4s or a 5...which Iphone would be the best for music?
Anybody have any views as to which phone would be the best mp3 player driving a pair of Sennheiser Momentums or a pair of beats?
I would load it through i tunes...and is the lossless system that much better than the usual AAC download format?
Many Thanks?
I have read that the 5 does sound better than the 4S (I have a 4S) but to be honest, the weakest link is very easily the headphones. The latest ones with the 5 do get decent reviews, but I'll bet money that a 4S with decent £30-£50 phones will still batter a 5 on stock cans.
I have never owned a 4S, but I have owned a 4 and a 5. Apparently, the 4 and 4S are damn near indistinguishable, so this comparison may be useful for you. I have listened to both with Bose OE2i, so a fair bit better than the standard bin lids that come with the 4. I would say the 5 is quite noticeably more detailed, and more transparent (according to the definition in the longwinded thread last week 
). The 4 was noticeably bassier than the 5, this took some getting used to. I think overall the SQ on the 5 is higher, its more balance, but for things like Hip Hop or D&B the 4 had more kick and was a bit more fun 
The new Apple buds arnet bad, on a par with the Senheiser CX300 II I destroyed by washing machine (To be fair, it took 3 washes to finish them off !). Since they are hard and not squishy, I find them uncofortable for falling asleap with 
I know what you mean...I was tempted by the new models, but when I found out they STILL weren't 'proper' in-ears with removable cups, I left them on the shelf. Lately Apple seem incapable of designing a decent set of in-ear phones which fit well and are comfortable, despite allegedly throwing countless dollars and man-hours at the issue. I could help them design a pair of in-ear phones which fit properly and are comfortable for the sum total of about £15, which is how much it recently cost me to buy a pair of Sony MDR-EX083 in-ears. I'd just buy a pair for them, hand them over and go, "here, copy this". In terms of comfort and fit, they are everything the Apple earphones are not, and they sound better as well (better than the stock iPhone 4S headphones, anyhow).
I recently got an iPhone 5 for a work phone. The stock earbuds are pretty bad imo (even if they are stylish). My Sennheiser CX300 are way better, and my Shure E215 even more so.
Other than that, the sound is excellent, although not via my Samsung bluetooth headset (HS3000), where my HTC One X with aptX sounds much better.
Because Apple Lossless (aka ALAC) files are, in effect, CD-quality the sound is better than AAC, especially via decent headphones.
Haven't compared an i5 with an i4S, but IME the former's music player is excellent and matches an iPod Classic's playback.