[qba3d]

To be honest this is a disaster or at least shocking after iOS 7 to iOS 8 update. The sound is really degradated in a way. The separation is Lost , depth is gone, highs are rolled and so is the lowest bass.The dynamics are sort of gone? The roll offs are minor but separation is to my ears rather big problem as it led to not engaging music. It's just dulish, one more complex tracks music turns to mess a bit. Tried on Senn Momentum over ear, XBA-3, ath-im50 straight from iPhone 5s.
On IOS 7 it was sharp, a bit artificial in its digital presentation but at least fun to listen.

Maybe it's just me? Maybe it's just change that needs to grow on me?

Any one also could give it a listen?

All the best!
q

 

[BigBobWillsFan]

I have a new iPhone 6+ with 128 GB. Previously I was using an old 3GS. Using the same relatively inexpensive hardwired headphones, the volume, the clarity, the stereo separation and the high fidelity range were immediately noticeable and remarkably superior to that of the 3GS. Furthermore the more I listen to music, even streaming music on the 6+ the more I am impressed with the overall sound quality they have engineered into this new phone. I report this from the perspective of the home stereo audio file that I am, having invested many thousands of dollars in reference quality home stereo equipment.

 

[MrGuzmanWhite]

I just got the iPhone 6 Plus, and I can testify that there is a significant difference form the iPhone 5 I had before the change. The iPhone 6 + is clearly, warmer, and much more controlled of high frequencies spikes and aggressive highs, even with poor recordings. It seems to have more soundstage and perhaps instrument separation that the iPhone 5, but certainly the biggest difference is that it is warmer, and less edgy with some modern music. It kinds of smoothens out the sound without losing detail and clarity, but it becomes darker and warmer. Maybe more analogue type, if I may say this in that way (?).
 
I have been testing it with "bright" headphones like the Beyern T70p, with the iPhone 5 it may be a bit too "hot" and aggressive, even sibilant with poor recordings, but with the iPhone 6 + it gains "body" to the music and loses the hot treble sufficiently to make it close to perfect.
 
But besides the Beyern T70p, I can clearly notice being warmer with the Ety ER4P and the Beoplay H6, so in general it is a warmer source. I am not sure I like it more because I don't like warm and dark sound, but as my HPs have "high clarity" and are  on  the "bright side", they are compatible with the iPhone 6 +.
 
A dark headphone with the iPhone 6 + may become a too dark.

 

[mark2410]

small request
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/750941/has-anyone-done-a-comparative-iphone-5-vs-iphone-6-audio-quality-review

 

[g5amo]

This is my first post to Head-Fi ... I was drawn to this thread as I've just purchased a 128Gb 6 Plus. 
 
I am very disappointed with the 6 Plus audio quality, almost all my (Apple Lossless) tracks lack the clarity and power of other iPhone's I've owned.
 
My youngest daughter has a 4s, playing the same track on either (through Sennheiser 980's & Bose QC's) is like night and day. I converted some tracks to MP3 in iTunes and the results were the same. A serious lack of bass and mid-tones. I note a few posters on Head-Fi recommending either Accudio or EQ10 to improve the situation. I tried both and whilst slightly better, the overall performance is still poor for an iPhone costing this much.
 
The other devices I have access to at home are an iPad Air and Samsung Note 3 (running Poweramp). The 4s native player in the 4s is still the best, the Note next followed by the iPad - but they are very close.
 
The iPhone 6 Plus is a mile behind and it ain't a hardware fault either, my original 6Plus was replaced due to a structural fault and both sounded as bad.

 

[CEE TEE]

^Yep, I have felt the 4S is a little veiled but great with Leckerton UHA-6S Mk.II (AD4627-BRZ opamps).  For fast/easy listening, I do like to plug things straight into the 4S.  So far, I do not like the iPhone 6+ sound.

