[artforme]

I think the iPhone 4 has better sound than the 3GS. Of course I can't do a side by side comparison though, but I feel like my D5000 have a more full sound when listening to Boys Noize.

 

[CEE TEE]

Quote:

...One thing that is a bit strange is making calls with headphones on, since the iPhone 4 has an external mic (which listens for and mutes outside sounds) you hear these outside sounds through your headphone when making the calls

Oh, yeah.  That WAS strange.  Or I should say IS strange...
 
So the other party didn't hear the cars on the road as I walked to the store and was talking to someone?  
 
It was (is) certainly distracting and the 3gs did not do this!
 
I'd rather not hear what the iPhone does not want the other side to hear!  That is really strange.  Maybe (hopefully) they will fix that.
 

 

[Buckster]

I'm getting less convincned by my Iphone 4 day by day - which is frustrating
 
I thought itwas the HD228s that it was struggling with a bit - so tried my PX100s and same sort of issue
 
basically top end is ok - not as well separated as the Touch 2G I also have - but its smoother sounding and more listenable over a long period
 
BUT the bass doesn't seem right at all - mid-pop bass is ok - but anything deep one seems attentuated, and two very fluffy
 
hard to describe but say on a given track you get a deep bass note starting with some element of punch - the Touch sounds punchy, on the Iphone 4 that I have - it sounds flabby - the bass is there - but doesn't have a definate start - if that makes sense at all ?
 
I also tend to find any tracks with lots of bass - the top end gets affected to some extent too - I'm almost getting the impression that the headphone amp is weaker than the Touch 2G and with a load of bass - its working too hard and its affecting both the bass and the rest of the registers
 
I'm "hoping" an amp will sort it out - and that its just the internal amp thats weak
 
is it possible Apple (justified as most users use the box headphones) went for slightly weaker headphone out for longer battery life ?

 

[Anaxilus]

Maybe you are holding it wrong?  Sorry, couldn't resist.  

 

[Buckster]

lol - other than SQ - which may improve I'm over the moon with the Phone like having a pocket PC with me everywhere- no complaints whatsover - fast, decent screen etc

 

[Golden Ears]

I also found the Ipod touch 2g with an amp to be the best sounding stock ipod so far (better than all the iphones) .. But the Imod 5.5 does beat the Ipod touch 2g
 
Quote:

performed an A-B with my 2G Touch (and my new Iphone 4 32 gig)
 
and have to say the Iphone 4 sounds OK - but perhaps not quite as good as the Touch although its similar sounding
 
it seems a bit warmer in sound than the 2G Touch, but the warmness seems to be partially as it sounds more muddy.  Bass doesn't seem as accurate - as if the Iphone is not driving my Senns (HD225) as well as my Touch.
 
I have a feeling hte Iphone 4 + external amp may sound special - I have a feel the muddiness is due to the amp section but only a guess.
 
could just be that the Iphone needs some more usage to improve in sound.
 
don't get me wrong though the overall SQ is good, as in someways more listenable to the Touch.

 

[Golden Ears]

I found the bass has more Bottom and slam with the Ipod touch 2g but the  high frequency soundstage detail was not as hyper clear but still the iPhone 4 is a bit more ....shall we say etched?
 
So I don't find myself putting on dance tracks with the iPhone 4 like I would do with my 5.5 Imod... instead I'll listen to more live concerts.. What I find insanely annoying however.... is the interference I get if I stack the Iphone 4 on top of my Millet Hybrid tube amp. I have to keep them extended away from each other. Not very convenient. The alternative is airplane mode... which defeats the whole concept of the iphone 4 muting to take your calls.
 
Has anyone tried Mu metal foil to stop interference by wrapping their amp? Obviously do not wrap your Iphone it would be far worse than the death grip.
 
Quote:

I'm getting less convincned by my Iphone 4 day by day - which is frustrating
 
I thought itwas the HD228s that it was struggling with a bit - so tried my PX100s and same sort of issue
 
basically top end is ok - not as well separated as the Touch 2G I also have - but its smoother sounding and more listenable over a long period
 
BUT the bass doesn't seem right at all - mid-pop bass is ok - but anything deep one seems attentuated, and two very fluffy
 
hard to describe but say on a given track you get a deep bass note starting with some element of punch - the Touch sounds punchy, on the Iphone 4 that I have - it sounds flabby - the bass is there - but doesn't have a definate start - if that makes sense at all ?
 
I also tend to find any tracks with lots of bass - the top end gets affected to some extent too - I'm almost getting the impression that the headphone amp is weaker than the Touch 2G and with a load of bass - its working too hard and its affecting both the bass and the rest of the registers
 
I'm "hoping" an amp will sort it out - and that its just the internal amp thats weak
 
is it possible Apple (justified as most users use the box headphones) went for slightly weaker headphone out for longer battery life ?

