iPhone 13 Pro Loving iPhone 13 Pro so far ... except for call quality (earpiece)

[BigG94]

Got my iPhone 13 Pro on Friday and put it into service yesterday, replacing my three-year-old XR which I had planned to trade in, just waiting for the kit.

I love almost everything about the 13 Pro, especially the Pro Motion refresh rate which is quite an upgrade over the XR. The reason I say "almost" is that it's suffering as far as what IMO still is the basic function for these gadgets regardless of whatever else they can do: making phone calls.

I find the sound through the earpiece, when I'm talking to a fellow VZW user on VoLTE, to be shrill and tinny almost to the point of causing actual ear discomfort. I've also talked to some folks who are on old-school dial-up and on other mobile carriers other than VZW and the sound is almost to the other extreme, too bassy, almost fuzzy. There's also a bad echo, or artifact, to the sound in both cases.

I've noticed that my ringtone also sounds tinny and trebly compared to the XR, although as a test I did a YouTube video and it sounded acceptable through the earpiece.

Honestly, the call quality as far as sound through the earpiece on my XR was night and day better than this.

I've seen some other complaints about this elsewhere (Reddit) and in at least one thread here. Which along with the fact that God only knows when I'll be able to get another one ... estimated shipping time for 13 Pros is now 2nd week of December at the Apple site and there are no 13 Pros available in any color with any amount of memory at any Apple Store within 200 miles of me; there are some 13's close by but I really want the Pro ... is kind of discouraging me from sending it back right now.

Is anyone else with a 13 Pro having this problem? Does this sound like a hardware issue where I ought to see about sending it back at some point (I have Apple Care +)? Or is this something that's just the mojo of this phone and I'll have to learn to deal with it?

I do have it in a Griffin All-Terrain Earth case which is a PITA to get on and off which is why I haven't done it today, I probably need to take that off and do a test call to see if the case might be affecting things. I'll do that tomorrow and advise if there's any difference.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Bad quality phone call sound coming trough the speakers

I own a brand new iPhone 13 Pro. Anyone noticed the drop in sound quality when doing a phone call trough the speakers ? I used to have an iPhone X and the sound quality in phone calls was way better and louder. But, if I listen some music trough the Music app, Youtube, etc. trough the speakers...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[BigG94]

Bad quality phone call sound coming trough the speakers

My iPhone 13 Pro earpiece sounds a little tinny on phone calls too. My iPhone X didn’t have this issue.

forums.macrumors.com

I saw that, but that's a response at the tail end of an unrelated thread about call quality through the speakers. I chose to start a dedicated thread on call quality problems through the earpiece to seek input from people who might be having that specific problem.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I saw that, but that's a response at the tail end of an unrelated thread about call quality through the speakers. I chose to start a dedicated thread on call quality problems through the earpiece to seek input from people who might be having that specific problem.

I fixed the link above, it was pointing to the wrong post in that thread.

I find the sound through the earpiece, when I'm talking to a fellow VZW user on VoLTE, to be shrill and tinny almost to the point of causing actual ear discomfort.

Anyone noticed the drop in sound quality when doing a phone call trough the speakers?
It sounds like it’s coming through a canister or something like that.

Both threads sound like they are dealing with the same issue, bad sound quality through the earpiece.

 

[BigG94]

Revisiting this ... I tried with case off and there was no difference.

I put my SIM back in the XR and there was a vast difference, compared to what I'm getting with the 13 Pro it was like a stereo with subwoofers.

I let my wife listen to a call on the 13 Pro, she said it sounds tinny and trebly and needs bass, but is crystal clear and she thinks I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and will get used to it. A friend of mine actually bought six 13's (not Pros) for his family and said earpiece sound quality is just like that for all of them. But he conceded that it's not a big deal for him and them because he and they make very few phone calls. I still do, often.

The major problem is I have tinnitus and trebly stuff aggravates that. I'm literally having ear pain from this phone after four days of usage because of the trebly sound on calls.

I've chatted with Apple and have a case number and can send the thing back for a new one. (They apparently do have some 13 Pros on hand for warranty issues.)

I'm just reaching out again before I take that step to avoid wasting time and/or being disappointed ... is this simply part of the 13 Pro's mojo to where if I want to have one of these phones for the jillion other things it offers, I'll just have to deal with tinny, trebly earpiece sound? Or based on other users' experience, does it sound like I have a bad unit?

 

[Fred Zed]

Revisiting this ... I tried with case off and there was no difference.

I put my SIM back in the XR and there was a vast difference, compared to what I'm getting with the 13 Pro it was like a stereo with subwoofers.

I let my wife listen to a call on the 13 Pro, she said it sounds tinny and trebly and needs bass, but is crystal clear and she thinks I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and will get used to it. A friend of mine actually bought six 13's (not Pros) for his family and said earpiece sound quality is just like that for all of them. But he conceded that it's not a big deal for him and them because he and they make very few phone calls. I still do, often.

The major problem is I have tinnitus and trebly stuff aggravates that. I'm literally having ear pain from this phone after four days of usage because of the trebly sound on calls.

I've chatted with Apple and have a case number and can send the thing back for a new one. (They apparently do have some 13 Pros on hand for warranty issues.)

I'm just reaching out again before I take that step to avoid wasting time and/or being disappointed ... is this simply part of the 13 Pro's mojo to where if I want to have one of these phones for the jillion other things it offers, I'll just have to deal with tinny, trebly earpiece sound? Or based on other users' experience, does it sound like I have a bad unit?

I feel your pain OP in regards to basics of a cellphone and call quality via the earpiece.
I know it's no consolation but I had two Samsung S21 Ultras that made a distorted clipping type noise when earpiece was used on a phone call. I narrowed it down to TMobile HD calling , all other types calls were fine. Bad design or poor software codec, I don't know. As I didn't replace it for a third device.

 

[BigG94]

I feel your pain OP in regards to basics of a cellphone and call quality via the earpiece.
I know it's no consolation but I had two Samsung S21 Ultras that made a distorted clipping type noise when earpiece was used on a phone call. I narrowed it down to TMobile HD calling , all other types calls were fine. Bad design or poor software codec, I don't know. As I didn't replace it for a third device.

I have noticed that it is much worse when talking to someone calling from another cellphone with HD calling than from an old-school "regular phone."

 

[BigG94]

Last post on this ... someone gave me a suggestion to test the hardware by recording a voice memo and listening to it through the earpiece. I did and it was dead perfect, no issues whatsoever. I also did a test with my son, who has an 11, in that we made a call and then exchanged phones. His 11 sounds just like my 13 Pro through the earpiece on a call, and after listening through the earpiece of my 13 Pro he wondered what in the #$^#$%^#$ I was talking about. (He also wondered why in the ^%*$^%* I still made phone calls, but as noted I'm old school.) I'm now content that the earpiece speaker on this phone simply is not going to be like the XR on calls, that I'll just have to get used to it (turning volume down to what I think is the sweet spot has helped) to enjoy the rest of the phone's benefits ... which are enormous ... so I'm movin' on. Peace out.