 Agree with above. Luckily, I will keep my 4S around and use it as an iPod and back-up phone.  Will have to try 6+ > Geek Out after I have my Y-USB cable back.  That is my hope for good sound. Maybe the 6+ was tuned as a system with the EarPods?  I like the sound of the old earbuds better but hated the fit.  The new ones fit better but sounded warm/muddy the time I tried them. Maybe I should take them out of the box.

 

[cattlethief]

Ive got my 4s in the classifieds,it was ok,decent headphone out for on the move and better than there ipods,replaced the phone with the oneplus one,not as clean h/o but better when amped,I used the 4s mainly with the IFI nano DSD which was a good combo,will be sad to see it go.

 

[Bill-P]

I guess I'm about one of the few folks who think my 6+ is a bit on the airy/transparent side compared to my old iPhone 5?
 
Sounds like it's a case of rolled treble (frequency response) versus better transient (speed/decay).
 
The 6+ may have a rolled treble (or higher treble distortion) than the past iPhones, but I feel Apple did make the 6+ and the 6 a bit better as far as transient goes.
 
Either way, my iPod Nano (and will soon get an iPod Touch 5th Gen) is my main portable listening device, so it doesn't matter much.

 

[Akuan]

I have iPhone 6 plus and it is my first phone that I plan on using it as music player device for travel.
This is also my first iPhone (and Apple) product.
I've been using dedicated players in the past from Rio and sandisk but they were aging so it was time to use my phone as a music player.
I used same MP3 320kbps files as before and I was really not impressed.
The sound was wide but not deep with high that seemed synthetic.
The real dissappointment was in clarity and separation on the midrange.
It also had that digital or electronic glaze that some audiophiles associate them with digital gear.
I re-rip CD with AAC with highest quality setting and even tried Apple lossless format and made almost no difference.
I used Etymotic ER4P earphones and Grado SR-60 headphones.
I compared it with Sansa clip player which is an inexpensive player and 6 plus just did not have midrange clarity and separation (it did sound wider and extended).
I also tested music with my previous HTC phone and it sounded almost as bad as 6+ with just tad better clarity.
Asked my wife to listen to both players and she agreed with me on sound quality.
We tried other older phones and iPhone 3 (or 3s?) had best sound out of all phones on hand.
My wife was so impressed with my little sandisk clip player that she ordered one last night.
I'm actually very surprised of many positive reviews on iPhone 6+ as music playe so I'm thinking I may have a defective one.

 

[Baroninkjet]

The iOS music player is not very good, IMO. Try Neutron, or there may be some others also. (Neutron is new to Apple, but has been a premium Android music player for years.) Also, try Tidal HQ streaming for CD quality streaming or Spotify with extreme quality. Either sounds better than most anything played on the iOS player to me.
 
Another thing: Mine definitely improved some over the first few weeks. I was not particularly impressed in the beginning.

 

[Akuan]

Thanks for the suggestion of using a different music player app.
My iphone is about a month old.

 

[Akuan]

Here is an update.
It appears that my iphone headphone output was not "broken in".
It sounds better now after about 4 hours of use.
I have my phone for a month but never used earphone output until few days ago.
I compared it again with my other music player to make it was not a case of my ears getting used to it and my iphone 6+ sounds very competitive (although still not up to dedicated player quality).

 

[Kreylix]

Hard to imagine it improved due to "breaking in" - how did it know to go in the "improvement" direction rather than stay the same or worsen?
 
I think it's just your brain becoming acclimatized to the sound.

 

[Akuan]

Well I did mentioned a possibility of "my ears getting used to.
I've been comparing it with my two dedicated players and it is not a day a night type of difference.
I imagine that there may be some electrolitc output caps in the earphone outputs.
Those type components are known change sound quality as they aged (or broken in).
I also think that it may had something to do with earphone plug contacts since I was re-plugging headphones a few dozens times.
Anyway I'm a experience audiophile and even I'm a little surprised at the apparent change.
It is only barely adequate for me so I'm still going to stick with dedicated music player and likely waste 50GB of space left on my iphone.

 

[CEE TEE]

I too did not like my iPhone 6+ at first.  At all.  Now it seems better and I was also wondering what happened!