 

[MoSXS]

I read this thread and spent awhile now doing my own little testing.

I have my own iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0.1, room mates iPhone 3G S running 4.0.1, my wifi only iPad running 3.2, and my old 80GB 5.5G iPod running the last firmware update for it, 1.3.

I ran all straight out of the headphone jack using my Audio Technica ATH-A500s, my Grado SR-60s, and my Koss KSC-75s that I use for portable.

I used music encoded from CDs. Ripped with EAC in Windows using secure mode, files encoded in Mac OS 10.6.4 using XLD, which used Core Audio (Quicktime) to encode AAC files using true VBR with a quality setting of 127 (highest, average bit-rate is around 350kbps).

To my ears, the iPhone 3G S is way behind the rest. The low-end is muddied, everything at the high mid-range and top end lacks detail and theres very poor instrument separation. The lack of detail on the top end almost sounds like compression artifacting. With the EQ on using the Rock setting, the low end becomes very boomy and the high end loses even more separation and becomes harsh.

The iPod 5.5G has significantly better instrument separation than the 3G S. Great detail. But its very harsh. First time I've listened to it in a few months. It had me thinking "wow, I really listened to this for 3 years and thought it was good?" and "I actually paid $350 for this?". It's still good, but nowhere near great.

The iPhone 4 beats the iPod 5.5G by a huge margin. Many many miles. Cleaner and deeper low-end, much much more detail in the mid and high ends, great instrument separation. And when you turn the EQ on to the Rock setting, the gap gets even bigger. It reminds me of just what kind of low end bass the A500s are capable of reproducing. Rivals my Polk subwoofer in the living room, minus the the internal organ shaking.

The iPad comes out on top though. It has a much cleaner and overall more detailed sound than the iPhone 4. Everything has more "punch" and it just flat out sounds "better". However, thats without the EQ taken into account.

With the EQ taken into account, my personal favorite is the iPhone 4. It doesn't have the detail and overall clean sound of the iPad, but with the EQ, its a lot more fun to listen to. As soon as the iPad gets the iOS 4 update, it'll be on top in every situation, not just every situation without the EQ compared to iOS 4.

To sum up, iPad is on top, iPhone 4 is a very close second, the 5.5G iPod is in a very very distant 3rd place, and the iPhone 3G S is even farther behind the pack in 4th place.

One final thing, I think the biggest unannounced improvement with iOS 4 is the fact that Apple finally put out a working EQ. It no longer distorts and it does actually enhance the sound if you prefer it. iOS 4 can't come soon enough for the iPad. It really can't. For the EQ and multi-tasking.

 

[tinseljim]

^^ interesting 

 

[Pangaea]

I can only confirm on my end the differences between the iPad and iPhone 3Gs.  Each with their highest OS to date.  At one point I thought the iPad's increase is SQ (while there) was almost negligible.  After using the same HPs (K S4i) with both throughout a recent trip I can say for sure that the iPad is much better.  My guess is it has a better, larger amp.  Same sig on both but the extra push the iPad brings clears up a lot of the bass issues.  And overall the separation and clarity is much better.
 
I would not say it is a monumental difference, but at one point early on I thought it may have been simply an effect of having a new toy.  That is absolutely not the case.
 
Kusos to Apple for having some great sounding gear right now, even if by total accident on their part.  

 

[OPTiK]

I listen to my iPhone 4 alot, and noticed that when I switched between my pico/protector balanced setup and iphone4 there was a pretty noticeable difference. The bass was boomier, the clarity wasn't nearly as good, and everything seemed way more congested. This is expected though when comparing these two setups lol.
 
Don't get me wrong though, if you're on the go the iPhone 4 is a great performer especially with my 16's. I didn't realize the 4 had EQ settings until now.. I've strayed away via iTunes since the music seemed to distort waaay too easily. Hopefully this won't be the case now.

 

[Golden Ears]

I also agree with his ordering of the units.
 
The amp in the ipod 5.5G is simply crud. 
 
Quote:

I read this thread and spent awhile now doing my own little testing.

I have my own iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0.1, room mates iPhone 3G S running 4.0.1, my wifi only iPad running 3.2, and my old 80GB 5.5G iPod running the last firmware update for it, 1.3.

I ran all straight out of the headphone jack using my Audio Technica ATH-A500s, my Grado SR-60s, and my Koss KSC-75s that I use for portable.

I used music encoded from CDs. Ripped with EAC in Windows using secure mode, files encoded in Mac OS 10.6.4 using XLD, which used Core Audio (Quicktime) to encode AAC files using true VBR with a quality setting of 127 (highest, average bit-rate is around 350kbps).

To my ears, the iPhone 3G S is way behind the rest. The low-end is muddied, everything at the high mid-range and top end lacks detail and theres very poor instrument separation. The lack of detail on the top end almost sounds like compression artifacting. With the EQ on using the Rock setting, the low end becomes very boomy and the high end loses even more separation and becomes harsh.

