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iPad mini Retina iPad Mini poor speaker quality.
- Thread starter StarFleet
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Yes, the iPad Mini Retina has lower volume then the iPhone 5. However, the quality of the sound is better IMO.
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How can you say it's lowder than the iPhone 5?
The iPad Mini Retina has 75% the max volume of an i5. Did you mean to say that you think it's better quality or just louder in general?
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How can you say it's lowder than the iPhone 5?
The iPad Mini Retina has 75% the max volume of an i5. Did you mean to say that you think it's better quality or just louder in general?
I have an old Radio Shack sound pressure level meter, so decided to do an unscientific test...
I used Jasmine to play a "10 hours of white noise" YouTube video.
The front of each speaker was placed on a flat rug in a padded wall entry hall 18" from the SPL meter.
The iPhone 5s is in a Magpul Case, the Ipad Air is in a flipped all the way open Devicewear Ridge case, and the Retina Mini has no case. The cases have open spaces.slots over the speaker grills, so while there will be some damping. I got the same results back down & face down, A-weighted/C-weighted, over 3 separate rotations ...
Retina Mini -- 64 db
Ipad Air -- 66 db
iPhone 5s -- 67 db
fwiw
I used Jasmine to play a "10 hours of white noise" YouTube video.
The front of each speaker was placed on a flat rug in a padded wall entry hall 18" from the SPL meter.
The iPhone 5s is in a Magpul Case, the Ipad Air is in a flipped all the way open Devicewear Ridge case, and the Retina Mini has no case. The cases have open spaces.slots over the speaker grills, so while there will be some damping. I got the same results back down & face down, A-weighted/C-weighted, over 3 separate rotations ...
Retina Mini -- 64 db
Ipad Air -- 66 db
iPhone 5s -- 67 db
fwiw
Forget about the DB, does the Retina Mini sound lower then the iPhone 5S and Air? Quality disregarded?
Yes, the rMini is not as loud as the other two.
The measurements confirm what my ears were telling me.
Note that tilting either device from screen-facing-you-directly changes the spectral balance. As does holding the 5s with the speakers shooting down into your cupped palm versus pinching it at the top between your thumb and index finger (like something stinky).
At full volume the 5s is being overdriven, in my opinion. The Air and rMini don't show strain at full volume like the 5s does. Vocals lose their three dimensionality on the 5s at full tilt.
And comparing the three with music I'm very familiar with, the 5s gets a bit muddy as the music gets more layered/complex. The little phone's speakers do an admirable job for their size, but the iPads ultimately are more musical and involving.
You can feel why the Air extends deeper into the midbass than the rMini -- the vibrations transmitted to your fingers/hands is clearly greater. If I were to open up the rMini and compare it to the Air, I'm guessing the rMini would look stuffed wall-to-wall with electronics while the Air might have some open space inside.
So while the 5s goes louder, both iPads are better for music. Not unexpected. And if you're looking for thump, the Air has more. But neither iPad can touch your average cheapo earphones/headphones/speakers. So this was somewhat of an exercise in futility.
At full volume the 5s is being overdriven, in my opinion. The Air and rMini don't show strain at full volume like the 5s does. Vocals lose their three dimensionality on the 5s at full tilt.
And comparing the three with music I'm very familiar with, the 5s gets a bit muddy as the music gets more layered/complex. The little phone's speakers do an admirable job for their size, but the iPads ultimately are more musical and involving.
You can feel why the Air extends deeper into the midbass than the rMini -- the vibrations transmitted to your fingers/hands is clearly greater. If I were to open up the rMini and compare it to the Air, I'm guessing the rMini would look stuffed wall-to-wall with electronics while the Air might have some open space inside.
So while the 5s goes louder, both iPads are better for music. Not unexpected. And if you're looking for thump, the Air has more. But neither iPad can touch your average cheapo earphones/headphones/speakers. So this was somewhat of an exercise in futility.
MINI Retina Low speaker volume
My experience is the same as this thread. The sound coming from the Retina Mini is way lower then the Air and probably less then the 5s. I have both the air and mini retina as I am trying to figure out which one to keep and I've been testing them and I don't know why Apple dropped the ball on the Mini Retina. I did notice that the Mini retina screen feels more solid when I tap on it then the Air. Unfortunately the Air screen has more punch and better color's then the mini retina. Again not sure why Apple dropped the ball on that either. I guess it's really hard to shrink the device down to a mini size. Everyone wants a perfect tablet that weighs nothing. That is impossible. They should have tried to keep the spec's up on the mini though
My experience is the same as this thread. The sound coming from the Retina Mini is way lower then the Air and probably less then the 5s. I have both the air and mini retina as I am trying to figure out which one to keep and I've been testing them and I don't know why Apple dropped the ball on the Mini Retina. I did notice that the Mini retina screen feels more solid when I tap on it then the Air. Unfortunately the Air screen has more punch and better color's then the mini retina. Again not sure why Apple dropped the ball on that either. I guess it's really hard to shrink the device down to a mini size. Everyone wants a perfect tablet that weighs nothing. That is impossible. They should have tried to keep the spec's up on the mini though
Yes..I noticed less volume but quality is the same. Stereo is worthless since nobody plays video in portrait mode. They should have done like the nexus 7 with great stereo separation in landscape mode and much louder volume as well.