Has anyone noticed this?

If I connect an iPod / iPhone on the Aux-in, the sound is terrible. Midrange is distorted and shrill, and little details are lost.

BUT, if I take the same audio files (in this case, 160 KBps MP3 made by me using LAME from the original CDs) and copy them on an USB, they sound great.

Has anyone ever noticed this? I just bought a 16 GB USB stick and decided not to use the iPhone - it simply sounded terrible.

What could be causing it?

 

Mine sounds great but I use a connector that goes to the dock port

 

Could you be over or under driving the Aux input? I don't know otherwise since I don't have an iPhone, but my 'berry sounds fine with the same connection as long as the level is right.

 

Mine sounds great. The Aux input is occasionally loose and when it is it sounds terrible. All I have to do is jiggle the jack to fix it. When I go in for my annual service I will have them tighten up the jack.

 

I don't know. I may indeed be driving the aux-input with too much or too little power.

All I know is the USB option sounds far better than the iPhone. :s Weird.

 

I turn the aux volume down 2 clicks or it really sounds bad at loud levels....

 

Mine also sounds great from both line out and headphone ports. I'd recommend trying miniSQ's suggestion and try turning down your aux volume.

 

If you are using the headphone jack on the iPhone, yea it wont sound that great. You need to use a connector that attaches to the dock port and goes to a 3.5mm stereo plug.

There are several ways to do it. Since you have the USP port, you would want to use the MINI iPod Y-adaptor. If it doesn't charge your iPhone, you need to augment the voltage with a car charger and a USB splitter.

 

I have the Y-adaptor. That's what I've been using.

I did some informal tests today, and yeah.. even with the volume down, the USB stick sounds quite a bit better than the iPhone. I'm confused.

 

Is the volume on the iPhone itself too loud? Like I said above, I don't have one so I don't know if the volume control on the iPhone controls the dock output level.


You could test the MINI aux input with another device.

 

Others have reported here on NAM that the USB does sound better than music players through the aux input (including iPods on the Y connector). However, your iPhone should still sound acceptable, not terrible.

 

I believe that the volume on the iPhone should be at maximum. Volume Limit, and EQ should be turned off in the iPod section of the Settings.

 

If you're connecting directly from the iPhone's headphone jack to the MINI's Aux input, then it will sound distorted as the headphone output is not Line Level but amplified. As the signal is passed to the MINI's stereo and further amplified, it will sound worse and worse. You could play with the volume settings to get something acceptable, but as others have pointed out before, you are better off using the Line Level audio output signal from the dock connector.

Some thing like this will do the trick:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/autopilot

Or if you want something fancier:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/pro...th-smartclick#

Dave

 

My iphone sounds awful. I am going to try my ipod next.

 

Tried my ipod today and it sounded fine. Much better than the phone for some reason.

 

I'd guess it's clipping at the AUX port too- IIRC, the dock connection line out isn't effected by the volume control. (I don't have an iPod/Phone, so I'm not the best reference there... ) Have you tried using the headphone jack and turning it down to compare?

I've had similar issues with MP3s played from my Blackberry though and since it's coming from the headphone jack, I can just turn the volume down to fix it. Rather than fiddling with the volume all the time, I've just volume normalized my entire MP3 collection. That might be your only option if the line out isn't controllable.

A few of my MP3s were encoded 10db higher than others (!).

 

iPhone 3G connected through the dock port, using an Apple Universal Dock, and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable out of the Dock, volume definitely has an effect. I can turn the sound down with the Universl Dock's remote.

 

Hmmm... so much for that theory then!

 

My PC through my USB card (a cheap SoundBlaster) sounds great through the line-in. It's the iPhone the one that sounds different!

Midrange sounds distorted. At low volumes it's completely tolerable- at higher levels it becomes harsh and very bothersome.

The USB sounds far better, so I'll "stick" with a memory stick.

 

I have the Y cable with iPod integration and for whatever reason, my iPod Touch sounds a lot better than my iPhone 3GS. The sound from my 3GS will start cracking when someone sings a high note - on the iPod Touch at the same volume, it'll sound perfect. Any one know can be done?

 

Make sure you don't have the iPhone's EQ or the volume equalizer on.