Music Distortion on iPhone

[Jack25]

Just been out shopping for new headphones. However, every single pair I tried with my phone became very distorted when I turned up the volume, even the very expensive ones. All my music on my phone is at least 256 kbps. The distortion disappears if I change the EQ settings to Treble Booster, but this obviously means I don't get much bass.

All of the music in my library has volume adjustment set to maximum. Could this be the problem?

 

[Shirasaki]

Hmm. I guess you need to get used to listen to music in a lower volume.
And I think, only when the actual volume goes beyond a certain point should you hear distortion. Try to lower the volume to see if distortion still exists.

 

[ABC5S]

What kind of headphone. I bought a SOL and it was distorted, than bought a Boss wireless, and boy what a difference it made for my 6S. And I cranked up the volume as well, no issues

 

[Newtons Apple]

Just been out shopping for new headphones. However, every single pair I tried with my phone became very distorted when I turned up the volume, even the very expensive ones. All my music on my phone is at least 256 kbps. The distortion disappears if I change the EQ settings to Treble Booster, but this obviously means I don't get much bass.

All of the music in my library has volume adjustment set to maximum. Could this be the problem?

You really do not want to max the volume out to max as this is cause distortion.

 

[Jack25]

What kind of headphone. I bought a SOL and it was distorted, than bought a Boss wireless, and boy what a difference it made for my 6S. And I cranked up the volume as well, no issues


View attachment 638097

Was the new Bose Q35 wireless headphones. I did see an article on The Verge last week with one person having this same issue. Just wasn't sure if it could be avoided at all.

Can the volume adjustment in iTunes cause distortion?

 

[willmtaylor]

Just been out shopping for new headphones. However, every single pair I tried with my phone became very distorted when I turned up the volume, even the very expensive ones. All my music on my phone is at least 256 kbps. The distortion disappears if I change the EQ settings to Treble Booster, but this obviously means I don't get much bass.

All of the music in my library has volume adjustment set to maximum. Could this be the problem?

Yes.

 

[ABC5S]

Sound volume max.....You are asking for ear problems down the road. Mine is not too good, and I did not listen to those that said, stop it, and turn it down. Now it's too late for me.

 

[Jack25]

Yes.

Well that answers that...

 

[Newtons Apple]

Hearing at high volume levels can your hearing out. You look young and hate to think that you have damaged your hearing like me. Lost much of mine from unprotected use of firearms when I was younger. What I have left I would like to protect.

 

[tentales]

Just been out shopping for new headphones. However, every single pair I tried with my phone became very distorted when I turned up the volume, even the very expensive ones. All my music on my phone is at least 256 kbps. The distortion disappears if I change the EQ settings to Treble Booster, but this obviously means I don't get much bass.

All of the music in my library has volume adjustment set to maximum. Could this be the problem?

iTunes EQ settings will override any manual adjustments you have made.
Why on earth would you want to set everything to "maximum" ?
Most modern music is highly compressed with little dynamic range, setting already "maxed-out" music to MAX in iTunes will cause "digital clipping" (google it) and help to damage your ears even more than plain loud music will, especially so using headphones which concentrate sound waves inside your ear canal vs listening to speakers that dissipate throughout a room.

You seem young, so on the bright side, by the time you'll need them, cochlear implant technology will have evolved to bionic ears to cure deafness.

Seriously, turn down the volume. Leave the iTunes level at 0 for 99.9% of all music.

 

[Shirasaki]

iTunes EQ settings will override any manual adjustments you have made.
Why on earth would you want to set everything to "maximum" ?
Most modern music is highly compressed with little dynamic range, setting already "maxed-out" music to MAX in iTunes will cause "digital clipping" (google it) and help to damage your ears even more than plain loud music will, especially so using headphones which concentrate sound waves inside your ear canal vs listening to speakers that dissipate throughout a room.

You seem young, so on the bright side, by the time you'll need them, cochlear implant technology will have evolved to bionic ears to cure deafness.

Seriously, turn down the volume. Leave the iTunes level at 0 for 99.9% of all music.

In fact, I constantly keep "volume limit" in iOS to the half of maximum, because that volume is the max I can tolerate in a quiet room. When I am outside, I still keep this limit because I can still hear most things in a song.
Someone told me my limit was even better than EU volume limit. I don't know if this is true.

 

[tentales]

In fact, I constantly keep "volume limit" in iOS to the half of maximum, because that volume is the max I can tolerate in a quiet room. When I am outside, I still keep this limit because I can still hear most things in a song.
Someone told me my limit was even better than EU volume limit. I don't know if this is true.

I think the OP was talking of the "Volume adjust" lever here:

This should be left at "None" or 0% gain for most applications.

On the other hand, the regular "Volume" shifter at the top of the iTunes page does not on its own distort the music.

The setting is relative to what audio amplification you have hooked up to it.
For example, my Mac Mini is hooked up via optical link to an external amp. In that setting you want Max volume and control volume via the amps volume knob.

The confusion you have is between individual song "Get Info->Options" "Volume adjust" and the general Volume setting in iTunes.

 

[Jack25]

Thanks for the info. Have changed all of the songs back to None. I changed them all a while back because I do usually listen to all of my music quite loud. would have never done it if I knew it affected the sound quality though.

 

[willmtaylor]

Thanks for the info. Have changed all of the songs back to None. I changed them all a while back because I do usually listen to all of my music quite loud. would have never done it if I knew it affected the sound quality though.

Did it resolve the issue?

 

[Shirasaki]

Thanks for the info. Have changed all of the songs back to None. I changed them all a while back because I do usually listen to all of my music quite loud. would have never done it if I knew it affected the sound quality though.

As well as your hearing, which is more important than sound quality.

 

[Shirasaki]

I think the OP was talking of the "Volume adjust" lever here:
View attachment 638192
This should be left at "None" or 0% gain for most applications.

On the other hand, the regular "Volume" shifter at the top of the iTunes page does not on its own distort the music.
View attachment 638194

The setting is relative to what audio amplification you have hooked up to it.
For example, my Mac Mini is hooked up via optical link to an external amp. In that setting you want Max volume and control volume via the amps volume knob.

The confusion you have is between individual song "Get Info->Options" "Volume adjust" and the general Volume setting in iTunes.

Yeah. I know OP refers to this volume setting in iTunes.

Kinda hard to understand why I am confused in this part because what I talk about is volume limit on iOS devices, not volume settings in desktop iTunes.

 

[tentales]

Yeah. I know OP refers to this volume setting in iTunes.

Kinda hard to understand why I am confused in this part because what I talk about is volume limit on iOS devices, not volume settings in desktop iTunes.

Yes, I misread. Good on you for tweaking down the iOS limiter. Your ears will thank you for it in the future.

 

[Jack25]

Did it resolve the issue?

Going to try the headphones again when I'm next in town and will update thred.