What's your opinion on SQ of Iphone 3GS

[knugge]

In this thread I was hoping you could keep it to your own personal experience and hence opinion about the sound quality of the Iphone 3GS. Please describe the pros/cons according to you, try to explain your bias (what you prefer) in musicreproduction, what headphones you use, what files (mp3, mp4, wav, lossless) you play.

Hopefully we can get a thread where all Iphone 3GS owners or head-fiers that have first hand experience with the music reproduction qualities of the Iphone 3GS can share their opinions.

I you have compared it to any other DAP/Cellphone please share in what way they differed from eachother. Do this only if you have compared them with the same file and same headphones. A direct comparison.

Excuse my poor English and I hope you and I can and will enjoy this thread. I have compared the Iphone 3GS too SE K610i and find the K610i to be unclean and edgy with less detail and smoothness than Iphone 3GS, however the Iphone 3GS feels more dark in the sound, a bit veiled if you ask me. Despite teh veil it seems to have more detail than the SE and a better abillity to keep notes separated. If I use EQ setting Acoustic the sound gets more open on the Iphone. But I feel insecure about these findings since I like the Iphone sound better but am critical about the veil. I don't know if it's about recessed midrange or overemphazied and muddied bass or upper bass perhaps. Maybe it's neither? Anyway I have listened to AAC 320 ripped through itunes and the headphones are AKG K412P. I know they are a bit veiled in the upper bass midrange section so they do effect the outcome but I also tried the K701 (I know I know) but they feel a bit vailed also (in the same way, as if it's in the sound signature, if you know what I mean?

Best to you all

 

[Bolardito]

I found at first the sound a little warm but upon some hours usage (burn) the sound and highs started to open. I think is a top noth player, for portability is awesome.

 

[3X0]

The 3GS is the best portable source I've ever used, and I've owned offerings from the likes of Rio and Cowon. Moreover, it seems to have a lot of driving power and synergizes well with just about anything it can capably drive. I'll post more thorough details when I'm not posting from it.

 

[dippyboy_87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The 3GS is the best portable source I've ever used, and I've owned offerings from the likes of Rio and Cowon. Moreover, it seems to have a lot of driving power and synergizes well with just about anything it can capably drive. I'll post more thorough details when I'm not posting from it.

what rio player have you owned? Just curious. I see that you are amazed by your 3gs SQ after having listened to some respected daps. I didnt like how the the touch and the iphone 2g sounded. I know the 3gs has been dramatically improved but my question is it anything like the touch or the classic?

 

[3X0]

I still own a 1.5GB Rio Nitrus. It has a 3x00 series Sigmatel chipset in it and sounds very good, but I have no idea how it compares to the much more well-known Rio Karma. The 3GS sounds much more refined all-around, despite the Nitrus being no slouch. I'm fairly certain I preferred my Nitrus over my 30GB iAudio X5L when I purchased the latter, but the limited storage and battery life of the former just weren't cutting it. The X5L sounded much warmer and even congested, which I didn't like. I also didn't feel that its amp section was powerful enough. My Meizu M6 MiniPlayer SP was even warmer than that, with more bass quantity. I also ended up preferring the M6 to the X5L. I hated my iPod Touch 8GB 1st-gen.. sound quality seemed like a boring and lifeless mess with little clarity and transparency. My 5.5G iPod Video 80GB felt veiled.

The 3GS has a huge advantage in clarity and stereo width compared to the mentioned players (and more), and consequently there is a better sense of instrumental separation and space. The bass is less flabby than with the other mentioned players, which ends up making it feel much more balanced. I did not find the 3GS dark; I found it brighter than the 3G due to the relative tightening of the bass. I feel the bass is more punchy now with a faster attack and decay compared to the 3G, and definitely compared to the other players I've listed. It's very fast and technically outstanding.

(The observations above were using the Etymotic ER-4P)

It sounds very expansive and has a ton of driving power. My 5.5G Video iPod could only handle up to my HD 25-1 II; the 3GS handled even my iM716 (widely considered to be amp-reliant) with faultless aplomb.

I am unsure if any further details would do any good. My sound vocabulary is strained and limited and I lack experience with the newfangled D2+, S9, X1000, AMP3 players on the market right now.

 

[Bojamijams]

I love the sound out of the 3gs. Its not quite as good as my Imod+amp combo but its a LOT more portable and its plenty good for my JH-13's.

