iphone 4 sound quality - Page 21

I tested out the I-phone 4 with my FiiO E11 amp and the small issues I had with the sound vanished. Although it may not be a big enough change to make it worth lugging around a portable amp. I guess it all depends on the person.

I have been tinkering with my "i" stuff lately trying to determine what to now use as my standard portable system.

 

I have an ipod classic that I only really use in my car dock. Once I got a car that had an ipod doc I decided to go ahead and get a dedicated "i" something for it. I have long ago grown out of any inclination to think that I could spend money on vehicular audio that would actually yield a reasonable return on that investment. So the classic even with all of its shortcomings is fine for what I want out of it, a goodly amount of storage space for my vehicular system.

 

I also have an itouch 2G which had been my portable device up till now and my daughter has a itouch 4g that I can use for comparison. I now have an iphone 4g as well. 

 

I am pretty much amazed at how good the iphone 4g is given all the other stuff that device is capable of doing. I expected it to be better than the other iphones but its performance relative to itouch and ipod is pretty remarkable. 

 

I had been hoping that one of these devices would distinguish itself enough to cut out some of the stuff we can buy (dacs, amps, dac/amps etc). I know it is time to upgrade the IEM's in the system and I would like to move to custom IEM's first hoping that I don't have to buy a bunch of other stuff as well. In a perfect world for me I would be able to go from the "i" something directly into a set of custom IEM's and be done with it as far as portable hardware is concerned. 

 

I have a pair of triple.fi 10 pros and a pair of SE530's as well. I have a few other pairs that are for workouts and the like but the trips and the SE530s are the best of the bunch.

 

In my case, I find the triple.fi10 Pros to be superior to the SE530's regardless of what "i" device I attach. I think the SE530's offer more "fun", a category that I guess has less to do with sonic purity and more to do with bass performance and foot tapping appeal. While the mid band forward presentation of the SE530's (I guess from postings here due to a combination of top end roll off and mid band bias) is not hard to identify, I don't wonder if the SE535's don't also have the same "house" signature presentation, just better. In fact while I had recently considered doing something like Westone 4's or SE535's in part I have just about convinced myself to get custom IEM's because they seem so far above even the high end off the shelf IEM's performance. I would guess this is a combination of fit to your own ear canal and the addition of high end multiple drivers and circuits in the best of the customs (JH's or Starkey's for example). Plus you do get to cut out one more accessory in the decision path as you no longer have to fret over what tip to use in order to achieve comfort and a good seal. I have to admit that I have really struggled with spending $400.00 for off the shelf high end IEM's and then having to sweat out the tip decision. Obviously custom IEM's are much more costly but I really am coming to suspect that if you are going to put your money somewhere and want an optimal portable system for your listening as opposed to having a good bit of gear to mix and match and play with then putting your money into the IEM's first and adding if you need to is the right thing to do. I suppose the JH3A/JH16 combination has to be considered along with just doing the JH16's or 13's or something but I would really hope to just be able to add custom iEM's to the "i" and be done on the hardware end if possible. Anybody know which other custom's would be worth considering besides the JH's or Starkey's?

Also consider Westone ES5, Ultimate Ears 18 Pro and Ultimate Ears Reference Monitors.

I've been through a reasonable amount of gear lately:

 

IEMS

 

Westone UM3X, RE0, Monster Miles Davis, JVC FX700, Ortofon e-Q7, RE-272

 

 

Headphone amps

 

Ray Samuels "The Shadow", FiiO E11, Dual Chip CMOY (by fred_fred 2004)

 

 

DAPs

 

iPod Classic 160GB, Sansa Clip+, Cowon J3, HiFiMan HM-601

 

 

Having tried all of this stuff in various configurations the best sound i've had to date has been via my recently arrived UM reshelled 1964 Ears Quads (+ 2 drivers) and my iPhone 4. Yes that's right - my iPhone 4!

Running the EQu app into these fantastic IEMs has been a revelation. It sounds rich, detailed, strong and weighty with great dynamics.

 

It is easy to spend a small fortune on expensive DAPs and portable amps, letalone swapping through countless FOTM universal IEMs.

My advice (based on my experiences) would be to invest in some quality custom IEMs and see where that takes you. Through superior isolation you'll find yourself listening at lower volumes than before and my iPhone copes admirably with the task. It really does drive the customs very well indeed. I realise that I could possibly improve the sound a little through extra amplification, but I really cannot be bothered to carry all that stuff around with me anymore. One single device that does it all. The much overlooked iPhone 4. Well done Apple.

 

 

Edited by Hi-fi Wigwammer - 8/30/11 at 6:02am

Once again I must say how happy I am with my iPhone 4 paired with a set of Sleek Audio SA6's. I use no EQ on the iPhone and it sounds fantastic. Right now I am here at home listening to my SA6's out of my iPhone 4 which is streaming music from MOG, while my HD650's and my full size HeadRoom amp/DAC are sitting unused on my table next to me. It sounds that good! This portable setup has the same overall sound signature as the HD650/HeadRoom setup. It of course sounds a bit smaller, and not quite as full, but it sounds gooooood.

So you're saying that with your Cmoy, the 7G classic is superior to the iPhone 4 + amp ? Or that classic + amp is superior to the iPhone 4 only ?

 

The ES5 sounds great out of the iPhone 4 HO. The IP4 HO is simply low distortion, low output impedance and in most cases, low noise. Unloaded it's dead flat from 20-20000Hz, but with BA IEMs the 0.9 ohm output Z is going to produce some fluctuation in FR, but within 1db.

 

I'm looking forward to getting the Objective2 to see if the 0.5 ohm out Z and extra current will prove beneficial to the ES5 - theoretically it should. Note that it's very difficult to improve on IP4 SQ with an external amp, you're much more likely to degrade the signal than improve it. Clean, quiet and linear power is the way to go.

 

x2, I agree with this completely. 

 

Sometimes I find that the CLAS sounds too clean compared with the line out straight from the iPhone 4. A tad of warmth is lost what the CLAS is connected, for some types of music. I will let you guys know how the Fostex fare with the iPhone 4 line out and the CLAS, respectively, once I get my hands on it.

why would the output impedance only effect BA driver IEM's? also not every BA driver IEM has the same impedance, so wouldn't it vary per IEM?

 

all i know is that my SA6's sound fantastic out of the HP out of my iPhone 4. so good that i sometimes question why i also have HD650's and an $800 amp for them. the HD650's plus my desktop amp don't sound almost a thousand dollars better.
 

 

 

 

Multiple BA equipped IEM's have a varying impedance due to the multiple drivers which can skew the frequency response all over the place if the amplifier's output impedance is too high.

so it will only effect BA's with multiple drivers? 
 

 

 

Yes.
 

 

It will affect all drivers, even dynamic ones and cause them to be under-damped if the output Z is too high. 0.9 ohms is too low to cause issue with anything but multi BAs.

Price is a poor measure of quality - I don't doubt that the IP4 is more transparent than your $800 amp.

A friend who is an audio designer for Apple suggested I add the EQU app for getting the best sound quality out of the iphone 4.