Just thought I would share some tips I've learned on portable audio. First, I am a business strategy consultant and travel a fair bit so I like to travel light. I've done the iPod Classic and ALO Audio headphone amp thing (RX II Tactical Edition) but for short hops the convenience of the iPhone is awesome. The problem is that the sound quality is terrible as delivered imho. As I get more used to my iPhone 4 I have wanted to fix this. So here are three steps for better sound quality.
1. Invest in some great headphones - Grado RS-1i. I really love these. They capture string instruments better than most I have tried and I have tried most. I also have some iMetal 590s which I use for IEMs but I'm an over the ear guy.
2. Download one of two apps: EQu and Denon Music Player. The latter is free and I think sounds a tad better but it's a bit of a complete copy of EQu. There is a problem with the Denon as it does not play on iOS 6 but I've decided not to upgrade (also due to the map issue) for now.
3. Go to the equalizer section and boost slightly the midrange and start rolling down at around 6K. if you want to hear how hollow the native iPhone is, try the "FLAT" setting. It truly sucks.
The alternative to this is to use the iPhone as a music server and add the wonderful Cypher Labs DAC and an ALO/Fiio amp. But this creates a small brick which may also give the TSA fits.
Anyway, that seems to provide great sound quality to me. I also suspect that the Denon player is bypassing some junk in the playback chain but I'm just speculating there.
1. Invest in some great headphones - Grado RS-1i. I really love these. They capture string instruments better than most I have tried and I have tried most. I also have some iMetal 590s which I use for IEMs but I'm an over the ear guy.
2. Download one of two apps: EQu and Denon Music Player. The latter is free and I think sounds a tad better but it's a bit of a complete copy of EQu. There is a problem with the Denon as it does not play on iOS 6 but I've decided not to upgrade (also due to the map issue) for now.
3. Go to the equalizer section and boost slightly the midrange and start rolling down at around 6K. if you want to hear how hollow the native iPhone is, try the "FLAT" setting. It truly sucks.
The alternative to this is to use the iPhone as a music server and add the wonderful Cypher Labs DAC and an ALO/Fiio amp. But this creates a small brick which may also give the TSA fits.
Anyway, that seems to provide great sound quality to me. I also suspect that the Denon player is bypassing some junk in the playback chain but I'm just speculating there.
