[Problem]Noise/Rustle with iPhone headphones

aveul · Mar 16, 2008

Hi guys,

first of all i must apologise for my english, it is not my native language, but hopefuly you will understand what i'm saying. Second of all, this may not be a very big deal for some of you, but it is for me and i'm very sure for others too.

The actual problem is a noise/rustle that i hear whenever i plug in my headphones into the iphone. It is like when you listen to the ocean through a sea shell . It really bothers me and i don't think this is an acceptable flaw. The courious thing is that this doesn't happen if i use the "line out" connector from behind the dock (maybe the mic connector and the amplifier are by-passed). Does enyone has the same problem or know the answer to this one? If you don't know how to test this, please follow these instructions:

1. open iPod aplication on your iPhone and start playing any song;
2. pause the song;
3. move the volume knoob at minimum

(At this point) Did you noticed a small pinch? I'm guessing that is the amplifier switch off (so maybe is it ok?)

4. move the volume knoob to the right (the pinch noise kicks again but with that also comes the noise i described upper in this post - sea shell noise)

i've checked this with some of my friends and only one of them reported a similar result. what could be the problem?

i was also thinking this is because of low impedance and high sensitivity of the headphones.

Thanks in advance,
aveul

BeanieRobert · Mar 16, 2008

I think thats just how the headphones are. I dont think there is anyway to fix it.

I also noticed while walking around with my headphones on all day yesterday without playing music, from time to time, you will hear that slight noise.

It's just the sound turning on and off.

bryphotoguy · Mar 16, 2008

They are cheap chinese headphones. If you want decent sound, switch to something different.

aveul · Mar 17, 2008

Are not the headphones... is the amp in the iphone...
I have tested on 5 iphones!

bobtomay · Mar 17, 2008

Well, to start off with I've heard of picky - and that's what this is - being picky.

The only reason only one of your friends could hear it is because they a)weren't in a quiet enough place, or b)aren't interested in having to stop what they're doing to listen that hard.

Yes, apparently turning the volume all the way down does turn the amp on and off which produces a clicking sound in each case. My guess would be that turning the amp for the headphone jack off was implemented as a power saving feature to provide additional battery time.

As to the "sea shell" sound ... good thing you weren't around during the days of tube audio gear. That sound is due to the amp picking up sound from the surrounding electronics. Even some of the best amps out there do this, and it gets louder the higher the volume is when you have nothing playing on most gear.

Just as an example - this is one of the reasons a lot of us geeks will not use an integrated audio on our computers (speaking now in the Win realm). The integrated audio, even on the top of the line motherboards picks up too much of the sound from the surrounding electronics and provides a sound not as clean as some of the add-in boards available.

This is what is commonly referred to as the 'Signal to Noise Ratio, or SNR' on all amplifiers and sometimes called 'white noise'. Typically speaking, the higher the SNR, the more costly the piece of electronics. Personally speaking (just mho) from my experience with high end audio gear over the last 40 years or so, I think the SNR of the iPhone is totally within acceptable limits for its price.

Having said that, I did do a little more testing for you. I can not hear the noise on my Bose triport headphones. At least not without trying so hard to hear it, that I'm not sure whether I heard it or it was only my imagination. Now being as you are apparently much more sensitive to this than the average individual, you may be able to still hear it with them. And my testing was not done in a totally quiet environment.

aveul · Mar 17, 2008

bobtomay said:
Well, to start off with I've heard of picky - and that's what this is - being picky.

The only reason only one of your friends could hear it is because they a)weren't in a quiet enough place, or b)aren't interested in having to stop what they're doing to listen that hard.

Yes, apparently turning the volume all the way down does turn the amp on and off which produces a clicking sound in each case. My guess would be that turning the amp for the headphone jack off was implemented as a power saving feature to provide additional battery time.

As to the "sea shell" sound ... good thing you weren't around during the days of tube audio gear. That sound is due to the amp picking up sound from the surrounding electronics. Even some of the best amps out there do this, and it gets louder the higher the volume is when you have nothing playing on most gear.

Just as an example - this is one of the reasons a lot of us geeks will not use an integrated audio on our computers (speaking now in the Win realm). The integrated audio, even on the top of the line motherboards picks up too much of the sound from the surrounding electronics and provides a sound not as clean as some of the add-in boards available.

This is what is commonly referred to as the 'Signal to Noise Ratio, or SNR' on all amplifiers and sometimes called 'white noise'. Typically speaking, the higher the SNR, the more costly the piece of electronics. Personally speaking (just mho) from my experience with high end audio gear over the last 40 years or so, I think the SNR of the iPhone is totally within acceptable limits for its price.

Having said that, I did do a little more testing for you. I can not hear the noise on my Bose triport headphones. At least not without trying so hard to hear it, that I'm not sure whether I heard it or it was only my imagination. Now being as you are apparently much more sensitive to this than the average individual, you may be able to still hear it with them. And my testing was not done in a totally quiet environment.

Thanks... you are right... the SNR is the problem...
Please tell me this thing: the default headphones whitout adaptor hiss and your Bose triport with adaptor don`t hiss? This is right?
Because I plan for next week to buy an adaptor and use it with my Technics headphones but if they still hiss is not a good thing...

Regards,Andrei

bobtomay · Mar 17, 2008

While I could hear the white noise in the stock headphones, I am extremely hard pressed to hear it in the Bose triports. Not an ad, just the only ones I tried.

Different headphones do have differing abilities at canceling out some of this noise though.

Don't know where you are, but I paid less than $1 for the adapter to be able to use my Bose.

aveul · Mar 17, 2008

bobtomay said:
While I could hear the white noise in the stock headphones, I am extremely hard pressed to hear it in the Bose triports. Not an ad, just the only ones I tried.

Different headphones do have differing abilities at canceling out some of this noise though.

Don't know where you are, but I paid less than $1 for the adapter to be able to use my Bose.

I`m from Romania and a friend of mine will send me a DLO adaptor for iphone, and it will cost 20 dolars... Search on google DLO IPHONE ADAPTOR and tell me if is good if you know...

bobtomay · Mar 17, 2008

The DLO and most of the other "name brand" after market ipod/iphone producers are selling them for $10 - $15 (for Monster brand) here in the U.S.

One will be just as good as another for the purpose of being able to use your existing set of phones.

aveul · Mar 17, 2008

bobtomay said:
The DLO and most of the other "name brand" after market ipod/iphone producers are selling them for $10 - $15 (for Monster brand) here in the U.S.

One will be just as good as another for the purpose of being able to use your existing set of phones.

Thank you very much for helping me!