Apple iPhone 11 Sound Quality

You may know that the Apple create the iPhone and it is superior to the sound quality. Especially in that era of 2000's where the portable audio player are dominated by low quality MP3 and the coming of this iPod makes the high-resolution audio player with easy to use is floating to the surface again.

Today the iPod is replaced by the iPhone which focusing on the camera and display quality. Not a bad moves from Apple but for us, the music lover, it seems they put our needs behind. With so much today improvement in the music files, until right now, the Apple Music apps still cannot playing hi-resolution audio files. (later on they improved it with lossless and spatial audio, finally)

Not a big deal if you already subscribes the others streaming high resolution music apps like Tidal or Qobus, but the subscription fees is pricey and not all country available.

I am not a loyal person on some brand but sometimes I still want the Apple Music. The user experience is very intuitive and I love to using it. That is why recently I bought the iPhone 11. It is already on my hands for the last 2 month and I am happy with it. The reason I make a post about this iPhone is I want to share my thought about the sound quality out of the box.

This is the 64GB iPhone 11.

Inside the box is already include the earphones. But this is not universal earphones with mini jack, instead it is using lightning connector as the DAC. It is very common for today phones that not including the headphones jack anymore instead using the external dongle DAC like this.

Thanks to the Apple for their first move:(

Speaking about the Lightning connector, it is actually an active device that have the DAC & amplifier on it. Yes, it is just like my Audioquest Dragonfly Black and LG Hifi Plus here but minus the bigger size among them. The function is the same but the sound quality is what I want to find out.

Using this earphones is only for the iPhone device. You cannot change the earphones to other brand and you cannot using this earphones to others device other than the iPhone with the Lightning connector.

The original accessories have the solution for it. They are selling the universal Lightning to female 3.5 mm earphones connector for US$19, so you can plug others headphones or earphones on this iPhone. You also can using the Dragonfly Black or the LG Hifi Plus in this iPhone 11 with spending the Lightning to female USB-A connector for US$39. Yeah, I know, the investment is getting bigger now. I just can say welcome to the expensive Apple ecosystem and I say NO.

The reason is because I don't see much benefit from it. The Apple Music only playing Red-book audio files and their accessories is works best on their device as well. So, without spending anything on the accessories, let's find the audio quality from bundled earphones.

First of all, I impressed with this Apple redesign earphones.

This is the latest earphones and far better than the previous earphones from iPod or iPhone, if you still remember.

This iPhone 11 earphone is light weight but doesn't feel cheap. The cable is have soft surface but sturdy, it not tangled easily. I love when they fit on my ears, It not easily loose and it is comfortable. One note should be taken that this earphone is not an earbuds type. There is no sound isolation. You still can hear outside noise clearly. I am guessing Apple made this with purpose since not everyone like the earbuds type.

I test the audio quality through the earphones with the AAC and Apple Lossless music files on this iPhone. Mostly my music is variate from Pop, Jazz and easy listening music. I impress on how detail and crisp the high frequency is. The mid frequency, especially the vocal is warm and quite intimate me as listener. The separation between music very clear. Stereo imaging is also top notch in this earphones.

The mid-bass and lower bass is the weak point of this earphones. Bass lover will not appreciate this kind of bass for sure. Do not think the bass is attenuate, the bass is there, but not deep. It is like a hollow sound.

So, I still enjoying the sound quality from this iPhone bundled earphones. Overall sound quality is very acceptable and I don't mind to having the audio portable setup only like this. It is very good for simple on-the-go setup, rush hours working, or short time traveling. But for demanding sound quality, I better using my old Android phone with USB Audio Player Pro App on it and connect to my Dragonquest Black DAC.

This iPhone and bundled earphones combo, they are actually very good for having a call and watching video from it as well. I have 1 year Apple TV subscription for free when buying this iPhone 11 and mostly I don't see any complain watching movie with this earphone as well.

Disclaimer: Any statement and photos in this article are not allowed to copy or publish without written permission from the writer. Any injury or loss from following tips in this article is not under writer responsibility.