All iPads Mini Retina Speaker quality compared to Air?

[Diversion]

I have an Air.. I find the speakers to be fantastic.. Loud and crisp and you can really feel the bass through the body when holding it.

I had a previous Mini Gen1 and the speakers were "okay".. Nothing like the Air's.. How does the new Retina Mini's speaker compare? I'm expecting them to be the same as Gen1 Mini but hopefully they improved them?

 

[CorbinDallas]

I have an Air.. I find the speakers to be fantastic.. Loud and crisp and you can really feel the bass through the body when holding it.

I had a previous Mini Gen1 and the speakers were "okay".. Nothing like the Air's.. How does the new Retina Mini's speaker compare? I'm expecting them to be the same as Gen1 Mini but hopefully they improved them?

I have both air and the mini retina and yes there is a difference in speaker loudness overall with the mini, but it's just as clear and crisp as the air. I can still watch a movie at full volume without struggling to hear. I'd say if you were using your ipad solely to play music (itunes/spotify/etc) you'd notice the difference but watching youtube videos, movies, and games its negligible. Really can't go wrong with either - both are fantastic products!

 

[scupking]

Until they can get the speakers to actually face you no matter what ipad you get you have to annoyingly cup your hands to bounce the sound towards you.

 

[MrGimper]

I think they should have 4 speakers.... one on each edge. Then you get (proper) stereo regardless of what orientation you use

 

[Diversion]

I would love to see them put L and R speakers on each side of the unit too.. When holding iPads in landscape, it sounds so weird to have everything came out one side.

 

[Donka]

Problem is the iPad is designed to not 'prefer' any one orientation and works well in both portrait & landscape. It would be a tall order to include speakers to satisfy all user requirements which is why headphones are always prepared for any serious listening. I was never bothered by a mono speaker on the original iPads in the first place due to how I use and it and the size of speaker(s) included.

 

[Menel]

Problem is the iPad is designed to not 'prefer' any one orientation and works well in both portrait & landscape. It would be a tall order to include speakers to satisfy all user requirements which is why headphones are always prepared for any serious listening. I was never bothered by a mono speaker on the original iPads in the first place due to how I use and it and the size of speaker(s) included.

FYI, the iPad has accelerometer, all of them have, all the back to the first generation. It is used to detect orientation. It would be a matter of basic software to flip L and R for landscape, and set mono for portrait.

 

[Donka]

FYI, the iPad has accelerometer, all of them have, all the back to the first generation. It is used to detect orientation. It would be a matter of basic software to flip L and R for landscape, and set mono for portrait.

Yes I'm aware of that but it also means placing speakers at either end of the chassis using up precious extra internal space including (the admittedly minimal) connections between them and the audio processor. There is also likely a design issue with regards to placing a speaker at the top of the device amongst the various wireless antennas etc.. In theory possible but likely not so practical.