Hi John, Your findings are interesting. I have not gotten around to actually using headphones with this little new adapter. I was intrigued, however, when I saw a post yesterday or the day before from a guy who says he was able to use his EKG to 40s with the little adapter with great effect. He said they really sounded good. Those phones typically require an extra amp to be driven decently. I have a pair of a KGQ701 phones which are really nice, but if you don't have a preamp, forget it. So I thought I would try them but haven't done it yet with the little new adapter. I will be curious to see if I hear the same things that you did. I really liked the P7 even just with the output from the iPhone 6s. It's not perfect. But convenience can't be beat. I was hoping that the experience would be even better with this new phone and it's DAC, being better than the power straight out of the 6S. I guess I will have to get to it and see what I think. Mary
Sent from my iPhone > On Oct 18, 2016, at 12:17 PM, John Gurd <j.g...@ntlworld.com> wrote: > > I got an iPhone 7 a few days ago and had it away with me on a weekend break > with limited opportunities to play with it. > > > > Well, on this list there’s always someone who wants to know what the phone > speaker sounds like. To dispense with that question quickly, it’s the best > sounding iPhone (that doesn’t have a Plus in its name) I’ve heard so far. > Not surprising, as it has two tiny speakers instead of one so Voice Over and > books on Voice Dream Reader sound very pleasant. I don’t listen to music on > a phone speaker and am always surprised when people give this aspect of > audio serious consideration. > > > > Of course the iPhone 7 is the infamous one where they got rid of the audio > jack. So I took my trusty B&w P7 headphones, my ancient and cheap but > much-loved (for sentimental reasons) Koss Porto Pros and my Bluetooth > Plantronics BackBeat Pros and the lightening ear pods that ship with the > device. No DAC except the little lightning to 3.5mm convertor supplied by > Apple. > > > > Here are my first impressions and I have to emphasis they were entirely > subjective with no attempt at rigor. Imagine my shock when I tried my P7s > and thought they sounded awful! The mid-range was thin with a hardness I > never noticed before. The base was there but not particularly extended. The > music sounded kind of flat with no real involvement. For the first time I > felt I knew what was meant when components were described as unmusical. When > I then tried my Koss Porto Pros whose basic design hasn’t changed since the > 1980’s and which at one point retailed at around £25 I actually thought they > sounded better but with the qualities described above still present, perhaps > with more space and a warmer tone. The Bluetooth BackBeat Pros sounded the > best with musicality restored and a warmth replacing the hard midrange. The > Apple earpods were what you would expect: a good reason for buying decent > headphones for your Apple device. > > > > The culprit, of course, was the $9 DAC provided by Apple for those folk who > will insist on owning headphones with a 3.5mm plug. The frustrating thing > was that as I was away from home I couldn’t try any other lightning to audio > DAC. I did have my Arcam MusicBoost case but as it is made for the thinner > iPhone 6 I didn’t fancy having my new iPhone 7 permanently wedged in it. Out > of desperation I did gingerly try to insert it but gave up when it became > clear it would end in disaster. > > > > What I didn’t do (and still haven’t done) was try the above headphones with > the audio jack on my old iPhone 6 to see if it really did sound worse on the > iPhone 7 or if it was just a trick of the mind because I was expecting > better. Since arriving home I have tried my P7s with the Oppo HA 2 DAC and > the iPhone 7 and I am glad to say they were back to being absolutely > stunning. That’s a relief. I then tried them again with the little Apple > supplied DAC converter and although they weren’t as shockingly bad as my > first impression they still sounded seriously under par, and that also when > for my little plastic Porto Pros. Yet I still feel even the Porto Pros > sounded better with the old audio jack. It mostly came down to that sense of > hardness and lack of musicality I felt I detected. > > > > Well, what do you expect for what amounts to a $9 DAC, I hear you say. Most > people who have a cheap pair of headphones won’t notice or care and will > just want them to work. I am quite sure that some headphones will even sound > better for it. But as I don’t always want to carry a separate and cumbersome > DAC around with me for casual listening I do wish Apple had spent just a > little more on their convertor. > > > > John Gurd > > > > >
