A Ridiculous Way To Listen To Music, Here’s How To Do It

    Audio: Listen to this article.

I can’t believe I’m writing this article. In fact, my audiophile card may be revoked shortly after publication. Only kidding. The vast majority of audiophiles I know are interested in new ways of listening to their favorite albums, especially if it costs nothing and is simple to do. Plus, I can always blame @bobfa for getting me involved in this craziness. When he first told me about it, I asked myself, “why would anyone even try this in the first place?”

It all started with Bob imploring that I try it. I resisted for a while. Then I was laying on the couch one night, exhausted after a long day. I didn’t feel like turning on my main audio system or wearing headphones, but I wanted to listen to music. That’s when I went to the dark side. No, not spinning vinyl. I selected a Dolby Atmos album to play through my iPhone 15 Pro Max using its built-in speakers, set the phone on my chest, and rested my head on a pillow. I couldn’t believe what I heard. Several muttered expletives later, I messaged Bob in disbelief. The sound coming from the iPhone’s speakers was ridiculously spacious. 

The sound quality is far from high fidelity, but it’s much more about soundstage and a really neat experience that requires zero added hardware. For me, it’s all about laying down once in a while without extra DACs, headphone wires, IEMs in my ears, or anything that requires forethought, and just taking in a sonic experience. 

How To

Here’s how members of the Audiophile Style community can do this right now, or once they arrive at the cabin for the Independence Day holiday here in the US. 

1. Forget your audiophile tendencies to pick apart every aspect of sound quality. 
2. Open your mind to a new sonic experience.
3. Make sure your iPhone is set to play Atmos all the time. (Settings > Music > Dolby Atmos > Always On)
4. Find a favorite album mixed in Dolby Atmos in Apple Music. (Search here at Ben Dodson’s site here)
5. Lay down, set your iPhone flat on your chest, with the screen facing up and the charging port facing to the left, and make sure your ears are higher than the phone, else the right speaker. Or, hold the phone in front of your face as if you’re watching a movie. 
6. Experiment with final positioning of the phone, closer of further away from your head, raise or lower your head, but not lower than the up-firing right channel speaker, just like you would with speaker toe-in. 
7. Enjoy.

Note: I briefly tested with Tidal and Amazon Music, but I don’t believe the performance is close to what Apple is doing. I’m happy to be proven wrong though. Apple uses its own Atmos renderer. That, plus total control of the software and hardware can really help. I have no idea if the apps on Android offer the same experience. 

Examples

Here are some examples incase listeners need a jump start. Don’t worry, your “investment” in boatloads of audio gear isn’t about to be worthless. You can do it :~)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
This is everything you’d hope for and everything you’d expect. Yes, the ultra high fidelity isn’t there because the sound is coming from phone speakers, but get over it for this experiment. The soundstage is 180 degrees. 

Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
This one surprised me at how good sounded. BY “good” I mean soundstage and elements / instruments spread out in their own space. I can even hear a backing vocal that I’ve never heard before, just hanging in the air. 

Lynyrd Skynyrd - I Ain’t the One
Sounds really cool with very wide soundstage and guitars wide left and right. 

Elton John - Candle In the wind
The reverb on Elton’s vocal sounds like you’re in the room with him and is easily heard. Backing vocals wide left and right are really nice.

Pearl Jam - Brain of J.
Opening guitar is right by left ear, while guitar that comes in after then intro is wide right. Bass and drums are locked in the center, just like other Pearl Jam mixes. 

Loma - Pink Sky
Take a chance on this one because it’s not only good music but the mix is ridiculous in the best way possible. On my 12 channel Wilson system this is really special. On a phone you can get a taste of it and hear instrument placement left, right, and even differences in height. Hearing something up and to the left, in its own space, from a horizontal phone is crazy. 

Wrap Up

I’m sure everyone is worried that my audiophile credentials have been pulled, however if I change my job title from Founder to Food and Beverage Chairman, my audiophile application goes to the bottom of the pile. I know guys who’ve been doing this for 30 years without audiophile credentials. If you get the aforementioned reference, you’re my kind of individual. It’s from my all-time favorite movie, that I just might watch over the Independence Day holiday this week. 

I’d love to hear what people think of this ridiculous sonic experiment. What do you like, love, hate or whatever and what albums did you try?

I have many more albums for those interested :~)

P.S. I have the WADAX Studio Player coming very soon. I can't wait to hear it in my own listening room.

About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system