Audyssey and LouderLogic review: Enhanced audio players make your iOS music sound better
I remember back in the summer of 2007 when I got the original iPhone, I was thrilled that it also played music so that I no longer needed to carry both a cell phone and an iPod. While the iPod app (now called simply Music) has always worked OK, that’s really not much of a glowing endorsement. Over the years, developers have come up with their own twists on alternative music player apps for iOS, each offering various enhancements over the built-in Music app.
A particularly interesting category is audio enhancement—apps that not only provide some additional features, but also attempt to increase the quality of the sound you get out of your device. Two of these apps I’ve been using recently are Audyssey Media Player 1.2.7 by Audyssey Laboratories and McDSP’s LouderLogic 2.0.5. Each of these apps provide enhanced audio in very different packages.
Audyssey Media Player
Audyssey uses a profile of your headphones to optimizes your music.
Audyssey is, by far, the simpler of the two apps. Its music player functions are fairly spartan, even in comparison to the built-in Music app. The user interface sports a lighter and “flatter” appearance à la iOS 7, so it fits right into this more modern design approach, even on older devices running iOS 6 and earlier. (The version reviewed requires a minimum of iOS 5.0.) It offers the standard album, song, playlist, and genre lists, provides a view of album art, and lets you listen to music in sequential, repeat, or shuffle order. Nothing we haven’t seen before.
Audyssey Media Player on the iPad.
However, its difference is apparent once you connect a set of headphones. Upon opening the app the first time, you’re prompted to select your model of headphones from Audyssey’s database of around 250 different headphone models. If you alternate among different headsets, as I do, then you can add other models later. (The app remembers all these so that you can move back and forth among them easily.) Audyssey then optimizes the sound of your music to fit the unique features of your selected headphones. If you want to tweak the sound somewhat, the app offers two very simple options for increasing or decreasing the treble and bass levels. The app is a universal app, however, since its interface is so simple, it doesn’t really make efficient use of of the iPad’s extra display space.
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