The iPod 5.5G has significantly better instrument separation than the 3G S. Great detail. But its very harsh. First time I've listened to it in a few months. It had me thinking "wow, I really listened to this for 3 years and thought it was good?" and "I actually paid $350 for this?". It's still good, but nowhere near great.

The iPhone 4 beats the iPod 5.5G by a huge margin. Many many miles. Cleaner and deeper low-end, much much more detail in the mid and high ends, great instrument separation. And when you turn the EQ on to the Rock setting, the gap gets even bigger. It reminds me of just what kind of low end bass the A500s are capable of reproducing. Rivals my Polk subwoofer in the living room, minus the the internal organ shaking.

The iPad comes out on top though. It has a much cleaner and overall more detailed sound than the iPhone 4. Everything has more "punch" and it just flat out sounds "better". However, thats without the EQ taken into account.

With the EQ taken into account, my personal favorite is the iPhone 4. It doesn't have the detail and overall clean sound of the iPad, but with the EQ, its a lot more fun to listen to. As soon as the iPad gets the iOS 4 update, it'll be on top in every situation, not just every situation without the EQ compared to iOS 4.

To sum up, iPad is on top, iPhone 4 is a very close second, the 5.5G iPod is in a very very distant 3rd place, and the iPhone 3G S is even farther behind the pack in 4th place.

One final thing, I think the biggest unannounced improvement with iOS 4 is the fact that Apple finally put out a working EQ. It no longer distorts and it does actually enhance the sound if you prefer it. iOS 4 can't come soon enough for the iPad. It really can't. For the EQ and multi-tasking.

 

[Buckster]

I need to re do a direct comparison again with my touch as even though I do not beloved in burnin I left iPhone 4 running overnight for 2 nights and I am slmost certain it sounds different now



Bass seems to have improved dramatically and the upper registers seem to have lost the element of sounding closed in



Recomparison will be interesting as wax quite a difference between touch and iPhone previously

 

[elfary]

I still can not believe what i read here deeming the 5.5 iPod as a better sounding unit than the iPhone 3G S.
 
I even find the statement disturbing somehow
 
Obviously each pair of ears is unique.
 
Quote:

I read this thread and spent awhile now doing my own little testing.

I have my own iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0.1, room mates iPhone 3G S running 4.0.1, my wifi only iPad running 3.2, and my old 80GB 5.5G iPod running the last firmware update for it, 1.3.

I ran all straight out of the headphone jack using my Audio Technica ATH-A500s, my Grado SR-60s, and my Koss KSC-75s that I use for portable.

I used music encoded from CDs. Ripped with EAC in Windows using secure mode, files encoded in Mac OS 10.6.4 using XLD, which used Core Audio (Quicktime) to encode AAC files using true VBR with a quality setting of 127 (highest, average bit-rate is around 350kbps).

To my ears, the iPhone 3G S is way behind the rest. The low-end is muddied, everything at the high mid-range and top end lacks detail and theres very poor instrument separation. The lack of detail on the top end almost sounds like compression artifacting. With the EQ on using the Rock setting, the low end becomes very boomy and the high end loses even more separation and becomes harsh.

The iPod 5.5G has significantly better instrument separation than the 3G S. Great detail. But its very harsh. First time I've listened to it in a few months. It had me thinking "wow, I really listened to this for 3 years and thought it was good?" and "I actually paid $350 for this?". It's still good, but nowhere near great.

The iPhone 4 beats the iPod 5.5G by a huge margin. Many many miles. Cleaner and deeper low-end, much much more detail in the mid and high ends, great instrument separation. And when you turn the EQ on to the Rock setting, the gap gets even bigger. It reminds me of just what kind of low end bass the A500s are capable of reproducing. Rivals my Polk subwoofer in the living room, minus the the internal organ shaking.

The iPad comes out on top though. It has a much cleaner and overall more detailed sound than the iPhone 4. Everything has more "punch" and it just flat out sounds "better". However, thats without the EQ taken into account.

With the EQ taken into account, my personal favorite is the iPhone 4. It doesn't have the detail and overall clean sound of the iPad, but with the EQ, its a lot more fun to listen to. As soon as the iPad gets the iOS 4 update, it'll be on top in every situation, not just every situation without the EQ compared to iOS 4.

To sum up, iPad is on top, iPhone 4 is a very close second, the 5.5G iPod is in a very very distant 3rd place, and the iPhone 3G S is even farther behind the pack in 4th place.

One final thing, I think the biggest unannounced improvement with iOS 4 is the fact that Apple finally put out a working EQ. It no longer distorts and it does actually enhance the sound if you prefer it. iOS 4 can't come soon enough for the iPad. It really can't. For the EQ and multi-tasking.

 

[Anaxilus]

Most 5.5 users are running LOD aren't they?  Sooo.......