[sno1man]

There have been several posts about the iphone here with some discussion of sound quality and some griping about the headphone jack, but no in-depth discussion on it as an ipod.

as a note: unlike most here, i only use my portables through the headphone jack. The less hardware (weight and clutter)the better when i travel.

I just got back from a 2 week road trip where i used it as my sole ipod and phone. Overall i'm still quite fond of it, but it has some quirks and annoyances.

I used it with shure e500's, ety er4ps and the apple buds. Midway through the trip i got hold of the shure phone adapter with microphone so i could completely eliminate the apple buds.

For those that are wondering, the shure adapter looks almost identical to the push to hear adapter that comes with the 500's but a bit smaller.The fit in the jack is excellent. It also has the same switch as the apple buds and it works just fine. It is WAAAAY over priced at $40 though. Voice quality for the person on the other end is equal to the apple buds, and of course the overall sound is much better for the owner of the iphone with one big but......

The hiss is very present with this combo, right up there wit my 2nd gen shuffle. Once the music starts to play it goes away, but between songs it gets annoying.

The sound was best on the etys and for that it was great and i did most of my listening with them. I used the little cable adapter that used to come with the old shuffle sports case to connect the etys.

What is a bit odd is that while you can use the shure adapter with the ety phones, it noticeably degrades the sound especially in the highs where ut adds harshness. The adapter does seem to have any audible effect on the 500's at all. I did a quick compare using the same white adapter cable for comparison.

As stated in some other forums using sound check degrades the sound a lot, more so than on any other ipod I have.

From a usage standpoint

Plusses
1. Good battery life- using it as an ipod for at least 4 hours plus each day plus using it for calls and safari and email, i did not have a day where it ran out of juice before i did.

2. Good interface- album art was made for this thing and it's big and bright enough than you can see what's playing even when its sitting on a table. Scrolling through the album art always gets lots of oohs' and ahhs . It is very intuitive and responsive. I could go on and on

3. decent form factor- it was quite comfortable in my pocket most of the time and i quickly stopped noticing its presence.

4. very good sound quality that is right up there with my 5g ipod with the exception of the hiss with the shures. It is great on the ETYs

Minuses or annoyances-

1. the volume control steps are too big. You want to decrease the volume a bit but one click down is too much of a drop for fine adjusting.

2. it would be nice to adjust the volume from the cable instead of having to do it on the phone especially when the phone is in your pocket

3. The phone also sometimes does not notice that you have changed orientation and it can get "stuck" for lack of a better term.

4. It needs manual management of music like the nano and full size ipod. using a play list is a pain.

5. When plugged in the display never goes completely dim unless you hit the lock button. Discovered that when using it connected to speakers in the hotel room. It was like having an overly bright nightlight.

6. it is too heavy to run with and bounces around too much either in a clip or pocket (cant stand armbands)

Overall though it's now part of my permanent travel setup and i am quite please with my purchase.

Oh yeah, it's also a people magnet. I have no problem showing the phone to a cute 22 year old blond girl if i have too

 

[ingwe]

Nice review.

Re iPhone's iPod functionality: I don't use mine for music very much. I do use it for pod casts and video.

Too bad about the hiss. I think I'll try the adapter though.

Thanks again,

-m

p.s., Since I'm in my late 40's, hitting on the 20' year olds is more adventure than I can handle these days.

 

[Vinman]

Was the hiss present with the etys, also? I am a little unclear regarding whether or not it was only present with the Shures...

I love my iPhone. I use it as the only music source in my classic Mini - I have NO intention of putting a radio and speakers in it. Sound quality isn't so important, though - just VOLUME. It's a loud little car

 

[sno1man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vinman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Was the hiss present with the etys, also? I am a little unclear regarding whether or not it was only present with the Shures... I love my iPhone. I use it as the only music source in my classic Mini - I have NO intention of putting a radio and speakers in it. Sound quality isn't so important, though - just VOLUME. It's a loud little car

Hiss was only with the shures. Etys are pin drop quiet.

 

[passta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sno1man /img/forum/go_quote.gif There have been several posts about the iphone here with some discussion of sound quality and some griping about the headphone jack, but no in-depth discussion on it as an ipod. as a note: unlike most here, i only use my portables through the headphone jack. The less hardware (weight and clutter)the better when i travel. I just got back from a 2 week road trip where i used it as my sole ipod and phone. Overall i'm still quite fond of it, but it has some quirks and annoyances. I used it with shure e500's, ety er4ps and the apple buds. Midway through the trip i got hold of the shure phone adapter with microphone so i could completely eliminate the apple buds. For those that are wondering, the shure adapter looks almost identical to the push to hear adapter that comes with the 500's but a bit smaller.The fit in the jack is excellent. It also has the same switch as the apple buds and it works just fine. It is WAAAAY over priced at $40 though. Voice quality for the person on the other end is equal to the apple buds, and of course the overall sound is much better for the owner of the iphone with one big but...... The hiss is very present with this combo, right up there wit my 2nd gen shuffle. Once the music starts to play it goes away, but between songs it gets annoying. The sound was best on the etys and for that it was great and i did most of my listening with them. I used the little cable adapter that used to come with the old shuffle sports case to connect the etys. What is a bit odd is that while you can use the shure adapter with the ety phones, it noticeably degrades the sound especially in the highs where ut adds harshness. The adapter does seem to have any audible effect on the 500's at all. I did a quick compare using the same white adapter cable for comparison. As stated in some other forums using sound check degrades the sound a lot, more so than on any other ipod I have. From a usage standpoint Plusses 1. Good battery life- using it as an ipod for at least 4 hours plus each day plus using it for calls and safari and email, i did not have a day where it ran out of juice before i did. 2. Good interface- album art was made for this thing and it's big and bright enough than you can see what's playing even when its sitting on a table. Scrolling through the album art always gets lots of oohs' and ahhs . It is very intuitive and responsive. I could go on and on 3. decent form factor- it was quite comfortable in my pocket most of the time and i quickly stopped noticing its presence. 4. very good sound quality that is right up there with my 5g ipod with the exception of the hiss with the shures. It is great on the ETYs Minuses or annoyances- 1. the volume control steps are too big. You want to decrease the volume a bit but one click down is too much of a drop for fine adjusting. 2. it would be nice to adjust the volume from the cable instead of having to do it on the phone especially when the phone is in your pocket 3. The phone also sometimes does not notice that you have changed orientation and it can get "stuck" for lack of a better term. 4. It needs manual management of music like the nano and full size ipod. using a play list is a pain. 5. When plugged in the display never goes completely dim unless you hit the lock button. Discovered that when using it connected to speakers in the hotel room. It was like having an overly bright nightlight. 6. it is too heavy to run with and bounces around too much either in a clip or pocket (cant stand armbands) Overall though it's now part of my permanent travel setup and i am quite please with my purchase. Oh yeah, it's also a people magnet. I have no problem showing the phone to a cute 22 year old blond girl if i have too

