iPhone 6s Distorted Sound

Hi all.

Just picked up my brand new iPhone 6s 64GB iOS 9.0.2

Already talked to the care hotline and they told me to reinstall iOS from scratch to rule out a software issue :-/

@craig do you any update/insights on the matter yet?

Thomas

ThomasGM wrote:

Hi all.

Just picked up my brand new iPhone 6s 64GB iOS 9.0.2

Already talked to the care hotline and they told me to reinstall iOS from scratch to rule out a software issue :-/

@craig do you any update/insights on the matter yet?

Thomas

This was the first thing I did (and a lot of other peope here did). Originally I installed from a backup, so I wiped and set up as a new phone. Trust me, it doesn't change a thing. It will just result in you wasting hours of your time. This is Apple's solution for everything if they don't know the answer. I think I've tried this "solution" a dozen times in the past and it's worked for me zero times. Just tell them you tried it and it didn't work.

yes, but you know that's the way it is in service, they have to go through all the steps. I already did a "fresh" install via dfu mode and restored a blank 9.2 IOS. as expected that didn't change a thing. I have a short audio track where the constant over-modulation can clearly be heard :-(
I wonder whether this is a design flaw of the 6s phones or a faulty speaker-diaphragm in my unit. :-(
I hate it when my 850 euro phone has quality assurance problems...

Hi there,

we are in the same boat... I saw many messages like that.

- some have replaced their iPhone : no distorsion anymore

- some have replaced 3 or 4 times : still distortion

- some have replaced iPhone and they get others issues

- some have tried backup / reset / update : no change

- the distortion seems to be intermitent in few cases

- distortion can be Heard at 100% volume in slow rise / swoosh / opening ringtones

at this time, we don't know if it's hardware (faulty speaker Or cheap quality) or software ( iOS driver issue)

good luck to all 😉 be patient ... i recommend you to send a message to Apple, if everybody do that, we have a chance to know what's wrong with our phones.

I kind of just had a meltdown and blew up in an Apple suggestion message and referenced this link. Sorry, but I'm fed up with trying to schedule a ******* Apple appointment.

All I want to do is schedule an appointment with Genius Bar, but you close off and limit dates and times that conflict with a busy work schedule.

You only offer one day or two days and don't even give me other options! I have to waste my time and come back and check for other dates, like some sort of guessing game!

These cheap crappy iPhone 6S models are defective with poorly made speakers and we as customers deserve a recall!!!!

We want what we paid for! Not this poor audio quality garbage!

With my 1st iPhone 6S I had distortion like ****! I went here to know if it was software or hardware related... I noticed it in Messages the "swoosh" sound, was horrible! Then I tested the ringtones mentioned here, same issue.

So... I called Apple Care and my new iPhone 6S arrived 10 days later instead of 24/48hours. I guess it was a brand new one. With this new iPhone 6S the problems mentioned above are gone!

Every restoration or any settings you may change will not solve the issue because it's hardware related! So go to exchange it or stay with yours.

Good luck!

Well, all I can say is from day one I thought the sound suspect - especially compared to 5s which always sounded good enough to watch YT vids without headphones. This iPhone 6s is really hollow sounding - yes a cheap speaker that can't handle any peaks. The swoosh sound fades with a hollow crackle and certain notes trip it... but you need the volume to get the weight of sound, especially for Siri replies....

...took mine back to Apple Store before the 14 day return and without really even testing it, just listening they screwed their faces up at the 'buzzing' sound on certain notes - just over exposed, hash sound with no depth.

They gave me a replacement iPhone no problem - but the new one is the same - if not worse.

The build on these iPhone6s's is really suspect. My home button clicked on my previous one - this replacement is better. Plus there was excess plastic insert protruding from the headphone socket , which used to rub against my little finger while holding - the replacement is better.

The 3D touch on this new one is however much firmer and erratic, I'm scared to press too hard - the back of the phone has a slight depression in it (i.e. not totally flat) which causes the case to shift under pressure.

Can I really go back to a 5s, since passed on to my son?

Well, I returned the second one too... when I pressed the body sometimes 'creaked'... I thought it was the tight leather case, bit no - the bodywork was able to move under the pressure of my finger when using 3D touch.

My replacement was opened in front of me and I rejected this one as the join between aluminium and glass was not even along the bottom edge - like it had been forced in or something.

The next one had a nice fit/finish so Ok - but when I checked my messages 50 yards from the store I noticed a rippled effect across the white screen (like shadows on a sea bed or pool)... so back that went.

Now on my 5th iPhone 6s - and this one the 3D touch is so firm and the taptic engine can be heard, as well as felt, though only when close up. I listened to 'swoosh' and a known music track with issues to test the speaker when they Apple Store guy did a basic set up as a new iPhone - the sound was quiet, a lot quieter than normal - even at full volume. When I got home, I restored from my back up and the distortion is back.

Clearly there are issues here - I've got 14 days to see how I get on with this one... I've come full circle, with the only improvement being the fit and finish.

I may re-set up as a new phone and see if the sound goes quiet again. Although the OS is now 9.02.

I did a little research in the field myself and tested some of the other iPhone 6s devices at my company.
The result: only one out of four phones seems to have a speaker that produces less (not none, but significantly less) distortion :-(

I am now on my fourth 6s and everyone has a cackling/static, distortion sound from the speaker when playing tracks containing piano music - even when tested from the iTunes Store itself (e.g. Agnes Obel - Chord Left) ..... Try for yourself.

This occurs at 75-100% volume.

Not noticeable on music without piano content, so I suspect the distortion is down to the musical frequency of those instruments.

Currently running iOS 9.1 Beta 5 and the problem is ever present.

Whilst it could very well be a software issue (and I hope it is easily fixed at some point), it really does look like a bad batch of phones with faulty speakers.

....... forgot to mention that I have referred it to an Apple Senior Advisor who is awaiting a response from the Technical Engineers on this issue. Apparently there is a backlog, so the usual response time from them will be somewhat delayed.

Let's hope it's a software bug for everyones sake, including Apple - as opposed to Apple being supplied with a bad batch of components for the speaker assembly. 😎

I was skeptical to try this, but low and behold, it absolutely did correct the strange audio. I had crackling, and it would get louder as I typed (keyboard click sounds) and now the volume works perfectly. I just set the EQ to Off and it fixed it instantly. I love the EQ when I listen to music in my car via bluetooth, but will no longer use it until the next update as I prefer my iPhone to sound good on alerts. Thanks for sharing this!!

Vader35 ........ I am pleased that you have resolved your problem.

In my case, however, altering EQ settings, doing factory rests and all other sorts of tweaks, made absolutely no difference whatsoever - which is why this is definitely looking like a hardware fault with the iPhone speaker.

JUst awaiting be response from the Technical Engineers at Apple 🙂

Should have said Factory Resets and the fault occurs on iOS 9, 9.0.1, 9.0.2 and 9.1 Beta 5

So there is either a bug in the iOS (all versions) or a bad batch of speakers which cannot play music containing piano excerpts at volume level 75-100%

Hope that helps

After update to 9.1 distortions are still present. Piano tracks on YT sounds horrible.

At this point I think about buying some other phone. 6s is to expensive to have flaws like this :/