Reviewing the iPhone's stunning array of features -- web browsing, email, camera, photo browsing, video, contact and calendar management -- it would be easy to overlook the feature that got Apple on the consumer market in the first place. Yes, the iPhone is also an iPod. It plays music. But how well? I conducted some listening tests with an iPhone, an iPod Nano, and a first-generation iPod Shuffle to find out how the latest member of this family stacks up.
Frankly, audiophiles are going to be disappointed -- not that you vinyl-fetishizing, vacuum-tube loving hi-fi nuts would ever be caught dead listening to digital music in the first place. But in the iPhone's case, even rockers and headbangers will come up short, because the first thing you'll notice about the iPhone's music capabilities is that the volume doesn't go very loud. Its maximum volume setting is equivalent to about 7 or 8 on other music players' ranges. Whether you're trying to rock out to Aerosmith, Pantera, or Beethoven's Ninth, the iPhone just doesn't deliver enough oomph for the really awesome parts.
The earbuds that come with the iPhone are good and can support a louder volume than the earbuds included with recent-model Nanos, which start to buzz and distort long before reaching maximum volume. With the iPhone, by contrast, the earbuds sound good across the entire range of volume and pitch that the iPhone is capable of pumping out.
Bass response from the iPhone is good, but not outstanding; treble response is excellent. Audio fidelity and clarity is also excellent, with terrific left-right separation. Its sound quality is hard to distinguish from that of the Nano, apart from the iPhone's bizzarely quiet max volume setting and the Nano's crummy default earbuds. I thought the iPhone sounded somewhat clearer, but another tester preferred the Nano's sound as being bassier and richer. However, the first-gen Shuffle blows both of them away in terms of richness of sound, bass quality, clarity, and, yes, volume.
But the most aggravating thing for music-lovers is that they won't be able to plug their favorite headphones into the iPhone. The iPhone's audio jack accepts a four-lead, 3.5mm plug instead of the typical three-lead, 3.5mm mini stereo plug, because the iPhone's connector (on the left in this picture) has a fourth conductor for the microphone included on the iPhone's right earphone wire. That's the magic that makes it possible for you to listen to music and make phone calls without having to remove your earbuds or switch headsets -- but it also prevents you from plugging in higher-quality noise canceling headphones, unless they're made with plugs that are iPhone-compatible. (Belkin offers an iPhone headphone adapter, but it's ugly and appears to be a three-conductor plug, so I'm not sure how or whether it will work. I haven't tested it.)
As for browsing music, the iPhone's interface is a joy. The Cover Flow display lets you flip between album covers (you do have album art for all the CDs you ripped, right?) just by swiping your finger left and right. You can dive in and out of albums, genres, and playlists, selecting tracks in an easy and quick way. After using the iPhone for an hour, you'll wonder why all MP3 players don't have touchscreens this beautiful and responsive.
One quibble: By single-tapping on an album image you can get a progress indicator that shows how far you've played through the current track, but scrubbing forward and backward through the track is difficult to do precisely with this display. In this single respect, older iPods' clickwheels are superior to the iPhone's interface. Otherwise, the iPhone rules.
Bottom line for music lovers: If you want to crank it up to 11, get a Shuffle and a pair of noise-canceling headphones. If you're happy bopping along at 6 or 7, and you want one of the most entertaining and easy MP3 interfaces yet invented, the iPhone is just the ticket.
