Sneaking Suspicion Air Sound not great!

[kenny_jackel]

I have been listening to familiar music through an iPad Air and find the sound slightly muffled in the high frequencies and overall a bit compressed. Was wondering if anyone else has this feeling. I upgraded from an iPad 2 which had a much more forward strident sound, brighter and a bit more depth. It feels like there is a curtain over the music.

Not sure if any compromises were made for battery life etc.

Any thoughts?

Kj

 

[o4liberty]

I haven't noticed this but what I have is a better sound quality will a lower volume.

 

[MacintoshDan]

I thought my Air sounded much better than previous iPads.

 

[BenitoC]

The iPad Air sounds better than my iPad 2.

 

[Redshirt]

I have been listening to familiar music through an iPad Air and find the sound slightly muffled in the high frequencies and overall a bit compressed. Was wondering if anyone else has this feeling. I upgraded from an iPad 2 which had a much more forward strident sound, brighter and a bit more depth. It feels like there is a curtain over the music.

Not sure if any compromises were made for battery life etc.

Any thoughts?

Kj

There's tradeoffs for a thinner lighter iPad.

The thing I've noticed is that the sound's louder out the back of the iPad. Like the speaker's facing away from the user.

 

[LCW]

Would be odd for the Air to not sound as good as previous, since the Mini (in my opinion) sounded way better with the stereo speakers. I'd expected the Air to be at least as good as the original Mini which sounded better than the iPads 2 & 3 I had prior.

 

[Bigchris]

Coming from my iPad 2, the sound was great, lol. I honestly think it sounds good, low volume was nice as well as at higher levels too. Actually felt like it was a little bass too :laughing:

 

[kenny_jackel]

I should have mentioned that was listening with a nice set of Sennheiser headsets. My comment were conceding the headphone output not the speaker.

As for the Air loudspeaker I thought that was very nice but I did notice the unit vibrates far more then previous models but not an issue to me.

 

[rryoung]

The first time I heard the sound it blew me away. It sounded much better than my ipad 4!

 

[stooovie]

I think it's better, but the whole thing vibrates now! Previous gens were much more sturdy.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[anon(4698833)]

Thing sounds exactly the same as my iPad Mini when I'm using headphones...the software and headphone jack specs itself are not different, so unless you have some kind of issue with your device, it should sound the same as any idevice (iPhone included) with headphones. I use a set of Bose noise canceling headsets and have noticed zero change between my iPhone, iPad Mini and my wife's iPad Air.

 

[LCW]

The speakers on the Air are amazing! Deep rich sound from such small speakers. About on par with some older Macbook Pros... I'm impressed. I personally find the speakers on my Air better (and much louder) than on my Mini (1st gen).

 

[BenitoC]

I'm listening to music right now as I type this in portrait mode and the iPad Air sounds awesome! I am more than pleased, it exceeds my expectations.

 

[Eileen89]

The speakers on the Air are amazing! Deep rich sound from such small speakers. About on par with some older Macbook Pros... I'm impressed. I personally find the speakers on my Air better (and much louder) than on my Mini (1st gen).

Totally agree with you here. I actually think my Air sounds better than my old Mini and most of the time find myself having to turn the volume down because of how loud it sounds. The iPad Air definitely sounds louder than my iPhone 5S with Max volume on both.

 

[dolomatt]

Thing sounds exactly the same as my iPad Mini when I'm using headphones...the software and headphone jack specs itself are not different, so unless you have some kind of issue with your device, it should sound the same as any idevice (iPhone included) with headphones. I use a set of Bose noise canceling headsets and have noticed zero change between my iPhone, iPad Mini and my wife's iPad Air.

Actually this is not true. While it does have very good sq it is not the same as other idevices. See here:
Apple iPad mini review: One for the road - GSMArena.com

I appreciate good sq so I always read these parts of their reviews closely. The air got excellent scores for its audio quality:
Apple iPad Air review: Sun and heir - GSMArena.com

Through my vmoda m80's it sounds good straight out of the jack. When I want to use my hifi man he400's or my beyerdynamic dt990 I use this product which is made specifically for idevices which completely bypasses the internal dac& amp and it sounds amazing: