iPod LOD to RCA

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iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Thu Jan 02, 2014 7:32 pm

To connect my iPod Classic to my office stereo system, I fashioned a cable with a pair of RCA male plugs at one end and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the other. However, I am not satisfied with the sound. I read somewhere that sound quality would improve if I used an LOD to RCA cable. Since I am currently on a budget and many I have seen are quite expensive, would it be more practical if I bought a iPod dock to 3.5mm cable at CDR King, then use a coupler to connect the cable I made? Will the sound quality improve? Thanks.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby Mamimili » Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:30 pm

I only use an ipod for backgound or party music so I have not tried or even looked for any expensive LOD's, but between the low price of PhP700 docks and PhP1340 cable docks i stayed with the cheaper dock.
Apart from price they are easy to find and (for me) more flexible as i can use different length 3.5mm mini jack to RCA cables.
I could not hear any difference......
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby carbondated » Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:05 pm

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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:43 am

Mamimili wrote:I only use an ipod for backgound or party music so I have not tried or even looked for any expensive LOD's, but between the low price of PhP700 docks and PhP1340 cable docks i stayed with the cheaper dock.
Apart from price they are easy to find and (for me) more flexible as i can use different length 3.5mm mini jack to RCA cables.
I could not hear any difference......


Thanks. I was thinking of making a simple cable so I could bring it anywhere and connect it to any amplifier I want. A dock, even if small, would still be bigger than a cable. So, I guess the sound quality would improve if I used an LOD-to-RCA cable than merely plugging in the iPod to the amplifier using the headphone out.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:44 am

carbondated wrote:http://beavishifi.com/articles/headphonejack/


Thanks for the link. Very informative.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:49 am

I think I'll experiment using a CDR King audio cable. At P100, if ever things go wrong, I wouldn't feel bad.

What can I use to hide the junction between the RCA wire and the headphone wire, besides the obvious electrical tape? What's the name of those thingies?
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby JoeyGS » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:45 am

I have seen the fiio LOD cables at Switch stores, Spectra, Sound Dimension and Egghead.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby JoeyGS » Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:46 am

Be careful with the CDRKing LOD. Test it, cause some of them are only for power charging.

edgarryan wrote:I think I'll experiment using a CDR King audio cable. At P100, if ever things go wrong, I wouldn't feel bad.

What can I use to hide the junction between the RCA wire and the headphone wire, besides the obvious electrical tape? What's the name of those thingies?
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby Jon Agner » Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:41 am

edgarryan wrote:I think I'll experiment using a CDR King audio cable. At P100, if ever things go wrong, I wouldn't feel bad.

What can I use to hide the junction between the RCA wire and the headphone wire, besides the obvious electrical tape? What's the name of those thingies?


you can either use spaghetti tubes or shrink tubes :)
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby Jon Agner » Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:42 am

carbondated wrote:http://beavishifi.com/articles/headphonejack/


Nice link. I think I can play around DIYing a pair of cinemag SUTs for this :)
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby Mamimili » Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:54 am

edgarryan wrote:
Mamimili wrote:I only use an ipod for backgound or party music so I have not tried or even looked for any expensive LOD's, but between the low price of PhP700 docks and PhP1340 cable docks i stayed with the cheaper dock.
Apart from price they are easy to find and (for me) more flexible as i can use different length 3.5mm mini jack to RCA cables.
I could not hear any difference......


Thanks. I was thinking of making a simple cable so I could bring it anywhere and connect it to any amplifier I want. A dock, even if small, would still be bigger than a cable. So, I guess the sound quality would improve if I used an LOD-to-RCA cable than merely plugging in the iPod to the amplifier using the headphone out.


I probably misled you, i am not talking about a table top dock, nothing audiophile, just a cheap little plug in affair.
I use this if i go to someone’s house with a boom box or if kids want to play their iPod through my home system.
As an easy to carry means of getting tracks from an iPod through a "sound system" it’s hard to beat, for a party - great, for serious or critical listening, forget it.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:20 pm

JoeyGS wrote:Be careful with the CDRKing LOD. Test it, cause some of them are only for power charging.

edgarryan wrote:I think I'll experiment using a CDR King audio cable. At P100, if ever things go wrong, I wouldn't feel bad.

What can I use to hide the junction between the RCA wire and the headphone wire, besides the obvious electrical tape? What's the name of those thingies?


