[Slaughter]

Just found this thread. I just started using my iPhone4 at work with my M50. I brought my DIY CMoy with me, but found that it has less soundstage, is less airy, but fills in the bass and lower mids a little better. It makes sense that the iPhone is tilted toward the higher end of the spectrum since most earbuds are very muddy and rolled off in the treble. This makes cheaper buds sound better. The most impressive thing for me is 3 dimensional soundstage! Pretty amazing. Nice job Apple. I hate you slightly less now.

 

[yellojello]

Same, when plugged into external device through RCA jack, one notch below max.

 

[tinseljim]

iPhone 4 is still sounding great. But after comparing again I prefer the uDac 1 - which makes sense really! 

 

[bwhli]

I recently picked up a pair of SE535's. I dug out my old iPod Classic 120GB from awhile ago to listen to it. I found that it was much better than the my iPhone 4. When I went back to the iPhone, I noticed how all the sound seemed like it was compressed into the center, whereas the iPod and also my laptop had a much larger soundstage. It's really apparent in live concerts, where the drumset is clearly supposed to be to the left (Macbook and iPod depict this just fine).
 
Now... I never noticed this before on the iPhone, but I feel like I would've noticed it because it really is terrible right now. The sound also seems muddy and just compressed in general. I'm wondering if something happened inside the iPhone these past few days... I'm going to load a few of the same songs on my dad's iPhone later and see if there's a difference.

 

[rasmushorn]

Hmmm.... my experience was the exact opposite. To my ears the iPhone 4 is way better sounding than my old iPod Classic. This is both the headphone out and lineout from the dock where the dynamics and resolution is better in the iPhone 4.  
 
Quote:

I recently picked up a pair of SE535's. I dug out my old iPod Classic 120GB from awhile ago to listen to it. I found that it was much better than the my iPhone 4. When I went back to the iPhone, I noticed how all the sound seemed like it was compressed into the center, whereas the iPod and also my laptop had a much larger soundstage. It's really apparent in live concerts, where the drumset is clearly supposed to be to the left (Macbook and iPod depict this just fine).
 
Now... I never noticed this before on the iPhone, but I feel like I would've noticed it because it really is terrible right now. The sound also seems muddy and just compressed in general. I'm wondering if something happened inside the iPhone these past few days... I'm going to load a few of the same songs on my dad's iPhone later and see if there's a difference.

 

[bwhli]

Just checked my dad's iPhone. It sounds MUCH better, and probably what mine did sound like before I started noticing the drop in quality. Anyone know if it's possible something happened inside with regard to the circuitry? Also, I'm on 4.1, but he's on 4.0. I'm not sure if that would make any difference. Also, all EQ is off.

 

[Galatian]

Just checked my dad's iPhone. It sounds MUCH better, and probably what mine did sound like before I started noticing the drop in quality. Anyone know if it's possible something happened inside with regard to the circuitry? Also, I'm on 4.1, but he's on 4.0. I'm not sure if that would make any difference. Also, all EQ is off.

Didn't Apple update the EQ in 4.1 so that it would not overdrive anymore and therefore preventing it from clipping? Maybe they made some more adjustments to the sound and that's what you hear on your dads iPhone vice yours...

 

[bwhli]

Quote:

Didn't Apple update the EQ in 4.1 so that it would not overdrive anymore and therefore preventing it from clipping? Maybe they made some more adjustments to the sound and that's what you hear on your dads iPhone vice yours...

I'm not sure if there was any change, but it seems way too negatively affected to be intentional. Or maybe it just sounds that way on my set of earphones. I find it very difficult to believe I didn't notice this before though, considering I listen to the same albums on both my laptop and iPhone. Also, I don't have EQ turned on, so it shouldn't be affected right?

 

[fortress34]

I did not expected iphone 4's sound quality will good enough but it's surprised me very much..
I tried it with DBA-02 and I found it much better than ipod classic 7th gen.
At least far away from ipod touch 3rd gen.

 

[sebhuber]

I think this is related to the "sound check", have you enabled this feature? If yes, try turning it off.

 

[bwhli]

Sound check is off. I'm wondering if this issue is the result of cold weather. I accidentally left my phone in my car for a few hours in the New England winter a few weeks ago. Could that have damaged any inside components?

 

[rasmushorn]

Quote:

Sound check is off. I'm wondering if this issue is the result of cold weather. I accidentally left my phone in my car for a few hours in the New England winter a few weeks ago. Could that have damaged any inside components?

I do not think so. Cold conditions for a few hours would not harm the phone. Humid conditions is by far worse. But if you had it in the cold and brought it inside to hot air it could cause condensation and that could be a problem. I forgot my iPhone 4 in the car for -17 degrees Celsuis during the night and it had no problem in the morning even though the display was very slow. It would not hurt to have your phone examined by the dealer though. If it has bad sound on all headphones then something must be wrong somewhere. 

 

[decayed.cell]

Quote:

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!

 
Quote:

I've had the iPhone 4 for a week now and I've been noticing that there is a loud hissing sound coming out of the headphone jack. The noise floor is also extremely high with this phone (I suspect its picking up radio interference from the antenna). My 3G was dead quiet compared to the 4 when it was plugged into the car. In fact, I'm thinking of getting rid of this thing. It drops calls when you hold it the wrong way, randomly kicks calls into Facetime or speakerphone, and hisses.

I agree with the noise out of the jack. Using IE7s here. Much much noisier than my Clip+. However it does have pretty good soundstage and detail suprisingly
 

 

[kwang411]

Do you guys have faulty iphone4s? Because every IEM i tried with it (including my ES3X and CK100) I can barely hear any hiss at all even without music playing.
 
Quote:

Quote:

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!

 
Quote:

I've had the iPhone 4 for a week now and I've been noticing that there is a loud hissing sound coming out of the headphone jack. The noise floor is also extremely high with this phone (I suspect its picking up radio interference from the antenna). My 3G was dead quiet compared to the 4 when it was plugged into the car. In fact, I'm thinking of getting rid of this thing. It drops calls when you hold it the wrong way, randomly kicks calls into Facetime or speakerphone, and hisses.

I agree with the noise out of the jack. Using IE7s here. Much much noisier than my Clip+. However it does have pretty good soundstage and detail suprisingly
 

 

[rasmushorn]

Quote:

Do you guys have faulty iphone4s? Because every IEM i tried with it (including my ES3X and CK100) I can barely hear any hiss at all even without music playing.

 
Good question. I have never heard any hiss either. Not from the headphone out nor from the lineout through dock.