Quality of Music from an Apple Watch

[iRun26.2]

My Apple Watch is so small compared to my computer. It makes me wonder...

Is the quality of sound that I would get from it (via Bluetooth) the same as what I would get from my MacBook Pro? Are there any shortcuts taken or, because it is digital, would they both sound the same driving a premium amp and pair of speakers?

 

[Novius89]

I can not answer your question, but I will follow this thread.
Maybe this is the reason why we don’t have an equalizer on the Apple Watch.

 

[Apple_Robert]

In my opinion, the quality of music streaming from the AW with APP is very good.

 

[Novius89]

I don’t say the quality is bad. It’s really good, but if I connect my Sony xm3 to my phone with my personalized equalizer, and for the gym connect to the Apple Watch, the difference is noticeable, and that is annoying me.

especially when I do my routine in the gym I listen for inspiration and basslines for my guitar lessons. The difference is night and day. I am by no means an audiophile , just something that I notice when I listen to songs for other reasons than enjoying music.

 

[iRun26.2]

Interesting...

I was expecting that the AW's music output to be exactly the same as what I would get from my iPhone since they are both relatively low-power devices. I wonder where the difference comes from...

 

[Novius89]

For the Sony headphones there is an app for the equalizer on the IPhone . I remember my ps 4 headset loaded the settings into the Sony ps4 headset. This one does not.

so for that point I understand they don’t make a seperate watch app.

but in Apple Music there is also an equalizer (rock,classical,hiphop and so on) But Apple doesn’t even have that simple feature in the music app on the watch.

i am also curious if this has something to do with hardware limitations, or just laziness.

Edit : I am hopeful that they will take some action with this, with the release of the AirPod max. Because on my normal gen1 airpods the difference is less noticeable than on a noice canceling headphone.

and even if people don’t use it for the same purpose as me (gym,running with only the watch) if you pay 600 euro for a headphone, you expect pristine audio everywhere 😊

 

[chabig]

Music from the watch is the same Apple Music, just played on a different device. A device, by the way, that contains more transistors then the classic iPods of ten years ago. Any difference in sound would be due to the playback app equalization, not the device itself. Physical size is irrelevant In this regard.

 

[Novius89]

I never owned an iPod, but I remember when the nano was out, I was amazed by the size... and since I own an Apple Watch I am just as amazed by the technology on my wrist.

hell, my pc broke down some weeks ago, and instead of buying a new one, I just use my iPad instead with a keyboard, and a Bluetooth mouse.

I guess growing up in the 90’s without all this devices and technology, make me appreciate it all more now 😊

 

[Julien]

My Apple Watch is so small compared to my computer. It makes me wonder...

Yea the bits have to be much smaller to fit inside the tiny Apple Watch. 0101110100100 for a Mac but 0101110100100 to fit in the Apple Watch.

 

[Phil A.]

I’ve always found the sound directly from my watch to be “thinner” and lacking body compared to the same music from my phone (both using the same headphones).

It doesn’t bother me when I’m running but I wouldn’t use my watch in preference to my phone when I’m just listening to music.

I have wondered if music synced to or streamed by the watch is done at a lower bitrate, but I don’t know if it is or isn’t