# Headphones volume on iPhone 5



## T & P (Apr 24, 2014)

I know it's bad for my ears, but I like to listen to my music at full blast. When I got my iPhone 5 complete with oh-so-clever next generation earphones, the volume was distinctly lower than that given by my knackered old iPhone headphones. Yet it is not down to the phone itself. The old headphones still play at eardrum-busting levels on the 5.

I thought this might be an elf & safety feature of the new 'EarPods', but tonight I tried out a spunky new set of earphones by a third party company, and the sound was still disappointingly low. I fear that when my old and knackered old iPhone earphones (which actually endured a full washing machine and tumble dry cycle without ill effects) finally die, I'll forever be stuck with the dull level provided by the newer headphones. Is there a setting I have missed on the phone, or should I procure additional sets of old headphones?


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## skyscraper101 (Apr 24, 2014)

I just did a side by side comparison with 3rd party and new apple earphones. There may be a tiny amount of truth in what you're saying but I found them both very loud at max volume so it was really hard to tell.

It depends obviously on the tunes, loudness, and fit in the ear. I find the apple ones the nicest fitting in ears I've ever used. Most of them hurt my ears after an hour or so of use but that new design sits very comfortably for hours. I don't know if significant, but I read about EU versions of apple devices having volume limits on them. There are ways to unblock it, but it looks like you have to jailbreak your device? I googled it anyway so you can see if you want to go down that route. Probably easier to buy a pair of the last gen earphones on eBay when your current ones fail. There will be hundreds available on ebay I bet.


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## farmerbarleymow (Apr 24, 2014)

Those shitty white headphones supplied with most products these days (and especially apple I think) are the bane of every commuter's life. They are so amazingly leaky that the user subjects everyone around them to their shit music. I wish they'd supply proper ear bud headphones which are quite leak-proof. I suppose the default ones are dirt cheap. 

/rant over 

On the volume limit issue - i noticed that my ipod was locked too. I didn't put a code in so I guess it must be factory set. The sound was so poor and quiet compared to other devices I've got that can play MP3s I never use it. I don't actually know where it is come to think of it...


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## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 24, 2014)

Buy a decent set of buds that sit properly sealed in your ear. If you need more volume than the phone can put out your ears are either fucked or will be very soon.


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## sim667 (Apr 25, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Buy a decent set of buds that sit properly sealed in your ear. If you need more volume than the phone can put out your ears are either fucked or will be very soon.


 
This.

Having noticed how bad my hearing is getting I've started taking a lot more care of my ears and I for one welcome our EU volume limit overlords.

I've even started wearing earplugs at events.


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## farmerbarleymow (Apr 25, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Buy a decent set of buds that sit properly sealed in your ear. If you need more volume than the phone can put out your ears are either fucked or will be very soon.



This is very true.  I think the problem that winds me up so much on public transport is precisely because the cheap shitty headphones that most people use simply aren't well designed, so people crank up the volume to hear it at a reasonable level.  But all they are doing is losing a lot of the sound to the outside due to the poor design of the headphones.  I either use bud headphones which are find are very leak-proof, or carry full headphones with me.


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## Sunray (Apr 25, 2014)

sim667 said:


> This.
> 
> Having noticed how bad my hearing is getting I've started taking a lot more care of my ears and I for one welcome our EU volume limit overlords.
> 
> *I've even started wearing earplugs at events*.



I started doing this years ago.  I like the choice of how loud thing are, not deaf sound engineers.


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