Re: iPhone 7 disappointing audio...?

[Dane Trethowan]

Yes, understood.

I "Broke Out" so to speak and I won't go into reasons as to why here as 
this really isn't the place for that sort of thing.

Suffice to say that there are plenty of good Android Apps out there and 
- whilst possibly not the names you know of under IOS - they're in the 
main very accessible.

I know a few people who are on this list who - like me - are on some 
Android lists so - when you're ready - feel free to join and at least 
take part in the discussion so your feet are warmed <smile>.



On 19/10/2016 8:13 AM, John Gurd wrote:
I considered getting that modular LG phone for the DAC attachment. I've never 
owned an Android device and I got cold feet as to the effort I'd have to put 
into getting to grips with it. You can get into a comfort zone with IOS devices 
that is hard to break. And I think some of my apps may not be so accessible or 
even available on the Android platform. But part of me would love to break out 
of that walled garden called Apple (smiles).

John


-----Original Message-----
From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane 
Trethowan
Sent: 18 October 2016 20:57
To: PC Audio Discussion List
Subject: Re: iPhone 7 disappointing audio...?

No, nothing to do with JBL, B&O make a DAC for the Lg phone I mentioned.

I also mentioned that - being a modula phone - various modules could be attached, the 
B&W DAC being a case in point so - when I think about it <smile> - its quite 
possible that JBL might make a speaker of some kind for that phone.

I'm not in a hurry to buy the B&W P9 either but - already having P7's and 
naturally curious to see what the P9's sound like in comparison.

Of more immediate interest to me in the B&W line is the B&W P7 wireless.



On 19/10/2016 6:49 AM, Mary Otten wrote:
I think the extra attachment you can get for that LG phone is a JBL speaker of 
some kind. Not sure about any sort of extra DAC. I will also be very curious 
what you think of the P9, although it is frankly out of my price range. I don't 
care how good it is, there must be limits. Smile. I went from an iPhone 6s to a 
7+, so I have a size difference in my phone, which might make for some of the 
differences in sound between the two. The 7+ is certainly louder than the 6S, 
and I do think it sounds better. The stereo image of course is a joke. I have a 
Nexus six android device for comparison. The iPhone sounds better. The stereo 
image if you want to call it that, on the Nexus is actually better, probably 
because the speakers both face the same direction. But the Nexus is so 
incredibly lacking in bass, that they might as well not have bothered with the 
stereo at all. The single iPhone speaker in my 6S sounded better than the Nexus 
with its dual stereo speakers.
Mary


Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 18, 2016, at 12:33 PM, Dane Trethowan <grtd...@internode.on.net> wrote:

A most interesting read!

I've always been impressed with the internal speakers on Apple iPhone though - 
like you - I've never taken them seriously for music listening but for speech 
and Voiceover the internal iPhone speaker is superb.

Now I have an iPhone 6 because of my Arcam DAC - the same as yours - and I had 
an iPhone 6S at one time.

I think - could be wrong - that the quality of the iPhone 6 speaker isn't quite 
as good as that of the 6S but none the less iits an improvement on the 5S and 
so its gone on right up through the iPhone series so I'm not at all surprised 
to hear that the speakers of the iPhone 7 sound good, that's the only thing 
that's tempting me to go out and buy an iPhone 7.

I'm not at all surprised to at your comments regarding the Lightning Dock to 
3.5MM jack converter but - as Apple have never ever provided high quality 
Earbuds with their iPhones anyway - its therefore not surprising that Apple 
didn't provide a high quality DAC but - having said that - I think Apple should 
have stated this and perhaps sold a higher quality converter - say for a couple 
of hundred dollars - so the user would at least have the choice of an upgrade.

LG does this with one of their phones, its a modular phone - can't remember the 
name of it - but the user has the choice of using what's available or buying 
other options to enhance the quality of audio, photos etc.

I have a set of Philips cans here that plug straight into a Lightning connector so - 
if and when I get a chance - I'm looking forward to connecting these to an iPhone 7 
and doing some comparisons with that cheap nasty lightning to 3.5MM jack converter 
<smile>.

I like you have a pair of P7's, love the things and - may as well tell you now - 
I'm off to listen to the B&W P9's shortly.



On 19/10/2016 6:17 AM, John Gurd 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