IPhone 3G ipod sound quality is very bad
Hello,
I stumbled upon this forum looking online to see if anyone else was experiencing what I have.
My girlfriend and I both bought 16GB iPhone 3G's last week.
I am very disappointed in the audio quality.
I am a purist who can hear the difference between codecs, and though I am one of those who think uncompressed CD is a mediocre format quality-wise, and generally speaking lossy compression (reduction!) is particularly awful, I can appreciate decent quality portable sound, accept it for what it is and enjoy reasonable fidelity.
I encode at 320kbps AAC from original CDs, and I use the venerable Koss PortaPro headphones as well as a set of Bose QuietComfort 2's. For reasons audiophiles will understand, I do not like EQ and listen to everything flat (EQ off). So, the distortion I am about to complain about is not the result of digital clipping.
While I am aware of the shortcomings of both headsets, and neither one is a Grado, I generally think the PortaPros are excellent as portable headsets and the gold standard as far as what is on the market today in lightweight open-air cans. (Better than the Senn PX-100's).
On my Sony WM-D6C and my Allen & Heath home headphone preamp, I find the sound quality of high bitrate digital audio through these cans to be quite good, all things considered. On my Bendix/King AV8OR GPS, which doubles as a media player, the sound is quite good for a portable device playing compressed digital audio.
I am mentioning the equipment to illustrate that a) I am testing the 3G with decent source material and good headsets (not lousy earbuds, etc.) and b) that while I am a purist, my complaints here are well beyond audiophile snobbery.
That said, the iPhone 3G is the second worst sounding portable listening device I have heard since the 1st and 2nd generation portable minidisc players. (The worst is a Philips portable CD player circa 2002).
The bottom end is quite punchy and full, but the frequency response curve must resemble a nice pair of double-D's laid sideways. There is a peak in the midbass that results in downright mud. Highs are so scratchy and coarse I had to double-check my encoding settings and listen to my files on an alternate player to rule out severe compression artifacts as the cause.
Worst of all, there is a LOT of distortion in the lower mids, especially in complex signals.
This player has more distortion than any other portable player I have ever listened to, all the way back to cassette walkmans from the 80's. The vocals on most source material, especially when there are a lot of harmonies, are loaded with distortion.
This is not headphone amp clipping due to high volume/inefficient headphones. It is present with the volume turned down low.
For the sake of comparison, I also own an iPod Mini, a first-generation shuffle, and a first gen Nano.
I found the G1 shuffle to be excellent, if lacking a bit in power and high-end detail. The mini was lacking in bottom and had a lot of harmonic distortion in the treble, and the G1 Nano is relatively flat but has an overall constrained sound and a boxy bottom end.
All of the above were much cleaner than the iPhone 3G. The iP3G seems to have plenty of power and a spaciousness lacking on all of the above except for the G1 Shuffle. Too bad it is so dirty.
At first, i couldn't believe the device really sounded this bad, but I loaded some good recordings on my girlfriend's iP3G- same audio characteristics on hers.
I am running firmware version 2.0.2.
I was hoping with this device I would have phone, internet, mobile apps, and my music collection all in one device-just carry some good headphones with me and I would be all set.
I'll still be keeping the phone, because of all else it does well.
But, when I want to enjoy good sound I will need to carry another player.