iPhone Portable Solution That's Better than Bluetooth

[wacomme]

I'm seeking a solution mostly for sports - hiking, gym, etc. I currently have an iPhone 14 Pro with an Apple Camera Adapter and a Qudelix 5K. The system works for lossless audio , but it's rather bulky and fragile for sports. I would love to have a mostly wireless solution where I can separate the phone from the IEM connection (currently Zeros). And with the Zeros I don't need EQ. Until tech improves, it seems that Airplay 2 would be a viable solution. Is that possible with an iPhone and some device? If so, what's that device? Or is there a different solution where I'm not married to bluetooth?

Michael

 

[euge_lee]

Seems for those types of activity you just take off your audiophile hat and go with AirPods or something similar no?

 

[A Surfer]

I'm seeking a solution mostly for sports - hiking, gym, etc. I currently have an iPhone 14 Pro with an Apple Camera Adapter and a Qudelix 5K. The system works for lossless audio , but it's rather bulky and fragile for sports. I would love to have a mostly wireless solution where I can separate the phone from the IEM connection (currently Zeros). And with the Zeros I don't need EQ. Until tech improves, it seems that Airplay 2 would be a viable solution. Is that possible with an iPhone and some device? If so, what's that device? Or is there a different solution where I'm not married to bluetooth?

Michael

What on earth is wrong with Bluetooth? Extremely convenient with equally good sound quality.

 

[wacomme]

Working out is a big part of my life and I spend a lot of time doing it. It's often the only time I can really listen to music. Sure, during high intensity work it doesn't really matter as my focus is to survive the pain, but for the majority of the time I can and want to enjoy the qualities of good audio. Bluetooth is sub-par.

 

[sweetchaos]

No one wears IEMs when working out, so your only option is bluetooth...which is fine for non-critical listening.

AirPods Pro Gen 2 has some improvements over Gen 1, but we need to see some measurements first.

Otherwise, Crinacle released this review a week ago:

 

[bluefuzz]

I can and want to enjoy the qualities of good audio

I would think something with active noise cancelling would make far more difference than any marginal difference between bluetooth and wired ...

 

[wacomme]

Active noise canceling isn't too safe in the streets or trials where I work out; I want to hear what's going on around me. I'm also wanting critical listening. I can hear the difference between bluetooth and lossless. I do wear IEMs when working out. As someone who's put in 10-14 hours of exercise/week for 40+ years, I tend to know what I like and what I want.

Rather than critiquing what I want, though I appreciate the suggestions, is there a near-lossless portable solution for an iPhone? There is - my setup (iPhone, Qudelix, Apple Camera Adapter), but is there a more portable solution without a long chain of connections to the phone? Is there an Airplay solution (better sounding than bluetooth)?

 

[Human Bass]

Dude, what? There isnt any headphone/iem that uses Wi-Fi/airplay.

 

[A Surfer]

The odds that you can hear a difference with well implemented Bluetooth versus lossless are virtually zero. I wasn't critiquing per say as asking in my previous post. And if you used sighted listening tests, didn't carefully level match and didn't do at least 10 properly controlled listening tests where 9 out of 10 times you could distinguish Bluetooth from lossless, what you have isn't proof as much as an opinion formed with a testing methodology that is not accepted as valid. Sighted testing without level matching and enough trials is useless and cannot be offered as an evidence base.

 

[DMill]

Active noise canceling isn't too safe in the streets or trials where I work out; I want to hear what's going on around me. I'm also wanting critical listening. I can hear the difference between bluetooth and lossless. I do wear IEMs when working out. As someone who's put in 10-14 hours of exercise/week for 40+ years, I tend to know what I like and what I want.

Rather than critiquing what I want, though I appreciate the suggestions, is there a near-lossless portable solution for an iPhone? There is - my setup (iPhone, Qudelix, Apple Camera Adapter), but is there a more portable solution without a long chain of connections to the phone? Is there an Airplay solution (better sounding than bluetooth)?

Maybe buy a cheap old phone for working out? You’re stuck with Bluetooth though unless you go wired.

 

[sarumbear]

Rather than critiquing what I want, though I appreciate the suggestions, is there a near-lossless portable solution for an iPhone?

There isn’t.

AirPods negated the need for any other solution and nobody wants to “reinvent the bridge” that sells by the millions.

PS. Noise cancelling can be disabled and there’s a transparent mode specifically for hearing what’s going on around you.

 

[Somafunk]

I listened to my brothers AirPods 2 on my iPhone earlier tonight, after hearing them I don’t think I can justify having spent £1500 on what high-end portable/wired stuff I have in my signature. The difference in sound quality is so small as to immaterial especially if I was exercising/working out.

 

[Peluvius]

Working out is a big part of my life and I spend a lot of time doing it. It's often the only time I can really listen to music. Sure, during high intensity work it doesn't really matter as my focus is to survive the pain, but for the majority of the time I can and want to enjoy the qualities of good audio. Bluetooth is sub-par.

You may be interested in trying the new Airpod pros (2nd gen) using the personal spatial audio feature? I am impressed at how good this now sounds. It is a significant improvement over the first. The transparency mode works really well for hearing the outside world.

Other than that you are using an apple lightning to 3.5mm dongle and an IED of your choice. The Crinacle Zeros that we are all talking about are excellent.