in fact perfect! It was the kind sound I would expect. So I believe mine was hardware related. That might be your problem too.
 
iPhone iPod Audio Quality

I just purchased the 16GB iPhone, I actually like the sound on the 16GB, the bass is more solid and controlled, high freqs. are clear and channel separation is nice also, no complaints so far.
 
mine too

I wish the built-in speakers could handle bass better. The sound on the iPhone is crap. I mean, they should at least have quality as good as ghetto blasters from the 90s. Perhaps I have a hardware/software problem, but I just listen to a lot of music with bass and a lot of intense metal and notice the poor quality a lot. I'm not all that impressed with the FM transmitter quality either, and I'm sure it's the iPhone's lack of capability, unless there'll eventually be a fix for it (which I'm hoping there will be). Perhaps in the newer models they've fixed the problems, and maybe I should consider selling my phone and getting another.
 
I wish the built-in speakers could handle bass better. The sound on the iPhone is crap. I mean, they should at least have quality as good as ghetto blasters from the 90s. Perhaps I have a hardware/software problem, but I just listen to a lot of music with bass and a lot of intense metal and notice the poor quality a lot. I'm not all that impressed with the FM transmitter quality either, and I'm sure it's the iPhone's lack of capability, unless there'll eventually be a fix for it (which I'm hoping there will be). Perhaps in the newer models they've fixed the problems, and maybe I should consider selling my phone and getting another.

If you're using your cell phone for the built-in speakers I don't think the hardware is your biggest problem.
 
i don't have the iphone but i have the touch - what a wonderful sound it has.

i don't think that anyone should expect built in speakers to sound good nor should they expect good sound from oem phones. throw them out and get denon c700 or victor hp-fx500 or atrio m5 or if you want, you could go for the high end hissers, um2 and e500 with an impedence adapter to get rid of the snake.

the touch is amazing for sq. honestly the stereo separation is among the best i have tested and other than a little hiss (about par for daps today) i am completely astounded by how good it sounds.
 
mine only plays out of the left speaker in my car via a tape adapter..not impressed

That sounds to me like the issue is with your tape adaptor. It happens with my tape adaptor sometimes as well, and I usually eject it and put the tape back in, or I jiggle the tape around, and it plays out of both speakers again. BTW, I use my tape adaptor both with a nano and my iPhone.
 
I wish the built-in speakers could handle bass better. The sound on the iPhone is crap. I mean, they should at least have quality as good as ghetto blasters from the 90s. Perhaps I have a hardware/software problem, but I just listen to a lot of music with bass and a lot of intense metal and notice the poor quality a lot. I'm not all that impressed with the FM transmitter quality either, and I'm sure it's the iPhone's lack of capability, unless there'll eventually be a fix for it (which I'm hoping there will be). Perhaps in the newer models they've fixed the problems, and maybe I should consider selling my phone and getting another.

What do you expect from a speaker the size of a sunflower seed? Please go find a woofer built anywhere that can be developed that tiny. You aren't going to get good bass unless you get bigger speakers. I haven't seen anything smaller than a set of over-the-ear headphones that does a decent job at bass.

It's a phone speaker. It's not going to be THX-certified.
 
Over the years, I grew tired of listening to my iPod under the headphones. I mainly used it in my car via my iPod adapter that connects the ipod to my stereo via the dock connector. I love having all of my music with me at all times, especially on road trips (and I'm over 50 GB now!).

When I bought my iPhone a few weeks ago, I of course had to use it everywhere, including listening to music at the gym. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the button on the headphones that allows you to pause or skip songs. But the main thing I've been noticing is, music played on my iPhone does sound better under the headphones than it does on my iPod Classic. Now, maybe it's my headphones. Maybe the headphones for my iPod are damaged or not as good somehow. But I have noticed an extra bit of clarity with my iPhone. I just checked the stats for both the iPhone and the iPod Classic. They have identical frequency response and ohms. So who knows.

As for the little speaker on the iPhone itself, I wouldn't want to be without it. Sure, it's not the greatest quality and you kinda have to be in a quiet room to hear it properly, but it's way better than nothing. Plus I love using the speaker phone setting while looking up something on the iPhone. Multitasking on the iPhone while on a phone call? LOVE it.
 
I can't put my volume higher than 30-40% listening to hard rock, metal or anything with bass, without it sounding like dirt.

That's outright pathetic... but of course that is just my opinion and I have no problem with Apple-fanboys accusing me of having high expectations.

Perhaps there could be better software control. I'd like to have more control over the output settings, beyond the EQ.

Then again, maybe I just got a lemon...

Assuming there is nothing wrong with my sound output, you can't tell me that the speaker quality was overlooked. What age do you think we're in? Look at the technology around us. With what's possible in this technological day in age, there's no reason why I shouldn't expect better sound output, especially from someone like Steve Jobs who is supposedly picky.
 
I can't put my volume higher than 30-40% listening to hard rock, metal or anything with bass, without it sounding like dirt.

That's outright pathetic... but of course that is just my opinion and I have no problem with Apple-fanboys accusing me of having high expectations.

Perhaps there could be better software control. I'd like to have more control over the output settings, beyond the EQ.

Then again, maybe I just got a lemon...

Assuming there is nothing wrong with my sound output, you can't tell me that the speaker quality was overlooked. What age do you think we're in? Look at the technology around us. With what's possible in this technological day in age, there's no reason why I shouldn't expect better sound output, especially from someone like Steve Jobs who is supposedly picky.

The sound quality coming out through the iphone's headphones is not good, I agree with most people. I have a pair of Sony headphones that sound really good, with really good bass, I highly recommend getting a pair, about $50. Also, you don't need a crappy adapter. Just get an exacto knife and cut a little bit of plastic off of the headphone wire until it fits in the hole :^)...

Also, the EQ presets definitely distort a little bit of the mid-range frequencies, it was really bugging me on many songs, particularly Radiohead. I tried every possible audio conversion, ending with Apple Lossless, and I was still getting that mid-range distortion, mostly from guitar parts. Then, I turned off the EQ on the iphone's ipod settings, instead of choosing one, and the problem was gone. So, I was relieved that I didn't have to settle. Now I have great, bassy, headphones and a great ipod in my iphone. Beautiful! I am a little confused as to why the engineers over at apple would create the coolest gadget ever and have crappy EQ presets that distort sound. Nobody at apple is a sound engineer with discerning ears? Wierd. :confused:
 
I use UE Superfi .5 pros. My iPhone sounds better than any iPod I've owned. Including 1st gen shuffle.
 
is any one checked ipod vs macbook

I have ipod 80GB classic and MACBOOK core duo. I listen music from both using same headphone. Headphone I used Sennheiser HD457. I tried on music multiple times on both using same headphone. I found MACBOOK sound more crisp and clear compare to IPOD. For me MACBOOK sound quailty is much better. Is any one can confirm same.

MACBOOK force me IPOD is not really as good option for listen music as MACBOOK. But MACBOOK can not be used in-place of IPOD.
 
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