iPhone 5 - the audiophile grade music player

Yes really.

See for yourself, it's dobsmackingly good:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/iphone-5/audio-quality.htm

That shows the iPhone 5 outperforms many audiophile quality dacs on 16 bit material, and the performance is pretty amazing into low impedance loads, putting many headphone amps to shame.

 

:mana:

But seriously, shouldn't be too surprised with the quality of modern cheap DACs.

 

Is no one picking up this discussion?

Eureka moments are referred to from time to time. Well, quite a few years ago my son had his new first generation iPod in the lounge. I pulled a cable from the back of the HiFi - it was a floating mini-jack I kept for the rare occasions I used my Sony Walkman Pro. I plugged in the iPod and listened.

Yes - that changed everything in my audio world. With my Quad Stack and top-of-the range MD Quart Speakers what I heard from this tiny source was superb.

And over the years the DACs in consumer electronics have just got better and better, as the boxes and boxes have got cheaper and cheaper.

If I plug my £150 Nexus 7 Tablet running Android 4 point something into my HiFi, what I hear is fine - absolutely fine.

My £200 Samsung ARM Chromebook is as good if I connect with an analogue cable, though the natural way to connect would be by USB to my Beresford DAC which is not an expensive item.

The audio output, analogue or digital, from a lot of consumer is not to be underestimated. To rubbish it is mere snobbery.

Most folk fail to make the most of it because they choose poor loudspeakers (and amps). That I find disappointing, because they know how good their little boxes can sound on headphones.

 

Hi Brian, nice to see you here and hope all is well.

The subject was well discussed elsewhere - it's just quiet here.

However this:

Hits the nail on the head.

 

Where is the "elsewhere" of this discussion, Rob?

Has anyone measured and evaluated the audio output of competing Android devises?

As said, my Nexus 7 is very capable.

 

Hi Brian,

Here you go:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=140180&highlight=iphone+audiophile

Bit of a bun fight though since the idea that a phone can soud this good is rather challenging for some