I hate having to deal with iTunes but I've found a replacement software for pretty much everything except App syncing so its a tolerable pain now.

 

[gsawdy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bojamijams /img/forum/go_quote.gif I love the sound out of the 3gs. Its not quite as good as my Imod+amp combo but its a LOT more portable and its plenty good for my JH-13's. I hate having to deal with iTunes but I've found a replacement software for pretty much everything except App syncing so its a tolerable pain now.

I think the 3Gs and JH13 is the road I will be taking. Can you please expand on what you were able to use in place of iTunes. I hope you have found an app that allows Flac. I don't know why someone doesn't write an app that allows iphones/touches to play Flac, there must be something in the hardware that won't allow it--don't know. Anyway I'm very interested in what you have been able to do to relax the clutche of Apple. Also any forum that is directed to this effort....

I believe that dbPoweramp allows one to bulk convert from Flac to Apple lossless--not sure.

TIA, George

 

[AtomikPi]

You can sync your ipod/iphone with Winamp/Foobar/Songbird, although you may require a plugin. I don't want to hassle with an unofficial sync method so I just use iTunes to sync. I use Foobar for listening to music on my computer.

Yes, dbPoweramp allow you to covert FLAC to ALAC.

 

[headfever]

any way, IPHONE is only a phone, we could not have too much of expection on it.

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by headfever /img/forum/go_quote.gif any way, IPHONE is only a phone, we could not have too much of expection on it.

Too bad it sounds better than every other phone and better than most MP3 players (yes I went there).

 

[Ultrazino]

This thread caught my interest.

I'm currently using a Cowon D2+ 16GB but I got a 3GS as a gift and I'll be picking it up on Wednesday. I'm 100% sure I'll be missing my Cowon (especially FLAC support) but having both a mobile and a PMP in your pocket sounds convenient.

Not sure if/when I can post my experiences, though, as I'll have better stuff to do in China than browsing the web! (I also won't be taking my Ultrasone's with me...)

 

[cmascatello]

I'll put my 3GS with headphone out (with JH13s) in a very close race with any of my iPods (nano, Classic 160GB, 5.5G Video) with a P-51 Mustang and lossless files. The soundstage on the unamped 3GS is amazing and the detail in the extreme highs and lows is very close to those from the P-51.

 

[tds101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by headfever /img/forum/go_quote.gif any way, IPHONE is only a phone, we could not have too much of expection on it.

WRONG!!!! And do any of your posts ever make any sense, or add to the dialog. I'm interested in the iPhone 3GS myself, so please let the experienced users talk, I'm all eyes & ears.

PS: Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread.

 

[3X0]

The amp section of the 3GS is definitely an engineering marvel. I did not consider a Meier Corda XXS/Headsix connected via line-out to be an improvement. Indeed, it seems to be the case that the 3GS unamped sounds near equivalent to more typical dedicated players used with an amp.

 

[Bojamijams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsawdy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the 3Gs and JH13 is the road I will be taking. Can you please expand on what you were able to use in place of iTunes. I hope you have found an app that allows Flac. I don't know why someone doesn't write an app that allows iphones/touches to play Flac, there must be something in the hardware that won't allow it--don't know. Anyway I'm very interested in what you have been able to do to relax the clutche of Apple. Also any forum that is directed to this effort.... I believe that dbPoweramp allows one to bulk convert from Flac to Apple lossless--not sure. TIA, George

I haven't found a way to do FLAC on the iphone and franky, I'm not interested in it at all. I could transcode into ALAC and load it on but I've compared FLAC vs 256kbps MP3 and was not able to distinguish a difference on my home computer system.. now, though I haven't done the comparison on the 3GS, I don't think its DAC will be more resolving then the Essence STX dac...

Likewise, the space saving of a ~256kbps MP3 over a FLAC/ALAC is monstrous and with having only 32gb of space (1gb of which is taken with my GPS software plus a few hundred megs on pictures, applications etc.), the space is a premium and I Have a rather large library.

Regardless, I'm very happy with the way my MP3's sound through this thing.

As for what I use to load the files, I got the iPod Manager plugin for Foobar and it can transfer music onto the IPod, artwork and all, as well as podcasts and audiobooks and is much nicer to use then iTunes (IMO)