Got the cable from CDR King. The sales lady warned me that it might not produce any output since my iPod is a newer model. Well, I tried it, and it works. Will buy more later.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:22 pm

Mamimili wrote:
edgarryan wrote:
Mamimili wrote:I only use an ipod for backgound or party music so I have not tried or even looked for any expensive LOD's, but between the low price of PhP700 docks and PhP1340 cable docks i stayed with the cheaper dock.
Apart from price they are easy to find and (for me) more flexible as i can use different length 3.5mm mini jack to RCA cables.
I could not hear any difference......


Thanks. I was thinking of making a simple cable so I could bring it anywhere and connect it to any amplifier I want. A dock, even if small, would still be bigger than a cable. So, I guess the sound quality would improve if I used an LOD-to-RCA cable than merely plugging in the iPod to the amplifier using the headphone out.


I probably misled you, i am not talking about a table top dock, nothing audiophile, just a cheap little plug in affair.
I use this if i go to someone’s house with a boom box or if kids want to play their iPod through my home system.
As an easy to carry means of getting tracks from an iPod through a "sound system" it’s hard to beat, for a party - great, for serious or critical listening, forget it.
Image


This is what I got from CDR King. For just P100, it can't be beat!

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Last edited by edgarryan on Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:38 pm

Jon Agner wrote:
edgarryan wrote:I think I'll experiment using a CDR King audio cable. At P100, if ever things go wrong, I wouldn't feel bad.

What can I use to hide the junction between the RCA wire and the headphone wire, besides the obvious electrical tape? What's the name of those thingies?


you can either use spaghetti tubes or shrink tubes :)


Yup, I'm planning to use shrink tubes. But wouldn't it be classier and more professional-looking if I used something like the cylindrical thing in this picture instead?

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What's that called?
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby carbondated » Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:18 pm

That's just a magnet that clips onto the wire to reduce RF interference.

I've posted this before, but here's the pinout for the 30-pin connector: http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml

All 30-pin connectors will have audio coming out of pins 2, 3, and 4. Impedance is about 100 ohms. The problem is with new 'Lightning' 8-pin connector, which is purely digital.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:22 pm

carbondated wrote:That's just a magnet that clips onto the wire to reduce RF interference.

I've posted this before, but here's the pinout for the 30-pin connector: http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml

All 30-pin connectors will have audio coming out of pins 2, 3, and 4. Impedance is about 100 ohms. The problem is with new 'Lightning' 8-pin connector, which is purely digital.


Anywhere I can source those ferrite rings locally?
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby edgarryan » Fri Jan 03, 2014 9:28 pm

Here are the things I learned from a day of research regarding connecting an iPod to an amplifier:

1. The sound quality suffers if the connection is through the headphone socket, due to impedance and voltage mismatches.

2. Sound quality improves if the connection is through the output dock. To connect the iPod to an amplifier through the output dock, one needs:
2.1. A proper dock with a line out which can simultaneously output sound and charge the unit;
2.2. A line out cable (for want of a better term), one end of which is the standard iPod connector and the other either a 3.5 mm plug or left and right RCA plugs.

3. If you choose to use a line out cable with RCA plugs at the other end, there at least three options:
3.1. Buy one, but this usually costs more than P500. The ones I've seen are in the P1,000 - P2,500 range. However, these may use better wires, which would justify the price.
3.2. Connect a 3.5 mm to RCA cable using a female to female coupler to a CDR King stereo audio cable (LOD to 3.5 mm plug), the total of which would come to a minimum of around P230; or
3.3. Directly solder one pair of RCA cables to the PCB inside the CDR King stereo audio cable, and terminate the other end with standard RCA plugs. No need to worry about which pins to attach which wires to. Just make sure the positions of the left and right positive and ground are correct. This may well be cleaner, more decent looking, and cheaper than the option above (around at least P200).

I hope I got these right.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby gilpen123 » Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:24 pm

I ordered this and hope it will work fine.

Image Apple 30 pin to RCA. I'll use a lightning to 30 pin adapter to connect to my iphone.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby Gino » Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:34 pm

You can put time and effort into an iPod setup but in the end, it isn't really a great sounding source. Maybe for its day, it was. Today if I had to listen to an iPod I just use an Analysis Plus Oval iPod cable connected to the headphone jack. Docks don't really sound much different.
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Re: iPod LOD to RCA

Postby gilpen123 » Sun Jan 12, 2014 12:59 pm

Been away from audio for a very long time but not a newbie though. Sure it's not suited for serious listening but this set-up will be used as background music in my office. This will be paired with a very simple set-up at low to moderate volume not to exceed 8:00 setting.

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