Yes, you read that right. Often I find myself in a conundrum on the iPhone because of the lackadaisical nature of the built-in music player because of the lack of equalization controls on the iPhone. Yes, you get a crippled set of EQ setting buried in the vast depths of the setting menu, but that’s about it. And if you happen use the standard Apple earphones then good luck, because the sound will not be what audiophiles expect it to be. On the other hand if you download a third-party music player that does offer you a number EQ settings, then a novice will be at a loss because you need some basic working knowledge of the app, before you even start otherwise you could end up ruining the sound. The Amp Audyssey Music Player is what you want on the iPhone as it offers the perfect balance between ease of use for fine-tuning the sound of the music and usability.
How does it do this? Instead of conjuring a confusing list of EQ settings it offers to tweak the sound on the basis of the headphone you are using. The app has a database of 200 popular headphones/earphones and chances are you will find your own product in the database.
Of course, Audyssey is a company that is well known for its audio chops that are found in record studios all around the world and also in IMAX theaters and they bring that know-how in a byte sized format in the form of this iPhone app.
This may sound similar to the Beats Audio EQ engine found in HTC smartphones, but there is a massive difference. Beats Audio only works with the headphones supplied with the device or a compliant Beats headphone, the Amp Audyssey music player supports a legion of products that cater to whims and fancies of different users with different musical tastes. Beats is decidedly geared towards bass heavy hip-hop music.
All that one has to do is plug in a headphone, choose the name of the product and flip on the headphone switch and boom you are good to go. The sound is optimized in accordance with the headphone. In the back-end, Audyssey has settings saved for particular headphones that will eek out every ounce of sonic goodness from your headphone and iPhone.
In my testing the sonic difference was wildly different. Be it the crappy old Apple earphones, the new earpods supplied with the iPhone 5 or the elegant suave Bowers and Wilkins P5 headphones.
The sound was richer and full and frequencies popped with a level of grandeur one expects of an amplified source. Mind you, the iPhone does not have a digital audio chip like the one HTC phones come equipped with, so most of this is coming from the software itself.
I, for one, have even started using it in my car set on the Bowers and Wilkins P5 setting because they are truly very balanced headphones and the setting that Audyssey has put in place even has a positive effect on my car audio system.
That said, this is still not audiophile grade sound, but nonetheless the effect is so good that it breathes new life into one’s daily aural experience. Priced at just Rs 55, it’s worth every single Rupee.
Posted in: GADGETS - I PHONE
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