iPhone 5C and 5S: audio output

[kevms89]

No Cover Flow = No iOS 7 for me.

As an album listener Cover Flow was like flipping through my good old vinyls.


Optimism is the depth of technical ignorance

 
I like the new style way better, much easier for me and it looks so cool to see all my album covers as if they are on a wall, its like I walked into a record store and see a bunch of albums on the wall, so cool.

 

[_js_]

   
I like the new style way better, much easier for me and it looks so cool to see all my album covers as if they are on a wall, its like I walked into a record store and see a bunch of albums on the wall, so cool.

 
It DOES look cool, but so far, for me, functionally, I find it a little difficult to pick out the album I want.  The matrix album covers are 1/4 the area of the cover flow covers.  Maybe I'll get used to it, though.  We'll see.

 

[kevms89]

   
It DOES look cool, but so far, for me, functionally, I find it a little difficult to pick out the album I want.  The matrix album covers are 1/4 the area of the cover flow covers.  Maybe I'll get used to it, though.  We'll see.

 
Just a quick tip, you can use multi touch to zoom in and out when in the grid area.

 

[_js_]

   
Just a quick tip, you can use multi touch to zoom in and out when in the grid area.

 
Excellent!  It's much better at 2 x 3.5 covers per screen!  Thanks for the tip!

 

[vwinter]

No Cover Flow = No iOS 7 for me.

As an album listener Cover Flow was like flipping through my good old vinyls.


Optimism is the depth of technical ignorance

I dunno. It's kind of easier to browse with the new way. The cover flow i never used because it felt constrained.

Just a quick tip, you can use multi touch to zoom in and out when in the grid area.

Didn't know that. Thanks.
It only zooms in to a 2 X 3 grid and out to 4 X 7 in case anyone cares.

 

[kevms89]

   
Excellent!  It's much better at 2 x 3.5 covers per screen!  Thanks for the tip!

 
No Problem! At first I didnt like the default layout either but zooming out makes me much better.

 

[elfary]

[quote name="elfary" url="/t/682937/iphone-5c-and-5s-audio-output/75#post_9853600"]No Cover Flow = No iOS 7 for me.As an album listener Cover Flow was like flipping through my good old vinyls.Optimism is the depth of technical ignorance

I dunno. It's kind of easier to browse with the new way. The cover flow i never used because it felt constrained.[quote name="kevms89" url="/t/682937/iphone-5c-and-5s-audio-output/90#post_9853741"]Just a quick tip, you can use multi touch to zoom in and out when in the grid area.[/quote]Didn't know that. Thanks.It only zooms in to a 2 X 3 grid and out to 4 X 7 in case anyone cares.[/quote]


Could you post an screenshot of the album grid zoomed in?

It might suffice to overcome my dismay at this multialbum grid with so tiny artwork.

How are the albums arranged in that grid: alphabetically by artist, random...

Thanks in advance


Optimism is the depth of technical ignorance

 

[kevms89]

Zoomed in completely

Zoomed out once

Zoomed out max

Playing an album

 

[elfary]

Thanks a lot for the screenshots. The zoomed in view suits better to my way of exploring my collection even if it's not as great as the good old Cover Flow.


Optimism is the depth of technical ignorance

 

[_js_]

OK.  So my listening fatigue with the 5S was definitely due to my alergies / inner ear fluid issues.  The symptoms distinctly manifested and I took allergy medicine and the issue is waning, and so last night I was able to spend some quality time with the 5S without fatigue or discomfort (although I'm still not 100 percent, so I'm classing my findings here as preliminary).
 
And, I am impressed.  As others have said, the 5S seems to be more "detailed" with better definition, especially in the bass, and more aggressive--i.e. more "dynamic".  It's subtle, and like others have said, there aren't big difference between various generations of iphones and ipods, but they still exist and they still matter to many people, myself included.
 
What is a lot more objectively ascertainable, however, is that the 5S can definitely handle harder to drive (and/or go louder with them) headphones.  From A/B testing, I found that my 4 was noticeably less able to drive my Grado SR-225's and my Sony MDR-7506's than my Apogee Duet.  And I should note that neither of these phones is "hard" to drive!  Meanwhile, I found with the 5S that it really did a very good job at driving both the 225 and 7506.  The sound was better with the Duet, but not a lot better.  Only just noticeably better, no more.  And I have my volume limit set lower than on my 4 for the same loudness.  So, in my personal, not-very-strict testing, I have found that the 5S can go loud and drive harder to drive headphones than my 4.  On the flip side, I'm not that thrilled with the sound of the PX-100's out of the 5S.  I think it was also flawed out of my 4, but the flaws out of the 4 didn't bother me much--bass was a bit soft and undefined, loss of details in the treble, not as good with dynamics.
 
Meanwhile, I'm thrilled with the sound of the 7506's straight out of the 5S.  Really dynamic stuff like well mic'd and recorded drums, acoustic guitars, fast synth, etc., is wonderful to listen to straight out of the 5S.
 
I'm very much looking forward to hearing what the ER-4S sound like out of the 5S, and I think the higher impedance (100 ohms) will only help matters given that the 5S can and will drive the ER-4S's loud enough.

 

[Jakkal]

^ Thanks for the impressions man, I should get mine tomorrow.

 

[monumonu]

Hi,
 
Thanks for your feed back, and the comparison with the Duet. It would be interesting to have more details about your feelings comparing these two sources.
 
I did the same between an Edirol FA-66 and iphone 3GS, using DT-770 pro 250 headphones.
Files are apple Lossles, 48/24, 44.1/24 or 44.1/16.
Concerning the iphone, I use "Audiophile"+"MaxVolume" app, with the Mac+FA-66, "Fidelia" player.
No EQ.
 
It's funny to notice that both sound great, but different.
A more "solid stage" with the Edirol, good bodied bass, but shy highs sometimes so you can miss some details, feeling it's lacking resolution.
By the way it's a good card for the price but you can find better (A Prismsound Lyra for exemple? ahah, definitly not the same league).
 
On the other hand, the iphone 3GS is a bit less bassy (very subtle), but gives a very smoth and wide presentation. A very pleasant listening with every kind of music.
It's a good "on the go" player thanks to Audiophile app (flater with IOS 6 player).
 
My only (big) issue with it are the 16Go. It's definitly not enough for a lossless storage.
So I'm wondering if the 5S offers the same audio quality... Or should I look to a dedicated player like Fiio X3 or Hifiman HM-901?
Your comments are welcome...

 

[Baroninkjet]

 
My only (big) issue with it are the 16Go. It's definitly not enough for a lossless storage.
 

 
It's a shame Apple didn't take the opportunity this year to up the storage sizes. 16GB is really nonsense in this day and age. More so with 64 bit. And charging $100 extra for an $8 chip, $200 extra for a $15 chip.... Then again, stores are discounting them already in the US -- so we will see how it goes.

 

[vwinter]

It's a shame Apple didn't take the opportunity this year to up the storage sizes. 16GB is really nonsense in this day and age. More so with 64 bit. And charging $100 extra for an $8 chip, $200 extra for a $15 chip.... 

This was my main hope and complaint.

 

[elfary]

Asking price for 64Gb iPhones varies between too expensive (in Usa) and plainly ludicrous (Europe(.


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