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iPad Iphone vs ipad sound quality

D

Deolum

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 15, 2020
3
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Hello i registered in the hope some audiophile freak may help me.

i have a normal ipad of the newer generation, an iphone 11 and a galaxy s9+

I hear a really big difference in terms of sound quality when using the ipad compared to the iphone. The ipad just sound so much better with an external dac and good headphones than the iphone or the galaxy s9 with the same equipment but i don‘t know why. Is there any portable device that sounds exactly like the ipad? Or does the iphone 11 pro sound better than the normal iphone 11?
 
Deolum said:
Hello i registered in the hope some audiophile freak may help me.

i have a normal ipad of the newer generation, an iphone 11 and a galaxy s9+

I hear a really big difference in terms of sound quality when using the ipad compared to the iphone. The ipad just sound so much better with an external dac and good headphones than the iphone or the galaxy s9 with the same equipment but i don‘t know why. Is there any portable device that sounds exactly like the ipad? Or does the iphone 11 pro sound better than the normal iphone 11?
Click to expand...

The DAC is in the lightning to headphone adapter... all iPhones will sound the same on headphones if you use the same adapter
 
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808drums said:
The DAC is in the lightning to headphone adapter... all iPhones will sound the same on headphones if you use the same adapter
Click to expand...
I use a chord mojo and a dragonfly cobalt as DAC. And the ipad and the iphone sound different from each other with both of them. The ipad sounds way better both times.
 
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Deolum said:
I use a chord mojo and a dragonfly cobalt as DAC. And the ipad and the iphone sound different from each other with both of them. The ipad sounds way better both times.
Click to expand...

You are plugging theses DACs in the lightning port, right? What kind of adapter you are using to connect them?
 
808drums said:
You are plugging theses DACs in the lightning port, right? What kind of adapter you are using to connect them?
Click to expand...
Yes. I use the camera connection kit for both. But i have the same difference with plugging my audeze sine directly into both devices. The Sine has a cable with lightning end a DAC itself in the cable . I not only have a better sound quality on ipad but also have a louder max volume and finer volume steps compared to iphone so there must be a difference hardwareside which makes the sounddifference.
 
I saw somewhere compre of every possible parameter of sound between iPhone 6s Plus iPhone 7 and regular iPad. iPad with the 3,5 mm jack has the most powerful output (Connected with headphones jack directly and via lightning to jack adapter). As an iPhone and iPad I can confirm that iPad doing really good job and I prefer to listen on it then other of my stuff especially with my Presonus HD7 🥰
 
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Deolum said:
Yes. I use the camera connection kit for both. But i have the same difference with plugging my audeze sine directly into both devices. The Sine has a cable with lightning end a DAC itself in the cable . I not only have a better sound quality on ipad but also have a louder max volume and finer volume steps compared to iphone so there must be a difference hardwareside which makes the sounddifference.
Click to expand...
I suspect it might be the higher voltage output of the iPad compared to the iPhone. This would make sense for your Dragon fly cobalt as it pulls power from the host device (iPhone or iPad) via the CCK. The iPad pushes out greater voltage, so the Cobalt gets more meat to work with. The Chord Mojo has its own battery though, so in theory the audio should be identical on the iPhone and iPad.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
It is definitely nothing to write home about. At the same time, I didn't expect much it speaker wise. As just a phone device, it gets by. I did expect a lot from the iPad Pro.
Click to expand...
Ive also noticed that playing music out the 12 mini speakers uses up a fair bit of battery! they are not greatest speakers like you said, but get the job done. Strangely the speakers on the iPhone SE 2020 sound better though.
 
snipr125 said:
Ive also noticed that playing music out the 12 mini speakers uses up a fair bit of battery! they are not greatest speakers like you said, but get the job done. Strangely the speakers on the iPhone SE 2020 sound better though.
Click to expand...
Yep, even my iPhone 6 speaker sounds better than my 12 Mini. Theres so much more components on the Mini than the older 4,7 inch iPhones that won’t allow Apple to put better speaker(s) I guess. But like you guys said, it gets the job done and I connect my phone with bluetooth speakers anyway when listening to Spotify.
Now on my 11 inch iPad Pro, the quad speakers is not too powerful, but the audio separation is good enough for me not always connect it to an external speakers for music listening.
 
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snipr125 said:
Ive also noticed that playing music out the 12 mini speakers uses up a fair bit of battery! they are not greatest speakers like you said, but get the job done. Strangely the speakers on the iPhone SE 2020 sound better though.
Click to expand...
woah, they cant be that bad... my se sucks ass. my ipad pro literally rocks the house
 
konstantnn said:
woah, they cant be that bad... my se sucks ass. my ipad pro literally rocks the house
Click to expand...
They are not that bad tbh, they just seem to lack clarity and have somewhat of a muddied sound compared to my Iphone SE 2020 speakers which overall sound better and clearer. The stereo landscape speakers on my Air 4 are excellent though with good sound separation and dynamic range. If you want the best audio though, use an external DAC/headphone adaptor and decent headphones like the OP’s Chord Mojo (£400 though) or one of the Dragonfly USB dacs. Fiio also have a good range of budget DACs, with a couple that work with iphones specifically.
 
Ipad is able to power external devices, whereas iPhone is not, so iPad is likely putting more juice out to the DAC that it's powering.

Mac mini speaker output is more than good enough. Better (clearer) than iPhone 11 and iPhone X to my ears. It's a device with a small physical volume and the iPhone speaker design I think depends a bit on that for the lower frequencies. Nothing to complain about.
 
Noticed this today whilst listening to my AirPods Max on my iPad. It sounds way WAY better than on the iphone. I thought I was going crazy but the bass is stronger and the sound much clearer. This is on both atmos and non atmos songs.

Has it been established why? Or it just has more power to work with? Wonder if it would be even better on the macbook?
 
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Seanm87 said:
Noticed this today whilst listening to my AirPods Max on my iPad. It sounds way WAY better than on the iphone. I thought I was going crazy but the bass is stronger and the sound much clearer. This is on both atmos and non atmos songs.

Has it been established why? Or it just has more power to work with? Wonder if it would be even better on the macbook?
Click to expand...
Check if you're transmitting on mono on accessibility.
 
Last edited:
as I have IPad 10 and iPhone 13 Mini.. the iPad 10 sounds better due to that separation.
however my cousins iPad Air 5 sounded much louder and fuller and more bass on it compared to my iPad 10..
and in store, the iPad Pro has like 3D surround dealing due to that quad speaker and it has better quality and bit louder on Air.. so here it is.. iPad Pro < iPad Air < iPad 10.. i also don’t like the feeling why they have to make the iPad 10 bit muffled in comparison of iPad Air and in fact the air sounds in between Pro and Non Pro iPads, even the iPad 10 have now Stereo on it.
 
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