[HuoYuanJia]

I still wonder if there is a benefit of using 24bit 96kHz flac files though since apparently the hardware in iPhone 6 and 6+ is down-converting it back to 16 bit 44.1 kHz.

 
I still wonder if there was ever any benefit of using 24bit 96kHz (for playback).

 

[smaragd]

Being a professional audio engineer during day and music enjoyer beyond that I will attest to "yes it does" BUT it all depends how and where you are playing these files... through Apple's EarPods you won't hear any difference.
Also, everyone has different hearing, if you don't hear the difference then don't bother using and enjoy your music. 

 
 
This is why I'm considering switching from Android based smartphones to iPhones purely from a "music player and phone functionality in one device" point of view.

 

[SilentFrequency]

I honestly wish Apple EarPods were not included with the iPhone 6 Plus and the cost was marginally cheaper as I don't use them whatsoever.

 

[krismusic]

+1!

 

[Zoom25]

 
Bull...crap.
 
"TOTL" DAC/DAPs are the biggest rip off since hd-vision glasses. And also, your previous cost calculations are pretty skewed. The iPhone 6+ as an audio player doesn't cost $1080. There's like $30 worth of audio components. Throw in a some NAND, a SoC, a chassis, a display, and a wifi radio, and voila', that's an iPod Touch. Apple's BOM on that is like $130-150. So again, why does an AK240 cost $2500? Because there's fools willing to pay that price. The same folks who believe that high-res files sound better than 16/44, even though we've been on 16/44 for over 30 years and we've had more than enough storage and bandwidth to accommodate high-res audio for over 10 years now. 
 
And yet it hasn't picked up. Hmm...

First, stop taking things out of context. That wasn't the point of that. If you want to focus just on the audio components then why not talk about the Macbook Pro Retina I mentioned as well. Both Apple and serve multiple purposes, so I am not even involving dedicated audio equipment here. I find the Macbook pro a lot less fatiguing with all my headphones. How much do you think Macbook pro headphone section costs? Surely they don't blow a thousand on the audio output.
 
I'm only discussing products that I own and have lived with for a long time. Don't know about AK240 and don't care. That's why I am not making a general statement about high end or price. I'm not into dedicated components or high end. I just care about convenience and decent sound quality. That's why I got rid of a bunch of Marantz and Fiio gear because the Macbook pro's output seemed decent enough to not need carrying the other gear around.
 
I'm not here with an agenda, just stating my unfiltered opinion on solely the sound quality.

 

[Zoom25]

On a side note, I found the EarPods with just the 6+ through the stock app to sound decent enough without any EQ mods while travelling. I found the treble a lot less fatiguing while travelling due to external sounds helping in masking. Onkyo's app has decent EQ control and it's free as well.

 

[SilentFrequency]

On a side note, I found the EarPods with just the 6+ through the stock app to sound decent enough without any EQ mods while travelling. I found the treble a lot less fatiguing while travelling due to external sounds helping in masking. Onkyo's app has decent EQ control and it's free as well.

My issue with EarPods is I'm just not a fan of in ear buds in general, and personally prefer external headphones, but glad to hear they sound decent enough for travelling

 

[JAG87]

  First, stop taking things out of context. That wasn't the point of that. If you want to focus just on the audio components then why not talk about the Macbook Pro Retina I mentioned as well. Both Apple and serve multiple purposes, so I am not even involving dedicated audio equipment here. I find the Macbook pro a lot less fatiguing with all my headphones. How much do you think Macbook pro headphone section costs? Surely they don't blow a thousand on the audio output.
 
I'm only discussing products that I own and have lived with for a long time. Don't know about AK240 and don't care. That's why I am not making a general statement about high end or price. I'm not into dedicated components or high end. I just care about convenience and decent sound quality. That's why I got rid of a bunch of Marantz and Fiio gear because the Macbook pro's output seemed decent enough to not need carrying the other gear around.
 
I'm not here with an agenda, just stating my unfiltered opinion on solely the sound quality.

I'm not taking anything out of context, I'm addressing your opinion that the iPhone as an analog source can't compete with specialized "high end" gear, when in fact it can, it even surpasses some of them and is pretty much a perfect portable audio player.
 
Apple has been extremely careful with the analog headphone out of their devices for as long as I can remember. Sometimes audio quality has varied slightly between product generations due to varied output impedance, but in general the differences are extremely subtle and mostly inaudible unless you use some very low-impedance balanced armatures.
 
And on that topic since you brought it up, the output on the 2012 retina MBP (I have two of them) is actually somewhat lacklustre. It has an output impedance of over 20 ohms and it's blatantly warmer than flat. Apple probably does this to protect the amp in the MBP which is considerably more powerful (2 VRMS) than iPhone and iPads.
 
That's probably why you find it less fatiguing and prefer it. And there's nothing wrong with your opinion, but it's not better than the iPhone, it's actually worse. But it can drive high impedance power hungry headphones where as the iPhone cannot.

 

[Artmuzz]

I've noticed the sound on my iPhone 6+ sometimes distorts with bass on EQ10 app which is my favourite eq app on iOS. However EQ10 doesn't distort on my iPhone 5S using the same EQ settings and sounds better. However when I use Audioforge Equalizer on my iPhone 6+ the sound quality is very good and it doesn't distort. Strange.

 

[SilentFrequency]

The video for Carly Rae Jepsen's track "Call Me Maybe" is totally like an Apple EarPod advert/product placement!

 

[elfary]

Headphoniaks has posted the objective comparison between M8, iPhone 6 and Fiio X1. Get your translator ready and enjoy the superb article:

http://headphoniaks.com/blog/calidad-sonido-smartphones-iphone-6-htc-one-m8-fiio-x1/


Running seems like a great idea until you actually start running

 

[Baroninkjet]

  Quick question-
How would the iPhone 6 compare to the HTC One M8 Harmon Kardon Edition?  (or even better, the Lenovo K900 which uses the Wolfson WM5102-also featured in the GS4 international version)

 
Earlier in the thread, I compared Wolfson GS3 to iP6. 

 

[Jakkal]

Headphoniaks has posted the objective comparison between M8, iPhone 6 and Fiio X1. Get your translator ready and enjoy the superb article:

http://headphoniaks.com/blog/calidad-sonido-smartphones-iphone-6-htc-one-m8-fiio-x1/


Running seems like a great idea until you actually start running

Great find.
I see they measured 2.3 output impedance for iPhone 6, which is same as iPhone 5S, so is better than what we thought. 2.3 output impedance is OK unless you use low impedance balanced armature iem's.

 

[elfary]

2.3 is ok with almost anything under the sun except for Sony XBA4 and lookalike iems.
 
Stereo crosstalk has disappointed me a little bit though. I'm pretty certain that iPhone 5s fares about 10 decibels better in that department.
 
In any case from now on people can weigh in subjective impressions along with objective data (this mixed approach has always served me well to choose sources).

 

[Uberclocked]

   
Earlier in the thread, I compared Wolfson GS3 to iP6. 

Thanks!  I found it after 30 minutes of searching.  >.<
Unfortunately, the GS3 uses the WM1811, while the GS4/Note2/Lenovo K900 uses the WM5102 so it's not a direct comparison to the iPhone 6 for me. However, the WM5102 seems to be even better than the WM1811.