ScooterMcTav
I know less than I think
Morning all,
I struggle with the quality of iTunes music when I hook it up to my quality stereo at home. Car? Fine. Computer speakers at work? Fine. Docking station? Fine. Good quality home stereo? Dull and lifeless, and lacking dynamics.
Reviewing my files, I started buying iTunes music after the DRM/128bit era ended, and all my tunes are on my phone at 256/44.1 which (I thought) should be pretty good. Nope.
Current hookup is via the headphone out jack using a quality cable to dual RCAs into the receiver. I've looked into an outboard DAC, but reviews online state the DAC on the iPhone 6+ (what I use) is as good if not better than a number of reasonably priced outboard DACs.
So where are my issues?
- Is the music poor quality?
- Does "Mastered for iTunes" mean we have dull enhances bass around 100Hz, and roll off above 5khz as not to torment the headphone-wearing public?
- Am I losing my mental faculties?
When I briefly owned an Onkyo TX-8050, I swore the iTunes music sounded better via USB than they do via mini jack. Was this also in my head, or do manufacturers of audio equipment implement some sort of EQ to turn headphone music into hi-fi music.
Welcome everyone's thoughts before I go back to buying CDs again.....
I struggle with the quality of iTunes music when I hook it up to my quality stereo at home. Car? Fine. Computer speakers at work? Fine. Docking station? Fine. Good quality home stereo? Dull and lifeless, and lacking dynamics.
Reviewing my files, I started buying iTunes music after the DRM/128bit era ended, and all my tunes are on my phone at 256/44.1 which (I thought) should be pretty good. Nope.
Current hookup is via the headphone out jack using a quality cable to dual RCAs into the receiver. I've looked into an outboard DAC, but reviews online state the DAC on the iPhone 6+ (what I use) is as good if not better than a number of reasonably priced outboard DACs.
So where are my issues?
- Is the music poor quality?
- Does "Mastered for iTunes" mean we have dull enhances bass around 100Hz, and roll off above 5khz as not to torment the headphone-wearing public?
- Am I losing my mental faculties?
When I briefly owned an Onkyo TX-8050, I swore the iTunes music sounded better via USB than they do via mini jack. Was this also in my head, or do manufacturers of audio equipment implement some sort of EQ to turn headphone music into hi-fi music.
Welcome everyone's thoughts before I go back to buying CDs again.....