Agreed nice review. I just got my iphone today and IMO it is better than my 80GB Ipod. I have the UE Super.fi 5 pros hooked up to it. I had to shave a bit off the top of plug on the UE's to get it to fit in the recessed jack (poor decision by Apple on an otherwise sweet device) but sound quality I think is fantastic. On my regular IPOD I have it hooked up thru a tomahawk and ALO line out, and I can't tell the difference really, at least for me. No hiss no distortion at all what so ever. Now that I have this, the 80GB, Tomahawk, and cable are all heading to ebay tonight.

 

[Bootleg]

great review...im actually surprised we havent seen more yet...thanks again!

 

[Malakei]

i think we havent seen many cuz the phone is still so ridiculously overpriced, has to fit in with the rest of apples products i suppose tho. nice review nonetheless, you seem to have more issues with the player then positive things to say. ultimately id try different cans/etys as youll find alot of times phones used at mp3 player dont have seperate audio for one or the other causing crosstalk and that hissing your talking about. especially considering phones put out their signals like a friggin blanket over eveything nowadays, if your anywhere near anything in your frequency range its going to crosstalk into your audio, very annoying i know. best way to remedy this is trying different phones or getting yourself a case that helps eliminate this occurence

 

[Vinman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malakei /img/forum/go_quote.gif i think we havent seen many cuz the phone is still so ridiculously overpriced, has to fit in with the rest of apples products i suppose tho.

You know, this device really is NOT "overpriced" at all. It IS expensive, but not OVERpriced. If you go out and buy a well designed cell phone with built in web browser, BT, WiFi, and then buy an iPod Nano - you've now spent more money than you would have with an iPhone. It's a sliding scale, I suppose. If you need a converged device, really NEED one, this device is a good solution for 90% of the public (who can afford it). Apple priced it based on what it is - an all-in-one device. Not perfect, but pretty darn good imo.

 

[CMasten]

I know of 6 folks now that have purchased IPhones and all of them believe its expensive but worth the cost when you start to use it and see how much functionality you get. Its a really high quality piece of gear. I dont regret the 600 bucks I spent at all , in fact its probably the one of the most valuable items I have purchased this year.

I spent some time last night comparing the IPOD function of the Iphone to my 5.5 80gig and there is no doubt the stand along IPOD has a better noise floor than the IPhone, but hopefully that will go away in a future software revision. I am guessing its the wireless and/or display that is causing all of the noise in the background.

 

[sno1man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malakei /img/forum/go_quote.gif i think we havent seen many cuz the phone is still so ridiculously overpriced, has to fit in with the rest of apples products i suppose tho. nice review nonetheless, you seem to have more issues with the player then positive things to say.

I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion unless you just counted the bullet points instead of reading the whole thing.

That being said, again I am VERY PLEASED with my purchase. As some have mentioned the price is high if you re not going to use all of the features of it, but if you do, it is a great convergence device and a bargain actually.

The criticisms I did have are both minor and probably easily fixed in software. It is one of the best gadgets I have purchased.

Also I have had a chance to try some super fi pro's with the phone and they sounded great! Possibly the best pairing so far.

One last thought that might put this in perspective, It is not the......
Ultimate Ipod
Ultimate Cell Phone
Ultimate portable email device
ultimate portable web surfing device
ultimate portable video player

What it may be is the best ipod/cell phone/email/web/video player in a single device available

 

[soloz2]

I was this close to getting an iPhone today, but the price was just more than I could afford, so I got a blackberry pearl with the data package and hopefully I'll be able to get an iPhone in a couple months... (crosses fingers)

 

[musblue4]

I think the iphone is a great device, but I need a little more then 4-8gb worth of music. I would mainly use it for the wi-fi.

 

[bluey_02]

As unlikely as it is, I'd love to see the next iteration of the iPhone (3G/better camera) be released in Australia rather than the current model. But regardless of its flaws the iPhone does seem to be a pretty sweet phone.

 

[Mono101]

I was looking for an iPhone review regarding soundquality and functionality with different headphones. This thread is great and apparently the biggest issue people had with the iphone here was it's price. Guess that's solved with Apple dropping the price yesterday by $200 .
I snatched a 4GB phone from the clearance bin and it should arrive tomorrow. I'm planing to use it with my V-moda vibez and my UE Super.fi 5 pros. Anyone using these headphones with a microphone adapter like the one from Shure?

Thanks

Mono