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DynamicSausage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 29, 2015
408
341
Leicestershire, UK
I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems like the newest firmware, 4A400 is a massive step up for sound quality!

Don't get me wrong I've always enjoyed the quality on my APP but I recently went back and listened to an album from my teenage years and couldn't help but notice that the production quality is great. At first I put this down to not listening to this album in over 5 years and finally being an adult with decent headphones but now literally everything I listen to is incredible.

Every layer sounds crystal clear, I'm noticing things on music I've loved for 10+ years that I've never heard before, bass is soo deep but still clean, highs are so crisp and refreshing and spatial audio makes me feel like I'm in a massive live room rather than wearing headphones at all.

Honestly, it's a bit of a problem because I need to go to bed now but I'm genuinely so back in love with these headphones and I'm actually a bit addicted to them ?

Anybody else notice the improvement?
 

Ent

macrumors regular
Jun 24, 2009
232
174
I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems like the newest firmware, 4A400 is a massive step up for sound quality!

Don't get me wrong I've always enjoyed the quality on my APP but I recently went back and listened to an album from my teenage years and couldn't help but notice that the production quality is great. At first I put this down to not listening to this album in over 5 years and finally being an adult with decent headphones but now literally everything I listen to is incredible.

Every layer sounds crystal clear, I'm noticing things on music I've loved for 10+ years that I've never heard before, bass is soo deep but still clean, highs are so crisp and refreshing and spatial audio makes me feel like I'm in a massive live room rather than wearing headphones at all.

Honestly, it's a bit of a problem because I need to go to bed now but I'm genuinely so back in love with these headphones and I'm actually a bit addicted to them ?

Anybody else notice the improvement?
How do I update the firmware?
 

Benz63amg

macrumors 601
Oct 17, 2010
4,206
849
I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems like the newest firmware, 4A400 is a massive step up for sound quality!

Don't get me wrong I've always enjoyed the quality on my APP but I recently went back and listened to an album from my teenage years and couldn't help but notice that the production quality is great. At first I put this down to not listening to this album in over 5 years and finally being an adult with decent headphones but now literally everything I listen to is incredible.

Every layer sounds crystal clear, I'm noticing things on music I've loved for 10+ years that I've never heard before, bass is soo deep but still clean, highs are so crisp and refreshing and spatial audio makes me feel like I'm in a massive live room rather than wearing headphones at all.

Honestly, it's a bit of a problem because I need to go to bed now but I'm genuinely so back in love with these headphones and I'm actually a bit addicted to them ?

Anybody else notice the improvement?
I wasn’t aware this firmware affected anything relating to the sound, thought it was only bug fixes
 

Paradoxally

macrumors 68000
Feb 4, 2011
1,968
2,820
It's likely because you have "spatialize stereo" on in the control center settings for your APP. That uses dynamic head tracking (if it's on for audio) and even stereo mixes sound different because they're being virtualized in spatial audio.
 

DynamicSausage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 29, 2015
408
341
Leicestershire, UK
I wasn’t aware this firmware affected anything relating to the sound, thought it was only bug fixes
The earlier firmware updates on APP had huge complaints about drop in audio quality, I think Apple just use it as an opportunity to adjust everything.

It's likely because you have "spatialize stereo" on in the control center settings for your APP. That uses dynamic head tracking (if it's on for audio) and even stereo mixes sound different because they're being virtualized in spatial audio.

Had this on since the feature became available but the effects of it have become a lot more pronounced recently.

This could be the only thing different but if it is, I will be amazed.
 
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