iphone 4 sound quality - Page 11

For anyone trying to compare and argue the sound of iphone 3gs and 4, I found this great article.  They did a good measurements on 3gs, 4 and Samsung Galaxy S as well as subject statements on their sound signature.  If you browse their website, you will also find review on 3gs and 4 separately.  I hope this is no duplicated effort.  :)

 

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9000_galaxy_s_vs_apple_iphone_4-review-500p6.php

 

Just got my iphone 4 yesterday. Tested it with my UE18 Pro. I normally have Hifiman HM801 powering the 18's. I can't say iphone 4 is a close match to the Hifiman (or Hifiman l/o to my RSA Blackbird) but I am happy with it as a mobile phone. I owned Nokia N97 and the HTC Desire in the past year and they are both far behind iphone in terms of SQ (but I think HTC Desire is a better phone than iphone 4 -  just an immature opinion after one day of use of the iphone 4 ). It seems iphone 4's amp has much more power than the other mobile phones, which makes its bass solid without compromising the highs and mids. 

Edited by googleli - 8/17/10 at 4:48am

What?  But the iPhone 4 measures so much better than the 801, how can it sound better?!  Thats not possible.  Must be psychoacoustics or your imagination.  

I mean it doesn't sound as good as the Hifiman, not even close, but it has good SQ among other mobile phones I've used.
 

Has anyone tried the iphone 4 with an amp using LOD?

 

How does it compare to other players like sony X, cowon S9, Samsung P3, etc.

I just did some basic comparison between the iPhone 4 and my iPod 5.5g thought I'd share some thoughts~

 

Used amp and lod as per my sig. Same volume set for all tests. Tested using TF10s.

 

1. Unamped Test, the iPhone 4 actually sounds better than the iPod, straight out of the headphone jacks.

2. The iPhone seems to differ only very slightly amped and unamped.

3. Test with amp, the iPod 5.5g definitely sounds better than the iPhone 4.

 

Sound quality ranking iPod+amp > iPhone+amp >= iPhone w/o amp > iPod w/o amp.

 

With my current setup, I'd say don't bother amping the iPhone~ hardly any difference... instrument separation is still all camped up with hardly any depth. Soundstage's fine though.

 

Stick to iPods at least for a more enjoyable music listening experience (within the "i" family that is...)

Thx for the reply, was planning on just using one device if possible. So I might just get an Iphone, will be using Klipsch s4i that I heard about. Heard these headphones wouldn't require an amp, or wouldn't really benefit from them as much.

I don't know man. I get a pretty considerable SQ boost using the iPhone 4 with an amp. Not from my IEMs though. Which is normal because there isn't an IEM on earth that really needs an amp IMO. My turbine Pro Golds sound just great plugged right into my iPhone 4 headphone out. My HD650's are another story. They benefit immensely from my RSA Predator when compared to the iP4 headphone out. No revelations here though...

Thats prolly cos your HD650 require much higher power to drive than what the iPhone's phone outs can handle~ I'm not talking about the ability to drive or the power output, but rather the sound quality. I'm pretty convinced that the iPhone doesn't benefit much SQ wise amped. Could be the internal DAC's setup. Totally different story on my iPod 5.5g tho, be it with IEMs or Headphones~
 

I gave my friend's iPhone 4 a brief listen yesterday at the library, and was impressed with the clarity and quality. It was only a cursory test, using mediocre Sennheiser MX400 earbuds, but I feel like it is noticeably better than my iPhone 3G. I'm looking forward to getting an iPhone 4 and doing a more detailed test - only 16 more days to go until the eligible upgrade!

Never had a 3gs, so can't compare there, but the headphone out on iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 3g is night and day for bass reproduction. Overall SQ is improved as well. Have to agree with poster that says output amp must have increased power as bass isn't sagging at all at listenable levels. Also agree a little with instrument separation complaints on headphone out using Senn IE6, but think that is in part due to overstated bass on those iem's with this source. Using UM3X instrument separation is not very degraded, but low end improvement over 3g makes these a real nice set to use on this. Spatial separation vs. 3g is vastly improved as well. Those with hiss or choppy sound may have a QC issue as this is a quiet player with pretty accurate preproduction of lossless files to my ears.

 

Haven't tried LOD with T3 yet, but will in coming days. Out of the box headphone out is killing LOD/T3 from my 3g so haven't been pressed to try LOD yet, lol.

The iPhone 4 sounds truly horrible in most cases - the top end is "tizzy" and there's almost no useful bass end.  There is quite a lot of white noise when not playing anything (it's actually really noisy!).  In common with EVERY Apple product I've tried (and reviewed), it promises a lot, costs a lot, but delivers very little and very poorly.  Get a Galaxy S - it's better in EVERY way!

I've enjoyed the iPhone 4 in my limited experiences. I'm using it with my old Shure e3c IEMs and AAC files, but it sounds fairly good. Not the best I've heard, but plenty good when I'm mobile and traveling. I think it will be better when I finally get around to buying good IEMs and upgrade my library to lossless.

I'm probably getting an iPhone 4 shortly, and from all my listening experience w/iPods and such it never sounded THAT BAD!!! iPods tend to be a bit shallow in the bass dept, but they're pretty clean sounding. W/the new iOS 4 software the presets are even acceptable. It's not custom, but it's do-able. Saying the iPhone sounds that bad is a mediocre attempt at trolling.

fail