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wildcatgoal
16
Feb 2, 2016
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Been listening to these. In whole, these really don't sound any better connected to an iPhone than the $39.99 set of Sony in ear seal headphones I got at the airport a while ago. Yes they're sealed to my ear, yes they are treble-happy and bass-weak, and yes I am listening to loss-less music. What a waste.
Bharris
4
Feb 16, 2016
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wildcatgoalExcellent headphones will not improve the quality of the device reproducing the sounds, in fact, in many cases, headphones will reveal the bad points rather than improve them. On an iPhone you are listening to highly compressed audio. Try them with a good CD player and a quality recording and you will hear the difference.
Iluvtoonz
24
Feb 18, 2016
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BharrisObviously you have not heard of ALAC files, which are non-lossy and higher resolution than standard red book .wav files on a CD (which can be quite good if done right).
The iPhone will not only play ALAC files, it will actually stream them, provided your wifi network has the bandwidth.
Once you are playing hi-Res lossless files it's down to signal quality, and the iPhone is the best in the business in that department. There is a vast array of high fidelity efficient (and quite expensive) headphones out there that will give you a hi fi experience with your iPhone without the need for external amplification.
Generally speaking, a person who assumes iPhone listeners are limited to iTunes, Pandora and Spotify are just ignorant of the array of high fidelity source material out there the iPhone was designed to reproduce with astonishing fidelity.
The iPhone will not only play ALAC files, it will actually stream them, provided your wifi network has the bandwidth.
Once you are playing hi-Res lossless files it's down to signal quality, and the iPhone is the best in the business in that department. There is a vast array of high fidelity efficient (and quite expensive) headphones out there that will give you a hi fi experience with your iPhone without the need for external amplification.
Generally speaking, a person who assumes iPhone listeners are limited to iTunes, Pandora and Spotify are just ignorant of the array of high fidelity source material out there the iPhone was designed to reproduce with astonishing fidelity.
Opisthenar
6
Feb 21, 2016
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IluvtoonzUnfortunately, you're mistaken quite a bit. ALAC files by their nature are lossless, which is true, however the software capabilites on the iPhone cannot produce 24bit/192kHz sound, which is pointless even if you're using ALAC files. To be able to translate digital to analog is one thing, to to translate it 1 for 1 is another. iPhone can "play" ALAC, just not to what it's capable of. However, the hardware is natively capable of hi-res audio playback, and it's not hard to believe that they will update their OS eventually to allow their DAC to be used to its full potential. Current app solutions for high resolution playback still merely translate digital signal into another digital signal that the iPhone can comprehend at a much lower resolution, from my understanding.
Furthermore, CD's use PCM, not WAV, and are generally 16-bit/44.1kHz sound files. There is no technical difference between what iPhone is capable of and what a CD is capable of at this point.
To say that iPhone is "best in the business" is completely bogus as well. Especially when you have phones like Xiaomi and LG slapping on ESS Sabre DACs on their phones. And although HTC uses an undisclosed DAC, it also blows iPhone out of the water in sound reproduction.
TL;DR: iPhone will not compress your audio, but will not play your lossless files as intended. It merely translates and scales down to fit its maximum software capability.
Furthermore, CD's use PCM, not WAV, and are generally 16-bit/44.1kHz sound files. There is no technical difference between what iPhone is capable of and what a CD is capable of at this point.
To say that iPhone is "best in the business" is completely bogus as well. Especially when you have phones like Xiaomi and LG slapping on ESS Sabre DACs on their phones. And although HTC uses an undisclosed DAC, it also blows iPhone out of the water in sound reproduction.
TL;DR: iPhone will not compress your audio, but will not play your lossless files as intended. It merely translates and scales down to fit its maximum software capability.
DrBob
61
Mar 13, 2016
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OpisthenariTunes can play 96/24 files but the iPhone is limited to 48/24. You can use iTunes to create a 48/24 version of your 96/24 file. Ripping a CD results in 44.1/16 files from the original PCM files. These are reasonably high resolution for a DAP in a portable environment where other sounds are likely to intrude. If you want to play 192/24 or 96/24 files buy a FiiO X1/X3/X5/X7 and better headphones than these and listen in a controlled environment. I rip CDs twice, MP3 at 256VBR for the iPhone and ALAC 44.1/16 for my X3. On the subway it is difficult to hear the difference between the two.
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