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If not using external instruments, any point in using an audio interface instead of headphone jack?
I have an audio interface but I stopped using external instruments with the iPad because of the cable hassle. Just staying with apps only - it has been better for me. So is there any benefit to an interface? Will it sound better? The iPad seems to drive my headphones fine.
Comments
What’s a headphone Jack?
😉
I believe you can override the default sample rate of the device if you use a interface.
Better is the enemy of good. And "better" may not be better to begin with. If, like me, you think the headphone jack sounds great, why would you want to create extra hassle and expense?
My kingdom for a headphone jack... Buy something without one. I dare you. It breaks
a lot of options. You end up needing a complex audio interface with all the right options
or a Korg MIDI PlugKey for MIDI controllers. For guitar purposes you are well and truly fucked. My kingdom for a headphone jack...
If Apple would add BlueTooth AptX that would really help us or 2.4Ghz audio streaming.
???? I plug it in, it goes.
Really depends on the interface imo. Some interfaces have better digital to analog converters and you will definitely hear a difference, and in my experience helped me get better mixes. I could hear more detail , I could hear were I over did it with the reverb etc.
but if your headphones are working for you using the headphone jack , as they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it 🤷🏽♂️
for guitar purposes you are only truly fucked if you have to live with the noise level of the ipad's internal a/d converter. Never have I ever used the headphone jack when recording/playing guitars. Not after trying once. even tiny interfaces like the irig have audio-out
today complex interfaces with all the right options are available at <100€.
If you want to use mainly just headphones you'd be good. A/D converters in Apple products are not the best and not comparable to the ones in decent audio interfaces, but not bad either and I am afraid 99,99% of people won't be able to tell the difference in blind tests with confidence higher that just random guess, and that's maybe too much.
So for regular production and if you don't aim to ask for money for mixing work, headphone jack output is more than enough.
For having inputs or multiple outputs or any other fancy features that audio interfaces provide (MIDI input, phantom power,...) it's of course unavoidable.
Being by any means no audiophile, I would say audio jack output sounds pretty good and without any detectable artifacts or distortions. Especially if you can turn on measurement mode (disable iOS audio post processing). Like in cubasis. Or for recording in Audioshare.
Interesting discussion - I've been doing the ipad music thing casually for a year or so, felt no need for an audio interface. Feel like all the tutorials sell them pretty hard, but I don't have monitor speakers (would piss off my wife and neighbors), don't have external instruments, all my midi controllers are bluetooth or usb... I never noticed anything wrong with Apple's A/D converters (ok my AKG241s are nothing delux, but they are pretty sensitive), I doubt there'd be a detectable difference with an interface especially at low volumes.
A big plus is I sit wherever without being tied down with cables and boxes.
I used to use an Avid Fast Track Duo and wanted to record in HD, so I bought an Apogee Duet for IPad/ Mac. I have to admit I was REALLY surprised at how much better it sounded, even when not recording in HD. The converters on the Duet are much better and detectable from the Fast Track or Ipad converters, I had my brother who also produces music come over and a week later he bought one lol. The best way I can describe it is like I went from hearing my music from 2d to 3d.
I haven’t heard the Apogee Symphony desktop in person yet but I’ve heard it sounds even better and I believe it tbh.
@Strizbiz ok if you go really high end I can imagine there’s a difference but we’re talking a different order of magnitude of prices - at those prices you’d better be getting something for your money! I doubt that a $100 interface would add anything over the built in ones when using headphones.
With good headphones, there are interfaces at that price point that can sound noticeably better, but I’d also say that if one is happy with with the built-in headphone jack, and won’t be plugging the iPad into good speakers then there probably is no need to invest. For 99% of hobbyists, the built-in hardware is fine and probably the difference in quality between it and a higher-end solution won’t seem worth the money.
If one has no plans to take external inputs there are output-only converters like Dragonfly that many like.
Strongly disagree about no difference between a $100 interface and the built-in sound. For recording that’s a big deal, for headphones it’s not. The freedom of using an iPad without a dongle is what made me love it in the first place, and IMO worth the lower sound quality with headphones.
@tja
You can set sample rates that are supported by your interface, DAW or OS won’t limit that.
I would say it’s not worth the hassle. Even on desktops it’s a fairly painful process if you decide to keep things around 96kHz.
Some audio devices offer virtual audio channels between two computers or IPads connected to the device via USB. Simply speaking this is like Apple‘s IDAM but with many more channels and bi-directional. This is great when you want to deeply integrate two iPads or an iPad with a laptop.
Unfortunately iConnectivity discontinued the relatively cheap iConnectAUDIO2+ and iConnectAUDIO4+. I recently bought one second hand. These devices are built for iPads and my iConnectAUDIO2+ offers 10 bi-directional virtual mono channels.
https://www.iconnectivity.com/products/audio/iconnectaudio2plus
One more thing... for the fellow iPad musicians without a headphone jack. I found a quite inexpensive USB-C audio device with power delivery that is quite small and you can just plug into the iPad. It supports up to 96 kHz and 24 bit. For me it sounds great. Somewhere on the Internet I found a review with some audio measurements and it turned out to be quite good. The only downside from my perspective is that the USB-C port of the device is for power delivery only and does not offer any connectivity. If you’re reading the reviews then many of the cheap USB-C hubs have quite a bad audio quality if they offer a headphone jack.
https://en.sharkoon.com/product/28283
I’m a big fan of the headphone jack and not using audio/midi accessories with iOS.
FiiO makes amazing stuff
The iConnectAUDIO2+ was sold for 299. I bought one second hand for just 120.
@tja I think you may need an audio interface with inputs in order to be able to change the sample rate in iOS. The choices are based on the rates supported by the interface A/D converter.